Mrkirtley800

Newcastle to Manchester, with the Midland taking over from the NER at Northallerton. 2183 class on the 09.55 ex Northallerton stopping train, at Embsay (Canal Road) The return working is an express, stopping only at Skipton, Middleham and Leyburn Junction.. The train make up is of 54’ clerestory, corridor stock with the original Midland Compound, to the design of Samuel Waite Johnson. It came out of Derby Works in late 1901, as No 2631, renumbered 1000 in 1907, and finally rebuilt about 1914, and still exists.

Strange, I have one like that. Derek

Just superb, Kevin. Lovely imaginative modelling Derek

Sorry Mike, I am a dyed in the wool Midland man. However, all my layouts have been based in the Yorkshire Dales, the stamping ground of both Midland and NER. Derek

Hello Mike, on the subject of ex NER tank engines, here is a scratch built class U in EM gauge. I built it for a friend over thirty years ago, painted and lined by Steve Barnfield. It ran like a Swiss watch but my friend decided he didn’t want it, so I kept it and so glad I did. It was a very popular engine with my co -operators on Kirkby Malham mk 1, a small layout I used to hawk around the shows. mainly in the north and midlands. The pic is of it on my old Canal Road layout, now partially scrapped Two more pics on Canal Road The tracks to the right of the signal signal and telegraph post in the middle picture are my youngest sons 00, the ones to the left, my EM. Derek

Unt ve now vere you lif.

Back in the dark ages of 1969, I was involved with the building of a waterworks in a large field above the village of Ruswarp, near Whitby. Machines and pneumatic drills etc were going and you couldn’t hear yourself speak, when a large fox trotted through the workings. Everything stopped. The builders were amazed at his coolness. He trotted all the way over the field, through the hedge, across a stream and up the hill over the next field. The men had never seen anything like it. Derek

Here we have nanny Lydia Whyte being chatted up by Ephraim Ainsworth, owner of the horse bus, while the McIntyre children wait impatiently to get on board for their day out to Malham Cove, to climb on the rocks and play in the stream. Little do they know, Nanny has some lessons for them to do in the fresh air and their playtime will be rather reduced. Kirkby Malham has stables for five horses. The horse dung and used straw is stored in the middin built on to the stables. Two farm hands are loading up manure to spread on their fields just outside the village

A quiet time at Kirkby Malham

I use the plastic covering from insulated wire to hold coupling rods in place. The wire insulation I use is from the earth wire from a bit of house mains wire cut into thin slices. Actually, some of my locos have run for years with the rods held in place this way. If they work loose a bit of UHU or Evostick will sort the problem, or a bit of fresh insulation. No need for any soldering. Derek

Further down the line from the canal bridges are the twin bores, Haw Bank No’s 1 and 2. Beyond the tunnels is Haw Bank Junction where the lines come together just east of Skipton station, in reality the fiddle yard. Below the railway is the canal tunnel. A narrow gauge tramway linked the canal wharf with the limeworks

Yes, it is Midland Railway in EM gauge Derek

Congratulations to you both on the birth of your daughter. I wish you all well. My layouts location is Airedale, but I chose the head of the dale at Kirkby Malham and in an earlier time, 1908 to be precise, and in Midland Railway days. So, all the best with your version of a very beautiful part of Yorkshire. Derek

Here is a section of my old Canal Road layout, which was scrapped some years ago. Itwas a 00 - EM combined layout The the two main lines, on the left is Skipton to Leyburn Junction, on the right is the Skipton to Ilkley, crossing the Springs Canal, an offshoot of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal. A flight of steps between the bridges lead down to the towpath. The tracks on the right are 00 gauge and those on the left are to EM gauge.

Hello Douglas, Sorry, bad news I am afraid. I used Gibson wheels, extended axles and cranks. However, I don’t use nuts on the cranks. Instead, to keep the coupling rods in place, I use a thin sliver of insulation from insulated wire. In this case, the insulation was from wire used in the house circuit. A little dab of glue will fix it in place. I got my Kirtley kit in 1966 - birthday present from my wife. I threw away the K’s cranks and fretted some from 1mm brass sheet. I drilled the axle hole 1.4mm and tapped it 10BA so that it would screw on a Romford extended axle. When in the correct position, fix it with a bit of solder and cut off the excess axle. This makes for very easy adjustment of the cranks when doing the final setting up. This lasted for about 25 years until I replaced the K’s motor with Mashima and the Romford wheels and axles with Gibson. Our Kirtley goods is known as ‘Old Faithful’. It has (up to now) never let me down, and Larry Goddard’s painting and lining are still good after all these years. Sorry I could not be more helpful to you. Derek

Hanlith Junction, Greengates Lane bridges in the foreground

Putting the world to rights on Kirkby Brow (Road) bridge

A busy shopping day in Kirkby Malham one day in June 1908

Chris, you need to remove the check rail on the stock rail and then straighten out the two sharp little kinks by unsoldering that length of stock rail plus a bit more at the end of each kink, resolder but making sure you have a smooth curve. Don’t forget to check everything with the triangular track gauge as you proceed. 2632. This is my son’s 0 gauge layout, unfortunately 170 miles from me. I built four locos 2 * 1F tanks, 1 * 2F tender loco and a NER 0-4-0T (Y8 ??) The 1Fs were from a Mercian Models kit. The kit provides parts for open and closed cab locos, so by a dint of scratchbuilding I used up all the etched parts and cut out frames, footplate and boiler from nickel sheet. The carriages are Slaters kits which Chris built, painted and lined. Super job, especially as it was his first attempt. Regularity, there’s no answer to that. Derek

I have used a few bits of blue tak to hold a roof in place. Derek

Thanks Lez. My ‘puter knowledge is lacking. Give me a sheet of nickel and I will build a loco, but I really need help with this. I will have a word with my son, and possibly get back to you. Thank all of you for your ideas Derek

Didn’t even get the picture of your thumb Don. Got it on the iPad, but only got the text on the laptop. Al, I logged out, but it made no difference when I logged back in again. Do cookies clear automatically when logging out? Thank you both for the help. It must be something quite simple, but my knowledge of computers is rather lacking. Derek

Thanks for that Don. I will try it out tomorrow. Derek

I have a problem, well one particular problem. i normally use my iPad to look at RMW, but for putting anything on my thread, I use my lap top. I haven’t done much over the last year, but now I have got my mojo back, am raring to go. On trying to use the laptop I find that it won’t let me put any text on the thread, and since about last April, no photos from any of the threads I read have appeared. Text is there but where a pic should be is a blank gap, even on my thread. The iPad is perfect which is why I have seen all the pics. Does anyone have any ideas Derek