Penrhos1920

12 hours ago, RapidoCorbs said:

Who will be the first to carve theirs up to make this oddity?

 

I've not found out the reason for some vans having this arrangement but I can confirm it is incredibly annoying when they show up in photos and you realise you can't use the running number.

 

The frame was built on a Friday afternoon?

My father has recalled a time when he was young in a signal box.  2 panniers arrived at the home signal outside the box, uncoupled and running separately.  After the signalman set the road, Dad was told to pull off the signal, once the first pannier has moved off he returned the signal lever and a minute or so later he was told to pull it off again and once the 2nd pannier had left return the lever and then give 2-1 to the box down the line.

I wonder if Rapido will start selling them unpainted?  At a good discount.  They would be great for applying my own liveries.

I’ve had a look at the previous archived topic of this title and online.  Was there a specific bell code for 2 or more light engines not coupled together?

My son has done 2 test prints of the end of one of the viaduct piers.  The blue one is with a 0.2mm nozzle, the other is 0.4mm.  The 0.2 looks better but I’m reserving final judgment until I’ve painted them.

Yesterday I had a day out at the NRM archives.  I had reserved several rolls of drawings from Swindon C&W. I had a successful day looking at drawings of GWR Crocodiles loaded with buoys from the factory at Pontypridd that would have travelled via Penrhos, drawings of the wagons themselves and drawings of the coaches built by the GWR specifically for the Cardiff valleys.  

Whilst having lunch I saw this signal post.  The somersault arms could easily have been from the valleys.   Does the finial tell someone what line this was from?  I’m puzzled by the arrangement of the counterweights.  Why are there 3?  

On 08/03/2024 at 17:51, 57xx said:

 

Indeed it is not the browser's fault. The www subdomain should really have a redirect on it to the TLD to help out where people don't realise that some sites are now abandoning older conventions. 

Do I need to ask my host company (namesco) to tell me how to redirect the www subdomain to the TLD?  Or is it really easy?

 Is the smokebox door a separate piece or is it integral with the boiler moulding?    I have a BR version that I want to backdate to GWR. 

Well my railmotor has finally arrived. It runs flawlessly backwards, forwards, with sound, up and down the hills and around the curves.  its brilliant. Except there’s a rattle.   Clearly, somewhere inside,  there is a piece that is moving around and I damned if I can find it. So what do I do?   Send it back or keep it?

It probably doesn’t matter what I do with it because it’s scheduled to become Barry Railway steam rail motor number one. And that requires cutting 10 foot out of the middle of it, changing one of the bogies and changing the roof.   Not a small job but then again not a big job either.

The question is will I be the first to do a cut and shut on this lovely thing.? 

On 29/02/2024 at 20:55, chuffinghell said:

just had a look on @railtec-models’s website. Is it these?

 

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3397

 

these?

 

Yes the first one.

On 26/02/2024 at 10:27, Star-rider said:

Nice to see your carriage builds still coming along Neal.

 

Can I ask what you do (if anything) about the window bars / grills in brake coaches?

 

I bought a couple of the Brassmasters ex Martin Finney etches from an exhibition a couple of years ago but have exhausted my stock now.

 

These were described as "GWR brake van window grills" so were probably intended for a Toad rather than a coach, but something seemed better than nothing.

 

https://brassmasters.co.uk/images/Finney castings/E7.jpg

 

I understand that Brassmasters are exhibition sales only now, so I've no idea if I would be able to replenish.

 

A bonus question for an extra point - any idea what colour these window bars would have been painted in the 1930's?

 

 

I think I bought my most recent window grills from RailTec.  But I can’t find them on their website.

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

So already you have created the right associations.

 

And if I understand correctly we will also be seeing this: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/penrhos-junction-161106 ?

 

 

Definitely.  That will be the other scenic break.  My son is currently printing the first of the viaduct piers.

Yeah the kits for the 2 scenic boards have arrived and this is a dry run of building the first board

Are Lokcommander decoders any good?  I can’t find much about them.

5 hours ago, Footy said:

Do you have the Railtec reference for those set numbers?  Can't find them on their website.  Thanks in anticipation.

they are custom transfers that they sell for brakevan allocations.  They also suit coach allocations for the ends to replace the Birmingham division 43.  You can even make up your own like Tondu No.2 but don’t tell @The Johnster

On 18/02/2024 at 23:48, The Johnster said:

Good enough for me, Penrhos; you wouldn’t know any ofthe running numbers, by any chance, would you?   Was the set with 9’ bogies of 57’ length?

 

Cardiff set 26

D91. 4678 4679

E125.  6692 6693

Cardiff set 27

D98.  4977 4978

E131.  6387 6388

Personally I've given up renumbering coaches as the numbers are so small and I cannot read them except with a magnifying glass. RailTec have supplied me the transfers for the ends which I can read.

On 17/02/2024 at 22:58, The Johnster said:

The same principle can and should be applied to coaching stock, where the main anomaly at the moment is a pair of Hornby 57’ bowender non-gangwayed coaches.  These were never used in South Wales, though similar looking coaches were.,
 

 

One set of 4 “Hornby suburban bowenders” were transferred from London to Cardiff in 1936 to become Cardiff Division train 27.  Also in 1936 a second London set became train 26 in Cardiff.  It was almost identical to the Hornby coaches except it ran on 9’ bogies rather than 7’ bogies.  I’ve no evidence that they didn’t stay in South Wales until they were condemned.

