Hornby ACT Freightliner Wagon

This Hornby Freightliner Container Flat with three 20' ACT Containers was produced, I believe, for the Australian market.

I am not sure what ACT stands for but it could be Australian Cargo Transport.

These wagons were only made between 1970 and 1972 and the containers were also produced in silver and blue, as opposed to the white and blue above. These silver and blue versions are rarer to find than the white and blue as they were only produced in 1970.

The Catalogue Number for both versions is R839.

Hornby Signal Gantry

I managed to pick up this Hornby Signal Gantry the other day in a small model railway shop in Plymouth.

It is missing one of the track clips but, apart from that, it is complete and undamaged.

The Catalogue Nº is R140 (later to be renumbered as R203) and this particular gantry dates from around 1979.
It is really quite rare to find one of these in such a nice, boxed condition.

Tri-ang Lineside Buildings

This selection of old Tri-ang Lineside buildings all date from the 1960s.

They are, from left to right, back row:

R76: Single Track Engine Shed

R61: Signal Box (one of two)

R75: Water Tower

And, from left to right, front row:

R62: Waiting Room

R60: Ticket Office

R66K: Porters' Room with Kiosk

The removable chimneys often went missing from those buildings in this range that began life with them and, as can be seen in this photograph, this is indeed the case with the Waiting Room, Porters' Room and one of the Signal Boxes. However, it is nice to see the Ticket Office still has both of its canopies since these, too, were prone to being lost or damaged.

A Ballasted Long Time

With not much happening on the layout over Christmas and during the first month or two of the new year it has been a while since I have posted anything. 

However, with quite a bit work having recently taken place on the central section of the northern half of the layout, I thought that it was high time for an update.

So, to begin with, the first photograph above gives a general view of the area around Carswater, with the station now fitted with lights and name boards and, yes, even some potential passengers!

The adjoining lake has yet to be filled with water but it already has a couple of climbers scaling the hill behind, courtesy of my nephew and his girlfriend. I will include a photograph of the climbers in a future posting.

Once atop the ridge, these climbers will be afforded a 'wonderful' view of the ballast yard which is just starting to take shape. 

There is now a small shed in the far left-hand corner in which the Sentinel locomotive will be housed when not in use. The ground has also had a few coats of stone scatter applied to it and we are pleased with the way things are progressing.

The long chute between the hill and the building will obviously be cut, once the building has been fixed in place. This chute was made purposefully too long becaue, when it was constructed, we were not too sure how long it needed to be.

I will post more close-up photographs of the ballast yard as it progresses.

We plan to build a small hut or 'bothy' on the hill at the far end of this area, just beyond the ballast yard, for walkers and, yes, climbers too, to take refuge. 

We also wanted to make it possible for them to walk across all of the hills, from one end to the other. However, to be able to do this, bridges were going to be needed to allow walkers to cross the railway (twice) and the road (twice). 

Well, an old Tri-ang brick bridge already spanned one of the road crossings and, now, two more bridges have been added at the far end, as seen in the third photograph above. 

This just leaves one more bridge needed to cross the railway for a second time at the bottom of the first photograph.

Finally, for this time, I have included a photograph showing Class 50 50011 'Cenurion' calling at Carswater station with a special train consisting of Orient Express Pullman coaches. 

It is not intended that this station will see too many express trains, with local services and semi-fasts being its more usual visitors - together with the occasional ballast train, of course!

Steam Preservation

I recently came across these three Tri-ang Hornby Steam Locomotives, all of which were still in their original, cellophane-sealed boxes.

All of the models date from the 1960s and 1970s and it must be very unusual to find them in this unopened and unused condition.

The first model is, of course, Nº 4472 LNER Class A3 Pacific 'Flying Scotsman, Catalogue Nº: R.855. This model has a corridor tender and glowing firebox and it dates from between 1968 and 1970.

The second is a Southern Region Maunsell Class L1 4-4-0, Nº 1757, Catalogue Nº: R.350. This one dates from between 1971 and 1972.

Finally we have a GWR Class 57xx 0-6-0 Pannier Tank, Nº 8751, with smoke! The Catalogue Nº for this locomotive is R51S and she dates from between 1971 and 1974.

All of the locos are in a lovely condition and, I should imagine, would be highly collectible.

D400 and a Footbridge

Time for me to highlight some of the locomotives, rolling stock and other features that we have added to the layout during the past few months and I will begin with another Class 50 (and the fourth member of the class to be added to our fleet) as well as a beautiful station footbridge - both seen above.

We acquired the Class 50 in the guise of 50037 'Illustrious' which came with faulty, non-working Hornby sound decoder.

This we duly removed and sent back to Hornby with a covering letter and, amazingly, within a few days it was back with us, fully working. 

You do have to hand it to Hornby, their Customer Service department is second to none - absolutely brilliant.

Well, this now meant that we had three large logo Class 50s when we really wanted a blue-liveried member of the fleet. 

So, with the help of Alex at Mikron Models, who found a blue body for us and swapped it and then weathered it, we now have D400 in original blue livery - nice. 

The sound is still that of Hornby's and it is okay but not as good as the Howes and SWD sounds that we have in our other Class 50s.

She is seen, here, passing through Manxton at the head of an express heading for Davemoor.

The second photograph shows the footbridge that spans the four tracks at the aforementioned station. This was needed to allow passengers to cross from one platform to the other, there being no subway at the station. It is another masterpiece by Alex who produced it from drawings and measurements that we gave him. 

The bridge is, basicaly, a Dapol kit, with extensions, and it has been painted and weathered to look, well, stunning!

This station is coming along nicely now and just needs the addition of lights and station nameboards and a barrel crossing to be complete.