PJT

Having picked up the layout a fortnight ago from the auctioneers, I've at last found a few hours to go through the damage to buildings and structures. The good news is that in every instance of damage where something has been broken off I've been able to find the missing bit in the margarine carton of assorted bits that I carefully collected together as I packed everything up at the auctioneers. It's taken several hours to match all the bits up with their buildings and structures, because some of the structures on Maindee East evolved over the years, some quite subtly, so looking at earlier photos of the layout gave me one or two false alarms about things that might be missing. Finding later photos (possibly taken at exhibitions after the mishap and repairs referred to above by Polybear and Barry Ten) and comparing them to what I actually have here gave me somewhat different and really encouraging results. Thus, in terms of its scenery and structures, restoring Maindee East will genuinely not be a difficult task - it will just require time and patience, either mine (I'd love to, but have I got the time?) or a future custodian's (more likely). I'm so pleased to be able to say that. The next stage (in another week or two's time) will be to work out exactly what I have here in terms of the controls etc., including of course Steffan's fabled smoke system. I know I have the main control panel and on quick inspection it seems complete, both on top and underneath - except for a power source and controllers. I'm still waiting with crossed fingers and hoping that the sellers will decide to make contact with me after the auctioneers made contact with them on my behalf. I would love the opportunity to (at best) reunite Maindee East with some of the cranes and other rolling stock that were synonymous with it - or at least know where they are, keeping the chance alive that they might be reunited in the future. Pete T.

I was saddened, too, to see some of the damage in the flesh for the first time when I went to collect it, though I was mostly prepared for it by closely studying the auctioneer's on-line catalogue photos beforehand. Actually, I realise looking at my last post that I've possibly been unfair to the layout's last owners. I don't know for sure that the unsympathetic storage all took place in the period since Steffan's death; the deterioration might well have started during Steffan's later years and the more recent owners simply received something that obviously needed some repairs and TLC but didn't know how to get it administered or weren't really interested. What I can say for sure, though, is that even the most delicate looking features on Maindee East were strongly constructed and firmly attached and that had they not been quite so resilient then an awful lot more bits would have been broken or disappeared by the time I took ownership. Hmm, yes, rather. I am waiting for the sellers (previous owners?) to contact me so that I might get some information that helps me track down the missing bits and rolling stock. If I'm lucky, of course! If I'm unlucky they won't want to talk to me and the opportunity to reunite Maindee East with its unique rolling stock will be lost. Fingers crossed. Pete T.

Andy, It's clear I don't have some of it, but I haven't as yet had the time to work out exactly what pieces of the system are not there. All is far from lost though - very fortunately, one of the items included in the lot was a lever arch file stuffed full of Steffan's scribbles, drawings, workings-out and also proper plans for design and operation of the layout and its features, including the smoke system. When I picked up Maindee East I asked the auctioneers if they would contact the sellers to see if they would mind me contacting them (you have to do it that way round because these days of course the auctioneers can't just give away the contact details of the sellers). I'll be chasing the auctioneers for an answer this week. I would dearly love to be able to speak to the sellers, not least to ask if there's any other bits still lying around in their garage. I suspect there might be, because the layout shows signs of not being very sympathetically stored for the last 18 months since Steffan's death. Pete T.

