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certainly not all the way to bham..nor I believe to Crewe...most likely Carlisle was the furthest south they ventured..look forward to being corrected. I also believe it was A2/3s that were transferred to Polmadie and used on the west coast postal. The line north of Carlisle including shap and beattock....it has been reported how they fared on the east coast cement trains... I think ...and it causes me extra pain to say it they handled these heavy trains on the west coast route equally well. My book on the Princesses has now been joined by my books on the a1s etc....

sir really enjoying this up until this post.....I am now going for a lie down with my book of the princess pacifics to get over the shock.....a glass or two of red may need to be consumed later as well...

Dear headstock sorry I didn't reply earlier...it is a comet a3 chassis, with the front extensions from EM gauge society set of frames. These are I believe from the Gibson range. They had been under my scratch built 60113... Compensation beams and all. I was never fully happy with this so when I converted back to OO ( long story) the main wheelbase area as replaced by the comet rigid frames...the portescap motor retained. the main area of the body which I had grown unhappy with as the cab firebox and boiler.All of these were purchased from Dave Ellis of SE finecast. They were grafted into the scratch running plate...frames ...buffer beam and brass tube smokebox. The face of the loco was a whitemetal NE Pacific....readily available then from my local model shop....defectors from brass...superheater headers...I think Jackson Evans as was snifter valve and chimney....tender whitemetal from SE finecast....hopefully the right one having read and reread a certain mr wrights articles at the time....the motion is comet adapted...a3 and v2 if I recall. I just completed it when The crownline version appeared...duly built and shown in the model press.it was at this time I gave up this hobby and took up flower arranging....proving totally inept in this as well I returned to our hobby...older if not wiser....

i concur ...never having seen them in real life I have stood by the side of exhibition layouts, most likely some, if not all associated with Tony. I have seen numerous express and freight types travel past ....fantastic....but there's was a definite sense of anticipation when a thompson Pacific started its train from out of the fiddle yards...and a definite sense of regret when it passed out of view back into them. I was scanning......a mag in smiths earlier....The p2 is taking shape and what a loco it will be ....but to see 60113 in the flesh. I hope most of all however to travel behind unknown warrior .....not least its relevance to the British legion...

Gents when I posted my photo of 60113... And this is not in jest...I did so with great trepidation...then either out of kindness or appreciation.....more, I'm sure the former , rather , than the latter it was met with a number of " likes" ....well a certain smugness took hold...then the other models appeared.....my hero HJ Simpson...once observed " because you are good at something ..it doesn't mean their arnt 60 billion people out there better than you.....the beauty of this hobby, keep trying to make your latest model your best Brian Hughes

Let the Midland into Eastern territory and all sorts of disharmony can ensue...sorry to reopen old wounds....love them or loathe them ....gents your models of these locos are outstanding....a real inspiration, as ever thank you Best wishes Brian

Tony it is the lack of these detailing parts that really bothers me the most. I have recently worked on another Thompson pacific and struggled to source a number of items which were readily available back when 60113 was being worked on. In particular superheater covers, The ones i were able to purchase, were in comparison to 60113 rather puny. Best wishes Brian

Lastly thoroughly agree with headstock thank goodness for comet!,,,

dear all apologies for any inaccuracies...now some 20 yrs old...brass smokebox...scratch running plate and front frames...hesitate to publish here on this thread of eastern excellence.

Steve fully understand your reluctance to build 907. In my case it is 46202 Princess Anne. A beautiful loco but such sadness Best wishes Brian

The range and the new owner if I recall appeared at a Warley show....never to be repeated....a great sadness for when Dave exhibited the crowds around the stand were comparable to those around the Bachmann returns counter....

One of my sources of inspiration...certainly to wield a razor saw and craft knife like a latter day Sweeney Todd was Hayden Reed. I remember reading an article in Railway Modeller where he created 60113 out of a triang Hornby a3. I had never seen or heard of this loco before....let alone a model . Please forgive I'm but a Midland enthusiast....I was obsessed....a " model" was created....nameplates ordered from the proprietor of Jackson Evans, then based in Coventry. The delivery of these ...well it took a while....sufficiently for me to become disenchanted with my effort. There was no pang of regret when it ended its days.....then about a year later...the said nameplates landed in my hallway. A work of art...even more so when I created a passable coat of arms. I was unstoppable a scratch built loco out of nickel silver was created..in EM. I took it to a Warley show then held in Smethwick. Mr Jackson and his Dunwich team were kind enough to let me run it on their layout. My friend took photos... In due course looking at those photos the rose coloured hue slipped away...reality...a third and final rebuild, using the smokebox but with SEFinecast boiler cab and other fittings...adapted comet chassis...in essence a model built around a set of nameplates...not to be shown in this blog of eastern excellence, but a model that pleases its builder far more than any number of better RTR locos bought over the years as the finances improved

At Warley last week I did overhear two apparently knowledgable gentlemen in earnest discussion why a certain big manufacturer did not produce such quality track for the UK market.....I have seen this subject discussed many times in the model press....

