Edwardian

What a wonderful church. I don't know where we might fit it in, but a great building. I like the fact it's clearly been b*ggered about; makes it all the more interesting. The photographs were excellent and the notes were very useful, as they included both some key dimensions and an explanation of how the top of the tower should look. Is there room for a Saxon Church to defy my Norman Keep? More tempting stuff. As far as CA is concerned, I have been researching suitable components for locomotives and GER wagons. Interesting, but time consuming. Went to a show at Redcar yesterday. Lots of inspiration there too. When I grow up, I want one of these:

Great idea. Unfortunately, my old shaving brush is my current shaving brush.

I have neglected my duties in order to go gadding about once more. Yesterday I went to Cleveland MRC's exhibition at Redcar. This had the great idea of only presenting layout set in the North East. Among these were 2 set in NER days. I make no apology for posting more pictures of Marske, it is a superb layout and I think I managed pictures that were a little less gloomy this time. This is O Gauge and set in 1915. The layout is operated end to end as the line is blocked by a derailment. I noticed that the locomotive on the breakdown train had changed! A new layout to me was another NER prototype location, this time modelled in P4; Danby, which was exquisitely modelled.

Excellent project, and one I must undertake too if I want to complete my 1930s GW coach collection properly. I am glad to find someone prepared to admit to an approach to such projects similar to my own; bold strokes launched from screwed up courage, punctuated by bouts of nerve-serrating terror. Look forward to more.

This is good news. These are wonderfully characterful prototypes. I need to start saving for one of each. I hope I become one of many new customers for these kits.

The end reminds me of some LBSC craven coaches, e.g Bluebell No.35, which has no vertical beading!

Any suggestions as to who might produce components similar to the following. I imagine several will be non-starters, but there may be some close enough to a proprietary accessory. I suspect Alan Gibson's range is the most comprehensive these days, but is not illustrated so which Midland Johnson dome or safety valve bonnet, for instance, is best, I cannot tell. I think the RT Models MW chimney, tapered safety valve cover, and buffers will be useful. 5and9 Models do Sharp Stewart buffers If there is anything particular you want to know, it's just possible that I might have looked it up, so PM me.

Off topic, but does anyone know of someone interested in a bit of casual labour? We need to address several things in order to get our house back onto the market. The property is near Peterborough (we are not!). If anyone knows anyone who is prepared to take on the work, we would be most grateful. Manual dressing on thatch roof. In parts there is moss. This needs to be pulled and scraped off, and then treated with a ph neutral moss killer. This will be several boring days' work for someone. A man with a van? We have a Luton's worth of boxes (including an old ex-exhibition layout and back copies of the RM!) to shift from Peterborough to Darlington. It will take a day of loading, driving and unloading. Laying carpet tiles in 2 rooms, each approx. 10' x 10' Replacing a plaster ceiling in a room approx. 10' x 10'.. Making good and decorating a boiler and laundry room. Where an internal block wall has been taken down, we need to make good the floor, walls and ceiling. A new block wall needs at least painting. The boiler room needs repainting. Thanks James

I think we have two distinct Sharp Stewart types pictured here. Surveying the examples of which I am aware, thus far I believe that I can identify 4 distinct types of Sharp Stewart standard gauge 2-4-0Ts. For my ease of reference I have categorised them based upon the size of the driving wheels, thus: Small 4' Class - This I believe should include Works No. 1924 of 1869 (LB&SCR Hayling Island/Inspector), and 2 locomotives supplied to the Jersey Railway, works nos. 2047 and 2048. I have yet to confirm the dimensions of the Jersey twins, but firmly believe that they will turn out to be the same as those of Hayling Island. The right-hand picture in Post 1452 is one of the Jersey locomotives, in later life in Suffolk. If Kevin is throwing down the gauntlet, this is the smallest of the standard gauge Sharp Stewart 2-4-0Ts of which I am aware. Large 4' Class - Same wheel sizes but longer w/b for a larger locomotive with wider boiler barrel. A quartet was ordered, for some reason, by Craven of the LB&SCR on behalf of a Tunisian railway! Only two made it sandy-side; the Brighton kept one (2242 of 1873, Bishopstone/Fratton, pictured above) and Jersey got the other (2241 of 1872). However, I believe that Works No. 2578 of 1876 was also of this 'class'. This is Watlington & Princes Risborough Railway No.2/GWR No. 1384/Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway Hesperus. 4'6" Class - Of this type are the 5 locomotives delivered to Cambrian Railways between 1864 and 1866. This is the familiar type for which GEM makes the body for the 3 that survived to be Swindonised. Mainly Trains does the chassis and Quarryscapes does 3D printed bodies for the 'as-built' and Cambrian re-built versions. There is also a locomotive of 1875 owned by the GER that appears to be identical to the original appearance of the Cambrian 5, save for a rather GE looking stove-pipe chimney and her GE number plate. 5'3" Class - These were the 4 supplied to the Barry Railway in 1889-1890, 2 of which went to the Port Talbot Railway and 3 of which were rebuilt as 2-4-2T. Also of this type is the similar locomotive supplied to the Neath and Brecon in 1893. See post 1410 on page 57. The Metropolitan Railway D Class was a group of six 2-4-0Ts built 1894-1895. Kevin posted a picture on Works no. 4077 at Post 1408 on page 57. To my mind the boiler looks fatter than on the Welsh 5,3". I don't have dimensions for the D Class, so I don't know whether they are of the same types as the Welsh 5'3" class or whether we have a fifth, distinct, type. EDIT: Wonderful painting of the Southwold, Kevin. You have to love a town with a brewery and a light-house stuck in the middle of it. Wish my in-laws still lived in Suffolk.

