31A

So there are - thank you! I must have seen those before and forgotten. Looks lovely, doesn't it!

I have ordered R3234 which is described as 'Early BR' (which I believe means the pre-1956 'cycling lion' emblem), as I found out that the other BR version (R3235), described as 'Early BR (1948)' has the tender lettered 'BRITISH RAILWAYS'. I can't remember where I found that out from, one of the mags I think, but hope this helps. Presumably R3233, described as 'Pre 1948' is the LNER liveried version. Interesting to read in Model Rail that the D16 is expected to be one of the earliest of the newly announced locos to be available (October, together with the LSW 700), although as far as I know no pictures have been shown yet of any prototypes etc.

Thanks again, Ronnie. Point taken about the tender vents and spring links, so I think it's safe to say the tender for my loco will be an all welded type, rightly or wrongly. I was thinking about the fire iron tunnel and my build one from Plastikard so your picture is useful in showing the shape - or I may just 'bury' it in coal! Next challenge however is to arrange current pick up from the Bachmann tender underframe, as it seems a pity to lose it.

Many thanks for the replies so far, both, and oh dear, I should have known this would be a minefield! The model I have is numbered 44668, which I understand makes it from one of the last built batches, long wheelbase, top feed on first boiler ring and 28 element superheater (from the info in MRJ 25). In model form, this is the one which was supplied with smooth tank sides but rivets on the back. I've already removed the rivets from the back, so I believe the tender now correctly represents a fully-welded one, and on the bright side, doesn't need to have sieve boxes. I didn't intend renumbering it, but from the Comet list (thanks for pointing this out!), it looks as though this loco should have a part welded tender. However I suppose one could always assume an unrecorded tender swap.... I guess the tender brake gear could come from Mainly Trains MT185; again, I hadn't spotted this product in my searches.

I'm just starting doing a 'Brassmasters' on a Hornby Black 5, and not being too well versed on LMS matters, have a couple of queries about the tender. Mindful of the spurious 'valence' on the Hornby tender, I've managed to marry the Hornby top with the underframe from a Bachmann Jubilee tender. However I believe 'sieve boxes' were sometimes fitted to the frames between the first and second axle boxes. I wondered when these were fitted (my model will be c. 1960 condition), whether all the tenders were eventually fitted with them, and whether there were two per tender, i.e. one on each side, or was there just one per tender? I see Comet list them as parts in their range, although they look like the sort of thing I could make from Plastikard; however so far I haven't found any drawings which show them. Secondly, although the Bachmann tender underframe is better detailed (and I don't think I'll need to use the Brassmasters axle boxes and springs), I don't like the way the brake hangers are moulded solidly with the frames. I may well just cut these off as I think it'd look better with no brakes at all, but wondered whether anybody produces a suitable set of brake gear for one of these tenders? I've had a look through the web sites for Comet, Brassmasters and Alan Gibson but so far not found anything suitable. Thanks in advance for any guidance on the above!

Thank you for those encouraging words; I'll look forward to reading your article, and consider my options. I must admit, I've never got on very well with using transfers to line locos; I have used a bow pen in the past, but not for several years now!

Like the look of this Clive, and look forward to seeing how you get on with it. Ingenious use of a Peco single slip to effectively make a scissors crossover, on a curve, whilst maintaining the normal 'six foot'! Are the grid lines on your plan 1ft squares?

Don't apologise Tony, I've had a spare Bachmann K3 stashed away for a while with just such a conversion in mind so I'll be very interested to read this. Main deterrent so far has been the thought of the BR mixed traffic lining...

Just noticed, a service sheet has been created for the K1, from which it appears the pony truck is pivoted in the conventional way rather than the L1 'two pins' arrangement (HSS 410 in the list of service sheets on the Hornby web site).

It is a lovely picture. Anyone any idea where it was taken?

Thanks Mike! No coal traffic on my layout. I have weathered BR grey wagons in the past, but find it difficult to avoid them turning out very dark, whereas the impression I get of grey (non mineral) wagons from pictures is that they remained quite pale. Having said that, the above brake van IS weathered although you could hardly tell from the picture and perhaps I should revisit it!

