The Johnster

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!

When Airfix introduced the 14xx, a big deal was being made of having daylight visible beneath the boiler in the correct places and hiding the motor and gears; more traditional RTR had plastic (or die cast in the case of Hornby Dublo) skirts to hide the motors that would have intruded. The 14xx features a motor that lives in the cab and bunker, driving the front axle through a coupled shaft in order to keep the area between the front of the tank and the smokebox saddle clear. Haulage, even with the traction tyres removed, was very much overkill, but, if the plungers were clean, slow performance was very good, if a little noisy by current standards. The body tooling stands up very well to current standards, and is perfectly acceptable to most of us. This model was a mould breaker in it's day, one of the locos that presaged the current era of scale expectations. We demand as a matter of course nowadays that we should see daylight through our locos in the proper places, and that our locos should have a good bit of detail below the footplate, and that our cabs are clear of motors and have something to see rather than to hide in them, that our motors run quietly and that our drive trains are smooth and controllable, but twas not always so, children.

No it isn't, Ian. I cannot recall them on anything other than passenger work in the Valleys in pre-dmu days, and even after that I can only recall them on freight work south of Radyr and on the main lines, transfer freights being the stock in trade. A WTT from the period will show restrictions, which, as Mike says, were fairly substantial for outside cylinder locos. My last 'ordinary' steam ride from Cardiff was with a 5101, an Whitsun Bank Holiday excursion to Barry Island from the old bay at Queen Street, non stop Cardiff General-Barry. Can't remember the loco number, but it was clean and hence probably Radyr's 4175; stock was a standard 5 coach Valleys set of compartment Colletts, last time I rode on them. There were a few sets kept at Queen Street carriage sidings for this sort of work, but they didn't last long after this.

You're welcome, o captain my captain.

'Top Gear' did one of their races KIng's Cross - Edinburgh with Clarkson on the footplate of Tornado; the set up was that it was 1949 and the other competitors were May in a Jag XK120 and Hammond on a Vincent Black Shadow, going up the A1. There is a high speed slip which is notable for the 3 locomen on the footplate instinctively diving for the regulator while Clarkson looks confused! When the situation is explained to him, he looks incredulous and comments on 'wheelspin at 70mph!'. Bless...