david_abramczyk

Well, in that case, since the class in question has dropped out of the Hornby catalogue this year, I feel semi-safe in mentioning I bought a Thompson B1 off of Ebay; it's a Replica Railways model of the class leader Springbok in LNER apple green with her 1946 number #1000. It might need a bit of work to get it running, but I know some folks- I would kinda like to get another B1 though, also in LNER condition.

It seems a bit odd for me that some engines, that were Grouping or even pre-Grouping in origin, are now sold (to paraphrase Henry Ford) in "Any Colour you like, as long as it's BR Black"; take for instance the Thompson B1's; it seems like LNER liveried versions have been AWOL for ages, and are rarer than hen's teeth- heck, even the BR versions seem to be getting thin on ground now.

I'm never really sure if by 'latest acquisition' it means solely Hornby, or if other manufacturers can be mentioned.

I ordered an SECR C class in BR Black with late crest from Hattons a couple of weeks ago, and it arrived today; and with the help of an associate on another forum, I'm gonna turn it into an LNER J21. In the immediate future there's one of the old style Terriers, also in BR black, and also from Hattons, on my way, which is gonna be turned into an ex-GER 'Buckjumper' in LNER black.

That sounds fair, though as I said, they originally came off the "Codename: STRIKEFORCE" set, so they have no markings on them; just a uniform olive-drab paintjob.

Well, back in the Tri-ang days, I seem to remember they sold plastic moulded mineral loads on stilt-legs that you could plonk down inside the wagons to load them up. Maybe something like that could be brought back?

So, I've got some old Lowmacs from the "Codename: STRIKEFORCE" set, ok? And I'm looking to put some form of cargo on them, suitably for a 1930's era setting; something like large crates, a road vehicle, or farm machinery. Does anyone have any suggestions?

So, I have the aforementioned set, and I was thinking about what to do with it once I get a proper layout set up, especially the rolling stock (an inside-cylindered 0-4-0 tank engine, two lomacs and a generic 10t closed van). Currently I'm leaning towards weathering and marking the wagons up as private owner wagons, and maybe trying to turn the tank engine into a privately owned loco for some industrial concerns that my layout services. Would any of you all have any thoughts, suggestions or pointers?

Agreed; And there's more than just the cab variations; in BR days (and possibly in LNER days too?) some if not all of the 18 surviving E4's were fitted with tender cabs for running on branchlines and for station pilot duties. If you include that, then you've got a wide range of engines that can be modelled; not just in terms of paint livery either (GER, LNER, BR early crest), but also the original cab-sides, the Stainmore All-Weather cab'ed engines, and either operating with a tender cab.

I saw an interesting thing on that recently, actually; I can't recall offhand where I saw it, but someone used the nib (and the ink?) out of a highlighter/marker pen to work the numbers off without scratching the bodywork.

This is also something I've wanted for ages, to be honest; a Holden Intermediate would be a wonderfully quirky addition to a layout.

Okay, so not the greatest example, but the point stands; how about a few different styles of tender (GNR-style, 1928 and streamlined corridor tenders, and 1937 non-corridor tenders) for the Gresley A1's and A3's, in the various LNER and BR colourations?

I'd also like to posit an idea; something a little more mundane, but could be very useful for modellers. Specifically, selling steam engine tenders, seperately from engines- for instance, a Fowler tender in LMS livery, to pair up with a Black Five, or a Jubilee (as can be seen in this to show what happens when an engine, in the case of the film 'Jubilee' #5605 "Cyprus", undergoes a general repair).

Hope you don't mind me rezzing, but I've been having a long think over this, and I had some ideas for the Santa train; maybe have two versions (steam and diesel), that have engines that are a bit more gutsy than the 0-4-0 "Pocket Rockets"; maybe dig out some old toolings for, let's say, an Ivatt or a Standard 2-6-0 for the steam version, that might include a brake van with the wagons, and a Class 31(or if they still have the old toolings, a Class 25) for the diesel set, which includes a coach for the elves and the Claus family to ride in?

Been a while since I was here; and my most recent acquisition came from Britain; a second hand LNER liveried Gresley A1 Gladiateur, seperated from the 2007 Queen of Scots limited edition train set it had been created for; there was some damage to the coal rails on the tender, and the reversing rod was on the wrong side (a common issue I'm lead to understand?), but otherwise, a very charming addition.