Yes, it is hard to successfully secure a future for a 'minority interest' P4 or EM layout, due partly to fewer people being interested in (or perhaps capable of) being involved with it. There's also the fact that, being finer and more delicate than many layouts, it's potentially more susceptible to wear or damage. This is true especially of a layout that's suffered a bit of rough and tumble on the exhibition circuit - with the greatest of care and best of intentions, exhibition layouts will always suffer stresses and distresses not usually experienced by home-based layouts. My hope is that Maindee East Engine Shed, having done fewer exhibitions than some others, may not have suffered so much in that respect and is not worn out. Tony Wright ventured the opinion on exhibition layouts in this September's BRM that 'one or two layouts carry on for too long, often in the hands of others rather than the original builders' and went on to explain why he thought they ought to be retired to a life in private hands where they might receive the remedial care and attention they need. In my opinion he's quite right, as I found out when talking a while back to a member of Newhaven MRC about the battles that club had against life-expired equipment while trying to keep Frank Dyer's Borchester Market operable. Ok, an extreme case of a very old layout, but by degrees it seems true of some other much more modern layouts too. From what I know so far I don't believe that Maindee East Engine Shed has yet reached this point and obviously I hope I won't be finding out soon that it has. I am aware though that for a period earlier in its life it was withdrawn from exhibitions for repairs made necessary by some kind of accidental damage, the details of which I don't know. I do have a bit of a reputation amongst friends for taking pity on things mechanical or electrical, coarse or fine and restoring them to good health despite longish odds and those friends agree that my involvement with Maindee East Engine Shed is exactly what they'd expect me to do once I'd heard of its apparent plight. I believe I have the resolve to see it through. I have to say that I'm very, very encouraged and inspired by the goodwill shown so far on RMweb. I've spent much of my working life in engineering in the motor manufacturing industry, where every person who has an inspirational idea seems to have to swim against a tide of 99 people queueing up enthusiastically to tell him/her every reason under the sun why it can't be done, shouldn't be done or should be done another way. It's really refreshing that it really hasn't happened (so far... touch wood!) on RMweb in the posts concerning this layout; some have warned me of difficulties I'm likely to face, which I don't mind at all and I'm very grateful for, but so many have wished me and the layout well. It seems a lot of people really loved Maindee East Engine Shed. Thank you all for your support. Pete T.

All good points, thank you, Jol. I certainly wouldn't like Maindee East to end up like Heckmondwike (the model railway that was my first great inspiration when I first saw it in Model Railway Constructor Model Railways). While I'd already wondered about talking to Pendon, I hadn't thought of Didcot at all. You could well be right, but at the very least for the sake of a few minutes writing an email or making a phone call one or the other might just be able to point me in the right direction. I think the discussions about Maindee East Engine Shed are moving away from being appropriate for Wright Writes, so after consulting Andy York I've set up 'A Future for Maindee East Engine Shed' as a new topic in Modelling Musings & Miscellany. For those who are interested I'll post updates there. I'll also continue to be very open to advice and suggestions, so please keep them coming. Thank you all for your interest and goodwill so far. Pete T.

The late Steffan Lewis's very highly regarded and beautiful finescale P4 Maindee East Engine Shed exhibition layout went to auction last week, failed to sell and was subsequently bought by me after the event as the start of an attempt to safeguard its future. This has been discussed quite a bit on Wright Writes over the last few days. In fact on one day last week it began to feel a bit like Wright Writes had been temporarily hijacked for Maindee East's benefit, so I thought it was perhaps for the best to start a new topic here, dedicated to the subject. The story so far: I bought Maindee East Engine Shed after it failed to meet its reserve at auction. What drove me to buy it was the strong possibility, as I saw it, that the layout's failure to sell might well be misinterpreted as the layout being of little worth by the owners or those charged with selling it (whereas it may actually have had more to do with other factors like the modelling community not being aware of the auction, or because the layout is built with P4 finescale track rather than using the far more common OO gauge). It seemed to me it could very easily end up being scrapped if it was decided it had little value. Any modeller who's seen Maindee East, a thoroughly authentically detailed model of a fictional South Wales engine shed, either at an exhibition or in magazine articles will know that would have been a tragic end for such a wonderful example of model making. I know that for several reasons there's no way I can keep Maindee East myself, long term. What I would therefore like to do is to place it with an individual, organisation or museum that will provide a good future for it and, importantly, be able to continue displaying it to the public, most preferably as a working layout or, at the very least, as a non-working diorama. This has so far evoked strongly positive feedback from RMweb members, although a few comments about difficulties I'm likely to encounter have also been made - and taken note of. What happens next: Once the layout has been moved from the auctioneers to my home this coming Thursday, I'll then start evaluating what repairs etc. need doing to it before it can be shown again. The photos of the layout in the auction catalogue clearly show a handful of bits of reasonably easily repaired damage. Of course the photos might not be capable of showing more serious problems that only come to light when I take a good hard look at the layout. That's the gamble I've taken in buying it, though if it turns out to be just a case of a list of things that need mending I am pretty confident I have the skills to cope with that. Probably the biggest uncertainty is the type of rolling stock that comes in the auction lot with Maindee East. In the auctioneers' photos it rather looks like it's all OO stock and therefore useless for the layout (which cannot be regauged to OO without destroying it), but I won't know for sure until I see it all on Thursday. I'm under no illusions that a lack of suitable P4 rolling stock to use on the layout could be a difficult problem to solve. I've not made a rigid plan in my efforts to save Maindee East Engine Shed and I'm happy to receive suggestions from the RMweb community on how to go forward, on people I could or should contact, or even offers from those who feel they can give Maindee East a good future themselves, so long as they are prepared to make it available for public viewing. Suggestions about people or organisations I might talk to have so far included AIMREC, The Scalefour Society, Pendon Museum and The Great Western Society at Didcot. I realise some of these may not have the ability or desire to take on the layout themselves, but again if they come up with useful advice or suggestions I'll be very happy to hear them. Once I've got Maindee East back here I'll take some photos and post them on RMweb so you can all see the current condition of the layout and hopefully appreciate why I and quite a few others believe it's worth saving. In the meantime, the photos in the auctioneers' catalogue will give you half an idea. They may be viewed at http://wottonauctions.co.uk/Catalogues/2019/gs200819/lot1429.html

