coachmann

The blind leading the blind isn't all that amusing.....

Talking of bankers, what's the betting Bullied wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes on the LMS.....

A red A1 ? He would have had to get rid of Anderson and the rest of the old Midland chumps otherwise his Pacific would have been a compound with a 3,500 gallon tender and the axleboxes off a 4F.

There was no need of Robinson 'Pacifics'. The hoped for traffic on the new mainline never materialized, and in anycase, the large engines he did build were mostly a flop. Pity, as they were beautiful designs. It would be interesting to start with an LMS 'Jubilee', Caprotti valvegear, and build a cosmetic GCR 9P Lord Faringdon so that it would have properly proportioned boiler/firebox and ashpan and modern front end.

Even when the same paint was used on steam and diesel locos, the freshly applied paint simply looked darker on diesels because of the expance of unlined area. Red Warships always looked drab compared with a lined out Duchess for instance. Class 40s looked as if they had been painted in a green bought in by English Electric! The black splashers tops have to be painted green on every Hornby and Bachmann BR green loco. I used Railmatch 300 BR Loco Green with a smidgen of black added on the Bachmann 'Jubilee' and 'Patriot', but the paint had to be lightened to match Hornbys green. It is simply too light.

You have to START with the correct colour. What you do with it afterwards comes under the heading of 'weathering'. Don't forget the GWR green that was applied with far too much thinners to make the paint go further looked fine on the day the paint was applied. It went khaki or blackened while in traffic. A modeller replicating this would not pour black or khaki into his tin of GWR green ..... would he? At this distance in time, we have to start somewhere. It seems to me the best starting point is either to obtain paint from the manufacturers who supplied the Big Four (Williamson or Masons), assuming they still have the recipe, but easier still for modellers is the range of Precision Paints GLOSS colours.

If it was one of those, I've got a scoop!

I opened a business account with Kings X circa 1971-2 and found the staff a delight to work with. I'm afraid the old wooden coach kits were regarded as old-hat even then though. I remember reading of Bob Essery using wooden kits to built a 4mm push pull set in the early to mid 1960s. I had a go at one bought from Tyldsley & Holbrook in Manchester but it required an awful lot of filling and paint. Plastikard appeared on the modelling scene in the early 60s, followed by some pressed aluminium shells from I forget who and later on the much more sensible BSL aluminium coach kits. The wooden coach kits are a neat reminder of how difficult it was for scale modellers in the those days, but only the brave would tackle on these days.

After my recent operation I was given Ferrous Sulphate Tablets. "What are they doctor" "Iron tablets" "I don't like them" "Have they made your stools black?" "Worse than that.....When I wake up in a morning I'm facing north!"

There was nowhere for him to jump clear so it must have been a case of hanging on and hoping for the best. The lower stepboard on his van was demolished so he must have felt something of the impact as the van scraped along the displaced platform edging slabs. It was unfamilarity that took me by suprise. Walking onto the platform around the corner of the building, I was confronted with a wagon propped up against the front of the building. My reaction was total bewilderment....It was all so unreal. I then screwed my Mamiya 645 onto the monopod and casually proceded to take pictures while chatting to some of the railwaymen who were beginnig to appear at the scene. Looking down into a waist-level viewfinder is what wedding photograhers used to do, and I suspect it gave the impression I was officlal or at least knew what I was doing!

This is the very last photo I took on the final day of Woodhead, 76022 ambling through Newton Station in pouring rain en route to Guide Bridge to be switched off for the last time, 17th July 1981. I chose this location because Newton was my birthplace, in fact I was born not far away in the Aspland during the war. My nearest station was actually Hyde North, but I saw much of Newton as a small child...... the C13 4-4-2Ts and J11's on local passengers trains, plus the heavy stuff. I even photographed an electric hauled freight at Newton in the mid 1950s....can't think why!

No one has any excuse for getting railway colours wrong.....Paints matched to the real colours have been available since goodness knows when courtesy Mr. Sheppard ex-Precision Paints. Only on RMweb do I see heresy and confusion! There is no confusion in the world outside. Hornby may have compromised their colours with a chalky matt finish. I'll tackle one of my locos in due course to see if it can be darkenned or given more depth by applying a clear cellulose spray over. Larry G.

They say Britain is full of character. The Welsh tourist industry wants tourists, the local councils delight in coning off roads to make life as difficult as possible for tourists, shop-keepers and pub-owners love tourists because they can rip them off, the Welsh dislike the English for something that happened 800 years ago, the English dislike the Welsh for speaking in their native tongue in their own country, wind turbines are erected at all major beauty spots, and so it goes.....

