matty-a7x

Evening all,

After a lot of hard work I'm very pleased to be able to share my latest book "The Railway Photography of Gordon Stubbs". The book is a collection of my late godfathers railway pictures, with some dating back to the early 1950's. The majority of the pictures were taken around the North East in locations such as, Sunderland, Durham and Newcastle. Although there is a good amount from the Midland, Southern and Western regions. The focus is mainly mainline steam, but there is a small amount of industrial steam and few of the early BR diesels and some early preservation shots of the Ffestioniog. So hopefully something for everyone! 

I'd also like to mention that all the money the book makes will be donated to charity. If you're interested in getting a copy then you can by clicking here.

Thanks for looking!

With Christmas fast approaching I thought I'd let people know that there's still time to get copies of my books in time for Christmas.

These include:
"Narrow Gauge Railways In Cumbria"
Available in, softcover, hardcover, PDF and Ebook formats.

Will it be available from bookshops? I'm thinking of the Carnforth Bookshops which seems to stock railway books of local interest.

Nope, It will most likely only ever be available through Blurb. 

Afternoon all,

Finally after many months of work I'm pleased to announce that my latest book " Narrow Gauge Railways In Cumbria" is now available to buy...just in time for Christmas hint hint!

 
The book starts of by taking a look at the South Tynedale Railway before moving onto Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum and then the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. From there the book takes a look at some of the industrial sites within the lakes, with sections on Honister Slate Mine, the mines around Coniston and a number of other mining and quarrying sites.

The book can be purchased here, and is priced at £24.99. A preview of some of the pages can be found by clicking on the cover of the book.

Ebook and PDF versions are also available from the above link. A hardcover version is also available from here.

And for those who are on Facebook I will be running a competition to win a copy of the book. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is, make sure you've liked my photography page and liked and shared this post. I will then chose a winner at random towards the end of the month.

One final note, I do not have any control over the post and packing prices. These are set by Blurb and not myself.

Minor detail but in a boxfile diorama I'd have the tension lock bar off that coach double quick as you're not actually going to use it for coupling.

 

Also I'd line at least 2 of the walls with brickpaper. The front wall might be painted black as a "not there/not part of the universe" neutral effect , rather than leave the bare file wall . Or as that wall has a mine head gointg into it - practice your rock making technique and do a rock face along that wall

I do plan on doing something with the boxfile walls, possibly just painting them sky blue! although i doubt i'll be doing much else to this as in the next few days i plan on starting my new layout.

Matt

Well the other day I had a blast of enthusiasm and luckily I found an boxfile under my bed....so I thought to myself well lets get something made. I used materials I had spare and the mine buildings were in store from an old layout so I was more than happy to use them in this project.

The main point of doing this was to gain skills as I will be soon building a much larger layout and want to do that to high standards. Anyway onto the layout, Its based in West Cumbria and as the title says is a coal mine, its 2 track with a drift mine with a short section of narrow gauge track. That's all I can really say on the layout so if anyone has any question I'd be more than happy to answer them

Now for some pics...

Matt

Hello Matt,

 

I don' that will happen as the Company and the society had a bit of a fall out not that long ago.

 

She was at the old Steam town museum a few years back.

 

OzzyO.

Hi Ozzy, i know about that but that fallout was with the guys who own FR20, FR25 is from what i can gather owned by one man who has a loco collection, so therefore she could end up on L&HR someday...

Thanks Matt

I believe it was purchased by Bert Hitchin, he of Taw Valley and 45231 fame to name his latest projects. I believe Bert purchased it as his retirement project so I have no doubts that it'll be worked on sooner rather than later. 45231 I think is ooop north on Jacobite duty and so is probably occupying a certain amount of Bert's time, however it was also put up for sale recently although I don't believe any announcements have been made to date.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Ah right thanks for the info there!

No doubt this locos just going to appear out the blue in a few years time lol

Matt

Well IRS 15EL (2009) gives the location as Carnforth, whilst "Surviving Steam in the British Isles" (Mundy, LCGB 2011) as East Lancashire Railway, Bury.

Thanks Eddie! Lets hope in time the locos location is L&HR and not some pres line where the loco has no connection.

Matt

I've just had a read around, can't find anything on No.25's location but I would be interested to see it steaming as a tank engine alongside number 20!

 

Whilst looking I re-acquainted myself with the story of No.115 - the inspiration for 'Thomas Down the Mine' - technically it is still in existence, just 200 feet below the ground!

Lets get the shovels then and get digging ha!

I am not sure on what condition she is in now or where she is but there was talk a few year back of restoring her to working order as a tank - to show the life changes over the years the class existed.

 

Last time I remember seeing her at Carnforth she was parked on a short lentgh of track painted up as Percy from Thomas the Tank Engine, complete with face.

Thanks for the info, seems shes just fallen off the radar!

Matt

Hello everyone,

I recently found out that there is another loco to the same design as Furness Railway No.20 still in existence. I have searched the net and asked about but have found limited information, Only thing i have found out is she is in Barrow Docks condition (converted to saddle tank. Does anyone else have any pics/Info on the loco? Any pics of the loco are welcome as im quit interested to see how it looked when it was/is? at Steamtown.

So far the only info I've found is this link http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/1.267246

Thanks Matt

P.S if I've put this topic in the wrong section, sorry!