coachmann

Delph, sorry Holt, is coming along well. I suspect passengers were kept on the platform until the loco had finished running round and had propelled the stock up to the buffers. The L&Y 0-6-0s had to do this when no motor-fitted locos were available. I wish someone had photographed one of the LYR 2-4-2Ts at Delph in 1953. The LNWR D333 Brake Third coach might not be rare at Delph. I remember climbing up to an end window, assisted by my mates, and looking down on the bunker of a Fowler 2-6-2T on the way out of Delph. For some reason the loco was at the oldham end of the train. In fact I did wonder if the M52 driving trailer had similar windows in the guards end. Such snippets of memory from boyhood are often difficult to reconcile with certain things. I doubt if a 'West Country' would be allowed over the line, if only for aesthetic reasons...!B)

I wondered what steps have been taken to prevent the chassis from bowing inside the body at the centre. It shouldn't if the interior is screwed to the chassis with the three self- tappers but I went in for over-engineering.....

Hi Dave - The third shot is very close to the view of the real place when passing the station. Peter has made a super job of the station and goods shed, and this must rate as the best recapture of Delph ever. I always look enviously at your Fowler 3MT....!! I hope to upgrade one of the open saloon driving trailers before Adrian retires as I never did build one the earlier ones for myself. Seeing as you obviously plan to build the mainroad to Uppermill, don't forget to pick up a North Western Road Car lowbridge half-cab bus. For Manchester Corporation you could always clip the front wings and stick a Leyland PD1 radiator on a Crossley DD42. For Oldham Corporation, there is a tinfront Leyland PD2 with Orion body of 1954, what we called bouncy buses, but you would have to repaint it.

Thanks Brian, I suspected I'd be out of luck. Looks like my Gresley D10C Diner and D27A open third will have to hog the catering traffic, while an ex LMS Period II Diner Compo will be built for the LMR express. Larry

I look forward to seeing this catering vehicle develop. If I wanted an unclassed dining car for an Eastern Region train in 1953, what diagram should I be looking to build?

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to explain things. I have kept this on file. As the GWR was the only railway to standardise on shell vents for much of its existence, I assumed it might have been a W. Region specification, but it was obviously coincidence. I do indeed use Dart castings Ridge Dome Vents as well as this firms torpedo and shell vents. The Ridge dome originated on the LNWR circa 1918, continuing to be fitted to LMS coaches built at Wolverton in the 1920s, becoming an LMS standard after the war, and adopted by BR for a while. So it had a good run

A brass back-to-back gauge is a good investment....

I noticed quite a few Western Region Mk.I day coaches had shell roof vents.Was there a story behind this? As for BR Mk.I catering vehicles, it looks like a minefield of slight differences, missing windows and what have you.

7013 said : This is an interesting observation that I hadn't considered before. Those of us who were around in steam days before the diesel invasion are pretty aware of the essential everyday-engines we would like to see in model form, while younger people are maybe looking back at locos from a different perspection. Attractiveness perhaps or some other factor? In the case of the L1, it looks far more attractive in model form than in full size.

That's it then, Hornby are bound to produce them next year!

I cannot think of a better or cheaper L1 in 4mm scale. Plastic RTR manufacturers get their income from a toy market and scale model market, and we all win if we are prepared to alter things to suit ourselves. That pony truck alteration sounds good.

Have fitted some rather neat correct size LNER 12mm bogie wheels from Markits.

Shame these Blogs get hidden (until they are updated) as I missed all your updates from May. I didn't even know you had run your stock to Amlwch! It will be quite some layout when finished. Shame you didnt opt for '00' as I could have done a bit of through running from Greenfield! Only joking........It is me that should have gone P4. Larry

The coal drops are looking good Dave. Larry

One trick to to fit a Roco coupling at one end and couple it to a coach with the longer Hornby-Roco coupling. I cannot claim credit for this as the idea came from friend Bob Treacher at Alton Model Centre.

Cutler2579, that is correct.

PIcture by my old friend Gavin Morrison. Sandbox fillers were green and just because they weren't cleaned does not mean they were painted black. Not one Pacific shows sandbox fillers clean in Derek Penney's book of LNER Pacifics, and so I expected this book to be cited as "proof" they were black.

Rest assured they should be green. You did not repaint the running plate angle green either. I can only offer the advice....

Having lightened the image posted above, it occurs to me the footplate angle is black. None of the other images on this thread are clear enough to show whether this is the case or not. Can anyone amplify? In BR green livery, the footplate angle should be green.

If I might just offer a response, BR painted far more areas green than did the LNER. This included the sandbox fillers and caps. I have taken the liberty of altering your picture slightly.....

The black panel at the top of the tender on 60537 is wrong for BR liveries. Tender without beading had the green taken to the coal space. Gresley tenders with beading often looked black above that beading, but whether they were painted black or whether the cleaners couldnt be bothered cleaning above the beading I don't know.

Aside from the drooping running plate under the cab, the lining is far too thick and bright judging by photos.

Going solely of images posted on here and on various store websites, the running plate is all over the place. The front section is not parallel to the middle section and the rear section droops towards the tender. One would thing that affixing plastic bits to a mazak running plate would be straightforward, but if the mazak is distored, then there isn't much hope for this mass-produced item. Re lining on cylinders, it was not always applied to LNE Pacifics after the war and I dont think the Peppercorns got it at all. It was never applied with BR green livery either. Of course the A2 Pacifics were neat looking engines and for the price the model is a bargain despite faults.

Even though I prided myself in using the camera all year long when many people put them away during winter months, I have been hard put to find many pictures taken in November. Even the sight of Class 24s and 40s was not enough to draw me lineside if the weather was dull and wet. Oh yes, I saw plenty of the railway in the 1950s but I never took numbers and rarely took photos until 1976.

When Hornby discovers the sales of its A3s and A4s are levelling out no matter what new liveries and names are applied, they will turn their attention to something shiny and new.....Thompson Pacifics. Safest bet yet. The famed P2 might never come to pass, but who could resist the A2/2 'Cock 'O the North'....