Fully up to LMR standards of solid filth.......steady on sir........cut us do we not rust....sorry bleed. I was going to mention the terrible state some western locos were allowed to fall into at the end of steam....then realised by then they were under Midland control....to see a noble 460 shorn of it nameplates ...bonnet.....a shameful way to treat a faithful servant. In respect of this series I was both surprised and extremely grateful it lasted as long as it did, and was capable of delivering pleasant surprises such as the A2. I have been working on other projects and had forgotten the Caley single...I bought a chassis for it some months ago...just needed new pick ups. I will not even attempt to detail or " improve" it just have it when working as a reminder of a bygone era of models such as this....and the pleasure they gave us if fortunate to receive one Xmas mornng

Apologies to those whose modelling allegiance lie elsewhere, I cannot leave the subject of " foreign" locos travelling into the Birmingham area without mentioning the well documented occasion southern pacifics travelled up the GWR network into Snow Hill for the Man Utd v Southampton match at Villa Park in 1963. This was not the last time these loco types ventured into Brum...various rail tours in 65 and 66 bought both rebuilt and unrebuilt bullieds onto the midland lines through Water Orton. In 1965. Clun castle hauled an Ian.Allen special up the lickey through Bham and onto Nottingham. In any ways the most remarkable sight was in 1955 when a three car GWR railcar set travelled with a group of Nat West Bank railway enthusiasts from Paddington to Derby...you've guessed it through Water Orton. Of course there was also the time Saltley was loaned Great Northern...EdwardThompson...Lord President..and the solitary W1........ok complete nonsense but seeing these at my local,station would have fulfilled many ( but not all) of the fantasies of many a schoolboy spotter. I may add these do travel occasionally through my model along with my Midland stuff ...I do love the big Eastern express types..

Headstock really enjoyed the pictures and indeed the coach. The service it was on was it not routed via the ex great central route rather than Birminghsm and the midland lines. I have seen a photograph of a class 47 passing my modelled location circa 1967, with a train of souther region stock...I made the assumption it was one of those services rerouted after the sad closure of the Gt Central. I will if I may just clarify...the b17 wouldn't have travelled into my neck of the woods.or would it?....hopes raised.....

Unusual coaches through my model of water Orton....you've seen some of my attempts with comet replacement sides then....

For the record the midland box was sited in the space between the front of the diesel and the tanker train behind....just out of sight to the right my scratch built four track footbridge

an unusual working in the mid fifties...used to be a monument lane black five working....new street to rugby...to Peterborough....back to Bham...anyway the pioneer diesel 10800 was used....in my case the Dave Alexander kit powered by black beetle ...for that period. It wa I believe stored in the Monument Lane carriage shed.The photo shows it posed inaccurately by the reaplacement 1962 std BR Water Orton East Jct signal box.....I swap it with original Midland box from time to time....

LNER locos venturing into my neck of the woods....I model Water Orton Midland Railway station on the north east / south west lines . Circa 1960. There were indeed regular workings by B1s into Brum...a K3 was also recorded. A d16/2 ventured into Brum apparently in 1950 on a trail run , not repeated...eastern based WDs and 9fs a plenty. I have done a fair amount of research in my quest to model one of each type of loco that would have used this route from 1950 to 1975. I sadly have not been able to verify Robinson o4s of which I still possess an example. The A1 was 60114 WP Allen which travelled all the way to Worcester where apparently the Western guys ran her up and down the yard, this was in 1964. I have a photo of an A3 on a bham to Newcastle passing Water Orton yards and West Jct box...it was fitted with German smoke deflectors A v2 was photographed returning from the southern earning it's keep pulling a train of steel filled bogie wagons. Ironically the two divisions of the old London Midland region..if a loco as allocated to the ex LNWR sheds it rarely ran on the a Midland lines...a feature that carried over into diesel days. It was therefore rare...very rare for a Duchess to travel through...although the period of electrification of the trent valley lines resulted in them doing so. Princesses...the only occasion I can verify was Princess Elizabeth..en route to Ashcurch via Saltley and preservation. This will not stop me modelling a brace of these locos in various liveries. Lastly....phew....in my quest to model each type the two missing currently from my roster....the Gresley Garratt...and big Bertha..

Cowlick.....blinking predictive text ...colwick. Just taken me three attempts for this machine to actually print what i mean

Sorry not for the first or indeed last time lost track of my point....the princesses on being examined earlier will require a lot of dremel therapy...

John you mention how easy it s to fit the gbl body without the necessity to remove great wedges of plastic from the underside of these models. You know from our pms my surprise on how much had to be removed from the j39 to get the Bachmann chassis in. You are also aware post 60505 I intend to create the brace of princesses....46205 Mike edge chassis in br black in homage to my first ever electric loco Xmas 1964....she will have the unique motion bracket....something the triang one never had....the second on comet chassis 46200 in br maroon on comet chassis bought st Warley...with the GWR slidebars...and my last gbl body...46210 lady Patricia br maroon lined orange and black...on Hornby chassis with rear pony truck and side hangars replaced ....will post in due course...and the j39 which will be numbered 64767 after a cowlick example....which apparently has been kidnapped by those dastardly mid landers and co opted on to freights into brum.....just as Saltley is getting used to an A2/2 in its midst....

tony have just sent a PM, sincere apologies to you both, a case of being transfixed by the conversation on railway matters and missing / mishearing the most important information......

Picking up on one point of many in the recent stream of correspondence...Buntisland...what a model..superb display..knowledgable guides....a pure joy...on another note trying to convince my former train spotting friends that I can "cop" Bahamas having only seen its cab...really enjoyed Warley this year, and meeting Messrs Wright and King ( even more so Meredith) was the icing on the cake