fodenway

Here's one I started a few years ago, using one of the Majorette Mercs mated to the back half of the Matchbox Seriers Dodge breakdown truck. The jib has been left off, and I'm making a spec-lift to replace it. The light bar came from one of those Motormaxx MAN lorries, and the wheels from a cheap HO truck.

I think this is the Triumph that Bernard was referring to, marketed under various brand names including Marx and Tootsietoy, and as he says, normally part of a set which includes crude interpretations of Jeep CJ5 and wartime, mid-70s Chevy stepside pickup, International Scout , Mercury Cougar and others. The Triumph is to 1/76 scale and has good proportions. With a bit of work, it can be made into acceptable replicas of TR2, 3 and 3A as seen here. Cararama Morgans gave up their dashboards and sidescreens for my conversions.

Vauxhalls would not have been sold through Plymouth agencies - Plymouth was a Chrysler Corporation division. Buick and Pontiac, both part of General Motors, as was Vauxhall, handled their sales in the USA. Canada also had the same arrangement, except that there was additionally a locally-assembled variant, the Envoy Standard, which was sold through Chevrolet dealerships. The Envoy was basically a Victor F Type with a different grille, and did not carry Vauxhall badging.

Here are a couple of those Eko Jeeps, along with a Landrover Tickford stationwagon made by combining an Oxford Series 1 Landy with the back end of the Eko Jeep which became a pickup truck.

A company in Czechoslovakia lists the following British outline road vehicles in HO:- 1952 Bentley Continental R 1959-67 Ford anglia 105E, civilian and Police versions 1959 Hillman Minx Series 111a Ford Cortina Mk 1 Jaguar XK150 open/ closed versions Bedford CA van, Utilabrake and ambulance (late type) LandRover F/C Redwing fire tender Foden S21 8-wheel lorry, flat or dropside body Additionally, there are a few foreign cars which would have been familiar on British roads. Very finely detailed and cast in resin, some with etched detail parts and close-fitting vac-formed windows. Available fully-finished, most with a choice of several colours, or as unpainted kits. Not the cheapest of models, but very good quality. See the VV Models range here:- www.vvmodel.cz I have one of the Foden lorries, and upon inspecting the parts I had a feeling that I'd seen them somewhere before. It would seem that the Corgi 1/50 model has been scaled down. Apart from alterations to the mounting points, the headboard, air tank and rear mudguards are now separate parts, but the main mouldings are reduced copies of the original Corgi offering. It may also be true that others in the range have been based on larger-scale diecasts. Having said that, it's still a lovely little model.

The Bantam would have been fitted with the Karrier J Type coupling, which was compatible with the Scammell automatic coupler. Karrier also fitted their own BK Type coupling, where the landing wheels were positioned outside the tractors' driving wheels, for added stability when uncoupled.

Looking good. As an observation, lighter- weight TKs with the 16-inch wheel had a deeper valance under the front mudguard/wheelarch to fill in the gap left by the smaller diameter wheels.

The Husky is definitely by John Day Models. The corresponding Cob ( and the related Hillman Californian coupe) is also in the range. Check their website.

The AA had quite a few of them, also modelled in 1/76 by Oxford Diecast. Watch the film "Helldrivers", one was used by the fictional firm Hawletts. Farmers were keen to get hold of them, as were small garage owners, particularly in remote rural areas. My uncle had one as his garage runabout on the North York Moors in the early fifties and always said it was the best £15 he'd ever spent.

There were also the Commer Cob (van) and Hillman Husky (estate) short-wheelbase variants. Nice to see some 1950s vehicles in British N scale.

If I remember correctly, Bolton's Bits did make just such a unit for detailing the back end of Atlantean/Fleetline/VRT etc., but I understand that the owner (John Fitness) is no longer producing the range. The Model Bus Federation may be able to help.

The Commer is a welcome addition, but could I suggest that the windscreen is sloping rather too far back, and the roof appears a little "flat"?

My recollection was that Ogle Design was responsible for the styling of the EA van (as well as the Allegro and T-45 Roadtrain), and that the use of existing parts was just a cost-saving exercise.

Check out Springside models, they have a large range of vintage tractors as whitemetal kits. I think Scalelink also did a prewar Fordson.

The fifth wheel should be further forward, as described, but the cab needs some serious reworking to be authentic - it's just not right. That said, it's a rare kit with a good resale value.

Would a newly-built locomotive boiler have been painted before being fitted to the loco frames? I am aware that they were sometimes/always? left unpainted for a while to allow a certain amount of rusting to help seal the rivets (or was that a myth?), but if any paint was applied, would it have been a preservative coating like red lead, or a finish colour such as black? I intend to make such a boiler as a load for a road vehicle. Any guidance would be appreciated.

