sem34090

I think the main issue with the Metropolitan 6-Wheelers is that the Metropolitan never had any 6-Wheelers...

I do wish that people would stop referring to the Hornby product as 'generic', 'freelance' or 'prototype literate'. These terms are very much applicable to the forthcoming Hattons product which has been developed by looking at a wide range of prototypes, identifying common features and with the aid of this forum the result is a generic coach; not accurate for any company but drawing from many so it will look about right for most. Hornby have taken distinctive LBSCR Stroudley coaches and changed a minute number of details so that they can badge them as 'generic' when, in reality, they are nothing of the sort. People are naturally going to draw comparisons between these and Stroudley stock because it is patently obvious that roughly 95% of these coaches' anatomy is derived from Stroudley stock. The six-wheelers may be more generic, I wouldn't know as I haven't looked into LBSCR stock for a long time now, but they still draw heavily from the LBSCR.

I'll get onto it soon enough... Based on other comments it may be a tough job, but I'm planning to give it a shot anyway given I have one. I'll report back later, but I'm hoping a representation of a Brighton passenger brake can be cobbled. If not then I'll do something else with the bits.

Just weighed mine on some not-too-great kitchen scales - 47 grams. The only comparable size vehicle I had to hand was a Bachmann Pillbox Brake at 43 grams.

No scales to hand, but I can say that the NEM socket is separate, with the mounting block being moulded to the chassis. It might not be too hard to chop off though.

My partner recently bought a Hornby Terrier in Improved Engine Green (It wasn't my purchase and I think both the Rails and Hornby versions have their flaws) so I decided to investigate these. Picked up one of the over-length full brakes in LNER Teak (I was curious about the livery application) as a trial, with a few in LBSCR livery on pre-order. As a past Brighton modeller, I think they have a lot of potential for those wishing to represent Stroudley and with adaptation some Billinton stock. This one is too long but I'm imagining it can be cut and shut to get a reasonable approximation of the prototype. Some Roxey grab rails and as far as I'm concerned the job would be a good 'un. The alternatives are the rather more basic and coarse Bachmann Thomas models pictured above, the Smallbrook resin kits and the Roxey Mouldings brass kits, of maybe also the venerable Keyser whitemetal affairs. All of these are of a similar price to, or more expensive than, the Hornby coaches and don't include the additional passenger brake van or six wheel versions. I'm not enough of an LBSCR coach enthusiast to know how accurate the latter are. As far as I'm concerned the four wheelers in LBSCR or SR livery will be perfectly acceptable with a few minor modifications and possibly a little filler to deal with those buffers; They've even got Westinghouse air brake pipes! Their shortcomings are not too much of a concern and for a modeller of limited talent such as myself they have a lot of potential. I'm sure they could also provide a basis for bashing some later LBSCR bogie stock too. Where these coaches fail abysmally in my opinion is in their purporting to be generic. In their attempt to go against Hattons they have swapped a few details and been lazy with others such that even for the LBSCR use to which they're best suited they will require modification. The brakes are far too distinctively Stroudley to convincingly pass for much else, and many other details are the same. If one wants a generic coach for companies other than the LBSCR and the SR's Island outpost Hattons still definitely have the edge in my book, certainly when it comes to brake coaches as to me the Stroudley brake end is very much too distinctive to be useful for non-LBSCR stock. Others are sure to disagree. For other stock, particularly for post-grouping modellers, I think a mix of Hattons and Hornby stock may be a useful way to suggest coaches of different ancestries as was more likely to be found after the grouping. A modeller representing two pre-grouping companies on their layout may find benefit in using both types to show a difference in design, maybe altering the Hornby brake coaches to look less LBSCR. I fail to see why Hornby couldn't have done a proper Stroudley and still outshopped it in spurious liveries but oh well. Some will love these, others will hate them; For my own part some LBSCR Stroudley coaches are going to be useful so the Hornby ones have been ordered. For my other projects, however, my money will go to Hattons. The only Hattons models that I would probably question in light of Hornby's product are the LBSCR liveried ones; The Hornby model is a much better representation of LBSCR practice than the Hattons ones will be, but in being so they're not a lot of good for anything else! They may be good as a stop-gap until better stock can be bought or built for a layout though and are certainly very attractive. Turning specifically to my passenger brake van, my two main criticisms are that it's a little bit on the light side and the attempt to represent GNR-style panelling is very odd and silly looking to my eye; Better to follow the moulded panelling in my opinion. Lining it in GNR style would have been one thing, but altering the direction of the wood grain mid-way up the panel is a bit strange. Yes it's supposedly a generic vehicle, but it still would've looked better to follow the moulded panelling.