I agree. If only these guys would get their act together and adopt the best finish, which as far as I can see is a combination of Bachmann's BR green and Hornby's fine lining out. Thanks for the background to the Swindon model livery.

I would have thought the model would have carried its August 1950 livery when it was named 'Swindon'. Hornby evidently think more modellers model the post 1956 scene, hence the later totem.

Beddgelert looks to have the same stance as Blaenau Ffestiniog. The latters civic fathers demanded this and that when the standard and narrow gauge lines were brought together into the newly constructed Ffestiniog Central Sation, yet the shop keepers have never put themselves out for tousists. Half the time the place is a ghost town because it is so unwelcoming. The footbridge leading passengers into town was such a waste of space that common sence prevailed in the end and a level crossing was installed enabling cross-platform rail connection, leaving the townfolk to live their lives in splendid isolation! Beddgellert, on the other hand, is always busy.

The Tender looks much better after removal of the valance. It's time someone of substance at Hornby realized the 1970s LMS Stanier tender is a cop-out and is not worthy of hanging behind its latest locos like the Royal Scot and Rebuilt Patriot, not to mention the trusty 8F and Black Five.

Not for nothing were the branchlines in heavily populised areas such as industrial towns and cities the first to face closure when forced to compete with tram and bus stops at 'every lamp post'. Country branchlines lasted a bit longer because it was not profitable for a small bus operator to compete with the railway. Beeching offered these lines on a plate to bus operators, but many greedy operators wanted rid of their newly acquired services when they discovered there was no profit in it for them either! The one thing that would make a preserved branchline of limited public service today is if it is in an area where difficult car parking and traffic chaos is making people consider alternative means of getting into town. Even so such an advantage would be cancelled out if bus operators had bus lanes and other favourable facilites to avoid traffic snarl-ups. Another advatage for a preserved line is if it it rail connected to the main system. If the Llangollen line had pushed eastwards towards Ruabon, it might have benefited from passengers travelling to and from Chester. In model form, this is perfectly feasable! I've wandered of course a bit here but i thought it might be a useful bit of food for thought.....

Hello.... Wot are layout subjets?

Quantity isnt everything. We were living in a museum where time had stood still and pre-Beeching trains were indeed few and far between on many lines in steam days. Modernisation came in the form of newer coaches and BR built engines, followed by DMUs, but these were still real trains doing the jobs they'de done for almost 90 years, taking people to work, shopping and on holiday. Small wonder we went home fully inspired even by the quiet branchlines of the time. If a preserved brachline does it for you, then go for it!

That Black Five is looking really neat now, and proves the Hornby model isnt that far out, but needs attention to detail. I discovered that the single biggest improvement to the look of the 'Fives' is the fitting of Brassmaster cylinder drain cocks.

Every entry on here is a personal viewpoint, and mine is no exception. It looks to me like many layout owners cram far too much onto the baseboards so that one is looking at wall-to-wall products from Peco, Hornby, Bachmann, Corgi and Pocketbond. Owners have no problems running HSTs alongside steam and diesel trains in BR and other liveries, and to a certain extent they resemble preserved railways!

Someone mentioned that the minute we lose something we feel the need to recreate it in model form. Okay, but I suspect I'm not the person that modelled the railways I knew at the time they were still running! In fact it never stops. Many people model todays railways with bang up to date stock changes and liveries. The problem with a preserved line is it has about as much history and character as a fairground. You go back 10 years later and nothing has really changed much. Yes, its a good excuse to run whatever model takes your fancy, and maybe some people like this idea. Personally I wouldnt find much satisfaction without restraints, check and balances and historical research.....It's too easy. Larry

Why would anyone wish to model a Preserved lines when the lines themselves are now't but a 12inch to the foot trainsets. When preservationinsts first started touting for money to preserve this and that, they sold a vision to punters like me of trains continuing to run instead of dissapearing. Sure the trains continued to run , but they didn't look like anything that BR had been operating prior to closure and they certainly didn't fit the vision. First thing the older members did was got the locos repainted in pre-grouping liveries! Small wonder many people drifted into industrial railways and bus preservation in the 1960s.

Correct. Prior to the revisions it did used to leave the Junction around 2.30pm. I think you have chosen an interesting period. You must have studied this as things look as they should be on your model.