The Johnster

I have specifically chosen Cwmdimbath's period as 1948-58 to take maximum advantage of this, Ian. Locos in late G W R intials livery are justified, as well as the transition liveries, and I have workmen's coaches in shirtbutton. I model to photographs when they are available, and 'best guess' when not; for instance I have no photo of 9649, delivered new to Tondu in 1946 in what must have been unlined green G W R intials, and assuming a full overhaul when her boiler ran out of ticket in 1953, probably ran in the livery until at least then. I have made the point that she is owned by British Railways with red backed number plates including a smokebox number plate and shedcode. I have a pair of Hornby Collett 57' suburbans, brake and compo, just to show i'm not going OT with this (!), but they are in BR crimson and have no end branding. I have no idea if coaches from broken up sets were ever used at Tondu, but there were some in South Wales allocated to what was then the Newport Division, and that's good enough for me! The point about liveries is very valid, though. Nowadays, when stock changes owners, the new owners are often very keen to re-livery the vehicle as soon as they can, and overlays make the job much simpler and easier, but on the traditional railway it ran in what it was painted in until the next major overhaul. This can be guesstimated at 7 year intervals in the case of locos, on the basis of a 5 year boiler certificate with a 2 year extension following an examination and hydraulic test by by a Board of Trade inspector, but storage out of use for periods and time waiting for space in works might extend this; it is not an exact science. Best advice as always is to work from accurately dated photos, but these are not always available especially for obscure Mid-Glamorgan valleys workings... I can be fairly accurate with loco numbers as information from RailUK and BR Database shows where they were allocated when, but information about coaches is harder to pin down; types can be shown in photos but rarely numbers. I have to wing it a bit, although people here have been immensely helpful. ChrisF in particular has extended my knowledge of such matters very considerably.

Photos showing the current state of play, but they seem to be taking a long time to load and are 'Queued'. I shall proceed in hope... IMG_1310jpg shows what was originally purchased, though the glazing and cab front have been removed since. IMG_1311jpg is an overhead shot showing progress so far with the seating and interior, and IMG_1313 shows it with the roof in position. I've been doing a bit of filing on the cab front interior to get the windows to sit vertical, and generally cleaning it up; there was a bit of stray epoxy resin around the buffer beam. I'm not happy with the cast regulator handle mounting plate on the outside, a poor piece of casting that is not very crisp and is definitely not level. Moreover, the rivets are not evenly spaced; the one in Lofty's photo looks much better. So I'll be looking for a replacement, ideally etched brass, and maybe even having a go at scratching one if I can't source one! Not very happy with the bell, either, which doesn't sit at the right angle and looks a bit malnourished to my view. I'm coming more to the idea of buying a cheapo A28/30 off 'Bay to provide buffers and buffer housings and the bell. It should look a lot different to this when I've finished with it, with BR crimson livery and plated toplights. Should another one ever come my way, I'll go for 204, another Newport trailer, with American bogies, toplights, and Swindon type door in late GW livery for variety. The doors are inherited from the steam railmotors these trailers were converted from, a Diagram Q built at Swindon and a Q1, outsourced to Gloucester RCW, the doors being the only difference. The trailers were all rebuilt at Swindon, but retained their original doors. Tomorrow's job is to finish the seating and perhaps paint the interiors, and see how the glazing sits in the cab windows after my fettling. I won't glaze anything until the outside painting is done, and we are a little way off that yet. I have bought some fresh Milliput, terracotta fine, to fill the toplights, terracotta because it is a different colour and will show up better against the cream background. it all sounds like major work but actually it isn't, and if I can get a decent run at it and crack on a bit the coach could be finished except for the buffers and bell by next week. Interior colours going to be edumacated guesswork; grey floor, brown woodwork and sides, dark red upholstery, and grey floors with cream walls in the cab, vestibule, and luggage compartment. I ought to have at least a nod at representing the saloon entrance doors from the vestibule. The photo has shown up that the roof seems to overhang a bit oddly at the luggage compartment end, so I'll look into that and trim it up if necessary.

Helvetia must be one of the most photographed wrecks in the world.

Can't imagine it was much use for anything else by then! Yes, they had to work to the tides; the rise and fall here is about 40 feet on the springs. The bow section had been flung on to the top of the rocks in the storm, and was easier to access.

