Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

50 minutes ago, MJI said:

There are large format ones.

 

Depends on what you want to do with them.

 

My worry is some over 40 have faded badly

What might a scanner able to process 5" x 4" trannies cost? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Has anyone tried to get a Heljan O2 apart? 

 

 

I certainly did with the first ones, but this new one was a bit tight! 

[MJI]

38 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

What might a scanner able to process 5" x 4" trannies cost? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Not sure but I had to pay 360 for acceptable quality. Even the 180 ones were not much better than a flat bed scanner.

[DenysW]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

More shots of Copenhagen Fields............

I know this is a nitpick, but the bus is an open-back, open-top B type with General on its side. That puts the scene in the mid-1920s most probably, and certainly before the formation of London Transport (in 1933?). The staircases stayed open for a while after roofs started being used.

 

Yet there are streamline LNER locomotives. The bus should be a ST, STL, or LT. Very few pre-War RTs, but an outside possibility if the target date is 1939.

 

We'd comment on out-of-time-period rolling stock or railway liveries, just saying.

[uax6]

If you have a good scanner, which is no longer supported by windows, try Vuescan. I've got an old Canon scanner I was given and when I went from XP to windows 10 it stopped working, but Vuescan has brought it back to life and I'm still using it now.

IIRC its free for very basic use, and then a small sum for more features. It even made my brand new Epson printer/scan combo work, as Epson's software wouldn't load. 

The wife uses it on her laptop too.

https://www.hamrick.com/

 

Andy G

[MJI]

34 minutes ago, uax6 said:

If you have a good scanner, which is no longer supported by windows, try Vuescan. I've got an old Canon scanner I was given and when I went from XP to windows 10 it stopped working, but Vuescan has brought it back to life and I'm still using it now.

IIRC its free for very basic use, and then a small sum for more features. It even made my brand new Epson printer/scan combo work, as Epson's software wouldn't load. 

The wife uses it on her laptop too.

https://www.hamrick.com/

 

Andy G

I need to trial it, but I currently have my slide scanner running on a 10 VM.

 

Managed to acquire a windoze licence from work for it.

 

Need Mint drivers though for that scanner. Don't think they have them.

[Northmoor]

9 hours ago, Richard_A said:

That's pretty much my thinking,  I'd imagine it would have looked like a smaller version of Cardiff central on the raised connecting lines which ran to the rear of the high street with the station near the castle remains, but as the structure was deemed unsafe (in the 1950s?) would there have been a preemptive rebuild of the structure in lieu of heavier trains and possible future expansion?

If only there'd been the money to build this just after the war, as so much of Swansea had been levelled in air raids (I think Swansea saw the greatest proportion of it's historic buildings destroyed of any British city in WW2).

 

Using the GWR route in from the East, merging with the Midland somewhere near the Tawe bridge and exiting Westwards along the seafront route, would have made an intersting alternative to the current network.  Perhaps the Cockett route closed and West Wales traffic going via Gorseinon and Llangennech?

[CF MRC]

4 hours ago, DenysW said:

I know this is a nitpick, but the bus is an open-back, open-top B type with General on its side. That puts the scene in the mid-1920s most probably, and certainly before the formation of London Transport (in 1933?). The staircases stayed open for a while after roofs started being used.

 

Yet there are streamline LNER locomotives. The bus should be a ST, STL, or LT. Very few pre-War RTs, but an outside possibility if the target date is 1939.

 

We'd comment on out-of-time-period rolling stock or railway liveries, just saying.

We have always had the huge expanse of scenery on CF broadly set for between the wars. That B type bus is a truly incredible piece of scratch built model making by Matthew Wald.  In any one area there will be vehicles of equivalent periods; along the Cally there is a broken down STL and further on a Scooter, but that ought really to be on York Road. Keen House is even modelled and that wasn’t built until 1960!
 

The trains run through 22’ of layout passing through many different scenes around them: the stock spans in period from pre Great War up until 1939 with mixed periods sometimes passing each other: it is difficult to always manage what is on view at any one time, with different lines operated from each end, but our individual train makeup won’t be too inconsistent. I think the viewing public appreciate the range of trains that we run, even with the anomalies, at least they are (mainly) apple green and teak. 
 