I've had a look at Stampers Hill this afternoon, and the low embankment I referred to seems to have all but disappeared. Some of Moor Leys Wood has been cleared for cultivation at the point where the line crossed the road, although Google Earth does show a slight scar across the field where the line was. There is also a scattering of what appear to be stones roughly where the embankment was. The line crossed the road on the apex of the first slight left hand bend (uphill) before turning sharply right at the top of the incline down towards Rockley Furnace.The site of the incline is still marked by a line of trees. I also visited East Field, hoping to walk the trackbed of the Coal Railway, starting from the Monkey (Eastfield Arms), but much of it is fenced off. A ramble through the woods showed that the sites of the tramroad and the incline from pits and kilns in the woods are also fenced off. At the point where the line passed under Thurgoland Hall Lane there is a high stone retaining wall adjacent to the line at the entrance to Toad Hole Farm. The cutting here has been filled to road level, yet this wall reaches some eight feet or more above and is holding back an earth bank - another mystery. Perhaps I will have another look when the ground is a bit more forgiving.

A solution of caustic soda will remove paint and printing from glazing (or anything else) and doesn't harm plastic or rubber. It will, however, quickly and painlessly eat into your flesh and nails without proper protection - use heavyweight rubber gloves, not the disposable latex or neoprene ones, and wear old clothes and goggles. Keep children and animals away from your well-ventilated (preferably outdoor) working area, and dispose of the solution as directed on the pack (it's often sold as drain cleaner) and thoroughly wash and rinse everything the solution came into contact with. Used properly, it is very effective.

Robert, just by chance this morning I googled 'Ordnance Survey Maps 1850', and eventually found exactly what I was looking for. The 1855 map shows in great detail that there was an incline from the main line up to the summit, but no sign of an engine house, so I assume that full wagons descending would have pulled the empties back up. I was told many years ago that Thurgoland station continued in use for goods for a considerable time after closing to passengers, serving the settlements of Thurgoland, Huthwaite, Green Moor and of course Wortley Top Forge. Also shown on the maps is the extent of small pits around East field and Bagger Wood, and amazingly confirmation of something I'd suspected since my early teens. Around 1967 I was cycling down Stampers Hill, between Stainborough and Pilley on my way to see the remains of Rockley Forge. I noticed a section of what seemed to be un-necessarily substantial earthworks for a simple farm track, and that set me wondering about the possibility of an early waggonway from any pits "up top" to the canal basin at Worsborough. The map shows exactly that! This system of tramroads, inclines and waggonways must have been made redundant by the coming of the Coal Railway, since there is no mention of them on the 1888 map. The 1855 map also shows that the South Yorkshire Railway was creeping up the valley to reach the pits from Aldham Junction, but had not yet reached Silkstone Common and the eventual junction with the MSLR Penistone-Barnsley line. Although I now know much more than I did yesterday, I'm still on the lookout for more information

This line was a short branch eastwards from the ex-MSLR Sheffield-Manchester "Woodhead Route" at Thurgoland, between Sheffield and Penistone. It was built in the mid 1800s to serve a colliery in the area, variously known as Hollin Moor Pit and Stanhope Silkstone Main. (Stanhope was the coal-owner, and Silkstone was the name of the seam being worked). Old maps show an inclined plane and a short tramroad connecting smaller pits in the immediate area to the line at its terminus. Local records give conflicting dates of closure of the pit, dates ranging from 1875 to 1927 have been noted. Although much of the trackbed, including embankments and an underbridge, is still clearly intact, there was a fearsome gradient from the junction near the site of the former Thurgoland Station in the Don Valley up to the summit just east of the A629 road on the southern edge of Thurgoland village. I have not been able to find evidence of any kind of winding house or loco servicing facilities on the line, so, my question is: was it locomotive hauled, or rope-worked, and does anyone have diagrams or photos relating to the line?

East Yorkshire (EYMS) were also blue. Didn't Northern retain yellow for a while, or am I mistaken?

BW Models did a Wadham Stringer ambulance, but hard to find nowadays and often quite expensive. Likewise, Rod Parker did a BMC LD ambulance, again out of production. Check out JOHN DAY MODELS website - there are several ambulances in the range, and perfectly suited to the 1950s. As an alternative, what about some item of agricultural machinery such as Oxford's Massey Harris Combine Harvester with the cutting head removed for transport?

Daryle (John Day Models) also has the LC5 dropside truck ("Heartbeat's "Greengrass" lorry) and the British Railways parcel van if you fancy doing a modification.

Hi Mick, I know it was a long while back, but are these still on offer? Kevin

Not sure of the exact scale (not having one), but certainly noticeably larger than 1/76.