Poggy1165

Don't know if it helps, but this is a typical arrangement. (PO wagon liveried as one hired to the GCR). (BTW this was taken before I figured out the need to blacken tyres and buffers!)

It's interesting that photo shows the little clips used to hold the capping piece in place. I think I am right in saying these were a late addition. Does anyone happen to know when these clips started to be added? I certainly agree it's worth adding the capping. It's one of those little touches that makes the difference.

I hardly ever comment on a layout - except positively - unless asked to do so. One day, at an EM gauge event a nice chap asked me if I could see anything wrong with his (ex Midland) layout, and I ventured an opinion that having a signal placed half way through a point was wrong. He agreed with a smile - saying he had done it for reasons of compression. A few months later I was looking through a book about LNWR signalling - and guess where that august company had placed one of its signals? Exactly as per layout!

Looks very good indeed. Convincing unpainted wood is hard to do. I know. I get it right about one time in every eight. I like the bolts too.

The problem with experts is that there is always someone who knows more about something than you do. In the model railway world, it could be almost literally anything - cows, farm vehicles, buses, chip shop signs, canal locks, army uniforms, and so on and so forth. I find we all have our own obsessions too, and are blind to some faults, while other faults glare at us. (For example, I hate plain plastic wagon interiors, but it's obvious from observation that there's lots of folk, possibly a clear majority, to whom this doesn't matter one bit.) So I think the best way forward is to be tolerant. Or as the Bible has it, to be aware of the beam in ones own eye before trying to remove the mote in our brother's.

The bits can be fitted later, it's just very fiddly. Depends how dexterous your hands are, and how much you need to avoid swearing. It's very easy to lose those small brass nuts, and indeed those tiny springs. The wheels can just about be removed with care, but it's an awkward task. There's a risk of breaking the plastic W iron as you flex it. To be honest, I personally just use chemical blackening without the refinement of the gas burner method. (Be sure to clean the metal thoroughly with a fibre glass brush or similar before attempting to blacken.) And, just for clarity, don't put the wheelsets near a flame as the spokes are plastic and will melt. You can use paint instead of chemical blackener if you wish, but as far as the buffers are concerned there's a high risk you will gum them up. Working sprung buffers are useful in this scale, especially if you plan to use the wagon on tight radii which I guess you will. Also, even with careful priming, paint tends to flake off. So in my view, chemical blackening is the way to go.

The advice from Jamie 92208 is excellent. The buffers and couplings are definitely best assembled before you start putting the body together. It saves a whole lot of hassle later. It took me many wagon assemblies to figure this out, but I suppose I am slow on the uptake. The internal detailing is well worth doing too, and personally I would paint the interiors before assembly. Another thing to do is use chemical blackening on the wheel tyres as well, as colliery wagons rarely, if ever, ran with burnished wheels. As this is an early wagon you can get away with one set of brakes if you wish, but if you do go down that road make sure the brake lever points towards the fixed end. The Dave Parkins detailing bits are first rate, but if you decide to make use of them they are much better built into a new wagon than retro-fitted onto an old one. Again, I really struggled until I figured this out, now, if I buy a second hand wagon I pull it apart completely to fit the MMP interiors.

Cracking layout, cracking locos, cracking wagons, cracking track. What more can one say?

IIRC one of the reasons the original tunnels were not used in 1954 was that they were 'lined' with a solid foot of soot, which needed removing and disposing. So that's a challenge for a start. I suppose they could be used as 'pilot holes' for two newer and bigger bores in roughly the same place.

I used to work in 4mm. When I moved to 7mm, everything seemed massive. Now, after several years, 7mm seems 'normal' - for want of a better word - and 4mm seems tiny. I did a little bit of 4mm modelling last year for a friend, and it felt like watchmaking. I really think it's a matter of what you become used to.