Our signals are a mixture of upper quadrants and somersaults. The track plan at the Gasworks Tunnel end is pre-1932, Belle Isle Down box closed in 1932 as did York Road tube, well before the fully streamlined era. Caledonian Road tube probably shouldn’t have a suicide pit for our period. There are so many anomalies on CF - you don’t have to look far to find them. Many photographs are staged to avoid railway period clashes in-shot, but then some are taken under time pressure at shows, so contradictions can appear. 
 

Hope that helps. 
 

Tim

Edited August 26 by CF MRC

[Tony Wright]

After writing my review of the latest Heljan O2s (to be published in BRM), I've started 'fiddling' with one. 

 

 

Gone forever is the tension-lock coupling on the tender (replaced by a Sprat & Winkle bar), a crew has been added and I've glued more (real) coal into the bunker. 

 

One thing I've yet to do (tomorrow) is add the extra handrail on this side of the tender.............

 

 

Clearly visible on the full-sized loco.

 

 

Lamps have been added and I've painted the bright pipework on the smokebox sides matt black. Weathering awaits.

 

I'll be keeping it the same number; a Retford engine, I must have seen her many times. 

 

How does it compare, I wonder...............

 

 

With my PDK kit-built equivalent? 

 

A few more details underneath the cab of the Heljan one, perhaps?

 

 

Edited August 26 by Tony Wright
to add something

[46444]

Hi Tony,

 

If you remember from my visit earlier this year, I brought down a Bachmann A1, 60157 'Great Eastern' I had started to work on.

 

This included the addition of roller bearing axleboxes appropriate for this loco. Also a set of Fox nameplates graces the smoke deflectors.

 

I have modified the lubricators, removing one and repositioning the remaining lubrictor. I hope it is in the right position? 

 

 

I was never keen on the Bachmann cabside numbers and have replaced these with Fox numerals.

 

 

Removing the body/tender  bodyshells the cab windows were masked off with Tamiya tape and the cab blanked off with a piece of foam.

 

The loco and tender had previously received a brush applied coat of Johnsons Kleer.

 

Today, I sprayed them with  two coats of Tamiya matt varnish, followed by a coat of Tamiya satin varnish.

 

 

The Bachmann BR green has certainly changed shade. A further coat of Kleer should help to lift the flatness of the finish, before weathering.

 

A couple of Dapol Grampus I am working on have become transporter bogies.

 

Compared to your kit built version of 60157, my Bachmann version could not manage a full length train on Little Bytham.

 

More soon.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

Edited August 27 by 46444

[ROY@34F]

On 25/08/2024 at 10:56, Tony Wright said:

Good morning David,

 

They're a great improvement on the earlier Heljan O2s.................

 

As before, an O2/4 is catered for (top, ex-O2/2).

 

Improvements include all-metal handrail pillars, black-painted rather than just black plastic bodywork, a more-robust (adjustable) drawbar, more-accurate and more-robust valve gear, blackened wheel rims and pick-ups, better chimney and greater attention to QC at source.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

 

 

Good evening Tony , I know it's a pet hate of mine , but the O2s should have the lower footplate over the driving wheels shouldn't they ?  On these new models , the footplate looks far too high to me . I'd say twice as high as it should be above the level over the cylinders . Otherwise an excellent looking model.

    I well remember these engines up the branch from Highdyke with the old GN coal rail tenders . There's a thought ; what about the single line token apparatus on the next development ? . We had four engines at Grantham fitted with them . 63929/30/31/and32 .  Sorry , mustn't expect too much I suppose ! 

       Regards , Roy 

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

There was a large layout based on that premise in the Modeller about 50 years ago.

Found it - Bath Central by Geoff Mawson was Railway of the Month in February 1972.

[Jack P]

Pendon certainly serves as the pinnacle of "inspirational layouts" for me. Both the scale of the project and the overall level of quality that's maintained. 

 

I'm encouraged and inspired by other layouts and builders that align with my interests; Lewes in P4, Eridge, Bankside, Balcombe/Ouse Valley Viaduct, Fisherton Saurum just to name a few, and the 'one that got away' Herstmonceux.

