BR(W)

Hello, Mucky (I feel first names are appropriate after all this time?). Thanks for the mention - what a gentleman you are. I have to say that the finished article is simply amazing; I thought the photos were of a brass, etc., kit. I said to myself: Mmm, someone's made a fine job of the excellent Brassmasters offering. One point about the elevated front end. I've had this on a few Hornby Black Fives and it turned out to be the captive brass insert in the body used in securing the front of the loco. to the chassis, protruding about a millimetre instead of being flush with the mating surface. I took a sharp, HSS drill bit (10mm or so) and, turning it between thumb and forefinger, removed the protruding portion. Having blown away the swarf, I refitted the body and, tada, the body now sits lower at the front, looking much more like a Black Five, and not at all like Fireball XL5 taking off. In fact, when screwing the body back on, it contacted the quite flexible cylinder block 'saddle' and pushed down on either side, eliminating completely the hitherto obvious gap on both sides between the steam chest and the running plate valance. A consequence of all this is that the loco. buffers, when compared to the tender buffers on level track, are now at the same height. I, too, suspected the boingy rear axle, but this turned out to be a red herring. Hope this simple mod. works for you, and thanks for sharing your impressive modelling. Best wishes, BR(W).

Hello, M.I.B. If you wish to model a G.W. 'storm sheet', you don't have to represent it rolled up. They were very often folded back over the cab roof and secured like this: Great Western Railway No. 6833 Calcot Grange, a 4-6-0 Grange class steam locomotive, photographed at Temple Meads station, Bristol, England sometime between 1959 and 1965. Built 1937 and withdrawn from service 1965. Photographed by Adrian Pingstone, prepared for Wikipedia in January 2004. I have always thought that this would be a good way to conceal the thickness of RTR cab roofs. Hope you find this useful. BR(W).

Cap'n,<br><br>Nice work. I think that I may be right in saying that this class had the most livery variants of any of its contemporaries (I make it eight).<br><br>One question, though, before you get out the Testors: Is the right-facing BR emblem correct? I believe that the '84000'-style repaint was done at Crewe in early 1963, and by this time all Works had ceased applying right-facing crests on the right-hand sides of locomotives and tenders (by heraldic diktat, from early 1959).<br><br>A photograph of '44 in mid-1963 shows a left-facing emblem, with most of the lining already obliterated by grime, incidentally. A further point of interest may be that the incorrect Power Class '4' was shown above the running number (now does that make nine livery variants?). I get the impression that Crewe wasn't used to these locos!<br><br>Hope you don't mind...<br>

7011 always carried a high-superheat boiler ('HB'), so, by 1964, there would not have been an oil-pipe cover on the left-hand boiler-smokebox join (as built, there was a long, 'streamlined' version, eg when she carried that bilious, apple-green, 'experimental' livery). Similarly, on the right-hand side, there was the large, oblong cover which had a rounded front and 'chisel' rear end. Also on the right-hand side, at the boiler-firebox join, there was a rectangular cover plate. This latter has not been modelled by Hornby on any of the high-superheat boilers ('HB' or 'HC'), although Bachmann have featured it on the 6959 class ('AK'). Off topic, be careful here as not all 'AK' covers were rectangular. Again by 1964, 7011 had the raised central portion on top of the BR inside cylinder casing (to clear strengthening ribs on the opened-out exhaust ports), and all of the upper surfaces, but not the sides, of the casing had chequer-plate applied as an anti-slip measure. This was folded over the front face for getting on for a couple of inches, and both of these features (the raised central portion and the chequer-plate) were applied to GW and BR pattern casings alike (the GW pattern had a rounded 'bullnose' top front edge, whereas the BR pattern had a right-angled one). The buffers would normally have been parallel shank ones with tread plates on top in 1964; Hornby's efforts appear to me to be a curious 'half-way house' between the Collet taper and parallel versions and should be replaced for absolute accuracy. Quite right, the grab rail on the cab side sheets should be 'L'-shaped. These appeared from 5098 onwards (ie post-war) and were not retro-fitted to pre-war locos. Remaining at the cab end, you will require external sandboxes, with external filler caps. On the plus side (and I think these three outweigh all the above) are the lovely ATC conduit, late pattern steam pipes and mechanical lubricator, all required by your proposed 7011, of course; Hornby's error in providing a lubricator for 5053 is your gain! Hope this helps. BR(W).

