Castle

Hi All, But Trojan = Percy! All the best, Castle

Hi All, Mike - That was my initial though but as I didn’t have confirmation, I didn’t voice the opinion. Is a good theory though! Tinker - possibly, but the thick leather bag possibly isn’t nearly as flexible as you think. It’s like trying to wrestle a stiff drunken elephant basically. While standing on a barrel or box. About 9 - 10’ in the air... The Didcot ones don’t get anywhere near the use they used to so that may be a factor but it’s not an easy manoeuvre and you don’t have to be that far out for it not to work. Rule of thumb at DRC is to line up the tank filler with the chimney on the fire devil and that gets you where you need to be in most cases. All the best, Castle

Hi Richard, That’s the one - twin fillers! As to why remove them? I don’t know but I will ask around and see if the knowledge is known so to speak! All the best, Castle

Hi 6892, I guess the word seldom was well chosen! They are a bit of a 'Marmite' prototype I guess... Churchward Counties only offended their crews at speed it would seem. Having felt the surging effect of No. 5322 when allowed off the leash a little bit, I can only imagine what the shorter wheelbase 4-4-0 one will feel like in a similar situation. Oh, and sadly No. 18000 would not have burnt down the shed either - it had a small diesel engine used for shunting maneuvers. Strange thing is that even after building the model I can't see where the coal went... No. 18100 was pure gas turbine however, so would have been first choice for shed immolation. All the best, I. Burneazy

Hi 81C, No point made as as such good sir, other than I wasn't that fussed by what Steve said in his role as judge but that I couldn't really comment having not seen the program. He had a part to play and so did we. He was a really nice guy to all of us to be honest! I hope no confusion or offence was caused mate!. All the best, Castle EDIT: My apologies to Rob for taking his thread WAY off topic!

Hi All, I wouldn’t know 81C - I haven’t seen it... The most I can honestly say about it is that, as people coming from a rail heritage background, we tried our hardest to plan and produce the best and most prototypical layout we could within the circumstances, theme, timescales, budgets and rules given and the skill sets available to us within the team and to then showcase those skills as best we could. It’s no different to taking a layout to an exhibition or indeed posting stuff here on RMWEB. Some will like it, some won’t. So be it... All the best, Castle

Hi All, I’m just glad I didn’t make it very high up the list... All the best, Castle

Hi Railway Children, Well done on the great work you did on the TV show and the video above which I really enjoyed. I’m glad you enjoyed Fawley too - it is quite special isn’t it? I’m also glad you put across the sense of camaraderie that I think we all got from doing the show. I think that it was really brave of you guys to do what you did having met on the Internet and having limitations of distance and so on to contend with. The pioneering spirit, determination and enthusiasm with which you conducted yourselves throughout filming was exemplary. Well done and keep up the good work. I await the next arrival at Sunnyside Station... All the best, Castle

Hi Richard, Nope - those are not inspection hatches. The central filler is more than large enough to get into the tank of a 4,000 gallon tender and the baffles inside have holes large enough for a flexible person (not me!) to fit through and inspect / work on. The things shown are blanked of fillers from the early days of the 4,000 gallon tenders. All the best, Castle

Hi All, Funny you should mention a visit to Fawley for next year Mr Chee Key!I though the RMWEB fraternity might be interested so a group booking is in the works. Once I have a firm date ANTB will be informed. Negotiations continue... Cheers for the kind comments - the industrial thing of crisp origins was presented to Phil, our team leader at the end of filming and now resides on a gantry above one of the sidings on his shunting plank. I take full responsibility for the incorrect usage of the barbecue livery and incorrectly directionded twiddly bits - I was trying to hide it under the weathering and hoped nobody would notice. I shall give myself a stiff talking to and recite three hail Churchwards... All the best, Castle

Hi All, Thanks again - No. 18000 was the first model I ever chronicled on RMWEB over on Little Didcot so if you would like to see the build, she is on there. I am a set of horns and windscreen wipers away from completing her British built sister No. 18100 for a friend so I will do a dose of that on Little Didcot on that when I have 5 minutes! They are both Silver Fox resin kits on Bachmann running gear - a Class 37 for No. 18000 and a Class 47 for No. 18100. Link below. The plan for William Street Shed at the moment is to be continue to live at Fawley for now. We have had a request for it to appear at a local show. We will need to do a few bits to it to enable this to happen as the baseboards (no disrespect to the manufacturer) really aren’t designed to be moved about in one piece, the layout is not designed to be split up and just in being shifted about the museum are not fairing well so work is required. We would also like to bring it up to a far more ‘finished’ standard too so we will see. We are keen to do it though! We also have some other exciting layout plans afoot too which we will reveal in future if and when they are more definite... All the best, Castle

