Bob Reid

First published for Awdry in 1945 apparently...

Do shout up directly if in the future if it is related to the Mk1 based derivatives Clive. I might have the right or nearest drawing that could help you. Amongst the several hundred I have there are the odd EMU one's though usually for the SR based stock.... Bob

Yes it is Clive, but no doubt you (with ER EMU's ) or like myself with Mk1 carriages, have to decide where all the research and achieving that higher level of accuracy stops and I have to start doing some modelling. For some that's not an easy decision, for me its not the end of the world. Bob

In simple terms, study of the past surely. Where however that can go wrong in railway modelling is the reliance on single sources whether it's a published work, engineering drawings, photo's, including these days those from the Internet or even going direct to the NRM or the archives at Kew. Without multiple sources and reference to original records, it is difficult to put a lot of what you think you see into context and apply it to your modelling. Sometimes that's impossible perhaps due to the length of time that's elapsed or the plain fact that the why's and wherefore's were just never recorded. Relying on so-called experts in their field even the renowned one's and those that were around at the time isn't a guarantee of accuracy, but at least it's a good place to start. Just how far you want to take and use the information provided is entirely a matter of personal choice. One man's inaccurate steam collector / dome is another's accurate enough representation. We all have to decide where those details sit in our modelling. Bob.

Capping plates or iron's were (as opposed to a brickies 'coping') to cover welded or in the case of carriages, screwed joints - more a decorative thing to hide exposed edges they were often used though to better seal a plate joint. Bob.

Patience? what patience - my god not another age infliction I'll have to go the Doc about The old colour perception thing of course comes in to play - what it really was 40 years ago doesn't always square with what we think we remember 40 years on, but you have to add in the problem of the original source. This was a then newish Olympus OM10 and using Kodak 100ASA film which in reality wasn't really suitable for an early evening shot in the p'ing rain with an overcast sky. Still, with good old Photoshop (cc) you can make a decent stab at correcting it. This is what the scanner gave me from a print ; which is as dark and dank looking as it was.... Scanning from a negative with no deterioration is usually better but doesn't always work for some odd reason and on this one gave me nothing but noise with the amount of lightening and cleaning up that was needed. p.s. The ghostly black shadow across the buffer beam is some of the ash that was quickly doing its level best to burn the door.... Bob.

It's not brown at all... There's no varnish, it was modern synthetic Black enamel even in the late 70s when first painted. Any tinge no matter where you think it is, is down purely to the 40 year old photo it was scanned from. Bob

Required listening for me as a child was Radio's Light Programme (well that's what it said on mum & dad's Bush - no sniggering in the back there) the somewhat RTR programme, The Clitheroe Kid. Ironically I can still do that now and then courtesy of a (DAB) Bush Radio that looks the same and plays Radio 4 extra. Great for when I do take time to actually do some modelling. Bob

And here's the tender the previous night - and it's still err..... Black Carlisle Upperby 1980 - © Bob Reid Bob [Edit] p.s. that's not a brown tinge, but just my poor 40 year-old photo and post-processing after it was scanned.

It was black (not grey/blue/pink with yellow spots, orange etc.) The whole lot was painted with T&R Williamson's Black enamel - about as black as black is - it is a bit of a fantasy to think otherwise. The whole lot inc the smokebox, and the Tender was painted with the same paint. What does make the difference in appearance is the level of gloss (which is where I'd have preferred the model to have been better) Maude was relatively freshly painted and was cleaned after every outing so changed little over that first few years of its restoration. Every time it was taken out on the main line especially it would come back with soot deposits on the top of the smokebox and boiler - typical of any soot lining the tubes getting carried out with the blast from the chimney when the regulator was opened up. Anyway, how much more or less black do you want? Hornby did a fine job of the model and certainly fits with my first hand experience of it, albeit 40 years on. Carlisle Upperby 1980 - © Bob Reid I really should have got that dustcoat taken up a bit Bob.

