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Arrrgh! The GW has invaded LB! Is there no where safe from this viral infection? Mr Cyril Freezer and his ilk have a lot to answer for. Blow me at one stage i was even tempted to the dark side but now put that down to an adolescent hormone change. (That said Stratford did have a 94xx allocated there for a while and apparently it was well liked by the staff! Then there was the panniers sent to Scotland.) Martin Long

Lovely pictures here once again thank you. The 3d printed vans are really good and well done for the excellent work involved. It is a skill I would like to have but thusfar has eluded me along with so many other skills needed these days to survive. On another matter with TV being so dire these days and the shed being none too inviting, I have been watching a lot on You tube. \there are some amazing railway films there and I was watching the BTC black and white film about York (in anticipation of my visit there over Easter to see the show). What should be the steam star of the show but one of Mr T's aberrations! Grrr! Despite that the film is most interesting as it shows the complex interplay of all the railway activities there. How I would love to have seen it all first hand. There are a few shots of lad spotters in the film and I wonder if any of them recognise their younger selves in this or other similar films of the time. I think your recent pictures have comprehensively demonstrated the point regarding front couplings on locos but I have to say I would not like to be a fireman moving those huge lamps about! Perhaps Mr Gee has a point is painting them black to make them less obtrusive though I thought that was a Midland region thing and I always felt for a signalman who was supposed to read the lamp code with black lamps on a black loco perhaps on a black day! Martin Long

Like the 04 pictures. They are chunky locos and look fit for purpose. I acquired a degree of fame in my club years ago for getting a K's one to work which was a job! They particularly suit the lived in look that your locos have Tony. The preserved one on the GC did not look right in shiny black. I do not think they ventured further east than March so no chances of one on my railway empire but I like the cut of their jib so to speak. In fact most GC locos show a degree of class in their appearance my favourites being the Atlantics when shown in full GC livery. The only locos which failed to cut the mustard were in my opinion the small wheeled 4-6-0s which looked distinctly under nourished. Sadly we do not see many GC era layouts about. Teh company motto Forward is in itself an inspired one. Martin Long

Thompson Coaches "The colour is what I would describe as golden orange" That is how I remember them too. In fact I commented on this at the time and asked why the coaches were orange? (The Gresley stock was by that time soot stained dark brown in colour being in the early 1950s). I also feel that the ends were black but that could be down to dirt etc. They certainly did not strike me at the time as being the same orange as the sides. Thinking about it on the GE we had a wide variety of coach colours namely GE stock in a dark brown though some in a crimson, Gresley stock in teak with some in crimson and cream (and one set in brown and cream!) Thompson stock in orange and brown and then the new BR mark ones in crimson and cream. Certainly never a full train of the same colour stock apart form the brown and cream set which did not last long. It was not until the late 50's that trains had a common livery. Unfortunately no pictures to prove it but there are some in the Colour Rail collection which show the variety around. Martin Long

Hi Michael I have been through this process and opted for Dinghams in the end. The reasons bottomed out that Dinghams used the existing coupling slot and did not require any cuts to the buffer beams, they can couple manually to unconverted 3 link vehicles, and they are unobtrusive, That said they have to be made which is fun! (I have seen the tension locks modified to magnetic uncoupling used sucessfully in 7mm scale but agree that I would never use them in 4mm. They are indeed an aberration) Having gone through that deliberation process, along comes the M&M magnetic coupling (this is in 7mm) which is marvellous for corridor stock. They also provide a drop version which you fit to locos which, inter alia, allows you to couple to 3 links though not Dinghams without some adjustment. (Note you are not far away from me.) Martin Long

Gosh what a lot to take in of late. I find my sympathies being pulled in all directions here! I am by nature a builder both from scratch (less so these days) and kits and have derived great pleasure from these activities over the years. To be really honest though, if the commercial offerings back in the day were of today's standards, them I probably would have limited my railway endeavours to re numbering and re painting, weathering and the like. I too like may others here, go to shows with high expectations only to be disappointed at the multiple cloned layouts that seem to be the norm these days. Result I do not go any more. The same can be said of the hobby magazines which now all exhibit a bland sameness. However, if I were to want a 4mm K1 for example, I think I would purchase one rather than try and make one (which I did years ago). The reason being time and the fact that it is a finite resource which is running out. So I cannot condemn those who opt for this route. I was also one of those trying to make triang B12's into better ones and cutting them up to be D16s etc which you could when the bodies were freely available as spares for about 7/6d. So more power to Mr King's pistons! How I wished for a train set like LB! It is close to my ideal and the chance to operate all those wonderful east coast locos on realistic trains at realistic speeds is marvellous. (O fortunata Senex!) The pictures are just awesome and epitomise all that the model railway hobby should be about. ( The only thing I would change are the Thompson A2's!) Martin Long

