Adrian Stevenson

The militaria fair at the weekend went well and I raised funds from sales of kit to fund a new 58xx. Managed to do a little bit of track laying tonight and got the goods shed line laid down to the end of baseboard 3. Cheers, Ade.

Hi Julian, looks like you have had quite a spending spree! Nice locos. Cheers, Ade.

Hi Chris, this just gets better. Terrific stuff. Cheers Ade.

Excellent!

Hi Andy, I have been making some progress. The buffer beams have now had two coats of red paint, real coal load fitted and the boards on top of the water tank have been weathered. Just need to pick up some Maskol before I can spray the body. On the layout, I have now fitted the two sets of points leading to the goods shed and loading bay. So I am now on board no 3. Nothing will be done this weekend as I am working both days at a big militaria show. Cheers, Ade.

Hi Dan, yes I have ran it up and down, it runs nice and slow even on DC. I currently have it in front of me, in bits, in preparation for the respray. Cheers, Ade.

Very enjoyable day thanks. It is a great show and rapidly becoming my favourite.

Hi Mike, it was an "NQP". The guard irons had come off and been glued back on. You cannot see it. And certainly not once weathered. They had a few in different liveries and all sold very quickly first thing this morning. Bought some GWR green paint at the show in readiness for the respray. Cheers, Ade.

I did see it today. It looked great.

That is good to know! Thanks!

Sometimes it is not about seeing it, but just knowing it is there...

Back from Bristol show and having now seen one of the Class 03's in person I have decided not to buy one at present. What has put me off is the running board is not straight. It bows upwards in the middle. I spoke to a Gent who had bought one and he pointed this out to me. Having looked at all the examples on offer at the show, they were all the same. If you look at photos on various large vendors sites you will see what I mean when viewed square on from the side. Not sure if this can be rectified? Cheers, Ade.

Hi Andy, back home from the show. Met up with George and Ian. No breakfasts available But it is one of my favourite shows being exclusively O gauge. I came home with a cut price Dapol Sentinel at £120. So very pleased with that. As I mentioned many pages back now, I intend to respray it to represent the loco which ran on trial on the Malmesbury line in late 1927. Cheers, Ade.

Sorry they went on Dec 12th.

Really nice work. I am looking forward to the show tomorrow. Cheers, Ade.

Very nice and worth the effort involved. Cheers, Ade.

Hi Guys, I was in heaven when these came into work this week. Militaria plus railways! WW1 British Medal Group to 105889 Company Quartermaster Sergeant H Finch, Royal Engineers comprising of 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Distinguished Conduct Medal, WW2 Defence Medal and French Croix de Gurre with Bronze Star. All complete with original ribbons. He was attached to the Railway Operating Division. His Citation for the DCM reads: 105889 CQMS H Finch RE (Wolverhampton) London Gazette 3 Sept 1918. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He managed to detach two wagons containing shells which had been ignited by enemy fire from a train, and by his gallant action saved the rest. He has previously done fine work. These have never been on the market before and have come direct from the family. After speaking to the vendor, it turns out he was a Railway Employee before he joined up. After the war he returned to the Railways and served with the LMS. The family story is he became station master at Euston? I have had a look at my Ancestry account and can find a Chief Clerk at Euston sharing his name. I am going to do some more research on him. He must have been in the ARP / Civil Defence / Home Guard in WW2 to get the Defence Medal. Today they discovered this 9ct gold LMS Ambulance Centre Medallion awarded to him in 1925 for Long Service (which equates to 15 years, most of which would have been accrued in pre grouping days of course). Cheers, Ade.

Hi Chris, looking good! Cheers, Ade.

Great info, thank you. Cheers, Ade.

Hi Julian, very nice indeed. They are selling out fast by all accounts. Cheers, Ade.

Happy Birthday! Are they the new Minerva wagons? Cheers, Ade.

Glad these have been of interest and thanks for the comments. We don't get many railway items in, but when we do I always like to share them here. Cheers, Ade.

Hi Guys, these came into work today so I thought I would share them here. There are a nice selection of tickets all from the early 1900's. I suspect they all came from the same person who was shipping goods to Hayling Island. Plus a couple of post war tickets too. Cheers, Ade.

Another step forwards this afternoon. Borrowed my friend's jig saw and cut out the slot for the inspection pit. Of course it had to hit one of the braces for the board... The pit now been glued and pinned into place. The engine shed forms a datum point for some of the other features on the model. The shed will be 42cm long. With this now fixed, the Dapol starting signal is now fitted into place in the prototypical "wrong" place next to the loop line. Not wired in yet of course. The loading bay siding has also now been cut to the correct length, again using the engine shed as the datum point. (Not shown in the pic) Just one quick snap to show, I then got to run a few more loco's up and down Cheers, Ade.

We will have a proper opening do in the future! Lez wants to do a little opening party. Cheers, Ade.