Jim Martin

I think I've managed to miss this thread until now, too. I well remember the articles in Practical Model Trains: they were a key influence on my ideas about what could be done in n gauge. My student bedsit was filled with shards of plastic from attempting to emulate your Lima 31 cut'n'shut, and I still have a bag of Plastruct dome ends which I bought from Stan Catchpole's old shop in Liverpool to do a batch of chemical tankers in imitation of yours. Jim

Congratulations! This is the best thing you've done so far. Even better than your first Pendolino. Since I'm in a gushing mood, I'll also say that both Ring Road and Cross Street are among the most successful layouts in terms of looking like real places in modern Britain. Jim

All the references I've been able to check today say that they're Gloucester Mk2s. This includes David Ratcliffe's Modern Private Owner Wagons on British Rail, and I'd certainly take his word for it. I think (and I'm not 100% sure) that the presence or absence of those extensions at each end of the bogie frame depends on the type of brakes fitted: they're there to provide a mounting point for the outer sets of brake shoes in clasp brake systems. You can actually see this on the photo you linked to in post #4. There were 8 of these wagons, PR3000-7. They were originally built as bolsters, but the high ends apparently caused problems by restricting the length of rod or bar that could be carried. When they were rebuilt into scrap wagons, there were two different styles. If you look at a photo of PR3000, you'll see that the top of the body is level with the top of the original ends. All of the others had their height extended by the addition of a plate above the original end structure. PR3000 also lacked the diagonal bracing on the endmost panels on each side, which all the others had. A 4mm scale drawing of PR3001-7 was published in an early issue of DEMU's Update magazine. They don't seem to sell to non-members any more, but if you happen to be a member, it's in Compendium No.3. I started building one as part of my very brief dalliance with 4mm scale about 10 years ago. I got as far as completing one side and part of the other before abandoning both it and 4mm. I think I used 30thou for the side, with 60x60thou for the verticals and the horizontal top rail and 60x30thou for the diagonals, and that looked about right. Jim

Dapol are producing a conversion kit which is supposed to allow you to retro-fit older models and non-Dapol stock with NEM pockets (and, by extension, with their couplers). This looks like a very well thought-out product, from what I've seen. I was planning to standardise on MicroTrains' couplers, but I'm now leaning towards Dapol instead, simply because this product is available and I think that Dapol couplers will work out cheaper than MT. Jim

Simon Airbrushing sits right up there with soldering as a thing that I did a few times (badly) many years ago and haven't mastered since, but if ever a livery was designed for the total beginner in mind, surely this is it? This is definitely on my long-term to-do list.Your blue looks spot-on: will you be adding white logos? Martyn I must admit to not having noticed the difference in the cab doors. I was thinking that it would be relatively straightforward to rebuild the ends of an FNW blue unit and renumber it, but in fact it would probably be easier to start with a 150/2 unit out of the box and just work out a way of marking out the gold star. I should have known it was too good to be true! Jim