It was good to see some more modern pictures here. I always liked the 47s (or Brush 4's) as they seemed well proportioned and good looking. I too liked the original green livery (which is born by my own model). However, I think that perhaps the best was the Inter City Swallow livery which suited most locos to which it was applied. A marvellous concept and really looked good when matched with the similar liveried coaches. Does anyone agree? It all goes to show what a great group this is when we lurch from the nitty gritty of class O2 variations to variations on (relatively) model diesels! Does anyone remember the articles in the Model Rail on the construction of Bob Symes' Class 4 which had a Taplin Twin motor which drove a generator in gauge 1? I have a friend who replicated this in 7mm! It was a noisy brute! Martin Long

Good to see Mr Gee's latest efforts on Buckingham. Am I the only one who finds those Midland Flatirons most ungainly locos? I am afraid I can never really take to them but you could certainly get a lot of weight in a model one given the huge side tanks. I bet they were pretty rough riding too at any speed. I have to say too that the J6 is a nice looking loco. I made a Nu cast one a while back (when I had the foolish ambition to build the EC main line in a quite small garage!). I found it went together well and ran well despite the white metal underframe. These were all jig drilled to ensure the axles were parallel by the kits designer (Gerry Brown) but of course they could be bent by hamfisted builders. They could be found on the M&GN as well as the main line so perhaps the LB specimen might end up there complete with tablet catcher on the tender! Hope everyone not badly affected by the snow etc. Martin Long

Firstly congratulations on the award TW. I am sure your acceptance speech will have the journos slavering at the prospect of juicy scandal! "does anyone else remember withering under the scorn of the bloke who used to work in Hamblings, and the W&H.?" Yes I do remember him and I was at the time a pretty confident modeller who knew his way around. He had the knack of putting folk down which was the antithesis of good customer relations. When he went to W&H. I rather groaned as I found him there as his attitude was so unhelpful even if you were spending a lot of pennies. That is why I liked Kings Cross and dear old ABC at London Bridge as the lady there was quite the opposite. Perhaps it was folk that that which put another nail in the coffin of the local model shop. However, I have to say that their decline is also reflected in Germany where RTR has been king for decades. High rent and taxes has put paid to them as well. Craft expos are the way to go I feel. Martin Long

Clive Your memories are correct but stranger still the old 'uns called the trolley buses trams and they went in the 1920's. I tried without sucess to get my gran to call the trolleys by their correct name but it did not work. Martin

Thank you for the trolley bus pictures. Interestingly a number of Ipswich ones went north when the system was taken down and they served a few more years with Walsall and Bradford. Environmentally clean and quietly efficient. I have spent some time in the last week when it has been wet outside, looking at a number of model magazines of recent date. I come from an era when we avidly looked forward to the publication of the Railway Modeller each month and savoured the Railway of the Month. The often grainy black and white pictures showed model layouts which were unattainable to us whose idea of scale was the awful Wrenn track system. Upon reading this current crop, I find that I would not have the same enthusiasm despite the fact that the productions are full colour and streets ahead of what we were offered back in the day. There is an overweening sameness to them partially as they all have "reviews" of the latest trade offerings or proposals which, if you read them, are often not reviews at all but rather publicity "puffs". As to the layouts there are indeed some who still have the power to thrill and inspire but many fail so to do. Whatever happened to the drawings and the technical articles which used to be a staple in days gone by? On the technical front, try as I do to comprehend the digital world, I am flummoxed by it and the many systems and gizmos that seem to be needed to get it all to work. It seems we now need power districts and stay alive bits and bobs (stay alive would be a useful health product I feel!). Some of the costs involved are quite eye watering too and probably out of reach for many on low or fixed incomes. One development that seems to have "legs" is radio control battery power. Has anyone here any practical experience of this that they would be prepared to share with us? (I like the Crab but they look so ungainly!) Martin Long

Ahh boiler cladding securing bands. They are so difficult to get right and are often made really huge by commercial moulding. I have heard of folk in the larger sales using tape to replicate the bands but which tape? They are subtle and in 4mm I think I would let the transfer strip do the job as has been suggested here. Thanks for the info about Sandtofts museum. It is a bit of a way from me but I will try and make the effort to get there. One of the problems i have as I get older is the motivation to go off and "do" things on ones own. In happier times I had a friend and we went to all sorts of railway type places together but sadly he passed on unexpectedly and now there is no one. So folk please value your friends and mates whilst you can. One such planned foray was to York this Easter but I now doubt that will happen. Martin Long

