Devo63

On the subject of US locos in Britain, how about someone making this magnificent beast. It was demonstrated on the L&Y and GNR from 1881 - 1884.

In the early days of the South Australian Railways they even rebuilt a couple of US built locos into a more British style.

Before the big American inspired locomotives were built for South Australia we had some local designs which were very British in appearance. Three of these F class "Dolly" tanks have been preserved but only one has been returned to steam since retirement. Last I heard it was sitting in storage requiring new tyres for the driving wheels. BTW the first US style 4-8-2, 2-8-2 and 4-6-2 were built in the UK by Armstrong-Whitworth

This thread reminded me that I had one of the M&L Star body kits in my stash so I pulled it out to have a look at it. Most of the castings are fairly neat but a close examination of the two boiler halves show a lot of surface pitting. Also when putting them together I notice that the left hand side is about 1 mm shorter than the right. When the boiler bands are lined up in the centre the band on the firebox is out of alignment and there is 1/2 mm difference front and rear. I'm assuming that these castings may have been made when the molds were getting towards the end of their lives. The listing in post 17 of the ex M&L kits in the Gibson range shows that they made quite a few kits at the time. Can anyone list the full range including the time expired kits? Also does anyone remember who made the white metal kits of the Scott Atlantics and Lady series Saints and what became of that range? Dave R.

I thought I'd revive this thread with a few drawings. A bit of background to the sketches - these were done by my father while working as a sherriff's officer in the Adelaide Magistrates Court (after being a police officer for close to forty years). When things were quiet he would draw various things such as motor vehicles, ships, buildings and especially trains. Most of the drawings were given to a couple of the Magistrates with one of them covering the walls of his office with them. Unfortunately my father didn't keep copies of a lot of the drawings and most of what we still have are some of his more fanciful renderings. He is now 82 years old but still occasionally draws new pictures but his hands are a bit shaky these days. Dave R.

My bet is that Hornby have seen the success of RTR O gauge by the likes of Dapol and Heljan etc, and are going to jump on the band wagon. They have dusted off the drawings from the archives and will be re-introducing the Big-Big Train in time for Christmas (no year specified). Dave R.

Press Release: Jones, Evans and Sprong of Rhiwbina and the Cayman Islands, the official receivers of the Glamorgan Railway (1834) Inc. have voted in favour of the proposal. After beating her partners into submission Dame Euphonia Sprong stated that more young females should be encouraged to take up such important senior positions.

I picked up my set for £49.95 (plus postage to Oz) on Ebay. Listed as a non-runner but a quick clean and service had it up and running within half an hour of delivery. Dave

This list of locos (& the Mataro coaches) matches my collection almost exactly. I also run Bachmann's 'Prussia' & 'John Bull' but missed out on getting the 'Lafayette' model when it was released. I'm planning on assembling a few more of the Mataro models and fit some form of power bogie into the 2nd class kits to push some of my other small models around. I use a lot of the Kitmaster/Airfix/Dapol 'Rocket' kit for conversions including a 'Northumbrian' type called 'Vulcan' as the first engine acquired by my fictional Glamorgan Railway. I'm currently working on a model of a 'Planet' type and thinking about making some form of early 0-4-0 to add to the collection. Dave R.

I would have thought that a little Manning Wardle might have a name like 'Cheery Littlebottom'. Dave R.

If it's a heavy shunter how about 'Sergeant Detritus'. Dave R.

Great to hear that the presentation went down so well. Congratulations are in order for Miss T. and her proud father. It was good to see the young lady deeply involved in the planning and building of the items for the display. A lot of kids these days sit back and get mum & dad do all the work for them. I still can't believe that this project only started less than two months ago! There were a few last minute glitches regarding finishing off the Derwent model but when you consider that it was a prototype print and only delivered two weeks ago with the wheel inserts a few days later there has been remarkable progress. SEM34090 and Skinnylinny are deserving of high praise for their efforts in design to bring this model into being. The spirit of cooperation by all involved shows very clearly how great this forum is for the hobby. Dave