Everything got removed David - the two holes in the roof left behind on the outside were plated over - some just butted on and welded and some fitted flush with the rest of the roof panel and the welds ground flush so you could barely see them. The inside got that section of roof panel replaced. Bob.

You can do a direct comparison Mike as that was the drawing for a BSK (that said all of those with the separate Guards Compartment were that arrangement anyway) - Unless they've been removed, the most likely think to still exist, are the small shelf just above the floor and/or the two small commode handles up near the roof - a lot of the time despite successive overhauls, they just got quietly forgotten about. Bob

It was the traditional way to represent glass in an illustrative drawing - we were still doing it when I started in the early 70s (I'm not quite as old as that drawing though - it's got seven years on me) Bob.

Here you go Spikey - two part drawings that'll let you see what the arrangement was on all Mark 1's - basically two pivoting exposed mirrors with an (Arens) mechanism in between that allowed you to adjust the mirror angles slightly. The top mirror, like the bottom, was exposed so in. theory the guard could clean them - hence the two handles for him to hang onto up near the roof - but what he couldn't do was clean the outside protective glass on the top housing - and that's where more of the problems lay - especially when running behind steam. I've tried to highlight in red, the main components. Once they persuaded the Guards Union's that they were not needed it all got removed. Captain Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock....

Next time you are on a Guard turn in a Mk1 Brake, have a look on the partitions either side of you - they often left the narrow boards behind that the periscope mirror mechanism was screwed to that ran from about the height of the pie heater (nee' Food Warmer) rather than removing it (they had once been painted matt black to avoid light reflections on the mirror above). Failing that a lot of them have steel patches butted onto the outside of the roof panels covering the holes where the mirror housings once were.

All of the Mk1 Brake Vehicles had them fitted originally but after the constant problems they had with them - Jamming, keeping them clean etc. they were removed from all but those allocated to the Southern Region, and had been completed over December '63 and January '64. The Southern never quite had the same problems and some were still noted as being operational in the late 80s... Bob

You can hardly blame Hornby for you buying a DCC fitted loco for use on a DC layout with a Relco or similar attached, especially when you know what it does to them! Buy the DCC Ready version or replace the decoder with a blanking plate as I suggested.

In the case of Hornby's DCC fitted loco's (sound or otherwise) you certainly should. The instructions will tell you they should operate on DC or DCC except it would appear that someone forgot to tell the factory. The J36 I bought had exactly the same problem so preferring to run them in on DC before using them on DCC, I was surprised to find it didn't do exactly as it said on the tin. One of the DCC variables has been incorrectly set. CV29 will have been set at 2 (as it was on the J36) or a number other than the correct number 6. To change it you either need someone with a DCC controller to set CV29 to 6 or replace the Decoder with a blanking plate. Bob

I know there's no comparison to 240v / 13A but its the sort of bodge that makes you think of the old 30A Baco-Foil fuse in the cooker trick

Doesn't come with it - it's supplied as a Hornby Spare though - available from Peter's Spares circa £3.00 - it seems to be Hornby's Standard plug - X9084R, though it might be worth checking with them.

Just disconnect the decoder plug and fit a banking plate Mick as ADB did above. If you want to keep the decoder in place and functional you'll have to speak to a friend with a DCC controller (any one, not just the prodigy one used) and just change CV29.

Same here - it looks like the default for CV29 of 6 has been set incorrectly to 2. Changing to 6 had the same effect on mine, working in both modes.... I did find the volume level from the factory to be over the top and setting the overall volume level using CV182 set to 1 does reduce it a bit but the other sounds may still need playing about for the desired level. Bob [Just to add, if I have but one criticism of it - the exhaust beat at slow speed on first setting it in motion has a curious echo to each beat but a great loco otherwise (your chuffs may vary) ]

You would be better asking Hornby that one to be one the safe side unless someone else has done it before.

So does Hornby's warranty folk...

The sound won't work as noted earlier, but DC operation should - well according to Hornby it should.