Wizard of the Moor

Good to meet you at last and hopefully not too long until next time. Visting stock and operators are always welcome...

Your Starfish was still being discussed at Manchester. Some folk want one just like it Very kind of you to say so. It does sound a bit Gilbert & Sullivan though: "He is the perfect picture of a proper P4 modeller."

Maybe some sort of end tipper mechanism grabbing the sides? The brake van is interesting. Its cleanliness is most likely due to extensive repairs to the cabin. However, it's the first one I've seen with a diamond shaped baseplate to the chimney. Most have a square baseplate. Of course, this one might be square but differently-oriented

Just in case anyone missed Ben Alder's thread about the residents of Ferryhill in 1972 http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=211546

There's yet another engineering possession at Waterloo Street this evening. Several loads of spoil are being taken away - the branch being in a deep cutting for much of its length is prone to landslips in the dampness of a Scottish summer. A motley collection of wagons has been pressed into service. A Lamprey built from the excellent Finelines kit. Bill Bedford sprung suspension and various bits of brass wire and strip to detail the brakes and footsteps were the only modifications made. A simple and satisfying build. A Glaswegian Grampus courtesy of the nice folks at Kirkcaldy. Masokits suspension this time, due to the simplicity of attaching clasp brakes. And a more locally based cousin. Trying to ring the changes in this rake with buffers and axleboxes. The Parkside kit as supplied is, I think, only representative of one lot of these wagons. Perusal of Mr Bartlett's photo collection shows the amount of variety to choose from. It's as well to arder a few spare sprues of steps and door bangers, as these have a lemming-like urge to leap from the edge of the workbench into the waiting carpet monster maw below. Bringing up the rear is a late BR standard 20t brake. This is a heavily modified Pocket Money Kit that hopefully illustrates a wagon from the final lot constructed. It was an epic this one. Trying to match the standard of RTR offerings sets a high bar (hybar?) to clear. Almost all the supplied castings were replaced - only the end weights and duckets being used, and the duckets nearly didn't make it! A good quantity of Miliput was needed to fair them into the bodyside. Oleo buffers, roller bearings and UIC couplings on an extended mount complete the picture. FInally, a use for the spare bits from Dave Bradwell's underframe kit. One feature that I wanted to include is the footsteps cut into the inner planking of the veranda. I can't figure out the logic of which vans had these and which not. It seems to vary by builder, lot number and diagram. Some NER and LNER vans had them, so maybe it was a Shildon influence. On the model this meant building up the inner woodwork from Evergreen strip. Various repairs to cover up rotting planks are also in evidence. Some Archer rivet detail still needs to be done. FInally, just because 3 link couplings under exhibition conditions don't give enough of an excuse to avoid eye contact with the punters, working door safety bars have been included. At least, they did work until I gunged them up with a wash of grime :( Ho hum, having optimistically carved the safety bars off of some other van bodies in the queue, maybe I'll perfect the technique next time. See you at the Manchester Show!

Thanks for the kind comments, it's very much appreciated. Having spent the weekend at Scaleforum operating on Colinton, I'm now looking forward to Manchester. Those who like the pictures of 37 425 on the slurry tanks a while back may enjoy Warning: Gratuitous large logo clag and general scabbiness. May cause frustration for users of sound chipped 37s. Watch out for the shopping trolley at 5:40

No, they were just the first ones out of the spares box and somewhat criticised by Waveydavey. They are most likely either D&S or Exactoscale, which might be too sharp an angle of the V. I think that Ambis have the correct BR V hanger in their range, but only as part of a set. Some Masokits subframe kits also include a wider V as an option.

The Ambis short straight levers are 37mm long - just dug mine out to measure. It turns out that I have used them on one of my BDAs, as seen here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/33349-waterloo-street/page__st__25#entry492436 It looks about right to me, but judge for yourself. I might not have formed enough of a handle for some tastes, in which case the longer levers might be a better bet.

IMHO the BCV brake levers should be short and straight. See http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brbcv/h15498f16#h15498f16 for example. If you cut off the angled portion of the one you are using, or bend it straight, and then slimmed down the remainder that would be about right. Of course, it needs to be long enough to form the handle. Ambis do both short and long straight levers. One way to judge the length would be to fit the "fulcrum frame" behind the lever. This looks like a two rung footstep on the solebar and was used by shunters to gain some purchase with their brake sticks when locking the brakes on. Therefore, the handle of the brake lever should line up with that. Edit: you beat me to it!

It's also important to follow the correspondence generated by that article in the letters pages of the next few issues. There were quite a few corrections made...

My guess is that it denotes the wagon as being an internal user one and thus not to be mixed with BR revenue stock. In other words, it's a reminder to the shunters to keep the wagon on site.

What are these "supervans" of which you speak?

Ambis do some useful bits that will help with the 1/434 wagons. I have purchased etched kits for both LNER and BR fitted plate wagon underframes. Your approach looks like it will give better results!

I wouldn't take it too hard, Jan. If your kit is the same as mine, then the brake blocks and pushrods have a plain side and a detailed side. When you, naturally, fit them with the detail showing, they are the wrong way round. Somewhere I have a similar wagon and need to find the courage to unsolder it one day. It's more of a design flaw in the etching, IMHO, but it does show that you can't trust anything when building a kit. Ho hum.

Cracking stuff, Mark, especially the last picture. I thought the recent feature in Scalefour News showing the Highland locos was really good. It would be great to watch a sequence of trains progressing from the 1900s to the 1970s sometime.

Apologies for being 8.5 tons over the limit again, but I couldn't resist this shot whilst making a rare visit to the club this evening No doubt the younger Mr Grice will be thinking dark thoughts about the silly b****r who neglected to check for bottom doors on this delivery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46793466@N06/4346753052/ Why is 25108 always so camera shy?

Thanks for all the kind comments, folks! The 50 isn't lost as such, Mark, just misguided. There may well be a Motorail service stuck at Stirling awaiting a tow south.