Arthur

Good question, Nigel. It wasn't until seeing Philips photos and notes above that I realised how distinctive and characteristic they were.

GWR experts!! As Judge Roy Bean would have said 'Bring the guilty ba****ds in and we'll give them a fair trial!'

I will, that's a Wonderful bit of work Philip, really captures the look of the original; steel tyres shrunk onto brass centres, that original bevel drive, steel boiler and footplate, fantastic stuff. They are a very attractive locomotive, the Geisel ejector didn't do Francis any favours in the looks department. I've the 4mm kit in the 'to do' pile, might have to promote it..... That chap who painted and lined it shows some promise.............

Thanks for that Terry, yes, the Tarslag Estate doesn't really conjour up the image of a rural idyll! Of course, today, they'd call it 'Badgers Bottom' or 'Kingfisher Dell' rather than the 'Old Gas Works' or 'Erstwhile Phosgene Plant'...... Slag has lots of uses, and over the years has been an important part in steelworks economics. Blast Furnace slag was crushed for road stone and railway ballast, being lime rich it can be ground down to make slag cement, it can be aerated to make building blocks or a porous medium for use in sewerage plants, and blown, whilst molten, into filaments to make slagwool insulation. Edit; Tarmacadam was a good trade for many ironworks as they could also supply the tar from their own coke ovens. The slag from basic (in the chemical sense) steel furnaces is high in phosphorous and some is sold as basic slag fertiliser.

Nasty! Some works operated their own slag reduction operations, others contracted them out. Certainly one of the blast furnace associated plants would offer quite a nice scenario for a layout, bit like a quarry with a little more variety.

Probably is related Andy, blast furnace slag, crushed and graded, was widely used to make up Tarmacadam. Sometimes called Tarslag, several road building companies had operations at the slag dumps of blast furnace plants, as at Bilston. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the presence of a Tarmac office nearby was once linked to such an operation.

Thanks Terry, interesting stuff. It's just strange that we cannot find a single photo, any where, of a roll loaded onto a rail wagon. Both the GWR and BR built a few wagons specifically for the purpose so we know such traffic did exist. There were a number of roll makers in the Black Country which had been established to serve the wrought iron industry, for which rolling was an integral operation, and a trade in which the area once led the world. This early experience was also responsible for the large number of rolling mills in the area.

Our young cat, Treacle, has the devil in her, Poppy the dog keeps a wary eye on her...... Health Warning; This clip may infect you with an ear worm.

Nice to see some run of the mill Fords (Thames) and Bedfords on mundane work work Brian. It wasn't all 'glamorous' Leyland and Foden eight leggers!!

Agreed Kenton, I'd certainly want to know why the consumer unit needs changing. Maybe it does but could just be an extra work 'scam'. Do the current regs. still allow you to do the installation yourself and then get a certified electrician to check it out, make the connection to the mains, and issue the certificate? And why should there be a £100.00 charge for an electrician to essentially issue a certificate to test and guarantee that his OWN work meets current standards? Just another 'tax' on your bill.

That's it in a nutshell. The earth bond for example, a bit of heavy earth cable run from consumer unit to a gas/water pipe, clean pipe, fit earthing clamp, virtually no materials cost, all labour. How long is that going to take, and there's probably already such a connection so he can follow the route. I like your plan, fit a RCD unit between house socket and extension plug, less than £10:00, sorted.

Daylight robbery, as an example, a 10 way consumer unit under the stairs about £60:00 and a two way for the shed about £15:00 plus a bit of cable and a days work (if that). I know what's involved as In the past I've fitted those bits myself. I know with current regs. that's not allowed these days, it just puts you in the hands of rip off merchants. Has he given you a breakdown of cost of parts and estimated time and rate? I'd certainly get another quote, that sounds bloody outrageous for whats's involved.

The Hell Drivers lorries were 'parrot nosed' Kew built Dodges. The cab moulding is available from Base Toys though there's not a short enough wheelbase tipper in the range. Some 50's/60's construction vehicles would be very welcome here too.

I agree with Dave about the fence. Looks great around the Oxygen tank, that's a nice bit of work altogether, but that extra bit in front of the building, what purpose would it serve? Without purpose, in a real works, it would just get in the way.

Excellent, thanks Mark, I did think that I'd cut it a bit fine! I wasn't sure whether you'd need them for Peterborough but at least they're with you now for whenever you do need them.

Over 500 people were killed in 1944 when a train stalled in an Italian railway tunnel, Google 'Balvano train disaster' if you want to know more.

Never underestimate stupidity. I should have read the Russell book captions more carefully! It was a sequence of seven photos showing a crocodile loaded with a large flywheel. The last photo caption places the wagon at Newport docks, however, had I read the caption on the previous page it showed the same wagon being loaded with the flywheel at......Dowlais Works, somewhere you would expect to find a lot of rolls........... Still doesn't help much with the movement of rolls by rail question. As a brief aside, Mike, there was an iron & steel industry in parts of the empire, Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and Rhodesia all had integrated works though, Canada aside, they were largely developed from the mid 1920's onwards with further large UK input in the 1950's. The small industry in Rhodesia was built up in conjunction with the Lancashire Steel Corporation and to this day there is a Zimbabwean league football team called 'Lancashire Steel'.

