Cowley 47521

That looks like quite a late Peak working into Exeter. I can’t quite make the number out on my phone, any idea which one it is (maybe 45128 with the Tinsley snail)?

We went to see those specials go through Exeter when I was a kid. From memory one train had 7029 Clun Castle and 5051 Drysllwyn Castle in charge and one of the others had 7819 Hinton Manor and 6000 King George V doing the honours but they suffered various problems on the way down (also possibly with GWR stock thinking about it?) and didn’t make it further than Exeter under steam power from what I remember. I think the next day or the one after we watched Hinton Manor at Red Cow Crossing leaving Exeter with 4930 Hagley Hall heading back from Plymouth and they’d apparently had a really good run over the banks on the way up. I would have only been about 12 years old at the time so apologies if I’ve misremembered any of this! 😂

Ah that’s Redruth Ralph. He was famous for doing all his railway modelling naked, until he was assembling an 0 gauge gasometer one evening and had a terrible accident with his superglue…

Some of these views are really looking the part I must say!

Having had quite an eclectic mix of locos and stock in the 1980s and 90s I used to really enjoy detailing and tinkering around with Lima and Hornby diesels, unfortunately though the poor running characteristics of the motors in that era caused me to start losing interest a little, although I often had a project of some sort on the go. The step change in quality when the new generation of models started coming on stream in the early 2000s was what really coaxed me back into modelling properly though. I went all in with a Hornby 50, a pair of Bachmann class 20s and various other locos and loads of stock. I think I must have had a bit of disposable income at the time! A bit like @Chris M, I’d considered N gauge before and dipped my toe in the water a couple of times but it was my first proper look at a friends N gauge Dapol class 33 that really lit the fuse. I eventually sold all the 00 stuff I’d bought in the 2000s and invested it in N gauge as the quality of the models has improved over the last ten years. If my teenage self could have seen my current fleet now he’d have needed a cold shower! 😂

😂 Touché!

That actually happened to me once near a certain well known mental health facility in the Dawlish area …

I like that and I’d never thought about it before. 👍

Some good points raised above. I’d also add that an exhibition layout has to keep the general public interested for a few minutes, preferably with something moving all of the time. That might not be what you want to do when you’re at home. They’re definitely two different sets of criteria in my humble opinion although not impossible to come to a good compromise with a bit of planning.

Nice. Just don’t put me on hold…

Of course they spend much of their time trying to kill themselves unfortunately…

@33C Just to quickly acknowledge this, those were what I was looking at the other day. They seem like a good starting point for converting, but I might have to come back with some silly questions at some point if that’s ok?

No but I did have a look on eBay over the weekend. I was thinking about getting something around the £12 mark as a starter but I’ve not quite formulated in my mind what I want to do yet. Some kind of narrow gauge industrial affair though probably.

Nice to see the royal family tightening their belts. 😉

Not yet because I’ve been at work all week, but I might well crack under this sustained pressure this weekend…

What you manage to do to these things is truly astonishing @33C. Every time this thread pops up on my feed it makes me want to go to a boot sale/charity shop and have a go. I can honestly say that it’s all rather inspiring and I’m sure I’m not the only one that you’ve made think about things in a different way…

Happy Mother’s Day everyone.

I must admit that someone sent it to me and I just posted it without too much investigation on my part…

Ah ok thanks for that. So what was the substantial bit lump of equipment that was ejected forwards then. Any thoughts?

Completely agree with a lot of your assessment here The Johnster. I’m going to point out (before someone else does) that it was most likely the boiler that was launched from the loco. The bogie pivoting upward and launching the boiler definitely seems like the likely scenario though.

46023 was dumped in the Toton scrap line for a good few years afterwards. I remember seeing it there in about 1987 and it still had the same faded test markings on it that we’re applied to 46009.

I’m assuming that it just ended up in standard intercity livery not long afterwards then?