Bob Reid

A mystic meg moment Craig! see this post...... Problem for me though is a lack of photo's of W325 for proof that it retained full length gutters or had the rather short over-the-door versions. I don't however remember them with quite so prominent rivets as Hornby has them represented though a fairly easy fix no doubt.

No need to beat yourself up about it Dave, you probably only had 1/2 a mile to go there from the house anyway it's a BG or two you'll be after

And the reason they (and the other traders) would do it for this one specific item is? And curiously the "official" Hornby list kindly provided by the previous poster states it's out there now...... Don't tell me Bernard, it's a conspiracy of lies

Cheers Mike. 325 was the last vehicle I worked on before being voluntarily absorbed into the regional HQ "collective" in 1979, so it's a long time a coming and I'm looking forward to it. I still have it's (oddly enough) S[W]R branded emergency oil lamp that we were replacing with BR ones!

Any word on when the BGs are due to arrive on these fair shores? (I've a pot of Rail Blue and gangway removal tool at the ready) Oops missed Mikes earlier post

A bit of trader jealousy perhaps? "More than 10 in Stock" for that one model, and for what reason would Hattons lie?

Out of interest locoshed what records were they and covering what timetable?

Thanks Boogaloo - wish it was bigger, as it'll soon become crowded enough as it is - and that'll be without any vehicles in place! Bob

Is that a Griddle Car or three Dave? I fitted a vent-axia roof extractor fan to 1106 and replaced bodylights in the part restored 1100 for the NRM, so I'll need two at least - oh and were you not looking for one to go with the 439 class .... Bob

Thanks Graham - No doubt you found the space an issue even with Kirkhill at 24ft long. No I'm happy in the knowledge that this first 5ft x 2ft board is underway and whatever comes after it and gets tacked onto the end is a good time away! Motive Power for moving the vehicles about within the carriage shops was entirely down to the two traverser mounted electric winches and the ground mounted capstans - they were surprisingly powerful if a little hairy in operation! As to modelling them, I was hoping to avoid the 'hand-of-God' attaching cables for winches, so there'll need to be a couple of powered Mark 1s! and the like for moving about. Vehicles were also shoved into the shops and hauled back out again at the entrance/exit roads using a Unilok shunter (see here) - a feeble looking thing, but quite capable nonetheless. The German built shunters (now produced in Ireland) were heavily ballasted and operated single ended - when the driver wanted to swap ends he lowered a central jack raising the vehicle off the ground, got out and turned it round by hand. When they needed it out they way they just lowered the road wheels and drove it off! Bob

Works started at last in firming up the baseboard. The trackwork is "customised" Peco Code 75 - customised by having the outer edges of the sleepers cut back to the edge of the chairs. All of the rails within the carriage shops were flush and level with the road surfaces necessitating in the case of the model, bringing the level of the baseboard up to the that of the rail. This was done by using a layer of 3.5mm cork, followed by a layer/s of fine surface filler. Cutting back the chairs allowed the cork to be brought within a few mill of the rail edge and reducing the amount of filler required to bridge the gap. The four foot was filled using strips of card. Prior to the trackwork being laid, all of the (Peco) pits were installed on both sides of the traverser. The traverser pit itself was framed in 10mm x 10mm 'L' section aluminium strip - mainly to ensure that the long edges of the pit remain parallel to each other. Final after the trackwork was laid, droppers for power were installed on each road (though these have not been covered over at this stage) Also positioned were the main roof pillars. These are to be constructed using brass sections with some yet to be made resin tops however in the interim to make laying out of the structures etc. temporary plastic tubes have been slotted into the baseboard holes.Also added (in the form of a thin plywood box)! is the presently undecorated lift shaft. Glasgow Works had a huge expanse of underground storage, built below the carriage & carriage list shops; During the late 60s modernisation of the works, lifts were added for bringing the materials up to where they were needed, the one being modelled of course was located in the carriage shop. Finally a view with some stock in place! Problem now for me is resisting the urge to both lengthen and widen the boards. Oh for another 2m! Bob. (p.s. No prizes for spotting the Diag 97 RMB.....)!

