Moxy

I like that pugbash. You have captured the proportions of a typical industrial loco beautifully, it may be freelance, but it looks right. I may have to borrow the basic design of that loco for a future project. Thanks Moxy

Crow Nest Junction picture here Sadly it no longer has a box, just a few anonymous grey cabinets where the box used to be.

Any recommendations on which filler to use would be greatly appreciated Squadron white putty works quite well. No connection with the shop linked to, just the cheapest link that came up. I got mine from Eileen's Emporium, no doubt other stockists will be available.

Sadly not. Sabden, Gisburn, Bowland, Gargrave - all in North Yorkshire! I think at the time Montserrat Road was named it was probably the only a minor side road off Chorley Road (now the B6226). If I remember correctly, there was something of historical note happening at the Spanish monastery at the time Montserrat Road was first built, hence the landowner chose the name. It predates the time that councils had any influence over road building/naming, and the name has just stuck.

There is a Montserrat Road in Bolton, supposedly named after a Spanish monastery. There is also a road called Main Sprit Weind in Preston.

Before you get to Paypal, under the Shopping Cart total, it says 'Have a promo coupon?'. Click on 'Redeem your coupon' next to it. That brings up the box to type in the code. HTH

I like that Jerry, neat finish. I repainted one of those (very badly!) in red and cream when I was a teenager. By coincidence, it's currently sat in a tub of Dettol, stripping off my teenage paint job so I can rebuild/repaint it for use on an upcoming narrow gauge layout.

Just changed focus. I'm concentrating on narrow gauge (British and Spanish) at the moment. I still have all my American stock, but it's in boxes. Maybe that long planned Boston & Maine/Maine Central branch will appear one day! Cheers Paul

I love those slim line water tanks, presumably that narrow to fit in the site between the tracks and the road.

That has reminded me, didn't C J Freezer draw up St Ives in one of his Peco track plan books? I can't find my copies of the Peco books at the moment, but if I remember correctly, it was drawn to fit in a cupboard under the stairs, with an extension into the hall. The shape of the site is about the same as yours.

It was the Aire Valley Railway and the 19 articles ran from April 1961 to November 1976. HTH Moxy

Thanks for finding that producer, that looks very interesting. While I note his comments about the fragility of the handrails, I think I would be tempted to cut them off & replace them by wire. 12mm drivers at 15.75mm + 15.75mm centres in HO. A Drewry may very well be on the shopping list next payday!

If you go to your first post in the thread, and click on 'edit' you should be able to change the thread title from there. Liking the layout!

Not sure about specific Firedrake products, but you may be better asking on British HO website. They have an IO Groups site HERE which has a database of former products, and who now holds the masters, but I suspect you probably need to join the British HO Society to access the IO Group. (membership is free!) Hope this helps Moxy

There's some info here about Inglenooks and how they are shunted. It's your layout and up to you, but if I were building it I would shorten the sidings at the right hand end and move the pointwork to the right a bit to make the headshunt a bit longer if you can. I can't really tell from the photo, but it looks like the right hand sidings will take a loco and around 6 cars, the headshunt only a loco + 2, which would make it very frustrating to shunt. Hope this helps Moxy

Catawiki is a useful source for these Roco NS 500/600 class shunters (nearest UK model is a Class 11, but they can be turned into Class 08), I got one of the two I own from that website. You need to signup/login to bid on locos, which works in broadly the same way to Ebay. Unlike Ebay, however, they charge a commission on the final price, (around 9%) plus payment from the UK has to be by international bank transfer, which will also attract bank charges. Just bear in mind there are these extra costs on top of whatever amount you bid. Moxy

Thanks for that Johann, that it is a trip down memory lane! Heading down Fishergate towards the railway station. Looking at the date I realise that is almost 40 years ago. I haven't been to Preston for some time but I bet the view of Fishergate has changed a lot since then.

Yes please to the measurements, if you wouldn't mind Richard. I know the new J72 chassis isn't supposed to fit the old ex Mainline body, but if we are modifying it into a G6 or J73 (or indeed anything else), is there any mileage in using the old all plastic body with the new chassis? There seem to be plenty of old split frame J72's on ebay with split gears that could be used as body donors with the newer chassis. Moxy

Thanks for the pictures Bob, I do vaguely remember the depot at Howe Bridge, although I think it had closed down by the time I moved to the Wigan area. It survived through SELNEC and GM Buses ownership, I think it was First Manchester that closed it and sold it to become a housing estate. The services and the buses moved to Wigan depot, itself since sold to Stagecoach Manchester.

It's good to see at least one of these old Ribble breakdown trucks still survive in preservation. There were originally 3 of these (BD1-BD3). Ribble needed some breakdown trucks, and they decided to convert these from some old Leyland PS2/5 buses in 1964/5. My late father worked for Ribble and this was one of the first jobs he worked on, basically a full size 'cut and shut' of these old buses, with a recovery crane added to the back. When I was growing up in Preston I remember there was always at least one of these breakdowns parked outside the office at the front of Selborne Street depot, although the display showed 'Ribble' and I am pretty sure they were all on trade plates in those days (red lettering on white ground). Edit: one of them was on '004RN.' They continued to serve Ribble well into the late 1970's and it was only the fact that the service buses and coaches were becoming heavier meant these old breakdowns couldn't cope, leading to them eventually being withdrawn. Edit: They were replaced by a new BD1 based on a Leyland Buffalo chassis carrying trade plate 067CK. (date unknown). Edit: I've found my books on Ribble, and corrected the dates and the model of Leyland bus on which these were based. Better than relying on my (failing) memory!

What series were they filming in Farnworth, Bob? Moxy (who was living in Tonge Moor, Bolton in 2007)

If it's any help, another forum I frequent that uses Invision Community software is having similar issues.

Eko still do, under the Toyeko brand, link here to their website. They don't seem to have a UK distributor. There is also some discussion about them here https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/141771-eko/

Hi John I too have one of those J94 prints somewhere (haven't seen it since I moved house, but it will be in one of the boxes!), I was planning on putting it on a Branchlines 03 chassis (less jackshaft of course), but I would be interested to know which Bachmann chassis it is you are using. Thanks in advance Maxy

That's an interesting question. According to 'The Railways of the Manchester Ship Canal' (Thorpe OPC ISBN 0860932885), none of them were sold direct from MSC to the NCB Opencast Executive. Most of them were sold to Thomas Hill (Rotherham) Ltd, (who had bought Rolls Royce's Sentinel business,) in 1971/72. I wonder if Thomas Hill reconditioned one (or more), and then sold it to NCB Opencast at a later date? The livery certainly looks like it is ex MSC.