BR traction instructor

Glorious evening cycling around The Solway plain just now... ...the flood defences on the marsh road from Skinburness to Calvo protecting Silloth... ...Skiddaw to the left between Wolsty & Lowsay... ...from Beckfoot towards Dalbeattie across The Solway... BeRTIe

...that'll be down to driving too many 66s Jim...the very definition of all the bleedin' same. BeRTIe

...plenty of yellowhammers to be seen on my cycling circuits around the Solway plain just now. Oystercatchers & turnstones on the seafront section through Silloth too. BeRTIe

...D8591 was a Thornaby loco in early 1966 and is pictured with ploughs in the Modern Locomotives Illustrated title on the class. This would be a safe loco to model given its allocation and plough bracket fittings around your chosen date. It could even be the one in your picture. BeRTIe

...oops!...well spotted. Three of the four production underframes already have the original Bill Bedford fittings removed from the W irons and the Rumney plate style W iron version didn't have them to begin with. Oh well, only a few mins work to remove and refit the tie bars from the prototype. Thankyou 👍 BeRTIe

Rivets everywhere is the order of play with these hoppers, any added as surface decals needing to be similar to the moulded ones on the body. The stock of Archer resin rivets is quickly being consumed by the prototype hopper and fresh stocks of a couple of Railtec variants are now on order to provide for the four production hoppers. Matte varnish is used to seal the rivet rows in place and everything allowed to dry completely between riveting sessions. The Railtec rivet detail arrived the day after ordering and looks to be a good match for both the moulded detail on the wagon and the Archer style already in use... BeRTIe

Rivets everywhere is the order of play with these hoppers with any added as decals needing to be similar to the moulded ones already on the body. The remaining Archer resin ones are being quickly consumed by the prototype hopper and a couple of Railtec rivet variants now on order to provide for the four production hoppers to follow. The lines of rivets added are sealed with matte varnish to keep them in place and each session of riveting allowed to completely dry before the next is contemplated. The Railtec rivet detail strips arrived the day after ordering and look to be a good match with both the moulded rivet detail on the body and the Archer resin type already in use... BeRTIe

...bending the leaf springs uniformly upward (in this instance) a little would help to accurately replicate an empty wagon. The W irons have stated dimensions and altering those would produce a less rather than more accurate result. Thankyou...we have various otherwise unavailable diagram variants in the pipeline for Mostyn. BeRTIe

...the gap that you refer to must vary according to the weight carried by the wagon on the prototype and the style of axlebox fitted. The leaf springs will become more flattened out/deflected under heavy load and that gap consequently greater. This hopper is modelled fully loaded. The gap being smallest when the prototype wagon is empty/leaf springs hardly deflected. The Tipplers retained the Rumney plate style W irons of their prototype whereas the W irons fitted to the hoppers are Bill Bedford open ones. The alignment of buffer centre height relative to that of a SLW type 2 diesel is what might be expected for a fully loaded hopper... BeRTIe

Construction is complete on the prototype diagram 1/161 hopper and it is now in red oxide primer/getting the Archer rivet detail added prior to finish painting, lettering & weathering. The ladders are a nod to a respected fellow modeller, the late David 'Nobber' Goodwin from Barrowmore club, who passed away some 6 years ago. He made the first attempt to construct one of these for Mostyn but unfortunately got the wheelbase wrong and the model never made it on to the layout. Building his ladders onto the first of five such hoppers ensures that at least some of his effort isn't wasted and provides a nice memory of him. His now modified hopper body will also end up on one of Justin's underframes to come. The use of the incorrectly dimensioned hopper body and consequent scratchbuilt underframe with incorrect wheelbase is shown here simply to highlight the advantage of adapting Justin's Tippler underframe combined with using the David Monk Steel dimensioned drawing for the type. The yellow powder was meant to show that the hopper was in sulphur traffic... BeRTIe

In the meantime construction is complete on the prototype diagram 1/161 hopper, it is in red oxide primer/getting the Archer rivet detail added... BeRTIe

Living on The Solway plain amongst a fascinating history that stretches back hundreds of years, this title is providing considerable insight into some of the troubled times that have beset it...ideal reading matter for a squally, windblown Saturday whilst waiting for the weather to clear and a cycling opportunity to present itself. Around 4pm the wind dropped and the sun came out for a lovely 15 mile circuit of the local back lanes. This vivid rainbow added to an otherwise routine composition... BeRTIe

Mauch Chunk, 1950s American steam & diesel is now a Barrowmore club layout, the O gauge Johnstown road Cambrian layout now stored pending an outcome. We have spent the last week progressing various issues on MC and its stock prior to the layout being dismantled to allow Mostyn to be erected in the clubroom for its May Railex Aylesbury exhibition prep. Building two 40ft box cars plus a 40ft stock car from HO kits, fettling various tank car running issues as well as fettling 7 vintage 2&3 axle bogied Central New Jersey/Santa Fe coaches/baggage & mail cars to get them running on the layout for the first time has been my contribution. Converting the 3 axle bogied ones to body mounted Kadees, making & adding gangway end bellows amongst the work done. On the loco side the main issue dealt with was a Camelback that wouldn't run in reverse and shorted in one direction. Stripping the gearbox tower revealed a missing stepped washer that needed a replacement fabricating from the spares box, whilst painting the rear of one wheel cured the intermittent short that was ailing the beast. Testing each area of the chassis with a multimeter whilst trying to replicate the conditions for the short proved somewhat more time consuming than the remedy. This is the HO kit stock car, which needed a roof repaint in red oxide primer this morning to repair some wayward glue damage... BeRTIe

I've purchased several of his books over time and used his images to inform my modelling. RIP Maurice

What a glorious, good to be alive day today. Pleasant back lane walk in the bright Spring sunshine from Silloth to Abbeytown to catch the Wigton bus, then another back lane walk from Cockermouth to Bassenthwaite (with impressive views of Skiddaw) lake to reach a nice pint of cool cider at the Castle Inn hotel and the third bus of the day, back to Wigton. BeRTIe