Thank you Chris. Thats a proposal I didn't anticipate at all. Very kind of you to think of it. I shall certainly bear it in mind, depending on where Maindee East ultimately goes. And thank you, too, Tony.

Thank you for that. I shall, once I've got the layout back here next week. Pete T.

You're right, but I'd put it a little more strongly than that. When you look closely at photos of Maindee East, changing the gauge is absolutely a non-starter. I'd end up with half destroyed baseboards and a collection of very beautiful buildings to find new homes for and that's the very last outcome I'd want for something that I set out to save. Contacting the Scalefour Society is a very good idea and once I have everything back here and I've found out exactly what I have bought I think I'll be in touch with them. Lying in bed last night, I had one of those head vs. heart conversations with myself. Much as I'd love to, I really can't keep it long term. I have too many other commitments for my time and for me to leave it languishing untouched for years is definitely another outcome I wouldn't want for it. If ultimately I can pass it on to an individual, an organisation or museum that will give it the future it deserves, then I'll be happy with that. In the meantime I just need to get it back here before the auction house start charging storage... Pete T.

I agree with every word of that - which is why I (and Polybear, and probably several others) wondered if it might have stood half a chance of reaching an interested P4 audience if it had been advertised in MRJ. Even then, converting an interest in the fate of a very well regarded model into a desire to buy it would probably require a huge slice of good luck to see the right buyer come along for (as you rightly say) a 'niche of a niche market' item. I know I wouldn't have wanted to be tasked with selling it.

No, not at all Brian. No offence given or taken; I completely agree with your comments. It's just that they did also make me wonder if I ought to assure some people who might otherwise see my actions in a harsher light that I wasn't just an opportunist swooping in and paying as little as I could get away with for the layout. I too thought it might have sold better if it had been advertised in MRJ, as a few other wonderful layouts have been over the years. However, as I said before, there's no guarantee that it would have sold - and then what? Last night, before I emailed the auction house, I wondered long and hard whether I was doing the right thing. My life has more than enough going on in it already without getting involved in Maindee East. The clincher, though, was contemplating what might have happened to it if I hadn't stepped in. I'd have hated to hear later that it had been scrapped after I'd seriously contemplated saving it and then turned away. I would hope that someone else might have stepped in if I hadn't - but again, there's no guarantee of that, so I decided to go for it myself. The photos in the auctioneer's on-line catalogue show some damage that will need repairing, but they also made me think that it was definitely worth saving and not a mishandled basket case or worn out (admittedly that's harder to judge in photographs). I hope I was right to think so! Pete T.

I fully understand your feelings. With the thought at the front of my mind that the sellers were most probably Steffan's family, I deliberately and immediately accepted the auctioneer's offer to sell it to me at their estimated sale price plus buyer's premium. There wasn't a lot of negotiating to be done from my point of view. I wouldn't have felt comfortable paying anything less, though I know I still got an awful lot of very skillful man-hours of work for the price I paid and that had a different route to market been taken the seller might have realised more money (though there's no guarantee of that). And please excuse the well-worn cliche but I really do feel more that I've taken over as its guardian, rather than owner. I'll be driving from East Sussex to Gloucestershire sometime next week to collect it, by the way. Pete T.

