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Now that the NU-Cast V2 is complete back to working on the station side of the shed. There are two buildings to the left of the unloading bay. The L/H one is the fitters bay, I know fairly certain of this since I sat in there back in 1964/5 (?) for a cuppa after isolating a traction motor on one of our (Eastleigh Diesel Depot) Cromptons which failed at Basingstoke with a traction motor fault. The call out fitter (I think it may have been Les Elsey, a really good steam loco photographer of the 1950' and 60s) spent most of the time in the bay whilst I was down in the inspection pit doing the business. Still, that's what apprentices are for.... Les was often "on call" which gave him an opportunity to fix loco's and DEMU's and take pictures of steam loco's. As the only (a couple more joined me on the depot later on) apprentice I often accompanied Les. Southampton Docks was a regular call, those Paxman engined shunters were often in trouble. On one occasion the Queen Mary was in dry dock, what a sight she was. I also recall Jim Clark's Lotus 49 Tasman car (2.5 litre V8 Cosworth) being loaded up on route to the South. Anyway, this is how things look now. Still more to do to these buildings but nearly complete. The structures untilise "Townstreet" mouldings so are not totally accurate and the roof should be hipped on the R/H side. Still the stacks for the all important coal fired stoves are in place. I think the R/H building was the stores but I am not certain. Kind regards, Richard B

It is a fairly poor afternoon here Tony rather than an afternoon of the Diety! Thanks for the compliment. Kind regards, Richard B

Good afternoon Tony, Thanks for sharing this arrangement with us all. Now that I am running trains on my "work in progress layout", which has some tightish curves, the coupling issue is raising its head on occasion. I have a fair number of Hornby Maunsell coaches and these have a more sophisticated coupling that extends on tighter curves. It seems to work. Good to meet you again at Doncaster last Saturday. I have taken your advice re the tender for the Nu-Cast V2 loco and retained the Bachmann tender. I bought the part completed loco and kit parts, which came with the Bachmann tender for £45 from a well known supplier in the NW. It did not run too well so a partial strip,clean and lub solved this and it runs rather well. I have spent some time detailing the loco and I am fairly pleased with the result. Hope you don't mind a few pictures. Before treatment. No brake gear in the kit so I adapted the Hornby B17 brake gear moulding. Result is not too bad for a really cheap purchase and a wee bit of work. Kind regards, Richard B

Green Arrow is now complete. I have left the paintwork as it is although I may polish it a bit since what I thought was dust is orangepeel. I am pleased with this refurb, a good clean, lubrication and some added detail has created a powerful addition to my fleet and it will appear on my layout pulling a pigeon special as Mallard60022 has suggested. It may even stay for a while, after all when the SR had a few in the 1950's to cover the withdrawn Bullied pacifics, they were popular with SR enginemen and since all footplate staff were very wary of new loco, they must have been good! A couple of pictures prior to adding RA number. On the Up Main Line outside Basingstoke shed. Reminds me of that wonderful shot of this loco on its home depot 34A alongside Silver Link sometime in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Kind regards, Richard B

The V2 is just about finished bar painting. I thought it might be useful to see the parts that I have fitted to improve the look of the loco. There are two jobs to complete, fit the vacuum reservoir to the tender and the cylinder drain cock lever that is missing on the drivers side. Missed it! Now that my layout is progressing well I want all my loco's to be robust enough to pull trains and the V2 should do this well with bags of traction. Tony Wright makes the distinction between highly detailed no compromise loco models and layout loco's that can regularly pull trains reliably. I think the V2 falls within the second category. It is a very old model superceded by both ready to run and later kit designs but it captures the spirit of the prototype well and at £45 + my time, is a bargain. I met Tony again at the Doncaster Show last Saturday and we briefly chatted about this model. It came with the Bachmann tender and the parts to build the Nu-Cast tender. I took Tony's advice and retained the Bachmann tender and re-wheeled it. I did not realise that Tony was an Art Teacher and that skill set shows in his excellent layout and the many loco's that he has built. It is said that building models and loco's in particular is a mixture of art and science. My view is that it is more an art than a science once the basic skills of soldering and forming brass sheet are mastered. Enough pontificating! My goodness, that dust is way overscale! Kind regards, Richard B

The B17 brake levers were cut from the Hornby moulding being careful not to damage the spigots. One good feature of the massive cast mainframe of this model is the ease of drilling holes for fitting the brake levers to the frame. I used brass wire for the brake crossbeams. I used thin (sorry can't remember the thickness, seems about 10 thou) plasticard for the frame overlay and the running plate support brackets. The brake gear looks fine and if you look carefully you can see the B17 axle springs through the wheels although not all would fit due to collector wires. Kind regards, Richard B

Thanks Phil, I think B1's also did a few trips via Reading onto the SR on Pigeon specials too. Kind regards, Richard

In between waiting for things to dry on the layout I have sneaked over to the workbench to take a look at the Nu-Cast V2. Its is numbered as Green Arrow and I will probably leave it as that loco on the basis that towards the end of steam it may have tripped down to Basingstoke on "special". The Backmann tender will be ok for the loco in the 1960s. The Nu-cast kit does not come equiped with brake gear or axle springs. So I have given that some thought and purchased the Hornby chassis bottom assembly (X6290 from Peters Spares arounf £6) from their B17 which has the correct pattern brake hanger/block and springs. The wheelbase is also similar to the V2. I am now fitting these to the chassis together with some additional detail and when complete will take a few snaps and explain what I have done to fit these parts. Looking good. Kind regards, Richard B

