Adam

Just for the record, a package from John Talbot/AME appeared in yesterday's post and I can confirm that the bogies are the Davis and Lloyd type suitable for Bobol Es and variations. I haven't had a chance to take a picture but the castings are nice and clean if perhaps lacking some fine detail, they're plenty good enough to be employed in the next wagon I build that requires these bogies but since these coil Rs will operate as a pair they should match and that means making the Cambrian bogies work. Also in the package were some plate frame, roller bearing bogies and some buffers for ferry vehicles which you may take as an indication of future projects. Anyhow, what you need to see is this: http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/model_omwb106.htmlthe latest update from Kier Hardy, Pete Johnson and co. Canada Street looks utterly fabulous. Adam

Not an uncommon phenomenon by any means: both the loco sheds that existed in my home town (each went long before I was born), Yeovil had no road access. Ok, so the smaller, Pen Mill (GW) was a single road affair but Town (LSWR), with its four roads and additional stabling was entirely rail-served. Similarly, Bournemouth, a medium-sized sort of shed, was isolated from any road access. Looking at old OS maps, neither Weymouth or Exeter (GW) were easy to access by road, though I suppose it might have been possible. Smaller, branch sheds catering for a single loco were often without any sort of road access (Seaton, Lyme Regis, for example). Why would the railway require it? Spares stocks and fuel were delivered by rail, the staff turned up on foot or by bike. In modern terms, it provided its own logistical solutions. Do the magazines really provide this sort of prototype detail? I see little evidence of it but I don't buy many so can't make a systematic survey from back issues. Certainly, there's nothing like the 'Bazzing Around' pieces from 'Model Railways' [for those unfamiliar with those pieces, the format was a large prototype shot with various details highlighted by sketches with commentary: I learnt an awful lot about a railway that I never personally knew that way] in the '70s or 'Lineside Look' from the '90s that appeared in Model Rail when it was a supplement rather than a magazine. The reason both stick in my memory is because of the fact that details were drawn out of the wider image by someone who knew what they were drawing. Adam

Absolutely, but confusingly, they are also dubbed 'Gloucester'. The 5' 6" Gloucester bogie looks like this: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bogies/h32572f7b#h32572f7b The Davis and Lloyd/ESC 'Ride Control' looks like this (similar, but shallower in overall height): http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bogies/h24bdd201#h24bdd201 I haven't, knowingly, seen this particular AME casting so I'm unsure which one it represents: whatever, one part or another of the description is wrong! Adam

You mean that the bogie isn't symmetrical about the pivot? The bearings certainly appear equidistant from each other! The reshaping is fairly straightforward with a big enough file. I'll take a picture when I get home but the tops, as supplied, are rather flat so get tapered at the ends (the tops of the cutouts should be parallel to the tops of the bogies) and the outer corners a bit more rounded. I do have a set of the AME bogies on order (along with a few other bits) so it will be interesting to see whether they really are Gloucester bogies and thus wrong for a Bobol E or just mis-described Davis and Lloyd types. I will find a use for them one way or another, but probably not on these wagons. Adam

For want of a better alternative, Mike, yes the Cambrian Davis and Lloyd type. With a bit of reshaping and some amended spring plank detail they'll do. Do you know of anything better? Adam

Following on from the last update, Highflyer has received a coat of paint around its nether regions and I've completed the glazing. More weathering, and some touching up and it will be ready for the road. In the meantime, while the civil engineer (the good Colonel, H.F. Stephens), wasn't looking, it had a quick spin on Clevedon WC&P last week. Thanks Andrew. The pair of Coil R have had a small amount of work in the form of minute etched bits and little bits of wire. This really fiddly detail completed, it will be brakegear next. Adam

Hole in one John. Sadly not a steam prototype, but a Warship, D824 Highflyer. I wonder whether the new Bachmann NBL Warship will have this? A bit of a fiddle but good fun to do. I think the wheels are ready for paint now. Adam

And a mystery component. Ideas? Adam

Ha! It should be noted that the arch wasn't the railway's only contribution to the archaeology of Conwy - the LNWR spent quite a bit of money shoring up both the town walls and the castle to prevent lumps of masonry landing on their trains and thus making a positive contribution to the preservation to one of the great medieval monuments in these islands. Lovely pictures Dave, many thanks for posting them. Adam

