JN

Awesome.

I thought people might want to watch:

I am surprised no-one is discussing the auto-decoupler.

Post deleted.

Well, I felt like a child at Christmas again when I heard the delivery man had arrived. Still, I thought people might be interested in the video linked above. The locomotives were workhorses and were seen pretty much all over the country. Scotland. North-east England on the MGRs and steel trains. West Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire MGRs, sometimes going over to Fiddler's Ferry or going down to Didcot. South Wales on iron ore and steel trains (MGRs in around Cardiff were mostly 37s). Aggregate trains in and out of London. Oil trains from/to various locations. I can see that people are pleased with their purchase and I hope the model/models will bring many hours of innocent fun. is my purchase. Well, the in-real-life version of which my model looks just like. All the best for future projects and hopefully this will be the first of many purchases. Not too fussed about the Class 60, but a fine locomotive. Another workhorse that would be seen on many different at many locations on different operations. Thanks for Cavelex for making an impressive model (also really smart idea for the tool to put on the plates and plaques - I will definitely need that given I am otherwise useless at lining things up) of an impressive machine and Ultimate Models Railways for being patient with me (sorry - a bit of a private story, but thanks nonetheless) and fulfilling the order promptly. This is starting to seem like an award night speech, so I will leave it at that.

Sometimes I can no longer tell if a photo is of a model or the real thing.

Fallible = capable of error. Infallible = incapable of error. Adding: Just wanted to let you know.

is an example of: not all 56s were filthy all the time. I do not if ex-works or what, but I think I will leave my Kellingley Colliery example in ex-works condition, certainly before I properly understand weathering and such. I am making baby steps back into the hobby and this is my first model in years which has the tenuous connection of: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-knottingley-silver-band-leads-miners-union-members-and-news-photo/501980100 (I am the person wearing the blue coat).

Both the modelling and photography are impressive. The middle photo looks, well, almost like a photo of the 1:1 model (I think some of the modellers of the 1:1 layout have gone a little OTT on the weathering, but you seem to have got it just right).

Hi folks, Thanks for the advice/support. I was just thinking that with me wanting to model BR secotrisation (early 1990s to be a little more specific) era and being mostly interested in steel-producing areas I would be best starting off with BBAs and BDAs. I also have seen photographs of BNAs in the rake of Margam - Trostre trains. However, those are bought now, so I can put them to one side and if nothing else can serve as a reminder as to why I am doing the less glamorous aspects of railway modelling first (steel production is said to be the height of industrial production by some economic historians). Part of the reason I have turned to modelling kits is availability and price. Although, with postage and everything else (bearings, paints, transfers - anything else?) I feel I would be as expensive if not more so. That said, £50 in three goes is a little bit more budget friendly. One of the things Jordan Peterson commented on about Genesis One (he did a really interesting lecture series on the compatibility of the Book of Genesis with our understanding of psychology) is that creation was done in stages. Now that I have tidied up my room I feel like I can attempt to put one of these things together. Anyway, I have looked at the kits available and the clam/rudd wagon seems both appropriate and simple for a novice. I am not sure if clam wagons were used for the 7B36 and 8B05 (both ALEXANDRA DOCK JN T.C. to LLANDEILO JN) of summer 1991 (from photos, the mostly used wagon then and there seems to be the Dogfish), but if nothing else, the wagons can be used as practice - not just practice for wagon construction, but load modelling too. I also realise some wagons, until new releases are made, will have to be the symbol of the symbolised. If the wagons were present on the West then, well, so much the better. I know I keep on changing locations, but that happens for a variety of reasons! Maybe I am being a little perfectionist, but accepting a generic (interchangeable) model railway for home. I have thought about a smaller layout in my flat’s lounge rather than in my non-electrified garage. I did think about a dock end-to-end layout as well (similar to a Scottish layout on RMWeb), but that is what made me realise an in-home layout is obviously more practical if not as big. http://www.swanseadocks.co.uk/docksnewsite/railwaystrains.html means shorter wagons are not 'wrong' even if means settling for an earlier era. I like trains, so I will be happy with something and I am using the hobby to get out habits which are bad rather than to express something about a particular place or time. I seem to have a particular interest of short steel trains from steel works to dock and associated traffic. I also like MGR coal trains, but (again) more to do with docks than power stations. I suppose we all have our eccentricities. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. I did not ignore previous advice, but having forgotten it and being a bit like headstrong ox my behaviour might appear as if I had done so. Thank you, again, for your advice and support. Sorry if it seemed like I ignored Wagonbasher and/or anyone else (better for you to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it).