 

Having said that, there are a much greater number of layouts that aren't aligned with my interests that serve as inspiration on different levels. I try and approach everything with an open mind - assuming that I have something to learn from everyone.

 

 

 

[Richard_A]

8 hours ago, Northmoor said:

If only there'd been the money to build this just after the war, as so much of Swansea had been levelled in air raids (I think Swansea saw the greatest proportion of it's historic buildings destroyed of any British city in WW2).

 

Using the GWR route in from the East, merging with the Midland somewhere near the Tawe bridge and exiting Westwards along the seafront route, would have made an intersting alternative to the current network.  Perhaps the Cockett route closed and West Wales traffic going via Gorseinon and Llangennech?

In my imagination,  the high level connection from high street towards Victoria would have been used, with the Midland passenger trains from the tawe valley connecting to the gwr route at Morriston, but as with your suggestion close the cockett route.

 

With the growth of Gorseinon and Dunvant this might have become a viable route, too late now though.

[Tim Rayner]

Morning Tony and all - Crumley & Little Wickhill by the Hull chaps received its nickname thanks to its shape, where from guesswork no baseboard matched another! Operators were installed in quirky positions along its "trapezoidness" - is that a word? Cheers, Tim Rayner

[Tony Teague]

15 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

What might a scanner able to process 5" x 4" trannies cost? 

 

Morning Tony

Can't help on cost, but having scanned a large number of my own 35mm transparencies, what I would say is that the amount of time it takes is very substantial.

Conversely, I can'y help thinking that your non-digital archive just has to be worth conserving & preserving for posterity.

Tony

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, 46444 said:

Hi Tony,

 

If you remember from my visit earlier this year, I brought down a Bachmann A1, 60157 'Great Eastern' I had started to work on.

 

This included the addition of roller bearing axleboxes appropriate for this loco. Also a set of Fox nameplates graces the smoke deflectors.

 

I have modified the lubricators, removing one and repositioning the remaining lubrictor. I hope it is in the right position? 

 

 

I was never keen on the Bachmann cabside numbers and have replaced these with Fox numerals.

 

 

Removing the body/tender  bodyshells the cab windows were masked off with Tamiya tape and the cab blanked off with a piece of foam.

 

The loco and tender had previously received a brush applied coat of Johnsons Kleer.

 

Today, I sprayed them with  two coats of Tamiya matt varnish, followed by a coat of Tamiya satin varnish.

 

 

The Bachmann BR green has certainly changed shade. A further coat of Kleer should help to lift the flatness of the finish, before weathering.

 

A couple of Dapol Grampus I am working on have become transporter bogies.

 

Compared to your kit built version of 60157, my Bachmann version could not manage a full length train on Little Bytham.

 

More soon.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

Good morning Mark,

 

Looks good. 

 

Are you going to fit the wiggly pipes? 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, ROY@34F said:

Good evening Tony , I know it's a pet hate of mine , but the O2s should have the lower footplate over the driving wheels shouldn't they ?  On these new models , the footplate looks far too high to me . I'd say twice as high as it should be above the level over the cylinders . Otherwise an excellent looking model.

    I well remember these engines up the branch from Highdyke with the old GN coal rail tenders . There's a thought ; what about the single line token apparatus on the next development ? . We had four engines at Grantham fitted with them . 63929/30/31/and32 .  Sorry , mustn't expect too much I suppose ! 

       Regards , Roy 

Good morning Roy,

 

I was told that the footplate had been lowered from the previous models, but perhaps not.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[MPR]

17 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Carrying on...................

 

So, assuming I had a scanner, how long to process thousands of 6mmx7mm, 6mmx9mm or 5"x4" transparencies? I didn't use 35mm.

 

These trannies were shot (mainly) on commission, the publishers scanning them for printing in magazines.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Hi Tony

i would seriously consider photographing them with a DSLR, it is enormously quicker. I have bought/made a 35mm specific setup, but large format film holders are available, as are suitable light boxes/ground glass diffusers. 

[Tony Wright]

3 minutes ago, MPR said:

Hi Tony

i would seriously consider photographing them with a DSLR, it is enormously quicker. I have bought/made a 35mm specific setup, but large format film holders are available, as are suitable light boxes/ground glass diffusers. 

