31A

Brake pumps seem to be a recurrent cause for leaving the footplate whilst the train is in motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R32uVrKG2j0

One thing that's wrong with the Hornby version is the shape of the roof - the curve is too pronounced. It should match the shape of the Parkside kit fish vans, but doesn't. Sorry, I've disposed of my Hornby ones for that reason, so I can't take a photo to show what I mean!

Second van looks like an LNER 4 wheeled passenger brake BY (sometimes referred to as "Pigeon Van").

Thanks, not just me then! The overall result looks good. I've got one of those kits to do sometime, as well ....

Thank you Jonathan, glad you like it! Actually I meant to put, I think it's a bit clean! Won't be going over it again now with the weathering otherwise I'd probably end up having to do the rust etc. again too; perhaps it's just been through a Washery....

OK time to Paint Your Wagon. According to the kit instructions these wagons had unpainted woodwork when new, although at least some seem to have been painted grey later ("The Acquired Wagons of British Railways" Vol. 3 p42). Anyway, I don't think I've ever painted a wagon with unpainted bodywork before so I thought I'd give that a go. First thing was a squirt of Halford's grey Plastic Primer over the whole lot. One thing that's never been clear to me is whether they painted all the ironwork the same, i.e. carrying on with the black of the underframe to include all the ironwork on the body as well, or whether the body ironwork was painted 'livery colour' i.e. in this case Wagon Grey. Quite possibly either could be correct, but to hedge my bets, having painted the U/F black as usual I then painted the ironwork on the body with Humbrol 32 which is a very dark grey, akin to LNER Freight Stock Grey. I painted the ironwork on the body before I put on the wood colour; this included painting the diagonal leading up to the end door white. That way I didn't need to worry too much about picking out the ironwork tidily. Then, I painted the wood colour up to the ironwork, and including the inside. It seemed easier to get a neat finish by doing it this way round, although there was still some tidying up to do afterwards. The wood colour is a mainly mix of Humbrol 121 Pale Stone and 64 Light Grey, with small amounts of 110 Natural Wood and 33 Matt Black. Once that had dried I went over some of the planks with the same colours mixed in different quantities to give some variation. Luckily, one of my Modelmasters transfer sheets gave a correct running number for one of these wagons! Then, weathering. I went over the whole lot with my usual mix of Humbrol 29 Dark Earth and 33 Matt Black, and then picked out various bits of ironwork in various shades of rust - mixture of Humbrol 113 Rust, 46 Orange and 160 German Camouflage Red (which is a very useful red/brown colour). Rust applied fairly heavily to the buffer spindles, springs and door bangers, and more thinly around the strapping and rivets / bolt heads on the bodywork. More or less as per the techniques in Martyn Welch's book on weathering. As it was difficult to pick out much detail on the inside of the wagon (and it being mainly a coal wagon) the interior got a good dose of thinned matt black with a spot of Gunmetal (53) added. Finally a waft of Testor's Dullcoat, which I am lucky enough to have a supply of since a friend brought some from Canada last year! So there it is. Perhaps the number transfers could have been 'distressed' a bit more (or perhaps the markings have been re-applied); now it's finished I wonder why I bothered to paint the ironwork grey instead of black, and it's not easy to see the variations in the planks that I so carefully picked out - ho hum! Anyway, fairly pleased with the result of quite a relaxing few days work....

