Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi all I have often explained that if I could draw or paint pictures, I may never have entered the world of model railways. My delight with our model is that I treat it like a picture. Whereas a picture is static, our railway is a moving picture, so if I was an artist, I would always be changing the painting or having to paint loads of picture sequences. There is always a snag! Anyway, a recent trip by train where I travelled through Hatton, brought so many memories from my childhood train spot-days. I always liked Hatton, the branch to Stratford going off the Warwick to Birmingham Snow Hill line as well as having its own small goods yard. Towards the end of this era, I remember Britannia loco William Shakespeare shunting the yard on summer afternoon. Yes, a Britannia! I remember tucked in a siding was a toad brake-van, still with the letters G W on the side, along with its home location being Tyseley also printed on its side. I now have an "Airfix" toad van, which I will letter up accordingly. Anyway, back to Hatton, on that same afternoon, working hard, climbing up on the relief line, was a Western Region small 2-6-0, pulling a train of loco tenders. I was sat on the embankment, just south of Hatton, so had a clear view of this train-load. The loco tenders were full of weed-killer, with two of them squirting weed killer as the train trundled along. Some of the tenders had not seen a coat of paint for many years, with the letters L M S showing through the grime on some. Many a time when visiting train-spot locations it was a delight to see relics of a bygone age hanging around. I was in March once, about 1960 & saw a guards van being used as a shunt office hut, with the letters G N clearly visible. Enough now, so just a picture of my new (old) toad guards van on a local duty from Netherfield to Grove. It's all in the mind!!! The "Toad" will be kept for Hall Brooks local use both as a guards van to Netherfield as well as a stand in shunters van.

Here's a real Toad for you, Philip

Gosh M.R, Brill, brill & brill. St Blazey too, which had an allocation of nearly a hundred locos at one time. Thank you.

Hi all Me yattering about my Hatton experience had prompted me to put one of our 43xx class locos on our railway. This loco I fine detailed after buying it S/H at a model railway exhibition. I didn't mind messing with a low cost S/H item as sometimes modifications didn't always go to plan. I was quite pleased with this one though, where I added detail to the boiler & running plate, as well as replacing the crude ready to run wheels, with Jackson scale wheels. It runs beautifully with its early (about 1985) Bachmann flywheel motor. My C/H boiler man likes our railway, so having completed his job here, we enjoyed a coffee & biscuits in the goods yard. I had forgotten that I had put his loco on the railway last weekend, so I was delighted when it turned up running tender-first, with the local pick-up goods from Arley. It performed faultlessly as it drew its short goods over the level-crossing, to then reverse it into Hounds Hill. 43xx continues to slowly reverse its goods train over Penny Park viaduct. I never modified a loco or vehicle just for the sake of it. The mouldings on this Bachmann model were crisp, making it a lovely small loco for any layout. The original driving wheels had a slight wobble, so at the time I replaced all of the wheels as well as the tender wheels. I may now thirty years on, weather the rods to take some of the shine off. I have a couple of locos from 1973. Our railway being a fiddle-yard end to end design, cannot be run willy-nilly. We have a definite order of movements, which can be changed, but we cannot make a train go where there is no room for it. So we have a schedule of movements, that I do not need a list, just seeing the state & occupation of the fiddle-yards tells me what is what. This train has left a vacant fiddle-yard line, into which another train can run into. That is how it works.

Very well orchestrated Philip, you can't go wrong. Thank you for keeping us up to date.

Nice layout Philip, do you have it in the attic? And who trims all those bushes?

Hi LesMac We had a granny flat built in the early seventies, which is now our music & railway room. My play room to be more precise.

Hi all Sentimental melodies could be the title of this next picture as both of these locos were bought for me by my Pam. The loco nearest is Bachmann's first Manor, which Pam bought in 1982, from Beatties model shop in Birmingham. It came with their original split chassis & spam-can motor, but worst of all it had rubber tyres. So the loco never ran on our original railway, it sat in a siding next to the engine shed. Bachmann realised the disaster of a design, so within a year they had produced their flywheel motor fitted to the split chassis on their Manors. I visited the Bachmann assembly depot in south Leicestershire on invitation, where they replaced the motor mechanism on mine free of charge. So, there it is on view & a lovely runner. The loco furthest, a Hall class, Pam bought for me after we had seen the real loco at the Great Central preserved railway in about 1998. At the time, I was going through the mill with my eyesight, so I do remember the delight of this loco arriving at a time when we didn't have a railway at home. The railway that I had had in the spare bedroom had gone to our son's home & I hadn't started Hall Brooks then. This was towards the end of Bachmann's split chassis era, but like the Manor is a perfect performer. I tell you what, my Pam must love me, hey!

