Arthur

That Skytrex resin building looks very good, great job with the painting and lettering. For raised lettering there's the Slaters range, available in different sizes. The George Barnsleys photos are, as Mickey says, both sad and fascinating, a lost world. It's coming together really well Dave.

Hmm, green steelworks diesels you say, and steam too...... I'll be back....

And they'll pre-date the BSC livery on the Yorkshire DE2, the BSC wasn't formed until 1967, so scope for a creative livery!

Correct Brian, it's coal for the coke ovens, probably screened at the pits to suit the needs of the coke ovens, though Margam had it's own crushing and grading facilities. In the mid ground you can see two mirrored pairs of tipplers, behind those, the large concrete building and behind that the brick and concrete building, are the coal preparation plants. The tall concrete structure is one of the coke oven service bunkers and three, if not all four, of the tall chimneys service the oven batteries. I'm not sure how widespread the injection of pulverised coal into blast furnaces was. It was certainly tried, Stanton did some extensive work with the NCB and the BSC carried out research. I'm pretty sure that Port Talbot were not using it at the time of that photo. In use, it was fluidised in an air stream and then piped, it was injected into the furnace using steam. The injection of heavy fuel oil superceded it and became standard practice, probably still is today.

Not as the current 'history' stands Nigel. I'd followed real Black Country history by having the works lose iron making capacity early on but, like Patent Shaft and Round Oak, retaining steel making capacity. So, no blast furnaces, and scrap rather than iron ore. I have, however, read 1984 so I am familiar with re-writing history should it suit......

Sorry Mike, I wasn't clear, half that, 150 wagons would be entering and leaving each day (some arriving loaded and leaving empty, others arriving empty and leaving loaded), so 300 movements a day, otherwise as you say. My notes were really just to highlight that the works sidings in the 1960s would have been very busy indeed.

Mike, Yes, as the wagons in (minerals largely), would not be suitable for the traffic outwards (steel products) that's 150 wagons in and out. The calculation, very roughly, is works production 350,000 ingot tons/annum (modest for the day) out, produced from the same amount of scrap and pig iron going in, so there's 700,000 tons per year. Add in something for wastage and rubbish in the scrap, fuel oil, some coal and ore, limestone, dolomite and refractory bricks in, and slag out, and you are up to around 1 million tons. I've taken an average wagon load as 18 tons (that's probably a bit high?) so that's around 150 wagons, in and out, every day. As a check, in 1957/8 BR and Lancashire Steel opened new reception sidings for the Irlam works on the adjacent CLC lines. Now Irlam was a bigger works, probably twice the size of the fictional Trafalgar, and with blast furnaces. With that in mind, just over four years later they celebrated handling the millionth wagon, so around 650 wagons per day (and much of Irlams ore came direct from the wharf on the Manchester Ship Canal).

Looks about right, here's the coal reception sidings at BSC Margam in 1969..........

Busy? Oh yes......a very quick guesstimation of traffic in and out for a works of the type envisioned for the 1960-65 period suggests the the sidings would handle around 150 wagons a day, 365 days a year. Better buy some shares in Parkside..... As for the oil, currently portrayed operations have the works taking in oil for re-heating furnaces. In the 1960-65 period, the works is making steel in open hearth furnaces and that would require significantly more oil. As for actual traffic in the period, Bilston probably fired it's steel furnaces with oil, I can check, if so, there would have been a considerable inwards traffic.

They were fitted with canvas curtains which covered the entire open sides. If modelled with these closed you've basically got a small box to contain a mechanism. Perhaps not what you'd prefer but it is an option Bachmann might consider.

I seem to recall reading, fairly recently, that BR considered re-engining them and Metropolitan Vickers told them that they were confident that the electrical equipment was good for service with an engine of 1500 hp (might have been more, there was a particular engine BR had in mind) the Crossleys being just 1200 hp. The Crossleys were developed as stationary engines, the vibration, shocks and continually variable power demands in rail service didn't suit them at all.

Yes, that 'Condor Moment' was captured by Cuneo and featured in Dublo's advertising of the day, on the front of a catalogue IIRC. Their Metro Vic electrical equipment was well proven and reliable and I believe that they were finished to a high standard. They were let down by their Crossley two strokes which soon proved unsuited to rail service. The similarly equipped locomotives previously supplied to Ireland were just beginning to display the same problems, as the BR ones were entering service.

Posted before but here is my 'improved' Dublo Co-Bo, bogie side frames fretted out, Gibson Wheels, some cast detail ground off and replaces with etchings, flush glazed and some under frame detail added. I've recently bought some neomagnets which await fitting. The cast body was basic, no under frame detail at all, though it captured the look and proportions of them. It wasn't, originally, a big seller and, following the demise of Hornby Dublo, Hattons were selling them off for years.

Hi Andrew, Yes, it can be resprayed yellow. If you follow this link to an earlier posting you will see my red Esso version sprayed yellow. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65710-Hornby-sentinel-at-last/?p=1304500 Arthur

That first photo gives the first real idea of what it's going to look like. It's certainly starting to capture the look of those steelworks and forges which were so characteristic of the Attercliffe and Brightside areas of Sheffield. Here's a link to Uwe Niggemeier's site, the Sheffield Forgemasters page, there's a couple of external shots plus some of the activities within. I've corresponded with Uwe a couple of times and his site contains lots of steel industry photos from around the world. He's been allowed remarkable access to some of these plants and his photography is top notch. http://www.stahlseite.de/sfm.htm

I hope so Phil, that would certainly encourage more in an industrial vein. It's a lovely little loco and they've priced it right, it's at a near impulse purchase level (well as close as an RTR loco could ever be) tempting in buyers who would otherwise have passed it by.

