Compound2632

Pardon my ignorance of the prototype but I note the long buffers on the brake end of the third brake and on one end of the third. I presume these were built to operate in close-coupled sets and that the first (or is it a composite?) has short buffers at both ends? And no end steps? (Vide the discussion about steps on Midland 6-wheelers.) It seems to me slightly odd that a close-coupled set should have a brake at only one end or were these sets BT/C/T//T/C/BT with scope for loose vehicles in the middle according to traffic requirements? I'm looking forward to finding out how steps are arranged on the brake end, with its stern gallery windows.

These are described as "hand lamps" - looking through the various examples in the Study Centre collection, I get the impression they were for use by platform staff. Brake van lamps were square - see item no. 10700.

In the great wet Easter Monday bookcase reorganisation, I've just chanced on my copy of British Railway Journal No. 53 (Autumn 1994) which has an article on Marple by Warwick Burton - I don't have many numbers of BRJ but this one has three articles of Midland interest. Prior to the opening of the New Mills to Heaton Mersey line, Marple was the dividing point for the Midland's Manchester and Liverpool expresses. Of the 109 trains calling at Marple according to the August 1898 Bradshaw, 72 were Midland - plus a further eight Midland expresses going through non-stop. The remaining 37 trains were GC locals. At times, trains were running at three-minute intervals - all done with traditional mechanical signalling of course. Then there would be the goods trains of all varieties... That's a lot of rolling stock...

What will form the boundary between the scenic are and the fiddle yard?

I see the space under the fiddle yard traverser is serving as a workbench. I'm afraid at exhibitions I'm one of those nosey people who cranes round for a good look at the stock in the fiddle yard* so I'm hoping you're going to leave it open to view as now. *There is invariably more stock in the fiddle yard than on the layout and one inevitably turns up at the point in the operating cycle just after the really interesting item has gone off-stage!

And 6556 is far too high a number to be a brake van number. Off hand, I can tell you that there were 1,218 brake vans built between 1880 and 1902 (that's from an analysis of the lot list). Some will have been replacements for older Kirtley vans but that gives you an idea of the possible number range. The highest number recorded in Essery, Midland Wagons Vol 2 (OPC, 1980) is 2046 and that's a bit of an outlier. The majority of known numbers are three digits. There do not appear to be any surviving records of numbers allocated, so all that are known are from photographs. Beyond that, it's down to making an informed guess, secure in the knowledge that unless someone turns up a previously unknown photo, you can't be proven wrong. The Midland Railway Study Centre has a number of lamps with similar stamped numbers. Is yours of one of these types? Select "Lamp" from the drop-down menu and click "search".

Re. the end steps. The usual arrangements is four steps going diagonally up from bottom left to to right (in the panel to the right of the centre panel), with a curved handrail from waist height at the LH side to the apex of the roof and a short vertical handrail on the RH side, as seen here. This arrangement applied at both ends. There were some six-wheeled carriages built as close-coupled sets. On these, the brake ends (which had standard buffers) had seven steps arranged in a chevron and curved handrails on both sides and all other ends (with short buffers) were without steps or handrails of any sort - there wasn't really space to climb between the carriages. The D494 lavatory thirds such as you are building were never in close-coupled sets, so the standard arrangement applies. The story with non-corridor clerestory carriages was more complicated - I think there was some modification over time. Ref. R.E. Lacy and G. Dow, Midland Carriages (2 Vols, Wild Swan Publication, 1986).

And not just there either. Coming off in the gravel on a downhill corner taken too fast can't be much fun, despite the advertising. Oh dear we seem to have thread convergence.

I'm actually quite surprised. My money was on Mr Northroader giving us a French bicycle advert*. Not really sure of the advisability of this, whatever the epoch. *The different viewpoint may assist sem's researches?

As one who is too familiar with the lure of the dark side, I say: keep struggling to resist! Surround yourself with pictures of red, green, yellow or even blue engines!

I spent more time watching London Road than anything else at the last exhibition I saw it at - a marvelous variety of LNWR (and other) stock. I hope Jol won't be offended if I say I am a little reminded of the remark made about another superb layout, Kier Hardy's Wibdenshaw, by a friend who was an avid spotter in the 70s - he wished he'd been able to find somewhere with such a variety of locomotives. In short, "not enough 47s".

... the reason being the lateral forces due to an oscillating rail vehicle (as discussed in a recent Brunel-bashing thread). Outside keys give some springiness whereas for inside-keyed track, the rail is hard up against the unyielding cast iron of the chair. Which leads me to wonder, were chair breakages more common with inside-keyed track?