These notes are a work-in-progress and I'll be more than happy to hear from anyone who can provide amendments or more details. I'm looking at the passenger services in and out of Liverpool Lime Street in 2006. Four TOCs operated into the main line station: I've started with Northern Rail, which operated by far the largest number of trains. Virgin West Coast, Central Trains and Transpennine Express will follow at some point in the future. Around Liverpool, Northern operated on three main corridors: Liverpool-Manchester Victoria, via Earlestown and the original L&M line across Chat Moss. In addition to the purely local service, Northern operated a Liverpool-Manchester Airport service which used the L&M route as far as Ordsall Lane Junction, then Manchester Oxford Road and Piccadilly and on to the airport. The local trains were mainly Class 142 and 150, while the airport trains were always 156s. Liverpool-Wigan North-Western, via St. Helens. I generally associate the Wigan service at this time with Class 150s, particularly the Regional Railways-liveried units, but I'm not certain how accurate that impression is. Some trains were extended via Preston to Blackpool North. These were generally operated with Class 156s. Liverpool-Manchester Oxford Road, via Warrington Central and the Cheshire Lines route. Operated by a mix of Class 142s (mainly) and 150s. Some trains terminated at Warrington. Northern's DMU fleet was based at three depots: Newton Heath (Manchester), Neville Hill (Leeds) and Heaton (Newcastle). Most of the trains which served Liverpool were covered by Newton Heath, so I've concentrated on the units allocated to that depot. Newton Heath's allocation totalled 113 units of three classes: 50 Class 142s, 40 Class 150s (18 Class 150/1 and 22 Class 150/2 - the entire Northern fleet) and 23 Class 156s. In the first year of the franchise, Northern had removed the branding from all of its inherited units and replaced it on some units with monochrome "Northern" logos. These were either black or white, depending on the base livery colour of the unit they were being applied to. This process continued into 2006. I've used "debranded" to describe units without any logos and "rebranded" for units with these monochrome logos, which are illustrated below. In addition to the debranding/rebranding exercise, several units received transitional colour schemes. A couple were placeholders for units painted immediately before the franchise handover, while others were experimental schemes designed for the new franchise. By 2006 a couple of units were carrying a scheme very similar in concept (although significantly different in detail) to the scheme which finally emerged as the standard livery and which is in near-universal use today. No units received the now-standard scheme until 2007. I've decided to sort this listing by colour scheme, rather than by class. For the purposes of N gauge I think that livery is more important than car or even unit numbers (athough obviously I plan to get those things right too). All of the prototype photographs are copyright of Martyn Read and are used with permission. Martyn lives on RMWeb under the name "Glorious NSE" and his website can be found at: http://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/. The photos aren't necessarily of Newton Heath units: they're just to illustrate the liveries. At the start of 2006, Newton Heath units carried the following colour schemes: First North-Western blue/gold Carried by: Class 142 - 142001, 003-5, 007, 009, 011-014, 023, 027-040, 060-064, 067, 068, 070 (33 units) Class 150/1 - 150133, 135-144, 146-150 (16 units) Class 150/2 - 150201, 203, 205, 207, 211, 215, 218, 222-225 (11 units) Many units had been rebranded with white logos. One unit was reallocated away from Newton Heath over the course of the year. 150133 was loaned to Silverlink in November: it was sent to Bletchley, where it was used on the line to Bedford. Farish produce their Class 150/1 in FNW livery. The model could be "Northernised" by removing the logos and replacing with white Northern logos. Something that I'd like to look at is the possibility of converting the 150/1 into a 150/2. I'm not sure if this would simply be a matter of rebuilding the driving ends to add the gangway. Nor do I know how easy that would actually be. This livery is not among those that Dapol have announced for their Class 142. First Group "Barbie" blue/magenta and white Carried by: Class 156 - 156420-421, 423-424, 427-428, 440-441, 452, 466 (10 units) These units were rebranded with white logos. I believe that not all of them had been done by the start of 2006. Dapol produced their Class 156 in this livery, complete with Northern rebranding. Unfortunately, this model seems to be extremely hard to find. Northern Spirit turquoise/lime green Carried by: Class 156 - 156468, 470-472, 498 (5 units) These were former Arriva Trains North units which had been transferred to the North-West in 2005. Most had been rebranded with white logos, but a few were debranded and at least 156468 received black logos. The Dapol Class 156 is readily available in debranded Northern Spirit livery as Newton Heath's 156498 Merseytravel yellow/white Carried by: Class 142 - 142041-049, 051-058 (17 units) These units had some significant differences from "stock" Class 142s. In particular, they had all been fitted with large dot-matrix route indicators - much larger than the standard destination blinds - above the cab windows. Many were rebranded with black logos and all carried Merseytravel's "M" logo on each car as well (at some point in 2006, 142051 suffered collision damage which required one cab to be rebuilt: this car did not receive an "M" logo when repainted). This livery has not been announced by Dapol for their Class 142. Regional Railways blue/beige Carried by: Class 150/2 - 150228, 268-277 (11 units) These units had been rebranded with a mix of white and black logos. Starting in October 2006 with 150228, these units started to go into works for repainting into the early version of the Northern livery (see below). This process carried on into the following year: when the last two, 150271 and 150273, got their new livery in the spring of 2007, they were the last Regional Railways-liveried units on the UK network. The Farish Class 150/2 is available in the Regional Railways scheme. It could be turned into a Northern unit by removing the logos and replacing them with Northern logos. Plain blue Carried by: Class 150/1 - 150134 (1 unit) Class 156 - 156426, 429, 455, 459 (4 units) The 150 (photo here, in pre-Northern days: this thread also contains several other photos of units in early Northern liveries) was the same shade of blue as the FNW blue and gold, which it had carried until vandalism damage resulted in the gold vinyls being removed. The doors were blue, as per the FNW scheme. The 156s (photos here: this site also contains photos of 156s in all Northern liveries and is my first port-of-call for 156-related information) were painted the same indigo blue as the base shade of the "Barbie" scheme and had white doors. This was a placeholder scheme applied in the last weeks of the FNW franchise. Neither of these schemes is available ready-to-run. Northern lilac/white Photos here Carried by: Class 156 - 156425, 460, 464 (3 units) An experimental scheme applied in 2005 before Northern had settled on a corporate image (there was another version which was essentially the same as this, but with the white and lilac reversed: the only unit which carried it was based at Heaton). These units carried white and lilac "Northern" logos, much larger than the monochrome logos used for rebranding. This scheme has never appeared on the Dapol 156. Northern blue/lilac Carried by: Class 150/1 - 150145 (1 unit) Class 156 - 156461 (1 unit) Applied to several 150/2 units from October 2006 onwards Although the layout is very similar to the standard Northern livery of today, this differs from it in several respects. The upwards "swoosh" is angular, rather than curved on the later version of the scheme. Also, the colour is much more of a pastel lilac shade, as opposed to the richer purple used today. The Class 156 carried no branding at all at the start of the year, but soon thereafter received large white and lilac "Northern" logos and also the company's web address (on the lilac panel). Both these units carried promotional vinyls. 150145's advertised the Buxton Festival: they were applied in mid-2005 and were retained at least until mid 2007. 156461 received vinyls advertising the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway in August 2006. Although Dapol have produced a couple of Northern-liveried Class 156s, they have never offered this early version. Although Newton Heath covered most Liverpool-area duties, units from other depots were also seen. In particular, Heaton-based Class 142s in Northern Spirit livery (one of the schemes announced by Dapol for the first releases) and Arriva turquoise and cream seem to have been regular visitors to Lime Street Jim

