Denbridge

Squires have quoted me around a month for chassis kits whilst they await etches.

The ebay seller is Samantha, one of the current owners of Falcon Brass.

In the past I've soaked them in a good dose of WD40.

Another vote for York. I'm not old enough to remember steam, but York simply oozes atmosphere

Squires keep telling me they are out of stock. Just last week they were saying at least a month before new etches arrive.

Did you get your SEF chassis from Squires? They keep telling me they are out of stock.

The SEF T9 chassis kit is superb. I'm slowly replacing the chassis on some of my old T9's. I've used portescaps in mine though the next ones will use high level gearboxes. I've driven both front & rear axles, depending on the motor used, my main priority is getting enough weight into the body. All I need is for squires to get some new stock. They've been oos with some chassis kits for ages .

He also turns around orders really fast. Every order I've placed recently has arrived within 2 or 3 days.

Try Roxey. My experience suggests he can get supplies quicker than trying to order direct from Markits.

I've only had a tyre come off of a Gibson wheel once. Since then I've always put a couple of drops of cyano at the rear wheel/tyre interface. Seems to have cured that tendency. Personally I prefer to use Ultrascale wheels. But serious planning is required. The time between placing an order can be measured in months.

The ultimate aim is to build a new chord so that trains can run direct into Ruddington without reversing as at present.

Having fired up my laptop, rather than looking on my phone, I think you are indeed correct. The wheels do look more like 6' 8" suggesting as you say an Atbara. Curious.

i thought the same at first glance, but think it is possibly the angle that suggests larger wheels. comparing against prototype photographs shows it is indeed a Bulldog. I agree that in the period depicted, the small round cab windows would probably be plated over.

Hello Tony 3361 is a Bulldog. Originally named Edward VII until the plates were removed in 1927.

Aside from testing it to make sure the RG4 was OK, I hadn't looked any deeper. I'm pleased you can make good use of it, it was too nice to simply serve as a doner engine. I bought if off Ebay purely for the portescap. The little H class I tried on LB is back on the bench. Hopefully I'll finish it before I next visit assuming my health issues permit.

With only a short test track, I was unable to fettle her properly. Having been given the opportunity to finally test her on LB we identified the problem and this morning I've made a new tender drawbar and slightly modified the front bogie mount. I'm confident she will redeem herself in the future, though on the plus side I was very happy with how well she ran. The big surprise was the little A12. It romped away with most of that lovely pullman train with the T9 also putting in a fair performance.

The castle is a Mitchell kit built much more recently. It is pretty much built as per Malcolms instructions with a big portescap and incorporates working outside valves and the linkage from the inside cylinders. The paintwork and lining has been applied by a very good friend in exchange for my building some chassis for him. Sadly, Windsor Castle rather let the Swindon side down yesterday. Despite being full of lead, she refused to haul Tony's heavy Pullmans. I think I've found the problem and hope to restore Swindons pride on a future visit.

I had a wonderful day yesterday. I' I've admired Little Bytham through Tony's excellent photos and the various videos for a long time. It is even better in reality a true work of art by Tony and the team who created it, both the layout and its trains performed impeccably throughout. Thank you so much Tony & Mo for making me so welcome. As requested some further details of the models I took along. Both the T9 and A12 'Jubilee were scratchbuilt in my late teens. I acquired a bag of old mainframes from a secondhand stall at a local exhibition for the princely sum of 4 or 5 pounds, and hacked them about to fit locos I fancied building. The chassis under the T9 was originally a 4.6.0 whilst the jubilee was a originally an Atlantic. I fitted both with Airfix slimline motors & homemade gear frames and as such they have run intensively for many years the motors recently giving up the ghost. The upper works are mainly Nickel Silver and brass, with fittings sourced mainly from the much missed Eames of Reading . I was very fortunate to be taught how to solder and use a soldering iron at an early years by a lovely chap who was a Hatton Garden jeweller. He taught me so much and any skills I developed, I owe entirely to his skills and patience. I recently decided to bring these more up to current standards. I am in two minds whether to renew the chassis as I had intended. They both ran so well yesterday ( now with portescap 1219's) I'm tempted to retain these battleship frames and add overlays. An order is on its way to Brassmasters for lots of Finney fittings and in the meantime I'll be adding lots of wiggly wires and other detail. Oh, the T9 is currently hauling a BEC tender from another of my T9's. When I built the water cart tender for this one, I somehow managed to build it a scale foot or so too high. It's bothered me all this time so I've taken the excess height off the bottom of its tank.

Always thought these made very pretty tank engines. I have a tender version that's been under construction for far too long. One day I'll finish it.

I have GA and other drawings for both the 2251 & 94xx classes obtained with a view of building either/both in 7 1/4" gauge, which I still hope to do. I can thus assure people that in all essential areas, aside from the pretty bits we modellers focus on, the 2 classes are practically identical.

It still leaves a lot of halls either unrestored or out of traffic. That's one problem faced by preservation, the difficulty in raising money for a loco that has several surviving 'sisters'. People don't get excited enough to make donations.

In fact, of the eleven surviving halls only one (plus Lady of Legend) is currently in working order.

Most importantly, there are plenty of "genuine" halls preserved. Had Maindy been unique I would agree with you, but it wasn't and I feel the GWS made the right choice. Had it remained a hall, it would probably still be in scrapyard condition especially since several of its surviving sisters are not restored or are out of service requiring significant injections of hard cash & labour.

Swindon standardisation. Those parts would have been on all manner of locos from various classes during their lifetime.

Apart from lengthening the frames to accommodate a bunker everything "under the skin" is identical to the 2251 class. Sadly, these days, the NRM is the last place to rely on for accurate information. Their descriptions of the priceless collection are pitiful.