One of the particular plus points of South Wales is that there are some extremely interesting and long-lived 'natives' - mostly tank engines, admittedly, but thus ideal for a small layout. It has always surprised me that, given the high percentage of GWR/WR modellers in the total population, South Wales has traditionally been so neglected. It is good to see this changing.

Tony, I believe that at one point the GC did not paint its signal posts white. I just don't recall what the alternative colour was or how long this was done. Unfortunately I don't have the source to hand it's just one of those things 'I was told'. Brian

In 2013 the layout that has inspired me most is Steve Fay's Cardiff Canton. To get so much into so little space in 7mm! It has set me thinking about doing something moderately similar, inspired by (but not really modelled on) Neepsend, with its cramped terraced houses behind the shed. The only thing is, I need to do it at high level above the offstage part of my layout, and as I haven't really worked out the low level yet...

One solution to the colliery issue would be to delete the sidings in the foreground and pull the station forward. That would (I think) leave room for a loop, and maybe another siding at the back. The logic of this is I don't think there would be a right lot of 'ordinary' goods traffic by this era, and probably no domestic coal traffic (the usual mainstay) due to local landsales. If the run round loop rather than the main line was extended into the second industry, that would effectively give an independent goods line, really justifying that pretty triple bracket signal on the prototype photo. (I admit to loving triple bracket signals.)

My guess is that unbraked wagons were 'spragged' - which is the technical term for shoving a suitable piece of wood between the spokes - when standing in sidings. Actually, it is amazing how badly many early wagons were braked - even after rules came in insisting on two sets of brakes, nothing much happened for years. PO wagons were notoriously badly maintained, as were those of certain companies - no names for fear of giving offence! How trains were operated in an area like South Yorkshire, often with only a brake on the engine the odd hand brake on the wagons, non automatic and often only working on one or two wheels (if at all) and maybe another fitted to a light brake van at the back, I really do not know. Of course, the did occasionally end up as an untidy pile at the bottom of a gradient, but most of the time this was avoided by the skill of the drivers. I shall pass lightly over the LNWR practice of only having a tender brake and relying on throwing the engine into reverse to stop.

ABS kits are a good choice. I don't say you can't do things to improve them, but as a basis they are among the best. A GW iron mink was among the first few wagons I built in 7mm scale and it's still one of my favourites.

A lot of these 'goods handling' photos could have been taken in the 1930s, or even the 1910s. That was probably the root of the problem.

A brave and interesting choice. Should get a few people modelling colliery systems - or at least exchange sidings with the main line. Dare I say 'modern image steam'? A lot newer than many diesels, anyway.

What a fantastic collection of eye candy! Scottish railways were a bit special, weren't they? And under-represented in model form.

Just take my wife to the average exhibition of today - her reaction to diesels is not unlike that of the above 8 year old to steam. Strangely though she does not mind electrics. She actually admired an EMI (class 76 but in old livery) at Telford.

I would suggest the total cost of following a Premier League football team easily adds up to more than the cost of modelling - unless you have an O Gauge masterpiece on commission every year. If supporting a successful team and following them all over Europe is taken into account, that O Gauge masterpiece might even look affordable. At least you won't have to have days off work, unless you have to do some research as part of the commissioning process. I don't get to Maine Road - sorry the Etihad - these days. 90 minutes football costs more than an O gauge wagon kit which will serve for years or can be sold on. Gardening, which is pretty much a compulsory hobby for anyone living in a house, ain't cheap these days. Especially if you visit flower shows and have to buy all the latest fashionable plants. Then my missus does card-making. You might think that was a nice, cheap hobby. No, you should see her credit card bills. Well, actually I prefer not to see them. And while there is a market in old models, there isn't much of one for 'cardstock' or 'sentiments'. The only good thing about it is we make joint use of some tools. She probably buys more from Squires than I do.

I suspect city centre rents and other overheads are just too high for the model railway business in this day and age. Norman Wisenden used to laugh at the very idea of having a shop in a more central location. The good news is that many of the survivors are easily accessed via our glorious tramway system or our slightly less glorious local rail network.