coachmann

Typical of country stations along the Welsh borders, Carrog station is in isolation from the community and despite the glorious weather, no one it seems is taking advantage of this 1958 summer-extra from Chester to Bala Lake...

Upper deck rear emergency windows on Leyland bodies are an interesting subject. The Leyland 6- bay design for Stockport had a single wide window. A narrower window was optional, as was a wide window with a bar down the middle.The 5-bay body aupplied to Stockport had a less wide window along the lines of post-war Crossley bodies. The later rounded rear dome Leyland body as supplied to Stockport had a split wide window. Leyland drawings show the narrower single window, but obviously, buyers were given choices.

Above all, manufacturers go where the money is, and like it or not, it has never been in the North East, Scotland and North Wales. I expect a lot of it is to do with poor wages. On a personal note, I would find any excuse for running a RTR NER Atlantic, D20 4-4-0 or B16 4-6-0, so I am most certainly not down on the North Eastern Ryl. I think we have gone through the 'normal everyday black loco' heatwave and are now into the 'pre-group colorful wow loco' fanboy stuff. So on present trends, I would expect to see Aerolite before something useful like a B16. Still, you never know....

"Diameter Car' made my morning, as did the post describing at length the actual packaging.... I'm off now as I am expected back on Planet Earth...

Fer them as likes stuff oop north, here's a Stockport Corporation TD4c, the 'c' standing for torque convertor, which in later years was removed. These buses carried the new Colin Bailey designed 5-bay body. He had been recruited to sort out the problems Leyland had been experiencing following the changeover from wooden-framed bodywork to metal of which the 6-bay body had been the first example. These bodies had a more upright rear dome than later bodies. Pictured crossing Mersey Square, Stockport in the early 1950's. I created these colour images originally for use in 'Classic Bus' some 15 years years ago. They were overseen by Mike Ayres who disputed the colour of the wings, which he considered should be brown. No preserved Stockport buses carry brown wings....

They are Hornby models on which I resprayed the bottom half a lighter 'blood'. As from 5pm today, the GWR livery coach is now a useful layout coach in BR maroon....

Sure..... A round tail file almost 3mm diameter was used....

Something a little more modern(!) again from Bury, Lancs.... A Leyland TD5 with the well-known pre-war Northern Counties body. I seem to remember the NC bodies supplied to SHMD has moquette on the ceiling downstairs. Copyright Larry Goddard

I wonder if in bus terms this livery would be regarded as a 'semi' (semi streamlined)... This batch of eight AEC Regent I's were delivered to Bury Corporation in 1933 and originally had front doorway and staircase in addition to the conventional rear platform and stairs. The front staircase was to the left of the driver over the bonnet! The upper deck had the usual Vee-fronted body style, but these bodies are believed to be unique in not having an overhanging roof. Green and cream was adopted after the war and these buses were rebuilt, deleting the front staircase, in 1945. They remained in service until around 1950.... Image created by Larry Goddard. Copyright.

Thanks to you lot (he he), I've been busy all afternoon with guards whistles and rail notching! I found that filing half round notches in rails whether at rail joints or inbetween produced the same results. Clickety-click is there but it can barely be heard above the DCC sound. Prototype rail lengths are immaterial in 4mm. On real railways we hear the nearest clickety-click and the ones further down the track, but too many rail notches on a layout will produce a cacophony of clicks that will cancel themselves out and be annoying. Guards whistle has been allocated to F-key #7 on everyone of my locos today. On the LH90 handset, I have to use shift key + F-Key #3 to activate Key#7.

I like those seats. Quite amazing detail for 4mm scale and I can see the reason for the price. The crude-by-comparison die-cast buses were creeping up in price anyway. To my mind, speaking as a one time pro builder of bus kits back in the very early 1970's, the bus market was always spoon-fed and always too cheap. One bus kit manufacturer admitted to me in later years he released his first kits at far too low a price, after which the bus hobby expected low prices from everyone. The actual whitemetal casting and fettling and packing of bus kits eventually delivered little return. While the Rapido bus is not an off-the-shelf body design that would lend itself to repainting to numerous other operators liveries, as a Birmingham Corporation bus supplied to Birmingham's specification, it looks to be truly outstanding and I wish it every success.