Thanks for that. I have reproduced prints for posting on here using my camera(s).

 

Apart from the convenience of posting images on here, I'm not sure I need to scan my medium-/large-format collection of transparencies/negatives. There are literally thousands. Most (if not all) will have been scanned by publishers in the past and will have been published - in magazines and books, both prototype-based and model-based. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Izzy]

The big problem with camera copying, which of course is the way most slide copies were made in the ‘old days’ I.e. pre- digital, is the different film format sizes. Using a DSLR for medium format thus means a lot of cropping afterwards. However another advantage apart from speed of copying once set up ( pretty essential to use a lens that has a flat field/ is distortion free, such as a macro , often known as a copy lens), is that camera copying only captures the image. With scanning often the issue is it scans the base layer of the film stock with the actual image only coming along for the ride. This can mean the coarseness of the stock, the granularity, playing a big part in what the actual image turns out like compared to when it is projected. 
 

Bob

[Tony Wright]

I've added the extra handrail to the rear of the new Heljan O2/4's tender..............

 

 

 

The running is exceptional (as you'll see once the video is edited).

 

I've been in correspondence with Heljan this morning and have been informed..............

 

'Just a couple of additional points and clarifications that are worth including

This new run includes a third cab type - the original GN 13ft 4in tall cab on GNR and LNER O2/1s. 

Probably worth mentioning that we’ve done both original and Thompson 100A boilers as not everyone will be aware of the differences between the various O2 parts. 

These models do feature a new part for the low running plate, as well as 2x boilers, 2x smokebox doors, 2x smokebox designs, tall and composite loading gauge chimneys for O2/1 and all others respectively and, finally, 3x tender options - GNR, GS stepped side and GS flush side'

 

One other point: the valve gear has been improved, particularly the motion support bracket.  

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Examining the latest Heljan O2s made me reflect on the number of O2s I have running on Little Bytham already. I was surprised just how many. They are................

 

 

O2/4, PDK kit.

 

 

O2/1, modified Nu-Cast kit.

 

 

O2/2, Ace kit (a fight!), weathered by Tim Shackleton.

 

 

O2/2, Nu-Cast kit, builder/painter unknown.

 

O2/2, modified (original) Heljan, Nu-Cast tender.

 

O2/3, Nu-Cast.

 

 

O2/3, Nu-Cast, scratch chassis, Jamieson tender. Very much a product of its time (near-50 years ago!).

 

 

O2/3, modified (original) Heljan, weathered by Geoff Haynes. 

 

Eight O2s (nine when I finish the latest Heljan O2/4 - the O2/2 will sold for charity) might seem rather more than needed. However, they all represent locos I saw as a trainspotter, and that's the main motivation. I saw lots of O2s!

 

 

 

 

[Willie Whizz]

If I can get this posted right, here is the plan of the proposed 'Nottingham Central Station' from 1881 I referred to a couple of days ago that I've now managed to dig out.  As you will see, it runs roughly East-West along the approximate line of Parliament Street (which I believe was scheduled for redevelopment around this time) and offered several routes in and out of the Town (as it then was) from a far more convenient location than either the GN or Midland Stations, both of which were then much smaller and cramped than they eventually became.  I believe there were 'serious discussions' with the railway companies about doing it, but it would have been pretty costly and the economy took a turn for the worse so the proposal fell through.

 

At this point, a London Extension was at best a dream and aspiration for the M S & L Railway.  The eventual GC & GN 'Nottingham Joint Station' (better known as 'Victoria'), opened 1900, occupied a North-South axis around half-way along the site shown, and didn't involve the Midland at all (except to be looked down upon from a large overbridge).

 

As a concept for a large multi-company layout based on a genuine "what might have been" I think it has distinct possibilities

Proposed Nottingham Central Station 1881.docx

[richard i]

48 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

However, they all represent locos I saw as a trainspotter, and that's the main motivation. I saw lots of O2s!

Was the small TW thinking as he crossed off the locos in his ABC, “ I am going to have to model that one, and that one, and that one……..that is going to take a while, just from today’s spotting.”
If you had lived and spotted on a one engine in steam branch line, you might have has less haste to build as an adult. How things could have turned out differently, but for holiday time at Retford.

richard