Rana Temporia

These three locos are currently under construction and are my first purchase from Shapeways. Left to Right they are an Andrew Barclay ‘Ogee’ tank designed to take the standard Hornby 0-4-0 inside cylindered chassis but mine is having a Bachman Greg (Percy) chassis fitted instead as I want the outside cylinders. The same designer has a number of other locos designed to take the Hornby 0-4-0 chassis and as I was paying for postage anyway I couldn’t resist this one. The middle loco is a long-tank Hudswell Clarke as used by the Manchester Ship Canal (and as preserves on the East Lancs Railway) amongst others. Only problem is the prototype is inside cylindered and this one is designed to use the Hornby/Jouef/Electrotren chassis. The holes in the rods are too big to take a screw on a replacement set of wheels so it looks like it’s stuck with the OC chassis with the fitting for the cylinder rods on the wheels. A later and updated version of this kit was marketed by Hardy’s Hobbies along with a short tank version which was more appropriate to the chassis but it is no longer available. The loco on the right is a model of the Garstang and Knott End railway ‘Knott End’ loco to go with my model of ‘Blackpool’ from the same line and again is on one of the Electrotren chassis. This was the poorest of the 3D prints and although the body is fine, the smoke box was virtually flat and I had to use a cast Manning Wardle smoke box door I bought for another project and never used. Lots of detailing to go on these three locos and I have just found some more handrail knobs I didn’t know I had so saves buying some!. The one I really wanted was the G&KER loco and although it’s not designed for any particular chassis the Electrotren one is very close to the prototype and was an easy fit. Can’t wait to get them all finished!

The good thing about those two locos is that they will virtually last forever with a little bit of maintenance. Enjoy!

Which locos are they? If diesels than replacement wheels are available (at a a price) unless you can get a scrapper with later better scale wheels.

I have bought spares from the Jouef part of the Hornby website and not been able to add UK parts to the order (might be down to me rather than different warehouses) but the Jouef parts have come from the UK and been delivered very quickly.

Other countries use Loc as in Electroloc as I found out when I bought a couple of OH electric locos based on those from the Netherlands. Not sure if Belgium do to.

I think the old style Hall wheels were the same as the B12 ones.

I have had this problem now and again usually with later ‘Nellies” but also with some other locos. For some reason all the tyres fell off a Duchess I had while a second identical loco never had any problems. It could be down to the castings being not quite right. maybe a bad day in the factory with some impurities in the mix and the castings shrank a little more than expected, just enough to cause an issue? I would just push them back on and if you have a back to back gauge I’d check that when you do it.

Which mail coaches had side corridors as per the early Tri-ang model? I believe this was correct for some and sure I have seen a video of a prototype with this feature. I think all other models have had central corridor connections.

There are lots of ideas out there. The two small PECO plan books usually have pans designed for operational use, but they also tend to cram as much railway in the available space as possible. The PECO settrack book is rather like the Hornby books in putting as much product in the available space as it’s possible to achieve and uses their old 1st/2nd radius curved points which aren’t available anymore. However, they are all excellent sources of ideas on things to incorporate in a layout if you have the space. Old Model Railway mags are usually available very cheaply and usually have some track plans in them, you can always copy a good part of someone else’s layout as well. They have already done the design for you.

`Rog is dead right. This layout will look good and there is good loco storage but actual operational ‘fun’ is limited. The geometry means that if you follow this plan you need to use the first radius curves and there isn’t anything you can do about the gradient. This means that you’d have to use contemporary locos and controllers to get the best out of it. Modern locos and controllers wouldn’t be designed to run on it. There are also a lot of curved points. Others have said to use the Peco version. If you were to use contemporary locos you would probably have a problem with modern Hornby points as well as they are designed for wheels that are more to scale, again Peco settrack ones may be a better option. None of these points will stop you building this layout it’s just that you need to have realistic expectations about what you will be able to run on it. I’m not sure if Hornby still do a signal control set? I have noticed four on this plan.

Have you a picture of the pan as that would help?

Silver seal, they were the upmarket Hornby range and the wagon boxes had a little silver sticker holding the flap closed. I have some good ones but many were egg shaped and useless.

The first ‘proper’ electric locos I had were a re-painted Polly and a red Dock Shunter. I now have a collection of the 0-4-0 tanks with some of the different numbered red and blue versions and a blue Connie. I also have a few neverwazzas. There are a lot available second hand and in good condition and the originals have the X04 motor which is virtually infinately repairable. The main problem I have found is the wheel tyres falling off later versions and the rubbish black plastic cog that strips off the axles. The loco body was modified to produce a push along train to use with orange/red track that clockwork Thomas and Percy came with. I don’t know if the mould still exists? While I have a fondness for these locos I wonder how they would go on today with people who don’t have those memories of what were very well running and reliable little locos. Personally I would also like to see the top tank come back as well but that is even less likely with no link to a real loco. Now I want someone to prove me wrong!

Just got a second hand copy of this book. Not a model but relating to the other thread on inspiration this book has so much information it’s great! Inspiration for me as a child was being taken to the area (My dad worked at Lankro Chemicals, Later Diamond Shamrock at the time) and seeing the diesel shunters which in my mind were my yellow Big Big train Ruston loco. the fact that it was based on a narrow gauge prototype didn’t matter. it pulled the same wagons and coaches as the Blue Flier Hymek and represented the locos that ran up and down near the docks. Hornby have produced at least two MSC locos, the 0-4-0 sentinel diesel and the 0-4-0 Peckett. They may have also produced an Austerity 0-6-0 in MSC Grey, I have seen one somewhere. there is definitely one available in N gauge. With a little more work there are a number of other relevant locos that could be made using easily available 3D prints on Hornby chassis. Shapeways do a Hudswell Clarke long tank body designed to fit on the Jouef/Electrotren/Hornby chassis although it’s outside cylindered and the MSC Prototypes are IC. Oak Hill Works produce the Kitson tanks designed to fit on a Hornby Terrier chassis. Chesterfield Models produce the Yorkshire Engine 0-6-0 as used by Lancashire Steelworks at Irlam alongside the MSC. (I have one of their slight mis-prints of this loco which was £12). There are probably more but as far as I know no-one has produced one of the short tank Hunslets other than as an etched kit. I need to have a proper read of this book now but first impressions are good.