Thanks. The line runs out onto another 3ft radius loop that takes the line around to the fiddle yard. The non-station end is still incomplete as far as scenic's go. It used to be called 'Loo-brush corner' because of the shape of the trees, but they have now gaw'n...

The run into Carrog landscape changed today with the removal of all the old inappropriate three-bar wooden fencing and an attempt to create the illusion of an embankment where there is none. Meanwhile, a train on the down for a change..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYhBJPQakaM&feature=youtu.be

Oxford Rail Dean Goods (twin-flywheel chassis) No. 2538 runs wrong line through the loop with an Up goods for Ruabon. The driver toots on the whistle to let the guard know that he is about to open up after exchanging single line tokens with the signalman...

Some more buses from the Manchester area starting with an SHMD Joint Board Daimler COG6 with Northern Counties body resplendent in the pre-war streamline livery. This livery was abandoned in the early 1940's, nevertheless the proud Board repainted its wartime Daimler's from wartime grey to dark green & cream livery despite the conflict. These COG6's were always my favorites and I was pleased to find a model is to be produced in 4mm scale albeit on AEC or Leyland chassis....

Wearing both hats as a carriage enthusiast and producer, I really ought to have one of these smashing models. But it would either reside on the shelf along with large buses and a Duchess, or become a camping coach at Carrog...........Joke.

I use the roughest grade in the box in order to cut through the cork as speedily as possible. While super-elevation adds immensely to the realism of trackwork, I would say this: Greater care is needed under points. When recently relaying model Carrog with Peco Code 100, I retained the original super-elevated trackbed between the platforms and on the embankment but, beyond the platforms and under the points, I started afresh with new 1/8" cork and made no attempt to add cant. This was because I was so fed up with trying to get a smooth run through the points into the loop and sidings using super-elevation. It has to be born in mind that track deviating from a super-elevated point is either diving into the ground or departing skyward, and so some compensation has to be added beyond the point. This applies to real track of course, but real locos and stock have spings that absorb track abnormalities whereas our models are un-sprung and so tend to bob about most unrealistically on track that isn't perfectly level.

This is what I am thinking too. It looks like the throat has been remodeled since 1996, although it could be an illusion. I walked almost the whole line for six years, but our photographic trackside passes were withdrawn when the line was extended beyond Glydyfrdwy and so there has been little opportunity to walk out to the points and have a good shufty....

Yesterday, I came across some video I shot in 1996 just after the extension to Carrog opened (note the lack of signalling). Filmed from the cab of a Class 47 from Carrog to Glyndyfrdwy, this 'still' from the film shows was the open look of the area just outside the station..... I have removed the trackside fencing (it was not GWR style anyway), which helps the scene I think. ... It will be seen that the real points provide a smooth run into the Down platform whereas trains take a right turn off the 'main' into the up platform. I reversed this on the model and put the kink in the down loop because I wanted a smooth passage for trains leaving and entering the Up platform.

Datsun's rust bucket reputation caused the re-brand to Nissan, or at least that is what we assumed in the day.

Pathing a 47XX back to Ruabon to save a light engine movement...

Sweeping Statement alert.....

I wonder if spear fencing was a proprietary product seeing as it was also commonplace on the LNWR. It is still extant in places along the North Wales mainline. It appeared to have been painted with a thick tar type paint to protect the metal. Black seems to have been the most favoured 'colour' on ex. GWR stations.

To my LMS/GWR eyes, the North Eastern Railway had some great designs. The large wheel 4-4-0's such as the D20 and the M in the NRM are about as beautiful as they come. The NER Atlantics too were the best and a lot less ungainly than anyone else's 4-4-2's. But like many things, they are unlikely to be produced in mass by the RTR companies......and for good reason.

I have just flipped through five colour albums and cream painted metal spear fencing looks to be quite rare. However, there did seem to be a higher incidence of it in South Wales. The mic picks up treble far better than bass tones, which is why it sounds more like an Austerity 2-8-0. It will be reduced in the morning to restore some GWR dignity ha ha...