Here's a good picture of the blue moquette Brian.....Albeit on an open coach however same material - only difference is side trim panels were often trimmed in a single colour moquette (the darker of the two blues on the seat and back trim). Or here, the grey Trojan moquette (bottom of the page) with grey trim panels. Lovely coach though!

Tartan paints easy - we've got it by the tourist coach load up here http://www.rmweb.co....bso-seats-1jpg/ What period is the BSK to represent Brian? - after the mid 70s just about everything on the blue/grey stock, if it wasn't getting that grey Trojan moquette, it was getting covered in that blue/green check!

Yes and No Craig The Mark 1 CK, BCK, TK/SK, BTK/BSK all were each produced in two basic types with different diagrams. The first (numerically) was for vehicles fitted with folding armrests, and the second, with no armrests at all. In the case of the BSK that Brian is building Diag 181 Could seat 24 (3 a side) with the armrests down. The Diag 182 vehicles, without armrests at all could seat 32 (4 a side). The only seat moulding that JLTRT produce Brian, as you've found out, represent those on the fixed armrest first class vehicles. As far as the original fiitment of the bardic type glazing frames, if you keep the number of the coach between 34000 and the last vehicle built in the 1958 build year - 35273, then barring a photo of later works modification, no one can argue it didn't run without them! Back (no pun intended) to the seats, if you're doing it without armrests at all, you can choose from 34290-34315, 34613-34654, 34749-34930, 35024-35038 which were all originally Diag 182 vehicles allocated to either the Western or Southern Regions (the LM, ER & ScR) originally choosing just Diagram 181 vehicles.

I hoping to get a higher resolution copy of that picture Bernard that'll maybe answer the question!

Interesting point Bernard, I hadn't noticed the lack of any lining. All of the E&G & other Mark IIs cascaded to the ScR were ex-LM in the 70s. I'm not sure though it isn't just a Mark 1 FK, either way the lack of any obvious lining is an oddity when compared to the Maroon Mk1 to it's left where you can clearly see small sections of the lining. I'll have to have a look at any ex-Southern Mk1 FKs transferred. Bob.

Work progresses slowly on the main baseboard, with the track cut to (rough) size - waiting a decision on the traverser! All of the baseboard surrounding the track and pits has been raised to (almost) rail level using 3.5mm cork. Pictures later in the week once I've more "features" to point out however in the interim; The following couple of photographs were obtained from the original photographer (with thanks to Mr Barr) and were of particular interest to me having been taken around my time there - if perhaps a little earlier; This first one shows the carriage shop taken from the rear of the area that I'm modelling, looking towards the Carriage Lift shop in the distance (keen observers will spot the E&G DMU vehicle I'm sure) - probably taken about 1972 ; This second shows the Paint Shop Traverser (incorrectly labelled on the original photograph) and although I'm not modelling this one, I've included it show some of the production processes. Bob

At the moment Tony there's no intention to have the hoist able to lift vehicles however it'll all depend on how well I get on with the basic traverser - would make a nice touch though! Bob.

It's amazing what you can do with 16 x 2mm scale driving wheels - at least it'll need to be If it can fit in and work as I would hope (can you set the spacing between adjacent tracks to whatever you like or is it fixed?) then the best approach would be modifying the Heljan traverser however it's a bit on the big side..... Bob.