Thanks for all the messages of goodwill. I thought I was doing the right thing to purchase Maindee East to save it, but naturally a part of me was concerned that I was, not for the first time in my life, being a bit too impulsive and/or sentimental. Your kind comments have reassured me. Whatever I end up doing with it, I am determined that it should be available to view because it's such a wonderful example of observational artistry and it shows a great understanding of the way things used to be done on the railways - which you all know already. I sincerely hope someone, or some organisation, can step forward to do the same for Roy Jackson's Retford and ensure its future, though of course they'll have to have far deeper pockets, a lot more time and a great deal more space than I'll ever have. Pete T.

I got in touch with the auction house last night and negotiated the purchase of Maindee East today. I'll be picking it up next week. I haven't decided yet what I'll do with it; my primary concern was to ensure its survival, as intact as possible, since I'm a fan of Steffan Lewis's work and as a model I always found Maindee East very inspiring. Once I've got it home I'll decide what to do with it. If I decide to keep it (and a big part of me would really like to) I certainly have the space to do so, though I'm already pretty well committed as far as modelling time is concerned! On the other hand, it might be best for its future to offer it to a club, museum or even AIMREC at Ashford; it's certainly good enough for the latter. I'm open to thoughts and suggestions... By the way, thank you to those who highlighted its plight here on RMWeb. Pete T.

You and me both! I get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from buying, repairing and sometimes modifying non-runners - it's become a bit of a habit over recent years and I've always got at least one dead loco on the go in the workshop. Not that I'd ever do it as a sideline business or for profit - if I factored my time into the repair costs I wouldn't stand a chance of making any money out of it. For me, it's just a cheap way to get quite a few more locos that I'd like for my railway and have a lot of fun working on them along the way. Please excuse my including every last detail of the chassis/gears work. I hope it didn't come across as patronising. I wasn't sure how much you knew so to be on the safe side I threw everything I could think of into my answer to you! Pete T.

Another comment on the Scots/Rebuilt Patriots that might be useful to you: The non-meshing of gears on these models isn't necessarily down to the upper retainer casting not securing because of casting fracture. Unfortunately these models are another of Hornby's that suffer from split gears. The intermediate gear set is made up of a wide gear (meshes with the motor worm) and a narrow gear (meshes with the gear on the centre driving axle), both mounted on the same shaft which is splined to hold the gears without slipping. The narrow gear splits, then spins on the shaft because the splines can no longer grip it. On the Scots/Rebuilt Patriots I've repaired (my own three, plus three others), I've had non-meshing gears down to three conditions: broken casting, split gear, plus a couple with both a broken casting and a split gear together. If the split in the narrow gear is fine enough, you can carefully, sparingly, Araldite it to the wide gear next to it and the wide gear will hold it securely and stop it spinning on the shaft (thoroughly degreasing the gears before applying the adhesive, obviously!). Being stuck to the wide gear will also prevent the split in the narrow gear from opening up any further. Another method of repair without using adhesive is to drill and pin the gears together. If however the split in the gear has opened up already to the point where you can see daylight through it, no amount of glueing or pinning will work because the distance between the gear teeth either side of the split will be wrong and your loco, once reassembled, will run with a limp (at best) or the gears will jam. In these circumstances only a new gear set will suffice. The Hornby part number for the gear set is X3875 and the price is around the £4 mark; Hornby don't have stock at present but the usual vendors of Hornby spares seem to have plenty of stock. Pete T.

The answer is yes, the main casting and the upper gear/motor front retainer that form the two parts of X7219 are exactly the same for both Hornby Royal Scots and Rebuilt Patriots (as is the two piece motor mounting X9741). I've rebuit three in the last few months - Patriot 45545 'Planet', Scots 46102 Black Watch and 46144 Honourable Artillery Company - using X7219 chassis block sets and while the body detail differences are numerous between the loco types the chassis are just the same. Two things to watch out for if you're going to do the job yourself: Firstly, the incredibly fine moulded rear sanding pipes on the centre drivers are stuck to the chassis block and the only way I found to remove them without damage from the old chassis is to ease them away by gently twisting a sharp scalpel blade under the pipe, doing it alternately either side of the sand pipe locating peg that's glued in a hole in the chassis, until the glue join breaks. Secondly, as supplied the chassis block is painted - including the screw holes. All of these holes in the chassis need the paint clearing from them, otherwise the thickness of the paint makes the holes effectively too small for the screws to thread in them (force them and you'll shear the screw, leaving part of the screw behind in the chassis, which you've then got to remove somehow without damaging the chassis). If you have a set of micro drills it's not hard to find the right diameters to clear the paint without removing any metal with it - if you use even slightly too large a drill you'll also remove metal, making the hole too large for the screw thread to grip properly. If you're uncertain of your capabilities on this, let Hornby do the job for you. They are good at it - I've done all my own Scots/Patriots so I can't speak for these particular models but a few years ago Hornby's service department put a new chassis and motor mounts on one of my Hornby T9 locos (which had suffered from the dreaded Mazak Rot problem) and they made a really good, clean job of it. Pete T.