Just watched the local news, where this is, as you can probably imagine, a major story. One segment was a vox pop of travellers at Victoria whose journeys had been disrupted by the derailment. Weirdly, one was a woman whose father had had to drive from Allerton to pick her up, while another man was saying that he was going to have to get a tram to Oxford Street (sic) so that he could get a train to Sheffield. The strange thing is that Victoria is the wrong station to be making either of those journeys from. In both cases you'd need to be at Oxford Road or Piccadilly (the station for Allerton being Liverpool South Parkway) Jim

Interesting: I've been reading about Green Stuff and it sounds like a stickier version of Milliput. Is that a fair description? I have to say that I have minimal experience of Milliput too, but at least I have used it. Is the superglue necessary to actually stick the putty to the base structure underneath, or does it form a surface that the GS adheres to better than it does to styrene? I dob (technical term) the filler on by hand and I'd be a bit hesitant about doing it that way with a load of superglue around. I don't fancy walking round with a wagon stuck to my hand! Jim

As noted in the last post, the "production batch" of IHA wagons is progressing, albeit very slowly, towards completion. I'm building three more of these wagons, which will complete the planned requirement for this type in my steel coil fleet (which I described in my very first blog post, back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth). I've made some changes in the building sequence for these models, the most notable so far being that I haven't added any surface detail at all to the underframes. The various flanges, strengthening ribs etc. won't be added until after the hoods are completed, so that stray filler can't get tangled up in them, which did happen a bit with the first model. At the moment, this is the state of play: The first IHA that I built ended up having a very "taut" look to the hood. This is fine, because many wagons actually do look like that; but others don't and I want to try something a bit more "sculptural" with a couple of this batch. To that end, I've been playing with some test pieces, which are bits of 60-thou styrene on which various strips, rods and what-not have been stuck down. These are then covered over with filler and sanded to shape in the same way as I did with the first wagon. The idea is to see what best represents the kind of sagging, pulling and bunching effects that can be seen on the prototype. So far, I'd have to say that results have been mixed. I'm not sure that the Humbrol filler I've used up to now is just that well-suited to this purpose. I've got a tube of Squadron White which I'm going to try as well, although I really don't know how different it is from the Humbrol. More on this once the next batch of tests have been done. Jim

