Golden Fleece 30

Hi Mike, on enlarging the photo I took the number can be clearly seen which is 46226 which ever loco that is. Garry

Hi Mike, I would also hazard the same guess as the Lune Gorge. The painting did have a clear number but it has not focused on my phone, maybe through glass at an angle to avoid some reflections did not help. Look forward to your next master piece, a Blue Duchess (City I know but to me they are all Duchess's). Our little one liked the lights but was more interested in the Pleasure Beach. Last year was her first time on the Pleasure beach as we were worried how she would fair on them but loved it and loved it even more this year. We did see the illuminated tram as a Wild West loco and she knew it was a steam engine, I have brought her up the correct way :-) :-) :-). She has certainly had a lot of memories in the 4 years she has been with us, and will hopefully continue. Garry

Not all the boards are up yet (one still to fit and using its gap as a walk through for now) but I have managed to have a train run on the front three. It will be a while before I do get a complete run as there is a lot of the Dublo stored in the operating space. A fair bit of work is needed as some rails are loose and one on a point is missing, some point motors need their operating wire fixing and then I have to work out the wiring to operate the points. Garry

I guess you mean "A second series"? Garry

A little surprise this morning, this loco was in a set of three (another DMU and open spoked Castle) and ran very nicely straight away then when I removed the body I saw it had a 5 pole motor fitted, along with Romford wheels. Unsure about the body, it obviously needs a repaint but I may strip it, repaint it, then sell it. I have a couple of nice J50's so may use this chassis under one of those. Garry

Thanks David, I have nothing to loose if I just do the goods head shunt and it does not go to plan. The rails are all nickel I think, it looks like they are but if I found any steel that would be replaced. Unfortunately my shed is cold in winter and warm/hot in summer but not damp as such although the coldness is probably damp????? I once read that a dehumidifier actually kept it warmer by removing the damp BUT the running costs were more than a heater and that is not cheap :-( Garry

I have just bought this Wrenn and Gem TT track layout. All plain track is Wrenn with the points being a mixture of both. All points, bar two, are operated with H and M point motors. A little work is needed in a couple of places though. Garry

Hi David, I thought so too :-) there is one on Ebay now at £11.95 which I would never pay. I think the most I paid was about £5 about 6 months ago thinking they may come in handy. I know Wrenn fibre track can warp etc if it gets wet but how wet is wet? Does that mean very wet or even a sprinkling if ballasted in the usual way? I would like to ballast the new layout but wary of what may happen. I have plenty of Gem plastic based track which I could replace it all with but prefer not to if I can help it. Garry

Hi David, At the local toy fair on Sunday I saw a chap with 17 new, mostly boxed) H and M point motors all at £2.00. He said you wont get any cheaper anywhere so you should have seen his face when I showed him the one from another stand which was new and included an extra top plate for £1.00. I still had to pay him £2.00 for the other 5 though. These will match the TT layout as spares or new if I can put a couple of extra points in. The same stand that had the £1.00 motor also had what looked to be still new, boxed and unused, TTR LMS maroon coach with lights in mint condition. It was £10 and I was tempted but resisted as I cannot use it and had spent up knowing I had a couple of TT collections to pay for this week. Garry

Hi Mike, Funny we were talking about colours as this painting was in a shop in Blackpool today. We passed it on the way back to the station and I was tempted but carrying it would have been an issue with cases, a little one and 3 trains to catch. I would love this in TT. Garry

Hi Mike, Regarding the colours I think it is how we all perceive what we see, certain shapes suit a certain colour. To me a Duchess profile suits the BR Blue, as does the Peppercorn A1. A4's looks okay in the blue but to me BR green suits it the best although I cannot think what it would look like in BR green with valances still on. The SR's unrebuilt M/N looks fine in both blue and green which are suited to it but the rebuilt looks awful (only a preserved one in this colour). I cannot imagine a Castle, Jubilee or Scot in anything other than BR green (I know I have a blue Castle though). The light green and MT lined black did not suit them to my eyes. I will say I was not keen on the light blue used on a handful of locos and the purple shade with MT lining suited an A4 better than a Duchess. I am not an LNER man but the apple green looked well on an A3 but poor on an A4, A1, A2. No doubt others will all have their own ideas on which colour suits a loco best. Garry

Hi David, I forgot about old radio stations but their owners wont know where I live. I may look at the small one you mention but the standard Tri-ang ones are quite large for fitting inside small boilers like the Jinty and Castle. I agree the so called "music" of today is worse than the interference in my opinion. Garry

Hi Mike, A lovely looking set up in the photo. Yes I did fit Bachmann bogies to a few Dublo coaches, one maroon set and one WR set, and most of my Exleys. I have fitted some pin points to wagons but not very easy and hit and miss running wise. A long time ago there were some pin pointed sets available that fitted into bearings just pushed into the compensated bogies, unfortunately the wheels were too fine for standard Peco track at the time and more so for Dublo. The Kitmasters were good and I was lucky to pick a few TT ones up in the last year but as you say a pain to paint the ventilators. Garry

That is a similar problem with the Tri-ang TT locos too. Over time the wiring hardens loosing its flexibility and then can pull the spring wire away from the brush. Quite often I replace the wire with a thinner flexible one and remove the suppressor to free up more room. With digital TV the suppressor is not needed although I know it can help the sparking but watching one with and one without running I cannot tell the difference. Garry