Shouldn't be too difficult, but I've never done it; not a fan of scrapyards personally. You'd have to grind off the pinpoint and then add a stub axle, about 3mm proud of the wheel face, with a lip on the end of it. I'm not sure that some RTR axles are the right diameter; they look a bit small to me. I live close enough to Barry and one or two other loco breakers' back in the day to have a bit of experience of the real thing with regard to steam locos, though. Scrap is still a fairly major feature of the South Wales industrial scene, as a source of recycled steel. As has been said, modern yards fragment material into quite small and unrecognisable lumps of metal stored in heaps. whereas 'back in the day' quite large lumps were loaded into the wagons for melting down. Some of these would be recognisable as sprockets or pulleys, and other assorted general machinery looking gubbinses. Loco scrappers, such as Birds of Bridgend or Cashmore's in Newport, might have cab sides or chimneys, or tender axleboxes, identifiable in the pile. Loco driving wheels were often cut in half. Copper fireboxes were dealt with separately as high value items. Diesel and Electric scrappers tended to separate the cabs off as on some classes these were fibreglass and of no value; Vic Berry in Leicester sometimes featured in Railway press photos of stacks of locomotive cabs and some enthusiasts bought them to have in their gardens! Cashmores also broke ships as their Newport yard had a wharf on the Usk, and this activity was still I believe carried out up until quite recently at 'Giant's Wharf' on the River Neath near Briton Ferry. Ship modellers will probably have a better idea than me of the sort of thing that might be seen, but it is a useful way of including the large number of WW2 naval vessels on the kit market, particularly the Flower Class corvettes, that are otherwise a bit out of place in a commercial port. Flowers were stored moored 3 or 4 abreast in the closed Penarth Dock and the disused part of Cardiff's West Dock during my childhood; it was the early 60s before they were all disposed of to breakers and their presence in a commercial dock or harbour might be explained by this. A 'Liberty' type freighter, the 'S.S. Samtampa' was lost (sadly with all hands and those aboard the Mumbles Lifeboat as well) on Sker rocks, to the west of Porthcawl, in 1947, and was bought and dismantled in situ by a husband and wife team who lived in a caravan on site for the duration of the job. They used a war surplus Sherman tank with the turret missing to winch and chain drag material over the rocks and about 4 miles along the beach including fording the River Kenfig to be delivered to Port Talbot steelworks; took 'em a few years to dismantle and cut the 14,000 ton ship, which had broken into 3 parts during the wreck, and drag it piece by piece to be melted down. The ship's boiler was still visible on the rocks 15 years later and parts of the engine frame can be seen sometimes at the lowest spring tides; some of the material was beyond even this intrepid pair. The scrapper couple are still remembered in the Porthcawl area; I challenge anyone to model this and be believed! It was quite common for wrecked ships to be broken up at the wreck site, especially if they were too badly damaged to be patched, refloated, and towed to a shipbreakers.

Also in South Wales, Aberthaw 'A' power station took in coal in block trains of 24.5 tonners, usually hauled by 42xx, replaced by D68xx, before 'B' came on stream and everything went MGR.

Beware of using wagon or coach wheelsets in your scrapyard as well; the real thing has plain ended axles and model pinpoint ones look very wrong out of the wagon on their own. If you are scrapping steam locos, there is a lot of boiler tube lying about in cut sections.

At the risk of being mildly censured for OT activity again, I endorse the good Captain's remarks about cleaning. I find Hornby locos need it more frequently than Bachmanns, and it is not a major part of my routine. I'd say once about every 2 months for Hornbys, 4 for Baccys. My layout is in almost daily use which means it keeps itself clean to some extent. My locos get a strip down and deep clean, along with new lube, about once every 8 or 9 months when I feel they need it, but there's no formal schedule. My running is pretty reliable. Cotton wool buds soaked in switch cleaner for wheels and pickups, piece of hardboard soaked in switch cleaner for track; any build up of carbon is removed with Peco track rubber or fibre pen; pay attention to turnout blade closure points. I use insulfrogs and switch current with them in the interests of wiring simplicity, so have to ensure electrical continuity here. Insulfrog turnouts laid level and carefully should not cause stalling, and mine don't. I have a powered wheel cleaner, but I'm not that impressed as you still have to clean the pickups by hand so it doesn't save any work.

I think of my railway in theatrical terms and the fiddle yard, a term I use probably because of my age and exposure to the term in magazines during the 60s and 70s, along with 'crane shunt', as off stage, with trains prepared for running on to the scenic section as 'waiting in the wings for their cue'. What we are doing when we operate our layouts is to a significant extent a theatrical activity, a performance for an audience even if it's only of one, ourselves. American modellers refer to fiddle yards as 'staging areas', which seems appropriate, but induces in me a vision of large layouts with multilevel operation and no space restrictions, something far removed from my small BLT. Terminology changes over time, and interestingly 'crane shunt' seems to have fallen out of use and not been replaced with an alternative description. I still use it, though, curmudgeonly old git that I am...

