Captain Kernow

14 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

I’m looking forward to the N gauge Buckjumper…! I have been using coreless motors for 45years, with very, very few failures in heavy use. They easily outperform cored equivalents.
 

Tim 

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

Thanks. 

On 17/02/2024 at 07:33, Tricky said:

It’s affectionately known as ‘Watery Bottom’ and is based on the viaduct of the same name in Lyncombe Vale on the old S&D.

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!

6 minutes ago, 92912 said:

Little and large

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.

1 hour ago, Killybegs said:

5514, a rather grubby Small Prairie, crosses the canal at Worseter with a 'local stopper' from Gloucester.

 

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.

14 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

I'm pretty sure they were all black when built, the green did come later, I'd say that photo must be after an overhaul, especially as it is an early number.

Yes, you are correct, they did all start out in lined black livery, the green came later (it was the naughty Western Region's fault!).

What surprised me was that they started with the unlined green as early as 1957, one might be forgiven for thinking that that came a bit later (ie. after some were initially repainted lined green), as some kind of an economy measure.

In the end, most of the W.R. allocation of 82XXXs were in green (lined or otherwise). When I built my 82041 in 1995, however, I didn't realise quite how widespread the green was on the W.R. in my layout's time frame. I was going to finish it in Mixed Traffic black, but then realised that some folk at exhibitions might mistake it for the soon-to-be-released Bachmann Ivatt 2-6-2T, so I opted for green, to get away from the 'is that the new Bachmann one?' questions...

Hi Tony, not wishing to contradict you on the origins of the 82XXX, but the shape of the individual castings around the cab and smokebox area, plus the thickness of the cab itself does look like the body at least was built from the Kemilway kit?

3 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

The Chester-Birkenhead road was double track as far as (I think) Ledsham, where it became four tracks as far as, at least, Rock Ferry. The quadruple track was paired by speed (in typical L&NWR/GWR fashion).

There are some good photographs of the area in Volume 11 of Lightmoor's 'British Railways, The First 25 Years', North Wales, Chester and the Wirral'.

37 minutes ago, ecgtheow said:

the BR Standard Class 3 2-6-2 tanks in the 82000 numbers series that were painted initially lined & later unlined green by the Western Region not the Class 2 2-6-2 tanks in the 84000 numbers series

I had thought that the repainting into unlined green came later, but there's a photo in the RCTS book (Volume 3) of 82007 standing outside Swindon Works, newly repainted into unlined green with a large early crest.

10 minutes ago, Keith Turbutt said:

While on the subject of the 84xxx class, I believe in the 60s they were being considered for use on the IOW as replacements for the ageing 02s. I saw this one at Eastleigh in Jan 66 on the occasion of the LCGB S15 farewell railtour, which included an Eastleigh shed and works visit. This never happened however

That's absolutely right, according to the RCTS book on the Standard tank classes.

22 hours ago, PeteScR said:

Thanks for the responses. I have been dealing with these suppliers for many years and aware of them. What I am looking for is opinions on who makes the most realistic steam and vacuum pipes for locos and coaches.

Try these - http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_019.htm

I think they are excellent.

20 minutes ago, rowanj said:

So really, I suggest that, unless you like kit-building, or really want a particular loco, getting started is less and less worthwhile, I'm afraid

I certainly agree with that. Back in the 1970s, when I first started building whitemetal kits as a teenager, the choice in RTR was extremely limited and kits actually offered more accuracy and detail than the average RTR product.

Today, so much has changed.

Here's a question for all of you who have cats - do any of your cats eat vegetables?

We've discovered that one of ours loves eating cooked courgette (cooled off, of course). He loves eating and we now use this to bulk up his food, as it has next to no calories, thus helping us keep his weight under control. The other one, however, can't stand the stuff...

On the question of pricing of kit-built locos, I am aware that a beautifully assembled P4 Pro-scale 'Princess' in BR maroon, built by Alan Sibley, sold very quickly (was advertised on the S4 forum and also was on Ebay). The asking price was £350 (o.n.o.).

I don't know if that represented the final price paid (I didn't buy it, despite being tempted (it would have been too big for my little P4 layout anyway).

Even for that price, there's no way that you could get a kit professionally built for that, especially one so well finished.

1 hour ago, jamest said:

It might be a bit long for a station of this size….but I think it sits on the platform well.

I think it gives the station the air of a seasonally important West Country holiday terminus, such as Minehead or Ilfracombe!

6 minutes ago, robertcwp said:

Wheels accumulate dirt and that causes drag and can lead to derailments. I have spent countless hours over the last few years cleaning carriage and wagon wheels.

I completely agree. I still get surprised by the amount of dirt that accumulates on my OO and P4 stock, despite my having a very strict (almost draconian - just ask my friends who have helped me at shows in the past!) track cleaning policy.

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

A few things are beginning to dawn on me now with regard to the 'value' of the locos/stock I'm selling on behalf of bereaved/distressed families of late.

You make a very interesting point, Tony.

If we accept for a moment (for reasons already discussed), that kit builders are now in a pretty small minority as compared with the number of RTR-buyers (especially when the collector market for RTR is factored in), then that might imply that the market share for ready-built kits is already very small, unfortunately.

It leaves me wondering why a ready-built kit (no matter how well assembled and no matter how well it runs), might still not appeal to someone who has hitherto only had experience of RTR locos. Perhaps such individuals, having little or no experience of kit building, are not attracted to kit built locos because they are (i) wary of something going wrong and perhaps (ii) wouldn't know how to go about fault-finding and rectification, whereas someone who has experience of building kits themselves may already have sufficient confidence to take something like that on.

Kit-built locos are, by their very nature, more 'individualistic' than mass-produced RTR items. If an RTR model goes wrong, most owners have the option of (a) returning it to the retailer or even manufacturer under some kind of warranty or (b) fault-finding themselves, with the confidence that they are dealing with a 'standard' product and the fact that there are many, many other folk out there with the same model, who may be able to advise them on what to do, on a forum such as this one.