Thnk you for the interest and the various button clicks and Kalkat's suggestion about tarps - I'd be interested to see a picture of one Kalkat (if that's possible please?), but in the meantime, here's work to date and one of the wagons now sits on its wheels. I'm awaiting the delivery of a second set of bogies at present. First up, headstock details. The Rumney Models etch includes a nifty little jig to drill holes for the vac' pipe dummy and lamp iron. Both are on the etch and will be attached with little pins of 0.3mm wire soldered to the metal components resulting in a nicely detailed result. Normally I'd make functional pins through the headstocks and add the detail in plastic afterwards but since the bits are there on the fret... As you can see, it folds up to an angle and the end aligns with the edge of the headstock. This almost certainly prolonged the life of the tiny drill though it has since succumbed. The standard Cambrian bogie fixing can be seen here: The screws are epoxied into the mouldings and once that went off, two layers of 40 thou' were added to reinforce the joint with the floor. As noted I've only got enough bogies for one wagon at present but I had a set of bogie fixings in stock so the wagons remain in step. As a prelude, however, here's the first one popped temporarily on its wheels: Adam

An interesting idea that, though I would have to substantially upgrade my chocolate consumption! Maybe worth a test in the future, but these models are being built with the method I know I can make work in mind: the pair if wagons will have six hoods between them so I need to make sure that I have a workable solution. The next stage is to get the wagons on their wheels (temporarily) and to complete the visible detail. Adam

No problem Colin. The hoods on the real thing were nylon sheets, tailored for the job. Because if this, most of the normal techniques don't work, so what I will do is to build up the tent shapes from plastic sheet as a former, add the sheet rails and then a couple of layers of tissue paper. The ends will be built up from either more tissue or Miliput as I did with my earlier Shochood and Coil H wagons. The sheets on these come down quite low so tissue might just work. I always use two layers of tissue for this job and treat them to a good coat if PVA; nylon sheet doesn't have discernible texture 1/76th full size! Adam

Very nice Andrew, I shall have to see if I can make the trip over. Adam

I didn't mean this to happen, but, Coil R, two off. The sketch in the diagram book (noted above) is actually to scale and can be photocopied down to 4mm which means the key bit, the hood dimensions, are known. The 'body' is a fairly straightforward fabrication from 40 thou' plastic, the main chassis 30 thou' sheet and Evergreen 1/8" channel with Rumney Model's brakegear and trussing for the Bogie Bolster E. In the hooded form, almost no body detail is required: it's hidden! The bogies will be from Cambrian and whole should be quite easy, hopefully. Adam

It certainly looks like metal sheet over planks but as you say, it's hard to tell. For iron ore in a cold climate this would be sensible.I can't think of a UK-design of wooden hopper that had anything like that, but then, I can't think of a UK mainline type with side doors in quite this fashion... Adam

I'm not sure about that, wood is pretty tough. Wood was also easy to repair and cheap. The china clay wagons Brian mentions are the only UK examples I can think of (and in that case, to ease the flow of the load out of the wagon - other china clay vehicles had floors laid the length of the wagon rather than across which was usual). End tipping from wooden-sheeted wagons was normal for thousands of vehicles on a daily basis from, for example, the south Wales ports, and wooden bodied and framed hoppers in the north east of England were the norm until the days of horse-hauled waggonways until the 1960s and they certainly weren't metal plated. Designs for iron ore wagons seem to have become more steel-based earlier but I suspect that's partly because of the density of the load and the need for heavier duty vehicles. Looking at the design of the particular vehicle, however, I wouldn't know but the v-shaped 'floor' might well have been steel but I would be very surprised if the insides of the doors were anything other than raw, untreated wood. Superlative modelling. Adam

