Tetarch60

In my forty odd year career on the Railway, ballast that was seen/handled/off loaded out of wagons: red,pink,green,grey and silvery black. this depended on wether it was granite,slag from an iron works or loco ashes. So there is scope for varying the colour of track ballast on a model.

jwealleans The J17 kit sold by PDK, is that the same as the Crownline one you mentioned?

Have you tried advertising in the wanted section of the GOG Gazette advertisement section? Give it a try you may find what you need. Depending on the kit,£300 to £450 perhaps. The latest price for a new kit from MM1 on their website is today (18/07/19) £699.

Have you looked into using the Dave Bradwell J39 chassis kit as this apparently has all these linkages included in the kit. Can be built rigid if you so desire.

I was surprised how quickly you built the Finney A4. The photos Show really good workmanship.This also proves that before commissioning someone to build a model for you a great deal of research into who can build what for the budget you have needs to be done.

Tony, the reason i chose the name is nobody else is using it, a Hornby A3 I have will soon be renamed and renumbered to 60113. this is to suit my personal modelling needs. Since my "modellers" licence is some fifty years old it was about time it was used. A P1 kit from PDK may well end up in BR livery with maybe a double chimney,that decision is yet to be made.

Tony During my researches into A3's I found out that an 0 gauge loco builder charges around £15 an hour, so taking the cost of a Finney A3 0 gauge kit plus Wheels, Tender,motor and gearbox the total cost of the build is around £3500. As for 4mm RTR manufactures getting valve gear wrong, what is annoying is getting the return crank lean wrong, when running the engine doesn't look right. Even Golden Age Models with their expensive brass Eastern Region BR pacifics have got the return crank lean wrong on the Peppercorn A1 and A2s. In 0 gauge these cost around the £3000 pound mark. It seems these days nobody cares about the small details anymore. As the late David Jenkinson once said " It is the small details that make or break a model"and on the evidence of the last few years it certainly looks like he was right.

Thank you for the reply to my query.Does Roy Vinter make the dolly signals from kits or scratchbuild or use both mediums? Tony.

Afternoon all.Tony,that triplet set is absolutely gorgeous,a lovely rich red.how do I contact Rupert Brown to obtain some etchings to produce a similar coach set? Being one of the last luddites of this parish, how do I post any photographs onto these pages?

Morning everyone. Tony, that A5 pictured on your layout looks exquiste, proves the adage,if it looks right then it is right. Should an RTR manufactuer do an A5. I bet it won't have a flywheel drive in it but an obselete mashima motor that is not made anymore. A good kit is available from 52F.have a look on their website, some very good photos on there.

Morning everyone. Looks like there may have been a misunderstanding regarding RTR or kit building. From my needs in a model engine, a flywheel drive is a must, why? To give a momentum effect when running,also smooth out the running on less than clean track.Having seen how some US outline HO diesel and steam outline models run with a flywheel each end of the motor, this high standard is what I am looking for. Have only found it in one British out line steam outline model, that is the Hornby J15 0~6~0 locomotive.Most RTR diesels have this,Why not the steam locos? Now with the cost of RTR escalating, a kit built loco is soon going to become more cost effective,especially large GN mainline steam, Pacifics etc.

Looks very good. Surely it is by DJH and not Crownline? Pity DJH say they will not do the A2/1 in 4mm scale.Still, we can only hope.

Thank you tony for the wonderful photographs. First one is a real beaut, WOOLWINDER, first postwar A3 to be fitted with a double blast and chimney.The second one shows poor SOLARIO, unkempt and looking very uncared for, looking as if it going to it`s own funeral. Must be summer 1959 as SOLARIO was withdrawn in December 1959 to supply parts for FELSTEAD damaged in a derailment. Has Booklaw changed its way it reproduces colour pictures/slides in it`s books. Some of the ones in the Grantham book have smudged numbers and totems and look as if in some photos the colour intensity has been turned up,a similar effect like turning up the colour on an old style TV right up. Totally spoils the enjoyment. One or two pictures have appeared in previous albums and the reproduction was spot on. Has anyone else noticed this? Will there be any goods trains hauled by A3`s in your new book? Especially number one speed fully fitteds?

Evening all, it seems all that is really needed is a good motor/gearbox mated with a good size flywheel for present day RTR to run smoothly with a momentum effect. Both my Bachmann 9f`s have this type of mechanism and run superbly. The Hornby pacifics on the other hand do not and are a mixed bag. Still, should I decide to go fully EM the a new chassis for each will be a requirement. Does anyone have a recommendation for this job?

Looking through a GWR wagon book called "A History of GWR Goods Wagons" by AG Atkins W Beard DJ Hyde R Tourret (Volume 2) on page 114 at the bottom of ,there is a photo of an AA16 Toad ( post WW1 uprating to12 tons and given the Ref AA16) number 12009 in small GWR lettering as built in circa1888. On Page 116 of the same book there is a written history of this type of Toad. I bought both volumes of this title some time back from Robert Humm's bookshop in Stamford Lincs.Seeing the photo on Tony's layout it looked LSWRish, Hope this helps.

Good afternoon one and all. Firstly, wishing everyone the compliments of the season. Just had a look at all those Thompson engines, very nice indeed, Though I think I would make Great Northern an A3 and number it 60113, a project for the coming new year. A question Tony, what make is the soldering iron holder you use in the BRM Right Track Volumes 1&2 Locomotive Kit Building? the only ones I have seen lately are coil spring shape with a piece of plastic at the top of for the iron to pass through, not a very good arrangement. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The most important thing that your Little Bytham layout shows, is the overall picture that matters most, not so much the gauge and standards used.

Thank you for kind reply. Was " Ganger" N. Soloman responsible for laying in the new trap points? Do they actually work? I ask this as some layouts that I have seen have none working ones , this means the layout in that area does not look right. The resin V2 body seen in an earlier thread, is it available to order? would a Branch Lines V2 chassis fit? Your layout is really coming on in leaps and bounds, really looking good. Will there be a DVD update any time soon? How does Roy Vinter make the ground (Dolly) signals work?

Good afternoon,I have just found your blog, if that is the correct term, the RTR of today has ,one ,for me, big fault, you are stuck with whatever mechanism the manufacturer decides to put in their engine. Most steam outline models need a good size flywheel attached to the motor for smooth running and a momentum effect For what I mean just look how Bachmanns class 08 diesel shunter runs. All model locos in 4mm should run as well as that, with the appropriate top speed. One observation, on your Little Bytham layout where the down siding meets the down slow/goods near to the M&GN bridge,there should be a set of trap points to prevent conflicting movements towards the down slow/goods. There was also a dolly signal at these points to authorise any movements out of the siding. If you look carefully at your 1957 copy of the BR plan you will see this feature. Hope this information will be of help.