The LNER Encyclopedia

Thurston is the main exhibition layout of the Ely & District MRC, based on the Suffolk station of the same name. It represents the line as it was during the 1950s.

Following a discussion on another thread, here is part of the locomotive stud in use on the layout.



B1 61300. Built and painted by Graham Varley from the DMR kit.



B17 61645 The Suffolk Regiment. Hornby body, Comet chassis, tender based on a Dave Alexander kit. Built by myself and Graham Varley, painted by me.



D16/3 62566. Built and painted by Graham Varley from the PDK kit.



D16/3 62576. Built and painted by me from the Little Engines kit.



K1 62039. Built and painted by Graham Varley from the DMR kit.



E4 62783. Built and painted by Malcolm Hine from the Nu Cast kit.



E4 62788. Nu-Cast kit, builder unknown. Loco repainted and detailed, Gibson tender built by me.



J15 65388. Built and painted by me from the Alan Gibson kit.



J17 65562. Built and painted by me from the Crownline kit.



J39 64826. Bachmann on a Comet chassis, built and painted by Graham Varley.



L1 67706. Built and painted by Malcolm Hine from the ABS kit, weathered by Graham Varley.

And now the interlopers:



Ivatt Class 2 46465. Built and painted by Graham Varley from the Comet kit.



D8203. BTH Class 15, built and painted by me from the Dave Alexander kit.

Two more which appear although they are a bit 'out of area':



D2 62154. Built and painted by Malcolm Hine from the Nu Cast kit. A Lincoln engine which appears on an Engineers working.



J3 64133. Ks kit, built and painted by Chris Turnbull. A club locomotive and the spare shunter. Unbelievably reliable.

You can see more of Thurston here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=llWAjyTVG2s

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=46QPTdWhPZY

It can next be seen at Thurston itself in September, then Hartlepool in July 2009. It is also due to appear at Glasgow and Warley in 2010.

Hi can anyone comment on difficulty of the K1 kitbuild, check my avatar and the year 1966 for my interest.

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for posting the pics. Thurston has a fantastic stud of locos. I particularly like the B1 and the 2 Clauds. Also the weathering on all of them is great. Clean locos just don't look right in the period you are modelling.

Cheers....Morgan

P.S. Just watched the videos on YouTube as well....brilliant! I know much more about the place now and look forward to seeing it for real.

Cheers, Morgan. Keith seems to have missed a couple - we have a PDK J19 (also Graham's work), an Austerity (Bachmann) and a Britannia (Hornby). I haven't got the 'Brit' into the weathering shop yet, but it's only a matter of time....

I still think we're a bit short of some types - we really ought to have at least one B12. We've had B2s (DMR kit again) on loan for time to time and they make a fine model. I think Graham is working on an O1 (March ones were seen working to Ipswich). I need to sort that Coopercraft B12 out before September.

52D - Graham did a review article of the K1 kit when it was released. It was in Railway Modeller around 2000, I believe. I know that he's quite selective about what kits he builds (it being his living, he can't afford to spend too long on each one) and he speaks very highly of the DMR range.

Hi I like the the 2 Clauds.
I have a Claud cut down From a B12 in EM.I was thinking of getting a 2nd Claud.
If you were building a 3rd Claud which kit would you use,the Little Engines or PMK ?
What motor gear box combination are you using ?
The PMK J19,is it the same kit as the Crownline had produced in the 1990's ? or a better kit ?
Thanks
Joe

Hi Joe,

If I was choosing one to build it would be the PDK kit. I gather they are an improvement on the Crownline ones and my experience of those is very good. That J17 almost built itself. The Little Engines one came to me almost by accident - I bought a Mallard Models Claud kit (which I still haven't built) on Ebay and the bloke threw in the LE kit which had been built then disassembled. The late George Watson supplied me with instructions and I put it back together. It was all but complete and I'm pleased with the way it came out.

The PDK J19 is AFAIK based on the Crownline one but 'improved'. How I don't know - you'd have to ask Dave King.

Motors - my Claud uses an H1024 and Comet 40:1 box. I don't know what motor Graham has used but the box is High Level and it's completely silent. I will be using those in future and I note that Morgan is doing so on his Sam Fay as well. I'm not too hot on gearboxes but even I can put one of those together and get good running.

If you're thinking of a Claud then don't forget that Dave Smith still does the ex-Mallard one (which has the decorative valances). I haven't built mine so I can't comment on how well it goes together but it's another variation.

I really wasn't sure where to put these, so I've placed them in here. I have been intending to revisit this thread for a while as we've had a few changes to the loco stud since I last updated here. This weekend, though, some Thurston regulars took a trip to Little Bytham and had a run out on the ECML.

Tony had left us with a rake of 13 Mk 1 and Gresley coaches to run round, so what we see is a succession of summer Saturday specials returning towards Stratford with whatever they scraped together to take them out with this morning:

Lord knows how this got so far without running out of coal, water or both:



I expect the trippers smell a bit better than the fish this normally pulls:



This, however, was right at home:



The BTH prototypically expired and had to be taken off, so we had a real 'summer Saturdays only' sight:

Marvellous photos. It is wonderful to have so many quality ER layouts to drool over these days.

jwealleans wrote:....The PDK J19 is AFAIK based on the Crownline one but 'improved'. How I don't know - you'd have to ask Dave King.....

Most of the improvement consisted of adding Kemilway-type compensation to the chassis, and using more brass detail castings. Otherwise the artwork remains the work of Paul Hill, who - despite his many talents - is still unable to correctly render Gresley/Thompson/Peppercorn cabside windows; it's almost a trademark of his now - they are spaced too far apart

Very kind, SS, but my photos really aren't above average. This is a really good photo, the work of Mr Wright himself:



Unless anyone knows differently, the only two Coopercraft B12s to be completed from the very short lived kit. Tony kindly took the time to print and hand me a copy of this before I left. I shall treasure it.

Ivan - I've built the PDK J19 and now the Crownline one in fairly short order. As far as I can see they are identical - the etches and instructions certainly are. 64652 above is a Crownline kit and will be off to her new owner this week.

Other photos from the running session will be on Atlantic's thread very shortly.

NOW THEN
That is a tasty image and it shows off those two beauties to a T

Bravo gents!!!

I've only ever seen two of the Coopercraft B12 kits come up on eBay in the last five years. The resin boiler was undersized, as everyone knows.

The current owner of the 4mm Coopercraft range signalled his intention a while ago to resurrect not just the B12 but also the "F" tanks. However, he has been distracted by a number of issues, including an apparent inability to take orders via his webshop, or answer e-mails. Apparently Slaters are also trying to stop him producing Coopercraft kits, though nobody really knows why....

All very murky.

Bit posthumous, since Thurston has now been sold and gone to a new permanent home in Suffolk, but I recently found some video of the layout at the 2015 East Anglian Model Railway Show. I wasn't present, which is apparent in the train formations, but it was pleasant to while away 10 minutes watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBwLUKvfBmM

There is also film of its final appearance at Southwold last August, the first 4:26 of this film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3d0ucJsNc8

Glad to see Thurston has found a new home - lucky fellow to have so much space!