Dave Holt

Tom. I am very much taken with your model and look forward to seeing progress with the scenic work. I use the Bala to Traws road several times per year on my way to the F&WHR at Porthmadog (sorry about the spelling) and have always thought Cwm Prysor was the bit beyond the viaduct, where the formation clings to the side of the precipitous valley side. Now I know better. This certainly is a very wild and remote location and, apart from the surviving crossing keepers cottage, not much sign of habitation. I wonder why on earth they built a halt there and how much trade it generated? Best wishes with the model. Dave.

Inside admission valves with outside Walschaerts valve gear is not so common in British practice, rebuilt Bulleids excepted. Would also require the connections to the valve spindle and radius rod to be swapped at the top of the combination lever. It would help to know what loco is being modelled.

I think Jeremy C has answered your question. One other point to note. Your valve gear is modelled in mid-gear (that is, the radius rod (with the slotted end) is in line with the expansion link pivot/mounting) so the reversser lifting link should be in line with, and partially cover, the slotted portion rather than drooping down, as shown in your photo. Dave.

In steam days, the foot bridge was covered with a hipped roof above rather shallow windows. The lattice steelwork looks unaltered in the 1970's photos. Dave.

Yes, but that's real life. In our model world it can be summer sunshine all year round. Even the stonework can have stayed clean.... I got a shock on a visit to Oldham, after years away, to fine the town hall and other major buildings were actually made from lovely pale stone rather than the lumps of coal of my childhood! Dave.

A company I used to work for machined seals from rubber by freezing it (probably with dry ice) and working quickly. You could try putting your rod in the freezer. If it doesn't work, you're no worse off. Dave.

Hi Larry. I think the building you mention was the station master's house. It looks to be withing the railway boundary and the caption to a photo (in Ruabon to Barmouth by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Middleton Press) refers to the (then) footbridge giving access to the residents of Plas Newydd and the station master. Best wishes with the new layout. You'll be back to Greenfield soon! Dave.

There is an Ivatt version on the way, based on the Bachmann body.

Thanks for the kind comments, all. I've just added some shots of the fireman's side, also showing the number and shed code plates and smokebox door handles. Dave.

Well, it's cooled down somewhat recently and I've finally got down to a bit more modelling after nearly two month hiatus. The final details still outstanding were the lamp irons and fixing the smokebox front. I actually did the latter a couple of weeks ago during the hot weather and failed to spot that some Araldite has squeezed out and covered some of the rivets round the top half of the wrapper. I have been worrying about what to do about this and had come to terms with leaving it for fear of damaging the white metal casting. To help this decision, I painted the local area matt black to see how it might look on the finished model. However, today, I tried a stiff fibre-glass brush to remove the paint and noticed the Araldite seamed to also partially rub off. I also noticed that the residue of adhesive in the mixing lid had set to a sort of rubbery consistency rather than hard as glass - perhaps i didn't use quite enough hardener? Anyway, this prompted me to try scraping it with the back of a scalpel blade which resulted in the excess peeling away, leaving the cast rivet detail unharmed. A bit of good fortune on my part. The lamp irons are another custom etch from Rumney Models, which fold up to represent the correct pattern of irons for the smokebox top and bunker rear. They're rather fiddly to do and have a tendency to ping off into the far corners of the room. I needed five but lost two to the carpet or somewhere. Luckily, Justin had etched seven irons in a set so I was just able to get all that were needed from one etch. After fitting the irons, I have reassembled the body and chassis so that the speedometer drive could be bent back into the correct shape, having been moved during handling. I'll leave it for a couple of days to let everything cure before cleaning up ready for it's trip to the painters. Here are a few shots of the assembled loco. And the other side, with the front plates and door handles temporarily fitted. Dave.

Mike, I'm sure it's worth the eye test. Fortunately, for me, the ex-LMS and BR Standard electrical connections are more easily represented, but still fiddly enough. Nice to see further progress with your tri of G5's. Dave.

John, Looking very nice behind the 9F. Sounds like you still have a lot to do to populate the layout. Good luck with it. Dave.

Robin, You look to be making excellent progress with the fiddle yard and shed yard. I hope it's more pleasant working in your layout room than it is in my model room recently. It's so unbearably hot up here that I haven't done any modelling for weeks now. Dave.

David, very nice, indeed. Laser cutting/engraving certainly opens up possibilities to model actual structures rather than using standard brick representations. I especially like the diamond pattern edging bricks - very evocative of railway platforms. Dave.

