mike morley

I've got two of the Kemilway/Peter K Cambrian carriage kits so am only too well aware of the shortcomings of their underpinnings. Having tackled what is provided by the kit and failed, my advice would be to invest in one of Brassmasters Cleminson kits. That's what I did and am extremely impressed by the results, although I have to admit that when I first opened the packet I was a bit baffled and didnt quite believe it was going to work until I put it on the track. Trust me, it does - far better than you could ever believe. The Cambrian carriages call for minimum wheelbase (don't worry that the "correct" wheelbase doesnt quite tie up with what is offered by the Brassmasters kit. The dimensional accuracy of the Kemilway/Peter K kit isnt spot on and the discrepancy isnt the least bit apparent) and in EM gauge the result will negotiate two-foot radius bends with ease. In 00 I should think eighteen inch radius curves are possible.

'Twas built by Andy Cundick, creator of Talyllyn Road, Llanfairish and assorted County Donegal layouts. At a two-day show a few years ago Andy arrrived on Sunday morning to find the cameo gone and at first assumed someone had pinched it. Then he noticed Chris Awdry being photographed with it on a nearby layout . . .

Thank you! Did it come direct from the LNWR/LMS or via the S&M? In other words, has anyone any idea how it ended up at Cyfronydd?

Thanks to Flyingsignalman for reminding me of this. I have heard that the grounded guards van at Cyfronydd on the Welshpool and Llanfair has Shropshire and Montgomeryshire ancestry, but have never seen anything to back the claim up. Can anyone confirm or deny?

The lane beyond the gate is the one through the Happy Valley (The Aberdovey by-pass?) It's a couple of miles from its eastern, Cwrt end at the foot of the series of tight, steep hairpin bends .

I've just been through the rest of the pictures in the Flickr site you link to above. Every single picture is both stunning and an inspiration to any modeller with an interest in the railways of the Forest. Upper Lydbrook, in particular, is particularly inspiring, although I must admit that the very name means the Strip-and-at-it colliery has considerable interest (who says model railways can't be sexy?)

As the Captain says, a superb photo of a scene that is unrecognisable today. The forest has encrouched so completely that a footpath struggles to follow the route the train is descending and without the photograph it would be difficult to believe that one, let alone three tracks were once there.

If you get hold of a copy of the Barry Norman/Wild Swan book on Landscape Modelling, Serridge Junction is featured amongst the layout plans at the back of the book. He even suggests the addition of a passenger platform! The only thing the plan doesnt do is make it clear just how steeply the line to Lydbrook climbs away from the junction.

Beware of the poor gear-meshing with the Arnold 0-4-0 chassis. Mine had the same problem and it ended up with one of the gears shedding a tooth. Replacements are, of course, impossible to obtain.

Brian Houghton, a maths teacher at Feltham Comprehensive from the very late 60's, through the 70's and very possibly beyond kindled my interest in the Forest of Dean. He and his wife Hilary used to take groups of interested pupils away on walking trips during the school holidays. The first I went on was to the Lake District (Cumbria didnt exist in those days - it was still Cumberland, Westmorland and bits of Lancashire). The second was a long weekend (possibly Easter) based in Chepstow and everywhere we went we found ourselves walking through idyllic surroundings - usually very green tunnels of trees - along what were easily identifiable as disused railway lines. The high point of the weekend was unexpectedly emerging from the trees to find ourselves on a shelf high above the River Wye. A train used to run along here, I thought as I gazed at the scene in wonderment. If Brian and/or Hilary come across this as a result of Googling themselves I'd like to thank them for some of the seeds they sowed all those years ago. I'm still useless at maths, but that might well be because I was never actually in Brian's class!

One that never ceases to make my hackles rise; The word "exciting" used to promote anything, no matter how mundane or dull. My daughter works in marketing and I have promised her I will write her out of my will if ever I catch her using the word.

I'm a postman! Half past five was a bit of a lie-in!

Not numbered?

First class. Congrats.

Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review issue 83 (which came out about 6 months ago) included a revue of the GW Models rivet press and wasnt particularly impressed (pun unavoidable) with it. That prompted me to look further afield. Everyone who has had contact with the beast praises the NorthWest Shortlines press to the skies but it is astronomically expensive. Further Googling found the Micromark version, which as far as I can tell is exactly the same as the NorthWest Shortlines press but half the price. Mine arrived yesterday. I havent yet had a chance to use it but initial examination is encouraging.

I got given one a few years ago by a well-meaning relative (yeah, I know) and in an effort to show willing, after a hasty re-gauging to EM, and trying not to let my fixed smile turn into a cringe, gave it a brief run on my layout to please the donor. The most obvious thing about it was that it was so much taller than my other stock and I found myself thinking that amongst its many faults was that it was not 4mm scale. Might it be 5.5mm scale, I found myself wondering when my annual visit to the Manx Grand Prix found this mounted by the old watertower at the end of what was once Peel station.

You can't help wondering how many wagons that witch's brew painted. I also wonder what "dryers" were?

I agree entirely about the Precision Midland Railway supposedly "light" grey being much too dark. I wondered if the first tin I bought had been wrongly labelled and was actually the dark grey so went out and bought another tin from an entirely different source and found the same thing. Wondering if, even though they were from different sources, they might have come from the same batch I waited many, many months and bought a third tin from yet another source and found it too was much darker than could possibly be described as "light" grey. Could anyone with more knowledge of the Midland shed any light (groan) on this subject? I ended up mixing my own from assorted Humbrol colours. If you mix it yourself each batch comes out a fractionally different shade and gives the variations in ageing and weathering that Penlan mentions. Thank you for finding out where the vertical brake wheels were supposed to be mounted. All I've got to do now is find the remnants of the etch that has still got the wheels attached to it.

There has obviously been some upgrading of this kit since I got mine, and not all of for the better. I did get the brake wheels but I also got a pre-curved brass roof that you didnt, as well as the "T" section - which might well have been supplied by Eilenes Emporium. One improvement that has been made is the fold lines on the "W" irons are now obviously in the right place. When I built mine with the van standing on the "W" irons, without the wheels fitted, the buffers were more or less at the right height! Pity they didnt improve the instructions!

The wheels are the brake wheels. After I'd built mine I discovered that some (If not all) Cambrian brake vans had upright wheels, rather than the usual "L" shaped handles atop standards. What I never did discover is where and how the wheels are supposed to mount. I'm not sure about the things in your middle picture. Possibly footboard hangers? A hangover from the Jidenco era was the laughable idea that you fabricated your own "T" section strapping from strips. Falcon replaced them with ready made "T" section, but the original strips remained on the fret. I'd guess those are what the long strips are in your third picture.

Jamie The opening paragraph of your initial posting reveals that you are in danger of making the same assumption I did with this kit. The arrangment of handrails in the diagram Falcon Brass provide are pure Swindon, not Oswestry. I'd finished mine and painted it in Cambrian livery before realising that. I can make an educated guess at what the Cambrians handrails should be but I cannot find a pre-grouping picture of one anywhere to prove it. After dithering for ages, I am now in the process of repainting it in GWR colours. Mike PS. The fold lines in the "W" irons are some of those that (On my version, at least) were a very long way from where they ought to have been. PPS. The Dragon Models van is indeed available in 4mm. I've had one since they first came out but still havent built it