These vans scrub up very nicely; considering the tooling must be about 30 years old they stand comparison with much more recent RTR products. I've 'tarted up' three over the years - below is the one I did earlier this year, using a recent Hornby offering: As you can see, I didn't replace the handrails - sometimes I think moulded detail is best left alone provided it's accurate and neatly done. I didn't think I could replace the handrails as neatly as they are moulded, and certainly not without incurring a repaint which I wanted to avoid. However I do think it's worth replacing the roof, which always strikes me as over thick. Luckily it is a separate piece, and I've never found it too difficult to break the glued join. The new roof is made from 20thou Plastikard, taped to an empty wine bottle which is then filled with boiling water and allowed to cool. The new chimney is a piece of single core mains cable with a 'dimple' drilled in the top, and the base is a small washer. Rain strips were from 10thou Plastikard with the curved end of a steel rule used to ensure a smooth curve (sometimes the chimney base was square and the rain strips straight, which simplifies things!). While the roof is off, it's a simple job to glaze the windows. Another mod I think is worthwhile, is to replace the lower step board hangers with new ones from metal strip. If you leave the superfluous plastic where the step boards pass in front of the axleboxes, this is quite easy - if you remove this plastic, you may as well make new step boards; I've never been bold enough to do this! On the van above, I made the ballast weight box up from Plastikard. This was the first time I'd done this and I didn't have a drawing which showed it so I guesstimated its dimensions from studying photos. Paul Bartlett's web site was as always a useful source, and includes pictures of some vans with the lower step boards removed giving a good view of the weight box, for example: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/lmsbrakevan/h3f0b1b29#h3f0b1b29 I believe the model I've used carries a running number appropriate to a van with a weight box, but not all vans had this. I didn't replace the buffers, but from looking again at the above picture, perhaps I could have been more careful to clean the moulding flash from them! Another thing I didn't do but could have done, was to replace the safety bars across the doorways with one in the closed position. I've struggled to do this neatly in the past with all four consistent, so again it's a case of neatly moulded detail left well alone, I'm afraid. As you can see I've also added lamps, but was quite restrained on the weathering. Partly because I think BR grey wagons can turn out the wrong colour if heavily weathered (I get the impression from contemporary colour photos that grey wagons remained quite a pale shade), and also because brake vans obviously don't carry any loads which would make them dirty.

Thanks Paul, that sounds very much like the version Hornby have announced for production later this year as R6650, which hasn't been released yet as far as I know. That version would actually suit me better as it stands, but taking the view that the supply of Hornby products seems somewhat erratic at the moment and R6622 was on the shelf at Monk Bar Models, I thought I'd snap one up while it was in front of me!

I picked up one of the recently-released weathered black versions of this model the other day (R6622); the first one I'd handled as it is the first black version they've done. As I wanted a wagon in c.1960 condition, I set about removing the TOPS code, data panels and coloured markings, although I note that Hornby have accurately reproduced these as per Paul Bartlett's picture of this wagon: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/troutzfo/hba30fde#hba30fde Not sure when the coloured markings were introduced in reality, but anyway, the insignia came off easily enough with careful use of a fibreglass scratch brush. Tamiya acrylic paint thinners does a good job of removing Hornby weathering paint, although the external factory-applied weathering actually works quite well on this wagon. So now I've got it back to what I think it might have looked like in 1960: There's a lot of good points about this model, a lot of subtle detailing and nicely done wire handrails; a good companion for the Shark brake van and in many ways better than the Heljan Dogfish. However, one thing that jars slightly (and I don't think has been commented on previously) is the way the vertical side stanchions are moulded, with a split where the body moulding joins the underframe. On my example, one side is worse than the other (the picture shows the 'worse' side) and the gap is worse at the brake platform end, and it looks as though the body may be assembled to the underframe slightly out of square. However I can't get it apart to try and make it fit better - I wondered whether anybody else had succeeded at this? Alternatively I thought of ways of disguising the gap, e.g. by gluing microstrip from top to bottom of the stanchions either side of the central channel in them, but that sounds a bit drastic!

