John Isherwood

Can you not order directly from Peters Spares - surely they don't charge such high P&P charges? John Isherwood.

I plucked up courage ...... John Isherwood.

The Cwmorthin valley is, without doubt, the quietest place I have ever been to - and I've visited some pretty remote spots, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. You can feel and see the industrial history all around you, and that it should have the noisy clamour of a population at work; the total silence and stillness is almost as if time has stopped dead! It can be a little unnerving. John Isherwood.

So that it didn't get lost when en route to and from maintenance, presumably. John Isherwood.

The quarries on the watershed were serviced by the Croesor Tramway. It has been suggested that, despite there being no rail connection up the steep path between the Cwmorthin and Croesor Tramways, it was not unknown for wagons to come down the Croesor that had gone up the Cwmorthin! John Isherwood.

Many a happy day spent up there in the 1970s / 80s; that waterfall was our children's swimming pool on hot days; (yes, they do exist in Wales)! John Isherwood.

So - in future, the working life of hardware will be dictated by the pace of software development. We knew that, in respect of our consumer PCs - but when it applies to major infrastructure such as complete trains; (and whole classes of them at that); I have to wonder if the tail is wagging the dog - and who benefits from this built-in redundancy. No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist - but it does make me wonder exactly what benefits the replacement trains will offer over the recycled ones; from the passengers' perspective! John Isherwood.

I think that the key point is that any paint is best 'misted' on when spraying. I have never experienced such crazing when using Klear acrylic lacquer, either under or over oil-based paint. That said, I use no acrylic paints or varnishes except Klear. John Isherwood.

I use oil-based paints exclusively, except for under- and over-coating waterslide transfers; I have never, in sixty years of modelling, had any adverse reaction when applying water-based varnish over oil-based paints, nor when applying oil-based weathering over water-based varnish. You clearly have your own set of 'I don't do ....' standards; that is your choice - but if it means using 'generic 4mm. scale' transfers on a 3mm. scale model, rather than the correct style and scale transfers, I find it an odd choice. I have today had a message from another 3mm. scale modeller, congratulating me on my wide range of 3mm. scale transfers; he tells me that there is a thriving correspondence trade amongst his fellow TT scale modellers in the unused sections of my transfer sheets. I would mention that it was at the request of the Trade Officer of the 3mm. Society that I agreed to rescale my transfer range for 3mm. / TT scale. John Isherwood, Cambridge Custom Transfers.

That is correct - an overcoat of water-based varnish is required, after which you can apply whatever finish you require; all this is covered in the instructions. I have thousands of customers who do not seem to find this to be an issue; incidently, what 'other issues' do you have with my transfers? John Isherwood.

I can supply 3mm. Prestwin transfers. John Isherwood, Cambridge Custom Transfers.

I would have thought that, in this era of resisting our previous throwaway attitude, we would be re-purposing such assets rather than simply recycling them. John Isherwood.

When I lived in Richmond I was told that it was for moving wine barrels to a wine cellar. John Isherwood.

BR standard Diagram 1/208 12T ventilated van. John Isherwood. (Found in a book - BR Wagons - The First Half Million)

The garage / railway room conversion was completed yesterday, with the laying of the floor covering. The conversion took all of January, February and half of March to carry out, but the results are all that I could have wished for. It now stores all of the typical contents of a garage; DIY, garden, motoring, etc. accumulations; plus ALL of my model-railway related 'stuff' - completely out of sight. Moreover, I know exactly which shelf / drawer contains any specific item of rolling stock! On the baseboards can be seen my 38-year-old, OO9 layout 'Tan-y-Mynydd'; ( and associated stock boxes); which has been refurbished and will this weekend be donated to a neighbour and his railway-mad Grandson. Also to be seen is the stack of boxes containing the materials required to construct my new - and final - 4mm. scale / 16.5mm. gauge layout, loosely based on Evercreech Junction; (see above). I look forward to being able to undertake the work in a dry, draught-proof, warm and well-lit environment. The fact that all ten baseboards will be electrically and mechanically self-contained, and hinge up to stand, (retained by spring catches), vertically against the walls under the wall cupboards, should make wiring-up and point actuating installation a seated and convenient task. The under-cupboard lighting provides optimum illumination for both construction and, in due course, train operating. All in all, money and time well-spent, and a pleasing culmination to a life's railway modelling. (To give scale to the photos, the room measures 5.0 x 2.4 metres). John Isherwood.

Not far off the truth - for those that were through-wired to run in DMUs. John Isherwood.

The absence of black patches behind the lettering strongly suggests a bauxite livery - correct for a vacuum-piped van. John Isherwood.

..... and that's the one railway / BR region for which I do not have any models. John Isherwood.

Funnily enough, here in Cornwall, still strong cider has a reddish hue, and is commonly known as 'Red Diesel'. John Isherwood.

Eddie, All my stock is in the process of being moved from the house into my new dedicated railway room - so I can't find anything! These conversions vary from model to model, but they involve nothing more complex than a piercing saw and normal modelling tools. Inspect the model closely - it's usually obvious where the cuts and other work need to be undertaken. In fact, my first conversion of an unrebuilt West Country was inspired by the suspicion that the model had originally been designed to have a pivotting trailing truck, but had been modified before production to have a fixed truck. John Isherwood.

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I am having a clear-out and need to dispose of a small selection of O gauge chassis and other 'bits'; anyone is welcome to them for the cost of packing and postage. There are four Lima Fowler 4F chassis in various states of completeness; a couple of Lima Class 33 trailing bogies; a bag of Lima O gauge couplings; a box of O gauge rolling stock wheels; etc., etc. If you are interested, send me a PM here, or e-mail cctrans@hotmail.com. John Isherwood.

I think that you overlooked the word 'steam' on the Darwen plaque. John Isherwood.

I cannot abide fixed trailing trucks which, on the prototype, could swing. Having seen the prototype, in BR days, negotiating pointwork I am conscious that it was clearly apparent that the truck frames followed the curve of the track. Particularly when reversing, the sideways movement of the truck as it followed the tender, and preceded the driving wheels, was very striking. ALL of my locos that were supplied with fixed trailing trucks have been modified to be pivotted with flanged wheels - and the transformation in appearance is amazing. John Isherwood.

By no means complete - David Larkin seems to have researched what is known to a remarkable degree; (see his recent 'Acquired Wagons ..." books). John Isherwood.