Mike, The "official" BR paint scheme for cab interiors was indeed black. Whether this was done in practice is another matter and I have no specific knowledge of Darlington works in this regard. LMS locos had been painted a sort of ivory colour on the upper parts and cab roof but, as you rightly say, that would soon have become discoloured and covered with soot and coal dust and probably soon looked black. Don't know about LNER stuff. In the colour photos in the BR liveries book, all the tank locos look very dark inside the cab but the inside is in the shade, generally, so that might not be conclusive. For what it's worth, the inside of the cabs on my models are painted black and weathered. Dave.

Hi David. Sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations with the chip - a rather expensive incident, I imagine. Had you caused a short whilst dismantling the body from chassis? I've got a strange shorting issue with one of my DCC equipped locos, but I don't think any smoke has been generated. On the other hand, I'm really pleased that you have been enthused to start looking at your P4 layout once more. Best wishes with that project and I look forward to further updates in due course. Dave.

Yes, Mike. It's based on the DJH kit but stretched to the correct scale length - hence the new cab roof. The kit push-pull equipment was also mainly replaced by bits from other sources. The chassis is Comet with a fair amount of extra detail. Pony trucks based on the Brassmasters etches with one modified to represent the swing link side control type. Much of this appears in earlier entries in the blog. Dave.

Phew! Superb weather but rather too nice to be stuck indoors doing any modelling. Even now (ten past eight), my modelling room is uncomfortable as it gets the sun all afternoon and evening. So, I've been mainly out in the garden reading and having my meals al fresco. Looks like this might carry on for a few more days. However, I did make some further progress with the Standard 2 tank before it got so hot. Using the second batch of custom etched parts from Rumney Models, I've made the cab roof, lubricator drives and fire iron rests. Still got some lamp irons and the shed/SC plate mounting to go, then it's complete. The roof is just temporarily clipped in place and will not be fixed till after painting, glazing and fitting the crew. This latter is a bit of a dilemma. As a push-pull loco, it should have driver and fireman in the cab when loco first but only the fireman when pushing (as the driver is in the driving trailer coach). I'll probably go for the two on board. I took the loco body out into the garden and took a few shots showing the new parts, hence the strong shadows. Dave.

Well done, Pete. The finished loco looks very nice and I'm sure you're right to be pleased with it. Regarding the noise, most of my locos are fitted with Portescap motor/gearbox units and some of them sound like cement mixers! They sound horrible at home, but in a larger hall, with other stuff going on, you don't notice nearly as much. Good luck with your next venture. Dave.

Pete, I would be very surprised if anything other than the bell code system would have been electrically operated. The only power source was batteries so any electro-mechanical actuators would flatten them quickly and become inoperable. I think air or vacuum would be the most likely power source. Dave.

Hi Robin. How about the various wagon turntables? I suppose if they were only used for non-operational locos or wheel sets, there's no point in having them work on the layout? Dave.

As Daddyman has said, the second vacuum pipe/hose is for the vacuum operated regulator. The electrical connections are part of the bell code system to enable coded communication between the driver in the push-pull driving trailer and the fireman who remained on the loco footplate. Dave.

Hi Mike. I seem to remember from earlier photos, that the extended tank example had hand rails on the side of the tanks, approximately level with the ends of the original, shorter tanks. My initial impression from the photo was that the extended tanks were not flush with the originals, but it was actually the hand rail which looked like a step in the surface. The three locos are coming along nicely and i look forward to seeing them completed. I've been doing battle with the LMS/BR vacuum operated push-pull equipment fitted to the 2-6-2 Ivatt and BR Standard Class 2 tanks so I can sympathise with the work required on your G5's. Dave.

The boiler house and stores buildings look very good, Robin. How many of the fiddle yard points did you manage before needing a sanity break? Dave.

Hi Morgan. Thanks for your kind comment. From what you say, I think it is the Reidinger version, with exposed UJ's. Regarding UJ in drive shafts, I made my own out of 1.5 mm O/D tube for my BR Standard 5 Caprotti which look quite convincing (modest or what?). I filed two prongs on the end of the tube then sliced it off as close to the base of the prongs as possible, leaving a thin disc with the two prongs standing up. Two of these, face to face, with the prongs at 90 degrees, mounted on a central brass wire created a reasonable UJ assembly. I'll PM you a sketch as I can'y see how to add it here. Dave.