Ah, you have to love a line terminating at Boot.

Not sure I need a 2-4-0T quite this small - they're even smaller than the Cambrian Gem/Quarryscapes type (if I may use such a shorthand) - but that sounds like a challenge!

Well I don't have any books specifically on Sharp Stewart. I have simply picked up stuff on the interweb and from books on other railways. Quite a few companies had SS deigned locos, as well as contracting out the building of their own designs. The Metropolitan, Barry, Cambrian, LBSC and GER, not to mention the Jersey Railway, and some Light Railways, all had 2-4-0Ts, for example. I just love these little fellas.

No problems there; the line is part-owned and backed by the GE, who donate old stock, but, the Bishop's Lynn tramway is a GE line that feeds into the WNR system so it's W&U with a dash of K&T! This weekend I resumed building, using Shadow Dave's pictures of the Ostrich, Castle Acre.

Some inspiration for the Bishop's Lynn tramway, courtesy of Alan Price's Outwell Village, snapped today at Thirsk.

At Thirsk today, where the highlight for me was the 7mm Scale 'might have been' portrait of Seahouses. The Northumbrian coast is given a wonderfully bleak atmosphere. I think this is a superb layout, and I enjoyed talking to its owner.

That is good to know. Thank you. I have a photo (Tatlow book!) and a drawing with dimensions for the Mac K. It had struck me that the Dapol Lowmac was perhaps close enough to form the basis of a conversion, but I had not acquired the kit and checked against the drawing.

Well, I would say that I am glad you have posted some more figures and that I like them very much. It is easy to overdo highlighting and shading, and sometimes an excess of technique, dry-brushing, inking or dipping or outlining, can lead to a more or less stylised figure that is ultimately no more realistic than one painted in flat colours. I would say that your effects, which show up particularly well in the lower pair of photographs, are subtle and, therefore, appear most natural to my eyes. I can offer another contribution in return. I have finished some more Aidan Campbell. They are a bit bulky, but full of character, though the faces of the children pictured lack finesse, shall we say. I also found another Mike Pett Supercast figure, this time the flower seller; she is my tribute to Mrs Cobbit, late of Trumpton. By way of contrast, I have tried to back-date a couple of Dapol figures, Geoff (right) and Bert (left). Height and heft wise, these are one of the better matches to the 'true-scale' Stadden Edwardians, so should mix comfortably with those. Slightly taller, but not too tall, are the nominally 1/72nd Preiser 1925 airline set, which I have converted to produce a Naval Rating (arms re-positioned, and kit bag), Delivery-man, Horse-man (converting overalls to waistcoat and shirt and Greenstuff flat-cap), Yeomanry officer, and Lady (a 1920s lady provided with lengthened skirt and boater). Finally, I found some Victorian Naval Brigade figures. They have no railway application, but I painted them up for fun, as the subject appealled.

Agree. It would fit the bill and be logical, because one would assume that the Station Master's garden lay behind it.

As I mentioned a few post backs, I have allowed myself to become distracted by the Victorian Navy. All good painting practice, though:

Thanks. That is interesting, because I was planning to buy the Dapol kit to see if I could bash it into a GE Mac K. Clearly great minds think alike ....

