leslie10646

Andy is, of course right! I have the colour slide collection of the late Lance King here - I'm digitising it for the IRRS. There are photos of half a dozen different engines on the C&L - Tralee and Blackrock included. NO Snails - usually they carried their number in pretty big numerals on the tank side. I haven't scanned the West Clare yet, but will report when I get that far!

Tony The Class U and Class UG were announced, as Nelson says, about 14/15 months ago. Talking to Roderick, he WOULD consider add-on runs if there was the demand - I think the figure ten was mentioned. Now, I have already asked for a send UG and have been put on a waiting list - if you are interested then I suggest that you do the same and ask to be considered if it becomes available agin. I was surprised to find that he made less UG's (to fulfil a smaller demand) than Class U's. I would have thought it the more useful engine, but who can resist a BLUE 4-4-0? Tony, and the rest of you who may now be having second thoughts, if you want a UG and are not on the list already, maybe you'd PM me and I'll keep a tab of how many are wanted. Then I'll try and persuade Roderick to do another small batch. Regards Leslie PS must get mine off to have its chip put in!

My dear John When I referred to the glaringly obvious error earlier in this thread (Post 11 to be precise) - I assumed that YOU of all people would have seen it. If one intended to keep it in UTA black lined livery, then it won't do, for it should be straw and red (crimson?) lining. Say what you like about the UTA (and we do!!!) their lined livery was a lovely example of the painter's art. As mine will, in time, get Great Northern'ived with a plain black livery, numbers and letters - honestly, I'm not too worried. But it's a shame that this error slipped through on what is a super little engine.

Always a pleasure, David. I look forward to it.

An update on the pricing front. Des and I have designed a mini sheet for the kit and although he is robbing me blind (only kidding - I "took him outside") - I will stick with the published price of £25, €30 for the kit and £110, €130 for a Five pack UNTIL THE DATE OF THE BANGOR SHOW. I'll review after that. Thanks to those of you who have already ordered. I've put "My Man" on unpaid overtime to cope. Leslie

This market is run by the Irish Railway Record Society, London Area annually to assist funding our London Meetings. I attend with my "Syndicate" hat on and as a member of the Area committee. I sell bargain transport books, new and out of print Irish transport books and new books from Lightmoor Press at 15% off. Normally, I don't sell my wagon kits there, but if you have an order and can come and collect them (it'll cost you three quid to get in), but I save on postage and YOU will benefit. See - Richard McLachlan will have a stand selling his drawings from the Archive and there are many other good things on view - several guys sell photographs including Irish subjects. You can grab a coffee, or sit and watch videos. Something for everyone. Hope to see some of you exiles there! AND the Brits, Scots etc!!!! IF you do come, call by the Syndicate stand (usually on the stage - I use about four tables and a lot of space) and say "Hi". Leslie (Provincial Wagons)

Andy Cundick uses a simple slide "On / off" switch to move his points of Castlederg et al. I've forgotten how he tensions it - but there is a nut / bolt associated somewhere at the control end of the wire.

Kieran That's the best advert I've ever seen for Provincial Wagons - an entire train of my wagons behind your little UG! Seventeen and a van is longer than most layouts could manage. I have tested it with 24 and a van and it went fine. I must try it with thirty! Fine little loco. Leslie

The clever ones among you will know that Des does transfers for the double beets - this old age pensioner had slept through that and I had no intention of providing transfers. However, the Man from the West and I are in debate and transfers will be included - the price may have to go up a little - there is a limit to my generosity to my fellow man (woman?) - it isn't a Great Northern wagon after all! Thanks for the comments, folks. Leslie

Oh, it's at the planning stage - wait and see - maybe you'll hear by my birthday? Leslie

Thanks, John. I should add that I will do FIVE kits at a slightly reduced price of £110 OR €130 Like my earlier Spoil Wagon you need a few to look like a proper train. Leslie

As I said in another thread, my postman was busy this morning, staggering up the path in the rain (but still wearing shorts!) carrying a steam loco and two dozen wagons - a strong man? So, boxes two and three had these in them - The kit looks like this and you've seen photos of the finished job already - the kit label shows you anyway. I'm tempted to send one to Kieran, so that someone can time him building it. Half an hour, K? Not painted, off course - another ten minutes? On sale now at £25 each , post paid Or €30 to Euroland (the cost of postage has gone up again!). For those of you coming to Bangor, I'll be selling them there for a little less, as exhibition costs are a bit less than postage - if I sell enough. By the way, if you order more than one, the cost will come down, as I save on postage. Watch this space for two more wagons before Bangor! Leslie

My postman was busy this morning, bringing me not one but three parcels. See another thread re the contents of the second and third parcels, but this was the first I opened - which was reverently taken upstairs, the layout switched to DC operation with my trusty Gaugemaster - And later posing with her big Sister - The well-educated among you will spot the glaring error on the loco, but it doesn't concern me too much. Needless to say, she ran straight out of the box and ran faultlessly at slow speed round my loft, traversing about half a dozen points without faltering - so this loco may not need a Stay-Alive? Then, being a hard task-master, I hung a dozen wagons from a certain modelling concern behind her and repeated the performance with equally good results. I kept hanging them on until she was moving 25 without too much strain - my 2 foot curves did cause a bit of slipping, but once she was happily under way, she just romped along. If someone will give me tuition in uploading video, you can have a (very bad) bit of her on twenty wagons at slow speed. Great piece of work and worth waiting for.

