coachmann

Believe me, once you have fitted a sound chip and factored in the exhaust beat, the clanking of rods when pulling and coasting, the sound of the big ends and coupled axle boxes knocking like a demented cement mixer, and ramped up the volume, you should not hear any grumbly noises from the motor......

I see I'm not the only one having problems with images that are appearing as "attached thumbnails". To counter this, I submit my post, reopen it again and re-send the images to the page. The only trouble left is a large gap between the text and the images.

I'm one of those old fashioned types that knows he wants one but his conceance tells him that justifying one in the Manchester area is a tall order...

Coaches looking good. Neat job of spraying roofs too with a straight edge instead of masking tape. For years I detested BR Mk. I coaches but they are beginning to look quite stylish now.

Hi Dave, I'm barred due to the heart surgery from doing any lifting, joinery and the like. It's dead frustrating for an active lad (!) but the alyout building will have to wait until I am finally passed 'fit for service' next June. It often puzzled me why the LMS did not make Moorgate the local station for Uppermill as it is ideally situated for the community, far better than Saddleworth. The trains could have reversed at Greenfield but it would have meant holding up traffic on the mainline, plus it is on a steep incline. Reversal might have had to take place in the safety of the Oldham Branch carriage sidings near Greenfield. Reversal at Moorgate would involve no shunting. Just a couple of crow whistles and off! __________________________________________________________ Hi Peter, Glad you are stll performing miracles with plastikard and paint.....I am rather envious of Delph now. But you'll have to have a word with Dave about his strange behavious concerning SR Pacifics, plus its not good form introducing foreigners to Delph, especially from Waterloo. Interesting ot read you are building a new layout. Will this be a termus like the previous model? Will it be Lanky? Cheers, Larry

PS: I think Vox Mill looks a bit too modern for Delph......

Partly a vision of the future seeing as these locos were not rebuilt at the time of its visit to Delph, aka Holt, and partly a nightmare sorting out the 7 chains curve at Ladcastle after the WC had passed! Anyway I'm suprised at your leaning towards things Bullied and you born on Goddard Street! No problems with eastbound services. The train engine could be at the Delph end of an excursion and a LYR 0-6-0 could haul the lot to the end of the branch into Moorgate Halt. Except this halt would be a proper station serving Uppermill. The train would be hauled onto the Down main before setting off eastbound correct line with the LYR loco acting as Banker to Diggle....A definite necessity with a greasy Bullied Pacific!! Incidentally the only rebuilt WC needed at Greenfield is a decent gents toilet! On a serious note, the layout is coming along well and is beginning to look the part. Is Gravy busy building a great big mill now....? Cheers, Larry

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....