David C

How about one of the industrials which also ran on light railways? Hudswell Clarke and Manning Wardle 0-6-0STs and 0-6-0Ts are the obvious ones, but there are others. Minerva have provided examples in 0 gauge, so there is a market on 00 which could well be widened somewhat. Incidentally, does anyone think the OP is still reading this thread after 86 pages of us lot woffling on about what we want? David C

I agree with Dunsignalling about cattle vans. Bachmann's earlier ex LMS version was way too short, whereas their BR version is at least 4mm too long. Given how many GWR BLTs there are about, it's surprising there has never been a GWR RTR cattle van and very few kits either. Indeed, the only plastic kit (Coopercraft) had the wrong roof profile .... With Hornby's SR and Oxford's LNER versions, it is obvious where the gaps are. As far as other companies are concerned, LMS prototypes seem particularly thin on the ground (I am of course excluding generic models lettered for almost any company), somewhat surprisingly as it had more wagons than any others of the Big 4. How about the 5 plank general merchandise opens of which 54,000 were built with wooden underframes and a further 8000 with steel underframes? Or any one of the approx. 100,000 vans they also had? An "off the wall" prototype that was seen in an awful lot of station yards was a ferry van. I remember there was usually one of the peak roofed FS (Italian) versions parked in amongst the 16T minerals in the yard at Thornton Heath when I was kid in the 1960s. They even got onto ex GWR BLTs such as Helston and Presteign (see Captain Kernow's Bethesda Sidings thread). Obviously, there are H0 scale models about, but a 4mm one has never been produced so far as I know. David C

Looks good so far .... Weathering and detailing will bring it to life. I'm looking forward to seeing your future developments. David C

Having just read through your thread, I entered "Torre station" into google images and came up with these: Torre Station's royal wartime visits and crashes that make up its history - Devon Live Showing search results for: Torre (thetransportlibrary.co.uk) For some reason, I can't post these as links, but you have probably seen them already. You may be interested to know that there are Torre stations on both the Madrid and Rome metros, plus a number of others elsewhere in Europe. Great modelling of the Devon version! David C

Looks like a really fine layout. Its a pity it no longer exists. Thanks for posting the pictures. David C

Regarding the gaps in your PCB sleepers, I found Polyfilla the easiest to use. I tried Milliput fine initially, but it was difficult to get it to stick to the base of my PCB points. Polyfilla (or similar) ready mixed stuff did stay where I'd put it - and more importantly, on both Woodstowe and my newish Bavarian epic, Weidenstein, it has stayed put. If you fill the gap slightly over the top, its easier to sand down so that it is level with the top of the PCB and the result is that it is impossible to see the join. Ballasting is a job I hate, because it takes for ever. Neat PVA first, then N gauge ballast sprinkled on top and then pressed down. I always need to do it at least twice, the second time with dilute PVA (50:50%). Once I'm more or less satisfied, I check both sides of each rail to remove any stray bits of ballast which have clung on to the rails. This does of course usually chip or at least discolour any paint which has been applied, so its out with the paint brush touching everything up. The whole process is tedious to an extreme, but nothing looks worse than odd stones stuck halfway up the rails. David C

www.intermodellbau.de/en/home/ Sorry - the link didn't take!

Intermodellbau 2022 has been cancelled Home | INTERMODELLBAU | Dortmund Trade Fair. According to the website, it is because too many exhibitors were worried about a resurgence of Covid - the omicron variant particularly. This is despite running the show last November ...... Fortunately, I haven't booked tickets, but still have a voucher from DB because we couldn't travel in 2020 when we originally planned to go! David C

I've been enjoying your thread for a while and sympathise with your decision to leave teaching. I did the same back in 1973 (yes, really!!!) and never regretted it. The job was not a bed of roses even then, but successive governments have made it even tougher. All the public services have been cut (education, NHS, defence, the legal system etc etc), yet Westminster demands more and more from the staff with fewer and fewer resources. The system stinks and ....... - I could rant on and on, but modelling has usually kept me sane. Now that you've escaped, I'd get on with that! Best wishes David C

Your first photo (with the greenery) makes your layout look very attractive. It's amazing what you can achieve in a small space. I'm looking forward to seeing more! All the best David C

We all hit blanks from time to time. Its inevitable when doing something creative. I hope you find somewhere big enough to erect it in full as Framlingham has always appealed to me to a prototype to model. By the way, what is the H&HRSP? A branch of the KESR? (Another prototype that appeals to me). David C

Pretty impressive standard of modelling from what you've posted so far - nothing to apologise for, certainly. If you've enjoyed building it, even better. Happy 2022! David C

The main problem with backscenes which are removeable and have curves at the corners is how to transport them to and from exhibitions - or even move house. Printing on canvas could well crack, which would look worse than a right angle or two in sky and be very expensive. David C

The branch to Snape was only ever a goods only line and never carried passengers. Wikipedia has a short history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snape_branch_line There were other passenger and freight branches nearby: Saxmundham to Aldeburgh (part of which still exists - or did until very recently - due to the nuclear power station). Wickham Market - Framlingham Bentley to Hadleigh (goods only from 1932) Haughley - Laxford (originally Mid Suffolk Light Railway) Mellis - Eye (also goods only from 1931) Ipswich - Felixstowe (more mainline in character) I think that's the lot (but I could be wrong!) David C

