coachmann

I realize people can get touchy on forums about the word "serious", so what I have in mind is fully ballasted track Code 100 track amid scenery. I just wondered how much it is still used by modellers.

That Rover is one beautiful car. I had a Rover 60 and 105 so i envy you your pre-war jobbie. PGH's Scimitar I have rode in several times. Ford Granada 6-cylinders and a lightweight plastic body = some motor.

What a wonderful machine it is. The purpose it was built for came in handy on the steep and winding branch to Blaenau Ffestiniog. I am really glad I saw it in action. Time for a RTR 4mm model methinks.... 21st August 2012 above at Dolwydellen and 30 July 2013 below at Blaenau Ffestiniog.....

It is hard to believe this was taken 15 years ago........Modern buses never seem to change in appearance to me! The super low floor was presumably a novelty. Taken crossing the bridge over Abergele & Pensarn railway station in November 2003. This is probably the only stretch of cobbled road left in Abergele.....

A gentle reminder of the Classic Transport Weekend at the Llangollen Railway this weekend and it definitely won't be raining..... A neat pair of Bristols in 2016 ...

You might think so. A sound ready made underframe would be a major money saver. Cosmetic trussing could be added the make the coaches look GWR or LMS.

'Steel bodied' included steel-clad coaches such as Collett, Stanier and Maunsell stock. 'All-Steel' coaches included those built by the steel industry for the LMS in the 1920's and early 1930's, the LNER and of course the BR Mk.I's. By using Mk.I chassis, interiors and roofs as donors, one could build coaches that resembled LMS and GWR designs but of course they would be longer than the original Big Four designs and have flat ends. Framework would be of timber, which is within the scope of tradesmen used to working with wood, and cladding could be ali or galvanised steel sheet. Interested parties from all the heritage sites could club together to have proprietary sliding windows produced in bulk. Such windows would be suitable for producing GWR and LMS look-alike stock.

DJM 14XX also being run on DC Carrog! If I had to go back to stone age DC, this thread would cease to exist.

If Joe Public and his missus dont give a damn, one could in theory attach a load of old Nodding Donkies to a loco and they wouldn't know the difference. As regards non-corridor coaches, it was different when the public grew up with nothing else on commuter trains and day trips to the seaside and peeing out the window was normal (it was in Lancs). Imagine that on heritage lines when even a 12 mile trip takes ages. Mk.I coaches will not last forever, so I wonder if there is any mileage in building new bodies to Big Four designs on Mk.I chassis and using the Mk.I interior and roof. If this works, then maybe something more ambitious could be done. A panelled coach for instance. Safety standards could be based on a vehicle not going faster than 40mph rather than current mainline standards.

You are missing the point Joe. Trains diverge from the straight at a 'slimmer' angle and so they look more satisfactory and prototypical. It is self evident from my photo that the Code 83 large radius point has a longer sleeker curve than the Code 75.

I am just as likely to return to no-nonsense built-like-a-brick-poohouse Code 100 on my next layout seeing as 75% of my current layout uses it anyway (garden and fiddle yard).

Must be the origin of that song "D'ye ken yon peel....?"

Probably practice night ~ they get the bells all over the place at times. Nice to hear the sound of olden days. Thanks. I hadn't heard the Dukedog for a while. It needs the 'secondary' exhaust adjusting to represent the driver adjusting the cut-off to use less steam after the initial start.

A bit of video. I had to start the train within the shed then belt across the garden to catch the train departing Carrog.... 4F in the opposite direction. The down line has not been connected to the fiddle yard as yet....

After visiting the fantastic Hunslet 100 gala at Portmadoc in 1993, the Hunslet 125 was a pale shadow. So this afternoon I did a bit of modelling on the Heljan 47XX's. The smokebox door doesn't capture the GWR appearance due to the absence of a recess around the door. The recess is clearly seen on the Hornby Grange... I ran the point of a dart around the door then widened the groove slight with a different dart head. I don't think it is really worth it and i would replace the whole front if I could find a casting. Note the new struts..... Things kept falling off while handling this heavy loco & Tender. One was the cab handrail. This was a peice of wire glued to the cabside....I mean how silly is that? If there is to be no daylight behind it, it might as well have been moulded on. I glued the wire back with Loctite... After finishing the black loco, the green one followed suit. It has new 12.5mm pony truck wheels. Driving wheel centres, tyres and copper pipework have been blackened...

While I am well pleased wit the appearance of Peco bullhead points, there is a weakness if using Peco rail joiners. The usual routine when fitting Peco Code 75 rail-joiners is to remove the last railfixing or 'chair'. Doing this has never affected Peco Streamline Code 75 and 100 points because the web on flat bottom rail holds it securely in place. However, bullhead rail by its nature is not held half as securely in plastic chairs, something those of us who have used plastic based bullhead flexible track have been aware of for years. Bullhead used in soldered points is a different kettle of fish obviously. What I found was removal of the last chair left both ends of the Peco bullhead points weak. Knowing this, I always took care when joining the points to track. However, on four separate occasions things have gone badly wrong at the frog end when the short length of rail had lifted from the base. Last week, this rail and the rail end of an adjacent point sprang free during laying. A metal rail joiner has held them together but passage over the point frog leaves something to be desired. Seeing as track is the bedrock of any rail system, I go to a lot of trouble when laying a cork base and producing camber on curves, so it is disappointing (to say the least) to end up with track that does not give my trains a smooth passage. The points below have had the end chairs removed with a fine saw rather than a knife....

Very kind of you to say so David. The boundary fencing was put up after you left, but it looks like new holes will have to be drilled for the telegraph poles. The trusty Dean Goods is running into the Up platform with an all-stations from Wrexham to Bala Junction...

Most males would be in work or in school in those days, on top of which the railway was taken for granted. Fortunately, Ivor Tripehod was a partner at Corwen Lubrication and was able to slip out...

Give me strength!

And then there were two.....Lucky lerky me! There's been a welcome in the hillside and the Eisteddfod traffic has been really heavy. A Marples bloke in the big house has complained that passengers should be on the roads! The leading loco had been to Corwen for servicing and so was attached to this ECS train returning to Llangollen to save pathing a light engine...... 4704 and 4706 waiting for the single line token. Fortunately, photographer Ivor Tripehod was on hand to record the event. We think 4704 was in undercoat....

Proof that the track into the Down loop is smoother than it appears in last nights post. The point is on the same camber as the Up line, which sends the down loop 'downwards', so the beginning of the loop effectively cambers the wrong way. This usually entails a speed restriction on the prototype, something I first came across when modelling Greenfield Junction. Conversely, the track into the yard is going upwards until it levels off with no camber whatsoever. The groundwork for all this is prepared using cork sheet and an electric sander.....

That is good news Mike. Lots of things happened on BR that were never recorded in the enthusiast magazines. Seeing as my fake history is the Llangollen line was upgraded to red restriction as early as WW2 (as far as Corwen), a 4700 will undoubtedly be found passing my version of Carrog hauling summat or other ...

The field bordering the down platform was grassed again this afternoon after an ash cess was put beside the new section of track. The point control tubing is quite well hidden. I have been in two minds about the Provender store acting as a goods shed, hence its disappearance.... The field needs some character adding and cattle....... The point levers are not too conspicuous, but they are mighty handy and, for me, preferable to point motors and wiring. I intend using Mercontrol to control the signals. They will be lowered slowly and even given a 'bounce'....! A trick of the light makes the entrance to the down loop look distinctly kinky, but I can assure you it ain't....

Without any shadow of doubt, that coach carried lining in 1938....

If its who I think it is, he's a big chap. His parents lived just around the corner from here.