Dave Hunt

Should have put in my last post - be careful up there Bob.

A damp and dull morning here in North Shropshire. Had amugo'coffee and contemplated the day's requirements such as chasing the man at the computer shop about the new printer he's been promising to get me for the best part of three weeks (that's what I get for trying to support my high street shops rather than going to the big chains or on line), trying to sort out why SWMBO's iPad won't send emails even though I've reset everything n times, posting some stuff I've sold on a well-known auction site, shopping for tonight's dinner and possibly, if I'm ever so lucky, spending an hour in the workshop. l've also been thinking about our friends on RMW who have big troubles and wishing them all well; puts my trivial problems in perspective. Hope everyone has as good a day as possible. Dave

Eye've now got a spell chequer two, witch is a grate help two me four knot making mistakes wen eye right things hear.

I never make typogrifical errers anyway.

I have had one of the D&S 7mm kits for the last twenty years (my wife bought it for me for my 50th birthday) but still haven't built it! That is all about to change, though, as I have got back into railway modelling properly after a break of too many years and once I have finished making a couple of industrial 0-4-0s that I started about eight years ago (originally for a brewery layout that a friend was going to build but never got off the ground) I am going to start on a S7 layout of a Midland MPD loosely based on Hellifield. As part of the project I'll be making the crane and obviously I'll be doing the match wagon as well and like Jamie I'll want a couple of the rebuilt Kirtley tariff brakes. Jamie collaborated with Fox transfers to produce 7mm transfers for the MR 15 tonners and I've bought a set so all I need to do now is get some Slaters wheels and it's game on. Unfortunately the Hellifield ploughs are slightly after my timescale, which is about 1906/7 - an interesting time for modelling the Midland as it was going through livery changes and locomotive renumbering. Dave

Jamie, I think that the vans on the breakdown train are those that were built from Kirtley tariff brakes. I like to see things like breakdown trains, snowploughs etc. on layouts rather than just 'standard' goods and passenger traffic. Dave

Or a 'cab'?

Just back home from the Stafford show. I was standing talking to some folk when I noticed a bloke looking at me quizzically and mouthing 'Dave?' Lo and behold it was the Happy Hippo so we had a good chat and since we only live about 30 minutes drive apart will probably see each other again. Also had a long natter with Tony Wright, whom I haven't seen for a number of years, Gordon Gravett about Arun Quay and the techniques he uses, and several other friends and acquaintances. I had my 95 year-old Dad with me who is recovering from breaking his femur and having a hip replacement just before Christmas; it was his first real day out since and he really enjoyed himself despite being on crutches and finding it somewhat tiring getting about. Lots of very nice layouts there but for me Arun Quay stood out. Thanks to all concerned with organising yet another great show and to those who gave their time transporting and displaying layouts, demonstrations etc. All in all an enjoyable day that maintained the warm glow after yesterday's six nations. Dave

Did you break your typing finger before finishing your last post Bob? Just finishing muggercoffee before having a shower and then setting off for Stafford. Nice clear if slightly frosty day for it. Dave

Had a pleasant sojourn to a local coffee shop for a leisurely cappuccino, managed a couple of hours in the workshop, watched England thump Ireland whilst lying on a red leather sofa (me, not England), had a nice steak dinner and am looking forward to the Stafford show tomorrow, even though there is a threat of an infestation of hippos - so far a pretty good weekend. TTFN Dave PS, I don't really like the new format for many of the reasons enumerated by others but being one of the new kids on the block I guess I'm not best qualified to comment (kid? who am I kidding?)

Morning awl from a frosty but thankfully snow free north Shropshire. Just having a muggercoffee prior to setting off to the Saturday indoor market and then seeing how the lead/varnish porridge is setting in the saddle tank and boiler of the little industrial job I'm making. Later on there will be some quality sofa time watching 6 nations rugby and a steak dinner. This retirement business can be really trying at times. Tomorrow is Stafford show day followed by dinner with friends, so all-in-all a dreadfully busy weekend looms. Keep smiling and I hope everyone else has a good weekend. Dave PS, welcome aboard Ray, I'm now no longer the junior member of this thread.

