wainwright1

Sounds like the good old days. When Tri-ang-Hornby were asked: Why don't you make more Southern locos? Answer: Because nobody models the Southern. Then asked: Why does nobody model the Southern ? Answer: Because nobody makes anything to model it with. Thank goodness that situation changed. RB

The Achilles heal for the 00 Terriers is the plunger pickups on four of the wheels, the other two are scrapers which are fine. This substandard feature has been perpetuated by Hornby from the original Dapol tooling. I have models from brand new which have plungers that stick in and cause poor running. If they would re-design this to scrapers on all wheels I am sure it would make slower running much more reliable. I have the original Dapol Boxhill and Stepney in Improved engine green which look right. The Hornby colour looks too pink rather than brown and unfortunately they have applied this erroneous shade to all their versions. Mind you, they keep turning out the Southern 2 + 2 planked van with Maunsell Southern lettering in bauxite rather than Southern brown livery, whereas other wagons in the range (e.g. cattle wagons) are the right colour. Don't know why someone in their research dept. does not get this corrected.

I believe that plumber's hemp has been used as an alternative to human hair and obviously is a lot safer. (Assuming that you did not misappropriate it from the Plumber) I have not used it myself, but think that it gives a very realistic effect. RB

Bacon roll on Sunday morning, how civilised. Hope those drinks will all be chilled ! See you for set up tomorrow. RB

Still shows this when I click on your link. phoenix-paints.co.uk This is a phishing websitePhishing websites trick you into revealing your personal information, such as passwords and bank account information. Take me away! More options

I tried to get on their website a couple of times yesterday and my virus protection told me that their site was a 'phishing site.' So perhaps the site has been hacked ? RB

Save me wading through the whole of this blog. Does anyone know if Danny has ever re-issued any of the L.C.D.R. six wheeled coach kits ? I am trying to put together a hop-pickers set which were either formed of 12 or 14 coaches and I need another two or three DS622 All 2nd / All 3rd kits to make up the minimum. RB

Just checked and these still seem to be available. SR90 described as 'Lazy Tong' platform gates. May require a little adaptation for a lift. RB

Forgot to mention that the Southern Railways Group, used to or maybe still do offer an etched brass lattice gate in their Phoenix Kits range which could be used for a lift. RB

Just come across this, so I though I would contribute a little of my knowledge. With regard to the lattice gates these were mainly fitted to the lift cars, though sometimes to the landings as well. Many of these were manufactured by the Bolton Gate Company, a company who are still in business today and surprisingly still producing this type of equipment as well as the more modern folding and sliding type gates. These gates would be both mechanically and electrically interlocked to prevent the lift from moving if the door had been left open, even if the 'beak', the mechanical part of the door which engaged in the lock, were to break. Most lifts would have been traction driven, either from a motor room at the top of the shaft or sometimes from the bottom. Hydraulic lifts were fairly slow moving and driven with water and particularly in London the water pressure was supplied by the London Hydraulic Power Company from large tanks located around the inner London Area. (Not sure if a similar arrangement existed elsewhere). This was available to a wide variety of companies including the London Docks, presumably on a rental basis. Although it may have been used in railway goods depots and warehouses, I am not sure that these would have been used on railway station platforms, apart from perhaps the main line terminus stations. Maybe someone with greater specific knowledge may be able to confirm. Oleodraulic lifts are driven by oil and are a more modern version of the hydraulic type with their own independent tank reservoir of oil. I think that these may be now quite common on some of the newer type lift installations at stations either in direct drive or scissors lift format. Incidentally, on the manufacturing side, many lifts and escalators were supplied to the railway companies and especially the London Underground, by the Otis Lift Company, originating in the United States, who had invented the patented safety gear which was fitted to all lifts. I hope that this may be of interest. RB

From memory, the Wills clear corrugated material is vacu-formed from acrylic sheet rather than moulded in styrene, so is probably a bit more choosy what adhesives you use on it. Contact adhesives used sparingly or odourless super glue should be o.k. Ambis Engineering make their corrugated iron from aluminium or copper. Very easy to cut and work with, I have used it on several buildings. The copper version can be soldered, which could be useful for certain projects. RB

