Atso

Incredible work Jerry. The engine shed has really come on since I saw it at Stevenage.

It looks to me like the shot is in the glass. It would be messy if it wasn't!

Being only 37, I missed out on seeing all of these classes by a number of years. Therefore, I am extremely excited by the prospect that I'll be able to see replicas of any of them steam within my lifetime.

Perhaps our leader's absence might be a contributing factor here? Hopefully he'll return soon with more brilliant photos of his (and other's) modelling.

I've managed another three hours on the ex-GNR Gresley this morning. The body is pretty much complete now, just the gangways to do. I'm undecided if these will be printed or made up using thin paper.

Early days in designing the next coach body (I really should've finished the D183 first though!). It is an ex-GNR Gresley D.248D Corridor Third which, at 54' over the vestibules, is somewhat shorter than the better know LNER 61' stock. Two of these will be needed for my model of the 2.04pm Cambridge to KX secondary express formation.

Thanks Jerry, The tank comes out at 33mm by 41mm (and 18mm high) slightly bigger than your estimate of 32mm by 40mm but this is due to the flanges, and the corner piece that join the four sides together - if this is an issue, I could scale the tank down slightly in the width and length without too much trouble. The internal dimensions for the 'water' are 30.9mm by 38.8mm - I was hoping to make the sides thinner but this caused problems with holes forming in the print when I tried.

What beautiful signals Jamie, very neatly assembled and painted, well done! I've not built any myself yet but will require one semaphore for Hadley Wood (the other, at the Northern end, being a colour light). At the moment I'm trying to find out if the semaphore was a somersault or upper quadrant type following the 1932 re-signaling work. Unfortunately the only photos I've come across are from the 1950's (shortly before the line was quadrupled) and it is an upper quadrant by this point - a 1930's view has proven elusive so far....

It is but with an 'egg box' style set of braces inside to help stop things warping. This is the modified version currently printing. The 'water' unfortunately caused a distortion at the top of the tank and so I have removed it as I'm more than sure Jerry can add some plastic to it later.

Thanks Jamie. In answer to your question, no. Jerry is happy to add these details himself, the Midland style paneling itself was the issue. However, I'd love to learn about these details and will drop you a PM a little later - many thanks for the offer.

Something very different from my usual locomotive and C&W modelling: A Midland railway water tank for Jerry Clifford's Bath layout. This has been designed and 3D printed as part of Jerry's and my bartering/horse-trading arrangement using drawings and information supplied by Jerry. It isn't quite a perfect 3D print but I'm pleased with it for the first attempt and I think this one will be right on the next try.

What wonderful work Jamie and I can only echo the comments made by others - far more advanced modelling (and to a much higher standard) than I was managing at 14! Nicely done and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you make next.

As part of Jerry's and my bartering/horse-trading arrangement, I've been working on the water tank for Bath. Jerry kindly sent me some detailed drawings for a standard Midland panel and other information which included his sketches of the tank to be modelled. Last night I put on the first test print and here are the results. There are a couple of minor issues that I'd like to address and reprint this before it goes out to Jerry. However, I'm pretty pleased with it as a first attempt and, following all Jerry's help and advice, it is nice to be able to contribute to the layout in a small way.

It would make for a most interesting interior though!

Lovely work Andrew but isn't that Quint an unbalanced (and unsecured!) load in that position? Looking forward to seeing the corridor third progress.

I know your weren't being serious about the profs but regarding the undergrads you might well be spot on! I see your point about the MK1 formation, over 50% of the seating being allocated first class is ridiculous in anyone's book - I'm not sure, but the LNER 'Northern Bell' might have been an exception to this but then it was an exceptional and very unusual (unique?) train! The make up of your 1955 Bradford portion is interesting as it is very similar to the kind of thing that would have been seen in the 1930s. This nicely leads me off topic (as usual!) about the GN section expresses that would have gone in and out of King's Cross. My embryonic c. 40-50 move sequence for Hadley Wood would call on three or four such expresses in each direction, which isn't feasible for the fiddle yard. Therefore, following much correspondence with Steve Banks (and much consultation of his and Clive Carter's book), I think the solution is to model these trains in the generic (but broadly believable) sense only. However, I can use the fiddle yard to marshall pre-set pieces so that each time an express appears, it will be a different (but not 100% accurate) formation. My my basic plan is to have two five/six carriage 'core' sections with catering vehicles (I.e. one with a RF/OTP and another with a triplet) as described in the book and several 'end' formations, representing the various through portions, to choose from. These can be pulled out of kickback sidings as and when required and put back again afterwards. More work in the fiddle yard but potentially a way to give the impression that there is more back there than there really will be. Not the way I would really like to do things in terms of accuracy, but at least it will be for the formations that will be seen for the shortest time in the scenic section...

