Tallpaul69

My guns bigger than your gun??

Assuming they are not suffering from a shortage of them? Is that the real reason they packed up early for Easter?

Sorry Mike, I should have directed this to Dougie!! Regards Paul

Hi, Do you have the document electronically, or are you able to copy it? I would be interested in getting a copy? Please PM me on this? Many thanks Paul

Unfortunately, with the number of modellers who can remember and therefore appreciate the details of operation, the improvements mentioned above, decreasing due to passing time, it is unlikely that there will be the stomach in the market for the inevitable increases in cost that will follow. If anything the market will need the cost of steam locos to decrease and therefore the level of detail may have to reduce. Hornby's "Design Clever" concept was a move in the right direction but perhaps too early to be taken up by the market. I suggest that moves to improve the performance and reduce the cost of Sound and Smoke are more likely to be taken up by the market, but only if the cost can be reduced. For one, I would live with reduced rivet count if all steam could be offered in sound or non sound versions, and the cost differential reduced. Best regards Paul

Thanks Mike, I'd forgotten about that, partly because I was intending to use a 45xx on that duty. So I have three possibilities for that duty:- a pannier, a 56xx or a 45xx! I guess by the time the 45xx or 56xx were used the practice of swapping the train engine for the High Wycombe shunter each day had ceased, as I think originally this was why a 57xx was used? Cheers Paul

Yes Dougie, that looks to be a later version of the books that I have seen. What area of the western region does this cover? Early versions were split into four sections (A-D) plus other versions for local freights with in the four sections. You need all four sections for a complete picture because Section A covers trains starting in the London Division and out as far as Swindon and Oxford, but not for instance the trains starting at Penzance for the London area for which you need section B Cheers Paul

I can't find a home for my 56xx anywhere! In my copy of Through the Links at Southall and Old Oak Common that arrived this week the Fish is shown as a pannier turn! Maybe I'll use the 56xx on a gash set of coaches as a substitute for a failed diesel. I presume in reality control just found another diesel set from somewhere? Or has anyone else any bright ideas?? Cheers Pauli

They gave the practice up because although it hid them well, it was a devil of a job getting them vertical, and then back to the horizontal afterwards!

I can't work out why, when theoretically we have less to do, we are getting up earlier, and are still busy all day! Really glad I am retired because the situation reported by Robin and Colin is a real worry! Guys, I ,and hopefully all the other supposed has beens propping up RM Web, are thinking of you and also of our contacts who are needing to self isolate. Superficially, where we are things seem good as in our partly rural local authority we have 22 cases out of a population of some 214 thousand. So in the town that we are on the edge of with a population of around 45,000 , we probably have 5 cases. However, right now I am very glad we are on the opposite side of town to the railway station where I fear there are a load of commuters pouring onto and off of the 45 minute journey into London and goodness knows what contacts they get there, especially if they also need to use the London tubes or buses! Take care, wash your hands and keep smiling Best regards Paul

True, It might even have been transferred to the engineers, or enparts! However I think I would be pushing things a bit to paint it in the Satlink livery for the 1990/2 era on my layout! Cheers Paul

Many thanks for the above. I will work up a Rule 1 scenario for 1546 surviving until 1962 and make up a panel for the branding. Then I need to adjust the scenario to explain why the van was in the Maidenhead area!. Maybe the easiest is that it missed its return slot from Newcastle due to delay in unloading so came back via the East Coast mainline, the North London line and a parcels train west! Best regards Paul

I was reading your MRJ articles earlier today, prompted by the recent posts on the subject. You are honoured because I had some time ago (years probably!) copied the articles and put them in my "Modelling info to keep handy file"! Which is just as well because I know my MRJs need putting back into order after the last time I was hunting for info on a particular subject. Having been sorting my Coopercraft stuff the other day, I was in two minds what to do with two of the cattle wagons. I had not finished them, particularly not having fixed the roofs, and years of storage have not treated them kindly. The fragile bars across the open sides and the top bar under the roof have snapped! Initially I was going to scrap them, but the comments about the Bachmann and Dapol offerings that I had considered superior(!), have persuaded me to try to fix and finish them. I also have three Wrenn (or HB00) cattle wagon bodies that need chassis. Any suggestions any one (apart from the obvious )? Best regards Paul