Hi All. I would like to make the following unbiased observations on behalf of Southwark and District Model Railway Club. We attended the Dulwich exhibition on Saturday 26th with two layouts and our club fund raising sales stand. We were verbally invited to take part by Dakota, but did not receive any written confirmation or an exhibitors package, written or by email, confirming the exhibition details other than the times of exhibitor and public access. We were also not made aware if the show had any insurance cover. The location was in the heart of our catchment area, so we thought it an ideal opportunity to advertise ourselves and hopefully attract a few potential new members. It was also within easy travelling distance for our membership, so we offered two layouts declining reimbursement of expenses, but asked for a space for our club fund raising stand with no sales stand fee, which was duly agreed. One medium sized hall and a class room were used, both quite pleasant, and the quality and standard of all the layouts and displays was very good, including one from Dakota himself, although disappointingly he did not have anyone there to operate it ! The only sales stands were Dakota's own and our club one. On this occasion Dakota was operating as a one man band, selling the tickets, running the catering and operating his own sales stand. Definitely not an ideal situation with potential risks. Catering was primarily tea and coffee made from a tea urn and food for the public, principally crisps, chocolate biscuits and cakes were individually wrapped so no problem, apart from some rather nice chocolate chip muffins which were enclosed under a covering in original packaging and customers were invited to extract them individually, so little risk of contamination. Exhibitor catering however offered rolls which although enclosed in bags had presumably been previously cut in half before the show under unknown conditions and then repackaged. Exhibitors were given a choice of the aforementioned pre-packaged items and invited to extract the rolls from the bag, butter them themselves and either pour grated cheese or place sliced ham into them. Although perhaps low risk, there would be some risk of contamination to the rolls themselves and the sliced ham. I presume that Dakota does not have a Food Hygiene Certificate ? There were some issues with the location as it did not really have enough parking space, even for the exhibitors, although it was relatively easy to find on street parking on nearby streets. Some visitors also found it difficult to find were the entrance was as Dakota had not provided much signage for the show. I am not sure how the exhibition was advertised. It was listed on UK Modelshops exhibition listing and in a couple of the mainstream modelling magazines, but I could not see anything in the two local newspapers. Attendance started slow, improved, went quiet again at lunchtime, but then got busier again mid afternoon. Interestingly, I would say that the majority of attendees were local families with young children with a limited number of specific railway modellers coming through the door. I wonder where the locals found out about it, perhaps through a community newsletter or website ? I would say that the majority of visitors enjoyed the show, but not sure how well it did financially. We enjoyed ourselves, showed our faces and earned some much needed income for our club, all sales items having been donated by the membership. Finally I would say that our club have not held an exhibition for quite a number of years as we do not consider that we have enough members to ensure that it can be run safely and efficiently or funds to cover all potential eventualities. When we did hold shows, we always had the appropriate exhibition insurance through John Dennison, later Magnet, had a member's wife with a Food Hygiene Certificate doing the catering, (later done by on-site caterers), and we always had onsite first aid provided by the local branch of St Johns Ambulance Service to whom we provided refreshments and a modest donation for their funds. I am not sure if Dakota will stage another show in Dulwich, but think that we would be interested in participating as long as we had prior written confirmation that the food safety and insurance issues had been addressed as any reputable exhibition organiser would do. RB

