About time, too....

tac foley

tac foley

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After me bitching a screaming with a number of rolling stock kit manufacturers over the last ten years or so, one has finally been brave enough to put his money where his mouth is and actually produce not one, but ALL of the longer-style, more modern passenger stock for the Welsh Highland Railway. See page 85 of the bumper edition of the 16mm Association magazine for details.

Narrow Planet and Bowaters Models are to be congratulated for their bravery, after all, with over a hundred Accucraft Beyer-Garratt models sold here in UK, there are surely some owners among them who would like to see a line of maroon and off-white passenger cars, as well as the odd SAR ballast/bike car, too? And apart from one effort by GRS, in resin, at a truly horrendous cost, and for only one diagram, there was nothing.

TBH, I scratch-built both a ballast car AND the ex-SAR brake van. The former was modelled in very basic form by Mike Ousby, and latterly by Kevin Almond of G1 LNER fame, but the brake van is still without a maker, and likely, according to Accucraft, remain so for the foreseeable future.

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tac
OVGRS.org
16mm Association
POCRR
 
Just completed my pair of GRS saloons that have been sitting around for 6 years. Would love a service car, the Ob's Pullman and the mobile bike rack. You must get your 16 mm mag early Tac. I shall look out for it. Now what is the now VoR resident NG G13 going to be hauling ? Another good reason to book the Devils Bridge hotel. Max.
 
Worsley Works

http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/

has a South African section. Alan's policy is that anything that is listed in one scale, he can reproduce in any other scale (with appropriate price adjustment)

He's pretty good. Most of his kits are described as 'scratch aid' - in other words, they are not complete kits with bogies, wheels and brass wire etc etc.

The other thing is that he doesn't use a lot of tabs for dry location before soldering. Nil desperandum, you just hold the corners with blue tack, spot solder to make sure you're happy with alignment, then run a full seam of solder. This was one of his etches, it was meant to be the IoM 'Viking' but I had other ideas.

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It's a lot better than my poor effort, but then, I'd never heard of Worsley, and got ignored by FR when I asked them about dimensions.

I made my model by scaling up a photo of the bare frame of the van on track in Boston Lodge, and went on from there.

TBH, I've noticed that a number of preservation organisations ignore requests for simple-to-obtain assistance in modelling their rolling stock - perhaps it's just part of their overall policy to be a PITA for people unconnected with them any other way. It might have taken a worker there less than five minutes to run a measure over something standing in front of them, and reply to my letter - even by email. I even offered money...

tac
OVGRS.org
 
You had me going there for a while Tac. The coach kits Bowater's are producing are for the Festiniog loading gauge stock not the larger WHR ones. My NGG 16 will have to wait a while longer for something "prototypical" to haul.

Gave up on Triassic's SAR stuff despite putting my name down 5 years ago and don't ask me about a certain maker of the gondola and brake vans. Never mind the preservation railways you perceive as being a "PITA" what about the manufacturers of this sought after stuff. Do they take some sort of perverse pleasure out of raising your hopes then dashing them after a long wait and at the last minute.:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: Max. Rant over.
 
Sir, I had no intention to mislead you, I assure you. Here is the quote from advertisement - 'The entire range is representative of the coaches as they were operating during 2016 on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways'.

That seems pretty clear to this boy.

tac
OVGRS.org
 
tac foley said:
Sir, I had no intention to mislead you, I assure you. Here is the quote from advertisement - 'The entire range is representative of the coaches as they were operating during 2016 on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways'.

That seems pretty clear to this boy.

tac
OVGRS.org
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I referenced your original post and thought you might had somehow got hold of the due August edition of 16mm Today and this was an announcement of the extension of the range. I'd seen the product announcement for the Festiniog ones in May's and discounted it.

But when you are looking for the larger coaches, that suit the WHR loading gauge :mad:........... They may well have been used on through trains on the WHR/Festiniog - like say "The Snowdonian" - but they ain't the ones I want that I sit in when I take me annual ride on the WHR. Pity, or should that be PITA ;).

Oh well, back to the drawing board. Max.
 
tac foley said:
It's a lot better than my poor effort, but then, I'd never heard of Worsley, and got ignored by FR when I asked them about dimensions.

I made my model by scaling up a photo of the bare frame of the van on track in Boston Lodge, and went on from there.

TBH, I've noticed that a number of preservation organisations ignore requests for simple-to-obtain assistance in modelling their rolling stock - perhaps it's just part of their overall policy to be a PITA for people unconnected with them any other way. It might have taken a worker there less than five minutes to run a measure over something standing in front of them, and reply to my letter - even by email. I even offered money...

tac
OVGRS.org
Click to expand...
It's quite likely that a lot of preservationists don't understand modelers - they probably get their fix at the 1:1 scale, and don't need to fiddle with anything smaller. Sure, there are a few who do both, but given the vast armies of preservationists, I suspect that those who do both are a small minority.
 
I asked about a 'stock book', with dimensioned line drawings, at Chasewater..
Apparently 'something' was started, but whoever has either passed away or moved on..

I want about 15 G1 MGR wagons..
Oh, and a similar number of (UK outline) Intermodal flats..