Looking forward to seeing the working needles and bells - no, don't, I'm only joking! Exquisite modelling. Regards, BR(W)

Hello. I've just come across your smashing little plan - more G.W.R., brilliant! May I make a few of comments? The first would be the seeming total absence of any provisions for coal on the plan, either loco. coal (and coaling facilities), or commercial (domestic/industrial) coal; small coal yards are not corny, they were a fact of life. The second would be the absence of a yard crane; again, these were quite common in busy little yards. You may say that there is one inside the large goods shed, but would that be adequate? My third point concerns the layout. You have a 'signature' industry in the creamery, and these could be quite large affairs with road access for tanker lorries, etc., and in its current, central location, it may dominate the visual composition without providing any useful scene blocking. Now you have an inconvenient chimney breast which, if suitably clad with factory, warehouse or, yes, creamery facings, could make a very convenient home for a signature industry. In this case, road access would be 'off stage' round the side of the chimney (as for the goods shed), and the siding running up to the front of the chimney breast (at the bottom of the plan) could then serve that industry with covered loading facilities running out from the front elevation of the building, blending the chimney breast into the layout. This would also provide a charming (?) view through this covered bay across the station, between the signal box and goods shed. The central siding now vacated by the creamery would now serve a small coal yard with a yard crane. Nice. Hope you don't mind the suggestions. I look forward to seeing progress. Regards, BR(W).

Hello, MD. I've been following this excellent piece of work since the beginning, and I must thank you for sharing it with us. You will. though, remember to remove the vacuum pump operating arm from the left-hand crosshead, won't you? The pump and its paraphernalia were, of course, omitted from 1938 onwards, with previous batches being modified when shopped (although the pump will probably long since have given up the ghost). Thanks again for sharing your experiences, your impressive skills and, not least, your dauntless perseverance! Kind regards, BR(W).

iak, I think your best bet is the 'North and West' expresses, all using the Crewe to Shrewsbury route and working from Liverpool and Manchester to Plymouth and Penzance, and South Wales (Swansea and Cardiff) and back, of course. One day WR stock was used, another, LMR - and there were through coaches, one in particular, generally a BCK, to Glasgow. An LMR loco. (generally a Scot, Coronation or Brit.) worked to Shrewsbury where a WR loco (Castle mostly) took over. The celebrated 'double home' run from Shrewsbury to Newton Abbot formed the backbone of the most famous of these 'North and West' cross country expresses. I have a picture of a chocolate and cream (with BR roundel) BCK (admittedly a mk. 1) sitting at Glasgow Central from one of these services in the early sixties, but there is no reason why this could not have been a Hawksworth BCK... Now you've no excuse! BR(W)

Andy, Thank you so much for the pictures. These look to be exquisite models of the most handsome of all coaching stock. The underframe trussing appears to be of a filigree-fineness that I think I've only ever seen represented before in metal; it's so straight, it looks to be actually under tension, quietly doing its job. And the flush glazing, surely a signature of Hawksworth stock, seems to be amazingly, well, flush. The suspended gangways look tasty, too, and the fabricated bogies... I'll stop now. So, well done, Hornby; and well done, Andy - thanks again. Stephen.

Hello, 5XP. Some beautiful craftsmanship there, so much so that your accuracy and tidiness led me initially to think it was 7mm! I would find it difficult to start to paint it, I'd probably prefer to get out the Brasso and lacquer and then give it pride of place on the bookcase (just a shame it's not a 28XX)! But you won't forget the handrail knob above the smokebox door, will you - or have you found a prototype that didn't have one? Really looking forward to seeing the progress, Best wishes, and may your fingertips never get burnt... BR(W).

Hello, Taz. I think the only problem changing 7034 to 5069 is that the former has the later (post-war 'Castle' batches), 'L'-shaped style of cabside grab-rail (what I call the Type 3), whereas 5069 had the early, straight, horizontal pattern under the cab side-window (what I call the Type 1). Incidentally, the 'Collett Goods', or 'Baby Castles' to some, had three types of cab grab-rail: Type 1, straight, horizontal and directly under the cab side-window (generally modified to Type 2 on the 2251s); Type 2 (not used on 'Castles'), as Type 1, but with an extra, vertical rail in front of the window; and Type 3, the 'cost-engineered', one-piece job providing the functionality of the Type 2. Your superb photographs of 7034 show the model to be a beauty. But I'm still sad that Hornby saw fit not to represent at least the lower jaw of the massive slidebar bracket. If anyone is unconvinced, just take a look at any decent picture of a G.W. 4-cylinder locomotive (for example Stationmaster's excellent avatar can be found at ...>Prototype Galleries>The Stationmaster Looks At Locos>7029..., 11th.October 2009), and tell me that you can ignore that hefty, cast 'hockey stick' protruding from between the adjacent, lower quadrants of the first and second driving wheels. Moreover, Hornby have even correctly modelled the displaced front brake hanger/shoe assembly - displaced to provide room for that motion bracket's lower jaw! And although I haven't yet got my stickies on a new Hornby 'Castle', I am sure that at least the lower jaw could have been represened, even in 'OO', possibly moulded as part of the front brake hanger/shoe assembly or the chassis keeper plate. The vertical part may be more difficult, especially in 'OO', and is, anyway, less noticeable. I hope the above helps, and thanks for your fantastic photographs of an impressive model. They have persuaded me to buy a few, and to seriously reconsider my 'silk purse from sow's ear' upgrade project on Hornby's previous offering of Dapol/GMR/Airfix provenance . Best wishes, BR(W).