Layouts for Disposal. Southwark Model Railway Club have recently considered how to downsize what they have stored in their club room and have decided to dispose of two part-built layouts which are taking up space, but are not likely to get worked on by us in the near future. Another reason for expediting the disposal, is that we are currently contemplating another change of club room and would like to dispose of anything that we do not need to transport to the new venue. These were both started some years ago, but have not been worked on for quite a time. As said, they have been stored for an extended period, have suffered some damage and require refurbishment to bring them up to a standard to be completed, but would make nice layouts for a club or perhaps a private members project. The first is Andy Arches. This was originally a commissioned layout built for the British Rail Property Board (later Spacia), installed inside a trailer and used to promote the use of railway arches. You can see some black and white photographs of what this layout looked like when first completed on our website. southwarkmrc.wordpress.com. The layout could be extended to an end to end or circular format with additional features and used to display rolling stock from different periods. Inspired by the London and Greenwich Railway, it had three sections: one showing the early days, including The Halfway House pub (the first arches let) and three houses in the arches at Deptford Station. Section two showed traditional uses such as a scrap yard, coach storage yard etc. Section three showed an area where the arches had been refurbished in a corporate style with a gate house and fenced courtyard. We had started to produce a fourth board, which fits before section one and would have featured the viaduct construction being completed and a representation of the Grand Surrey Canal. The frontage of this has been prepared with some parts for the canal bridge, but these are not shown in the pictures. I was hoping to represent the original L. & G. track with rails laid on stone sleeper blocks by using scored copper clad sleepers stuck down with the centres then carefully cut away and ballasted. The boards are constructed from plywood and are approximately three feet long and pack together in pairs. Some trestle type legs were also prepared, although not for the new board. Track is Peco code 100. Most of the arches, brickwork and bridges are built from Wills plastic components, so repair/replacement would be fairly straight forward. The second layout is Hatcham Park. This was somewhat more ambitious project and intended to represent a slimmed down version of New Cross Gate. Planned as a continuous circuit layout with a fiddle yard at the back, it would probably have been 32 feet long by 8-10 feet deep. It features the fast and slow up and down lines with platform positions and the station building location which would have been on a road bridge (Left hand end). The approaching double track East London Line, up and down connections (Right hand end), to serve one platform, also connected with coach sidings on the east side of the station (Front of board). On the west side of the station there are two sidings to accommodate four car EMUs and a loco depot with a site for a four road steam shed and at the rear of the board a half relief of the famous ‘Router Shed’ and connected buildings. Some of the track here has had phosphor bronze check rail fitted as this area would have been inset in cobble stones. The sheds were served by a turntable which has been based on the one at Didcot. The well for this can be seen in the pictures and was cut from solid Perspex by Gary Cross. We have the bridge for this, which has unfortunately lost its railings and gear drive, but these are replaceable. In the London bound direction there is a connection served by a ladder of points including three double slips and a single slip which would have connected to the South London Line at Old Kent Road Junction, the Deptford Wharf Branch and the East London Line up line. The six baseboards are each forty inches square and constructed from plywood. They are currently fitted with biscuit connectors, but these could easily be replaced with pattern makers dowels or bullet connectors. There are also seven properly jointed legs to support the boards. The track is code Peco 75 with 18 points including the single slip and three double slips all of which are fitted with Peco point motors. (At least one damaged). I have a PDF which I can forward that provides a selection of photographs of both layouts for your scrutiny if you are interested. We hope that your club or members might be interested in these layouts and would be most pleased to set them out at our club room for your scrutiny. Our club meets on Thursday nights, so please let me know when you would like to visit by calling beforehand so that we can make the arrangements. We have not put a price on these layouts, but they would be subject to negotiation. Looking forward to hearing from you. Many thanks Ray 020 7732 9675

H class not old enough to smoke ? I gave my Wainwright liveried H class its first showing last Saturday on my Hawkhurst layout at the West Essex Model Rail Show. It was running nice and smoothly with a three coach set and completed its first run very well, coming into the station running around its train and then running back to the fiddle yard. On its second run out however, when running out onto the layout it started to smoke very convincingly from the chimney. Obviously seeing that all was not well and suspecting that the smoke was coming from the motor, I stopped the train and removed the loco, replacing it with the Southern liveried one which I also had with me. The latter ran without incident for the rest of the weekend. It was most fortunate that standing right in front of the layout when this happened was our local trader who was also an exhibitor at the show and the one I had bought the loco from. He witnessed the whole thing was in fact the first person to notice it happening. The loco is now being returned to Hornby for rectification and it will be interesting to see what they say about it. Has anybody else had the same problem ? RB

Seriously though, not seen a good punch up at an exhibition since Bachmann stopped selling off their returned stock on their stand. Normally blood spilt in the first half hour, not to mention cases of concussion from idiots with ruck sacks spinning round. Surprised nobody's mentioned it before. Ah the good old days ! Mind you, if someone mentioned Dakota D, that would probably start a riot !

