Martin S-C

My low mood phase is well over, Jim. This is the nasty cold/cough that's plaguing me now! That too is over the worst now.

Getting there slowly, Chris, thanks for asking. The last two nights I've finally had a decent unbroken sleep.

A gift to myself this weekend in compensation for my missed trip to France It seems No.34 spent the years 1908-1921 on the Longmoor railway. In my universe the Longmoor will sell it to the NMR in 1917 to assist in moving military stores in the Forest region and it will wear the company's usual yellow ochre livery.

But, but... Toto, we're not in Metcalfshire any more.

That sounds like a simply immense load. I honestly find such figures hard to believe given my experiences though knowing the weight of that train would be helpful. Perhaps the Pullmans aren't that heavy. My Hornby Peckett B2 weighing 180 gm can haul 590 gm up a 1:55 on a mainly straight run. I have finished applying the magnets to the Beattie WT and I also glued down the steel plates under the track. I had originally just slid them under it loose and while some were held down tight, some weren't and as the loco went over, I saw these were shifting. I think this made the magnetism less efficient which may be why I saw anomalous results yesterday. The second biggie I found was that a magnet placed under the leading undriven axle increased load haulage quite a bit, oddly enough. I am not sure why this would be but perhaps holding down the front of the loco also pulled down the middle of it and gave the leading driven axle more grip. Without magnets the 100 gm loco slipped with a 225 gm load. With the extra magnet and the steel plates glued down it hauls 6 loaded coal wagons plus brake so about 315 gms and that is plenty for a branch line train so I'm happy with that. The Hornby J15 (weight 235 gm) had plenty of ground clearance below the body for 2 of the thicker DCC Concepts magnets and this loco is happy hauling over 650 gm up the 1:32 on a 4ft radius. That's 12 wagons plus brake. Plus the tender which I left out of the calculation. I also found that extending the steel plates about 2/3rds of the train length beyond the top of the gradient helped, which is pretty obvious if you stop to think about it. Right now though a bigger problem is the swelling of the baseboards again due to damp as this infernal wet weather goes on and on. This has affected the baseboard/rail joins. This is a never ending problem...

Pagoda Cupola sounds like a 70s girl band.

Its either a road railer or a railroader. Either works for me.

Hardly my place to cast any observations suggesting anything is lacking but the extreme RH end of the factory building just to the left of the loco looks like it could use some kind of finishing off structural element like another end wall buttress or something.

That cluster of buildings on the outside curve has so many interesting shapes, angles and rooflines leading every which way. I can see that area being highly photogenic as the scenery side makes progress.

It can be if pretty trains take centre stage.

Fantastic work. I love the curvy roof lines of the kiln.

Thank you all for the fantastic detective work on the MR CCT. At 13'3" high and 20' long it would make a rather cute stocky looking van.

Don, I examined their site but couldn't find any mention of the River class - have you a direct link please by any chance?

Awesome work Mr. N. Here's the original B/W image, said to be in Nottingham in 1907. https://picturenottingham.co.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/ntgm008488/posterid/ntgm008488.html Now then, about the livery...

If we go down the kit line of enquiry there is no problem. Its RTR manufacturing which is the issue I raised and queried a possible reason why we seen no Dean/Armstrong RTR locos.

I'll check with the person who colourised it about the b/w original.

Thanks Stephen, the roof curvature certainly fits... or is very close. I presume then that the body should be red or brown, not green? I'll advise the colourist of the need for shading on the loco numerals.

That may well be valid on 50+ tons of real loco but I would think with the minimal masses and forces we're dealing with it would not be a factor. In any case, as stated before I am not going to be changing any loco wheels! If I can't get a loco to climb the grades with a useful load it goes in the for sale box.

That's the problem isn't it? RTR manufacturers want to make models of pre-group locos that lasted into BR so they can have as many livery variants to boost sales. With parallel boilers going out of use so early in the majority of cases one could only make such models in the one (or at most two) liveries, both pre-grouping. And then the BR modellers all start moaning "why didn't you make a model of a loco that lasted until the 50s?" etc, etc. ...and even worse in this case the GWR modellers might start moaning "why didn't you make a model of a loco that lasted until the 30s?" etc, etc. I wonder if a standard model could be produced supplied with two plastic boiler/firebox/safety valve/dome mouldings to clip-fit onto the frames between cab and smokebox? One of Hattons clever ploys with the generic 4- and 6-wheel coaches was that some could be modelled in 1950s departmental guise to squeeze the maximum from the exercise.

Thats the other issue with making a pre-grouping GWR RTR loco - you have the early parallel boiler variant, then the taper boiler and Belpaire firebox variant. More tooling, more cost.

I have posted this image from a Facebook group. Its a b/w original and is colourised by Colin Epton who retains the rights to it so please do not post elsewhere. My interest is the van behind the Midland loco. Do not be fooled by the livery, that could well be incorrect. By the roof arc it looks to me like it could be a CCT or early motor car van. It might also be a theatrical scenery van. I have taken a stab at the writing and see "SURREY'S & WO_ _ _ _ _ 'S Ltd." By way of some crude on-screen measurements taking perspective into account I think there are 4 or 5 letters between the 'O' and the 'S' of the second word. Anyone with any ideas here?

I posted this image on another thread but simply for the recording of baskets, barrels, hat boxes(?), etc, I thought it worth putting up here as well. All the wagons appear to be empties. I have just noticed that the cattle wagon appears to have beasts still inside so this photo must have been taken within a very short time of the incident.

This conversation is quickly going down the tubes.

James, are you aware of Roger Farnworth's blog? I know his work through many articles he's written on the Forest of Dean but his explorations range far and wide. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/24/kings-lynn-docks-branch-part-2/

You are forgiven; it is a Westinghouse pump fitted on a pre-1923 design after all. I would have thought that no company's designers worked in isolation and that designs would largely mirror what most other companies were producing, within the artistic preferences of certain CEs at least, and so within at least 5 years features would be common to a large extent. I should think only the very financially weak or parsimonious companies might adhere to outdated designs. Did terrain or traffic have a significant effect? Would a company whose rails negotiated hilly regions differ from those in the flatter areas? Did iron ore or coal traffics give rise to leaps forward?