Right, okay. I decided to have another go. On some simple wagons first: BDA BNA ’Salmon’ wagon. Then I am going to see if I can make a BBA. Isambard Kingdom Brunel did not come across the Thames did not hide away, let someone else do it, just because a flaw in the design. Admittedly, I am a bit nervous. To quote Jay-Z: ’To try and to fail/the two things I hate/To try and succeed/The two things is great’. However, now that I have come across an online tutorial for a salmon wagon I will not make the same mistakes. I have also bought a craft set, so that might help to get me into the modelling (not putting lumps of plastic together or something like that) mood. I accept that my attitude can be wrong rather than my ability being short of what is required. Yes, the wrong kind of … is what I would like to say, but then I can get the ‘right kind of …’ instead.

Sure. Along with BAAs, BDAs, BNAs, KIBs... Rarer is. The 'Tubeliner' (Lackenby - Corby and back) was the odd one out as far as I can tell being all one steel-carrying wagon type. Possibly IWBs (the big Cargowagon wagons and the cargowagon flats) being the exception to the varied wagon type rule too (in the context of steel conveyance by block trains). I do not know everything about everything.

I have just tried signing up - does not seem to work.

Sorry, just seen your real name is Mike in the footnote. Anyway, BR Database might have got their information from http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/elrs/_mileages/s/swm2.shtm Same starting point (Gloucester), same mileage through Severn Tunnel Jn, too. Although, this seems to be the running board method as well. I also meant to say, earlier, that the gradient book seems to have sold out on Amazon, but I was able to get it from the publisher (Crescy).

Thank you, Stationmaster. I looked up the website https://www.trackmaps.co.uk after you suggested this the other day. I do not know why I did not give Amazon a try - I could have bundled it all in with my craft orders for the steel wagon kits I have coming. Western Region does not come up in a search, but I was able to find the publication via the related products etc. Perhaps Jeff Bazos does not think highly of the Western Region. I am going to try and make another wagon as I have realised a couple of mistakes I made when I first tried. I just get very fidgety when waiting for things. Anyway, the book is ordered along with the BR Gradients book - thanks to for that suggestion too. I did not realise different mediums would give different points for milages. I only realised they did so when trying to log the various. Okay, 2018 is not the ideal, but sometimes we just have to not let the good be an enemy of the best etc. A good basis to start from (still uses miles from place x to place y, gives the order of stations and I doubt Cardiff Central will have moved so much that 0416 from a 0349 start at East Usk N.Y. is a totally erroneous time etc - as in my previous post) and if I see something matching what I am after I can give away or donate the book. Not the best, but will do for now. I would not have minded if the mileage was consistently incorrect, but as you point out I would be best using a consistent mileage and so the book it is. I can get timings from train speed (6B34 = max speed of 60mph etc) x distance. Start times/head codes/passing points (if available) etc to be the same, though.

