John Isherwood

All this aggro about toy trains !! It's really quite simple - if the price is too high - don't buy. If the quality isn't up to your standards - don't buy. If you buy a dud - send it back and avoid that manufacturer in the future. What the complainers are looking for is high quality, lowish prices and a perfect product every time - even after it's been subject to half the world's postal / courier operatives. It IS disappointing when a purchase is less than perfect in any way - but life's like that; you pays yer money and you takes yer choice!! Complaining here won't change that. Regards, John Isherwood.

Tony, I use car spray paint specially mixed to match the BR bauxite shade - it does 'glare' a bit under artificial light, and, in common with far too much of my stock, it is in dire need of weathering. I have a decent Canon DSLR, but have never found the time to learn to use it properly; I have no doubt that, in the right hands, it is capable of great things. Unfortunately, my occasional post-completion record shots are hurried, hand-held snaps of the subject parked on the shunting plank. I have used Peco Simplex couplers since the day I part-exchanged my Hornby timplate O gauge trainset for secondhand Hornby Dublo equivalents. I find them to be infinitely preferable to tension-locks, and I have recently devised a method of fitting them to stock with NEM pockets. With a stocklist count around a thousand, there is little chance of me changing now! Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. John Isherwood.

Chris, Not sure that my memory stretches back that far !! Frankly, if you compare an F23 diagram with the Airfix B-set coach, all should become clear. Remember that the longer corridor-side windows can be achieved by removing the panel between two compartment windows. Regards, John Isherwood.

I hope that this comment is not directed at me - I'm sure it isn't as I do occasionally post images of my modelling to RMweb. Nonetheless, here are a few cruel images which demonstrate that, whilst I try to produce reasonably accurate model wagons, they certainly deserve the description 'layout' vehicles. They also indicate that I need to have a mass weathering session! A pair of ex-GWR O30 steel general merchandise open wagons; one retrofitted with vacuum brakes; (Cambrian kits). A BR 1/645 STURGEON permanent way department wagon; (Cambrian kit). An ex-LMS 2080 WW2 conversion from a timber-built mineral wagon into a FLATCASE wagon; used for carrying military equipment packed in shipping cases; (probably an ABS kit). A Cowans Sheldon 6.5T hand crane (Tri-ang RTR) and match wagon (ancient Ian Kirk kit). An ex-LMS 12t merchandise van; (Cambrian kit). An ex-LMS 2000 6W STOVE passenger brake van; (detailed Hornby Dublo body on scratchbuilt chassis). An ex-GWR F23 slip coach; (cut-and-shut from Airfix RTR B-set coaches). That'll do for now - I'll see if I can find any more images of my output after the seasonal celebrations. Regards, John Isherwood.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/duxford/@52.0910858,0.1240228,140m/data=!3m1!1e3 appears to show more than a dozen wagons, (mostly V-tippers) plus a couple of coaches(?) isolated on the balloon loop. There also appears to be another wagon(?) standing at the junction of the line into the covered accommodation from the main line. The line parallels one of the two taxiways. During the off-season, I would not have thought that it would be impossible to temporarily close this taxiway during the relatively short time that track recovery would take. Regards, John Isherwood. Regards, John Isherwood.

Can this be the new renaissance? Is wagonology finally coming in out of the cold? Can we look forward to layouts at exhibitions where specific-period, superbly crafted layouts; with exquisite locos and coaches; do NOT have a random selection of RTR wagons, covering most of the history of British railways, bunged together to represent the freight operations? ... or is this just a flash-in-the-pan, and will most of the great and good in the hobby revert to their primary interests, and cast Nelson's blind eye in the direction of their freight stock? We can but hope !! After all, the RTR producers take their cue from us modellers - if we continue to accept dubious models in dubious liveries, why should they bother to produce accurate models? Regards, John Isherwood. PS. It seems that at least one of the newcomer manufacturers has got the message - CEMFLOs anyone?

Mostly, they are published liveries on not-necessarily appropriate wagons. For instance, how can the Bachmann anchor-mounted tank wagon be both 14T and 20T? The former had, logically, a shorter tank than the latter. The only way to get your wagon stock as accurate as your locos is to devote as much research to wagons as you do to locos. My wagon reference library is huge - probably 99.9% of all that has been published on the Grouping and BR steam / early diesel era stock- and it is far more 'thumbed' and careworn than the equivalent loco or coach books. If wagons don't do it for you, fine - each to their own. It's just that, to those in the know, wagon anachronisms stand out just as glaringly as inaccurate locos do to you. Regards, John Isherwood.

Tony, Nothing more need be said !! You may take it that you have received a somewhat jaundiced assessment of the currently-available ranges of plastic wagon kits. Regards, John Isherwood.