Many years ago when I was first researching the 15 ton Cowans Sheldon cranes, Peter Tatlow put me in touch with a Mr. Roscoe Turner who had worked at Plaistow in the 1920s and who was involved with breakdown trains. He told me that the ex-Midland cranes were locomotive crimson lake. Like the way 216 is coming on Jamie. Dave

Start of the 6 Nations - excellent antidote to winter. Just been watching the Wales/France game. By half time I was writing Wales off as a spent force but now???? What a comeback! Hope that England/Ireland gives me the same cheery feeling tomorrow but somehow....... During the web down time I finished a more than two week project to clean and tidy my workshop potential layout room as well as getting rid of much of the stuff I have amassed over the years but realistically will never get around to using. Some of it I've sold on a well-known auction site, some I've given away and some I've just burned. I've also repainted the floor and considering it's just 60 sq m I now pity Jamie with his hangar. Sunday I'll be at Stafford so with luck I'll see some of you there. I'll be the tall, bald bloke wearing the slightly disreputable looking dark blue Barbour (type) jacket. Sorry to hear that GDB has done a GDB. Mind you, I've a theory that only a certain amount of bad luck is in circulation at any one time so since GDB soaks up so much of it there's less to bother the rest of us and hence we should all be grateful. Thank you Bob. Me, a p*sstaker? Surely not? Goodnight awl. Dave

I went to Slimming World two years back and lost nearly 4 stone in eight months without feeling hungry at all. The forum going down for two days? Was it something I said? Dave

I don't know which specific oxide of iron the Midland used but the undercoat (for want of a better term) revealed when some ex-LMS vehicles were stripped during restoration was, I am led to believe, closely similar to the sort of red oxide primer available in spray rattle cans or slightly darker, although the latter could just have been ageing. As with many other discussions on 'authentic' colours for railway artefacts, in the absence of a BS number the matter will probably never be resolved definitively so any colour that could justifiably be described as 'oxide of iron' will do. Dave

It's my understanding that in the era when all locomotives were crimson lake, so was other locomotive dept. rolling stock. How long this lasted after the MR started painting goods engines unlined lake, brown and ultimately black I don't know for sure but I suspect that it continued until the grouping. ED vehicles were red oxide but the only use of that colour on locomotive dept. stock was, as far as I know, when some goods locomotives were observed in about 1905 in what was described by some commentators as 'brick red', which my good friend David Tee thought was probably just the red oxide undercoat that was normally applied under the lake simply with varnish over. Therefore it is my estimation that Jamie is correct in painting his ploughs, mess vans, cranes, match wagons etc. crimson lake. Dave PS, the locomotive undercoating and ED Dept vehicle finish was described in specifications as 'oxide of iron'. Red lead, which is a different colour, was not used in any MR locomotive paint specification that I have ever seen.

Well, curtain rails (or should I say poles - what's the difference? apparently there is but it's above my pay grade) all installed without serious injury, structural damage or recourse to the emergency services and no call for the Landrover spare wheel once. Result or what? The only problem was that after I had got the job finished SWMBO and pal discovered that one of the curtains was shorter than they had supposed so I had to take down the pole and start again. Life and this post are too short to recount the involved discussions that went on before the final solution was arrived at - suffice it to say that they involved a neighbour who was called in and probably would have given an object lesson to the Brexit negotiators in circular logic (hope SWMBO never gets to read this post). Shortliner - about the Victor tanker, the K1 was the really bad 'un. When I was stationed at Tengah in Singapore on my first tour I landed one day and turned off the runway at the last exit track but couldn't jettison the brake parachute so had to wait for the troops to come out and get it off for me. While I was waiting a Victor K1 took off and when he passed me the nosewheel was still on the ground! By the time I turned round in full expectation of seeing a disaster he was airborne (sort of) and staggering off in the general direction of Malaya with a rate of climb normally associated with treetops. 'Orrible. The K2 was somewhat better, using the term in a loose sense. At least it was a good platform for taking fuel. Goodnight everyone. Dave

Jamie, I had the same problem once with my Spinner and the only way I solved it was to strip it down and silver solder the crank axle together, which is what I have used ever since and never had any problems. But if the only effect on 216 is a .5mm wobble and the wheels are otherwise secure with the pin holding the axle together I think you'll probably get away with leaving things alone (but don't quote me if the wheel falls off, as the saying goes). Compound, I agree that the ED wagons were red oxide but as far as I am aware the 15 ton cranes were painted in locomotive lake; indeed the London crane seems to have been lined out as per the locomotives, at least when first stationed there, but Weatherburn and his team always were a law unto themselves until Deeley called them to heel. Dave

