scots region

Shhh! No one else might notice!

 

 

 

Yes, exactly. Mixed traffic. Fast fitted freight, equally at home on passenger services. Corridor tender only present because I haven't got a non corridor example to hand!

 

5ft 3in driving wheels - echoing the 9F - but arranged with a front bogie for smoothness of ride, and a similar idea with the rear cartazzi. The standard A2 boiler - 250lb - arranged with a variation on the Thompson front, gives a locomotive which has some of the good parts of Thompson's design ethics - high running plate for maintenance, two cylinders for ease of maintenance. The advantage of the 4-8-2 arrangement is increased adhesion, smaller driving wheels giving a better acceleration too.

 

All in a locomotive which is the same length as a Peppercorn A2.

 

I have always wondered why a 4-8-2 with smaller driving wheels wasn't tried. The only disadvantage of using the 9F chassis (and something I will change if I rebuild it) is the spacing requires the third set of drivers to stay flanged - the gap between the flanged wheels and the unflanged wheelset on either side is not equal.

 

It runs extremely well and looks the part I think. A "Thompson R1", to take the number 701 (next in Thompson's LNER number series after the W1).

But wouldn't a flangles third alxe have an advantage on shorter radius curves? Also perchance did you photograph the build at all?

And in not too disimmilar vein, here's a picture of my latest monster...brace yourselves...

 

 

 

Currently in primer awaiting apple green paint. The question I posed myself was "what if Thompson had tried a 4-8-2 arrangement?"

I really like that, I shall definitely have to have a go at it myself, your sure thats undercoat primer and that you didn't just have some left over paint from the Tornado?

looking good

Hi Scots Region, thank you for your kind comments.You've prompted me to report on the latest progress......

 

The pipework has at last been finished, and given a brushed coat of black. Then, the final coat of sprayed black was applied to the whole body. This has made the general black covering a uniform shade, and created a good toned-down effect on the two brass coloured boiler rings.

 

The body has been posed on the chassis for the pictures:

 

 

 

The smoke deflectors are not yet fitted. They will be the first items to be lined, once I have unearthed my Ian Rathbone book, re-read some of Coachman's writings, and had a practice with the bow pen. By keeping the deflectors separate for the moment I can eaily re-spray them if necessary.

Having been booted out of French, all I can say is, Very nice. You should be dead proud, My shunters still in two bits!

I must say this is a very nice break from the usual 'en mass' of British machines we get, though credit were credit is due in that respect, French engines just have such an aesthetic about them. Their a rough combination of the American 'cluttered' appeal and European finesse.

Beauty of build so far, clearly you are a modeller who would need the Hubble just to locate my league.

How about the worst pairing imaginable, Class 21 and a class 28?

does anyone know if an A3 ever piloted an A4 on a turn into Waverley?

Not sure that preserved lines are the 'run anything' kind of panacea anyway, though there is often variety of stuff its not necessarily all running at the same time, normally 2 or 3 engines at a time maximum - steam and diesel days are Usuallyseperate (again if I was to model a preserved railway the ELR NYMR and severn valley seem to manage the biggest variety in interesting landscape.)

Too many coaches- typically 5 upwards , not enough wagons, what exactly is the appeal, if you want to run what you want just run what you want! ... to model a preserved railway isn't a justifiable excuse, many have at some point run the USA war engines (S160?) where would you get one of them in 4mil?

Exactly my point, modellers of genuine preserved railways can't run anything they want as their constrained by what the railway owns. On the subject of the S160 noone produces a dedicated model of the but DJH produce a HO kit of the American type that (I imagine) could be bashed to look like the war engines. There is another option for serious modellers who have interests in other railway, model an interregional location.

I think I'd better wrap this topic up by saying that, in-fact preserved layouts are quiet popular as layout subjects, however due to the train set stigma that is often applied to the prototype most modellers of them remain silent, leading the rest of us to assume they are unpopular. On that last point I would like to encourage anyone how does model a realistic persevered railway layout to be proud in their achievement.

THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT

 

Have you not considered that the discussion here is a reflection of why they are unpopular as subjects for layouts? I am sorry for trying further intellectual discussion.

 

With reagrds the NYMR's Whitby service being there for the community - what happens if someone in Pickering wants to travel on a Tuesday in February? The railway isn't running then. Plus the train takes and hour and a half, Yorkshire Coastliner will get you there in an hour, and out of season too, and the car will do it in much less than that too if it's quiet and for less than the £21.00 fare on the NYMR.

 

Hertiage railways are tourist attractions; they may add to their communities economies but they aren't there to serve local passengers. Tourists, daytrippers and holidaymakers are the target groups; these people are happy to pay £21 for an adult fare and take three times longer on the train than in the car. For them it's about the overall expereince and not just a means of travel.

 

I'm not criticising heritage railways for surving tourists and not locals, after all there were reasons why many of them closed.

I'm sorry I wasn't targeting this shout at anyone I was reinforcing the original question and I am sorry if you took offense I do appreciate extra debate just so long as the original query is not lost. I would like to close on this debate with saying 'some preserved railways are obviously intended purely for tourism and some play a deeper role in community's, it is simple a matter of individual prefernce'.

But take the NYMR for example, it does bring in a lot of visitors to the cummunities through which is runs, but someone in Pickering can no longer go to their local station and catch a train which could take them to York and then catch a connection to, say, London.

But my point was that a preserved railway can allow locals to serve their needs without the need of a longer trip, in the case of the NYMR it provides services to Whitby which surely must provide services for the locals. Anyway the point of this topic is WHY ARE PRESERVED RAILWAYS (seemingly ) UNPOPULAR AS LAYOUT SUBJETS?.

Maybe it's because they aren't 'real' railways? They're almost like 'steam zoos' at times at many locations.

 

I recently read Rolt's Railway Advneture and you se in their he was determined to make sure the Talyllyn remained part of the community and not just for tourists - I doubt most 'preserved' railways really serve their communities as railways - mostly the benefit is from the money which their visitors spend when they are in the vicinity.

I have also read RAILWAY ADVENTURE but I argue preserved railway's can bring in tourism and serve the local community, in the case of the Talyllyn its preservation allowed the remote community's a more direct route to the main center of Towyn, otherwise they would have to rely on a longer and less substantial road. Incidentally I have been thinking of a 4MM model of Dolgoch (both the station and the Loco) I have also thought of modelling a fictional steam railway owned at first by BR and then, along the lines of Titfield, when the time of closure came a group of community members formed a new company and bought the line to run for the community, for this I was thinking of using Bachmann junior stock.

you could go titfield, and model a fictitious privatly owned steam railway.

Hello, this is a mystery which has befuddled me for a while, why are preserved railways unpopular as Layout subjects? I mean modeling a fictitious preserved line opens up a huge range for a modeller, if you wanted it could be in this reality, an example of Gresley's P2's has been saved, an LMS Garret (imagine one of those on a passenger train !!), a 47XX or a genuine Hawksworth county, an example of all the Classes of GNR(I) 0-6-0s, a Hawksworth Pacific. Its not just Locos, there are some real gems from the Rolling Stock archive that have been lost forever. you could create your own fantasy preservation world. So why is it and what would you preserve?