I think I read in one article once to use finest grade wet and dry paper to represent tarmac platforms. Look at any platform and none are uniform in colour. Stone flags have natural variation, tarmac gets dug up and the repairs are invariably a different shade. Modern platforms have the textured flags as in JJ’s photos for visually impaired people near the edge. My local station has some areas of stone flags (Haslingden flag?) and some areas of tarmac with the edge stones either natural stone or modern concrete. Some of the Scottish platforms are red stone (granite?) Some people have used various materials to texture paint from the ash left by an anti-social activity to sand and grit. The super quick platforms had flags of different shades and some damaged ones.

Wrenn produced a dummy class 20 in OO and they now go for a silly amount of money. I’m not sure if LIma also did it with some of their diesels.

81F those Lima diesels were the best available at the time. The Mainline Peak may have had better detail but the pick ups were rubbish and the Jouef 40 was a bit too wide. The Lima ones will basically go on forever with a bit of TLC which is easy as they were designed to be simple to maintain. They also have a distinctive smell when running. You can even replace the motors with one of the CD motor kits off eBay if you want something that runs a bit smoother and quieter. Personally I’m happy with the Lima ones.

One problem I have had with that type of chassis is the tender coupling bar moving when running in/testing and touching the insulated wheel causing a short circuit. Foxed me for hours the first time. it doesn’t happen when connected to the plastic tender.

Our ‘rich kid in the street’ used to buy Wrenn locos because he could. I don’t think he actually wanted them. My black Hornby Princess was way faster than any of his and he couldn’t find one anywhere. It was one of the last versions of the old type with see through wheels and a white card cover. I think they were made for a catalogue? I still have it in the original box.

If you are in the NW there is a model and toy fair at Bolton’s ground this Sunday (14th), might be worth going but you might find more than you knew you needed. Other than that keep watching eBay.

+1 for maps, I have enjoyed them from a very young age and there is so much you can learn from them. Luckily part of my job involves understanding and interpreting maps and completing surveys. So much information!

As my Father was obsessed with trains I don’t suppose I had much choice although my sister wasn’t interested and I now have all my brother’s stock. I had a lot of clockwork OO trains from Tri-ang and Playcraft from a very young age, along with an Tri-ang Big Big train and some push along stock with blue track. I started to get electric ones when I was around 8 or 9. I don’t have any particular stand of model railways I follow but prefer vintage items such as Tri-ang Transcontinental and the early Playcraft/Jouef stock as it’s what I grew up with. I have stock from all over the UK and Europe in OO and HO. I also have some OO9 stock. Prototype wise I grew up watching green and early blue diesels in the Bolton area and used to spend a lot of time detailing and re-painting locos from various sources. I also enjoy industrial trains as my family came from Leigh and were miners at least back to the 1700s in the area, a treat when I was very young was to go to the pit and see the tank engines shunting lots of grey 16t coal wagons around. I also have a very keen interest in miniature railways, a special treat whenever we went on holiday in Wales was to have a ride on the railway at Prestatyn/Ffrith behind the Fenlow diesels (both still exist), or Southport miniature railway on day trips. Belle View Zoo I can just about remember and I have a very clear recollection of a ride on the Rhyl miniature railway which originally closed in 1969 so I can’t have been more than four. I do enjoy the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway as we visit the area a lot. Apparently I used to be taken to the side of the now gone Bolton and Leigh railway to watch the 8Fs and WDs bringing coal and limestone up Chequerbent bank so that would have been pre the building of the M61, I can’t remember and it was probably an excuse for my late Father to watch them! I like trains and I enjoy fixing vintage models. It’s probably the best thing for my mental health alongside fell walking and model and prototype trains are very important to me. I suspect that’s enough!

There was some very similar OO track made by Brimtoy which came in a couple of tinplate sets. One contained a blue 0-4-0 diesel based on the LMS 1000/10001 with fake bogie sidefames and was powered with a battery controller. There were also other makes of tinplate track that looked very similar. If it’s O gauge as previously stated it’s probably Hornby.

I managed to get some time with a soldering iron outside in the dry weather!!! So soldered up these five electroten/jouef/hornby 0-6-0 chassis ready for some 3D printed bodies I will shortly be ordering. The Yorkshire Engine one has been a work in progress for a while now while I’ve been waiting for some lining transfers. I also changed the wheels and soldered up four Eurostar power bogies to make them fully self propelled. These were silly cheap off the Hornby spares website some time ago. One has been altered to replace a broken ROCO electric loco chassis and another to power an Atlas Editions SNCF EMU (which is in the box with the EMU). The other two are destined for a couple of DC Kits DMUs that have been in the ‘to do’ box for way too long. All tested and running well, just need the bodies now…..and some time….and paint… and transfers.

Not bought much lately so was happy to receive these earlier in the week. They could have originally been sold under the Playcraft, Jouef or Egger Bahn label depending on how old they are but after clearing thick black gunk off the wheels and freeing the axles off they all run fine and all the couplings work well. I already have a few so can now make a decent train up with them for one of my OO9 locos to play with if I ever get round to completing my layout.