Sorry, Tony - I'll have to cross swords with you there ! My wagon stock, (including a fair few unbuilt kits), stands at 585 - and very few of those are RTR or scratchbuilt. The early plastic wagon kits - in the main Airfix and Ian Kirk - were a godsend to those of us who had been confined to what Hornby Dublo and Tri-ang offered. The former were well up to the standard of the same company's aircraft kits, and the latter were, frankly, crude by comparison, but perfectly capable of being greatly improved. Over the years, the ex-Airfix, now Dapol, kits have more than held their own, and the latter, now under the Parkside at Peco brand, have improved beyond all recognition. Other producers have come to the market and produce kits that can be built as models that are often greatly superior to the concurrent RTR models. I know that your forte is the production of accurate and well-running locos, and that you openly admit to running 'layout' coaches and wagons; that is your choice and it reflects your priorities. However, those of us 'wagon nuts' who give equal attention to our freight rolling stock would, I'm afraid, take issue with your dismissal of the generality of plastic wagon kits. We know that, even built as a basic model from only the components supplied, accurate and well-running models can result. Add a few low-cost detailing 'bits', together with an accurate paint finish and lettering, and you will have a model that will knock the RTR product into a cocked hat ! I rarely disagree with anything that you post but, IF I were looking for a weakness on LB, I would definitely be scrutinising some of the wagon stock. .... and as for newcomers to the hobby, there is no better starting point than a simple Parkside wagon kit. Regards, John Isherwood.

..... and the blue should be darker. Regards, John Isherwood.

'The issue' didn't exist in the first place - it was those who raised the none-issue that 'pushed the envelope'! It's amazing (NOT) how there is always a rush to close down a discussion when the original 'problem' proves never to have existed. Quelle surprise ! Regards, John Isherwood.

Another conspiracy theory quashed !! Regards, John Isherwood.

If Departmental, either final traffic livery renumbered / lettered, or black with straw yellow lettering / numbering.

One wonders, therefore, how the track was installed in the first place. Regards, John Isherwood.

.... and I STILL can't see the problem. Unless you're a collector who places value on the word EXCLUSIVE, of course! Regards, John Isherwood.

My preferred method of use :- i] drill one hole ii] form handrail using jig iii] cut off handrail so that one leg is slightly longer than the other iv] place long leg in drilled hole and use the other leg to lightly mark the position for the second hole v] drill second hole vi] fit handrail in exactly matching holes. All this can be done in a tiny fraction of the time it takes to type!! Regards, John Isherwood.

When IWM Duxford acquired one of the repatriated Indian Baldwin 4-6-0PTs, along with a Simplex, I was living in nearby Cambridge. I met the then-curator to propose that a group be formed to develop a replica of a section of WW1 trench railway serving actual trenches, on which to use the restored rolling stock. I'm afraid that my suggestion was met by a distinct lack of enthusiasm, and I dropped the idea. I still believe that, had the idea been taken up, it would have proved to be a major public draw, especially during the recent centenary of the end of WW1. It would seem that there has been no increase at Duxford in any commitment to demonstrating the use of light railways in warfare. Regards, John Isherwood.

It's a newsletter relating to developments in the field of model railways in general, not a Hatton's advert, and has never purported to be anything else. Regards, John Isherwood.

If this was a Comet Models item, maybe Wizard Models - the current owners of Comet - can assist. In fact - the kit https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/locomotive/lms-ivatt-class-2-2-6-0-kit-lk16/ is still available, but the chimney on its own https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/locomotive/lmsbr-ivatt-class-2-tall-chimney-ls48/ is out of stock. Regards, John Isherwood.

Model Railways 1 & 3/73 - photos, but no drawings, of Doncaster chimney. Sorry, John Isherwood.

A little pressure from a pair of pliers 'adjusts' the pockets to take any dovetail !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Sorry, but milk churns were loaded into guard's compartments of coaches throughout milk-producing areas. There are plenty of photos around showing small groups of milk churns standing on rural station platforms. Regards, John Isherwood.

Moorswater used to have a locomen's loo in the form of a steam loco firebox perched over a stream! Regardss, John Isherwood.

I was around at the time, and I do recall what we now know to be published misinformation. What i was referring to as perpetrating myths was your posting that "The GT 3 was based on a Standard 5MT IIRC from articles written at time of construction"; (which sounds to me at least like a statement of fact); after the true facts had already been posted. If you wished to contest what had already been posted, you might have taken the trouble to check your 'facts' first. Let's face it - you will take issue with anything that I post, regardless of whether it is correct or otherwise. Regards, John Isherwood.