SP Steve

Not a 47 but I previously posted this image over in the "Prototype For Everything" thread showing buckeye coupling fitted 08.643 being hauled through Bristol Temple Meads by a HST power car:

The first such Soda Ash wagons were converted from LNER Diagram 186 13T all steel opens to their Diagram 215 (Dave Larkin provides a list of 34 randomly numbered vehicles). In BR days Shildon then produced 80 similar vehicles to Diagram 1/046 in 1952 to Lots 2369 / 2466 (B745500 - 579). Another 80 vehicles of the same diagram (B745580 - 659) to Lot 3000 were cancelled in August 1956 in favour of converting existing vehicles to Diagram 1/046 status. Wagons for conversion (Diagram 1/037 and Diagram 1/041) were predominately equipped with LNER style brake gear but a few came from erstwhile unfitted Diagram 1/041 types equipped with Morton brake gear (which no doubt had been upgraded to vacuum brake). Converted wagons kept their original running numbers with a list of them appearing in a data sheet by Dave Larkin. The list has 137 numbers of a random nature rather than being assigned to a block. One thought re: usage is could they have been used to transfer imported Soda Ash from the MSC docks to local soap producers? Trafford Park had a number of soap manufacturers.

I think that there were two separate instances for periods of loco hauled trains in the North West. In 1988 Liverpool - Cardiff workings were due to late delivery of 'Sprinter' units to Cardiff Canton and a similar non-availability of 'Pacers' saw some workings in the North West (including Manchester Victoria - Southport) turned over to loco hauled coaching stock. Images show a variety of blue and grey stock (mainly Mk2) in use but if the workings were short term then it would be unlikely they were allocated to a specific pool. Forward to May1991 and the North West 'Club' trains to Blackpool and Southport entered the frame. According to an article in the August 1996 edition of "Traction" coaching stock was composed of re-branded Mk2 stock in Regional Railways livery that operated in 5 car rakes. Newton Heath and Edge Hill are both mentioned in connection with ECS in the early days with Longsight coming into the picture towards the end of the workings.

Frank Dyer did a series of "Model Railway Operation" articles for Model Railway Journal, part two of which was titled "Layout Traffic Planning", appearing in MRJ No. 31 from 1989. There was also another article in "Modellers Backtrack" Vol 1 No 5 (Dec 1991 - Jan 1992) which was titled "Passenger trains and their operation" which provided a general survey of considerations from both prototypical and modelling standpoints. The September 1973 issue of "Model Railways" has an article by Martin Waters describing classification and operation of goods trains. Finally there was a book published by Silver Link Books under the title "The Living Model Railway: Developing, Operating and Enjoying Your Layout" written by Robert Powell Hendry (ISBN 978-1857940275).

Jim Smith Wright has picked up one thing I hadn't picked up on (mainly because I've ditched them) in that the two vertical "L" section stanchions for the tank cross heads have their vertical webs to the same side rather than on opposite sides: https://www.p4newstreet.com/good-old-fashioned-kit-bashing-with-a-spot-of-rtr-bashing-too.html I've checked against the RCH drawings in "Oil On The Rails" by Alan Coppin and they all show these to be made from "T" section steel rather than the "L" section used on the OR tank. This may account for the error in that when viewed from the side, part of the "T" section is hidden by its vertical web giving the impression of "L" section.

Not sure how small you want to go but the following items may be of some use: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jewellery-Circular-Round-Disc-Cutter-14-Hole-Punch-Set-Metal-Punching-3-16-mm/252866258025?hash=item3ae000e469:g:hHwAAOSwls5Y8N1H https://toolbug.co.uk/rotary-hole-punch-for-leather-working/ I have the second item and it can quite easily cut through thin brass sheet. When cutting plasticard the cut out pieces tend to stick inside the cutting head but they can easily be prodded through from behind.

Freightmaster Publishing did a series of "Class One" guides to loco hauled passenger services which give details of services passing through specific locations. Although aimed at loco hauled workings they do also include details of HST operated services. They list the loco hauled diagrams but unfortunately not those for HST so wouldn't specifically identify what set went where. You may also find some details on the Taunton Trains website: https://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/workingslog

The service only ran to Queen Street in 1989 and 1990 before being cut back to terminate at Edinburgh in 1991. The attached image is for the 1989 version which ran as the 09:50 Newquay - Glasgow Queen Street but the stopping pattern remained the same for 1990. Incidentally the Monday - Friday service ran as the "Cornishman" to Queen Street. Services to Queen Street from the West of England had a precedent in that in 1986 BR ran a M-F Taunton - Inverness service (Paignton - Inverness on Saturday) that went via Cumbernauld into Queen Street as part of a drive to open up tourist services to the highlands that did away with transferring from Central to Queen Street. This service had an Edinburgh portion removed at Carstairs before continuing north where it was stopped outside of Eastfield depot for a second loco to be attached to the rear of the train to draw the train into Queen Street. Here it was uncoupled and the train continued north with the original train loco at its head. Incidentally by-passing Birmingham was quite common for a number of the Summer Saturday 'Holidaymaker' workings.

