Wright writes.....

[micklner]

1 hour ago, Woodcock29 said:

Hi Mick

Thanks for posting your photos. In the first post the second and third photos are of the same van - an LNER CCT built 1939 not what you describe although it maybe a Chivers kit?

 

I'm glad to see the D&S NER CCT - I'm shortly to strip one of those and repaint it, along with one of the Chivers 4 wheel NER CCTs. Both were acquired built in NER livery and are likely to need some resoldering in places.

 

Andrew

Correct photo now attached. Cheers!!

Edited July 8, 2023 by micklner

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

Tony I think there is some confusion here. The painted BR version of this van is one I think you built from a brass Isinglass kit? Its not the same model as the D&S brass one you show above. The end section louvres are different (and incorrect in the etch).

 

These vans are actually general vans to Dia 86. The milk van version is Dia 87 which didn't have the toplights in the centre section and consequently the louvres in those two sections are directly under the cantrail. D87 was also made by Danny - I acquired a built one last year from a deceased estate in Sydney. I already had a built D&S D86 and have two more of those to build.

 

The D&S kit is the better kit.

 

Andrew

Confusion? Me?

 

Of course, and thanks for pointing out my error. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[31A]

 I also built one if the D&S Models LNER 'General Van' kits.  It was a good kit to build as long as you don't try and rush it (there are a lot of small parts!) and produces a very nice model; here it is together with a ex LNER BY from the Chivers plastic kit, which also makes up into a nice model.

 

 

 

 

This is another ex LNER BY, also from the Chivers plastic kit; it represents a Diagram 120 van.  The main deviation from the kit as supplied was to substitute an MJT etched guard's lookout, which looks better than the one provided.

 

 

I have since made another BY using Comet and others' metal parts, for Gilbert's Peterborough North layout.  I made this one as a Diagram 170 - the main difference being the axleguard and spring arrangement.  I actually think this has made a nicer looking model than the plastic one, although there's not a lot in it really.

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

Tony.

 

this is cropped from one of the photos you took of London Road at the York show in 2018.

 

Four short and one medium.

 

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, micklner said:

D&S 184 NER CCT in use as Elephant Van still in  part NER livery.

 

 

Chivers Pigeon Van . Plastic kit.

 

 

D&S DS 186 Aeroplane van

 

 

 

D&S 266 GNR Full Brake

 

 

Good evening Mick,

 

Nice models, thanks for posting.

 

I have a D&S Aeroplane Van running on Little Bytham.

 

 

It was built/painted/weathered by John Houlden, and I acquired it after he sold all his OO sruff. 

 

I really don't know if it's accurate (one thing John didn't do is fix the transparent 'lights' in the roof - a task for me).

 

I assume later in their lives, these vans were used as general parcels stock? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Some little time ago I posted a picture of a Nu-Cast K2 I'd made which was painted by Geoff Haynes. I noted it might be for sale, and, happily, that's what's happened. 

 

 

 

 

It makes an interesting comparison with my London Road K2..........

 

 

Which was painted by Ian Rathbone.

 

 

 

It represents a Boston-allocated K2 which once was fitted with Westinghouse brakes.

 

I've thoroughly-tested the model (it's lived in a box for five years!) and the next time you might see it it'll be on Gilbert Barnatt's Peterborough North. 

 

Thanks for buying it, Gilbert.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Tony Wright]

Taking one of the pictures above, it occurred to me that it's from an unusual angle.

 

So........

 

 

I tried a similar view, but with a much bigger loco - a DJH 9F. 

 

Points of possible interest are the driver casually looking out (secure in the knowledge that his powerful loco is up to the task) and the open cover to the tender's water filler (not often depicted, but quite common). 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

22 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

Tony.

 

this is cropped from one of the photos you took of London Road at the York show in 2018.

 

Four short and one medium.

 

Thanks Jol,

 

Of course, I should have remembered London Road.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[micklner]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Mick,

 

Nice models, thanks for posting.

 

I have a D&S Aeroplane Van running on Little Bytham.

 

 

It was built/painted/weathered by John Houlden, and I acquired it after he sold all his OO sruff. 

 

I really don't know if it's accurate (one thing John didn't do is fix the transparent 'lights' in the roof - a task for me).

 

I assume later in their lives, these vans were used as general parcels stock? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Yes the Aeroplane designation was from WW1. I presume normal CCT type use thereafter by the LNER , no idea if they survived to BR useage.

[t-b-g]

A couple of sets of 4 wheelers built by me for a layout set in the late Victorian period. There are 6 GER carriages built from David Eveleigh etches and 10 close coupled District Railway carriages made from etches commissioned from Worsley Works. The DR ones are illustrated on their home layout and the GER ones are on test in Pl3 at Grandborough Junction before they were delivered.