Chippy or a UCP tripe shop......

An interesting thought Brian but I wouldn't have thought so. Most of the roll making foundries and rolling mills were well inland and though some rolls were very heavy, most were less than 20 tons, and all would have been well within the capacity of rail, and later, road transport. Coastal shipping would have been a very circuitous routing for most of the traffic. I'd be more inclined to think that, as you suggested earlier, in the 50's and 60's road transport took the traffic from rail. The photos in the Russell book, probably 1920's or 30's, of Newport docks show, perhaps,fifty used rolls just stacked up on waste ground. Maybe they were being shipped, I can't imagine where to, but it remains a possibility.

Having looked at my Russell book, it's a different one, it's 'Freight Wagons and Loads in Service on the GWR & BR,WR so I haven't seen the photo of loaded rolls. Not quite so useful but it does show some well wagon with other loads at Newport docks and, for some reason, there are large numbers of rolls lying and rusting away in the background. Anyway, onto the models. Robert supplied two, cast in resin. A grooved roll suitable for a cogging mill and a wide, flat, plate mill roll both of which just need a quick clean up and painting for use. However......you just have to fiddle about don't you...... So, Here's one of Roberts plate rolls, this one in whitemetal, the ones I've used we're in resin. Roberts rolls come with a flat 'wobbler' on one end, perfectly prototypical, look at the drawing in the British Rollmakers ad., above, but many were cast with a cruciform 'wobbler' as in the photo above showing rolls undergoing heat treatment. I just added two slivers of shaped plasticard to change them. The 'wobblers', by the way, are part of a simple universal drive which allows the rolls and the drive shaft from the mill motor to move up and down with a change in the relative angle between them. The grooved roll I left otherwise untouched, here it is, primed, painted in Humbrol polished steel 'Metalcote' and with the parts which had wear, the bearing surfaces and rolling faces, painted with a chrome paint. Looking something like a roll, in the mill, working. With the plain roll I thought I'd try and 'turn' in some grooves, changing it from a plate roll to something more like a section roll. I clamped one end into the chuck of a 12v hand drill (full size, not a mini drill) and, using a razor saw and files, 'turned' some grooves into it. It came out reasonably successful and looks like the kind of roll which Trafalgar Works might use. Again, primed, painted with Metalcote both rolls were then given a light wash of a Lifecolour rust acrylic and a dusting of weathering powder. As we couldn't find evidence of new rolls on rail wagons I decided to finish them as used rolls, developing a patina of rust, perhaps lying on the ground awaiting their fate or being returned to the foundry as scrap. And, finally, they need despatching. A Wynn's low loader called by today. Scammell Highwayman tractor from Oxford, the trailer by Base Toys. Both have been worked on, detailed and weathered.

Yes, I'd wondered about the Bradford area link too, but now we know...... I remember the one in Stockport run by Steve. He had a small retail unit in a converted mill type building, just by the shopping area, shared with craft jewellers and the like. It was well stocked with stuff and had the atmosphere of a 'traditional' model shop in miniature. I seem to recall that he had a change of premises, either moving to, or from, that mill unit. Edit; and we mustn't forget, way on the other side of the city, Norman Wissenden in Greenfield, an amazing shop.

Ah! That explains it! Thanks for that, I remember the chap who ran it but didn't know his name.

Do you mean in the past Jim? Two of the oldest were, a branch of the original Beatties on Corporation Street I think, near the Corn Exchange, and the sports shop Tyldesley and Holbrook, just off Piccadilly Gardens on London Road had a decent model department though they went over exclusively to sports equipment probably in the 70's. There was The Model Shop on Bootle Street, just off Deansgate, mainly Plastic Kits, R/C Aircraft and RTR railways. The modern incarnation of Beatties was on Spring Gardens just off Market Street. Finally, there was a shop on Moseley Street in the complex under Piccadilly Hotel. Might have been the Model Exchange, mainly RTR but you could get Romford wheels and a few more specialised bits there. Opened around 1980 and was there for a few years. EDIT; oddly, I think that it might have been called The Bradford Model Exchange. I don't know of any really specialist railway model shops in the city centre.

Thanks Brian, Brian and Mike. Some food for thought there, as two observers of the South Wales scene and someone actively employed in the local railway freight scene, those observations carry some weight. Perhaps, as you suggest Brian, they were an early traffic lost to road. They could be heavy, Tennants could cast them up to 75 tons, Firth Brown in Sheffield did some over 40 tons, in Wynns and Pickfords territory. It would certainly account for the lack of photographs and observations of rolls on wagons. Thanks for the link to the Russell book Brian, I've got a copy so I'll have a look tomorrow. I'm inclined to finish the resin rolls with a light touch of rust as used rolls.

Thanks Brian, yes, I've seen some of those Tennants photos, as you say, they are unfortunately shown on internal user wagons.