According to Fig. 1 of Dow, Midland Style (HMRS, 1975), the Midland was using 100lb rail in 54lb chairs from 1896 - but that will be for main line renewals. From the 1860s, 83lb rail (or thereabouts) was in use with 40lb chairs with inside keys. Outside keys were adopted in 1884, with 85lb rail in 50lb chairs. Dow also cites The Railway Year Book for 1922: Midland: 45ft rails at 100lb/yard and 54lb chairs - the 1896 spec, so presumably 1896 is also the date for the adoption of 45ft rail; LT&S section: 90lb rail and 52lb chairs; M&GN: 85lb rail and 48lb chairs; S&DJR: 90lb and 83lb rail and 48lb and 40lb chairs; CLC: 95lb rails and 51lb chairs. John Addyman's chapter on civil engineering in North Eastern Record Vol. 1 (HMRS, 1988) includes a table of rail standards used. In brief, 24ft 80lb double-headed rail to 1880, increasing to 30ft 82lb to 1889, then 30ft or 45ft 90lb bullhead to 1906, when British Standard 95lb bullhead rail in 45ft lengths became standard. The LNWR's dustless tracks were laid with 60ft rails, 90lb/yard in 45lb chairs, from 1894. 90lb rail for main lines and 80lb for secondary routes had been the standard since 1887, in 30ft lengths. When Crewe started rolling steel rails in 1875, the weights were 84lb for main lines and 75lb for branches [Talbot et al., LNWR Liveries (HMRS, 1985)]. I have no doubt that the Midland's continued use of 45ft rail compared to the LNWR's 60ft was to make their expresses sound faster! I'll repeat, these will be the standards for running line renewals. There will have been plenty of older, lighter track still in use. I think this all points to a lightly-laid line of the 1880s, such as the WNR, being laid with rails no longer than 30ft, certainly no more than 85lb/yard.

Groan, and groan again. Feeling very dim-witted for not seeing that first time round.

No indeed - the YHA was founded in 1930. Edwardian lady cyclists? - quite properly not cycling on the station platform.

D##n! I had assumed both sides were the same! Looking at the cut-away drawing it seems to make sense that they should both be at the brake end of the van. I know no more than is in Noel Coates' book - in fact less, it turns out. I'll just have to be careful which way round I put mine.

Numinous, surely. Having made the pilgrimage to this barren spot, you await the appearance of the steaming genius loci and adore.

It has to be admitted that the whole business of having to lower the droplight* and lean out to open the door is positively antique. At least the Mk1s had a catch on the inside - but of course no central locking! *and the Mk3s don't even have a stout leather strap to help with that operation. I well remember my first experience of the SNCF, at Calais c. 1980 - yes, a stiff climb up into the carriage but then the announcement: attention à la fermeture automatique des portes. (Up to date version here.) "They order, said I, this matter better in France" - Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey (1768).

Do the daylight strips come in "overcast grey"? Rain has been mentioned as an occasional feature of this part of the world. No "helpful" suggestion for that but could the effect of diminishing visibility on a wet day be achieved by hanging gauze curtains along the layout - one between the railway and the houses, one along the front, maybe?

... which is really the wrong way round. Find a long straight section of the Paris Metro, e.g. the line 4 under Ave. Jean Jaures, and you'll notice that there's a gradient up into the platforms, designed in to help with rapid stops and starts.

There seem to be different arrangements for the side lamps - the fixed housings, like the ones I made following the photo, or more conventional brackets just to the left of each door. I presume you are working from the drawings in Noel Coates, Lancashire & Yorkshire Wagons Vol. 2 (Wild Swan, 2006), especially the rather nice cut-away drawing of the interior? I have to say, I'm not bothering with the interior in 4 mm scale!

Black with illiterate symbols, per the photo on the L&Y Soc website. I've just this evening done the lettering with HMRS pressfix transfers and home-made numberplates, though I don't have the "G. BRAKE FIRE EXTR" lettering. As to the footboards (and wooden footboards in general) I think it's impossible to tell. Other modellers seem to be happy to go with black (google "l&y brake vans"). Preserved carriages by and large have black footboards but would they have remained so in regular use?

One way forward is to make and print one's own brick paper using a suitable drawing package and good quality laser printer - essentially printing the elevation of the building, with wrap-rounds for window and door reveals etc. Alternatively, scribing plastic or good quality card sheet... Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a 4mm scale individual brick system - possibly from the original C&L? As I recall, bricks had to be threaded on to plastic rod uprights. Unlike the track system, it didn't catch on.

.. a common problem with plastic models and even some printed card kits, to say nothing of full-sized modern pseudo-Victorian buildings! Trouble is, once one starts worrying about the bond, there's all sorts of details that can't be kept at bay: quarter-bricks at corners and window recesses to begin with... Then there's the question of course heights. Modern brick and most brick papers and embossed plastic sheets give course heights of 3" but quite a lot of Victorian brickwork - especially for civil engineering applications such as bridges - seem to be nearer 3.25" - which does make quite a visual difference and is also a trap if trying to scale a building from photographs.

With the 'six foot' being 6'0" for both standard and broad gauge in practice (in general) and assuming the switches themselves are of the same geometry, a broad gauge 1:8 crossover will be (7'0.25" - 4'8.5") x 8 = 18'8" longer than a standard gauge one.