Edited July 8, 2023 by t-b-g
typo

[Compound2632]

21 hours ago, billbedford said:

It was more likely due to needing a more robust coupling on trains with, for the time, relatively high acceleration. That screw couplings could fail can be seen as even in BR days all brake vans carried a spare.  

 

Interesting thought. In the sets of close-coupled 4-wheelers and 6-wheelers that the Midland built in the 1880s, each carriage had sprung buffers at one end only, with dead buffers at the other, except fpr the brake third carriage at one end of the set. This will have made some saving in weight (buffing spring and buffer rods) and also simplified construction - and hence cost. 

 

But this doesn't apply to the close coupled sets of bogie carriages built from 1899 onwards, which had sprung buffers at both ends of all the carriages.

[LNER4479]

On the subject of short / close-coupled stock:

 

ex-GNR re-cycled Quint set. Former 6-wheel and 8-wheel (rigid) vehicles, mounted on Fox bogies. A mixture of Frank Davies, Bill Bedford and Danny Pinnock (D&S) etches, with Graeme King resin bogies. The formation as seen is BT(5)-T(5)-T(5)-C(2+3)-BC(2+2). Frank's etches were for the BT(5) so the BC vehicle was created by combining it with 4/5ths of a D&S Compo - the 5 third compartment sides thus released was used to make up one of the middle Thirds(!)

[Iain.d]

I recently completed the rebuild of a couple of NE region brake vans – they are former Parkside Dundas PC14 LNER 20T Brake Vans, built to Diagram 034.  They were initially built and painted in the early 90s (not very well) and last year I got around to stripping the paint off them and breaking them down, as best I could, into their original components.

 

 

One came apart with minimal effort, the other less so; its plastic is softer than the one that came apart more easily and I as I tried to pull and lever the plastic, I could see stress lines forming, so in order not to destroy it I decided to leave it semi disassembled.

 

I chucked the original stepboards, they’re over thick (understandably to provide strength) and replaced them with brass strip (fret waste) and .45mm nickel silver wire.

 

 

When I originally built them, the only ‘detailing’ I did was to melt in some handrails made from staples (and only the long vertical ones on the verandas at that) so I filled the holes and drilled new holes for handrails made from .33mm brass wire, I also drilled holes for the small lower handrails. And I drilled holes for handrails on each side of the duckets and the roof. 

 

I added whitemetal roof vents (leftovers from the spares box), drilled out the chimneys, added buffer shanks from Lanarkshire Models (B051D) and sprung buffer heads by Gibson, although they don’t all spring too well as there’s not much room behind the headstocks.

 

 

The duckets are glazed and on the one I got the roof off, the interior end windows are glazed. I made up the lamp irons from the thinnest brass strip I had. The three link couplings are Smith’s. Unlike some of the recently available, newly tooled model brake vans, there’s no interior modelled. They are finished in BR freight wagon grey and have been lightly weathered. I’ve added tail and side lamps from Lanarkshire Models. One van has the safety bars for the guard modelled; they are free moving and can represent closed or open. On the van I didn’t disassemble, I couldn’t get the drill into the pillars to make the necessary holes, I broke two bits in the process so decided to leave them off.

 

 

Hornby have also released a model of this diagram van, but theirs represents the narrower vertical planked version with angle iron securing the van body to the underframe, not wood as on the Parkside. I bought a Hornby one a while back and think it’s a quality model, that said, I think my rebuilds compare reasonably favourably.

 

 

The transfers are home produced, I’m not sure if they’re exactly right for these vans as I’ve depicted them – many were modified over their lives. Reference to David Larkin’s The Acquired Wagons of British Railways Volume 1 would suggest I’m in the right area though. My one day layout will be based in deep Somerset, Don Rowland’s Twilight of the Goods suggests these vans got to places far beyond their home ground, so maybe one did. But three?!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[Barry Ten]

Amazing transformations, Iain.

[Iain.d]

23 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

Amazing transformations, Iain.

Thanks Al.

[Bulwell Hall]

FWIW here is a GWR modellers take on an ex NER Horsebox built from a D&S kit.  These are lovely kits that well repay the time taken to build them.  And it is surprising how often these ex NER vehicles turn up in photos of GWR station yards so I needed little excuse to make one!

 

Gerry

[Woodcock29]

In the interest of D&S kits and short trains here is another photo of my D&S triplet on Gavin Thrum's Spirsby exhibition layout. The large (probably too large!) bracket somersault signals was my first go at building such from MSE parts. 