Another point to watch for when numbering is that for the first three lots the 'W' irons have only the one small hole as per the kit whilst for the final three lots there are two. Lot 2682 DB992531 - 992590 1 Hole Lot 2683 DB992591 - 992650 1 Hole Lot 2775 DB992651 - 992710 1 Hole Lot 2929 DB993508 - 993566 2 Hole Lot 3039 DB983376 - 983576 2 Hole Lot 3331 DB983627 - 983896 2 Hole I've recently dug out my six Catfish kits so am looking on with interest.....

The 'final' issue No 247 covering the IET Class 800 - 10 types has made it onto the shelves of my local WH Smiths. Inside it carries more details of the new MLIPlus version which will be available in March - it would appear that it is to be more of a broader subject magazine with the first covering the following subjects: Western diesels through Devon Push Pull 47/7s in Scotland The Southern 'Deltic' Fleet; The 4REP Story Cornish China Clay Barrier & Translator Vehicles The Soller Railway Fitted or Unfitted, Air or Vacuum brakes 1st Generation 'Bubble' Cars The Forgotten GB Railfreight Fleet 'Through the Lens' Photography Section The write up states it will cater for railway modellers but I don't think in my case it will be a regular purchase.

Sorry for hijacking the thread but mention of the Westinghouse air brake prompts me to ask would it have been isolated in late BR days? Images of the preserved example seem to show that the Westinghouse cylinder is left in situ and is isolated from the braking system by the simple expedient of removing the link between it and the shaft to which is also attached the vacuum brake cylinder linkage. Would this have been a similar situation in BR days? Certainly some images such as the one shown earlier in the thread show Westinghouse cylinders still in place so would both air and vacuum brake systems be operative at this late stage of their lives or would they have been vacuum brake only with the link removed in a similar fashion to above?

All items now disposed of

I can get you as close as April 1972 if it's of any use - the following were all M-F services: 2V52 06:24 Weymouth - Bristol TM 2V52 16:05 Weymouth - Bristol TM 2V52 17:43 Weymouth - Bristol TM 4O10 05:05 Bristol TM - Salisbury Parcels 2B10 06:35 Westbury - Bristol TM 2B14 07:25 Westbury - Bristol TM

The Pink Pages I have dated October 1960 give the following instructions regarding conveyance of explosives: Maximum of five wagons per train with similar limit when unloading / loading Load of 16,000lb per van At least two vehicles (empty or conveying non-dangerous traffic) between loco and wagons conveying explosives, between wagons conveying explosives and guard's brake van and between each category of differing dangerous goods (except for radioactive substances which are not to be conveyed with explosives) GPVs to be securely padlocked both sides Geoff Plumb has a section on Cambrian Lines traffic with some views depicting GPV traffic from Penrhyndeudraeth which suggests that there may be four per train. https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/CambrianCoastLines/i-hj6Zk6t/A https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/CambrianCoastLines/i-vzzB45W/A https://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/CambrianCoastLines/i-vw8jgpB/A ICI Mond Division's Roburite Works utilised a number of 2' gauge 4wDM locos from Ruston Hornsby (mainly 20DL Class types) with no fewer than seven listed in "Industrial Locomotives 1979" by the IRS. The narrow gauge lines into Gathurst station were out of use by July 1981 with the viaduct over the River Douglas demolished the following year. 1989 saw rail shipment from Gathurst cease with all deliveries taken by road.

The one immediately behind the loco would appear to be a LNER Toad D (Diagrams 61 and some 158s). At 6.55 the film shows the buffers of both the loco and brake van and this features a flat steel plate rather than a hand rail / concrete weight with which the BR Standard brakes were equipped.

A solitary spotter pays his respects to the long line of withdrawn Deltics at BREL Doncaster, 29th January 1982.

It's 4mm scale but sometimes I wish I model in 7mm....