Mike, I would imagine that there is some CNC/automated control in some forging operations these days though still with a high degree of skilled operator input. Whatever, the operation of this this 6,000 ton press at Firth Brown in Sheffield, around 1937, was all down to skilled men. Forging, especially very large pieces, is a very costly process and there was a lot of value in the items these men worked on. Correct Brian, rolls are mostly cast but some were forged. I don't know why other than that they would have been very hard wearing and long lasting. Clearly, in some high demand applications, the cost was seen as justified. Most ferrous metals are worked in some manner prior to use. The oldest ferrous metal in the service of man is wrought (worked) iron which preceded the use of simple cast iron. The working improves its strength. With steel, only about 3% of production is used cast, the rest is worked, 95% by rolling and 2% by forging. Casting is useful for complex shapes but the steel is comparatively weak, especially at corners and where there is restricted flow within the mould. The cheapest method of working in strength is rolling (though the primary aim is to shape it). Forging is very expensive and is reserved for items that will experience very high and multidirectional stresses in service. Heavy, high speed, rotating shafts are examples, steam turbine rotors, ships prop shafts, large crankshafts along with vessels expected to contain high pressures and gun barrels. You're right Dave, like other metals, steel has a crystalline structure and that structure develops as it cools within the mould. Unfortunately the size and type of crystal varies as cooling proceeds and all ingots have a pre-defined and variable crystalline structure which gives variable strength across them. Two other factors influencing ingot strength are grain, the 'flow' of the crystals and the presence of spaces (piping) or gas, CO, bubbles (blowholes). Rolling and forging can both work these weaknesses out. By closing and welding up spaces and blowholes, by reworking of the crystalline structure (also improved with heat treatment) and by working the grain into the optimum flow. Like wood, steel is strongest along the grain. Rolling tends to produce a linear grain, fine for most applications, however for the most demanding of applications, where stresses are not linear but multi directional, forging is required. A spanner is a simple example. Imagine a spanner cut out of a wooden plank. Apply torque across the jaws and imagine where they would split/tear. The jaws would break at their base, along the grain. Cut a spanner out of steel plate and the grain is straight, it does not flow around the jaws, apply torque across them and the jaws again split along the grain. Forging shapes the grain to follow the curve of the jaws so the stresses are transmitted along the grain not across it. A good example of a need to forge a product is the disc on a gas turbine shaft to which the blades are fitted, and which will be revolving at very high speed. The centripetal forces radiate out equally from the centre. A disc cut from plate has it's grain in one plane, at right angles to that plane the centripetal forces are tearing the grain, and disc, apart. Forging it by squeezing down on, and flattening a round billet into a disc, works the grain into a radial flow, ideal for withstanding these centripetal forces. Writing this seven hours into a power cut so I've nothing better to do..... There will be a test tomorrow..... Anecdote: my brother was a centre lathe turner in the steam turbine section of the heavy power division of AEI, later GEC, in Trafford Park. They had heavy forged turbine shafts, weighing tens of tons, brought in from forges in Sheffield, turned them up, fitted the discs and rotor blades etc., by which time they were worth half a million (this the mid 70s). Then test assembled and delivered in bits to power stations across the globe. Wynns and Pickfords were regular visitors, both having depots in the Park. One day, a driver, with a finished turbine rotor shaft on board, was manoeuvring in the works yard and managed to jerk the trailer such that the rotor shaft snapped it's securing straps, rolled onto the yard and embedded itself 18" into the Tarmac. Not the sort of phone call you want to make to your boss! Nine hours, power back on, upload!

Probably not very. I built one of their WD 2-8-0 body kits a good while back, designed to fit on a modified Jouef 2-8-2 chassis. It was buildable but the castings were a bit crude, the boiler oval and it required a lot of finishing. Oddly, there was a brief mention of them on the Kings Cross Models thread a day or so back. The original brass masters were apparently very good but they were let down by poor casting. I cannot really comment on British Legion but my experience of McGowan Kits seems to tally with the experience of others.

The thing about the backscene is that, not only is it stunning, it's different, nobody has seen anything like it before. The rest of BCB is, essentially, conventional modelling albeit executed to high standards of finish and realism and beautifully integrated together. Not surprising then that the backscene arouses such curiosity.

Very nice Paul, High Level kit? It's come together really well. By chance, I was priming some of Roberts S&L buffers just yesterday for a project which is coming to completion, they are very nicely cast.

Yep! I'll say no more!

Fascinating stuff. Brass prohibited for use in loco kits, shortages of steel, we don't know how lucky we are. That Acro coupler looks interesting, simple and discrete. Does anybody know how well they worked?

Nice bit of imagineering, it certainly looks the part.

That does make a surprising difference to the overall look of the wagon, it looks more squat and ready for a heavy load.

Do you mean that light coloured vehicle just right of the locomotives Jonathon? If so, that's a Thames 400E drop side, same cab as this; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thames_400E this is a Thames Trader, somewhat larger; http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/50_fordthamestrader.htm