John Isherwood

The attached article from the 10/1961 issue of Trains Illustrated may be of interest; (MODS please remove is there are copyright issues). I have just acquired a couple of the Southern Pride kits, which I understand have height issues; I came across the article as part of my research. For further references see : - "B.R. GENERAL PARCELS ROLLING STOCK" : BRADFORD BARTON - P48; "RAILWAYS IN PROFILE No.6, B.R. NON-PASSENGER ROLLING STOCK" - CHEONA PUBLICATIONS - PL106; "MODEL RAIL" MAGAZINE - 11,12/99,8/03; "BRITISH RAILWAY MODELLING" MAGAZINE - 7,8/04; “BR PARCELS AND PASSENGER-RATED STOCK – VOL.3" : KESTREL - FRONT COVER. John Isherwood.

The attached article from the 10/1961 issue of Trains Illustrated may be of interest; (MODS please remove is there are copyright issues). I have just acquired a couple of the Southern Pride kits, which I understand have height issues; I came across the article as part of my research. For further references see : - "B.R. GENERAL PARCELS ROLLING STOCK" : BRADFORD BARTON - P48; "RAILWAYS IN PROFILE No.6, B.R. NON-PASSENGER ROLLING STOCK" - CHEONA PUBLICATIONS - PL106; "MODEL RAIL" MAGAZINE - 11,12/99,8/03; "BRITISH RAILWAY MODELLING" MAGAZINE - 7,8/04; “BR PARCELS AND PASSENGER-RATED STOCK – VOL.3" : KESTREL - FRONT COVER. John Isherwood.

Carpet-based track underlay, anybody? CJI

JMHO. CJI.

Since it would appear that KRM'S idea of researching Midland Railway liveries is finding an image of an old cigarette card - primary evidence, that - we now know the value that they place upon authenticity; (even for a fictitious livery). Still, whilst there are id***s around to buy this rubbish .......! CJI.

...... and will be hugely missed when we are eventually deprived of them! CJI.

All part of the 'we don't know / care, why should you' attitude! CJI.

Thank you, that's extremely helpful. I will report back in this thread when the build commences. CJI.

It won't be there yet - the designer has only just agreed to look at it! Google Thingiverse, then search the site for Iron Mink or Ironmink. The eventual design file will be downloadable FOC - you'll need to find someone to print it for you. CJI

Having acquired a pair of SP kits, I am looking for a decent drawing of these vehicles - I already have access to the BR weight diagram. Can anyone point me at anything better, please. I'd expect the bogies to have been fitted with 3' diameter wheels, or thereabouts, as the design had origins as an unenclosed freight wagon. If a model were to be fitted with coaching stock 14mm. dia. wheels, this would account, to some extent, for an overheight appearance. CJI.

Keep watching IronMink on Thingiverse - the design should be available there, if all goes well. CJI.

As stated elsewhere - correct, and not exactly rare. All early applications of the second crest featured LH and RH crests, until the College of Heralds objected. CJI.

Believe me - there was plenty of lost sand. When the line closed, there were two rails, half buried in sand; (until travellers camped on the trackbed and several rails disappeared). You could easily detect the route of the sand trains through the Cambridge station track complex, by the fact that the ballast and sleepers were buried in sand. CJI.

This should be compulsory for anyone thinking of illuminating a model railway! CJI.

The traffic originated from sand pits, located on the truncated Kettering - Cambridge line, near St. Ives. I believe that the destination was somewhere in North London. I don't recall the MOD marking - the line ran within a few hundred yards of our then-home; I strongly doubt that it referred to the MoD. CJI.

Ream a 3mm. one? CJI.

Contrary to popular belief, the recent flurry of announcements of Newton Chambers car carriers does not herald the first iteration of these wagons as an RTR model. Remember the Tri-ang bogie, double-deck car-carrier of the late 1950s / 60s? That was nothing less than the first version of the Newton Chambers car carrier - lacking only the later, all enclosing sides, end doors and roof. The model was remarkably accurate, and could be detailed-up to provide an excellent representation of the prototype; (how do I know that)? CJI.

The front wagon is in Departmental Gulf Red livery. CJI.

Those, surely, are ex-LMS ballast hoppers - 'TROUT' under BR? (I'd need to get out the refs. to find the diagram number). Limestone ballast? CJI. PS. 'GANNET' - quite correct! I know a man who might be able to produce a 3D print design!

Me too - including watching the earthmoving on the Cambridge bypass section; audible from our then-home. CJI.

I used the M1 to M11 section of the A14 recently, and was astounded at the level of traffic occupying all 3 and 4 lanes of the recently completed A1 - M11 part; which is, for most of the route, an entirely new build on a new alignment. CJI.

'Should' rarely means much when it comes to financing these things. CJI.

What you are saying is that all major road junctions should be grade-separated; I doubt that there is a highway design engineer that would disagree. Now, perhaps you could reassure us that taxpayers would be universally pleased to pay the level of taxes required in order to fund such a road-building spree? I can assure you that all highway design engineers would jump at the chance of such a bonanza! CJI.

Not knowing the specifics of the junctions to which you refer, it would be foolish of me to speculate. I also wonder if you have access to the data and traffic forecasts that was current at the time that the junctions in question were designed? Without such data, it is impossible for you, or me, to pass an opinion as to whether the designs were 'bad'. Contrary to popular belief, highway design engineers do NOT have, as their primary objective, the creation of traffic queues! Taking the design brief, they use the latest design research and produce a scheme which will fulfil the design brief. Whether that design is deemed to be too expensive, and the optimum scheme must be 'adjusted', is not the decision of professional engineers, but politicians. So if you perceive a design to be 'bad', the chances are that it could have been better, and was 'tweaked' on the instructions of politicians. CJI.

Surely it's a case of old roundabout junctions being designed for a certain volume of traffic - and now failing to handle multiples of that volume, many years after their sell-by date? The design was perfectly adequate at the time that they were built. CJI (who knows a little about highway design, after forty years in the business).