Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

There's not a great deal left now of the Brian Lee collection. 

 

However, there are these two...........

 

 

A Midland 3F. 

 

I'm not sure of its origins, but it's from an etched kit.

 

It runs sweetly.

 

£90.00.

 

 

In the '70s models like this 'Crab' were imported from the Far East (it has a serial number on the base of its chassis. 

 

It runs rather well. 

 

£100.00.

 

If anyone is interested, please PM me.

 

(I should have dusted them before taking pictures!). 

[Tony Wright]

Just when I thought Little Bytham was finished..................

 

 

A friend gave me this splendid picture (it show 60158 ABERDONIAN  heading north in the summer of 1958).

 

Please note the small brick-built hut above the carriage roof, to the right of the Up slow signal. It's a petrol storage hut, and was on the plan we worked to, but we forgot about it. 

 

Until the picture appeared...........

 

 

So, Ian Wilson has made it. Its site was plotted from the drawing and a template made. I've just cut some carboard to bring the base level.

 

 

The template allows accurate positioning. Tomorrow I'll finish the groundwork.

 

Something like this reinforces my belief that actual prototype-location modelling is the way to go. No amount (in my view) of 'make-believe' modelling (however well done) can replicate how things really were. 

 

More progress tomorrow (which is something of an anniversary). 

 

 

[gr.king]

17 hours ago, rowanj said:

I was at my first Exhibition since Lockdown last weekend, and, although I quite enjoyed it, the experience has left me somewhat disconcerted. It was already getting harder to get kit-building parts at local shows, but this show was particularly difficult. I was looking for Parkside kits, Railmatch paints, flux and some decent books or videos, and came away with a Dapol mineral wagon kit, a motor/gearbox as HighLevel Models were there, and a Christmas cake. Most of the traders, of which there were fewer than in earlier years, were selling RTR with a good range of second-hand stock. The layouts were pretty good. though none were of my regional/ era's interest. Again, there seemed fewer than normal, and the dealers selling tools and books were not there. I was there less than an hour.

It's hard to judge how attendance went - the venue is large and well laid out, so there is room to get around. However, there was only a small queue to get in- normally it is much longer- and there was plenty of parking, when, last time I attended this venue, I struggled to find a space in the overflow carpark. I suspect the numbers were low, which surprised me as this was the return of a major and long established show after 2 years.

I hope I'm wrong about this.I have loads of time and admiration for this Club, but the whole thing felt "sad",

The deficiency in suppliers for model makers at shows was gradually developing even before the pandemic, but I think it has been particularly noticeable at a couple of recent shows that have definitely been more suited to model makers in past years. It's hardly surprising really. Many proprietors of the specialist kits and materials businesses are in their later years and may not enjoy (or at least tolerate) travel to shows for working weekends in the way they once did. The younger generation, thanks to the ridiculous burden of regulations and liabilities imposed on even the smallest businesses, are extremely reluctant to start or take on a small business as they quite rightly consider that they have better things to do with their time and money than to give it all to regulatory compliance and maintenance of staff "rights" and benefits. Some of the specialist traders have already stated that they won't do shows any more - they can make do with on-line sales or mail order. And  so many so-called modellers now build hardly anything but the simplest items for themselves, instead using on-line pestering to get the major manufacturers and retailers to introduce more and more ready-made limited-run items, so what is the future for model makers' specialist suppliers? Will the massively increased cost of new RTR models save the art of model making by making the production of all-RTR clone layouts unaffordable, forcing more modellers to look to their own model making abilities to supply a layout's needs? I'm afraid I doubt it.

Edited November 15, 2022 by gr.king
Tidying up grammar!

[Tony Wright]

The 3F has sold!

[Tony Wright]

19 minutes ago, gr.king said:

The deficiency in suppliers for model makers at shows was been gradually developing even before the pandemic, but I think it has been particularly noticeable at a couple of recent shows that have definitely been more suited to model makers in past years. It's hardly surprising really. Many proprietors of the specialist kits and materials business are in their later years and may not enjoy (or at least tolerate) travel to shows for working weekends in the way they once did. The younger generation, thanks to the ridiculous burden of regulations and liabilities imposed on even the smallest businesses, are extremely reluctant to start or take on a small business as they quite rightly consider that they have better things to do with their time and money than to give it all to regulatory compliance and maintenance of staff "rights" and benefits. Some of the specialist traders have already stated that they won't do shows any more - they can make do with on-line sales or mail order. And  so many so-called modellers now build hardly anything but the simplest items for themselves, instead using on-line pestering to get the major manufacturers and retailers to introduce more and more ready-made limited-run items, so what is the future for model makers' specialist suppliers? Will the massively increased cost of new RTR models save the art of model making by making the production of all-RTR clone layouts unaffordable, forcing more modellers to look to their own model making abilities to supply a layout's needs? I'm afraid I doubt it.