Love the work on the LNWR model. Have you decided on a name & number for it? I know it is only a first prototype but I greatly admired the work you put in to the model of Derwent for Edwardian. 3D seems to be the way to go for models which have a narrow fanbase - I'm hanging out for one myself when you have time to refine the print. If you are looking for someone to do a test build I'm quite happy to buy a development model. Below is a suggestion for another 3D print. The Drummond 'Bug' was released as a kit sometime in the past but was outside of my limited spending power at the time. Seeing what Edwardian did with the power bogie for his model gave me the idea that I could power the Bug in the same way with a Spud or Black Beetle fitted under the saloon part. Even though I mainly model GWR and to a lesser extent LNWR I would love to have one of these running around in LSWR green with the salmon and brown coach part. Dave R.

Always found this 'Lion' look alike interesting. Sorry about the poor quality but that's how they came and I have no idea where I got it in the first place. The dome sets it apart from 'Lion' as preserved - would make quite an interesting variation on the theme. Dave R.

Glad I was able to help. The kit that the instructions came from has been sitting three quarters built now for about thirty years. I really must get stuck into the backlog of kits I've collected - currently about 30+ loco, 35+ coach and 100+ goods stock! Then there are all the re-motor, re-wheel and general rebuildings of older stock to consider. Dave R.

PM sent. You have mail. Dave R.

That is exactly the type of loco I was thinking about in my earlier post. I would like to see an extensive collection of 3D 'scratch aids' for early traction so that I could model the likes of the O.W.&W. and later WMR. A selection of early contractors locomotives would also be greatly appreciated. Dave R.

My personal preference for any 'Hall of Fame' would be to limited to those who are no longer living. A 'Living Legends' category would be better for those modellers, writers and manufacturers who are still adding to their collective output. Dave R.

If everyone is wish listing for your services can I suggest an E.B.Wilson & Co. West Midland Railway 2-4-0, 0-6-0 or 2-2-2 Jenny Lind type. Most of the models you have planned are ones I would be interested in getting my grubby little mitts on and would probably buy a few. I would also love to see what you could do in GWR 7 foot gauge. Dave R.

I'm very interested in seeing how this all works out for you. If Sir E. finds the time to refine the 3D print I'd be very interested in getting one for myself to add to my collection of early locomotives. I've got a set of three of Smallbrook chaldron wagons to build which are crying out for a suitable engine. My personal preference would be that the print didn't have the name & number included as I like to order custom etches from the likes of Narrow Planet etc. I may have missed it earlier in the thread but could you tell me how you were planning to power the model? Dave R.

Thanks for the pictures. Here's a rough sketch of my first idea on the subject. It is now just after 1 am here so I hope I'm not that dopey tired that the drawing doesn't make sense.

I can't quite make out the lower end details of the slide rods on the pictures of the model. Are the ends of the four rods joined together or are they all seperate? I'm doodling around with a few ideas which may (or may not) work. A rod straight from the cylinders to the wheels would not really work due to the vertical motion of the connecting rod at the wheel end. Due to the size of the model I personally would not worry about fitting a piston rod. Dave R.

The model appears to have four bar crosshead guides. A simple stop-gap may be to get a length of brass rod and hammer the ends flat. Drill a hole at one end to go on the crank pin and another at the cylinder end which could have a friction fit pin inserted to keep the connecting rod in place similar to the plastic pin on the Airfix Rocket model. Dave R.

MRC published seven plans in the late 60's of early Parliamentary carriages which may be suitable for a quick scratch build. Unfortunately the attached scans have come out the wrong size (experimenting with a new scanner) but they do have a scale rule under the plans. Edit - just noticed the last one doesn't have the scale. Dave R.

I'm feeling quite chuffed at the moment with my latest purchase. I picked up a Nu-Cast GWR 70' Railmotor (later brass chassis version complete with wheels, motor and gears etc.) for US$37.00. The postage ended up greater than the cost of the kit but it still came out at around A$107.00 all up. Now I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind to attempt the valve gear - almost watchmaker work at first glance. Dave R.