That said, the nickname of "Warsaw-on-Sea" has been used, both affectionately and otherwise. Personally, I couldn't care less but maybe find it sad that so many people have to live in this God-forsaken place!!

For whom exactly?! I'm currently stuck in Bognor Regis and unable to return to Wales. I'd much rather be there than here.

From my perspective as someone after different coaches for different things I'll be making use of both. I need some 'filler' stock in teak and in NBR livery, plus some SR Green Stroudleys at some point so the Hornby stock will be useful there, but for other companies (SECR, for example) the Hattons stock will be more useful. The Hornby 4-Wheelers look too Stroudley for me to consider using them for all that much.

I may have to steal a notice like the one in Annie's signature for the Endar, Norven & Lindisfarne Railway...

I'm making do with Peco Bullhead and normal Code 75 points. Not great, but with limited abilities like mine it works. And, @Edwardian, I think everyone here would probably be overjoyed if even after any change of modelling hobby you were to stay around here and share what you do. After all, it's only occasionally that this thread talks about railways.

Some of the loco fleet has now gained lettering - Whilst the Adams Radial and the 2-4-2T have both received further paint and cab modifications. The cab on the 2-4-2T is obviously the one off the Radial, cut in half, whilst the one on the Radial came from a Metropolitan Railway A Class 3D Print that had already given its condensing gear to the 2-4-2T.

Afternoon All, Introducing the next in a long line of probably-never-going-to-properly-materialise projects; The Endar, Norven & Lindi Railway (ENLR - Names chosen from a random place name generator, plus from some locos we have, to match the initials to make transfers nice and easy... ). It's a fantastical scheme, to the extent that it is going to possibly feature dragons (For which I blame my partner...) and will probably draw on some steampunk influences too. The layout itself is basically just a branch terminus, as shown below; Full details have yet to be worked out, but some track has been laid and stock is being worked on. It was decided not to bother with a run-round and to release stock with other locos as run rounds can waste space. Ignore the O Gauge; That's a planned future project. Stock liveries are as follows; Goods Black, Lined in Red (Makes life simple enough; Need to change the lettering on the J36... But Maybe to NBR...) Passenger Green. Largely as per the GNR but with green frames. The loco was a Bachmann L&Y 2-4-2T, with modified smokebox door, condensing gear added and the cab removed. Black and Blue for the coaches; Not a very likely combination in practice but that makes it ideal for this and it looks pleasant enough. For Narrow Gauge stock, dark red on the locos, varnished wood finish on the passenger stock. Other locos to join the fleet are; Repainted Hornby Terrier that I was otherwise going to sell. Hornby Adams Radial. Purchased relatively cheaply for the project. It's going to go green as a minimum, but likely to get some more substantial modifications too. Most locos are probably going to gain wingplates on the smokebox. Bachmann J72, also purchased for the project, largely just a case of altering the lettering. I don't know enough about the dragons, but here's one;

And as with Blackstone West/Chalfont St GilesGiles, Odiham, Ventnor, Penglais Farm, Penglais Street, Bermondsey Canal Road has never got off the drawing board. Some day I hope it will materialise, but a move into university accommodation has pushed it far down the queue.

