Andrew Young

The EMT powercars sound nothing like the Valenta! They sound more like a rattly tractor. Sadly the MTU power plants of the XC/EC/GW power cars lack the scream of a Paxman Valenta. But the extra horsepower in them is appreciable when you’re driving them. Andrew

Agreed! I’ve picked up Railway Mag and Railway Modeller in there when it was Wendy’s but hadn’t come across MRJ in there before. Think your monthly reading matter is very safe with them and I’ll be looking to see when my visits coincide with publication dates and picking up my mags from them when I can. Cheers, Andrew

Been in Tywyn for the weekend and thought I’d have to wait til this week to pick up a copy. However, as I was passing the newsagents on Tywyn High St yesterday I called in to find they now have a good range of railway mags including the new MRJ. Always happy when my money goes to an independent newsagent rather than WH Sugar. Great to see Llangunllo appear, the allotments are an inspiration and the photos of the near deserted goods yard on p154 could easily be photos of the Tanat Valley in the sixties. Another highlight for me is more information on Lowleigh. A very simple idea, but well executed. Sharp corners and oo track aren’t usually found in MRJ, but well worthy of their place imho. Then of course there’s the 12 wheel WCJS dining saloon to drool over.... Another cracking edition. Andrew

The Cambrian had more than one. Andrew

Thanks to having a 14:00 book on this afternoon, was able to get round the show this morning. The layout that I mainly went to see was Arigna Town, which didn’t disappoint, enjoyed a good period watching the trains come and go. The 4mm scale model of Rolvenden is also right up my alley! One layout that impressed was the German O gauge, Ahrtalzweibruck, my Dad says the Ahr Valley makes some very good red wine... first time a European O gauge layout has impressed, the 2-10-0 chuffing along with sound and smoke was rather good. A bit like a 9F on a branchline! Cheers, Andrew

Stunning work Ruston! Has come out very nicely. Hadn’t even realised that Bagnall built standard gauge wing tanks as well as the narrow gauge ones. Will be interesting to see developments with your new pantograph milling machine. Are you intending producing parts for 7mm scale in addition to 4mm scale Cheers, Andrew

An interesting thread, in particular as I live just down the road in Tutbury. Thanks to PGH for posting those fascinating photos of the Fauld Railway. There have been various articles in the IRS and NGRS magazines on both the Scropton Tramway and the standard gauge that connected Tutbury Mill with the mainline yard and good articles on both in recent years in the Bylines magazine. But there’s been relatively little on the MOD line at Fauld in comparison. Folly Books have published a fascinating book on Fauld, comes highly recommended. Think it’s a different title to that previously suggested, but by the same author. http://www.bradford-on-avon.org.uk/faulddisaster.html Cheers, Andrew

Excellent value there! And proving O gauge diesels don’t need to be £500ish a pop! Will look forward to seeing the others when they emerge. Cheers, Andrew

Looking good Father Dougal, your 37 especially is coming along nicely. Makes a nice change to detailed Heljan versions. Cheers, Andrew

Thanks Neil, rather pleased with them and is the first time I’ve used foamboard. Managing to get to the modelling desk little and often at the moment which is helping progress. Cheers, Andrew

The big shop building is taking shape now. The main downstairs unit is built up, apart from adding a shop display plus rearvabd sides of the box. This will then slot into the front of the building as a final act before finishing. To accommodate this, the carcass of the building has been built up out of fibreboard and covered with embossed styrene. Both buildings need detailing with lintels, guttering and fascias. Followed by interior detailing, painting, glazing and roofing. Not forgetting chimneys. Plus the Petite Properties pub needs its final finish applying and some added detail. So plenty to do! Andrew

Cheers Dave, I’d seen the NGRM-online thread before, but haven’t looked at it, or much else on there very often since Photobucket decimated a lot of the threads on there. See you at Burton! Cheers, Andrew

Seeing as dinner needs more time to bubble away on the stove, part 2. First up, it was my birthday earlier this month and I received a couple of wagon kits as presents. Also an IOU, for a present which arrived a week after once it had arrived from China. One of the Minerva gunpowder vans. They’re excellent, better than I could produce myself from a kit and excellent value for money. Seen here awaiting weathering. The only minor niggle was an axle box where the glue hadn’t survived the trip from the factory, but that was a five minute job to fix. In a previous photo, two mock up buildings and a kit building could be seen in the background. The first building, a shop, has had a fibreboard shell built and covered in embossed plastikard. A start has been made on the second, based on Idris Stores, the Old Post Office I believe in Corris. Using styrene and Grandt Line mouldings, have been making the main shop front that will eventually slot into the building. The Grandt line parts are a commercial store front set and a separate door and window. There are 16 Grandt Line parts in the shop front, all very flimsy! But together, with some styrene strip and some 60 thou sheet, they make up into a solid box structure. Quite enjoying making buildings now! Cheers, Andrew

