All posts by tony

More track

As it is November the project to add an extension to the track has started. Jamie has measured and is getting the wood. He can get it at half the retail price as he is a registered tradesman. Should make it relatively cheap and he will also help in the build. Current job is to move the bookcases on either side of the workshop to make room for the extension. Hopefully the project will be complete by Chrissy.

Lyme Regis – information

Lyme regis was one of the Southern Railways Pacifics designed by the chief engineer Bullied. The originals were all built with airflow bodiies (streamlined) as pictured in the gallery on the Merchant Navy Class, Lamport and Holt Line. The airflow bodies were removed as well as many other modifications after the nationalisiation of the railways in 1948, soon after this Bullied left to go to Ireland.
So Lyme Regis was built in Sept 1945 and numbered 21C109 as an airflow. It was renumbered in April 1949 as 34009 by British Railways. It was rebuilt in July 1960 and taken out of service in Oct 1966.
So what Wrenn produced was a rebuilt Lyme Regis in Southern Green but not the right green which should have been Malachite, much darker, with Southern markings and a Southern number. In this configuration it should have been in BR Brunswick Green as 34009. But who cares it looks great and runs well

Lyme Regis

Three pictures have been posted on the Hornby Gallery of the latest acquisition. This is Bullied West Country class pacific, Lyme Regis made by Wrenn. It has been converted to 3 rail by Mike King. The conversion, like my Wrenn Merchant Navy, does not involve changing the wheels. This means that one set of wheels remains insulated which does give problems when going slowly over HD points. The loco stops and has to be helped by the hand of god but at running speeds there is no problem. It has been given three Pullman coaches by Wrenn as these have the same type of couplings. Their problem is that they have had their roofs painted black at some time so I have to decide whether to try and remove the paint or leave them as they are – a decision for laters.

Lyme Regis

The Bulleid West Country locomotive Lyme Regis produced by Wrenn duly arrived on the Thursday before leaving for our mini break to Ireland. It was in excellent condition with very slight fading on one side as it has obviuosly been in a glass cabinet. Nothing excessive and nothing to worry about. I took it over to Mike for conversion. I expect to pick it up later this week. I have posted the picture that was on ebay but will be posting my own pictures once I have it on the layout.

Buying again

After a period of inactivity brought on by the numerous summer jobs I have been successfull on ebay. This time it is a Wrenn rebuilt West Country locomotive called Lyme Regis in Southern Livery. This is a two rail loco which I will have to get converted to 3 rail by my local expert Mike King. This is an interesting engine as it is a rebuilt West Country in Southern Railways livery. I don’t think that this actually happenned in real life. The West Countries weren’t rebuilt until they were in the hands of British Railways but I am open to correction by anyone who reads this and knows better. It looks good, is unboxed and the only problem is that the ebay description mentions slight fading on one side, we wait and see.

Summer Timetable

Very little activity on the train front. No buying and very little running activity. Even the planning for the extension is on the back burner at the moment. There are no local train fairs so I have not been tempted to add to the collection and attempts to buy on ebay have been very unsuccessful, either I am mean or there are people out there prepared to bid higher than the item is worth.

More track, more trains

A win on ebay at £61.00 including £10.00 postage has produced a lot of track. 8 large radius curves, 8 standard curves, 24 full straights, 5 LH points, 8 RH points plus a half straights and curves – enough for a pretty good layout. I have cleaned it all up and now its ready for the autumn project. I need to check that the large radius ciurves will fit the width of the new addition. Having the large radius curves enables a parallel track to be run all the way round. This will be essential as I don’t have a lot of width to play with on the new layout. I am eager to proceed but will wait til laters before starting the project or there will be a conflict with the essential summer jobs.

Summer on the Railway

The weather here has been very good so lots of gardening, mowing etc and little time to play with the trains. However planning is underway for the autumn/winter activities. With the additiond of Flying Scotsman, Mallard and 80135 there is now no sidingd left to store trains or engines. So we have got to the more track more trains syndrome. So its more track. The plan is to build a new layout behind the current one to fill an area the width of the workshop, some 15 ft and about 3 ft wide. This will allow an access area in the middle etween the two layouts. It would be nice if they can be joined together to allow cross running but this might be difficult both electrically and phsically with the track constraints of HD. I have bought on ebay a collection of track which is a starter pack for the new layout. This includes the large radius curves which will allow parallel track running around the layout with the sidings and stations in the middle. A new framework will have to be contructed alllowin acces both to the middle and to allow the stuff stored under the layout to be accessed. I think that I will be calling on Jamie’s carpentry skills to assist with this part of the project. Once i get the track I will begin to lay it out on the floor, or perhaps the table tennis table to work on potential layouts and to make sure that it is in good condition. This project will not start until at least October probably when the clocks change and it becomes dark at 4.00 and before it gets too cold.

80135

155 locomotives of this class, the largest tank engine in the BR standard range, were built between 1951 and 1956. In common with the other standard designs they were to be found all over the country, with large concentrations in the Eastern Region (London, Tilbury and Southend section) and the Scottish Region (Glasgow suburban). Several were sent to Whitby shed and were frequent performers on the Malton trains, over what is now the NYMR, until evicted by the onslaught of the DMUs.

No. 80135 was completed at Brighton Locomotive Works in April 1956 and was initially allocated to Plaistow for working over the London, Tilbury and Southend line, later transferring to Tilbury depot, where it continued on the same duties until the route was electrified in 1962. 21 of the class were then transferred to the Western Region and 80135 was one of 4 allocated to Shrewsbury for passenger duties. At the start of 1963 it moved to Oswestry for service on the Cambrian section, and then returned to Shrewsbury in September 1964. Withdrawn from this location on 17 August, 1965 it was towed to Barry scrapyard at the end of that year.

By virtue of its simple design and ease of access for maintenance, the Standard tank engine became an obvious choice for purchase by the NYMR. No. 80135 was in the best all-round condition of the surviving 2-6-4Ts at Barry and was delivered to Pickering in March 1973. Subsequently bought by Jos de Crau, who financed its restoration in the NYMR workshops, the locomotive was put to work in Brunswick green livery in April 1980.

In 1992 it received a repaint in a slightly different shade of green, and it normally achieved high annual mileages without serious problems. In July 1992, however, a succession of tube failures led to the engine’s slightly premature withdrawal for a full overhaul, but after an insurance inspection, permission was given to extend the boiler life by a year on condition that all the small tubes were replaced. It was thus in use for the 1993 season in which it achieved a mileage of nearly 9,000. Its overhaul started in 1994 and included a new firebox built at Pridham’s. It returned to traffic in February 1999, making its ‘Main Line’ debut on 23 May, on a ‘Captain Cook Pullman’ to Whitby.

New Addition


Another new loco has been added to the rolling stock. This is a Standard Tank 4 MT repainted by Paul Thompson as BR 80135 in gloss Brunswick Green. This was supplied as a body only and Jamie Nelson provided the chassis from a 80054 which he had had as a kid albeit with missing screws for the body, front bogie and the valve mechanism. it had not run for 45 years but some WD 40 plus oil had it working beautifully within 20 minutes. A trip to Mike King for the missing screws and now we have a beautiful loco working very well and shown in the gallery on page 4. An excellent addition to the rolling stock.