'CHARD

It does seem as if chassis are being distributed in an inconsistent fashion. I have received replacements for my Cheltenham and Hattons purchases, as well as those locally bought, but another three from another supplier are still outstanding. I have spoken with that supplier about two weeks ago, they advised me that they had still not received any. I shall need to enquire again, but this has been an unfortunate episode for all concerned. Beyond that, I feel further comment is superfluous at the moment.

 

Dave.

This week I'm taking the bull by the horns (in the shape of four Claytons by the straps of a holdall) and visiting a Mr Rails of Sheffield, to mention one purveyor of model railway T&RS*, to physically present the scale of my 'issues' which I had hoped would be sorted by Xhristmas. I've personally no problem carrying out the work, the problem I have is radio silence.

*other shopkeepers are available

I would expect that they will be left in the elements for some time until Gremlin and Tin Worm infestation puts them beyond economic repair and only then will tendering for sale take place. It seems to have been an EWS tactic before on occasions.

I wonder..... Given the somewhat more visionary outlook that Lord Adonis is wont to stress to the industry, maybe he would take a different view if complaint is vociferous enough. Just maybe...

how long beofre drs etc start buying them?

Unless by some wave of a magic wand there's a complaint from would-be purchasers upheld by the OFT, then I expect to see 60s in DRS and other liveries some time after hell has frozen over.

Simply from interest - why?

Not sure whether there's anything inherent from the driver's perspective, but I always avoid the leading vehicle in either diection, now the WCML p-way has had some serious hammer since the VHF TT was introduced a year ago, you get some serious lateral hunting at line speed, especially at tilt actuations.

Perusing Railway Observers for something else entirely, the July 68 edition mentions W9118E as running on Portsmouth - Cardiffs. It goes on to say that W9135E 'is now blue and grey', implying that 9118 wasnt

...instantly and in one move justifying my retention of said monastral blue & pearl grey 9135 on my '68-set roundy from the previous '76 effort. Awesome! Although with my 'rolling stock austerity' disclaimer in play, she'll only make eceptional appearances when the East Coast diversions over the Waverley Route rule applies.

The 22 and 21/9 aren't as similar as you think - the 22 was significantly shorter for a start.

Very true. In many ways, there's little more than a family likeness lent by the cab windows, cross sectional body profile (stopping short at the solebar) and the shape of the cab flat face, but not its details. Bogies are completely different. Some individually added components/ etches could probably be shared with the 21 and the D600.

Awesome - the power of RMWeb - between us we definitively nailed-it! (Ahem!)

Anyway, as we know from earlier in the thread, mine's gonna be a '68 ScR example, so that means all sorts of deviations from the livery norm

The painted '14' bodies on Hattons look very nice....although the numerals look

too large and have the wrong typeface. The 'D' prefix looks a little distant from

the rest of the numerals too. Are they just samples too??

I just looked. You're right, but I'm not sure that I know the full answer... I seem to recall that the typeface I've seen on prototype photos bore more resemblance to - for want of a better comparator - the Westerns' numbers. The D was spaced more than on contemporary serif numbered traction, but what I'm seeing here is almost a sans-serif typeface dimensioned as though it were serif. It's definitely not quite there.

Hi Stuart, I too was watching your layout on RMW3, and was/am mightily impressed with progress. I love the kind of realisation-of-boyhood-dream approach you have taken, if you don't mind me saying. Looped stacked figure of eight maximises the fun value and for me that's what it's all about (although you wouldn't believe it to look at my roundy!).

The red ballast is pretty much as I remember Polmadie, during my intimacy with it between 1998 and 2002. As you say, weathered-in and toned-down it will improve even further. I think you're right about using N ballast too, the OO is just too coarse.

Anyway, that is all good, thanks for keeping us entertained and inspired, and for bringing BWYF to the masses again on RMW4. Cheers!

Of course it is always your model railway and if you want to run a Class 14 on it - I can't blame you for recreating history - I would do the same.