Good evening Graeme,

 

I share your observations, having come to the same conclusions with regard to the shows I've attended of late. One, last month, used to be a hive of activity with regard to specialist traders. Specialists who sold kits, bits, motors, wheels and all the paraphernalia needed to actually build something. Hardly now, especially for loco-/stock-builders like me. The one just over a week ago used to be the same. I did find a motor (a D13), and the asking price was £36.00. What! Nobody bought it; I'm not surprised. 

 

More and more, I'm adopting an 'I'm all right Jack' position. Prior to lockdowns (and through them by mail order) I've ordered lots of kits and all the parts needed to complete them (now, well into double figures). I really don't bother with what's coming along RTR (other than as an advisor or a photo-journalist/reviewer) and how much it costs (which is a lot!) is an irrelevance. Granted, what I've seen of late is fantastic, but it's really only the result of purchasing-power. I suppose I'm a bit of a hypocrite. 

 

And, at shows, where I see layouts populated with RTR locos/stock (however much they're altered), I just breeze by.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Bernard Lamb]

49 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

 

(I should have dusted them before taking pictures!). 

The one I bought was very dirty.

A work over with a dry brush removed the dust and then a good scrub with a wet brush removed the dirt.

This did show up some defects.

I should be able to get round to giving it a make over next week.

A couple of errors to correct and I will have a very nice loco.

Many thanks to Tony for getting it into a working condition and enabling locos from the collection to have a new lease of life.

Bernard 

[Leander]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

The 3F has sold!

It's probably abuilt from a Craftsman kit Tony, rather like this one.

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, Leander said:

It's probably abuilt from a Craftsman kit Tony, rather like this one.

Thanks Pete,

 

I think it is. 

 

It also 'suffered' from what yours appears to have done; that is bent-in cab steps on one side! When I tested the one from the collection, it kept on locking up. I thought 'Oh cr@p', the rods are binding! When I lifted the 'lid' to investigate, oil and clean, the binding disappeared. The rear crankpin was catching the steps! They're now bent back straight. I'd do the same with yours..............

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

The one I bought was very dirty.

A work over with a dry brush removed the dust and then a good scrub with a wet brush removed the dirt.

This did show up some defects.

I should be able to get round to giving it a make over next week.

A couple of errors to correct and I will have a very nice loco.

Many thanks to Tony for getting it into a working condition and enabling locos from the collection to have a new lease of life.

Bernard 

Good morning Bernard,

 

I should have been more diligent in my 'cleaning regime' (though I didn't actually employ an external one!).

 

The models have been in a loft all their lives, and for several years Brian was unable to get into it (impossible for him now). So, they've just gathered dust and muck, unattended. I've cleaned them all mechanically, and adjusted as necessary. 

 

I'd like to think it was 'natural' weathering. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

[Tony Wright]

I don't know how many have noticed, but Wright writes is a decade old today! 2744 pages in ten years! Perhaps someone good at 'hard sums' might like to break that down into how many pages a month, etc.......... Thanks in anticipation. 

 

Has there been a more-active thread on the site over that time, I wonder? Don't forget, it's down to you, the readers and posters, who've made it so popular.

 

I've found the whole thing completely fascinating. Who'd have thought that I'd be indulging in social media? It's been lively, argumentative, rancorous (at times), thought-provoking, friendly, educational, but, above all else in my view, enlightening. May I please thank all those who've made it so enthralling? 

 

Speaking of thanks, most must go to Andy York who set the whole thing up in 2012. At the time I was in the grip of 'The Black Dog', and, by his setting up of WW, I was able to keep in touch with the hobby (he even posted on my behalf to begin with). It was a Godsend.

 

Anyway, here's to the next ten years.........

[Tony Wright]

With regard to the Brian Lee collection, I've exercised my prerogative of first-refusal at times. That's not just with regard to what I might contemplate buying, but items I know friends might like (if this smacks of corruption, then so be it!).

 

Here's a case in point...........

 

 

 

It's a K's Garratt, but it's got Romfords and twin Portescaps underneath. It's a beautiful runner.

 

Geoff Haynes is going to alter it to BR condition; to look like this...............

 

 

It's already dirty enough! 

 

I showed the model pictures to a friend and he said 'Yes please'. He's going to have fun fitting two decoders and two speakers into it. Rather him than me!

[Tony Wright]

Glad to report that it looks like the Far East Crab has sold!

[Staffordshire]

  After seeing the photos of the Garratt, showing the immense size,   I thought this photo demonstrated the 

variation in  British Railway modelling etc ....

 

   LMS/BR Sentinel loco in final phases of construction,  by  in my opinion a very skilled  Modeller, not me !

[Michael Edge]

Does yours have the three windows in the back of the cab?

I finally found a back photo of 47184 just before I started building this, in time to make a new cab back for this lovely little kit. I have no use for this loco but it has always been one of my favourites after seeing a photo of it in my first trainspotter's ABC - much later I discovered that I could easily have gone at seen it at Sutton Oak shed.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't know how many have noticed, but Wright writes is a decade old today! 2744 pages in ten years! Perhaps someone good at 'hard sums' might like to break that down into how many pages a month, etc.......... Thanks in anticipation. 