Oh dear, John! Nobody seems to have an answer for this and neither do I'm afraid, but your post rang a bell in my subconscious, and a pang of guilty conscience! Some time ago, I discovered the same as you, by looking through the book 'LNER Pacifics in Colour' by Derek Penny, which includes a picture of 'Happy Knight' without electric lamps (p77). The caption to the picture is undated, but shows an up express south of Retford; the loco has the late crest on the tender, and the train is about 50/50 crimson & cream / maroon coaches. Anyway, I've so far 'turned a blind eye' to this discrepancy as I decided that to remove the electric lighting would be 'too difficult'. Not only would you have to remove the lamps from the front buffer beam and smokebox door, but you'd also need to remove the steam generator from behind the right hand (fireman's side) smoke deflector. I expect this is a separate item but how easy it would be to remove it without damaging the smoke deflector I didn't fancy trying to find out! On the tender rear, the lamps look as though they might be separate mouldings but how easily they'd come off might depend on how much glue's been used. The vertical piece of conduit leading to the upper lamp is definitely a separate part and should come away easily, but the horizontal conduit joining the outer lamps appears to be part of the tender moulding. In any case, attempting to remove any of that lot would seriously risk damaging the paintwork on the tender back. And yes, the photo does show an AWS plate beneath the front buffer beam, which lead to the conclusion that there should also be a battery box somewhere; usually this was fixed to the driver's side cab steps on these locos. It would be easier to alter the BR crest to the early type, but the later type suits the period of my layout better!

Yes, it does look a bit odd doesn't it? Trick of the lens (or malfunction of the photographer) - it isn't really about to fall onto the railway!

Thanks, Classix! Yes, the headlamps are repositioned as appropriate for the class of train. They're mostly Springside cast headlamps hollowed out from below by drilling two holes next to each other and joining them up to make a slot which will drop over the loco's lamp irons. The wastage rate is fairly high in this process, and I often have to glue the jewelled 'lens' back in with Loctite. I've also got a few Hornby plastic ones from the loco accessory pack they used to include with their engines - these are easier to hollow out, but are really over scale - I've tried to avoid getting them into the pictures in this thread! I've added lamp irons to locos as necessary; normally I use flattened staples although modern rtr locos usually have suitable lamp irons already. The system doesn't always work though - lamp irons on the backs of tenders can be too close to the tender back to get a lamp over, and those on smokebox doors can be unusable if there's a continuous handrail above (e.g. Hornby B1 and B17). Sometimes I replace them with ones which can be used, but I'm reluctant to start carving such beautiful models about.

Your wish is my command...... Here's one I made earlier - a lot earlier in fact, from a Nu-Cast kit. It would be easy enough to repaint it into BR livery I suppose, but it isn't really up to the standard of modern ready-to-run, and besides I might want to run the layout in 1930s mode sometime. But the J6 and j50 have consistently scored quite high in recent wish list polls, so I remain optimistic, and up to date versions of either or both would be very welcome.

That's scary - how long ago that was, and the Terrace is still not finished! I got stalled at the windows stage; I did get a quote for some bespoke laser cut window frames, but it seemed quite expensive, although there are quite a lot of windows! Sensibly, being at the back of the layout, I need to get on with these houses before I can move on to working signals which would be vulnerable if I had to keep reaching across them to finish the scenery behind. Yes, the idea of overhanging buildings across the platforms ends appeals more as I think about it. I was just looking at 'Glory Days-Metropolitan Railway' and on the cover there's a nice picture of a Met electric loco arriving at Baker Street beneath just such a building. It'd be quite pretty simple to do, just some brick embossed plastikard and some window frames (no need for them to be bespoke!).

That's an excellent idea, actually - I'll consider how it might be done. Platform lengths are at a premium, and you need to be able to reach between locos and coaches to uncouple, but as long as the building didn't overhang the ends of the track by more than a tank engine's length, that would work very well. Most of the low relief buildings you can see along the back are American kits from DPM, with the exception of the nondescript ecclesiastical building which is an Artitec resin casting, and the red-tiled Tube station which is scratch built. Further down towards the goods warehouse, the row of Georgian terraced houses is made up of resin castings supplied by one of our fellow forum members, and is in need of finishing - a solution to the windows has so far eluded me (another reason not to go into print just yet)! The main station building is made up of two Kibri kits (no. 9354) combined, with a more British looking roof and chimneys from Wills materials.

