neilkirby

When I looked through the announcement yesterday, I did not look at the set numbers, just saw that the pictures showed high top windows, and thought 'move on' . Glad you have pointed that out! Neil PS. Just noticed that according to Hornby they operated in the south east, not the south west!

In that Birmingham photo, that's a very odd looking effect on the warehouse, it looks like a fire has burnt away years of soot build up above the windows, leaving cleaner patches. I have never seen that before. Neil

I have a strict rule, well two. I only do S&D 1950-55, or GWR 1930's. Which is fine in theory, except that I still have some BR blue stuff round my mums house from my youth. . . and then of course I had to have the models of Locomotives my father actually worked on during his time on the railways, which accounts for the Jubilees, Midland compound, Johnson half-cab, and LMS Ivatt 2mt. but now I find myself in a dilemma, in that now I have done my family tree I know more about my grandfathers work on the LSWR & SR, would a Golden Arrow Britannia in tribute to his time at Stewarts Lane be so wrong? and great grandfather was on the LSWR, SECR and SR. This has got me looking at those recent lovely liveried SECR locos, And then, one of my earliest memories of railways is being sat on the seawall at Dawlish by my father just as a Maroon Warship going full blast leaned into the curve seemingly passing over my head. I still remember the shape of the weird stain on the front below the drivers windscreen, If I ever found a photograph to match (and believe me I've looked) so I could find out which one it was, then I would have to have a model of that too! So there you have it 2 very strict rules, but with countless exceptions, all of which I can justify to myself. but then as long as I am happy with what I do, no one else cares. Neil

Yes, but it took her moaning until the end of January before gave in! Neil

I guess I am lucky that I didn't have to worry whether my last years Christmas present would fit in with the rest of my model stock. . . . the wife bought me a TV wall mounting bracket! :beee: Neil

I think we all to some extent wish to push Peco to what we as individuals want to see, and so offer up corresponding arguments of why we think it is the right way to go. Personally I have no idea. But I do think the answer lies on what Peco's overall strategy is for this product, whether they see it as a completely new market, or an upgrade/replacement to their existing range. Assuming it now proven that Peco are committed to the existing geometry then it looks like the latter. If this is the case then to me it is logical to think that they will look at recent sales volumes of there existing range and base the decision on what is to be produced next on that, thus leading to the quickest return on their investment. Alternatively if they do see it as a minority niche product filling a gap somewhere between code 75 and hand built. then I wouldn't hazard a guess at what comes next. The other potential factor is the announcements of other manufacturers, maybe Peco intend to leave the 'Realife' geometry to these. but have staked a claim to head off their rivals in what they see as their bread and butter market? Either way interesting times ahead. Neil

Hattons! or more precisely, the fact that when I google the Hornby/Bachmann model that I am after second-hand, the first page is full of links to Hattons for the numerous second-hand examples they had in back in 2013/2014/2015 etc, and have long since been sold, but for some perverse reason they keep up on their website. These I have to re-check all again in case a new one sneaked in there. Neil

Changed my mind about cars! while a lot of things about cars are better, they are definitely not built with repair in mind. My first car (Escort Mk1) when the headlight bulb blew, it was bonnet up, wiring plug off, old bulb out, new one in, bonnet back down 2 minutes later. Yesterday I spent an hour and a half to change a light bulb on a Honda! IIRC when I changed the left one a couple of years back official advice is to to release the radiator to be able to get at the back of the head lamp, but I read a dodge was to prise down the inner wheel arch and access by feel. which went ok , Yesterday when I tried the same thing on on right hand side the tiny piece of plastic used to mount the bulb retainer had gone brittle resulting in it coming adrift. so the only solution was to take the whole unit out, So opened up the Haynes manual (don't get me started on them!). First stage remove the front bumper!?? :sclerosis: Neil

I 'm in the UK and received something small from Shapeways yesterday from Eindhoven via UPS. Neil

In hind site, that's a fair point about the cars, My dad bought a brand new Fiat in the 60's and found it was already going rusty in the engine compartment, to be fair they did swap it for another new one. Also I won't necessarily argue about the iron being right or wrong way to doing things, although with all the emphasis being green nowadays does seem to be at odds with the modern throw away model of business. Will stick to my guns about modern boilers though, The efficiency may well save you a £100 a year, you are going to need it to help pay for your next one! Neil

Some very interesting points of view in this thread. The gist of which reflects the whole modern world. Most things seem to be better out of the box, but are not built to last. This ranges from a central heating boilers, for example the one I have just replaced was old when I moved in 20 years ago and in that time has just needed the thermocouple changing a couple of times, the newer more efficient replacement will probably only last 10 years and will be a right off when it goes. I only replaced the old one due to building work, the engineer said it was 'bombproof and would probably have lasted for ever, bar the the odd thermocouple , which could be regarded as a consumable, similar to X04 carbon brushes! My mum had the same iron for the whole of my childhood, we now seem to get through one every 18 months. I believe basically manufacturers don't want anything to last, or be repairable, as then you will not be buying the very slightly 'better' replacements in a couple of years time. From boilers and cars, through clothes Irons and phones, right down to a £1 pair of socks, all designed to last just long enough until they want you to buy the replacement. As an aside, when I worked at Bec Models in the late 70's - Early 80's we had an automated 'O' gauge train that ran up and down the length of the window the entire time the shop was open. I cannot remember what locos we used, but I do remember the garish Lima open wagons, One day we noticed that the loco was struggling, further investigation proved it was fine when not coupled to the two wagons, looking at these we were surprised to find that the bearing holes for the axles had steadily worn in to vertical slots and the drag was being caused by the wheel flanges making contact with the floor of the wagons! I think my uncle worked out the actual mileage they might have done by working out speed, distance and the shop opening times. Too long ago now to remember the answer Neil