Actual colours, including Red, Green, Ivory, Grey and Blue. Then the fact that the later ones (746, but maybe the older 706 too) essentially consist of four parts (Main Case, Dial Surrounds, Handset/cord assembly and button blank) so two-tone variations, or even more if one swapped parts between several 'phones, were possible. I think the grey and green were two-tone as standard.

I'd argue possibly more so than with many scratch-builds as there's an expectation for greater accuracy. It does save time, after the first few attempts. Alright so you're already vastly better at it than I ever was, but when I was still doing it I found that with my limited scratch-building ability it was quicker and more painless to do the CAD. I have a wagon to draw up currently, and may do more again some day. I agree to an extent, but once again you have a scratch-building ability that some of us (me!) lack so in my case I'd argue scratch-building a wagon to an acceptable standard would still take more time and effort for me than for me to do some CAD and get it printed. For now, however, I'm enjoying RTR-Bashing.

W.I.P. Bachmann L&Y Tank bash. Yet to gain a weatherboard, condensing gear and possibly outside cylinders. The smokebox door needs alteration too. Ignore the Dragon; That's my partner's... Colour is Humbrol LNER Apple Green.

It's not a very nice colour; It's a 1980s GPO 746 (I think they gave it a different number, but it's basically a 746) that I bought very cheaply to experiment with, the plan being to investigate options for connecting it to my mobile. (A joke shot of it plugged into the RJ11 Ethernet Socket on the wall in my room - Interestingly it did make sounds when the receiver was lifted despite having a BT, not RJ11, plug on it. Obviously it wasn't going to work.) Turns out there's a nice little Bluetooth box that can be bought, and which happily takes Pulse dialling. Plug the 'phone into the box, connect the mobile via Bluetooth and it's done. Then plug into a laptop to change it from US ringing (Ring, Pause, Ring) to UK ringing (Ring Ring, Pause, Ring Ring) and it's perfect. Now I've tested it with this 746 I'm thinking of investing in something older and nicer looking (a GPO 300 Series would do nicely, if anyone has one; A pre-war 200 Series would be amazing!) that fits better with my general tastes. (That's a 300 Series) The 746 isn't a bad prop though, if disguised well enough. From this angle it looks like it could be 706 which would at least be in-period. I don't think they ever did the 706 in brown though.

I settled on a coach livery and have done a couple of test pieces; (Ignore the LNER Insignia; That's coming off)

That's what I thought, though unfortunately it's obviously a bit metallic so probably isn't much use for that purpose. In other news, I also committed a crime against a Triang Nellie;

Actually, whilst I think about it, I've also been experimenting with coach liveries for this fantasy project. We're intentionally going for something a bit weird, and it doesn't much if it's not a livery that could actually have been applied way back when. The base colour is black, then (Left to Right) Humbrol RAF Blue, Humbrol BR Coach Roof Grey, Vajello White, Home-Mixed Light Grey, Revell Brass, Revell Bronze, Revell Steel and Humbrol LNER Garter Blue.

Merry Christmas everyone!

That was one of my thoughts, the other being to go to the opposite extreme and use elements of the castle to form a backdrop, possibly with a Conwy/York-inspired arch as the scenic break. Maybe even hem the station/yard (undecided) area in with castle walls to disguise the small area? A bit like I might do with retaining walls and warehouses on a more conventional micro-layout. More thought required. Of course I mention a Scottish theme, but that's only really been derived from the wintery elements and the fact my partner bought an ex-NBR loco! As for the T9 I may be able to print a new body, or maybe get hold of one of the narrow-cab bodies, to go on the chassis. Any ideas about somewhat more weird and wonderful, but probably still Drummond-influenced, locos that could be built for such a scheme as this?

