"Grantham - The Streamliner Years"

[2002EarlMarischal]

That's very nice of you Tom - thank you. Currently working on one PC, typing a reply to you on another, with Monster Moves A4s playing on a third! No wonder my brain is addled!

[jwealleans]

I hope 'Robert the Devil' doesn't mind me appropriating his photographs, but for anyone who hasn't been and viewed the RMWeb thread, a few more from Sunday.

We made up a 50 wagon coal train, 50 wagons being about the layout record at the moment. The first steam locomotive which coped with it solo was the newly delivered Tony Wright built C12. This was a mighty fine effort to which I thoroughly doff my cap. You can see the extent of the train here.



I was equally pleased to see that the mighty BullAnts also handled it - in tandem, I thought it would be a bit much for one of them.



Finally, here is another of young Mr Bulleid's fancies (and I might add it ran very well and was a credit to the builder)

[M Gair]

Thanks for the excellent photos.

I had a (one) Dapol Y1 flying shed pull 40 bachmann 4 wheel wagosn on a layout once.

here and on RMWeb an interloper and some later BR ER locos for something different.

I must give some of my LNER stock a run, maybe on Saturday as we have an nationwide election and my wife is helping at a polling booth. Good excuse to spend some time in the shed.

Mark in OZ

[LNER4479]

Hi All,

Graeme (Atlantic 3279) has worked his magic and I have given in to the temptation to sign up. Well, it seems a little churlish not to turn up to your own party?

I do appreciate all the kind comments and interest shown in the project, the most delightful aspect of which has been to get to know some new, like-minded people. So some of you will therefore already know of me from ' that other website'; to others, I hope I can add something but in truth I will probably be tapping you up for info on the as yet unsolved mysteries of how the southern end of the ECML looked and worked in the 1930's.

I do not intend slavishly repeating each and every posting from 'bandit county' over here but I'll try and provide something periodically to maintain the interest - and be prepared for some requests for information as I go along!

[Iron Duke]

Hello Robert,

Nice to see your project on this forum, a really brilliant layout in the making.

ID

[Tom F]

After a week of on and off work on 4479, she is now finished and ready for collection by her owner.
This has been a very interesting job to work on, and the first time I've weathered someone else's loco!

The instructions were clear, a clean but working locomotive. The loco had originally just had the last digit changed from the Hornby transfers. HMRS don't really match the Hornby print, so I suggested I renumbered the whole cab. The nameplates were already in placed which saved me time.

The boiler and tender were straight forward. I don't mind saying my initial rendition of the motion wasn't entirely what 'robert' had in mind, as I used an early 60's photo (60102 on Grantham Shed) which depicted her with orange greasy motion.

After 'robert' informed me he would like a burnished effect so I stripped the motion and used Humbrol 7002 'Polished Steel' before giving a further wash with 7001 'Gun Metal'. This seemed to give a nice effect and loose the brightness and evenness of just the 'Polished Steel'.

Anyhow enough rambling from me, and here are the photos.....and yes, I know the tender is off in a couple of photos.....why is it always afterwards we notice these type things! As I've mentioned before, click on the photo to get a true colour image, as the initial forum photo is a bit pale.

[Atso]

Tom that is extraordinary work! I especially like the look of the smokebox, how many different shades of black can you get!

Fancy doing some N gauge ones?

[strang steel]

An excellent model. The weathering is very subtle but effective. It gives the impression of a loco that has done some work but has been well cared for at the loco sheds.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Very subtle, the owner will be pleased, I know I would.

manna

[LNER4479]

He certainly is (pleased!) 'Working but well cared for' was the remit and it looks spot on to me.

There's a 'team photo' in the Frank Cossey book showing the depot gang lined up in front of... 4479 'Robert the Devil' (late 1920's). All the evidence seem to point to Grantham shed in the 1930's being a well-run place, with clean locos and a pride in good running out on the mainline. Does that sound right?

[LNER4479]

Repeat post for those who don't frequent that other website...

Please to advise that those nice folks at the East Midlands Group have invited me back to the Nottingham show next March (15th & 16th March 2014)

The idea is to build on this year's 'Trackwork Techniques' demonstration (at which I had just one of the main boards on static display) and show something more. So it has been agreed that I will take three consecutive boards (comprising the north end of the station). It'll still focus on trackwork, but this time we'll have things 'livened up' and be able to move trains back and forth over the modified pointwork (to prove that they do actually work!).

With luck, it should look something like this:


Well that gives me an incentive to work on the north end signalling between now and then

[LNER4479]

Latest addition to the stud, which was finished in time for it to participate in last weekend's Manchester members competition:






For those who have not been following on that other website, this is the London Road Models kit.

[Atlantic 3279]

A nicely modelled late Victorian / early Edwardian engine, considerately equipped with a cab of Ivatt's perfect design for scooping-in the foul weather when running in reverse.

[LNER4479]

Pleased to advise (for those interested) that it has been agreed that Grantham will be appearing at Barrow Hill on 8th/9th February 2014 as part of the East Coast 'Giants of Steam' event. The stars of the show will be the two trans-Atlantic A4s (60008 & 4489) - but on Grantham you'll be able to see all 35 LNER A4s! Yes, courtesy of Mark Allatt, who has just such a collection (see Model Rail, July 2013), we are going to attempt to run each of them at least once during the six hours of operating each day. (the layout will not be 'complete' at this stage but should be a good stage nonetheless and a chance to be part of the A4 party).

Can I express my thanks to certain august members of this forum for their support and encouragement in putting together this proposal.

[Manxman1831]

Will you have a dynamometer car to run behind your pacifics?