I'm not sure about your theory about the Profs but I understand that the 'Beer Train' was christened as such by the undergrads. I'm not at home so can't provide seat numbers tonight. The formation was: - TK (clerestory) - BC (D. 183) - C (Howlden) - TK - TK - BC (D. 183) Thinking about it, despite the 50/50 split of coaches, probably not a huge number of first seats on this one - and as I previously said, all cascaded ex-GN stock. Another, more common, working was made up of two pairs of brake composite twins, again I can't remember the numbers of seats but I do remember that the break down of seats worked out at exactly 20% firsts and 80% thirds. Looking at it like this, I think I see the point you may be heading towards.

Evening Andrew, I completely agree that the two eras aren't comparable but felt that it needed to be pointed out that this could be different through the ages - sorry if it came across otherwise. Interestingly, the 2.04pm has no catering services attached but three composites. By contrast, the short five carriage version of the 'Cambridge Buffet Car Express', or 'Beer Trains' as they were nicknamed, that I'll also be modelling, had only one composite in the formation - but it was made up exclusively of later built ex-GN stock. I'm sure that all made sense to someone at the time!

I guess it depends on period and locations as well. The c. 1934-37 2.04pm Cambridge to King's Cross set I'm modelling has no less than three composites in a six coach formation. A higher number of first class seats than you might expect for such a service but it was also made up of available cascaded stock - still evidence that it could happen, regardless whether it was to actually serve first class passengers. I've been lucky enough to get a peek at both the 1935 and 1938 GN section Carriage Working Books recently. There are a surprising number of composites and composite brakes in several of the GN mainline expresses that worked to and from King's Cross - I've not seen the ECML workings yet. I suspect that this is because these trains typically had quite a few through carriages working to multiple other destinations and therefore it was deemed prudent to offer both first and third class seating for each section.

Yes, they are the best but yours aren't quite standard products, are they Tim?

Hello Tony, Geoff and Dave! It was so good to see both of you on Saturday, it was a wonderful show. Little Salkeld stood out to me as well, but I wondered if that is due to a natural leaning towards N gauge as it is my chosen scale. It was also great to see the Great Northern Railway Society at the event - I refrained from purchase yet another of their really useful books on this occasion! Thank you both for your kind comments on my coaches. However, I would not describe them as fine models - that I would reserve for the likes of the Copenhagen Fields and Grantham teams in the world of the LNER! They are (or rather will be) layout coaches, designed for quick construction over finesse and suitable for watching race by - and on the rare occasions when any will stop at Hadley Wood, they will be partly obscured by the waiting rooms and bridge. These are the start of my effort to more realistically represent the kinds of passenger trains that would have travelled through Hadley Wood between 1932 and 1939. There will inevitably had to be some compromises but it will be better than having rakes just made up of Dapol and Minitrix Gresley 61' coaches - might even sell some of my collection of these as it has become apparent that I have far too many!

Below is the latest incarnation of the Howlden Lavatory Composite The bottom of the body has bowed outwards slightly. I'll see if I can fix this with some hot water - if not I'll have to glue the two halves together once painted. I think I'll have to fit under-scale wheels to the bogies as the solebars are resting on the wheel treads at present. Due to the design of the prototype, I've got nowhere where I can get anymore clearance without having to widen the whole coach! Also, here is the first test print of the Gresley D183 Lavatory Composite Brake. Despite being much longer, this one seems to have resisted the temptation to warp a little better. I'll have to do some investigation into what I've done differently between the two coaches. Unfortunately the opposite corner is missing a section due to a slight positioning error on the build plate - I said that it was tight! I've got another attempt on the go, fingers crossed I've got it correctly positioned this time (there are literally microns of space to spare!). Both of these coaches are useful designs for which I've found several 1930's formations that contained them.

Hi Manna, My best wishes to your wife and I hope that she makes a speedy recovery. The P1 is looking excellent! As always, you're doing a lovely job but maybe a little big for Edgware?

That's the one Andrew. Personally, I like the early Gresley bow end/roof stock best but I need two of the D183s for the 2.04pm express. Interestingly the remaining coaches are all vestibule types but the clerestory third leads the rake while the other two (both ex-GN D248D thirds) are the forth and fifth coaches in the formation.

Thanks Tom. I was thinking of doing something similar for this coach. However, altering the diameter and location of the supports seems to have done the trick. I've been working on the next coach for the formation an ex GN Diagram 183 Lavatory Composite Brake. At a length of 58ft 1.5in (119.75mm), it just about fits within the photon's footprint with a 10 degree offset in the X axis and a 25 degree offset in the Z axis.