NCB

Not really my area. I've never heard of any problems with Peco TT wagons. I've built a few OO ones in the past and generally they were fine. I've had a quick look round to see if there's any info on Peco wagons in the stuff which the 3mm Society has produced from time to time, thought there was some but can't find it. Is it possible you've been sold bits of two different kits? Thought all Peco bodies were cast metal. Nigel

Jonathan Definitely Cambrian Railways. Looks like an official drawing, so stamped CAMBRIAN RAILWAYS near the top and the usual oval stamp bottom right which reads CAMBRIAN RAILWAYS ... CAMBRIAN WORKS, OSWESTRY around the edges and LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGE & WAGGON DEPARTMENT in the middle. Near to the lower stamp there's the legend: GWR 10 TON OPEN GOODS WAGON SCALE 1 1/2 INCHES TO 1 FOOT SEPTEMBER 1912 There's some written within the lower stamp, can't decipher it all but it's along the line of "??? of J.Cole ????". It's drawing 8999 in the NRM OPC microfilm lists. As I said before, it appears to be a bog-standard GWR O11 including GWR self-contained buffers, but not showing ant details of brake gear. First time I've come across a hint that the Cambrian might have had 5 plank wagons. Nigel

Just received some Cambrian drawings from the NRM. One intrigues me. It's of a 5 plank wagon, and although definitely a Cambrian drawing, labelled September 1912, it's described as "GWR 10 ton open goods wagon". Looking at the details, it seems to me it's an O11, complete with GWR self-contained buffers.. So, did the Cambrian buy wagons from the GWR? The O11 was introduced in 1912, so it would have been brand new. Nigel

That's exactly the sort of thing! The class 20 was certainly behind the class 27. Can't swear it was a 27 but that general shape, and if the first pic was 1962 in 1963 probably was a class 27. On some of the more bendy bits of the line I could see both locomotives from the carriage window. I liked the old station in Fort William. Had one of the best chippies ever just outside it, great fresh fish.

Rail: the Society supplies code 80 flat bottom and, mainly for fine scale use, code 60 bullhead. However, Peco HOm track may be OK for old Romfords; Gary Hall would know better than myself. Chassis: Brynkits provide a neat fold-up etched chassis for the 57XX pannier tanks, which ought to do for a 97XX. You might have to make the odd alteration to use it with the K's kit, like adjust the length, but it shouldn't be too difficult. 3SMR usually have stocks of the Brynkits chasses; see: http://www.3smr.co.uk/locoscomponents.html bottom of the page. LC1203 or LC1205 are the sort of thing.

Said I didn't know much about diesels! I meant a class 20. As per the Dublo model. Doh!

Slightly puzzled that Bachmann haven't released what appears to be an excellent locomotive in either of the pre-WWII liveries. Any ideas on why this might be so? Cheers Nigel (1930s GWR modeller!)

Quite a few people use the Peco HOm track successfully. The only problem which may occur is when using Triang stock with the original wheels, rather than the finer stuff with the 3mm Society's intermediate standard wheels. Can usually be cured by shaving a small amount off the check rails. Cheers Nigel

Hi David The current arrangement is that you send him your wheels less crankpin nut and washer (to stop them getting lost) plus the round axles, and you'll get in return the wheels with the hole in them "squared", plus square-ended axles. Cheers Nigel

Wonder how long it took things to get back to "normal" after WWII; not sure they ever did. During the war stock was sent all over the place to where it was needed, including locomotives (the GWR must have loved having things like LMS 2Fs on its tracks!). This must have continued for some time after the war; after all, specials were still being run to cope with things like demobilisation. Then with things like coal shortages it couldn't have been anything like normal on the railways. So a lot of services would have been cobbled together with anything to hand. Getting stock back to home territory would have been low priority. The Railway Executive Committee which was formed in 1938 and took over the railways in 1939 was effectively in charge until Nationalisation.

Yep, like most model railway innovations things were in a bit of a melting pot. As I understand it Wesa started about 1:110 then switched to 1:100 for things like their UP Turbine. But I think Joyce was the one who really laid down what the scale was.

Couple of snaps from opposite ends of Mid Wales: Cynghordy Viaduct, on the Central Wales line; 4/6/2013 Talyllyn Railway, east of Abergynolwyn Station; 14/4/2001

Does "staff" include workers such as engine drivers, firemen, etc?