Just had an email notification from Hattons that these are in stock Neil

Hi Ian, Maybe I missed it, but can I ask how come you have one already? Is it a pre-production? Are they released but I just haven't received mine yet? In anticipation, Neil

This map might help? Neil

I did note that she has a different (or modifed) boiler between the lined and the unlined photograph. There is a thing (lubricator?) on the left-hand rear end of the smokebox. on the unlined photo it is above the handrail and on the lined photo it is below the handrail. I don't know if this detail would help date the photos? Becasse, you have thrown me further into bewilderment because I was thinking, like you, the 'British Railways' comes first but then I had assumed that the lined version was next (similar to 44839) and then finally the unlined. Neil

I I did two of mine with no damage at all. I found the finest flat blade screwdriver I had, pushed into the join and twist. All pinged straight off with barely a mark! However this is no guarantee. I had two supposedly identical Hornby carriages that I wanted to remove the windows from for respraying. First one, both sides out in under 5 mins. The second one, if only! Took me hours of fine prising and swearing to get them out with some breakage, but luckily nothing visible from the outside. Don't know if the difference was the glue used, or how enthusiastically the factory worker applied it. Neil

Hi, Don't know if anyone here can help, but I have just bought a 2nd Hornby black 5 which I want to re-number as 45440 in early 50's livery. Problem is, looking at my references I see it is still lettered "British Railways" in a photo in what the caption claims is November '53, but another photo said to be December '52 shows the early crest with no lining. then by June '55 another photo shows in with the early crest but now lined. Clearly something is wrong with the caption dates, but what is proving difficult to work out? Considering how much the S&D was being photographed back then, this locomotive seems quite elusive! Would a loco have been repainted twice within 3 years back then? Any help much appreciated. PS As an aside when I was doing my 7Fs i put together a little spreadsheet showing the dates of the various liveries on them all. Would this be of use to others? how about a team effort to expand this into all S&D allocated locos? Neil

On the subject of retiring on the proceeds from selling old models. Back when my uncle had a model shop in the late 70's / early 80's (i was the Saturday boy) a guy came in one particularly busy day carrying a very filthy cardboard box, which it turned out contained an equally filthy, tinplate looking locomotive. IIRC the guy said it came from his late grandad's house and he wanted to sell it. With one eye on the queue of people waiting to be served (we used to get that in those days!) my uncle made him an instant offer of £25, the guy was happy. then on asking if it was complete, the guy rather honestly said that "he thought that one bit which goes inside was missing, but he thought he knew where it was and could drop it in" my uncle gave him £22.50, with the outstanding £2.50 if he returned with the missing part. Needless to say we never saw him again and the box sat for quite some time out the back. One quiet day my uncle dug it out cleaned it up. On checking a reference book he found it to be very rare live steam (iirc Marklin?), from 1900s, only 3 were know to exist, and his was in better nick than the example in the book! My uncle kept in in a cabinet in his house for years, until with the shop struggling it had to be sold, he got £1000's for it at auction, and it probably would have gone for more if the guy had returned with the missing part, which turned out to be the burner. Neil

Going further off topic, some years ago I walked past an antique shop in Hampton Court which had in the window, a Hornby Jinty complete with BR logo marked up as 'Pre-War'!

My daughters took me to see this the other week, and while we were queuing I joked "do you want me to point out the inaccuracies with the aircraft, the vehicles, the uniforms, or all three!" Their answer was a most definite "None!" However I did not expect to be twitching at distinctly 60's looking coaches near the end

Read through this thread yesterday afternoon, Just out of interest as I have family connections to the Battersea area, then last night in the 'Battersea Memories' Facebook group somebody posted this: There was some debate as to the date of the picture, but I did note that someone said that the 'smaller building on the left' was a banana warehouse. So another possible source of traffic? Neil

ah, but that bus is going to Clapham Jct, which is in Battersea, it's not actually going to Clapham! Neil

Class 33 in Bullied livery. I first did one of these around 35 years ago when I worked at Bec Models, It got left behind when I left there, so about 20 years ago I did another one! Result below, after being dug out of a drawer I probably haven't opened for 5 years! Neil

Hi, I am currently building a model of Radstock North A signal box using the plans in Chris Handley's excellent books, But have a couple of questions: 1) Does anyone know where I can find a clear photo of the support structure for the stairs landing taken before the porch & toilet were built? 2) How would it have been painted in the early 1950's i.e. before the porch was built. All information gratefully received. thanks in advance Regards, Neil Kirby