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on here about building Penrhos.  I had hoped to be able to show you some progress but unfortunately the baseboards that were promised for January still haven’t arrived. 

Having started out in P4, then giving up with P4 and changing to OO, and then flirting with EM, when the EM Society brought out the Peco points, I’m now looking at P4 again. Last autumn, the Scalefour Society announced the jubilee challenge competition (build a P4 layout with the scenic area being less than 18.83 ft.² and being capable of transported in a car).  Now it turns out that the area between the road bridge and the Barry viaduct including a reasonable amount of the cutting is only about 17 ft. so it would be possible to enter this area into the competition. This would require not modelling the Barry track over the viaduct, in order to comply with the area limitation, but that’s okay.

At about the same time as the Jubilee challenge was announced by the society they also announced that ready to run P4 points were going to be available from British Finescale.  That probably solves what I find hardest with P4.  The EM versions have had good reviews so the P4 should be good.

So I am going to give the Jubilee challenge a shot.   Having a deadline really helps focus the mind. However, instead of laying track on the baseboard the last couple of weeks I’ve done an inventory of rolling stock.  The conclusion is I am going to need a few more wagons! The question is how long should I make my trains?  A friend of mine suggests that a train that is more than one third of the scenic length of your layout is too long.  But given that on one track the scenic length is a meter between the two bridges that makes a train as nothing much more than the steam railmotor. Even my friends DMU wouldn’t be permitted. Whereas in reality trains of up to 80 wagons were seen on that route. Now I can’t manage 80 wagons and have any wagons left over for the other trains. But I do feel that I should run a train where the loco is hidden by one bridge and the brake van is hidden by the other bridge.  What do you think?

On a more important topic, I’m looking for a recommendation for someone who can supply me custom flat pack baseboards for a curved section. It looks like my first choice will be taking too long to laser cut those boards.  I found a local supplier who can do all the other boards but will not do boards that don’t have 90 degree corners.

5 hours ago, peterm1 said:

Yep. I've never found the need to use frog juicers. An answer to a problem that doesn't exist. Tortoise for me every time.

So how do you switch the 2 frogs on a diamond, since it has no blades to switch?

3 hours ago, sdh-stbriavels said:

GWR etches applied, painted and weathered. Also number plates and new dome added. I think the dome is a bit large, but it was the most suitable one I could find for a GWR loco with a curved boiler.

 

I've added the words 'Great Western' to the tank sides. I couldn't find conclusive evidence that this livery was applied, but given the Victories were 'Swindonised' I have assumed it would have been.

 

Now I've seen the photo I may just tone the weathering down a bit.

667 definitely received “GREAT WESTERN” and plain ”G W R”

18 hours ago, Curlew said:

That's in case she gets stuck in a compartment with no access to a toilet - maybe? ;) 

Or using the Elizabeth Line?

1 hour ago, gwrrob said:

 

Would you want to do a dozen though @cctransuk

Yes.

Well I’ve bought at least that many from Dave Franks to do them on the V14/16s I’ve preordered.  And since I’m doing them they’re going to be sprung.  The problem is there is still a shortage of sprung buffer heads.

10 hours ago, wessy said:

I can understand that she’s travelling with a trunk 2 bags and a hat box.  But I can’t fathom out why she needs to take a milk churn as well ??

21 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

 

 

James Staats Forbes, chairman of the Chatham, was, as far as I can make out, a proxy for Midland interests, in opposition to Watkin of the South Eastern and, of course, the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire, which was allied with that thorn-in-the-flesh the Great Northern.

 

I think Midland goods trains only started running through to Hither green exchange sidings (over South Eastern metals) after the formation of the South Eastern & Chatham Joint Management Committee. Prior to that, exchange was at London Bridge.

 

Not that any of this South London partisanship stopped the Midland, Sheffield, and Great Northern companies collaborating in Lancashire to challenge the North Western hegemony!

How many of those routes around Clapham Junction could you travel as a passenger when that map was drawn and how many can we travel today?

On 27/01/2024 at 13:35, Dungrange said:

How many were produced for the Rhymney Railway? I don't really need another GWR wagon! 

Only 35 where built for the Rhymney.  According to information that I've been given from the GWR wagon registers their RR numbers were:

47, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 76, 273, 274, 275, 276, 279, 286, 292, 294, 328, 345, 358, 364, 381, 389, 392, 397, 407, 416, 423, 428, 433, 438, 439, 443, 459, 463.  BUT notice that Rapido have used a number that is not in that list.  @RapidoCorbs  So maybe they've got different information they would like to share.

Below are photographs (taken by John Lewis for me) of the RR and GWR Minute books regarding these and other wagons bought from the GWR

at little more information about the van is on my website: https://penrhos.me.uk/RRVans.shtml

Is there a bus service from Aylesbury station this year?  Or am I thinking of a different show?