Sorry mate! I thought my reference to 'seasonal asparagus traffic' in 1968 would've really given the game away

Now just watch someone prove me wrong - like there was some thriving trade in the stuff in Selkirk or somewhere, and all the stuff about Pringle and the like being shipped out by rail was nonsense....

Well, D9500/19/22 were perfect for the Kelso goods service and local engineers' work after they arrived in mid '68...!

 

Dave

Of course! Knew I'd seen that somewhere. And as my branch is officially now freight only (seasonal asparagus traffic, pigeons and the thrice weekly coal merchants trip) this is the perfect solution. Excellent!

I'm pretty sure these were frequent performers on the Waverley Route, banking and station pilot duties typically. Yep, that's right, time to wave the Visa about again....

I have had two Class 17`s at Rails since they came out and no progress on the chassis replacement in fact one email was replied to and I was asked if I had one reserved!! no reply yet to second email.

That's very useful - thanks Kiwi, I have some days free next week so my foursome and I will hop on the real thing (well, not exactly, I doubt a Clayton will be on the 1003 B'ham - Edinburgh, no matter what Haymarket kicks out) and confront the Rails supremos. If needs be, I'll bring four new chassis back and do them myself.

Apologies if I have missed it, but does anyone know what Rails of Sheffield's policy is regarding re-chassising ( ? ) of the first batch? Talking to Heljan at the Warley show they advised that all retailers were expected to carry out (or arange) the chassis swap, and sufficient quantities of replacement chassis have been/ are being made available. My early quartet are runners, but barely when compared with new arrivals 8507 and 8606. Heljan's view was explicit - these should and will be changed, but I haven't seen Rails' commitment yet. There doesn't appear to be anything on their website either. The last conversation was, to be polite, inconclusive. I'm about ready to hop on a train with a large box of Type 1s to plonk on their counter....

What a great picture....captures that Scottish feel just right. :icon_thumbsup2:

What he said, 64B-Boy! This layout's one of my inspirations, not in its specifics (I'm as landlocked as you can get over there in Roxburghshire) but in the effortless way Caolisport just captures the essence of ScR byways. If I can achieve 45% of this I'll feel I'm doing well.

Not wanting to do a 'me too' post, but I really do want to add positive noise where it's due. Great stuff, and the arrival of the ferry will cause me much soul-searching to NOT contemplate a revisit of Fishguard & Goodwick circa '76.

Where have you been hiding 'Chard' - wondered if you had got lost in the whitrope tunnel after indulging your borders alter-ego?

Without hi-jacking this thread, I went away for a bit and had a modelling mojo wobble, which remedied itself, unaccountably some will say I'm sure, when TeBay threw-up some very pleasing Hornby Met-Cam triples. There - I've confessed: *wink*. Further news will form my next blog entry on the layout.

Back to the OP, after Monday's much anticipated arrival (ahem) I expect my eBay worktop to become a Clayton-infested workbench, and the existing (stored) quartet to be putting-in serious running-in mileage on the roundy. That's if I can prise Birmingham's finest DMUs from it...

Apologies for the hijack...

If there's a signature diesel locomotive for my own layout, then this is surely it!

Dave.

Hear! Hear! Dave. Signature traction for me too.

Seems that some depots on here have been allocated new chassis even though the locos were not returned at the time of purchase in April..? When I called Rails today they seemed non-plussed about their strategy WRT the chassis replacements. When pressed on what I am to expect with my existing quartet - inadequate vulnerable performers all - I was told that replacement chassis are not being supplied for all early locos. AND that they would be undertaking the work themselves because 're-soldering cannot be left to the customers.' Oh, they did advise that another pair was on its way (another pre-order I selectively forgot, obviously). I will be interested to compare these, hopefully on Monday, and if they are cheese to 8545 & co's chalk, then I will be back onto Rails to see what's to be done about the thick end of 300-quid's worth of Danish potentially smokey bacon I already have....

There, a complete anti-climax of a first post on the new RM of Web.