Well, there's OT and there's OT. I'm of the view that a discussion of Hornby Collett bowended suburbans can legitimately include the locos that hauled them, and they were predominantly hauled in daily service by various types of large prairies, particularly 61xx in London area and 5101 elsewhere. Even in South Wales, where slightly different 5 coach sets were used, some 5101s featured among the 56xx and Taff As. It starts getting OT when the discussion moves away from the coaches and becomes about the locos, and I've been as guilty as anyone, so a gentle reminder was appropriate and timely, but I think we can still mention locos in connection with the coaches and the services they worked. This is important guidance for modellers who are not as conversant with steam age practice as some of us, but want to get things as right as they can.

So, unless the Shawplan glazing fits, that's option 2 on the skids, and if the SE Fincast glazing doesn't fit because of being designed for the Airfix/Hornby A28/30, one might assume that the Shawplan glazing for the same model won't either. Just now measured an A28/30's front windows for height; 11.5 mm, and the K's A31 windows are 11.25, so there is a discrepancy of about a scale 3 inches. I don't know if the K's model is inaccurate in this respect, but I suspect it is not. Plan c, then. Careful removal of metal from the top of the inside of the window reveals so as not to overly weaken the structure at a point where only the pillars are holding it together. until the glazing can lie flat on the inside of the cab positioned face down. On the plus side, as I'm out of alternatives, this has removed the problem of having to make the decision! Thanks for the input, again, gents.

Been thinking about the front windows, having removed the cab front to deal with them. Kit is epoxied together and pulling the front off wasn’t difficult! There are, it seems, 3 possibilities. The first is to attempt to fit windows in to the reveals, which would mean more of a flush glazed effect. But I have serious doubts as to my ability to make a neat job of this; I just don’t think I can manage that sort of precision for one window, never mind 3. Second idea deal is to use a flush glazing kit put carefully in place and fixed in a vertical position. SE Finecast do one for the Airfix/Hornby A28/30, but I’ll have to measure up that the dimensions are identical. I can always use it on an A28/30 if it doesn’t fit this! 3rd option is to remove metal from the inside surface and merge the piece so that windows can be fitted to the back in a vertical position, probably a lot of faffing and fitting but simple enough in principle. Possible problem is the weakening of the piece. Suggestions welcome...

I was once a member of a model railway club where all we talked about was computers. We even suggested forming a computer club so we’d have somewhere to talk about model railways...

Small items update; visit to Antics in town this avo has resulted in some Peco Scalescenes yard lamps, and a pillar box, which will sit on the opposite corner from the telephone kiosk. The lamps will go near the goods siding, and maybe one further along the loop, and one for the Remploy siding. They will be a considerable help to the staff on dark winter evenings.

'I've come to talk with you again' Keep ticking the boxes and don't blame yourself for a kit that won't go together properly without a bit of faffing, mate.

The point about keeping locos running chimney first uphill to ensure the water level over the fusible plug was sufficient was the reason for the 'chimney first up the valley' practice in South Wales. Like the KX suburban services, 0-6-2T locos were the usual suspects, and a myth developed that the popularity of the type in the area was that one had a leading axle for better riding on the downhil run. This was not true, particularly with the coal trains which had to be dragged down the steeper portions very slowly against pinned down brakes. The popularity of 0-6-2T in the area was really a function of the simplicity and ease of use of a 6-coupled tank and the extra bunkerage afforded by the extended frames at the rear, just the right size for an out and back trip in the area. Tondu had a couple of 44xx for the very sharply curved Porthcawl branch, which had to be regularly turned in order to even out driving wheel wear. Tondu, which never had a tender loco allocated, was a roundhouse shed with a turntable.

Indeed. As previously mentioned I've seen Gordon having trouble getting off the shed... It worked a train of 10 mk1s on a school booking which I rode on, and had a bit of difficulty getting away from Bridgnorth, but by the time we'd got to Hampton Loade the sun had dried the dew and the loco had no further trouble, total master of it's work. This would have been the summer of 1985.

Version one, 204 with American bogies and Swindon door. Version 2, Swindon door and fishbelly bogies, Version 3, Swindon door and Collett 7' bogies. Version 4, Gloucester door and fishbellys. Version 5, Gloucester door and Colletts. Version 6, W 207 W with plated toplights. This doesn't include permutations of livery and luggage compartment end windows. You haven't got nearly enough of them, Lofty...

Into town shortly where I'll purchase a fresh batch; check my A31 topic on Kits'n'Scratch for a report over the next few days!

