MR Chuffer

They've been out of stock for months, there was a debate elsewhere on here about what does it mean when the Bachmann website says "Arrived" (that they've had product previously but currently have none in stock). Google search brings up a succession of "not in stock" messages from anyone with a web presence and eBay even plasters a blanket "CURRENTLY SOLD OUT" at the top of a search. And so I've had to make do and mend on 15+ newly acquired wagons. Glad I didn't throw away all of the rubbish plastic couplings that came with Ratio and Slater kits I had in the past which work to a certain extent but are quite fragile by comparison, and have too long latches/hooks.

I've been using Ratio and Slater's plastic jobbies as a temporary fix, big, plastic and obvious, and had 4 packets in mind? But any will do with that timescale, what a poor do... PM me.

But a fair number, ex-MR, did e.g. Wirksworth, Leicester West Bridge, Ripley, Barnoldswick, Tewkesbury, Southwell, Barnoldswick and Ingleton - an end on junction with the LNWR but functionally a terminus for much of its life. Perhaps that's a majority of MR branches?

Try these? I do, you get 4 in a pack. It is FB to FB but gives you a chance to make it work at not much cost.

And there was I hoping a batch would be on the Ever Given...

- Bit later than my pre-WW1 period, but fascinating nonetheless

My guess would be that the Furness had to hand over to the Midland locos at that point and there was also goods exchange with the LNWR for a quicker route to Bradford, Leeds and East Lancashire generally.

And of course, we are pre-Heysham days so Irish cattle, flax and all manner of imports. Will look at the MRSC catalogue this evening, thx.

Some interesting perspectives in the foregoing responses, but the"Bradford Pantomime Train" exampled, why would you need luggage space for a there and back excursion in a single day? It left Colne at 2pm returning from Bradford at 11.35pm arriving back in Colne at 1.05am.

Thanks, all the responses above make a lot of sense and will fit nicely with what I am doing.

In the book The Skipton Colne Railway (Donald Binns), there are samples of Advertised Excursions and working arrangement from the 1880s, both MR and L&Y. MR example 1: Colne to Bradford and Back (Pantomime Train) – Train to be formed of 1 First, 17 Thirds (a lot - unless 4 wheeled?), Break Carriage and 2 Vans MR example 2: Bingley to Colne (en route to Blackpool) and Back – 17 Thirds, Break Carriage and 2 Vans. MR example 3: Shipley to Cone (en route to Liverpool) and Back – 1 Saloon, 17 Thirds and 2 Vans So a Break is perhaps a Break Third, and a Van is a full Break? The L&Y Break spelling is what is on the MR leaflets, not mine…

I’m looking at extracts of the MR November 1881 WTT in the book The Skipton Colne Railway (Donald Binns) and the Midland is originating goods trains at Carnforth to go via Skipton (reversal) and then off to Colne where, presumably, it would be handed over to the L&Y. That is unless it was for Manchester Ancoats or Liverpool, in which case wouldn’t it have turned right at Hellifield and come down the shorter Clitheroe line, like the MR Scotch Expresses and Goods. There are 2 workings each way daily, with more Midland workings from Colne to and from Bradford. Any ideas as to what the principle traffic from/to Carnforth could have been, and where it was going, especially if it was handed over to the L&Y at Colne? Thx.

I got the same response, "Arrived" is that it is "released" and has been in stock but isn't at the moment. Expect/hoping a shipment will be onboard the Ever Given, docked just yesterday in Rotterdam. Not the clearest of statuses...

Me too, I only need one. I bought one and trimmed it to 22cm for turning 00 gauge 0-6-0s on the fiddle yard traverser... Just need one more for flexibility to move 4 wagons around that go to the gas works.

I had a whitemetal mink kit from 40+ years ago that I decorated at the time as LNWR (ABS?). On rediscovering it, a Dettol paint strip and rejig the brake gear to Morton as per L&YR from several photos I have seen and it's a keeper, though the axle boxes are not correct but I can live with that.

@iL Dottore - my local Lidl sells fresh Scotch Bonnets from time to time, with other "hotter than normal" varieties. I put the Scotch Bonnets (or others) straight into the freezer and retrieve a Bonnet and grate to the required heat on a dish and return any remaining part to the freezer. Indian finger chillies which I use in risottos, tuna mayo or egg with mayo, anchovies and caper sandwiches, can be chopped straight from the freezer. V economical.

Very informative, now remind me, how far have we come in 100 years.....

Fine modelling but haven't I read elsewhere here that shop, office and advertising signs were always block capitals until lower case started appearing in the late 1950s...?

Try these (Wizard/51L)? All sorts of useful underframe bits 'n' bobs.

That's my recollection too, I used to travel to school most days from Rothley to Loughborough Central and return, late 50s to early 60s.

Some contradictions here, first there are a lot of men of limited stature in Wigan, recruited from S Wales coal and Cornish tin mines for working in the Wigan mines in the nineteenth century; and secondly, a specialist cycle shop I deal with says a major supplier supplies more XS women's bikes to the northwest than anywhere else in the UK. Some sweeping generalisations here to sort out...

Really? I must have different code 75 track. No problems with mine.

Don't think Deeley did a 4F, you mean 3F? Quite a few differences with the Fowler 4F.

I have fond memories of Bass Red Triangle and Worthington White Shield, original IPAs, in the days when keg was all conquering in pubs. And wasn't Guinness bottle conditioned at the time too, and Courage Russian Stout?

Not wishing to labour this, another observation is that Burnley Collieries was a substantial operation with coking, gas, household and manufacturing outputs from c1859-1947 with 8 mines and 2,600 employees in 1923. And my wagon is numbered 576 - no guide to the actual number of wagons they owned, I know - but if they had more than the handful, that's some repainting job as a placemarker to cover for tardy will processing. From what I'm reading in Graces Guide, Durham Mining Museum and Lancashire archives, this nomenclature probably lasted a long time e.g. Graces Guide and DMM.