Love the comment that the Thompson A2's look like the Sphinx...... I can see the likeness. Thanks for the info re LT trolley buses. I remember them and was delighted to find that some survive in the LT museum at Acton. I thought that they had all gone. In my home town of Ipswich which had an extensive trolley bus system, we have a museum which thankfully has several including the oldest trolley bus in the world as far as is known. Well worth a visit. The museum has tower maintenance wagons as well as the necessary overhead equipment in store but the local council seem unlikely to allow it to be re-erected even on a small route. The nearest place to see them run is at Carlton Colville in north Suffolk where they have trams and trolley bases which run. Martin Long

There was a reference earlier to the Thame layout which was part of the MRC's portfolio in the 1970's. I understand that the layout still exists in Yorkshire though it is no longer mobile. The signalman also sat on the public side of the layout which made an immediate contact point with spectators. This sadly seems lacking in current layouts with the operators lurking at the rear or in the middle thus making engagement with spectators difficult. In fact with DCC operations becoming more prevalent, operators seem to have a head down approach looking at the control box (be it a phone or a control module) just like many folk walking about the streets today immersed in their digital microworld! I have to ask this but why would anyone want a Thompson pacific aberration as a RTR product? ( ) ? Martin Long

On the subject of tram locos, I was fortunate to see these most days at Ipswich in my youth. The body colour was coach brown when recently refurbished but they did not stay that colour for long and soon turned to all over grimy black! The bodies were maintained by Stratford C&W and they used standard brown as applied to the ex GE coaches then still around, There were there every day on the way to school and then suddenly in 1955 they had gone to be replaced by shiny new Hunslet diesel mechanical things.I think the one at Colchester lasted a bit longer. The East Anglian railway museum have "re created" Toby who is a smart shiny mid brown! (he also has a face!) Martin Long

Hi Al Nice work. The Bob Moore pens are a boon if you get them to work! Bob told me to use neat Humbrol with a drop of lighter fuel in the cup. However with the recent change of production and consistency with Humbrol paints this does not always produce what you want. Does anyone out there use paints other than Humbrol successfully in the pen? If so please tell us.( I have also found a steady hand is helpful - not a task to be undertaken when 3 glasses of Shiraz have been consumed!) Martin Long

"There was a WM kit IIRC, although I've no idea of manufacturer." I remember this. It was in a box with green stripes as part of the package. (Was it Millholme?) . I purchased one but sold it on to a proper GN enthusiast. There were certainly quite a fes kits around in the 70's though sadly not many for us Eastern types. Who remembers the Bristol Models kits of mostly GW and LMS types? I had a WD from that source which was designed to go on a Jouef 1-4-1 chassis. It never got finished as my friend , an avid SNCF modeller, wanted the proposed donor 1-4-1. I once went to the Millholme models premises which were in an old school and were quite extensive. They had layouts in the retail area which were run from time to time.They were proposing a range of Eastern models which were to be built in the far East like the ones that Eames had done with the brass King. I think there was one produced and I cannot remember what it was but a pacific springs to mind (A3?) but I was interested in the second model which was to be a J39. Sadly it never happened. At the time we were all rather envious of the USA brass models which seemed relatively cheap for the quality though I have subsequently learnt that the models were often very poor runners and need work to make them go properly. They did look lovely in their shiny gold paint jobs though. Millholme had a display cabinet with a number of these. Martin Long

I am totally with our leader on the vexed question of lamps on locos and perhaps even more so on the last vehicle of a train where they serve the same purpose as full size by indicating that the train is whole and complete.Fortunately in 7mm scale the lamps are easy to deal with and I accept that in 4mm there are issues with the size of these. These days it is possible to get magnetic strip material which can be cut into small pieces. If steel wire (staples?) are used as the lamp irons, could a small magnet actually see a secure attachment for any particular train. Perhaps 3D printed lamps could incorporate a small cavity for the magnet strip to be glued in? The pictures of the various bogie wheels convince me that the replacements are so much better than those supplied. It surely is a "must do" modification. Martin Long

Graham As to bolt heads have you tried the Archer (US) transfers for these? They are a super way of getting bolt heads and rivet detail on an otherwise plain surface. The Blue Peter model still looks OK by me and shows really how pleased we were at the time to have made something like that which still stands comparison today. Wills certainly addressed a need in the hobby which was only blunted a bit with the arrival of the "state of the art" etched kits in the 70's. They provided the impecunious a chance to upgrade and create a model which stood out from most seen at the time. I built several in those years as probably most of us at that time did. Wills always worked better than K's stuff in my experience but I did get the club accolade at the time for actually getting a Ks ROD to run quite well. Those were the days when it was obligatory to give a list of your locos when describing layouts in the model press as it was testament to your overall abilities in the hobby. I used to avidly read the loco lists and look at the pictures thereof and wonder how it was done. These stud list rarely feature now as everyone has the same! Additionally even large layouts boasted few locos whereas these days there are so many shown on layouts that the issue is where to store them. (Cue for another personal "hate" the leaving of locos in sidings on small layouts with apparently no work to do. No wonder such branch,lines had to be closed with such unremunerative assets!) Martin Long