Aforementioned stock seen here. RB

By the eck, sounds like a cracking night out. 'Bout time you got some beers in from't local micro breweries. Trouble at mill, na punch up at local exhibition, probably Bexleyheath show. Millwall were going to send their supporters on an away special, but the regular users complained about the mess they left behind in their rolling stock !

Hi All. Bought some of the new scenic items from Tasma Products. These include been poles, tomatoes on poles, buddleia and hops, some in 4mm and others in 2mm. These look very good, certainly the part, although the 2mm size ones are a little pricey. However, the latter also suit 4mm gardens and allotments. My question is, does any one know what the main material is that these are made from ? It looks like a natural material, which is probably dried and dyed, but it certainly looks good. I note that these items are manufactured in Vietnam, so it could be a plant native to there. On the other hand, it could be something that grows everywhere and it would be useful if it could be obtained in bulk at a reasonable cost for doing general plants, bushes, weeds etc. Does anyone know ? RB

Hi Sandmodeler. Most definitely still trading. Was in there during the week to pick up some stuff. Andy normally tries to get orders out by the next day. He is usually in the shop himself on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, (Subject to exhibitions), and has his helpers in on Mondays and Fridays. Normal opening time 09.00 to 17.00. He is normally quite fast to answer the phone, although he might occasionally be in the store room next door or popped up the road to the post office to dispatch the orders. So just give him ten minutes and try again. He should be at the Bertha James exhibition in Bromley next Saturday if you are nearby. Hope that this helps. RB

Another problem with the smoke oil is that it cools fairly quickly so will not naturally rise and find its way up an extended tube. I have prepared a smoke unit to fit into the tunnel of a new baseboard I have built for my Hawkhurst layout. To help the smoke rise through a hole in the baseboard inside the tunnel, I have got a small computer fan from Maplins which is mounted onto a piece of PVC pipe fixed to a mounting plate that can be easily detached for re-fuelling. The smoke unit is glued inside the pipe with Araldite which is not detrimentally affected by heat. The fan is rated at 12v, but I intend running it on 9v, so that it will turn over gently just enough to push the smoke through without forcing it out too violently. RB

Hi Matt. There is a second problem, in that a certain amount of the smoke oil tends to condense in and around the area it comes out of. So after a period of time, the card around the chimney would become saturated and probably go soggy. We had a bonfire on a layout with a smoke unit inside it and the whole area around it got soaked. You could probably seal the card with something, although I am not sure what would be the best thing to stop the oil from penetrating the card. Polyurethane varnish might do it, although that would also be susceptible to damage from the heat given out by the unit and they can get quite hot if they are on for any period of time. Hope that this helps. RB

The background does not look like the Hawkhurst Branch and I do think that those tanks were ever used on there. RB

Want something obscure. How about the Morris Commercial Imperials with Park Royal body work bought by East Kent. I think that there were around 20 of them and they mostly operated around Folkestone. I seem to recall that Wythall have the remains of another Imperial, but only the lower deck, but that had different body work. Even more obscure ! R B

Hi Brightspark. Nice to see this layout re-emerge after so many years. I saw it several times in its heyday and it always looked very good. I started my Hawkhurst 00 layout over thirty years ago and have also revived it over the last couple of years, but I think that Hope Mill might be slightly earlier than that ? I remembered that Martin had adapted the single line passing station into a double track electrified line, although Goudhurst always looked like a double track station, but did not remember that he had used various buildings from different locations. One thing that I seem to recall, was that there was a short branch coming off the main layout which I do not see in your photos, or perhaps my memory is playing tricks. Might it have been an extra add-on board ? The buildings still look good, shame about the station masters house. I have always fancied modelling one of those, each one at Cranbrook, Goudhurst and Horsmonden being slightly different. Good luck and may we hope to see the layout on the exhibition again some time in the future. Ray

Lets hope that they apply the right shade of green for the S.E. & C.R. version. The shade used on the Terrier was much too bright. Pity they did not check their test samples against the Bachmann C class which is spot on..