Fascinating photos, particularly those with the old Prussian compartment stock. In the west, these vehicles seem to have disappeared by the late 50s/early 60s, although I suppose most of their underframes survived for longer under umbau coaches. Presumably, those in the east went under Reko stock. Although I travelled through the GDR in the 70s, I never risked taking any photos. As you imply, it would have been a brave man who appeared with a camera, particularly in that area - I'm not! Incidentally, have you seen this? https://www.h0-modellbahnforum.de/t299884f54850-Saechsische-Nebenbahn.html David C

Interesting piece of history. Are you planning on building a model of part of it? David C

Don't know why I bothered to look inside this thread. Although I model the WR, my layout is a BLT on which a mogul would never be seen, so any discussion of the latest model of one of these would be of no real interest to me at all. But I am really glad I did! The previous contribution by The Johnster and those of all the others above were fascinating giving a real insight into railway work - and also how dangerous it was. 'Elf and Safety is the subject of a great many moans and I have, during my own working life (not on the railways, I hasten to add), been guilty of joining in the moaning and groaning too. I changed my mind when David Maidment gave a talk to the MRC a few years ago. He had been asked by the BRB to look into the subject after the Clapham rail crash and found that at the time, an horrendous number (I think he quoted 40, but can't be sure) of railwaymen were being killed every year. He then was involved in developing H & S practices on BR until he retired quite a few years ago now. Nowadays that 40 (or whatever) is down to a very few indeed. So, thanks, gents. Your memories will make me look at how I operate my own layouts in the future. There is a huge amount of valuable memories on here of professional railwaymen which ought to be saved. Could not these all be gathered in one place on RMWeb? I only stumbled on these discussions by accident ... David C

Not sure about brown blobs. One of the perks of working on the railways, at least, in the country, was a ready supply of fertilizer for gardens, allotments etc. All the brown blobs would be quickly shovelled up and disposed of, or so I have read in histories of assorted branchlines. Indeed, on at least one occasion on (I think) the Kingsbridge branch, a fight broke out over "ownership" of certain brown blobs. David C

I've resisted joining in the voting so far, largely because I'm a BR(W) modeller and didn't want to distort the voting in any way (in so far as 1 vote counts!) However, trying to put myself in the position of the manufacturers, I do really think that the lack of a decent B set is a major gap in the RTR market which would undoubtedly be a good seller and would appeal to both GWR and WR period modellers. My initial vote would be for 6 or 7 as the dia 140s and 145s are more interesting to look at with their bow ends, slightly bulging tumblehomes and their recessed handles and grabs. However, Hornby's recent forays into GWR coaching stock have all been bow ended, so from the manufacturer's perspective, it might be better to go for a different style of coach, so my vote goes to 5, the dia 147. Not only were they numerous and widely distributed, a few also ran as singles. Thanks to the guys who are organising the poll. Let's hope the Trade take some notice of it. David C

I have looked at European plastic building kits for German layouts, but ended up not using them. I wouldn't consider using them on a 4mm scale UK layout for the simple reason is that there is a significant and sometimes very noticeable difference in size between 00 and H0. Additionally, a lot of kits from Europe are undersized even for H0. If they were full sized (1:1 scale), you wouldn't be able to swing a hamster in them, let alone a cat! Furthermore, a lot of the older H0 models don't fit together very well. I suspect that this is because the moulds are getting on a bit as some of them have been on the market for many years. There are two possible exceptions I might make for using foreign kits on a UK layout and those are ones made by Walthers and Auhagen. Barclay and 5050 have posted photos of their versions of the former above and I have seen other layouts which have featured them and the results seem perfectly acceptable visually to me. Auhagen (available from Golden Valley Hobbies and elsewhere) are a former East German company who now seem to be producing the highest quality plastic building kits. From the UK modellers' point of view, they are now making a range of plastic brick panels, windows, doors, chimneys etc from which individuals can design and make their own industrial buildings - the Auhagen Modular System as they refer to it. This is the link to their catalogue: the Modular System starts on about page 118. https://auhagen.de/csdata/epaper/produkt_katalog/#118. Hope this is of interest. David C

Graham T: under current copyright law, I cannot post it on here, so the moderators will delete it. I can copy it for private use and send it to you, so you'd better PM me with your email address. On the other hand, Wild Swan may have back copies, but that is unlikely after so long. Be warned that although the drawing is dimensioned, you can hardly read them. David C

Finally found the drawing - its in MRJ No. 2 - 35 or so years old! David C

If you've got the Ratio kit, beware: it's very tall! I don't know how accurate it is - there may have been some prototypes that big, but I'm not that knowledgeable about GWR matters. I have seen a drawing of a conical top water tank which was smaller, but for the life of me, I can't recall where. (Maybe GWRJ or even an early MRJ). I used it when I cut down a Ratio kit for Woodstowe. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56402-woodstowe/ Don't ask me how I did it 'cos it was so long ago - must be getting on for 20 years now! I do remember there were a few compromises those ... David C

Thanks to all who have responded. One of the joys of RMweb is how speedily responses to a query appear and how willing members are to help. David C

Has anyone on here bought Worsley Works etched brass sides? I am sure there must be .... My question is whether they come with etched holes or at least gaps or some kind of indentations for the hinges, handles and grabs. Why am I asking? I've just screwed up a Comet side for a dia.147 brake compo by failing to drill holes for the hinges etc in straight lines. Consequently, I am wondering about whether to have a go at a Worsley Works dia 157, but I don't fancy trying to b***** up another set of etched brass sides! Its odd, because I did manage to drill 'em in alignment once quite a few years ago, but it looks like the one I completed will have live a solitary life rather than as a pair! Thanks in advance. David C