My layout is set in the period 1959/1961, give or take couple or years. With the arrival of the New Year I have taken the opportunity to move the time period forward and run a few models from say 1963/1964. I shall call it the British Railways Maroon era.
British Rail WR Maroon Hydraulics – Bachmann Magpie and Heljan Western Talisman
Western Talisman was outshopped in maroon in August 1962. A year or more would have to pass before any of the Warships were painted in maroon.
Briti
The winter solstice has passed and we are heading to Christmas and the New Year. Times are certainly changing and last Saturday we spotted our first daffodil flower.
First Daffodil for 2016? SW Scotland 19.12.15
We have also seen some unusually stormy weather. ‘Desmond’ deposited something like three months rainfall in 48 hours over parts of the Region. There was some local damage but thankfully not on the scale of the property damage and personal misery that has affected the North Wes
It is 1961 and here is a view of 6029 King Edward VIII with some chocolate and cream carriages behind it. This is the arrival of Hornby’s new King Class engine. The purchase was an ‘on the spur of a moment’ decision – well worth it I feel.
Hornby 6029 King Edward VIII
Why 1961? Well the Great Western Archive has 6029 allocated to Plymouth Laira in March 1959 (as shown in my Ian Allen book for 1959). Also it has its last shed as Old Oak Common which agrees nicely with my Ian Allen book for
The arrival of Bachmann’s new Class 43 Warship Pegasus has encouraged me to revisit my fleet of Bachmann Warships. I have counted four distinct variants of the Bachmann Warship: the early 'low' version, the corrected version, the lighted version and now the latest Class 43. I don't count Kader’s early Mainline models as being Bachmann, although they have a place in this narrative.
Four ages of Bachmann Warship, left to right, Onslaught, Glory, Zenith and Pegasus
First some history, Kader
Back in July when I resurrected my Mainline ex LMS 2P 4-4-0 I must have been very lucky because
has the engine running perfectly smoothly. Since then attempts to run at slow speed have resulted in the engine stalling on a diamond crossing and worse still coming to an unexpected dead stop in out of the way non scenic sections of the layout.
Peco Streamline Mini Diamond and Mainline ex LMS 2P
The diamond crossing provides the clue.
Peco Insulfrog Short Diamond
The Mainline 2P only
This Post describes some modifications that I have made to a Replica Railways BR Mk1 RB. Previously i have modified the Mainline Maroon RB by fitting Finecast glazing, wire handrails and Bachmann close coupling mechanisms. I promised myself that I would do the same for the chocolate and cream Replica BR(WR) RB. Success!
Replica Railways BR(WR) Restaurant Buffet on BR1 Bogies
First task - find a suitable coach!
Replica Railways Mk1 RB from around 1992
Models are bit like London buse
I like my rakes of Bachmann coaches especially when the coaches are brought closer together.
Close coupled Bachmann Mk1s hauled by Heljan Western King
For track layouts with Peco Medium radius points and above with 36 inch radius or greater curves, there are a number of options available for bringing the coaches closer together. Some appear more readily available than others.
My coaches have been bought over a number of years. As supplied by Bachmann they came fitted with what I be
I have given in to temptation and purchased one of Dapol’s Class 22 green diesels.
(Left) D6313 (Head Code Boxes) back from hospital (Right) D6311 (Discs) fresh from its bath!
In fact I have bought two Class 22s, one with Discs and one with split Head Code Boxes.
Green Diesels from “The Western Since 1948” (G Freeman Allen 1979)
I never saw the prototype but there is a picture of a Class 22 with an early form of air conditioning in the company of a couple of Warships in one of my favouri
I have been watching listings for the six wheel Stove R on that well known auction site. I have succumbed and ‘won’ one. From its name I imagined that it was perhaps a train heating van that the LMS had designed for use with the LMS twins.
Dapol Stove R in company with Bachmann ex LMS BG
How wrong can you be! A check with Jenkinson and Essery shows that the Stove R was Sir William Stanier’s first design for a ‘Full Brake’. It was a Period III design and appeared in 1932/33. It was a six whee
I recently took delivery of one of those cute little six wheeled vans originally from Ian Allan Publishing. I thought that an elderly Mainline ex LMS 2P would make a suitable train engine.
Ex LMS 4-4-0 in Dumfries Station in the early 1960s
I bought my Mainline 2P back in 1984 from C&G models in Darlington.
Mainline 2P from 1984 – it has a lovely faded appearance!
My model was supposed new but never ran properly and has spent most of its 40 year life either in a box or resting peacef
It is well over twelve months since Hornby’s Duke of Gloucester arrived. Much time was spent last year modifying and improving my original ‘preserved’ version so that it would be more suitable for my 1960s based layout.
My original Hornby Duke of Gloucester Special Edition back dated to 1960
Time has moved on and there are now lots of models of Duke of Gloucester available at affordable prices, both ‘preserved’ and 1960’s style. I have now invested in a second model, this time the 1960's ver
My previous Post looked at some detail improvements to the old Mainline Restaurant Buffet including fitting Finecast Flush Glazing, wire handrails and simply filing the buffer heads.
Mainline RB slotted into a rake of BR Mk Is all fitted with Hornby R8220 couplers
For me the most important improvement is the fitting of the Bachmann close coupling mechanism. This enables the coach to be unobtrusively slotted into a rake of Bachmann Mk Is – in my case all fitted with Hornby R8220 couplers.
My first Mainline Restaurant Buffet came from the Cheltenham Model Centre in 1986 for the princely sum of £5.50. For the time it was a well detailed model and far superior to previous Mainline Mk1s which had holes in the sides to aid assembly.