By way of light relief after finishing the latest coach for Peterborough North and a full on Easter weekend behind Grantham, I've been making a wagon kit. This one to be precise: https://www.cambrianmodelrail.co.uk/store/C59-SR-LNER-12ton-8-plank-Mineral-Wagon-SR-D1390-LNER-D192-p94211402 At first sight, 'only a mineral wagon' but actually something a little bit different, being a wagon built in the 1940s by the Southern Railway for the LNER, and with a few distinctive features - 8 plank sides, prominent external angle iron 'side knees' either side of the side doors, and no kerb rails. Cambrian kits are great, but I decided to replace some of the bits with metal parts from my stash because They're better detailed Cambrian wagons have a tendency to riding too high - something to do with the underframe mouldings I presume I had the parts in the stash anyway and thought I might as well use them So, I replaced the axleguards and buffers with ABS white metal castings, used etched parts from Wizard Models / 51L for the brake gear, and drawhooks from Ambis. I really like these 51L brake gear parts: https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wagons/blgva/ They can be a bit fiddly to put together but as long as you follow the instructions they go together well, make a big improvement to the appearance of the wagon and result in a more robust model. As the parts cover a range of prototypes, I had to modify the brake lever for length, drilling a new hole further in from the thick end and cutting off the thin end after it had been bent to shape. Here's the underneath of the wagon, with the work in progress. Although as mineral wagons they had independent brakes, I put a single cross shaft through the V hangers to keep everything in line, then cut away the middle section when everything was set. The inner V hangers and Evo stuck to the inside of the solebars, with the outer ones being cranked round the lower flange of the solebar. Always fun soldering metal bits attached to plastic bits, but at least soldering the stay between the brake lever rack and the axleguard was easier with the axleguards being white metal! This shows all the added metal parts. The door bangers are from brass strip, threaded through slots in the top of the solebar so that they could be glued securely to the underside of the floor. Their angles were adjusted after these photos were taken! Another unusual feature of these wagons was that they evidently had 'standard' buffers at each end, rather than the buffers with upstanding lugs that mineral wagons usually have at the door end, to hold the floor in place. I then cut back the cross shaft, just leaving enough of it to thread the brake shoe moulding onto the remaining stub, having drilled through the centre of the moulding. I'd cut away the moulded safety hangers, and replaced them with the brass ones from the 51L etch. That was all fairly straightforward; in fact I think construction took less time than painting, but I'll come onto that later....

Do you have a rule book you can quote from?

Pre wired? Sorry, I can't see that - I must be missing an important point too! Presumably this would be the one you'd need for a loco-tender connection: https://www.railwayscenics.com/single-miniature-connector-p-1898.html

Bingo Martyn, yes I believe you are correct! The west end of March station with March North Junction box just out of shot to the left, and Norwood Road on the embankment in the background, leading to the overbridge which is visible behind the first vehicle of the train. I can't find any photos on line to support this but here is the March North signal box diagram from the 1960s, by which time the signalling had been simplified and it seems the siding ending at the buffer stops by the platform ramp was no longer there. But it looks to me as though the picture was probably taken from Platform 6 (per the diagram; present day westbound platform now numbered 1) with the face of Platform 5 in the foreground and the west facing bay platforms 3 and 4 beyond that. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pwayowen/7275153232 I don't think the water tower in the picture was associated with the loco depot, which was a long way away from the station on the other side of Norwood Road bridge and had its own water tower, but may have been to supply water cranes in the station area.

Thanks David for posting yet more lovely pictures taken by your father at Cambridge in the 1940s, but are you sure the one of the J20 (JVol1429) was taken there, as I can't place whereabouts if could be?

Another picture has emerged, and some more mangled history with some basis in fact: https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/24243278.york-lner-reveal-details-wagon-found-belgium/?ref=ebbn&nid=1493&u=21888ae365be2b15639e90bf4330cddc&date=100424

I agree with the above! Could I just ask, what is it about the appearance of the Bachmann model of 61949 that makes you think it is incorrect? I've had one for years and am quite happy with it!

Yes, they were only fitted at one end of the coach. I don't know whether there was any hard and fast rule as to which end they were fitted and can only suggest looking at photos or drawings. This may help: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lnerca/15309983385/ Lots of pictures of LNER coach details on that Flickr site! Several pictures of LNER coaches on this site as well: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/albums/72157603653607671/

Apologies if mentioned already but I didn't spot it on a quick browse; the Whistle Stop on the Up platform at Grantham station: https://whatpub.com/pubs/GRN/112/whistle-stop-micro-pub-grantham Opened relatively recently, and usually good for a few unusual East Mids / Lincolnshire ales.