The brickwork is excellent; and excellently painted, too. Also, another thanks for posting the hackerspace link. I've been reading up on the one in Liverpool and I may well go down there to have a look round in the next few weeks. Coincidentally, it turned out that one of my work colleagues is actually a regular attender there and his photo is on their website Jim

Bear in mind that TOPS codes - the ones painted on the wagons, at least - weren't supposed to do anything more than identify the vehicle in very general, operational terms. The "TEA" code applies to any bogie tank wagon with a gross laden weight over 100 tonnes and air brakes. There was a range of wagons that could carry that code and differences in the density of the load for which they were designed could result in substantial differences in size. There were a couple of types of sulphuric acid tanks, for instance, that were coded TEA but were much shorter than the typical TEA petroleum tanks (which is what all RTR bogie tanks are). The BOC cryogenic tanks were the subject of an article and drawing in Rail Express no. 102 (November 2004) and I dare say that they're included in one of the diagram books on the Barrowmore MRG website (although I don't know which one off the top of my head, I'm afraid). Remembering that they're referring to models that were available 8 years ago, the REx article says: "modelling the BOC tanks is quite a challenge... A good representation could probably be made using either the Lima or Hornby bogie tankers, the latter scaling out at about 5mm short in the barrel but with a diameter that is very close to our drawing... most of the underframe will need to be scratchbuilt". On the other hand, they're very attractive wagons. Go to it! Jim

Wow. I've managed to get through an entire calendar year without adding so much as a word to this blog. This is going to change: the modelling mojo is strong right now and I'm adopting a more organised approach to this whole business. In a shameless ploy to attract more readers I've also added a link here to my signature file; but the quid pro quo is that there has to be stuff for them to read. Look at that: they're not even here yet and already I feel a sense of obligation towards them. So, what's happened since last time? What, exactly, have I done since October 2011? All of my Farish BYAs have had their underframes modified to improve running, as per a previous post Since I finished the RTR buying-in of steel coil wagons about two years ago, I've moved on to buying the required RTR scrap metal wagons. There aren't that many of these - 10 Farish MBAs - and these are now all on hand. I've acquired a couple of DMUs - a Farish class 150 and a Dapol 156. Both are in base liveries that suit my modelling period and place, but the 150 will need to have the logos replaced with Northern Rail ones. The production batch of IHA coil wagons is oozing its way towards completion. They've actually progressed by leaps and bounds recently (which doesn't say much for the progress over the preceding twelve months, but never mind). I've ordered an Ultima kit for a BR Mk.1 inspection saloon, which will be built as no. 999506 "Amanda", as running between 2003 and 2007 in maroon livery with "Railtrack" lettering and cast nameplates Under the influence of RMWebber Scouser999, I've resolved to at least make a start on a layout. I think that having somewhere to run stock will help to keep the mojo in its current state of rude health. I find building stock very satisfying (not, note, always "fun") but seeing it run is more important than I've sometimes allowed in the past. So: new year, new attitude. The future starts here.

I could easily see myself using this if it was available in flat-bottom rail and concrete sleepers. I really don't like Peco's code 55 track and an alternative that combined the looks of Easitrac with readily-available pointwork (and no issues about transitioning from one spec to another at points) would be a definite goer for me. Jim