Still not back into the full swing of modelling; waiting from the clocks to go back! But I have managed to get the weight in the bunker sorted out. There's 4 layers of lead sheet in there. With that in, the model balances midway between the front and rear compensation pivots, which ensures even loading on all 8 wheels. Under test this appears to be about right. The lead is glued in with araldite. Next job to is get into 3D printing the chimney and dome, so a steep learning curve. Reckon to concentrate on this during November. In the meantime, plan to build the final baseboards for the layout, which I've been putting off for ages :-(

Wasn't that interested in diesels then, so could very easily not have been a class 24. But it was that sort of thing. Not sure when steam disappeared on the line; think it was still going strong in 1961. In 1963 me and a mate were hitch-hiking north, ending up on Skye; we cheated by getting the Fort William to Mallaig train. Coming back we gave in and took trains the whole way. The train south from Fort William had two diesels on it, and my memory tells me that the second was a Class 21 (recognisable because of the Dublo model). Wonder if my memory had it right. Nigel

Well the commercial side of the hobby seems to be thriving in a way that it didn't when I was young, so somebody must be buying the products of Hornby, Bachmann, Dapol et al. OK Hornby has had a dodgy phase, but that's not unusual. It's amazing what can be bought these days; not far off museum quality products at relatively moderate prices (and still people complain!). Who'd have thought RTR O Gauge would make a comeback. I wouldn't worry about the demographic. Railway modelling is something which is difficult to get really stuck into before you're grown up, for all sorts of reasons. Then as you sally forth into adulthood there are major demands on time and money. But as you approach retirement priorities change, and you can contemplate getting down to some serious modelling. I think the interest is there across the generations. My two local shows seem to attract a lot of families, although being held in August probably helps.

There's no MEK in Plastic Weld (the EMA stuff, not the Plastruct stuff). It's dichloromethane. Plastic Weld works and evaporates fast. It also seeps into a joint through capillary action. For gluing chairs, I hold the chair in position with a small screwdriver and slosh a bit around the edges using a brush. Job done. If you need to move the chair, a sharp thin knife blade slipped under the chair will do it cleanly and easily. It smells much nicer than MEK. However, like all solvents, avoid breathing the fumes as much as possible, and stick the lid back on the bottle as soon as you've finished using it. Avoid getting the stuff on the skin if possible. Nigel

I sympathise. I normally use Plastic Weld, much more pleasant stuff, and works well with the Osborne chairs and plastruct sleepers I use in 3mm/ft scale. I've recently started using 3mm Society chairs with plastruct sleepers, and initial feeling was that the chairs (different plastic?) weren't attaching quite so well, so gave Butanone a go. Found it fairly vile, worse than Mekpak (which as others have remarked isn't actually MEK). What to do? Went back and gave the Plastic Weld another go, and this time it seemed to work fine. So will stick to that. I'd suggest giving it a go. Seen various claims recently that Butanone is fine and nothing to worry about. I'm not taking the risk.

The second coach could be one from one of the absorbed companies. The Cambrian bogie corridor carriages had long lives, were a tad lower with flatter roof profiles, and after grouping turned up all over the place. Not sure the sides are low enough for Cambrian though. Can't see enough details on the linked pic to say more. Nigel

Here's a recent snap of a fairly complete bit. Still quite a bit to be done; I'm a slow worker, easily side-tracked by building yet another bit of rolling stock...

Jeremy, I suspect the loose coach could be almost anything. The GWR had a habit of recycling older stock for such purposes. Best solution would be to try to track down a pic. Nigel

My 3mm finescale layout has been built entirely using plastic sleepers and chairs. Solid as a rock. Seen here in its early days about 8 years ago: Think people underestimate how strong plastic construction can be. I did it as I reckoned following the usual advice and sticking in PCB sleepers was an unnecessary complication. Nigel

Never heard of them before. But the Rhymney S1 pictured on their web site looks a very neat model.

Here's an interesting portfolio of American railroad landscape pics from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-40341771

The site has been tidied up recently during creation of a cycle track. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4205158 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2392849 I've passed that way a few times over the last 4 years and have meant to drop by, but have yet to do it. In 1963 I caught a train from Ballachulish to Ballachulish Ferry; took this pic: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2931926 Think the train was a couple of non-corridor coaches pulled by a diesel, think it was a class 24 but not sure about that.