jonhall

Ever so excited by a photo of bufferstops - now I can get on and build them http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/43836-img-20120816-hamworthy-5/ Jon

Paul, I did wonder if that one might be at Hull (or nearby) in the late 70's or early 80's as a number of the other photo's in that set are in that area - I guess there would still have been fish traffic? Jon

This evening has seen the cantrail attached, and something that hasn't happened for some years occured - I didn't have the right size plasticard in stock - I wanted 30x30thou, but had to settle for 30x40, as those who have seen my stock of plasticard will atest, an unlikely occurance. Having set the cantrail I used a little of my favourite plastic filler (Tipex, or in this case the WHSmiths equivilent) to even out the jiggle in the roof above the door. Final job for this evening (and not complete on both sides yet) was to start on the outside framing. Here too I didn't have the right size plasticard, but thats more to do with it not actually existing! Evergreen do not do a 60thou [ section, so I had to trim two of the legs off 60thou H section. Wich leaves the state of play shown below There won't be any progress tomorrow evening, as I have an Olympic Park ticket, and I have the horrible feeling that the '3 hour' upgrade on RM web tomorrow morning, may result in it being u/s until Monday or Tuesday.... see you on the other side. Jon

Thanks for that EastWset Divide, I did link to that earlier, as its by far and away the most useful photo I have of these vans. This shows progress tonight The whole lot was dismantled, the door sections cut out, and mounted 30thou further back, and I've started to tweek the roof profile over the doors to improve the shape a bit - its looking a bit rough, so this might just become a prototype conversion. Jon

link to another photo - one of my favourites http://www.flickr.co...els/3816531335/ http://www.flickr.co...tcwp/2220852453 http://www.rmweb.co...._25#entry502482 http://www.flickr.com/photos/46591720@N07/6074386384/

The b&w print is one of David Larkins - he seems to have given a load of not very well printed and ex-album photo's to the group restoring a Pecket at the Lavender line, and at 10p each I sorted all of the ferry wagons, and other 'interesting' wagons out and had no change from a ten pound note. A very similar veiw is in his Bradford Barton PO wagons working wagons vol1 book. I can't decide if I could get away with a 10thou sheet over the sides (just leaving the door area clear) would do the job, or if the whole lot needs to comne apart again. Jon

I'm a bit concerned that this photo http://www.trenomania.org/TMF-Estero/displayimage.php?pid=5541&fullsize=1 might actually show the doors sitting further back from the side of the wagon (which would explain why the roof has a little joggle in it) the other photo's are not really clear, but if anyone has more photo's of these types I would really like a look at them please? Thanks, Jon

The two parts of the roof were glued together and reinforced with a small sheet of 10thou plasticard, and with a strip of something thicker at the cantrail line, then once that had set, a skim of car body filler to even out the gaps last night. The sides were cut from 30thou, and the ends from 40thou, but then I discovered that I'd cut the sides too short, so I had to start again . The door apertures were scribed with a micromark scriber, using a door from the Dapol kit as a template to get the corner radius about right.

http://i321.photobuc...ms/MCS_9104.jpg http://www.trenomania.org/TMF-Estero/displayimage.php?pid=5541&fullsize=1 Jon

I've been thinking about these vans for some time, and my conclusion was that this type was probably the closest match http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/32532-van-neg-n20-0011-ibefs-interfrigo-83-fs-809-2-572-9/ So with that in mind I ordered two Dapol interfrigo's from a supplier on ebay, and concluded that SFV6299 was probably what I was after - these vans seem to have been registered across multiple countries, which all have their own entry in the SFV book, however I believe that they were more or less the same, and this version of the diagram had rather better detail than the others. Taking the principle dimentions rescaled the drawing to 4mm and waited for the kits to arrive. They must have been delivered on Saturday, but despite being correctly adressed, they seem to have been delivered to a nearby road instead and sat on their doormat until they were hand delivered this afternoon. First job was to assess how much could be re-used, and I think the answer may just be the roof! The body side is too short, and its not tall enough either, the ends suffer the same lack of hight (but are the right width) however it might be easier to just start from sheet than try and graft an extension to the bottom. The door is too small to re-use, and the ladders and underframe too corse. Anyway the razor saw came out almost imeadiately. jon

A handful at Wareham http://www.freewebs.com/brdiesels/dorset.htm

And this group conclude my collection of grounded photo's - I hope they have been of interest over the last couple of weeks A van at Tonbridge A coach at Wallingford This LMS CCT (interesting in its own right) has give up its chassis for a Cricket Pavilion (previously a Somerset and Dorset coach) at Watchet on the West Somerset. and these two vans (Midland? ) are both in the Yeoman yard at Merehead, although I believe that the owner was given notice to quit... Jon

I can't remember if I've posted a link to this chap's garden shed in France http://s686.photobucket.com/albums/vv227/GUIGEZZ/ Jon

I disagree - the Swanage examples are probably less less likely to turn a wheel again than the Tanfield examples, although if either could really be considered rebuilds rather than replica's is to be debated. The LMS CCT and SR van (and probably the BR blue-spot fish van) are all grounded because Tanfield wanted their underframes for an older body (in much the same way that most of the Bluebells and a lot of the IOW's coaches are de-grounded). The Tanfield Railway do not have a single mk1, and can turn out 2 sets of 4 wheelers, Tanfield also have a new carriage shed, whereas Swanage still don't. I suspect the body of this is siting on the chassis from one of those grounded NPCCS Jon

This lot are all at the Tanfield railway Jon

I don't thionk there is any disagreement that they should be restored, its the funds, facilities and bodies required that are the problem, the ones at Swanage are simply in a queue behind other historic vehicles that are both more useful to the railway, and more complete, and even those (that are still on their chassis) are deteriorating faster than the funds to restore are coming in. Jon

The pair at Swanage are both LSWR, and there is a third (I believe) on the railway, they are mentioned in passing in the Swanage heritage coach plan, but do not really form part of it (there does not seem to be a plan to put them on a chassis - this is mearly mentioned as a possibility). The upper of the pair (at Harmans Cross) is clearly seeing local attention, but I don't know if it has any official sanction, the lower (at Norden) was on the bank at Swanage but has moved (several times? ) which can't really do the joints any good. Jon

Two grounded bodies on the Severn Valley, then two of the LSWR grounded coaches on the Swanage railway at Harmans Cross, and Norden. Jon