 

 

Let's see now....

3651 days of posts

274.4 pages per year

22.8667 pages per month

An average of 0.7518 pages per day

And if any of that's wrong, blame Alexa....

 

(It was a choice between doing those sums or continuing to strip the paint off a staircase.  The sums won).

[MJI]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't know how many have noticed, but Wright writes is a decade old today! 2744 pages in ten years! Perhaps someone good at 'hard sums' might like to break that down into how many pages a month, etc.......... Thanks in anticipation. 

 

Has there been a more-active thread on the site over that time, I wonder? Don't forget, it's down to you, the readers and posters, who've made it so popular.

 

I've found the whole thing completely fascinating. Who'd have thought that I'd be indulging in social media? It's been lively, argumentative, rancorous (at times), thought-provoking, friendly, educational, but, above all else in my view, enlightening. May I please thank all those who've made it so enthralling? 

 

Speaking of thanks, most must go to Andy York who set the whole thing up in 2012. At the time I was in the grip of 'The Black Dog', and, by his setting up of WW, I was able to keep in touch with the hobby (he even posted on my behalf to begin with). It was a Godsend.

 

Anyway, here's to the next ten years.........

 

I don't class forums as social media, been around for years, I would class stuff like facebook as socail media.

[Barry Ten]

A bit more on the old Duchess. Valve gear fitted to this side:

 

 

I've found it much more straight-forward than the Princess Royal.

 

[Evertonian]

Good afternoon Tony, just to say how much I enjoy catching up with "Wright

Writes" every couple of days, there always seems to be something of interest

to see or digest - long may it continue !   An added bonus of course helping

your recovery, well done Andy Y all those years ago.

 

best wishes to yourself and Mo, Chris K

 

 

[DenysW]

7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

It's already dirty enough! 

If you go for 47996, then there are 5 photos in Ian Sixsmith's "The Book of the LMS Garratts", one of them with the numbers at both ends picked out by the cleaners, something I've not seen in general on 'weathered' models. Would you replicate this? - it's ephemeral as the other pictures don't show it for 47996, but do on some views of other Garratts. (9th May 1954 for the picture by B.K.B Green, Initial Photographics). By the 1950s the repair rivets on the Garratts (on the front of the leading water tank) are also individual to each loco, but visible in only one of the views of 47996. You can also pick your degree of weathering, all in the 1950s, all from the same 5 photos - from pretty clean to pretty filthy.

 

It's not only LNER fans who are OCD-like about details is my excuse.

[Barry O]

2 minutes ago, DenysW said:

If you go for 47996, then there are 5 photos in Ian Sixsmith's "The Book of the LMS Garratts", one of them with the numbers at both ends picked out by the cleaners, something I've not seen in general on 'weathered' models. Would you replicate this? - it's ephemeral as the other pictures don't show it for 47996, but do on some views of other Garratts. (9th May 1954 for the picture by B.K.B Green, Initial Photographics). By the 1950s the repair rivets on the Garratts (on the front of the leading water tank) are also individual to each loco, but visible in only one of the views of 47996. You can also pick your degree of weathering, all in the 1950s, all from the same 5 photos - from pretty clean to pretty filthy.

 

It's not only LNER fans who are OCD-like about details is my excuse.

I weather locos with the numbers "cleaned"  - its especially relevant if you use the numbers as you dcc address.

 

@Tony Wright you only need 1 speaker and 1 dcc chip.. honest gov!

 

Baz

[Barry O]

5 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Does yours have the three windows in the back of the cab?

I finally found a back photo of 47184 just before I started building this, in time to make a new cab back for this lovely little kit. I have no use for this loco but it has always been one of my favourites after seeing a photo of it in my first trainspotter's ABC - much later I discovered that I could easily have gone at seen it at Sutton Oak shed.

For some reason Mike won't let me weather this one!

 

Baz

[Tony Wright]

New models just in for photography.......

 

 

Heljan's latest O Gauge BR CCT.

 

 

And Hornby's most-recent Class 56 in OO.

 

Reports will be in BRM soon. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Tony Wright
to add something

[AY Mod]

2 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Heljan's latest O Gauge BR CCT.

 

Be thankful they didn't send the weathered version! Truly dire treatment.

[Michael Edge]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

For some reason Mike won't let me weather this one!

 

Baz

Not yet anyway.....

[Michael Edge]

8 hours ago, Staffordshire said:

  After seeing the photos of the Garratt, showing the immense size,   I thought this photo demonstrated the 

variation in  British Railway modelling etc ....

 

   LMS/BR Sentinel loco in final phases of construction,  by  in my opinion a very skilled  Modeller, not me !

It seems that Staffordshire's model of 47184 is from the now defunct Impetus kit, mine is from the excellent RT Models kit and a superb runner with its High Level Quadriver.