Hi All, An interesting very late survival in wartime GWR Black was condensing Pannier No. 9703. It wore this until scrapping! It is why that loco was chosen when a friend and I modelled one of this class. Running rights from WWII until the end of steam! All the best, Castle

Hi All, Glad it went down fairly well amongst the ANTB crowd. Target audience I guess! The water cranes are dead easy to make with some concentric brass tubes. Do we feel a layout thread would be good? Sorry to disappoint Rich, but the bullet holes at Didcot are in the apex of the gable end of the lifting shop not the main running shed and that is behind the main running shed which is why they were not modelled! We flipped the position of the coal stage to fit like the example built at Southall so it’s a bit of a mongrel in that respect but it is possible to operate William Street Shed fairly prototypically. We have toyed with adding a representation of the end of the lifting shop to cover one of the exit / entrance points on the layout so maybe I’ll put the bullet holes in for you then. The other pleasing thing to note is that the Little Didcot stock ranges from late GWR (No. 3822), through transition liveries (No. 4079 & No. 3650) to full blown lion and wheel era (No. 6023 and No. 5900) so if you don’t like the liveries on show at the moment, there will be another along in a minute! The half shed also save a fair bit of time too! The locos are the stars (pun intended!) of the show on this layout so the shed roof would just get in the way! All the best, Castle

Hi All, Was that ok then people? I hope you guys enjoyed the show! All the best, Castle

Hi Kevin, Just caught up on the thread (it had been a while!) and it shows the same amazing work as always! Rather than totally disabling the engine, why not just de-solder a wire to the motor? That way it is easy to resurrect if the mood takes you or you want to sell it and no bits get lost. All the best, Castle

Chalfont & Latimer

Hi All, They just sort of, fell off... It’s actually fairly easy to do - sharp blade up under the gutter a few times and then the same in the corners. The plastic is quite soft and easy to cut. True! This is going to be one of the four sleepers! You need to make a few modifications to the floor and the trussing to make it fit. A report on Little Didcot will be made once it’s finished! All the best, Castle

Thanks Rob - I hope I do the the RMWEB (GWR/BR(W) division) justice! All the best, Castle

I’m a Castle! I’ll get my coat... All the best, Castle

Hi Fatadder, Great job on the rolling stock - I like the spurious has turbine build too! Perhaps a model of 18000 or 18100 in GWR green might be a good idea? All the best, Castle

Hi All, There is a GWR tender type that has just been manufactured that we can now tick of the list... The one behind the Heljan 47XX is an ex King Collett 4,000 gallon unit with the plated over twin side water filler holes and a new centre filler. I don’t know if this has been done before in model form. All the best, Castle

Hi All, Modelling hat off, Didcot hat off, Fawley hat on.* Message continues: Lady McAlpine is intending that the railway goes on into the forseeable future. It is certainly running next year and the museum, railway, rolling stock and locomotives continues to be looked after by Sir William’s (now Lady Judy’s) team to whom I have the great privilege of belonging. The other thing is that I have, on behalf of you all, asked for an RMWEB invitation through me in the 2019 operating day program. As soon as the calendar of events for the estate has been finalised and I have details, I will start a thread and get a group together. Horse’s mouth stuff right there... All the best, Castle *The Fawley hat is actually the same as all the other ones and is indeed the same messy, grubby, badge encrusted hat you always see me in...

Hi Tim, I don't know if you have a copy of this but I found it invaluable when I was building both GWR Turbine locos. Loads of lovely obscure details! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Western-Railway-Gas-Turbines/dp/B00129ADD2 I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi JSpencer, Nice job! The W.R. Gas Turbines are imposing looking beasts in my humble opinion - I'm surprised that the likes of Heljan or even Rapido haven't pounced on them. I'll bet that the very moment i hand this one finished, to my mate, there will be an announcement... The kit is much more satisfying in my book however! All the best, Castle

Hi Luke, E1000 will be a cool direction to go - its not a well known prototype so will be really good to see in model form! I found that the current Bachmann Class 47 chassis requires the edges of the plastic bit trimming back quite a bit to get it all to fit but it all goes eventually. As these kits the require a conversion, they don't just fall together but they are great things to build none the less. Trickiest bit for me was fixing the new bogie sides to the existing frames but its all do-able. I look forward to seeing the finished job on your project too! All the best, Castle