Here's a few more pictures to be going on with. Firstly, not a view a train spotter would enjoy - a roofer, maybe! Looking down from the roof of the station building towards the buffer stops; this is included warts, door knobs and all to show what this end of the layout looks like, and one of the reasons why it isn't ready to go into a magazine yet! I was hoping to avoid using a backscene as the perspectives can look strange from different angles when urban scenes are involved and was intending to use low relief buildings instead, but this end really needs a backscene of some sort above the retaining wall. Also some poster hoardings on the retaining wall itself. Next, the view a train spotter could enjoy if he arrives by train, in the front compartment of a DMU running into platform 1. Looking back from platform 1 at the parcels train seen in the previous shot which has arrived in platform 2 behind 67772, and also showing a bit more of the station buildings. The wooden buildings on the island platform are from Parkside's 'Grand Junction' mouldings for LNW station buildings, but this shot was taken from an unusual angle and from most viewing positions they are more or less invisible, anyway. A bit of a blurred picture for some reason; it has something of the 'Box Brownie' about it (although in colour)! I've edited out the wallpaper in this and the next shots, not as expertly as some people would have done. Across on platform 3, a suburban train has just arrived behind an N2. This picture gives the lie to the Peco track, and another reason for not publishing - no ballast on these lines yet! Also, some more canopy (and possibly a small building) to add on platform 4, to the left. For now, it gives an idea of how the platform canopies have been cobbled up from bits of Airfix (Dapol) kits. The footbridge is a bit too clean, too. Back at the 'country' end, two more 'Big Mets' prepare to set off for the Northern Heights. One day I might get around to some destination boards for them. 69531 on the left is one of the very earliest Mainline versions of this model, with a fair amount of added detail and running on a Comet chassis - I never had any Mainline ones which would run at all well! 69535 next door is a more recent Hornby production, with less added detail and a reasonable runner after one or two tweaks.

Thanks Jonathan, what a remarkable coincidence - great minds, etc! I didn't realise the WGC club had folded; many years ago I visited their exhibitions on a semi regular basis and was quite impressed by the standards of modelling.

Thanks Peter; just laid 'as is'. I did cut the 'knobs' off the point tie bars to make the trackwork look slightly less obviously 'Peco', and later wished I'd shortened the long timbers under the points which are designed to carry point motors, but didn't think of that until after I'd ballasted it!

Thanks, Jonathan! I agree, containers do look better chained to their wagons, but it's quite fiddly to achieve. I've got a couple of ordinary 'red' A Types to do next, and as you may be able to see in one of the pics, the B Types aren't chained down yet - less obvious with those, but they're on the 'to do' list. Continental wagons are still on the 'to do lit' as well (it's a long list!).

Hi, thanks for the kind comments! Originally, I ran the layout with 1930s-period LNER stock, and in my version of history, the line was severely damaged in the Blitz and didn't re-open after WW2. I suppose having moved on to 'transition period' rolling stock, I'd better think of another story - how about it was closed by Beeching (at the time that Broad St. was initially threatened with closure) and is now beneath a 1980s Broadgate style office development? The layout as it now exists is 12ft 4ins long, by 2ft wide. The longest platform (platform 1) can hold a train of 6 Mk1s, with a main line loco at either end. Platform 2 can just hold 6 Mk1s with a loco on the front, and 3 and 4 are long enough for 5 x 57ft coaches with a loco at either end, or a 6-car set of mixed 57ft and 51ft coaches at a pinch. The curve out to the fiddle yard has a tightest radius of 3ft; originally it was greater and when the layout had to be shortened, I initially thought I couldn't get all four roads round the curve, which is why the Down Slow is drawn as a dead end on the plan I posted earlier. With some trial and error however, I found all four roads would go round without going below 3ft radius, after all. The fiddle yard is very temporary as I intend eventually to extend the layout further round the room. For the moment, it has 11 roads on a baseboard 2ft wide; each is accessible for both arrivals and departures, and ends in approximately 1ft length of permanently 'dead' track, so that any train driven in stops automatically (DMUs have to have the power car at the north end). The track is Peco Streamline Code 75 throughout, with medium radius points - the sharpest curves are the curves through the double or single slips. When I started, live frog slips weren't available so I used dead frog ones, which has always been a potential source of unreliability and I make sure locos pick up off as many wheels as possible. It does however simplify the wiring! The station building is as shown in one of the earlier pictures, on the road bridge across the platforms. I did mock it up with the building above the buffer stops ends of the platforms, but that exaggerated the shortness of the platforms, whereas the arrangement I finally chose actually tends to disguise the length of the platforms. It also means that the frontage of the station building is visible, which wouldn't have been the case if it had been above the buffer stops. The layout isn't built for portability in the sense that it can be exhibited, although it has survived a house move - reconnecting the wiring took longer than most exhibitions last, however!