David Holman

Yep, an absolute gem.

Mark Clarke's Locosnstuff has developed into a wonderful resource over the last few years. Mostly aimed at narrow gauge, he covers a range of scales with a combination of etching and 3D printing. Mark has done several talks at the Chatham Club on the latter and is constantly updating the printers and materials he uses. He is also one of life's genuinely clever people, creating simple, innovative solutions for a range of problems. If nothing else, his website is well worth a look and all his stuff is high quality and good value too.

Really good to know - thank you!

If it is a rolling chassis without that motor gearbox, then I'd say it is worth saving because the hard work has been done. A new motor gearbox is not hard to fit. Would then be tempted to do something with the body, even if it is mainly freelance because there is a lot to learn that will then benefit any future projects, even if the model only ends up being used to practice painting and lining or lettering.

Rumour has it that photographer Colin Garrett would offer loco crews a small bribe to put a couple of car tyres in the firebox to improve the smoke effect, though this was in Eastern Europe and Turkey.

This side of the water, The Range stocks Hycote. No idea if it is any cheaper, but will certainly be checking!

A WL&WR interlude Recent interest in Richard Chown's work made me dig out my Waterford, Limerick & Western models. The company was very much Richard's main interest in Ireland & when he started Castle Rackrent, back in the 1970s, there was very little for him to go on. However, he certainly found ways and 0-6-0 Shannon was one of his earliest models. I got it via a sealed bid after he died and it was duly delivered, by hand in a slightly clandestine liaison under the John Betjemin statue at St Pancras! This was chosen as his executor, Ian, was on his way from Scotland to Italy & preferred to travel by train. I also picked up the two Dublin & Meath brake vans at the same time. When I got Shannon home, it was clear the model had barely been cleaned since built nearly 50 years ago, but despite a wobbly centre driver and [very] worn wheels all round, still ran well, with its Portescap motor. A sympathetic tidy up followed, mainly using T-cut, though eventually I decided to replace all the wheels and remove the Pacific Fast Mail sound system in the tender. However, all in all the model continues to look as splendid as when Richard finished it all those years ago and still runs well too. Too late - have just notice the pipe running along the boiler has come adrift! Eventually, Shannon needed a train to pull, so I set about building a sort of 'mail goods', as per Castle Rackrent. There still isn't a great deal of material on the WL&W, but Ernie Shepherd's book contains enough photos for me to do a 6w full brake, 4w coach and a brake van, to which I've also added my backdated [SLNCR] horse box and a carriage truck, as per photos of Castle Rackrent itself. All are built from plastic sheet and strip, with white metal castings, though the 6wFB is on an Alphagraphix etched chassis.

Given we can now have ourselves scanned, so that miniature versions go on the layout, the options are endless, it would appear!

Hope the crew had some clean underpants with them!

Forgot about that railcar, Ken! With improved printing technology, you'd think Shapeways could do better by now - or maybe they are? The lesson still seems to be that, unless you have your own, quality printer (or know someone who does), these models are best avoided. That said, the price of 3D printers is getting ever cheaper, so maybe one day, we will all have one on our workbench, just like our printer-copier next to the computer. Could be very useful for some things, but nobody is going to produce a 3D printed working loco chassis any time soon, methinks. In the meantime, I'll be sticking to tried and tested methods - occasionally literally! Thanks for the advice folks.

Came across this as one of the small ads in this month's Railway Modeller. Designed by Simon Dawson, the website links directly to Shapeways, so am guessing folk here may know of it. My interest is mainly 7mm scale 5'3, but this site covers other scales, while the Shapeways catalogue is pretty large too. These are of course 3D prints, so are body only and therefore producing a working model is definitely no gimme. The catalogue includes: Guinness Hudswell Clarke steam and diesel locos GSWR class 90 & 99 0-6-0T, also with the carriage section 101/J15 0-6-0, both boiler types SLNCR Railcar B Ford railcar - Donegal version, converted to 3' gauge Dublin and Blessington Drewery tramcar GNRI railcar B GSR Clayton steam railcar GSR Sentinel steam railcar GSR Drunk battery two car set MGWR 4 w coach MGWR 6w brake third, third and first coaches MGWR horsebox DSER Ashbury van For me, the Ford railcar looks the most interesting, as in Donegal guide it has a brief trial on the Clogher Valley and comes in at just under £40. A chassis wouldn't be too difficult. The 0-6-0 and coach is £80, but will need a lot of work, methinks...

