60027Merlin

Mick, Just for your info. The GEM kits produced in the early 70s, certainly for the North British Railway classes were OK, but as was the case then, a lot of kits were altered measurement wise to suit a ready to run chassis. For example the D34 Glen and D30 Scott classes were designed to fit the Triang L1 chassis which have a 10 foot wheelbase whereas the proper length is 9 foot 6 inches. This meant that the body was stretched out by 2mm. I have no knowledge of their other kits so cannot comment on them. Their castings very clean and whilst short on small detail, if you so desired, you could add quite a bit more plus pipework etc. which improved the look. I think that all of us kit builders of that generation in the 60s and 70s started on whitemetal loco bodies on r-t-r chassis and also changing all the wheels to Romfords which once again improved the look. I still have a few of them running fine on the layout now and again, frightening how the time goes in though! For us in Scotland modelling the local scene, George Mellor was a godsend as he produced the J83, J36, D30, D34 and Atlantic for the North British Railway. As the first four of these lasted until the late 50s/early 60s (and later for the J36) that suited us here really well. It is still a bit of a mystery as to why the D34 Glen and D30 Scott have never been produced by the r-t-r manufacturers as apart from the driving wheel diameter ( plus either smaller/bigger splashers) and some internal differences they were identical, therefore two popular classes for the price of one with attractive names. I have recently put some photos of the D34s and D30s on the layout postings showing named locos after some of Sir Walter Scott’s characters from his novels and poems and the GEM locos are there along with the newer PDK versions. The worst quality of kit I purchased in these far off days and which defeated me was the MTK Standard 5 which was binned within a week! Eric

Just as well! As the great number of Edinburgh ladies who frequented Jenners opposite The Scott Monument for their tea and scones would have remarked, in true Miss Jean Brodie fashion – “ That will never do, we cannot have that sort of thing here”

David, GEM did a whitemetal kit for the J83 in the 70s and no doubt there will be some still available in second hand areas and possibly some still unbuilt as so many kits purchased have never been started! Here is one along with a Mainline J72. Eric

Here is the posting from March 2017 on page 19 featuring some of the locos named after characters in the Sir Walter Scott novels and poems. North British types to the fore! Waverley Laird o' Monkbarns Malcolm Graeme Kenilworth The Lady of the Lake Madge Wildfire Edie Ochiltree The Talisman Roderick Dhu Laird of Balmawhapple The Pirate Waverley and Waverley

Some new views of the lineside taken last year during various running sessions. The next batch for posting will be from the "disappeared" and it is just a case now of deciding which posting to choose.

Another handful of disappearing photos from here in October 2016. Text below copied from that page. Back in August during the Festival I was making my way to the Jazz Bar in Chambers Street via the Waverley Bridge and when passing by the old B. R. Parcels Office was surprised and delighted to see a large picture of one of Haymarket's finest in the window along with a couple of other pictures in the Waverley Station. I returned to the Waverley Bridge some time later to take a few shots of the scene and when so doing was joined by quite a few tourists who decided to take some as well! This set in Wetherspoon's windows will no doubt feature on a great number of the visitors holiday tablets and mobile phones along with the usual shots of the Castle etc. -- Of course these scenes could not be recreated just now due to the ongoing bin mens' strike which has left the tourists (and the few locals who reside in the town centre)) knee deep in litter!

Rule 1 David! Eastfield were short of locos for a passenger turn to The Waverley so there you are! Eric

No K1s were ever based there and were very rare in Edinburgh. When going south from the west they would have gone round the Suburban line to avoid going through The Waverley Station which was too busy for through freight traffic thus avoiding going past 64B. The K1s in the north east of England were based at Blaydon whose freight work mainly went west and south as the northern freight turns would have been from either Heaton or Gateshead locos.. However, as you note still no photos of them here!

The west end of the Shed was where the ash piles could be found. The locos, when fully prepared, left the Shed at the east end for their booked duties and as you remark it was all tightly controlled!