On that note, I can also see two other NER designs that could be worked in as well; the Z class (LNER C7 class) 4-4-2 Atlantics, or the R Class (LNER D20 class) 4-4-0's; with either of those two added in, alongside the B16's, you'd have a barebones 'full house' to cover the whole range of operations for the NER; the J72's for shunting and branchline/suburban trains, the Q6 for heavy goods trains, the B16's for mixed traffic work, and either the C7's or the D20's for mainline passenger services.

Indeed; as a further note, the B16's had boilers and other sundry parts that were interchangable with the Q7 0-8-0 heavy goods locomotives; given that Hornby already makes the very similar Q6 class (main difference being that the Q6 has two cylinders, whiled the Q7 and the B16's have three cylinders), there's potentially some savings in mold manufacture there too.

Recently, I've had a few model railway thoughts on my mind; among them being that the LNER (1923-1948) lineup feels like it's been a bit stodgy and same-y for years; It's basically been the same rounds of Gresley Pacifics, B12's and a semi-random assortment of mostly GNR-designed 0-6-0 tank engines like J83's and J50's, over and over again; there's always a Mallard, and there's always a Flying Scotsman, and so on. Meantime, the other Big Four, the GWR and LMS in particular, feel like every single steam engine class they ever had, both famous and obscure, has had at least one model made of it. It would be nice, I feel, to get some more LNER designs at some point; the "Hush-Hush" and the Thompson Pacifics are a good start, but there's a lot of workhorse designs from the Pre-Grouping era that have been overlooked. Case in point, the North-Eastern Railway Class S3 mixed traffic 4-6-0, designed by Sir Vincent Raven, and known by the LNER as the B16's: #2378 at York #2372, uncertain location They were introduced on the North-Eastern Railway in 1919, and could be found all over the LNER and BR's Eastern and North-Eastern Regions, pulling assorted goods trains and handing semi-fast passenger services, including heavy holiday excursion traffic to the seaside and so on, the last one being scrapped in 1964. As an aside, the class was divided into three subclasses; most were of the B16/1 type, which were as they were designed by Raven; but the B16/2 and B16/3 subclasses retro-fitted the engines with "LNER Group Standard" cabs, raised the running plate above the driving wheels and replaced the Stephenson's valve gear with Walscharts; the 16/2's were modified by Gresley, and thus had his conjugated valve gear, while the 16/3's were modified by Thompson, which had seperate valve gear for all three cylinders- visually though the two subclasses were indistinguishable. #2364, as rebuilt into a B16/2

Ah, I see.So, to put it rather bluntly, I should try and find a worn out second/third-hand model with the right sort of tender, then swap out the shells? Either that, or get a kit model and bash that into the right form?

Hey guys, I've recently come into a problem with one of my models; nothing to to do with the running, thankfully, but still something noticable. A few years ago, I picked up the Royal Mail Limited Edition Gresley A1, 4476 Royal Lancer in OO Gauge; it runs really nice and smooth, but in the last week, I was informed that the model has the wrong tender for it's condition; it came with a corridor tender, but Royal Lancer never ran with a corridor tender while in A1 condition- it should be fitted with a GN-style tender with coal rails. Does anyone know what the part number for that specific tender bodyshell is?

Fair enough; I did once take a night class in welding, so it should be on a broadly similar principle- I just remember hearing James May (a man I greatly admire, despite his apparent Republican views) saying that soldering is one of the most aggrivating things in the world.

Are brass models like those easy to make?

I'm thinking of a bit of kitbashing, specifically to turn one of the "Pocket Rockets" into a 2-4-0 as part of an ambitious scheme to kitbash up a GER T26/LNER E4, aka one of the "Holden Intermediates". I figure it's going to need at least a bit of cutting, and probably plenty of glue to add frame extensions for the front axle; not to mention sourcing various bits for the running plate, cab, boiler and fittings, but I'm oddly enthused by the idea. Anyone got any suggestions or advice with that?

It's okay; usually it's more clear, since my normal forum user name has "NZ" (New Zealand) in it.

It's not the mixing and matching that bothers me; it's the £40 postage and packaging cost that Dapol slaps on top of it's online orders to places outside of Europe; three brand new milk tankers from them would cost me nearly $200; for just three wagons.