Original Mainline Restaurant Buffet – with re-painted roof
I parted with my first Mainline RB in 2008 and upgraded to a Bachmann Restaurant Unclassified with metal wheels, wire handrails and close couplers. However there was a slight problem. The Bachm
My last Post discussed the merits of various proprietary couplings that could be used to close the gap between two B Set Brake Composites. Sometimes the solution is so obvious that it gets overlooked. I should thank Nergle for his comment and for pointing me the in right direction.
Close Coupled B Sets, Airfix back, Mainline front
A search of the Internet points to an old blog from Tim Venton currently with a work bench thread on the Scale Four web site. The picture montage below is from Tim
The ex GWR ‘B’ Set Airfix model coaches date from 1975. Almost forty years later and the coaches reappeared as Hornby R4293. The coaches must have proved popular and in the intervening years similar models have been available first from Mainline and later Dapol.
Bachmann 9017 on Airfix ‘B’ Set passing Hornby Crimson ‘B’ Set
The ‘B’ Set coaches were operated in pairs. As fitted with standard Airfix (or Hornby) couplings the gap between the coaches is hugely too large.
Original Airfix/Hornb
It is 1987 and I have been given six months holiday on full pay in the West Midlands. As part of my education I had a trip up the Waterless Gas Holder at Swan Village Sandwell.
1987 View from the waterless gas holder Swan Village Sandwell – scan of a copy of a copy
The view was amazing. I was even allowed a peek inside. The more common column or spirally guided holders rise or fall to accommodate changes in the volume of gas stored. Volume change in a waterless gas holder is achieved using a
We had moved into the new house and there was a space. What to build?
In fact there would be a space of five years before the ‘room’ for the railway would be available. Five years might seem an over long time for planning and day dreaming. However I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of time spent looking at other people’s ideas and prototype station layouts. Only then are you in position to draw up some ideas for yourself.
In my case this was fifteen years ago and pre ‘layout design
There have been questions about the mechanism of Hornby’s Hawksworth County. I was inspired to revisit an elderly Dapol County - ‘one that I made earlier’.
Dapol County with Airfix Tender Drive
My original model, County of Stafford - Dapol D4, dates from May 1984. It was purchased from the Oxford Publishing Company for the then not inconsiderable sum of £34.50. I think it was the first ready to run engine with a tender fall plate. I do believe the shape of the cab roof is wrong and that the
My last session featured some of my older models of BR (LMR) steam 4-6-0s. On that occasion I had started to strengthen some of my rakes of coaches and had added additional second class BR Mk1s.
Six Up
The Hornby ‘Staniers’ are relatively light weight. The Bachmann ‘Portholes’, despite some criticism of the bogie design, I think are free running. Adding an extra Bachmann Mk1 to the ‘Staniers’ and the ‘Portholes’ did not cause any haulage problems on my gradients.
My Bachmann Mk1s ap
The Xmas period has provided an opportunity to bring some of my older locomotives out of retirement. I was prompted in part by questions about the running of old Palitoy / Mainline 4-6-0s.
Holiday Reliefs – Mainline Jubilee and Scot on Bachmann Chassis
When I returned to the hobby in the late 1970s both Mainline and Airfix had just started to produce their range of super detail plastic models. The contrast with Hornby Dublo and Triang was amazing – was Meccano management asleep on the job? W
As the winter solstice approaches I thought it appropriate to look back at some of my earliest railway models. My first ‘train set’ arrived one Christmas in the early 1950s. I am guessing that it was 1953 or 1954 when I received a clockwork Trackmaster tank engine, a Graham Farish suburban coach and four Graham Farish goods wagons.
Trackmaster Clockwork engine from the 1950s prior to sale in 2007
1950s Graham Farrish suburban coaches – repainted and fitted with Hornby bogies prior to sa
How to construct the baseboard? This question seems to be asked on a regular basis. I will describe my own experiences.
The woodwork in progress
I have used the same basic approach for all three of my ‘big’ layouts. I would say it is my variation of the ‘L’ Girder technique.
’L’ Girder overview according to CJ Freezer
I spent some time this weekend searching through old periodicals to see if I could find the original article that inspired me to use the ‘L’ Girder technique. No luck – I t
A few weeks back I posted some thoughts on the need for and the use of Capacitor Discharge Units (CDUs) with Peco solenoids. I reported that after some thirty years of model train operation I had now installed my first Capacitor Discharge Units.
Under baseboard Gaugemaster Capacitor Discharge Unit
At the time I did not see a great improvement in point operation. In a couple of cases the operation was worse after installing the CDU than previously with the power supplied directly from 16v aux
Flushed with success after fettling Bucklebury Grange I thought I would tackle some of the other unresolved locomotive issues.
Bachmann 3440 City of Truro
City of Truro arrived from the National Railway Museum in January 2010. I remember being well impressed by the livery and the detail. It ran slowly and smoothly and was carefully put away – too good (expensive) for day to day use. Fast forward to January 2014 and Bachmann’s Dukedog arrives. 9017 was a superb runner, smooth and rock steady.
It is a great feeling when things turn out well. Bucklebury Grange arrived at the beginning of summer.
Hornby Bucklebury Grange (left) Overton Grange (right)
The first model was returned to the seller, something about the way it ran. The replacement model was an improvement, so it stayed. How many models can you send back? However at higher speeds it still seemed to roll around. I began to imagine that one or more of the driving wheels was not central on its axle. Bucklebury Grange was banis
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