Thank you all. If information is private, then information is private. Asking does not mean I will get the information I desire, but if I did not ask then I definitely would not get the information. I was finding the BR Database useful to a point. However, the milages do not seem to match the Working Timetable I have (BR Freight, PE Area, July 1991 to May 1992 - I bought this, along with the Passenger and Parcels Working Timetable, from British Railway Books). Neither the Working Timetable, the database or the Network Rail track diagrams seem to agree about the mileages unless I have copied down wrong and/or my addition/subtraction is off. Not even two out of the three seem to agree - then I would just simply use the two and the third as a guide for non-milage matters. Logically, all three can be wrong, but all three cannot be right. Perhaps the layout has changed to thereby the mileages have changed (given the mileages would be track miles not as the crow flies) and/or the use of different measuring points will have an impact on section starts let alone section lengths, but I am using the same start point (Severn Tunnel Junction). I am thinking as I am typing. I am sure I will figure out the reason. My preference is to use the WTT given that is directly to do with the time I am modelling, but either work as a baseline/until alternative information is available. Using all of the information was getting too much and some of the gradients are far too short to be simulated - some gradients are as short as 11 meters which is about 12 yards. 22 yards (a cricket pitch) = 1 chain and 80 chains = 1 mile. One circuit of my layout will be about 50 chains. The ‘challenge’ is to do the route and arrive on time (operating the layout rather than playing with the layout). Okay, a modelled 6B34 does not have to leave at 0349 on my layout, but the idea is to get to Dynevor Jn (50m/80c) about 1hr 20m from East Usk Yard. On a 6x4 layout one circuit represents five-eighths of a mile and five miles is eight circuits. My idea was for gradients of: 1:50-100 (ascending) draw back on the controller twice per circuit. The opposite up to line/train speed for a descending gradient. More drawbacks per circuit for a steeper gradient and less drawbacks for a shallower gradient. I have been highly selective about which trains - those that run entirely in the Severn Tunnel Jn - West Wales area and go through Port Talbot Parkway. To start off with anyway. However, I am still going to use the ‘through Port Talbot Parkway’ principle. I might first include 'passenger trains beyond Severn Tunnel Jn'. Gradually including more as I go. I just decided this was the best way to start than everything all at once. Anyway, the timings make a little more sense now that I have seen more diagrams and maps. Strangely the map clarified things for me much quicker than the Network Rail diagrams did. The other route maps suggested are unavailable, for now. I will let you know about any further questions relating to the topic. I am sure if anyone knows anything they will post in the future (I clicked 'thanks' to begin with and left It a while to see if someone else posted before posting a general thank you to everyone). As I say, thank you all. Let me know if any of you need any help and I shall help in the best way I can (unfortunately, that might be being signpost to someone better able to help, though).

You ol' sea dog - hahar!

Hi, I am currently planning a 6x4 layout based on the operations of the South Wales main line between Severn Tunnel JN - Swansea with my focus being on Port Talbot Parkway. I could go into detail about the operation, but I will leave that for another post. I hope you are doing well, but I have been looking for information on the South Wales Main Line (Severn Tunnel JN - Swansea) and the West Wales Main Line (Swansea. However, I was wondering about gradients, as well as line speeds and route availability on the South Wales main line. I get the exceptions to rules and such (I have seen photographs of locomotives from the power station pool doing general coal traffic, so I get that the rules are not always followed perfectly). However, I intend to operate the layout as a model railway (with, say, ‘an imagination-of-the-gaps’) rather than as a train set. I have been able to garner information about the line from a few sources: Flickr Various other websites Working timetables (I have both the Passenger/Parcels and Freight timetables in book form). The books give locations (stations, junctions, loops, other general passing points) and milages at those location https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2020-11/rail-technical-background.pdf https://sacuksprodnrdigital0001.blob.core.windows.net/sectional-appendix/Sectional Appendix full PDFs June 23/Western Sectional Appendix June 2023.pdf The latter two I found whilst looking for locomotive diagrams. Some of the information would still apply, but does anyone know if the line speeds are the same? The freight trains I plan on running are class six and below and the passenger trains are stoppers, so a line speed of 75 on the main lines is not relevant. However, running the freights on the relief lines might require me to drop down to 40 for a couple of circuits. I have reasonably accurate information about Stormy Bank: M.C. 41.64 BRIDGEND 45.77 STORMY BANK LOOPS (top of bank) 47.52 (PYLE) END OF 1:93 DESCENDING GRADIENT 50.03 MARGAM MOORS JN END OF 1:139 DESCENDING GRADIENT I have reprioritised and concentrating on routes and timetabling to establish a pool of locomotives for each working - if the route availability for a working is a five then I would be better off choosing a 37/0 than a 56 or 60. How would I find this information? Assuming that is possible, that shed or signal box records were not got rid of once no longer needed. I am also a little confused as why some trains have a Port Talbot Parkway - Court Sarn Jn - Dynevor Jn timing and others have a Port Talbot Parkway - Briton Ferry - Dynevor Jn timing. Alternative route? I cannot think what that alternative would be. I do not suppose that these alternatives matter all that much other than to someone working a set of points. Thank you in advance, Regards, Jonny