I think that's a myth. I was told as a youth starting my drinking career that the beer was bottled having not matured, in the knowledge that it would take a certain amount of time, about 4 months, to deliver to the troops in India who were it's intended customers. The stuff then matured in the bottle 'in transit' to be fresh and ready for consumption when it was delivered, and a brewing process that did not give off excess gas in the maturation period and explode the bottles was required. This of course made it very suitable for storage before selling on the home market, and it was thus very popular here as well. i currently regularly drink Brain's IPA in my local pub, but this is a more or less bog standard keg bitter from a tap, and not a bottled beer at all; it is thus, IMHO, not a true IPA. I don't care, and rather like it!

A smaller motor might still be worth the effort if it frees up space for cab detail, but my suspicion is that someone trying to refurbish one of these is doing it for cost reasons, which is why they are unwilling to replace the loco with the current Hornby Railroad, which tbh would be my default advice. I think the OP probably wants to work with the chassis he’s got; all he wants is the missing spring.

More thanks, Lofty; photographs in Lewis seem to suggest that they are indeed vertical and the slope on the model is down to dodgy casting. My sides seem to be the same length, though, and the coach has been squarely enough assembled, but the front is going to have to come off now and the glazing put in vertically. it's not bad assembly by the original builder, and the glazing has not been put in wonky but properly fitted to the back of the openings, which has given it this slope. It'll catch the light and reflect all wrong... a bit of fettling of the inside surface of the cab front is called for! Finished the seat backs and wings; still got the actual seats and the benches to do. I'll try and get a photo session done soon so as to show off what I've done here!

I'd rather lick the goalies, but I've been watching ladies' football over the part this avo...

Cracking on with the interior. Same card as the floor; came as a piece of packing or something, about 1mm thick, stuck in with Gorilla superglue (I like this stuff, not too runny so you’ve got some say in where it goes, and it goes off proper ‘ard). Lewis has a GA drawing which gives the seating arrangement, but, for the benefit of those who are Lewisless, from the luggage compartment bulkhead reading forwards into rear saloon, 3 seater bench along the side with 2 intermediate arms corresponding to large window/double droplight/large window, then back of seating bay with facing seat, another back, and a pair of half bay seats backing on to the passenger vestibule bulkhead, all repeat on opposite side. This makes more sense when you line the seating up with the windows and droplights. For the front saloon, 2 seater bench with 1 intermediate arm, corresponding to 2 large windows, then full bay corresponding to 2 droplights, a rearward facing half bay with a smaller window, and another full bay with a full size window, up against the driving cab bulkhead. This is significantly different enough to the RTR interiors to require scratchbuilding, which makes it sound as if I’m some sort of superskilled finescale modeller, a concept immediately dispelled if you see any of my work! This is pretty crude card, craft knife, and glue stuff, the sort of thing I was doing in my early teens, which makes it no less fun. I’m cutting parts out, seat backs and wings, by sight not by measurement, and positioning them by sight using the windows as a guide; if it looks about right that’ll do. There’ll be less light to see the crudity by when the toplights are plated in. When the coach is in service, a general impression that there’s something inside will be sufficient to lift it above it’s K’s original state. State of play at present is I’ve done the backs and fixed them in (‘fixed’ sounds better than ‘glued’), and cut out the wings; snipped the corners off the wings to suggest the round finishe wooden moulding. Stopped for dinner, and should be able to do the actual seats, Milliput probably, and the benches later. Painting will be grey floor and upholstery, dark brown for the backs and wings. Interior walls and bulkheads dark brown, cream in vestibule, luggage compartment, and cab. The cab windows slope backwards towards the top slightly, and I haven’t noticed this on any other GW trailer or railmotor. Is this correct or a function of the whitemetal casting? If the latter, I’ll have to correct it, as if I know it’s wrong it’s one of those things that’ll drive me nuts, despite my tolerance of incorrect wheel spacing on a Hornby 2721. The only thing I’m consistent with is inconsistency!!!

Funny you should say this, Covkid, as I'm experiencing the same problem with standard 'yellow and grey' Milliput; hasn't gone off after a week in a centrally heated room. My solution is to give up and replace it with fine, which I've used recently and had no trouble with, but it may be time to start thinking of another product. I've used Milliput for years and had no trouble, an excellent material that can be freely worked and shaped but goes off hard enough to be machined. Maybe a glitch with the current batch; the hardener seemed a bit stiffer and harder to mix than usual, or they've changed the formula. If the latter, it obviously isn't working! I'm so used to Milliput that I don't really know what other products are out there!