I believe that the caboose containers were introduced because the NUR wouldn't countenance their members riding in the rear cab of the locomotives on container trains, which was BR's original plan. That was why early liner trains operated with passenger brakes, or even air-braked goods brakes, at the rear. The caboose was supposed to address this by removing the need for an additional vehicle. The fact that they rapidly fell out of use and the guards started riding in the rear cab probably says everything that needs to be said about the caboose environment. In Collins' Freightliner: Life and Times, it's recorded that the Chairman of Freightliner described the caboose as "an unmitigated disaster" when the company handed one over to the NRM in 1985. I don't know what date the photo is from, but the first (1968) edition of Jane's Freight Containers has entries for all kinds of British ports, including King's Lynn. It looks like just about everywhere was hoping for a piece of the action, container-wise. At that time, KL was advertising one container service: the Washbay Line's twice-weekly route to Hamburg ("special connection to Stockholm") using two vessels, the Alster and Lynn, both ro-ro vessels with a capacity of 70 20' containers. The Washbay Line's own entry describes their route, rather splendidly, as "Hamburg/King's Lynn and vice versa, twice weekly each Tuesday and Friday with sufficient inducement calling also at Cuxhaven, Emden, Boston (Lincs), Grt Yarmouth, Lowestoft". A very, very similar photo appears on page 10 of Collins' book, where it's captioned: "One of the first Freightliner trains leaves Maiden Lane depot for the long haul up to Glasgow..." (then a bit about the loco and the caboose container). It gives the date as 1965. I don't think it's the exact same shot: it looks to have been taken a moment after the one above, judging from the relative position of the loco and the ground signal, but everything else about it looks the same, including the state of completion of the building behind the locomotive. The one in the book has been reproduced with quite a lot more contrast than the shot above, which makes comparison a bit harder, but I'm certain that they're from the same time. Jim

On reflection, this is actually the same as the ERG kit, isn't it? I think that N-Model was developing the bodies, which would be skinned with ERG vinyls. Jim

They used to be a staple of the Electra Railway Graphics website (in N gauge). The 313 was in development for a long time, with other types to follow. I was looking forward to a couple of the Merseyrail units (in tiger stripe and the bleagh yellow schemes) but they dropped off the radar. I'm certain that they got as far as producing a clear resin bodyshell but I just looked and there's nothing at all about it on their site, so I assume that they've dropped it. Jim

Maybe David's "taking one for the team" here: sacrificing his time (and £17) in the certain knowledge that one of the RTR manufacturers is now guaranteed to announce a complete set that we can all benefit from... Jim

Gosh, but a lot of RMWebbers seem to have lived near this line! I moved to a house in Bay Tree Close (about half a mile up Kingsmead Road towards High Wycombe) in the spring of 1967, just before my fourth birthday. I don't remember seeing any trains running across the end of the street (although that's where the line was, so they must have done so), but I do remember walking to Loudwater station most weeks with my Ma and sister to catch the train to visit my Gran in Monk's Risborough (a journey of about 10 miles that required changes at Wycombe and Prince's Risborough). I lived there for about five years before we moved to a house on the other side of Wycombe. Jim

Since this thread has got a bit of a second wind, I'll post something that I wrote in a PM to Locutus (above) a while back. I searched the "London Gazette" archive and found only two references to awards of the Albert Medal between 20 May 1937 and 31 December 1939: one is to a naval officer who rescued several members of the crew of a Royal Navy ship which suffered an accidental explosion while on patrol off the Spanish coast (presumably one of the notorious "non-intervention" patrols associated with the civil war) and the other is to a member of the Royal Australian Air Force, for his attempts to rescue the pilot of a crashed aircraft. I don't think that either of these was posthumous: I don't know whether it could be awarded posthumously or not. Jim

I'm disappointed about that too. I'm waiting for the Farish version of the 350 to appear and while the Silverlink unit being a namer wouldn't stop me buying, it would make me prioritise other purchases for a bit, until it became clear whether an unnamed S/L unit was on the way. Jim

I only found your blog a couple of days ago, but I love what you're doing. My plans include a set of JMAs in N gauge, so I'm fascinated to see how you're going about designing these bogies. Brilliant work! Jim

I hadn't noticed that in the photos, but now you mention it... To be honest, it never occurred to me to only take off part of the rib. You're probably right about it not being absolutely necessary, but I was thinking about the wheel moving sideways slightly when the bogie swung on curves. The chisel blade isn't a bad idea. At the very least you would always be working in towards the centre of the wagon, which would be a bit less stressful than doing it the way I did.