Even when the differences were pointed out I could not tell the difference between the two types of bogies. Someone else had previously mentioned the different grilles, again, I could not tell the difference. I can tell the obvious detail, though, such as the the nose ends. Never mind. Some people are interested in the model part of model railways. I am more interested in the railway part of model railways.

Entrepreneurship? I did not realise only Accurascale had the exclusive rights to produce the locomotives. I am sure you told Accurascale/Cavalex that Bachmann and Hornby had done models of: Class 37 Class 56 Class 60 BAA wagons HAA/HFA/CDA wagons TEA wagons Enough to go around and possibly appeal to different aspects of the hobby. However, not all stock types sell as well and no railway has an infinite number of variants of coaches/locos/wagons etc. Companies have to keep their stock fresh and relevant to the market or they go out of business. A competitive market is more beneficial to the consumer, too. Anyway: these 37s look great models. I am sure many people will get many hours of innocent pleasure from well-crafted, well designed models. All the manufacturers seem to be hitting hard on the 37/0 or 37/3 or 37/4 end of the class, but I am looking for a 37/5 or 37/7. I could perhaps get a brand new locomotive, but pre-owned seems is what I look at. I can pick up the models I am after for a price I can afford. A good model, even if not the best, but I factor that in when making a choice. Do not let the good become the enemy of the best ;). Accurascale or Bachmann is a much better choice than some people face on a daily basis.

POWER OF THE HSTs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQG_SkazkM8

I think a HEA would fit snuggly into their 'powering the nation' range. I know others have done this wagon, but others have done Accurascale's range of 31s, 37s, 50s, 55s, HAAs, CDAs etc.

Justified has two episodes with trains...

Some other steel flows not mentioned: 6B21 MX MARGAM T.C. - TROSTRE WORKS 6B56 MO CARDIFF TIDAL T.C. - TROSTRE WORKS https://www.alamy.com/a-class-56-diesel-locomotive-number-56076-british-steel-trostre-heads-west-along-the-south-wales-main-line-at-marshfield-with-a-loaded-steel-working-image341260358.html?imageid=13D61B05-5929-4E1A-B18F-E3368B82F256&p=567659&pn=1&searchId=0b4e940667a78dab9bc2d8f00f7b5bf1&searchtype=0 As well as: Llanwern/Cardiff Tidal - Margam Margam - Mossend Margam - Round Oak Margam - Tees Yard ? - Boston Docks Usually, from the photographs, BBAs or BDAs, but the linked photo above shows a train with loaded aluminium carriers. Cardiff ISIS (almost exactly opposite Canton depot) apparently used steel conveyed in IWBs. This, though, was usually a Distribution, rather than Metals sector, apparently coming from Wembley. Still a good, short, train to model - as I reiterate constantly, not every steel train is the Lackenby - Corby Tubeliner of 30 BBAs! Limited, but relevant information can be found on http://www.swanseadocks.co.uk/docksnewsite/railwaystrains.html About 14 covered SEAs were also used for Cardiff Tidal - Wakefield Cobra. I cannot think of anything else, right now, but will let you know if I learn about or anything else.

Looks intriguing.