drmditch

Many thanks for that compendious archive. Later this winter I will pay some more attention to my B1s, most of which are still packed away.

Hmm, I'm afraid I do have some RTR models dating back decades! Usually re-liveried and slightly modified. (It took some time for manufacturers to produce LNER designed locomotives in LNER livery; especially the smaller black ones! It is indeed helpful when the smokebox door numberplate is absent. I do quite like the Collet 0-6-0s, but I'm afraid they are not really relevant to County Durham!

Re: Short Tunnels (and or Bridges.) "Askham Tunnel, just south of Retford, is the shortest on the ECML (or anywhere?)." There is High Burnigill (just north of Croxdale Viaduct in County Durham). According to the ex-NER Line-diagram as published by NER this structure which is 62 miles north of York is referred to as 'Burnigill Bridge' but is marked with portals called 'Stone Tunnel' in February 1922. These Diagrams were updated in both LNER and BR days and the structure is marked as 'Rebuilt 1955' There have been significant landslips in this area recently and consequent engineering works by Durham County Council. When my legs are a bit stronger I will go for a winter walk and see if I can find a viewpoint looking along the line.

B1 Smokebox doors. Is this not a story of Darlington North Road Works? Anyway, are smokebox numberplates not an affectation of the LMS, GWR and suchlike railways? I always find it a nuisance, having purchased an RTR model otherwise suited for my purposes, when the block of plastic with numbers on it has to be cut away while doing as little damage as possible to the door itself.

As far as I know, Knaresborough is not and never has been on the ECML, lovely station though it is.

I agree about the Track Rubbers (from any source.) In my experience they leave small particles of rubber (or whatever it is) all over the place which get into motors and bearings. I use fine 'wet and dry' for heavy black deposits or suitable pads impregnated with isopropyl alcohol for lighter and/or routine cleaning. It is also a good idea to avoid any arcing occurring. You can see this when running in the dark, or detect it audibly when using an FM/AM radio (obviously tuned to R3) in the Railway room. (There are no-doubt more sophisticated methods!) Others can tell you more. If the source is track based you can locate it, and improve contacts/wiring/cleanliness etc. If it is locomotive based, then look for loose contacts, or with older motors dirty brushes etc.

Please excuse another 'off-topic' post. My eyes have deteriorated badly and rapidly over the last nine months. (See my own thread for some of the reasons.) I have now learned that the current problems are nothing worse than cataracts (?) and I am arranging for cataract surgery. Obviously I do need (however it is achieved and whether with spectacles or not) good close up vision as well as long vision for driving/walking etc. Does anyone have relevant experience ? (More railway progress will be posted soon.)

When you say 'funnel tops' to what are you referring?

Very nice schooner, but not sure about club-hauling with no square sails. I will have to check my authourities!

You are a brave gentleman sir.

Fascinating. Thank you for posting. Some questions however regarding the large number of equine motive power units on display. Did someone have to go round sweeping-up before the photographs were taken? Did a member of the station staff have a permanent job to tidy up the 'residue'? Were there hosepipes for sluicing down? I'm not sure I have seen any reference to this before. But the problem would have needed managing, especially on a hot day. Perhaps everyone was just so used to hot and sweaty people and hot and sweaty horses that the additional smells didn't register? Some nice Yorkshire Coal smoke might have come as a relief!

Re: Bogie Sulphate Wagon I have to say that your brown one does look very good. I agree that it should probably be grey. Is there any way this issue might be resolved? Is there an undiscovered source of colour photographs for Teesside?

It was annoying missing the Newcastle Show. However, there is every good reason why you should join NERA Which you can do here!

Please excuse my limitations, how does one find this?

Fascinating photograph! I like the G2 van with the roof hatch partly open. What is the strange vehicle next to the left, next to the covered track. I can't enlarge it enough enough for clarity.

Plus some covert industrial espionage at Shildon and/or Darlington !

Automated ship handling of cruise ships? This seems very strange to me. Perhaps the lovely people who post on this thread could explain this to me? I thought this kind of situation was where experience, skill and seamanship were important?

Re: Bogie Sulphate wagon. I have an unbuilt (original Parkside) kit for this vehicle. If it is of interest I will extract it from the my kit-box this evening, and read the instructions. Unfortunately my printer/scanner is currently inoperable owing to the software being apparently obsolete, and I have a lot to do at present and limited energy available. If required I can perhaps attempt to photograph the instructions, since my 'phone camera/upload/editing does still work! I haven't built the kit yet because I can't work out a suitable traffic from Haverton Hill for shipment which would use my own railway route. As Jonathan mentioned above, the 'new' Tatlow Vol 4B does discuss these. There is also a picture in Brian Stephenson's LNER Album Volume 3 (of 1976 - ISBN 0 7110 0669 5 published by Ian Allen). The book doesn't have page numbers or picture references, but is a lovely browsing book for winter evenings. The picture is presumably a builder's photograph, and the vehicle is apparently light grey with black lettering. Perhaps that was just for photographic definition. I agree with Jesse in that since it's not fitted I don't see why it would be painted red oxide, despite the nice picture above!