Loved the pictures of the B1's. We had a large number of them and in fact the last steamer on Ipswich shed was a B1 then departmental 17. I used to be allowed to sit on the footplate whilst it was simmering away on its carriage heating duties trying to imagine what it would be like if it was actually made to move! They were mostly pretty scruffy apart from 61059 which was the "pet" of the shed. I have to fess up and say that I think looks wise the Black 5 is possibly more "handsome" but that may get me drummed off this thread. Someone has alluded to the fact that DCC was originally pitched as "just connect 2 wires" and that was it. We now know that is not it and that all manor of subsidiary gizmos seem to be necessary and that is without sound being involved. So far my experiences with it are not convincing me to change but I am intrigued by the comments here that the "old" style motors work better under DCC than ever they did under analogue. Some of the modelling now being displayed here is decidedly above average in my view. Hopefully this thread is encouraging folk to higher levels of achievement. It is always stimulating here and thanks for making it so. Martin Long

"there is something very satisfying in watching a locomotive you have built glide effortlessly along the track" Totally agree when that happens but in my experience there is usually a lot of effort and pain put in before that state of Nirvana arises! Thank you John for the film about the Pug. The sounds on that are some of the best that I have heard especially the coasting and rail noises. You must have a wonderful speaker on that loco and be a very skilled driver as few in my experience get it as right as you have done. Tony the pictures you have posted are wonderful. That BP looks stunning running through uncluttered countryside. You mention the late Geoff Holt. He truly was a master craftsman of the first order. I was in correspondence with him for a while and he, like you, was very encouraging on matters of loco building. All the great builders seem to have benefited from a background of technical training. (Geoff was originally an RAF engineer). This does give an advantage especially when it comes to forming shapes such as chimneys and other fittings. I would love to be able to turn wheels accurately on my little lathe but the processes involved are a total mystery! The Princess Coronation picture shows what wonderful locos these were (And that from an Eastern Man!) Really super work. How lucky we are to have access to these pictures which certainly help and encourage me to try harder and I hope have the same effect on those who lurk here. As I said in an earlier post this has to be the best Model Railway Club in the country! Martin Long

Thank you Andy for the picture of the Midland Pullman on Monsal Dale Viaduct. It gives my a flavour of what I missed. Our leader wrote "I am not denying anyone the right to own the models they wish, but is this typical of many model railway clubs these days? " Well in my experience that is entirely typical even up to the premier model railway club. This is the reason why I do not bother with the local clubs (there are a few within a reasonable distance from me) as I find that their philosophy and ethos is so different from mine. That is why I value this thread as to me it is like a club night where we have films,photos, reminiscences, tall stories and modelling techniques and discussions thereon. Best of all it is every night and not just one appointed one! I regard the folk who lurk here as friends and colleagues and enjoy their contributions. Best of all no subscription or exhibition duties! Martin Long

I would love to have seen the BP running through the wonderful Midland line through the peaks, It must have looked splendid on Monsdale Viaduct. Other than that it was a strange and exotic beast as indeed was all pullman stock as we never saw it on the GE! Thank you for the film link too. The livery was one of the better ones of the time. The posts about the hobby have been quite deep and reflective. I do think things are not as bad as we tend to feel they are but there is undoubtedly a series of changes happening. Though of little interest to me, the recent announcements of new models in the 4mm world would indicate a degree of health in the mainstream hobby that belies our doubts. The only aspect that I feel mitigates the issue is the ever growing costs which must perforce reduce new followers ability to indulge their new found interest. (Fortunately in 7mm scale the "real" costs seem to be tumbling down). I tried to create D16s from cut up B12 bodies in days of yore. You could do that as the loco bodies were affordable and readily available as spares from the local hobby shops. I wince at the thought of buying at loco at £90 plus pounds to only use the body which is advocated by some followers of the ultra fine scale tendency. I also endorse the feeling expressed here regarding A4's. Truly awesome machines and so inspirational. O how I wanted to be the driver of one! Martin Long

I purchased the issue yesterday as I was motivated by the contents. A good issue. However, I now learn that there is more film content that is available only to digital subscribers. This seems rather unfair to us paper warriors and I would like to be able to see the film of Buckingham particularly. Could there not be a process whereby the purchasers were not discriminated against in this way? Martin Long

Wow that P2 is an amazing piece of work given its size. What handsome beasts they were. Thanks for all the info about signalling lever frames too. I feel this is a facet of the hobby which for various reasons modellers have chosen to ignore. When done properly, the operation of a railway takes on a new dimension and the discipline enforces realistic operation. I am really keen to try this on my new project so thanks for the leads chaps. Martin Long