The latter I can get, but at an eye-watering £155 each.. :eek:

Problem is, it is all too modern.. :(
 
Very few sights in our modelling life could possibly be better than a 16mm scale live steam train trundling around a layout on the same station as the full-size 'trainset'.

I take the point about 1:1 fans [and I'm one of them, I assure you] not having much interest in us. In fact, I'd go so far as to note, from bitter experience that we are of little or no significance in their grand scheme of things. However like most modellers, I spend my own money going to visit them and riding on them as well, as I suspect most of us do. I drag my family from Canada over to a number of these sights and spend what seems to them to be small fortune riding the two-foot rails.

We really either need better representation or they need to get their collective heads out of their nether regions where we are concerned.

tac
OVGRS.org
 
Since I model, if that the right word, the WHR, and not the FR, I remain disappointed again by the apparent short-sightedness of a manufacturer in our scale.

As noted, there are around a hundred or so of Accucraft's astonishing BGs trundling around lines in the UK, a model that we'll never see again at such a price, that's certain, and they NEED correct in-gauge rolling stock to haul. Let's hope that we can prevail on Bowaters to produce the correct size models, and make us all happy.

tac
OVGRS.org
 
tac foley said:
Since I model, if that the right word, the WHR, and not the FR, I remain disappointed again by the apparent short-sightedness of a manufacturer in our scale.

As noted, there are around a hundred or so of Accucraft's astonishing BGs trundling around lines in the UK, a model that we'll never see again at such a price, that's certain, and they NEED correct in-gauge rolling stock to haul. Let's hope that we can prevail on Bowaters to produce the correct size models, and make us all happy.

tac
OVGRS.org
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While the WHR or SAR derivatives are not models that I would buy, I tend to agree with the sentiments - there do seem to have been some very strange decisions by manufacturers over what prototypes to model. While you can't please all of the people all of the time, and our sector of the market is smaller than small, your main point is perfectly logical.

Equally, no manufacturer jumped on the band wagon when Accucraft were producing 4-6-0 Baldwin tanks and made any Ashover coaches (Brandbright did a laser kit) and no manufacturer has come out with rolling stock for Roundhouse's Leek and Manifold 2-6-4 apart from some GRS kits, which I think went off the menu almost as soon as the Roundhouse loco was available.

And I don't remember any Cambletown and Machrihanish coaches being available when you could buy an 0-6-2 Argyll (except, again, some Brandbright kits) - not sure if GRS did anything :think::think:

Never mind, we can always hope - it's only taken 60 years for British scene manufacturers to get their act together in 009, with Peco producing L&B coaches and Heljan bringing out a Manning Wardle 2-6-2 :eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
Aux Contraire, there ARE passenger coaches for the L&M, laser-kits of astounding detail and to scale - they ARE enormous. The name of the manufacturer presently escapes me, but he also makes a full range of D&H stock AND locomotives, too!

tac
 
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I think part of the problem of preservation groups reticence to provide information, and/or a specific prototype's owner, is that they are either the possessor of the design copyright (e.g. Festiniog/WHR modern coaches and locos) or have so much time invested in their own research to restore of re-create a prototype that there is always that thought in the back of their mind - "Why the hell should that freeloader pick my brains to profit form my hard earned knowledge". It's impossible to tell if you are just an honest enthusiast making a one off for your own pleasure or someone with intent of turning a buck on its reproduction.

It's always struck me that any metal/smooth sided stock, say W&LLR MAV stock, is a natural for those makers with experience of resin molding and the laser cutters more obviously wooden stock, say some 16mm Zillertalbahn stock. See what I'm after. Given the slew of W&LLR locos they have produced I'm surprised Accucraft UK haven't taken the plunge. Then again that is probably the problem - stalemate. Max
 
tac foley said:
Aun Contraire, there ARE passenger coaches for the L&M, laser-kits of astounding detail and to scale - they ARE enormous. The name of the manufacturer presently escapes me, but he also makes a full range of D&H stock AND locomotives, too!

tac
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Yatton. Max
 
maxi-model said:
Given the slew of W&LLR locos they have produced I'm surprised Accucraft UK haven't taken the plunge. Then again that is probably the problem - stalemate. Max
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Last year I took my just-completed SAR brake van to P'boro to show a number of manufacturers, Accucraft UK first, of course, as I have everything rolling stock-wise they have ever made for the W&L [my other favourite], and six of their live-steamers and a couple of battery/electric too. There was a general 'that's nice, tac' but interest in the possibility of actual production was zero. Same with the others, later.

Kevin Almond, producer of very high-quality laser kits for G1 LNER coaches, and sundry other stuff too, produced what may have literally been a run of just two SAR Z wagons in generic form, including the unique 'frilly' brakewheel. I made one, and Kevin made the other - that too, was shown to great lack of response. So maybe I've actually gotten it all wrong after all, and there is zero interest in this stuff.

Ah yes, Yatton. We have just ONE L&M loco, and what must be among the finest laser-cut kits on earth for the coaches. Marketing madness indeed.

Ho hum.

tac
 
Here is a Worsley Works version of Glaslyn that I am currently finishing. It's now painted and lined on one side, but the weather has been so bad that I haven't been able to take a photo yet, so Works Grey will have to do for now. The rest of the rake is a mix of cut-and-shut GRS resin kits, plus a slimmed down IP Engineering version of replica No 24.

David

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