 

Andrew 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Woodcock29
Typo

[John Isherwood]

12 hours ago, Iain.d said:

I recently completed the rebuild of a couple of NE region brake vans – they are former Parkside Dundas PC14 LNER 20T Brake Vans, built to Diagram 034.  They were initially built and painted in the early 90s (not very well) and last year I got around to stripping the paint off them and breaking them down, as best I could, into their original components.

 

 

One came apart with minimal effort, the other less so; its plastic is softer than the one that came apart more easily and I as I tried to pull and lever the plastic, I could see stress lines forming, so in order not to destroy it I decided to leave it semi disassembled.

 

I chucked the original stepboards, they’re over thick (understandably to provide strength) and replaced them with brass strip (fret waste) and .45mm nickel silver wire.

 

 

When I originally built them, the only ‘detailing’ I did was to melt in some handrails made from staples (and only the long vertical ones on the verandas at that) so I filled the holes and drilled new holes for handrails made from .33mm brass wire, I also drilled holes for the small lower handrails. And I drilled holes for handrails on each side of the duckets and the roof. 

 

I added whitemetal roof vents (leftovers from the spares box), drilled out the chimneys, added buffer shanks from Lanarkshire Models (B051D) and sprung buffer heads by Gibson, although they don’t all spring too well as there’s not much room behind the headstocks.

 

 

The duckets are glazed and on the one I got the roof off, the interior end windows are glazed. I made up the lamp irons from the thinnest brass strip I had. The three link couplings are Smith’s. Unlike some of the recently available, newly tooled model brake vans, there’s no interior modelled. They are finished in BR freight wagon grey and have been lightly weathered. I’ve added tail and side lamps from Lanarkshire Models. One van has the safety bars for the guard modelled; they are free moving and can represent closed or open. On the van I didn’t disassemble, I couldn’t get the drill into the pillars to make the necessary holes, I broke two bits in the process so decided to leave them off.

 

 

Hornby have also released a model of this diagram van, but theirs represents the narrower vertical planked version with angle iron securing the van body to the underframe, not wood as on the Parkside. I bought a Hornby one a while back and think it’s a quality model, that said, I think my rebuilds compare reasonably favourably.

 

 

The transfers are home produced, I’m not sure if they’re exactly right for these vans as I’ve depicted them – many were modified over their lives. Reference to David Larkin’s The Acquired Wagons of British Railways Volume 1 would suggest I’m in the right area though. My one day layout will be based in deep Somerset, Don Rowland’s Twilight of the Goods suggests these vans got to places far beyond their home ground, so maybe one did. But three?!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

 

The Bodmin & Wenford Bridge branch had one, I believe.

 

Living close to the former branch, and having walked it, the clearances and curves apparently necessitated a SWB brakevan.

 

You can't get much further from the NE Region than that!

 

John Isherwood.

[Tony Wright]

Mention of the Midland Railway seemed to generate a fair bit of interest, so here's a further selection of images illustrating aspects of that great line and its successors...........

 

 

Ambergate.

 

 

Ambleside.

 

 

Moorcock Junction.

 

 

Bath Green Park.

 

 

Buxton.

 

 

Dewsbury Midland.

 

 

Dewsbury S7.

 

 

Rise Hill Tunnel mouth.

 

 

Hammeston Wharf.

 

 

Kendale.

 

 

My own Little Bytham.

 

 

James Harewood's Scale 7 masterpiece.

 

 

Big Bertha, which I built from a DJH kit, and Geoff Haynes painted. 

 

 

[Compound2632]

Hammeston Wharf looks interesting - not come across it.

[lezz01]

Lovely photos Tony. I do like a slim boilered Johnson 4-4-0.

Regards Lez. 

[MJI]

Just been doing brake gear on my 2p, also added a wire loop coupling bar the lrm tender.

 

I managed to fit a large high level motor

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

Hammeston Wharf looks interesting - not come across it.

Good evening Stephen,

 

It was built by a group in Macclesfield, in O Gauge, many years ago.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

57 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

Lovely photos Tony. I do like a slim boilered Johnson 4-4-0.

Regards Lez. 

Good evening Lez,

 

It won the trophy at Guildex some 20 odd years ago. 

 

James Harewood built it for Bob Essery.

 

The other one (on Dewsbury) was built by Geoff Holt, also for Bob. 

 

It's been my privilege to be able to photograph such outstanding creations. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[St Enodoc]

13 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

In the interest of D&S kits and short trains here is another photo of my D&S triplet on Gavin Thrum's Spirsby exhibition layout. The large (probably too large!) bracket somersault signals was my first go at building such from MSE parts. 

 

Andrew 

 

Andrew is too modest to mention that the signals work perfectly, just like the rest of the layout (as one would expect from him and Gavin).