Well done, Andy!

Needed a couple of goes then! Ain't taking off without a bridge over the M11 though...

An almost daily feature of my childhood as I lived close to several of their bases. Hunters, Provosts and Lightnings too. To stand next to a Vulcan is quite an experience! Duxford is perhaps THE place to go - how they squeezed the B52 into the American hall, let alone land it there is the first place was a real feat.

As an antidote to the woes of the world, I urge everyone to check out the link in Mayner's post above and then just wonder at the vision and sheer output of this remarkable man. Check the links within the post too - there are yet more photos, though sadly the website no longer functions.

Brilliant! Thanks for this link, John.

Wow, what an occasion that must have been! Nice to see Shannon on Castle Rackrent.

Oops! Thought I might have been provocative... For my late 50s period, 0-6-4Ts and railcars were all that was left. Had the ex GNRI 4-4-0 and 0-6-0s lasted longer, would have been very tempted!

Midland Great Western Railway The Sligo Leitrim offered a slightly limited range of stuff for me to model, but there are many MGW temptations in the Alphagraphix/Tyrconnel catalogue. First up was the the E/J26. This is a super kit for anyone interested in getting into 7mm scale. The chassis is a single etch, which just folds up and you can easily have something running in a couple of hours. The kit is designed for 32mm gauge, but by reversing the top hat bearings, you easily get the correct back to back for broad gauge. All in all, this little loco took just over 40 hours to make, including painting & weathering and is a very good runner. Next came the G2 2-4-0, a more complex kit, but nevertheless following the usual AlphaG principles. I added extra detail to this one, especially around the smokebox, while it also required a bit of TLC following a serious crash when it fell off the baseboard and hit the floor about a metre below! Damage was fortunately only cosmetic. Another good runner, it benefits from tender pick ups, as well as on the loco. Haulage is a bit marginal though, with three six wheel coaches being about the limit - but then that is all the room I have, so its not a problem. My third MGW loco, also an AlphaG kit is the J18/9. Very similar to the G2 and probably an 0-6-0 version in some ways, there are a lot of common parts, so guess it was a worthwhile enterprise. Not [to my eyes] as pretty as the G2, I still harbour doubts about whether the boiler diameter should be larger, while the Green Bible tells us there were a fair few variations within this class. However, it runs well enough and usually gets rostered for my fish train. Will stick with my 1950s period for now, though I do have some early 1900s stuff too, but will cover this later.

Not a Scooby, JB. Took me long enough to find out what prototype they were based on! Curious choice, especially with Richard tending to favour the WL&W, whereas [I believe], the D&M became part of the MGW. As for why he built two... Photos of Castle Rackrent show at least one of them as part of the 'Mail Goods', something I've tried to replicate on Belmullet. Hauled by Shannon, it made a nice train - more of which anon on my Collection thread

Fabulous! Thank you.

Dave Walker - another pioneer. I had dinner with him once, in the company of Gordon and Maggie Gravett, plus Andrew Burnham of Continental Modeller. It was at the old St Albans show. Dave was into Gauge One by then and it was another opportunity missed. I sometimes think I must go around with my eyes and eyes closed!

It pains me to say that as a long time member of the Chatham & District Model Railway Club, I have little or no memory of Adavoyle being at the Dockyard show. However, the year in question sticks in the mind for other reasons. We had lost the use of the Fitted Rigging House (a vast area of warehouses fronting the river) so for reasons best thought at the time, decided to hold the show in a large marquee, set up on the 'pea shingle'. This was a parade ground type area which proved far from level, or indeed stable. Needless to say, it chucked it down that weekend and the tent leaked, damaging at least one layout. I was doing a model buildings demonstration that year, so had little time to look round and hence missed Adavoyle, which must have delayed my entry into Irish models by several years. As for Richard, he was well known for turning up with things of interest to share and I believe even took a layout to shows by train, though not the epic Allenedac of course! When I met him at the Manchester Show, I got an invite to take Arigna Town to Glasgow, which I couldn't do and hence missed the chance to have other Castle Rackrent locos on my layout. At the time, I think I had the only other 7mm scale Irish broad gauge exhibition layout and then Richard died the next year - a huge loss to the hobby.

Gold dust! These folk are so important to our hobby and it is wonderful to hear more about them.

A good painting deserves to be properly framed. Layouts likewise. Am sure Iain Rice would have approved.