A concerted effort over the last few days has seen a varied collection of wagons lettered. There are more that I couldn't fit on the desk and more still to be done. The pair of Coil S (the brown ones!) been featured before and look much better for their identities. The Coil J marathon is ongoing, two more left. The slightly rough effect is deliberate: these '60s conversions seem to have been re-lettered by whoever was to hand capable of waving a 1" brush and the way I achieved this is to use a Modelmaster sheet derived from '80s period Cambrian dry print transfers; the artwork was hand drawn and gives exactly the rough effect I was after. I'll need some more sheets, and the word 'COIL' a dozen or so times... Time for a cuppa. Adam

A bit late now, but you do know that 'Red Panda' can supply the plywood -bodied version of the Shocvan? Parkside will happily supply and I've done one myself: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-coil-carriers-coloured/?p=1608511 Justin has a picture of the completed vehicle on his own site too: http://www.rumneymodels.co.uk/14.html Nice plan, too - shame that you can't include the castle more effectively (says the medieval historian) - but it looks a nice plan. Demand for domestic coal is unlikely to have been more than 4 or 5 wagons each week, if that, in this part of rural Suffolk so mixed up in the pick-up goods seems the most likely solution. Adam

Thanks to those who clicked the various buttons, OK, well for these wagons, where rust and paint were in the balance - wholesale repainting was not part of the conversion, but touching up was - what I did for the bodies was to apply a coat or a couple of coats of overall rust (Humbrol metalcote gunmetal and matt 100) which was allowed to dry for a few days before a rough coat of matt light grey was applied over the top. There is precious little visible bodyside that wasn't covered with black patches for numbering so fine rust effects would probably have been a waste of time so splodged grey was what I went for. See Paul Bartlett's gallery of the type: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brcoilj A day or two later, the whole was 'damp-brushed' (like 'dry-brushed', but with more paint) with the same rust mix to represent the scratches, chips and rust bloom of the real thing. Some more of the mix was thinned to produce the streaking visible. Once this was dry, a bit of Rail Grey was added to cover the areas of repair and re-lettering. The lettering will be a mix of mapping pen and transfers, but only when the paint is properly dry. Adam

A bit further along now and all are painted and most of the way weathered. The final touches will be added after I've lettered them all. The Coil C (left) seems to have had metal strips protecting the baulks and these seem to have been treated to a dose of red oxide primer. The Coil J's just had plain wood... I'll add some notes on the weathering approach later if anyone is interested? Adam

Therein lies the problem and, as you say it's a bit different with locos. That said, Hornby have produced some brakevans - for example - in very distinctive liveries all of which appear in Paul's collections. 'Beyond reasonable doubt' is difficult, but 'on the balance of probabilities' it's possible. I would post some comparisons, but, of course, I can't actually access the galleries. Adam

Quite - the issue here is not that the pictures are used for publicity purposes (though Hornby have form here in the case of some pictures by Steve Jones some years ago), but in research for liveries which, it seems likely, must derive from a download of the image. If I get 'Found it on the internet' without very precise explanation in any professional context it will either cost a student marks, cost an author a rather terse and grumpy email and a contract researcher future work. Now, I don't know and don't want to speculate whether the researcher, as a private individual, has paid for a download - which is possible - but for the purposes of goodwill approaching Paul direct would be sensible - and might get additional useful gen - and an acknowledgement, however expressed would certainly be good manners and would actually do Hornby's reputation no end of good. If a purchaser can see that their model is clearly based on the real thing then everyone is likely to be happy. Adam

Paul has suggested, elsewhere that this may be the work of Hornby's researchers who may, in fact, be freelance. The problem then, may not only be Hornby's (though such basic ethical considerations should be spelt out in the contract - I know that they have been when I have done freelance historical work). This sort of thing is week one for any history undergraduate or anyone else with even basic research training. Adam

The reason for this is because, understandably, he's become fed up with Hornby in particular using his pictures unattributed and without paying even the download fee (cheap enough and, since Hornby are seeking a commercial return, reasonable in my view) to create liveries for their products. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93576-Hornby-2015-announcements-now-made/?p=1705346 This first became apparent with BR brakevans and, I see, has spread to hoppers. This poor commercial practise is damaging to those of use who actually want to detail, modify, weather or, heaven forfend, actually make our own models and, unfortunately, to Paul's goodwill. Adam

A nice, neat job of it Andrew. Now, is this going to be semi-permanently coupled to 1454? Adam