Thanks for the reassurance, I can't get the download to work at present, but I'm sure it will be useful when I do! Further on yesterdays subject of the Shell tankers, thankfully I find that I have 10 of the 12 I need in appropriate livery. The other two I can get by amending the logos on two BP tanks I have to say BP at one end and Shell at the other instead of 4 BP logos! In an earlier post I explained how I was going to run some expresses over the relief lines. I have now worked through my 1961 WTT for the down line and plan to run the following expresses:- The Diesel Pullman, will run two return trips per day between the Lower fiddle yard and the main fiddle yard. Once in the Bristol Pullman slot and once in the South wales Pullman slot. For variety I will occasionally replace the diesel Pullman with a steam hauled Pullman set. As I said earlier the, the Cornish Riviera and the Cathedrals expresses will run from the Main fiddle yard to the lower fiddle yard and reverse, passing in the Scenic area of the layout. When I get to do the up timetabling I may need to adjust the times slightly to fall in with the above, but trains can always be running late, can't they? I also talked about having two express sets in each direction running round and round representing different trains at different times because they will not have any coach labels. I have now sorted out 7 trains each that they can represent. The actual trains vary in destination, chosen to space the runs out through the day. Next will be to see how this works out for the up two express sets. When I get used to running the layout there will always be opportunity to swap the up and down sets via crossovers at the ends of the main fiddle yard in order to increase the variety. What I have yet to do with the down sets timings is to see how they fit with the real running on the Relief line of the down local and branch; passenger, parcels, and freight trains. For instance the 0905 Paddington to Bristol which will be represented by the initial run round of my first round and round set is due through Maidenhead at 0933 and the 0835 Staff Paddington to Reading West train is due into Maidenhead at 0934 to 0936. Fine if the express is on the Mainline and the Staff on the relief line, but not so if they are both on the Relief line! (bearing in mind I will be running at half time to real time so one minute on the layout will only be a real 30 seconds! ) So I will probably run the Express a few minutes late -always!! I hope the above is of interest? Keep modelling and keep smiling Cheers Paul

OOPs! In my last post I referred to a Ks Syphon C. Silly boy, it was a syphon F! I realized this when I fell over the long running thread here on RM on Ks products. Unfortunately, the posts on the same thread confirmed my fear that these vans died out in the mid 50s. It also told me, which I didn't want to hear that the kit was both inaccurate and a bit of a bad lot particularly in the bogie department. So, having decided I like the van as a change from loads of Syphon Gs, I will have to see if I can find the correct white metal bogies, ignore the length errors, and invoke Rule 1 to run it in 1960/2! My other point yesterday about Shell tankers is on the road to being solved. When I said "Shell", what I really meant was "Shell-Mex and B.P.", because from 1932 to 1976 the two companies shared their distribution and tanks bore both logos. So my nice silver tankers with SHELL in large Red letters right down the sides are not right for 1960/2! Hopefully I have sufficient tanks with the dual logos on, tomorrow we may find out. I hope all your current modelling works are going well? Best regards Paul

Thanks for the info. Adding to what you have said, there was a 56/66 shedded at Slough in the early 60s and also a 45xx. I have a pic of the 45xx on the High Wycombe branch just leaving Maidenhead with a short freight which I am guessing is what then remained of the "Loudwater Goods". Re the Watlington branch I think after closure of the branch shed the loco while allocated to Slough actually overnighted at Aylesbury which at one stage was a sub shed of Slough! Others have suggested that the Parcels was yet another 61xx turn, so I may well use the 56xx on the morning Fish from Reading to Slough and get a bit of variety that way! Best regards Paul

Before we were travelling to Oxford! I wonder when they moved to Kidlington? We used to do a round trip :- Luton to Banbury, where my wife went to the market and I went to Trinders. Then on to Kidlington, where there was not much for my wife. We came home either via the Headington roundabout or Bicester where there was a good model Bus shop and some things to interest my wife! I had to save up for those trips!! Thinking about it they probably took place mainly in the 90s because before then our boys would have been with us and they would never have put up with such a trip!! Happy days Paul

Yep, every time we went to Oxford, which was usually about once a quarter in the 80s! Also tried to Include Howes when they were in the original shop in Kidlington. Bought a number of end of run etc. books there, just don't ask me which ones!!

