Captain Kernow

I recently converted my Hornby one to P4 and it doesn't derail. It looks to my eye like what it is meant to portray, and thus passes the Captain's Black 5 test. I don't have any Parkside fish vans, so there is nothing to provide an adverse comparison!

What's the point of growing old disgracefully, if you can't occasionally complain about aspects of 'the modern world?' Anyway, the expression 'chill' is another linguistic abomination. If I want to 'chill', I'll go outside without my coat on a freezing winters night, thank you very much, or have a walk-in freezer room installed! Anyway, I blame British Telecom...

What is wrong with the (fairly) recent Hornby version of this vehicle, please? There must be something wrong with it, given that Rapido have decided to do one themselves...

What I do, when I sometimes find the whole process too fiddly (or have forgotten to add the Exactoscale plastic fishplates) is to cut them in half (down the inside webbing) and simply epoxy each half to the rail webbing, either side of the rail break. Best to abrade the rail webbing first, if possible. I normally use a small amount of epoxy for this and it seems to work well.

Hmmm. Let's hope they are the tonic we are anticipating...

So sorry to miss seeing this and other layouts at the Taunton 'do'. And good luck with the Midlands event, too!

The Jeff Wayne version used to give me goose bumps when I first heard it. I haven't listened to it for a while, perhaps it still does!

Do they drink the stuff?

Has anyone seen the awful, awful Pendragon Pictures version of it? It was being produced about the same time as the Tom Cruise version and I had high hopes, but it was just awful.

Thanks both for the above advice. Is there any gauge of p/b wire that is most effective for spiral pick-ups, please?

I also wince at the modern language used in some 'historical' dramas, not least the use of the dreadful term 'train station'. The use of inappropriate locos, rolling stock and even sometimes station settings makes me wonder what other 'historical' aspects of the show aren't correct. CTMK and I recently watched 'Downton Abbey' on Netflix and the sight of a non-Eastern loco and stock always grates, especially if there is a goods brake van at the rear of the train... However, she recently acquired a DVD copy of 'Housewife, 49', written by and starring the late Victoria Wood, in which the LMS scenes (shot at Keighley) seemed to have a rather more authentic feel about them.

I was going to add that you are only the second person I've ever found, who has installed individual bars on the windows at the rear of a GW cab. The first was the brother of a good friend of mine, when we were all still at school in the 1970s, who made a lovely job of detailing up one of the then new Hornby 8750 panniers. A couple of years later I did the same with my pannier. I thought I'd done a half-decent job at the time, but upon extricating the loco from it's box the other day, I realised that the tops and bottom lines of the bars weren't as even as I'd thought. Still, it was nearly 50 years ago! This is the loco posing on 'Bethesda Sidings' recently: I subsequently realised that there were various other things about the Hornby pannier, that I could have corrected (and would if I did the exercise again - unlikely in view of the superior quality of more recent RTR panniers). The ride height of the loco is one of the main problems, it being too high.

I agree, but unfortunately I can't go (again) this year, due to medical reasons. Maybe at a show in the SW later in the year?

I've done two or three GW locos like that in my time, using 5 amp fuse wire, individually glued into tiny holes, just like you've done. I rather like the idea of the 0.2mm brass wire, though. These days, however, I am happy with the way Bachmann et al have moulded their rear cab window bars and I doubt that I could better them in terms of regularity and evenness. Sometimes 'less is more'. What I won't endorse, however, is the etched window bars that you can get (?former Mainly Trains etch?). They may be nice and slender, but the lack of '3D' just doesn't convince. In terms of the smokebox door on the old Airfix body, I couldn't agree with you more and on the few 14XXs that I've upgraded (for others), I've used a turned brass smokebox door that I think I obtained from Roxey. I then added hinges etc. from plasticard.

I was just wondering if anyone has a particular method of curling p/b (or other) wire into a 'spring' shape for pick ups, please? I always seem to end up with untidy spirals and never seem to know where to stop the curling, so that the straight end is in the right place to bear on the flange of the wheel. Thanks.

This K's pannier was originally built by Peter Lawson, but was one of two bought by me from Tony Wright recently, when Peter decided to sell his collection due to ill health. This is how it arrived: I wanted to renumber it, which would also enable me to put the smokebox door plate in the correct position. I also added a small number of extra details, such as lamp irons and sand pipes, but wanted to keep the essence of the loco as it had been built. Now finished and in service:

Never found it to be a problem.

What an excellent job, Tony. A loco like that for £5.00? Wonderful! I bought one of these back when they first came out. I had no where to run it for many, many years, so it only got a little test running now and then. When wanted to use it on my S&D layout 'Engine Wood', I found that the wheels were no longer retained on the axles, the usual Mainline split chassis problem. My solution was to put a Comet chassis under the body and apply some weathering. Should I start exhibiting my remaining S&D layout again, the Standard 4 still remains in 'front line service'. 75023 was a Templecombe loco for a while in the early 1960s. Here it is on 'Engine Wood': And on 'Bleakhouse Road':

Would you mind saying what kind of controller you use with the coreless motors, please? Thanks.

Ah, memories of misery there for me, of enforced cross-country running in the cold and wet! Better memories from when I was a bit older (but still at school) of bunking off games and exploring the old S&D trackbed!

Or, as Ivo Peters once captioned a photo of a 9F standing next to a Beattie well tank - 'Dignity & Impudence!'.

Is it finished, then? Looks really wonderful.

Heat, but little work in Bethesda Yard:

New arrivals at Capel Bethesda... Yesterday, postie brought me this lovely item (one of the recent Hornby releases), which I had bought from Larry Goddard, who has also weathered it: 78002 was based at Machynlleth for part of the time frame covered by Bethesda Sidings, so the back story is that she ended up at Shrewsbury off a booked working, and was then borrowed for a local goods down the North & West route to Leominster. Once there, she was hurriedly detached and used to work the Kington lines goods service, due to the booked engine (1420) having to return to Hereford for fitters attention. Today, postie brought me this, which I bought from Tony Wright. This was also part of the Peter Lawson collection, like the two panniers featured previously. 84003 was based at Croes Newydd at the time, so also found it's way to Leominster and thence to working the Kington lines goods, via a similar caper as 78002. 84003 was built by Peter Lawson from the DJH kit and runs absolutely superbly.

What a lovely scene, John. That bridge is so iconic too, I instantly recognised it a few days ago, whilst watching an episode of 'Canal Boat Diaries' featuring Robbie Cumming, that we had recorded.