Firecrest

Amazing work there... Great minds think alike! I’m currently working on something similar with a 1972 moulding of 4983 that I discovered in Topps Trains for a whopping £5. It was filthy and rusty so I took pity on it. So far... New chimney/safety valve/smokebox door dart/ steps/handrails/ejector pipe/lamp irons/smokebox door iron/brass cab surrounds/ drawbar/vac pipes/cab handrails/replacement valve gear/whistle shield/whistles/boiler bands & tender. Some parts came from a spare County body purchased for the purpose while the tender is a Hogwarts one from K&S Models spares box in Stevenage for a fiver. The original Triang one just seems a bit too crude to me. I have to confess I’m not a huge GWR fan but it was a fiver so why not and I’ve had a lot of fun learning about Halls. It’s going to be 4969 Sh(r)ugborough Hall when done as my parents live about 3 miles from the real thing! I didn’t dare alter the cab! So all kudos to you for doing that! Do you know if the Triang Hall is long in the boiler? I thought Counties and Halls had the same and the Hall seems longer... Keep up the great work!

That’s a definite minus for me too! Possible attempt to create 47901?

Well I’ve just found this thread and nearly ruptured something laughing too hard! Thank you... thought I’d share these pair of gems discovered tonight while genuinely trawling for a scrap Hall body https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373414366323 I mean I know that L1s are a little less common than Jintys for example but surely this is somewhat hopeful But as for this... words fail me. There’s some kind of attempt at clarification there but alas ... the top separates from the base https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224306816429

239s got some quite interesting features if you want to go the whole hog... frost grilles, full set of bodyside water filler steps and - incredibly - the hatches themselves which were like hens teeth in later years (077/083/222/239) You’ve also got sealed beam marker lights at one end and standard on the other, round buffers and to cap it off it gained a set of nose mounted horns - one on either side - though that might have been when it was 332 only... anyway, very nice choice of subject! good luck C

Lovely! Nice job there

The nameplate from 45501 if you’re interested rather lovely and the subject of a renumbering to happen soon

It was engine faults you're right... laid up at BS and then to Kingsbury? It's been a while... engine swap would have been a possibility, if you could fork out for a spare decent prime mover. Ah well... 051 was engine issues too as well I think - also boilered. Ahhh… that word 'complete', it hides so many sins. Not least the sheer weight of metal in the bedplate in the form of lost sockets, and spanners...

Absolutely amazing job on 114! Those bogies are just something else... I take my hat off to you for that... on a small detail note will you be lopping off the surplus water tank gauge/steps to convert it into a second fuel tank? 114 finished with one of the slab-sided pattern tanks, which I think was added when it was in two-tone grey. A very sadly missed tractor and one I always thought wouldn't go to the torch - ditto 051 - I remember going round it at CD when it was having TPWS fitted and after a few enquiries, emerging with the water gauge off the boiler courtesy of a kind fitter who lent me his adjustable! That now sits in 264... (which carries 088s boiler... obviously). It had a big 'Max Power' sticker in the cab too. Great work and a thoroughly interesting thread!

This may seem like an odd question but... I'm in the process of preparing a Triang-Hornby Hall for some serious surgery and have been removing all numbering etc with the aid of the trusty fibreglass pen. However, the entire cab side appears to be layered with a green 'decal', for want of a better word. It's akin to a silkscreen feel but a lot more hardy and quite tricky to remove - even with harder sanding. When you do attack it, it produces an awful plasticky smell which isn't great either. I remember that when prepping the ersatz 2P/L1 the Hornby produced at roughly the same time, the cabside and its 690 numeric were made of the same stuff and in the end I just left them more or less alone. This time round I'm determined to remove it, does anyone have any good solutions? I'm assuming some kind of solvent... but what? Thanks in advance

Just a small update... having tried Polly (for it is she... year unknown) out on the trusty H&M Clipper, there was an awful lot of smoke and some wonderful glowing from the motor. A quick look, followed by a thorough strip down of what turned out to be the oiliest and dirtiest XO3 I have ever seen, and a resoldering of the pickup wire from the wheels and Polly roared into life with that amazing Triang smell. So, the prime mover is well and truly in good fettle again... On an aside, this has to be the oiliest engine I've ever seen. Every single part was liberally covered in some kind of lubricant - it even seeped from behind the buffer heads when they were removed - a quick spin of the motor and the inside of the body is covered in it again. Not entirely sure how to get rid of all of it, or just to let it work itself out... maybe a good trip on the rolling road? Body wise, the scalpel awaits. I'm just amassing the parts - most I have but need a new smokebox dart, spectacle glasses and grilles, and safety valve. However, various Airfix/Dornoplas/Mainline/Parkside and Grafar products need completing first, and then there's that poor neglected Triang-Hornby Hall sat in the waiting room... watch this space!