Good morning. Bit of a late start today as the insomnia monster visited last night and I'd not long been asleep when SWMBO decided at the crack of sparrowf*rt to manufacture tea and coffee respectively (I can't stand tea - it tastes how I imagine dishwater in which old socks have been washed would taste. Not that I've ever tasted........ but you get the general idea). Anyway, I then dozed off again and have only just surfaced to face a cloudy and breezy morning. With luck I'll survive the curtain rail episode without a GDB to A&E; will let you know. Hope all attending shows, venturing on the high seas etc. have good days and those suffering have some respite. Andyram and others having visits from the Black Dog have my heartfelt sympathy - been there and got the tee shirt and it ain't pleasant but mine eventually went away and I was able to get on with life. Fortunately I had excellent support both domestically and professionally and I hope that in some small way belonging to a community like this could help. Cheers Dave

Good grief - the last time I got so many welcomes it was because I owed some people money. It certainly seems that I've dropped in on a really funny, friendly, whacky and somewhat anarchic thread, which suits me down to the ground (even though I'm 'getting on a bit' - air traffickers always did know how to make aircrew feel good). Thanks everyone for explaining the pitfalls and some of the acronyms involved and for The Hippo for using terminology that I actually understand ('Spoilsport, certain Pongoes were looking forward to a crab with a Rapier up the tail pipe.') although I suppose we are in the minority? As far as the Rhonda show is concerned Baz, I'm not sure my liver would stand it nowadays; even when I get together with Pete Kibble we seldom get through more than one bottle of malt and I haven't wrecked Owen Gibbon in years. Anyway, I did manage some time in the workshop today working on a miniature prime mover mounted on flanged wheels and driven by the passage of electrons but tomorrow has been booked by SWMBO after church for curtain rail mounting and other domestic matters followed by the preparation of the traditional roast beef of old England. And it's raining. Goodnight awl and thanks again for all the welcoming posts. Dave

Dear Awl, Many more thanks for the welcoming messages and the advice awl-wise. Jamie, my regards also to the supersonic T. Dave

All I need now Andy is some of your ability to build layouts in a matter of days! And thanks for the welcome. Dave

Morning everyone and thanks to all who left welcoming messages to this thread. Better introduce myself. I'm a 71 year old ex-RAF pilot living in Market Drayton in Shropshire with my SWMBO Jill. My 95 year old Dad is also with us as a week before Christmas he fell and broke his hip, spent six weeks in hospital and we are now looking after him. I've been involved in railway modelling for over 40 years but haven't had a layout of my own since the 1980s when I had a OO Midland MPD that featured in Model Trains magazine. I have, however, been involved with the big layout in Matlock Bath that David White masterminded, sadly long since gone, as well as Bob Essery's S7 Dewsbury and Peter Kibble's Severn Mill, both of which I worked on and operated at exhibitions as well as building several of the locomotives thereon. I was also a director of Slaters Plastikard for a while in the 1980s and for a few years ran a small one man band company of my own called Pilgrim Models. I've been involved with the Midland Railway Society since it began in 1981 and am currently chairman for the second time. I was assistant editor, for want of a better term,for Bob Essery of Midland Record and LMS Journal, now sadly both defunct, and wrote more than a few articles in both. I was also lead author or author of the Wild Swan series of books Midland Engines and LMS Locomotive Profiles. Although I haven't had a layout of my own for a long, long time that is about to change and within the next couple of months aim to be starting on The Last Great Project, which will be a Scaleseven Midland MPD, probably loosely based on Hellifield. Well, that is me in a nutshell. I hope it hasn't been too boring a post and I promise to be more succinct in future. Today I hope to get some time in my workshop where I am working on a scratch built Peckett shutter that I started for a stillborn project of Pete Kibbles for a brewery layout. I hope to be at the Stafford show next week so maybe I will see some RMWebbers there. That's it for now. I hope you all have a good day. Dave

Thanks Andy. Dave

I'm fairly new to this forum but I follow this thread intermittently as it is often amusing, interesting, informative etc. I was about to post on it for the first time (on the tea v coffee question) when I saw the news about Mal and followed the link, which stopped me in my tracks. I do not know you Mal but your simple statement of an awful truth has hit me as though you were a lifelong friend. May God go with you and your family. Dave Hunt