On the subject of steam travel I did plenty but what stands out are 1) around 1962 my father had to go to London and took me, we travelled behind York's own A1 Flambouyant which I made in N, 00 and 0 gauge. 2) we came back on the Tees Tyne Pullman hauled by A4 Miles Beevor, again done in N, 00 and 0 gauge. I did travel behind another A4 from the old Leeds Central to Wakefield but only heard its whistle and never got to see the name. I will do Miles Beevor in TT but doubt another A1. Garry

Given last nights theme I thought it would be a difficult one to build around and well done to all concerned. I think I would have gone with the railway children as they got on on well considering they had not met before (in person) and had less time than the others. It was a good experience for them and I hope they go on to continue and build on what they have experienced. Reading the comment about what was done/allowed before filming I wonder what control measures are in place to prevent advantages or liberties over others being taken? Still, another really enjoyable show. Garry

Ray, totally disgusted with Fox that they did not reply to my letter mentioning their lining and curves having different widths. I will use them again if I have to as no alternative but don't like them. The O/B/O seem okay, the MT red and grey sometimes are different but not as bad as the W/B/W ones. Garry

Lovely finish Mike. As you say, and has been mentioned many times, it is whether you want a Dublo style or finescale style that denotes Fox or Replica transfers. The ones you have used look to be the ones for the plastic tender version, hence the shape being slightly different. It is an unusual colour scheme you have chosen, not for me though, but I can see your thoughts behind it. Certainly Dublo never produced it. Regarding the names it depends on how far you want to stay with Dublo style. As you say, and for obvious reasons, Dennis will only supply Liverpool names for a bona-fide loco. I would recommend that you look at Modelmaster who do the full range in stainless steel all set to fit a Dublo body. They do sets in scale lengths which obviously differed in lengths but the Dublo sized ones are excellent. I used them when some of the replica ones started breaking up, plus on an A4 long ones did not look right going up and down over boiler bands whereas a brass one stayed flat, as it should, over them. Talking of colour, to me a Duchess looks best in BR blue, then BR maroon but without the boiler, cab, tender lining, and lastly BR green. I would have liked the lining that goes around the edge of the cab and tender which was a two colour black then yellow but it would have to have been other makes modified to fit. Keep up the excellent work. Garry

Just received these two Merchant Navy's which I bought very cheaply just for the chassis's with the extra valve gear added. One I may use under the scratch built loco purchased a few months ago (after its wheels get blackened again) but I may get some etches made to the same sizes to do my own as these run very nicely. The bodies will not be used, but, to be fair to the chap that made them he had a go and they did look like rebuilt M/N's to a degree which I admire him for. I think I will rob them of their domes (for use on my standards), chimneys and smokebox doors, who knows I may make my own later. These two DMU bogies were fitted to two coaches and bought, again cheap, as a weak runner and a non runner. Both were cleaned up in situ apart from the brushes removed and now both lovely speedy runners. The non runner needed its brass part of the brushes cleaning to make electrical contact to the wire, rusty wheels cleaned with a Tri-ang wheel cleaning brush and away it went. What surprises me is the two worms are well worn yet as far as I know the cog wheels are only nylon so how this has happened I have no idea. Garry

Yes Robert, Kevin did have the layout at Warley and a few other exhibitions too. Once I have it set up here and do a handful of changes it will hopefully go to a few shows up this way. I want to fit a crossover and maybe a double junction in as I am hoping to do some adding and taking off coaches when on the main line and prefer not to run "wrong line working" as such. One organiser has already asked about it for next March. Garry

These two Bec kits arrived yesterday, one was still sealed new from being wrapped all those years ago. Looking at the castings one looked like it was fairly new after the moulds were made with very little flash, the other looked as if it was one of the last with a lot of flash. As I have 6 standard 5's already these will hopefully represent a standard 4 4-6-0 and standard 3 2-6-0, time will tell. I have already cut two halves down and when time permits I will see how successful it is. Modellers licence will apply. I am hoping the standard 3 works out as I want to do it as one of York sheds engines, 77012, which I photographed in the mid 60's in York yards as attached. Garry

Why not? These people need to to get a camera crew, pay all the money up front, build what is required for starters THEN THEY CAN MAKE THEIR OWN RULES to satisfy themselves. This used to be a reasonable thread about the what happened in each show, now its just wanting MORE MONEY, MORE TIME, MORE PRE MADE ITEMS etc, etc, etc. Garry

WHEN WILL YOU ALL REALISE THE TV COMPANY SETS THE RULES AND YOU DO WHAT YOU CAN WITHIN THEM FOR A REALITY TV SHOW , NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS , END OF STORY. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT TURN OFF AND FOR GOODNESS SAKE STOP TRYING TO CHANGE EVERYTHING. Garry

I admit I do, if it is not British standard gauge outline it has no interest at all to me (the same way I cannot stand sound and I pass those too). I can appreciate they model what they want, and skillful at it, but it does not appeal to me in the slightest. I could watch it on this TV programme as it would be part of the competition but that is all, certainly not at a show. Garry

Thanks Nigel, Peter has kindly supplied a set of the A1 castings. He does not have any etches left but I think some have been found by Caroline and on their way to me. Garry