Ah, that will have been back in my unenlightened decades, when I soldiered on with my model making without the huge resource of experience and help that is RMweb! Yup, you're quite right John, that's where I've been getting my original clear Klear from. Some (but not all) other importers charge like a wounded bull for it: I've seen it even recently elsewhere on the internet for £30 or more, though I doubt whether many (or any) actually gets sold at that sort of price. Pete T.

I couldn't agree more; if I'd heard the rumours I'd have picked up enough to keep me going (and warned fellow model makers). However, I didn't and for those of us who didn't have the forewarning/foresight I suspect we're all just happy to have another chance to buy it again. To be honest, even at £13 it's still a good price when compared to other varnishes, final finish coatings etc. - it only becomes very expensive when compared to the price when it was last available in the supermarkets... which it isn't any more, more's the pity. I've no connection to the product or sellers, just a very satisfied user. Pete T.

You're very welcome. Incidentally, if anyone here is concerned that Johnson's 'Pledge Revive It' might not be the old clear Klear, have a look at the glowing customers' (model makers) reviews under the listing on Amazon. Pete T.

You can still get the old formula Klear. It's now called Johnson's Pledge Revive It (the name keeps changing, but it is the original 'clear Klear'). It's not on general sale in the UK and Europe, having been replaced in shops here by the milky formulation that's just not quite right. As a result the original 'clear Klear' is specially imported in limited volumes from the USA largely it seems for use by the model making community. The £13 price tag (for 0.8 litres/1.4 pints, incl. delivery) made me flinch a bit, but once I started using it again I forgave the price. I bought it through Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000ARPH4C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) but I'm sure there'd be other outlets.

Also the later batches have a different PCB inside that features switches for lighting control. Just thought I ought to add - you can get the later PCB from DCC Supplies to retro-fit to an earlier model if you fancy having more control of the cab lights. I discovered that when I replaced a failed PCB in an early model; the replacement wasn't cheap but at least had the bonus of the lighting switches. Oops, sorry, duff gen: I've just been and looked at it and it's the blanking plug that is supplied with the new PCB (though the website states the PCB comes without a blanking plug) that has the switches on it. Same outcome, for DC users anyway. The part number for the PCB is 105379 and the photo shows the original style PCB, though if you order one you will get the later type.

My mate Eddie and I took a day trip 'Merrymaker' excursion from Chichester in Sussex to Chester one day, when we were 12 (Merrymakers were a really affordable way for 12 year olds to travel a good distance - anyone else remember them?). We then caught a train from Chester to Crewe and had a fabulous day there. The bonus was travelling via the goods only route past Bescot yard on the way up and again on the way back. That was all on our own, of course. My Dad holds the record in our immediate family, though, by a long, long way. Having just passed his 14th birthday, in 1922 he was packed off on his own to Australia to start a new life under HM Government's Dreadnought scheme, via a three month voyage on Aberdeen Commonwealth's SS Euripides. I guess you could call that character-forming. His younger brother joined him in Australia a year later, when he too turned 14, under the Big Brother scheme.

Sorry to hear that, Willie. Would have been great if it had worked for you. Clearly from your response and G-BOAF's I was just very lucky to deal with so many easily curable ones, unlikely though it may seem. Pete T.

Thanks, G-BOAF, I've just had a look at the post you pointed me towards and yes, it seems that poster had a rather different experience to me. As I said though, I've now corrected in excess of a dozen locos, including either three or four Book Laws and six Minorus and the fix really was as simple as I've described (and I never had an outcome where the footplate became straighter but was not entirely cured). I guess I have to accept fom your comment that there must be models out there that can't be easily sorted out this way and modify my statement to say that removing the washer might fix the 'ski jump' rather than implying that it definitely will. However, I reckon if I've done so many and genuinely cured the problem on all of them, then surely the odds must be pretty good for others who fancy giving it a go. Pete T.