Hi All, Decided I really ought to get stuck into my "to do" list which every day seems to get longer. Combined with my "I'll do it when I get a moment" list, well I need a pile of the old fashioned fan fold computer paper to keep track of it all! So today I'm tackling one item from each list:- I spent the morning sorting out a couple of boxes of kits and part builds that I reckon last saw light of day five years back. I discovered that while I'd been methodical and packed each part build in the same box as its bag with the parts left to use, I had a bit of a mix of Manufacturers. There was a good pile of Coopercraft but also some Parkside and even 3 Ks!. So I have now listed all the kits, checked I've got all the parts to complete and decide where I am going to upgrade, particularly buffers and brake gear. Fortunately I have two oblong Quality Street tins full of the little bags of wagon bits that you used to buy for 50p a time, so I hope I have most of the bits I need. I have also included in my list what needs doing to each so that if it is some time before I get to doing any of them, I know what I need to do to each The Ks were a mixed bag; a 17ft 6in van, a SR Parcels van, but the best by far, a GW Syphon C which is definitely going to be finished. But I do need to research when these were scrapped, however, if earlier than 1960/2, I feel an application of Rule 1 coming on! The more priority job, is to finish off sorting my Shell tankers. I need to get out my copy of Tourret's masterpiece and finally decide on the composition of the train from Shellhaven that bought a Class 31 through Maidenhead in 1960/2. I hope I have enough of the right livery for the time to have a 12 tank train (plus a spacing open wagon each end and ER numbered BR 20 ton brake). If there are any spare I will include a couple in one of my High Wycombe branch pick up freights. Quite a few of what I have are weathered so they will be first choice if the right livery, although I will include the odd clean wagon. I hope everyone is feeling well enough to be making progress with their modelling, or just enjoying running their layout? Take care Paul

Robin, If I'd a track to put them on I'd let you get your own back by looking at my train of Shell tankers. While I'd somehow remembered what Mr. Tourret had to say about Mobil, I will have to get my copy out to sort these Shell tanks out! Keep modelling and photographing ! Cheers Paul

So where did the shunter fall off the Acton Shunters Track? Maybe about the time 4550's driver opened her up on the mainline? Or are you like me with a mile long "I'll do it when I get round to it " list where relabeling the shunters truck to Henley is near the bottom of the list?? Mind you by the 1960/2 era that my Maidenhead based "Lower Thames Yard" is set in Henley only got a freight three times a week! Cheers All, Take care Paul

Well Gibbo, I hope you feel better for getting that little lot off your chest?? Meanwhile what have you got to show us in the way of recent modelling?- have you been giving any models the chop recently? Me, I spent this morning going through a couple of boxes of kits and things that have spent at least 5 years on my "I'll do it when I get round to it pile"! Mainly Coopercrafts that need things like roofs, brake levers and buffers fitted. Luckily I have always worked methodically so the bags of bits were all there with the original label tucked inside , so it was just a case of pairing up the bags with the part built models. It also gives me the opportunity to upgrade some parts not yet fitted (particularly buffers!) from another box full of the little 50p bags you used to be able to buy of all sorts of such bits. So armed with a long list of potential upgrades I can spend another morning finding the right bits. Trouble is once you get into such tasks time seems to hurtle by, but at least thoughts of the current crisis go out of the window! Take care All, Cheers Paul

So Gibbo, I was right as to the Origins of the beasty! Originally a VIX (a LWB Ferry van), then converted to a ZSX for the engineers, then a Satlink(?) vehicle , then converted to HSFV4! I rest my case. More brainteasers please, we need all the help we can get to keep our brains going! I can't even get a fix of steam (as I did last Sunday!) from a walk down to the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway. Its now closed for the duration! I could walk across to the West Coast main line where they took out a footbridge a few months back - shouldn't be many walking along that footpath! But the sight of a few Pendelinos and London North Western Units , is not quite the same! Hope you are all well and sane (well as sane as you will ever be!) Cheers Paul

Looks to me like the remains of one of the BR early LWB ferry vans? The small vents(?) with a X on them look the part? I'll have to go away and look them up! Cheers Paul

Oops! I've got tankers with that version of the Mobil Logo scheduled to run on my 1960/2 Lower Thames Yard"!!