Another reason for recovering health sufficiently to get to the Newcastle show.

Re: Atlantic 'rear wheel drive'. Thank you for posting/re-posting this. I may have a use for something similar soon.

Very best wishes.

There is a good Pratchet quote from the last (?) book, 'Raising Steam'. An elderly lady when asked what she thought about the new 'hygenic railway', suggested that they should have waited until all the old people were dead.

A good friend (and former crew) is currently in Lisbon, expected to board this ship* tomorrow. She will be sailing across the Atlantic to Barbados, and I am very envious! I need to find some money! * and yes, the Royal Clipper is a 'ship'. A five masted full-rigged ship. The first since Preussen went aground of Newhaven in 1910. To my eyes, the newer ship looks a bit under-rigged, (56,000 sq ft compared with 73,000 sq ft) but she doesn't have to carry 8,000 tons of cargo!

Nearly a year on since my last post on here. Very slow progress on the railway. Chemotherapy and other procedures leave hands and eyes a bit wobbly. I have been working on some more D14 unfitted vans in different guises. Drilling and fitting .5mm bolts can be a bit expensive with the aforesaid wobbly hands! No. 63060. Sometime the year before last, I picked up from a traders 'cheap box' a couple of LNER vans which have been lurking on a back siding ever since. The grey painted unfitted but nicely lettered vehicle that is the subject of this post seemed, at first glance, to be quite useful! Closer examination however revealed some rather odd construction. I suspect that it was built from a Parkside kit (or possible another brand) for a ventilated van, and had been rather hacked about to produce what was meant to be a Dia14 covered van from the early series. Consequently, it took rather more work to rectify than I was expecting. The ends, in particular, were very 'bodged', and I have not managed to completely correct them. Crude holes had been cut to represent the internal end shutters. The 9' wheelbase was/is accurate, but the Morton clutch representation was not! The doors had a central horizontal plank. It did run nicely though. After investigation and research (mostly in Tatlow Vol 4a), here is my nearly finished vehicle. The cranked corner plates indicate a Darlington build, and in 1926 the end shutters were external. (This allowed me to cover up the ugly holes.) The doors were modified to remove the central plank, and the handles were built from my favourite copper wire attacked with hammers, pliers, and small drill bits. (I'm still not well sometimes, so shaky hands broke two bits!) The nice lettering of course had to go! I left the plastic buffer stocks but drilled them to take steel buffer heads. The roof was not removeable, so I added small blocks of lead in between the moulded ribs of the underframe. I'm not sure of the provenance of the spoked wheel sets, but the axle length seems longer than any of my stock of three-hole wheels. I carefully chose a vehicle number that used second hand wheel sets. The completed van runs nicely down my gradients and through pointwork. I have done a couple of these 'recoveries' now, and they take a lot longer than building a fresh kit. On the other hand, the first cost is less, and can provide me with some motivation to move on to more significant projects. No.43365 Also Darlington built but with internal shutters. Revised from a Parkside kit I built several years ago. The revised version runs a lot better then its previous incarnation! No. 150337 Charles Roberts built, and with the external shutters again. This has the 'Doncaster style' corner plates. The model was based on a new 'Parkside by Peco' kit no. PC61 for a Dia.94 fitted vehicle, (although the cover picture shows a vehicle in grey!) The mouldings were very clean and went together very well. The solebars were replaced with modified items from my 'spares' box, so as to provide the 9' wheelbase. The modifications to the corner brackets and headstocks were where shaking hands were a real nuisance. All these models required the central support plank on the doors to be removed. The brake gear used up my reserve stock of plastic parts. 150337 used new brass etchings from 51L/Wizard models. Th weathering will need re-working, and although I waited for a sunny day the (mobile phone) photographs didn't work out that well. Also in my list of necessary re-work was a steel-ended van to Dia.171 No. 254837 (built Darlington 1942). I only spent a little time on this one, and the lettering is still a size to large. However, at least it runs better than it's 30 year old first construction! Also years ago, I was planning to scratch build an ex-GER 10 ton van, based on the original 632802 at Pickering station. Then Oxford produced their RTR version, which only needed a little modification to the brake gear and an easy change to the number to keep me happy! I have seen criticism elsewhere as regards the position of the wooden end vents. However, the model matches the pictures I took of the original very well. 637802 is not yet weathered, and judging by the standards shown above that may be as well. Many thanks to Mr Tatlow for keeping me distracted and amused.

Thank you. Where did all our optimism go? Perhaps too many people had things dropped on their unprotected heads!