In one of the previous entries to the blog, a question arose about the somewhat unique lifting traverser (most are for "traversing" sideways! only) that was installed between the Carriage and Carriage Lift shop at Glasgow Works. Pictures of it do not appear too often however having first run this past Andy.Y these images were taken from old BREL Glasgow Works pamphlets. There were three traversers in the Caley, one outside of the carriage shop, one within the paint shop and this, the only one inside the main workshops. The difference with this particular one, built by John Boyd Ltd of Annan, was that it was a lifting traverser equipped with two lifting frames complete with four electric driven hoists at each end (the frames containing each pair of hoists were adjustable along fixed rails according to the length of vehicle). In total the lifting capacity was 70 Tons and far in excess of the heaviest vehicles they encountered. Vehicles being brought onto the traverser were drawn down from the main (No.1) entrance road by an electric winch using a long steel rope. The winches can be seen on the deck of the traverser at the nearest end of the coach. Once on the traverser the vehicle was disconnected from its bogies allowing them to be run out from below and taken for overhaul. The bogies were then replaced with higher than normal ‘service bogies’ (putting the underframe about five feet above the ground). The service bogies can be seen under the vehicle on the traverser and a spare is seen sitting to the left of it. Once the service bogies were in place, the traverser was moved to the next free road in the Carriage Lift shop and the vehicle drawn off the traverser by running the steel winch cable out and around the nearest capstan and back onto the vehicle. Note the large beam above the traverser in the photo is not part of the traverser itself. When it was installed, to gain enough space for the traverser pit, the old Caledonian Railway cast iron roof columns had to be cut away and these beams used (along with additional end columns) to provide the necessay roof support. This shot of the other side of the traverser shows the console on which the operator sat and controlled it. Needless to say he supported Scotland! Modelling the traverser should be interesting to say the least. Perhaps the easiest way would be to modify the Heljan unit and add the lifting frame to it. Whether or not I’ll try and make the hoists work is a bit of an unknown at this stage! Bob

As you say Jamie, Cowlairs was the ex-E&G. NB, then LNER Works and St.Rollox ("the Caley") having been ex CR, then LM&SR. Both were taken over by BR at Nationalisation - Cowlairs with 2,475 staff and St.Rollox with 3,382. For a long while (till the early 60s) the work allocation stayed much along the old pre-nationalisation lines with Cowlairs dealing with the LNE Group vehicles and St.Rollox, the ex-LMS group. Both works dealt with the newer rolling stock built under BR. It was changed in 1964-1966 with the rationalisation of all BR Workshops and after massive redundancies (around 3500 remained at or were transferred to St.Rollox) Cowlairs closed finally in 1968. St.Rollox was transferred as a wholly owned subsudiary of BR to British Rail Engineering Ltd in 1970 (When it got it's BREL Glasgow Works name). Although for coaching stock the workload was primarily for the Scottish Region, vehicles were from time to time also repaired for the London Midland and occasionally the Eastern Regions (though I did work on at least one Western Region vehicle). Bob

Tony, I'll try and find a reference photo later that'll maybe put it into some kind of context however the lifting traverser (which was adjacent to the carriage lift shop near the Springburn Road main entrance) was a conventional single vehicle traverser, but unusually equipped with a permanent lifting frame and electric motored jacks on the traverser itself. Vehicles could therefore be lifted on the traverser to remove or replace the bogies, rather than moving individual sets of portable jacks about from one lift road to the other. Bob

Cheers Dave. I'm hoping to push it on a bit further this week - holidays are great things!

There's plenty of photographs of Glasgow Works / St.Rollox but usually involving locomotives and rarely of Loco-Hauled Stock, NPCCS, DMU's or EMU's in the Carriage Shops.... One person who did take some however was Brian Daniels to whom I'm grateful for allowing me the use of these shots; View looking East to the end of No.6 Road in the carriage shop - usual Met-Camm in for a bit of bodywork and one of the many to get the rainwater strip removed and replaced with full length aluminium alloy gutters under the refurbishment programme. The platforms were not usually that untidy - doubt the labourers were having an off day. Each carriage shop platform road could accommodate up to two 70ft+ vehicles accessible on both sides. This EMU is sitting at the opposite end of one of the roads to the DMU shown above. This class 303 vehicle is sitting at the opposite end of the carriage shop within the works on the approach to the traverser. Of particular interest in the foreground is a brake test trolley which enabled the operation of the vehicles brakes to be tested as if from a loco, but using the works static air supply. Also note in the bottom right of the photo. one of the capstans for pulling vehicles off the traverser using a long steel rope and winch - held on to the vehicle by a steel hook and a lot of willpower! If anyone else has photo's of the carriage and carriage lift shop, I'd much appreciate seeing them!