Good Heavens - 5 Days without posts! I would ask about what the world is coming to but I think that would be a fairly redundant question. Anyhow, I came here because short of starting a new thread (which I may do in due course) I felt this was the most appropriate place for my latest ramblings. I had been planning for my next project to be something completely different to anything I've done before. At the time I began planning it, I was set to be on the Isle of Wight for the 2nd and 3rd of January representing my preservation group, the London Transport Traction Group over what was shaping up to be something of an EMU enthusiasts' convention. We were thinking of arranging with South Western Railway to have a stand at one of the stations on the Island Line to publicise our project to take one of the current ex-LT 1938 Tube trains (483006 in our case) back to the mainland to run off batteries in preservation. I'm sure I must've mentioned it around here before, but I can't remember. To go on this stand, I decided to take my Pirate Models 1938 Tube Stock Set and set about modifying it into a model of 483006 as she is currently running on the Island. Faced with nowhere to run it I decided that a micro layout based on the premise of Ventnor surviving the final cull of the Island's network was in order, set loosely between 1990 and the present. Given I've never modelled anything post-1960 before this will be quite the change. Anyway, Ventnor has had all the materials purchased for its construction and was all set to materialise at some point... then the tiers started going up in number and the Island plans have all had to be shelved so it is a little bit redundant for the moment. And then my partner and I went shopping. We went to a model shop. And I bought this. Or at least something rather like it, unpainted, and another larger one also unpainted. Ideal early Christmas present for my partner (not terribly into such things myself). Cut forward a few days and we go to Brighton, and in the toy museum shop I spot one of these for £5, with not a great deal wrong with it: So of course I bought it, and ordered new motor brackets - It would've been rude not to at that price. But I already have a serviceable Hornby T9. With a wide cab, a 6-wheel tender and the number 312 on it. So, as some of you know, I began contemplating what I might be able to do with it other than simply restore it to running order as a Urie-condition T9. The answer may have revealed itself when we went shopping, again. And we went into another model shop. This time, I bought some platform bits for Ventnor and a couple of Parkside wagon kits. My partner had already bought my Christmas present, but we left the shop with one of these: It was a rather good price, and I should add that I've been told that it certainly is not mine. This all appears to have combined into a loose idea for a vaguely Scottish-and-Narnia-when-they-first-go-through-the-wardrobe-and-it's-all-wintery*-with-more-than-a-hint-of=fantasy-and-some-steampunk=influences-for-good-measure micro layout using one of the three equally-sized boards I have had built to fit on a shelf in my university accommodation (one being a fiddle yard board, one being for Ventnor and one seemingly being for this project). I therefore now have several questions to put the the parishioners: Any ideas for North British 4-4-0s that this T9 could be loosely bashed into? No need for complete dimensional accuracy, but I'm thinking that it would be good for at least some of the loco fleet on this layout to have a family resemblance. I did some googling and it seems there may be some contenders but I suspect people round here would have more idea than I do. Do I investigate doing Stirling-esque cabs on these or is the NBR C not really the right size to gain one of these? Any ideas for some slightly more... interesting... steampunk-inspired locos? Unlike Hornby, we're definitely going for some degree of elegance I think (I've been told that the C is not to be touched other than maybe the cab conversion, possibly a snowplough and some relatively minor livery alterations because it looks too nice to ruin, and I concur with that) and maybe sticking with something of a shared Drummond influence a Triang 'Nellie', CR 123 or M7 may be good places to start? Any suggestions for combining the fantasy and altogether more realistic elements of this idea together into something that could work as a 3ft 6ins long layout? Ventnor was enough outside my modelling comfort zone for being set in a vaguely modern period - To diverge away from the real world is an altogether new experience for me really so any suggestions would be appreciated. My partner obviously has some but A.) I'm struggling to visualise them currently and B.) I was wondering what the folks of Castle Aching would come up with, if anything. Any ideas of how to incorporate a Castle**, or elements to suggest a Castle** on a 3ft 6ins board? Apologies for the waffle, but hopefully this is suitably whimsical as to provide a nice distraction from the world that's falling apart around us! *(you can tell how much of the films I watched...) ** Not the GWR variety, or the Highland one for that matter, before somebody tries to be clever...

Lockdown in England is over!