Tony, With regard to the A4s shape being difficult to model, it reminds me of a couple of my modelling friends who were avid trainspotters as well. Quite some time ago (1990)! when viewing the recently released video, The Eddie Stanbridge Collection, The Indian Summer of the A4s, for the first time, they were able to distinguish various A4s by recognising the slightly different shapes of the boiler cladding. Before the commentator stated which loco was the next subject, they rattled off which loco was coming into the picture. One loco in particular I remember had slightly lower than usual upper cladding behind the chimney (Tommy Mann had it all memorised Tony) and these lads knew which idiosyncrasies were pertinent to certain locos. Of course by that time the locos had been bashed and knocked about a bit. So when it comes to modelling them perhaps there is possibly no exact shape! Eric

Back to the 2011 and 2013 pages on here for the line ups of the Haymarket number 1 link and number 2 link.

David, The other one was 60024 so that was why I put these four photos on the posting back in 2012 I must remember to get the video out and view it again! Eric

David, Harry told me that the film company sent each of the members of the loco crews a generous payment shortly after filming. The out-takes of this version of the film are excellent with some interesting shots in The Waverley. They are in the John Huntley "Steam on 35mm" series, number 3. I have the video from quite a few years ago but it may be available as a CD. Eric

Another from years ago, this time from 2012, page 8 on here, featuring a Scotsman article from 1996 on the filming 0f The 39 Steps starring Kenneth More. Haymarket provided the motive power on a couple of Sundays with four of their pacifics.

A selection from 2017 which were posted here then but disappeared with the changeover to a new site. Perhaps more could follow as fortunately I kept everything in folders in My Pictures on Microsoft. No idea though as to which ones to transfer across again. Any favourite locos/classes can be requested!

Another selection of daily traffic, no doubt trainspotters will have seen most of the locos before but there may be the odd cop for them.

The subject of a D34 Glen, which if considered seriously would also include a D30 Scott as both classes apart from the driving wheel size and attendant splasher size, were the same externally were proposed ( by goodness knows how many modellers plus even some offers of drawings etc. ) to Hornby at a few decades worth of AMRSS Shows in Glasgow but it has fallen on deaf ears. Even the "two classes for one" plus a fraction of development costs for the second class re the aforementioned driving wheels and splashers cut no ice. Add in to that the attractive names for marketing purposes have all been pointed out to them (and other manufacturers).

With regard to official records, whilst a lot of information is recorded, it does not, in many cases, tell the full story. All part of human nature of course. For example, Peppercorn did visit Edinburgh (no doubt on a few occasions) and on one such visit he was there to insist that the instructions from Thompson, which Haymarket ignored, that their P2s were not to be used on workings south to Newcastle. A neighbour of my parents worked in management in the B. R. H. Q. in Waterloo Place and told my father and I this back in the 50s when he was still working there. He was not the type who made things up. In addition, the late Harry Knox whose knowledge of Haymarket was extensive and in addition knew well a great many B. R. management and railwaymen at “the sharp end” confirmed that this visit did take place. Once again Harry was not inclined to make things up either. Railways are no different from other Organisations, written records only cover so much. t-b-g is spot on! The B1s were excellent and did all that was asked of them. Better to ignore the A2/1s though!

Gilbert, A quite superb addition to your fleet. Well done for stretching the time scale to accommodate it, Some flexibility is a great thing! Eric

Tony, Very sorry to read about your brother. Janet and I send our condolences to you and Mo. Eric

Brian, Regarding the accuracy of written records. I recall an occasion, when still a bit new to working in Government for a short time after decades in the private sector, that I had to take the minutes of a meeting. After the details were typed up, the minutes were handed to my line manager (who attended the meeting) for checking after which he passed it further up the tree to his line manager then on to the Branch Head etc. When my line manager received the approved copy for filing a week later he compared it to the original. He noted that the only items he could see that were a factual record were the subject heading, date, the names of those in attendance and a few lines here and there. Everything else was fabrication. Being new to the set up I asked him, with an element of surprise, as to how this could be. He replied that there was nothing to worry about, this was the norm and referred me to episodes of Yes Minister. Eric

Back to a varied selection of motive power even including an ex-Caley loco. Spearmint and again.

Now firing on all cylinders, many thanks Andy.

I tried to join yesterday and am now lost in computer land. I am sure that the payment was made and have received a confirmation e-mail about registering and have gone into the Themes bit and clicked that, however, the green bar detailing the new service and adverts are still on the screen today. I am not surprised as I am not too hot on the IT stuff.

More weathering! A few locos owned by a friend who wished them "done up" some years ago. The Heljan Garratt was from 2015 and the others a year or so earlier or later. This would never do for 64B!