Do they offer a long weight as well?

Well following on from Merlin’s progress (see above) I have taken receipt of this sad specimen. She’s best described as playworn and is fitted with an XO3 motor that apparently doesn’t work... while not wishing to become a repository for sad Nellies, I couldn’t pass this one up. You’ll all be relieved to know I only had one spark arresting chimney too. On a different note - while the name has been selected on a suitably Arthurian note - I am open to constructive colour suggestions. Tartan and sky blue pink are not an option... wish me luck! I’ll keep progress updated in here as and when...

Was the tooling worn out or just a new broom philosophy? Seems a waste

Couldn’t agree more, it’s the ideal first loco for a child as well (I think) and has so much charm! I couldn’t pass it up for a couple of quid and felt so sorry for it I had to rescue it. Story of my life really - I keep seeing wrecks on market stalls and rescuing them. Next up is a Triang-Hornby Hall I grabbed for a fiver... wish me luck

Ironically I've just purchased a load of industrial kits - a paper mill was not in there - I feel some scratchbuilding coming on

It's a Lost Wax casting that had been sat in the spares box looking lost for a long time! At least it didn't stand it on its buffers and you just don't get enough spark arrestors these days... I think it quite suits her actually

A wee bit still lives on in 1/1 scale here and some on 264! Had to perform some of the last rites on 262 sadly in Sims Metals during 2002 I think it was... Amazing model! 264 on the cards?

For those who may be interested... the white trimmings were adopted thanks once again to all who helped

And in progress ...

If I may add my own small take on Nellie... a work in progress though nearly done. One of the blue ersatz S&DJR models from the 70s with a can motor. Found in very depressed condition with no chimney, buffers and whistle for £2 on a bric a brac stall. Rebuilt using whatever was in the spares box (sorry Nellie) but I think it passes muster! New chimney (ahem), whistle, safety valve, steps, buffers, lamp irons, brass surrounds to front and rear cab windows, smoke box dark and lots of handrails. Still need to tidy the front up though beneath the windows! Real coal still to be added plus some tidying. Finished in Precision BR Freight Maroon and a dusting of roof dirt. Rods in LMS Lining yellow... Anyway, meet Merlin.

I remember going round it when it was stored at Crewe South in 1999. It had blown a traction motor at Penrith in 1997 and had been sidelined. Apart from the dodgy motor it was in pretty good shape, even to the point of having a great set of batts as after setting the BIS everything lit up! Was interested in 087 at the time which was parked up nearby. IIRC it had the Laira exam date on the cab roof, glad it still survives! When we were doing up 264 we were talking to the new owners of 263 and I noticed the panels had the same weird screw arrangement and markers - a quick check on TOPS (it was still registered at that point) and yep a Laira overhaul. Ditto 188 which I visited on a tender list at Toton. If it helps I wrote an article on (later) class 37 detail differences for Model Rail about 2005/6 which had all the differences listed - if I can find you it I’ll send you a PM! The split box conversions at Laira were very distinctive - both boxes were removed to be replaced by a centre panel box that was flatter, wider and had more rounded edges. The horn grilles were retained but the doors were removed. Anyway HTH

Wensleydale and Leyburn - 667/668 One of the 37/5s that had odd cantrails was 509 which seemed to have had blanking plated added when it was 093. It was an RSH machine too (and was the famous Police 37 in the 1980s InterCity advert...) - certainly seemed to stand out.

142 is a bit of an anomaly - it’s one of the few that went through Laira for overhaul along with 263 and 188 and maybe some others. The headcode panel is quite distinctive on all of these with sealed beam markers and screws round the outside. If I remember it went through about 89... that’s probably when it went grey. 263 also had big double arrows on the cab side. At roughly the same time Laira overhauled 37031/053/047 and they lost their boxes and gained a non standard centre box instead. I think 280 may also have been part of this group.