Hi all When I do place locos on our railway that have been in the cabinet for a decade or more, providing my sight is up to it, I do a bit of maintenance. The wheel bearings are the current collectors, so these must be clean on these split chassis. That is the reason for the split chassis, each side of the loco is opposite polarity. Removing the base plate is straightforward, a pipe cleaner moistened with meths is all that is needed to clean the bearings, before applying a spot of fresh Teflon watch oil to the surfaces. All re-assembled, the Manor will be the area pilot for a week or so, which will give it a bit of free running to bed the oil in on the surfaces. The picture shows it in Longford Park. I pretend that is my son & grandson sat on the bench, wondering what on earth a Manor is doing at such a location.

Hi all, Alternate Fridays are our Ringtons delivery day, which fell today, also my organ engineer had some new software to load & update, which grounded me this morning, so with that in mind I decided this morning to up-detail our black manor. I am for ever buying fine detailing kits, along with general modelling materials. With photos & albums pegged open at manor pages, I set about adding a few bits which for me brings the locomotive alive. Cosmetic additions including crew, a curved footplate, tender footsteps as well as the latest neater couplings to the loco front. The split chassis, a characteristic of Bachmann models for nearly thirty years, has just one serious weakness, lacking a good spring contact for the current, relying on the wheel axles. On new production locos, since about 2000, Bachmann have reverted to using phosphor bronze spring pick-ups. On most of my split chassis locos I have drilled into the axle boxes & inserted miniature coiled springs. Perfect, well at least it was when my eyesight was up to doing it. I must have dropped off to sleep thinking about this last night because when I awoke, I realised that I could place a leaf spring across all three axles, the wheel backs keeping it in place. I am chuffed. I do have a few similar locos in the cabinet, which may well receive the same easy to apply phosphor bronze strip. It involves no soldering, proving the length cut is precise, so as to snug fit between the frame ends. Holding a small fine needle file, placing each cut strip between my thumb & the file, then drawing it along each direction, induces a nice even natural curve. Perfect! The next picture, you might just be able to see the phosphor strip behind the driving wheel sets. Being on top of the axles, it also helps maintain wheel to rail contact. Hardly visible just at the back of & under the running plate, but improves the running enormously, which except for a bit of noise from the brass worm & gears, is as smooth as any of the latest models being marketed now. As with the real railways, I shall run this loco as a "prototype", the Hall Brooks area pilot, allowing me to keep my eye on its performance, also keeping it in constant use. My confidence is such that I have just ordered a pack of phosphor bronze strips of eBay. All that remains is for a coat of weathered rod paint, the next time my paint brush is on the go, for this loco bought in 1982 by my lovely Pam, to have its new lease of life in Hall Brooks.

Hi all "A Tale of two more Manors" ********************************* I have always liked the Manor class locos, ever since travelling behind one on my first trip to Tywyn in Wales. I was five years old in 1952, when I was taken for a fortnight's holiday. It was the early days of the Talyllyn Railway preservation society, probably the first ever railway preservation, but that needs verification. An older cousin had come away with us & I remember my dad explaining technical things about steam & railway operations. I haven't a clue as to what I understood at age five, but more than anything else, that may have started my lifelong interest in railways. I do remember the main-line shed at Tywyn, preferring to watch the goings on there than at the narrow gauge railway. It was the Manor class that caught my eye, with at least three of them on view. They were the heaviest class of loco permitted over the Central Wales line. The two in my picture were bought together during the last of the Bachmann split chassis productions, nylon bearings making them smooth, reliable & quiet runners, compared to my first black Manor. They both even have crew that are factory fitted, a giveaway to the origins of Bachmann, being a USA parent company, who failed to research the fact that UK steam crew do not wear blue overalls.

Good day Philip, Your latest picture above looks so authentic, as it is meant to be. It is always a pleasure to hear of some little story of your (can I also say our) railway, even little titbits as to the UK steam crew and their overalls. I am sure there are a few of us who would never have known about that. Thank you.

Hi all All three of our Manors have been detailed, the phosphor bronze strip can just be seen behind the driving wheels. What on earth a Manor would be doing in Longford is anyone's guess, but I quite like the idea, especially one finished in full express passenger livery.

Hi all Both our railway & the railway room were in need of some TLC, so a start has been made. Already looking a bit better, a couple of new motors have arrived. The Hillman Imp & the Humber Hawk have associations with forum members. The Imp reminds me of when I locked myself out of mine at Bedlam Lane crossing. How embarrassing. In this picture I at least had the driver's window open, so being locked out here is unlikely.

Lovely Philip, I hope Pam's Tearooms is proving prosperous. Don't mention being locked out, it's a sore point with the Shepherd family!