Nearly a month since my last post. Not overly productive on the modelling front, with distractions a plenty! First off was a weekend in Tywyn just before Easter, which included a day driving centenarian ‘Douglas’ in its new RAF 100 livery. There’s now a rack for your cooking implements and sauces, plus a chance to use the RAF 100 cook book which my Brother and Sister in law (both serving RAF Officers) gave me for Christmas. This was followed by a couple of days up at Beamish’s excellent Steam Fair. A day on the Coffee Pot with Paul Martin, who provided shovel cooked sausage butties for lunch. Followed by a day where we had a Hunslet each. Breakfast being served from Beamish’s new buffet car and as it was my turn to provide lunch, we had faggots & peas prepared on the Loco. This double engine malarkey will never catch on... And finally, what better way to end the day than with some of the best fish & chips in the land? Produced on a coal fired range. Part two, including some modelling to follow after dinner. Cheers, Andrew

For some reason, this thread had passed me by until now (I blame the sheer size of RMWeb!). Never tire of seeing photos of Charmouth so enjoyed looking through them all. Looking forward to Burton next year, when I’ll finally succeed (fingers crossed) in being at a show at the same time that Charmouth is. Cheers, Andrew

My in laws who were on the train received an email yesterday from a senior member of the A1 Steam Loco Trust explaining what happened on Saturday. Plus compensation from the tour operator. Quite prompt service really. Whilst I’ve not seen the email, I’m told that the failure was due to a loss of lubrication to the middle cylinder, I think that multi cylindered locos like Tornado have multiple mechanical lubricators for different cylinders. If that’s the case and having seen the damage, it’s likeky that the valve seized and why the valve linkage disintegrated and ended up in the 4ft whilst the conn rod and piston kept running. The fact that the Loco could be towed in mid gear supports that damage was done to the valve linkage but not the piston drive. This defect would’ve caused failure at 75mph or 90mph, just that at 90mph the loss of lubrication would’ve been encountered sooner and with greater effect than at slower speeds. Hence the comment about not being speed related. Andrew

That piece of valve gear was found someway behind where the train came to a stand and was spotted by a following train examining the line. So would’ve come off whilst the Loco was still moving. I believe that photo was taken by an NR employee and has somehow made its way into the public domain from an internal Network Rail document. My parents in law were on the train and were told that the Loco had hit something that caused catastrophic damage. As there’s no further report that I can find to say that Tornado hit anything, plus the TRUST entry for the train saying ‘mechanical failure’. My suspicions are towards some form of mechanical failure on the Loco, the cause of which will take some skilled engineers a lot of work to discover. For that amount of damage to the union link, combination lever and crosshead casting/forging, you can expect further extensive damage to the connecting rod and possibly crank axle / cylinders to come to light depending on where the weak points are. Bet it was quite scary on the footplate when it happened! I was driving ‘Talyllyn’ in 2014 when the valve gear disintegrated under me and it went like a bucking bronco and that was at under 10mph! In that case, the snapped crank pin, connecting & coupling rods, damaged piston and rod were all consequential to a small set screw working loose. Whatever the cause, the A1 Steam Trust have a lot of work and a lot of fundraising ahead of them. Andrew

Sorry, will hold up my ‘sarcasm’ sign next time... Andrew

There’s some irony, that following Tornado’s failure at 90mph, the replacement Loco, a class 66 would’ve limited onward travel to 75mph. Such is progress... Andrew

Have found myself going back to look at Orford two or three times. Wonder whether MRJ 263 will include a letter pointing out the derailment on pages 82/83...? Doesn’t detract from an otherwise stunning model and an inspiration of what can be achieved in such a small space. Andrew

A quick such for ‘BR Class 31’ on Flickr would answer your question... https://flic.kr/p/EziMBr https://flic.kr/p/eHKiRv https://flic.kr/p/d4tESh https://flic.kr/p/dqQWAJ https://flic.kr/p/d4TM5G https://flic.kr/p/6TqDEk Andrew

Very nicely done Dave. The little Hudswell is the one Agenoria kit in 7mm scale I regret not getting before their hibernation. Looking forward to seeing the layout, though like me, you seem to prefer building locos to layouts. Cheers, Andrew

This little layout continues to inspire so it’s great to see some more photos. Andrew

Picked up a copy yesterday. Another good one! Orford is a delight, the sort of layout that gets you thinking about what you can fit in the space you’ve got... the fact that there isn’t a plan helps with the illusion, a case of leaving the reader wanting more. Though from the photosand writing, it’s fairly easy to work out the layout, and reminds me a bit of the 7mm scale version of ‘Darenth’ that appeared in MRJ many moons ago. How to articles by Messers Gravett & Welch are always a must read for me too. Shall see what the other pages have to offer shortly... Andrew

Arrived this morning... a slightly belated birthday present from my wife. The girl done good!! The finish is excellent, better than I could’ve done from the etched kit that is available. One very minor niggle, the super glue holding the two halves (and the bearing) of one of the axle boxes hadn’t survived the trip from China. However, had that fixed within a couple of minutes and on a test run. Andrew