You are, I think, correct to say that vehicles would be used throughout the year, and for economic reasons. A farm might well have a cart (this is a cart as it has 2 wheels) and a waggon (4-wheels). I am not aware that, in the case of these traditional vehicles, there were specific versions used exclusively for harvest loads. Rather, I suspect, the carts and waggons might be adapted during harvest times to take higher loads by affixing harvest frames or ladders to each end. Waggons, which have a greater capacity than carts, rise at the ends any-way, and I have seen pictures of them with harvest loads both with and without ladders. Later, from about the turn of the Century, you might have had a harvest "trolley", essentially a 4-wheel flat-bed with ladders at each end, as an alternative to a waggon. Traditional waggons in their essential form date from the mid-eighteenth century, but would have been a relatively expensive bit of kit to have built new by 1900. In East Anglia and the East Midlands there was even a vehicle known as the hermaphrodite, a two-wheeled cart that could be converted to a four wheel waggon at harvest time. Their rationale was that smaller farms could not afford to have such vehicles standing idle for most of the year. Carts were much more suitable for the heavy loads of autumn and spring, when the ground is soft. At harvest time, a front axle section is added together harvest frames/ladders. This is a cart. With the ladders it is a hay or harvest cart, so, while I think you are likely to be correct in assuming that it would be used for other loads at other times, I suspect it would have run without ladders in such cases. If the layout is set in August, it is likely to be carting wheat sheaves in the form modelled. That, at any rate, is the conclusion I am presently driven to by my fairly limited knowledge of the subject. Further and better information is always welcome!

Sounds like a lock-in to me!

Are those "lowmacs", GE Mac K's? if so, are they etched kits by D&S or some other manufacturer?

Simon, thank you, and I agree, on both counts. Thanks to you all for the comments and ideas, and an especially big thanks to Quarryscapes and Northroader for the NSR 2-4-2T drawings, Anotheran for his plans to use the L&Y Radial, Kevin for introducing the large 5'3" 2040Ts to the mix, and to Jonathan for pointing out that the MT chassis for the small 2-4-0T is still available. Originally I had envisaged a BP Ilfracombe Goods type as an 'intermediate' type, but the infusion of SS options suggests the logic is to go for the SS 0-6-0. There is also the practical consideration that, it is to be hoped, in due course and by the time I am ready, Furness Wagon will have produced a mixed-media 4mm Scale kit (which I will itching to try once I have 2-3 RTR conversions under my belt). I also need to think about the sequence and whether I am depicting the WNR's full locomotive roster or only part thereof. The two tender designs, SS 2-4-0 and 0-6-0, are also products of the 1860s. If I included a small (Cambrian-Gem variety) SS 2-4-0T, that is also 1860s. This SS pair, or trio, for the WNR, would, presumably, represent the WNR's second generation engines, and would probably be the oldest types in service by 1905. . The tender engines will retain their 4-wheel tenders due to the short TTs, but would probably have acquired half cabs at some stage. The 1870s see the GER-sponsored T7 type and the Fox Walker. Both are chosen to be representative of motive power on minor E. Anglian lines and, so, are important locos for me. Yet SS keeps in there with the 0-6-0T, a goods tank where the T7 is clearly adapted to passenger work. The 1880s onward see a determined return to SS, with, the 2-4-2T, which presumably represents a more modern approach to running more and heavier passenger services efficiently, and, possibly, the 5'3" 2-4-0T. I would not foresee the need for the WNR to have any more modern types than this. Obviously, it will be sometime working through this list, so there is plenty of time to amend it. It does seem to have the making of an attractive freelance stud, however.

Well, it's certainly starting to look as if that 2-4-2T should be added to the planned roster, which is, so far: 0-4-2T T7 variant 0-6-0ST Fox Walker 0-6-0T Sharp Stewart 0-6-0 - Beyer Peacock Ilfracombe Goods type and/or 0-6-0 Sharp Stewart as per anticipated Furness wagon kit 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart as per anticipated Furness wagon kit 2-4-2T Sharp Stewart as per NSR I could add a small SS 2-4-0T using the Mainly Trains Chassis and the Quarryscapes body (these were earmarked for the Eldernell project) or a larger SS 2-4-0T like the Met D/Barry types discussed earlier. It is quite coincidental that SS types are predominating - suggesting a definite preference for this manufacturer's product on the part of the WNR's Board.