My layout plans dictated a requirement for a telephone box so I've had a go at the Shire Scenes etched brass kit (S45) which builds into the iconic K6 variant. I decided to solder up the components but for anyone attempting the same then it's important to clean the brass to get rid of the applied lacquer coating. The main body is a four sided etch with two tabs holding each side apart which means when folded up you have a very long gap at each corner. To get around this I made each fold one at a time then used pieces of 0.45mm brass wire as infill before filing them down. The door is a separate component but I'll need to glaze the box before finally fitting it into place. The roof box comprises of a central square with a large hole in it surrounded by four curved sides which fold up - the large hole is for installing an LED should one wish to illuminate the interior but it then makes it impossible to solder the base and roof together from inside so I filed the hole away. The other issue when joining the two is that the roof section fits telescopically into the base but doesn't not have any means of setting it to the required depth so it can slide out of position very easily. The box roof is a white metal casting but getting it to sit without gaps underneath was impossible so I elected to form one from brass sheet and this was much easier in avoiding unsightly gaps. The etch has some small parts for folding up into the shelves and a printed set of back panels which carry various framed notices - as supplied they are more relevant for a 1940, / 50s style handset so out came the plasticard to knock up a rendition of a K6 interior more relevant to the early 1960s.

My pencil of choice for chalk markings are Derwent Studio types - No 1 Zinc Yellow, No 70 French Grey, No 71 Silver Grey and No 72 Chinese White. No doubt there are a multitude of suitable artist pencils but one item I'd recommend is a decent sharpener to help achieve nice thin markings (mine is a Kum Automatic AS2M Long Point sharpener, part number 1053121). The magazine article you were thinking of may be the one by Pete Johnson which appeared in MRJ 2004 with another by Paul Jarman in the same issue.

Hi Andrew, according to information in "British Railway Wagons - Their Loads and Loading" by Grant & Taylor, the use of chains on the outside of the wagon for fastening down large loads could extend the loading gauge by 3" either side which would make for a scale 1mm wide link and, by measuring the drawing of the secured load you posted, the length of each link would be 6" or 2mm in length. I measured the width of the bolster wagon I used in my earlier image and it comes in at 31mm so for 24 links to cross side to side each link would need to be 1.3mm and for 30 links then the length would be 1mm or so. If you then use these figures you get a lpi of 19.5 for 24 links and 24.5 lpi for 30 links. The issue I found was that all you get as a guide is the links per inch (lpi) figure but this doesn't give any indication of the width for each link - indeed as you say a lot of chains are round rather than oval so the 19.5 lpi chain is correct in width but too wide and the 24.5 lpi chain would be correct in with but not length. Unfortunately I couldn't find any scale chain with 1 x 2mm links, the nearest I could find match wise was again from the world of model boats - made by a company called aero-naut part number 5627/04, each link is approx 1mm wide by 1.3mm long. I've taken a picture of it draped across the BBA wagon and by a rough count there are approx 24 links. I sourced this from: https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/aeronaut-chain.html By the way on the loading drawing you posted earlier it would appear that the first link attached to the D shackle is larger than the rest of the chain links.

For chains I use Caldercraft solid link brass chain at 42 links per inch which for me looks right and being solid link is not prone to links coming apart when stretched. I buy mine online from Ship Wright Shop: http://www.shipwrightshop.com/shop/contents/en-uk/d356_Chain.html (The above is also a good source of thread for depicting ropes!) I contacted Peco on the matter of supplying spare sprues and they are happy to do so. The person in charge of spares is Andrew Beard and he is quite happy to be contacted directly if anyone requires spares - I did specifically ask if it was OK to post the following telephone contact details and Andrew is fine about me doing so. Tel: 01297 626204 ext 261 Only complete sprues are available and there may be a wait for a particular batch to be manufactured if none are to hand immediately.

There are similar liveried vehicles in Dave Larkin's "Non-Pool Freight Stock 1948 - 1968 Volume 2" book which carry "Prodotti Agricoli / Agricultural Produce" lettering with the anchor symbol appearing just below the left hand ventilation opening which you can just about make out on the first vehicle. One thing that came to mind as a possible traffic was leather hides for tanning? This required a plentiful supply of water and treatment plants were sited away from built up areas so may be a contender. Another possibility is the fact that there was a large fair held in May (the Cowslip Fair) which was an important event for the areas agricultural industry. Could be the two wagons had brought in produce in connection with it.

Just to prove that units can garner some fame, 506 002 at Manchester with the blurred outline of 506 004 backing down to form the last ever 506 operated passenger service to Hadfield 07/12/84

As a diversion from lock down, I've begun to catalogue my negatives and found this amongst them. In this instance what gathered my attention was the sheer physical presence of the Bath Road over bridge as seen in low winter sunshine (I think the 33 with stock behind is 33.205). I don't suppose the Bristol skyline beyond exists in this form anymore....

Where do you want it? Driver of 03.066 in conversation with shed staff at Gateshead depot 15/04/83 Plenty of onlookers at Weston-super-Mare taking in the sight of 4930 'Hagley Hall' and 7819 'Hinton Manor' with the "Great Western Limited" rail tour which ran April 1985.