Tony Not just the container but the two vans next to it are the subjects of my kits as well. There's no excuse for not having a full GNR(I) 1950s goods train. However, as for coaches for your passenger trains …….. Now, reference to the NCC vans asks the obvious question - do any of you want a few of those - I'm reticent to produce a kit that may not sell - not from the financial point of view but because my modeller's time is limited! Tony, your layout is growing at Warp Factor Ten - great stuff! Leslie

Richard - a couple of us at least asked for one in plain black - in effect the GN livery, but my first one will be Good 'ol No.49 in UTA lined black, which as Patrick says, looks good. Like him, I hate to admit that ANYTHING the UTA did was good! As for you guys who didn't order, as Stevie says, they're sold out - BUT, I know from talking to Roderick himself the other day, he would do another batch if he gets about ten orders, so hopefully when you steam men get reports on the loco you'll get your name down. The UG was arguably a more useful loco than the U itself - just about capable of mile a minute on a passenger, but good for a decent length goods train - I've just brought a few dozen of my wagons out of store to see how many it can move!!! Reports next week, but by the sound of it, the first photos will be from Patrick!

I understand that it'll arrive on Wednesday - sleepless nights until then? I'll post a pic when it arrives, although I bet I'm not the only one waiting? Leslie

Peter You're getting good advice from these gents. I'm track laying at the moment and run more or less every combination of loco type, coaches, WAGONS through new points and track, fast and slowly - easier to fix things before ballasting (whatever that is!) etc. I don't think you need buy longer locos, except they're in your game plan - merely what you plan to use. So, in my case, BoBo diesels (dead easy!) 0-6-0s, 4-4-0s and 2-6-4 and 4-4-2 tanks. It is the latter which is giving me problems as it mysteriously loses traction after one of my points - almost certainly my terrible lack of track laying skills. Good luck. Leslie

The postman brought a very welcome letter this morning - a demand for payment for my Class UG from 00 Works. I knew it was close, as a friend had received his letter the other day. Well, I've paid by bank transfer, so I hope to post piccies within a few days. Watch this space! Leslie

Sorry, Patrick - on 15 February you did e-mail me to say they'd arrived! You've been busy - some guys build my kits months after getting them (even YEARS!!!!). Leslie

Patrick First, I now know that you received that parcel OK! You've been busy - they were only sent to the US of A on 2 February! Also, thanks for resolving a stock control issue - I wondered WHY I had so few corrugateds in stock! I've still got some, the rest of you who fancy copying Patrick! Leslie (Provincial Wagons!) PS Lovely job, by the way!

Come on, John! They're NOT coffee stirrers - THEY'RE MODELLING STICKS! Every modeller knows that and I grab a few every time I succumb to an expensive coffee. Dozens of potential uses - Patrick's is a new one!

Certainly an impressive setup. NOT the same trains each time, so there was some deft changing going on off-scene. It suggests a large fiddle yard - which is understandable when you see the SIZE of the layout. Noel - it's busier than Clapham Junction!!!!

Despite Richard McLachlan, the IRRS's drawings man, being in Munich, he has replied! "I carry around copies of all of my electronically published books (a few of the early ones are very much printed only but will be updated in time). The same disk has a set of Journals except for the last 2 or 3 years, and other useful stuff. Start with Journal No. 2 - side corridor 3rd coaches were not used on the first (Enterprise) train. There is no evidence of any diagram of it with any form of kitchen. Both Stephen Rafferty (the blue book published by The Syndicate) and a similar exercise conducted by Gerry Beesley from official documents in 1975 simply show that the one example appeared in 1946 as side-corridor, went to CIE, stayed as a 'steam' (or diesel loco) coach and was scrapped in 1972. Both Steve and Gerry agree on the scrapping year. No mention of any catering use, such as Tea Car. In Journal 24, there is a long article on catering vehicles by L H Liddle. No mention of coach 220 - the only K24 ever built. I have to conclude that Desmond may not have been right or somewhere along the way to the printers K23 got changes to K24. The second use of K23 was for light-ish capacity catering vehicles created by rebuilding some of the the original K23 workmen coaches. Don't know if this helps but my drawing books and Gerry's work are straight from company info. Liddle also probably had a lot of direct live information from the GNR. I suspect a misprint."

Mike Richard, who produces the IRRS drawing books is abroad at the moment. I'll get him to answer this on his return. My memory is that he has full details of what got converted to railcar trailers. Leslie

This business of resurfacing roads has its railway equivalent. Network Rail (and probably good old IE and NIR) "improve" the ballasting on lines, effectively raising the trackbed. No problem for the usual boxes going under bridges, but steam locos with higher chimneys? I remember one of the preserved King Class locos arriving in Paddington without either its chimney top, or was it the safety valve? Progress, don't you love it?