Hello, I can't comment on the 3F/4F but I have built an Alan Gibson ex LSWR G6 0-6-0T. I found it fairly straitforward to build and is accurate to the drawing that I have of the prototype. I have taken a couple of shots of the loco, its a bit dusty! Kind regards, Richard B

Started on the station side of the shed this morning. Enjoyed Doncaster Show, so good to be able to look at so many layouts in operation. I particularly enjoyed the ECML in all it glory at Grantham and marvelled at the minature wonder that was Ladmanlow Sidings - the location modelled is not far from my home although its changed a bit since steam days! Show is recommended. Kind regards, Richard B

Thought I would post a few pictures to show progress. The next stage is to complete the offices, unloading bay etc on the station side of the engine shed. The track layout on the GW side of the station is wrong to prototype, yet another compromise due to space limitations. Off to Doncaster tomorrow, which I am looking forward to, after the absence of such events for the last couple of years. Kind regards, Richard B

Oh dear!

They have done, and continue (although Dave has retired) to do a really good job. I have built a C2X 0-6-0 and it went together very well. Kind regards, Richard B

. I assume you mean 4COR's etc and not the very large 4-6-0's? Kind regards, Richard B

Hello Pete, Pleased to note that you are on the mend. I have been following your 5" gauge A3 for some time but had no idea you had an interest in maritime modelling too. Bravo, a good choice, what a fine looking ship HMS Hood was if rather vulnerable given that she was designed before all the lessons of Jutland were fully understood. It is interesting to note that whilst the Bismarck was a fine ship able to take much punishment her design was based on the WW1 Baden/Bayern class 15" battleships of the German Imperial Navy. This design had a vulnerablity around the steering gear which was only lightly protected. This probably contributed to the damage inflicted to her steering gear that finished the Bismarck's run for port making her a sitting duck. I am sure that you will receive much support and help from the HMS Hood Association, it might be useful to do some research at Greenwich and the IWM if you have not already done so. Wonderful work. Kind regards, Richard B

Whilst I am fully engaged with layout matters I have not ignored the odd bargain or two. I spotted this Nu-Cast V2 which uses a Bachmann tender (the parts for the kit tender are in the box as are all the parts not currently fitted to the loco). It was a very reluctant runner. I have tightened up one or two wheels that were loose on their axles, cleaned wheel treads and pickups and then lubricated and it now runs pretty well if a bit noisy. I will return to it later and add some detail and give it a general clean etc. Not bad for £45! Kind regards, Richard B

Water tower now has that well used look! Little more to do on platforms and then I will move on to completing the shed. Kind regards, Richard B

First part of mainline now ballasted. All three platforms in place although the island and "western" platform not complete. The modified water tower is almost complete bar weathering. I am pleased with the result, it captures the character of this very prominent feature of the steam railway version of Basingstoke, despite all the limitations referred to above. Large piece of lead performs many duties, today it is aligning the chimney (?) whilst the glue goes off. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi, Thought that you may be interested in a new supplier (new to me anyway) "Detail Matters" who are based in The Republic of Ireland. Knowing you Jack you are probably aware anyway! I have just received a couple of their SR Ground Signals/Point Levers, not working models but fill in some extra authenticity. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi Graham, A work in progress, my 70D layout. Perhaps you could add a link?

Really great idea, good luck with your plan. I am modelling Basingstoke Engine shed a small part of the station. Kind regards, Richard B

Just wanted to mention a model railway supplier that I have not used before "Detail Matters" who are located in The Republic of Ireland. I ordered a couple of their non-working SR Ground Signal/Point lever pack and they seem really good. I shall be using them again. Kind regards, Richard B

Whilst waiting for the latest track ballasting to dry after glueing I thought I would have ago at converting my Bachmann water tower to something like the Basingstoke tower. There are problems, it is too small, not of the right design for the LSWR and the windows are painted red (so Midland Railway??). The Basingstoke tank is covered in corrugated sheeting, much like the engine shed roof so good practice for that task. It has gone fairly well and will be much closer to the Basingstoke installation when complete. I did consider building from scratch but frankly it would have taken too long and probably would not fit the layout - all of which is compromised on size compared to prototype. Windows and doors now faded SR green. Approximate location. Roof section not yet glued to the ends or trimmed. More detail to add too. Kind regards, Richard B

A quick update. Platform 1 is now installed and cable trunking added to both up and down lines. I have used the white platform edging supplied with the Peco platform kits for the trunking, it looks fairly convincing. The up lines still need ballasting. Unlike platform one, the island and up platform will use Hornby platform units suitably modified for the prototype location. I have also started work on refurbishing the shed (Townstreet mouldings). The roof is scratch built from brass sections and this needed a fair bit of repair work and re-painting. I have filed slots in the top of the shed walls so that the roof is located correctly. I have ordered a York Models smoke trough kit to see how well it can be adapted to fit the prototype. I have vast quantities of corrugated plastic sheeting for the roof. So much to do!!! Kind regards, Richard B

A really lovely piece of work to create that used but looked after look. I assume these two lovelies are Bachmann? It really illustrates how a truly skilled "painter and decorator" (no office intended and not to mention the skills of the photographer) can transform a ready to run loco. I shall continue to try and emulate Tim's work to the best of my abilities. Meanwhile I am diverted onto completing (a relative tern I know) my layout "70D" before I return to loco building. Thanks for the memories of the ECML Gilbert. Kind regards, Richard B