The LNER Encyclopedia

Hi all,

This will be the workbench for stuff I'm bodging together for my Ardlui layout set in the late 1930s.

Don't expect to much in the way of 'showcase' modelling, but I enjoy myself & isn't that all that matters?

Anyway, here's what I've cobbled together so far:

K4 'Lord of the Isles'
Bachmann K3 chassis, Hornby L1 wheels, Scratchbuilt boiler with Alexander fittings, Shortened Bachmann B1 tender.
Still needs a few bits & pieces tidying up & finishing (tender needs varnishing)

DSC01768 by will5210, on Flickr

K4 'Loch Long'
As above but with an Alexander models tender this time. Its on Gibson wheels atm but these will come off & be used on a J39 (probably)

DSC01769 by will5210, on Flickr

Station Building
Scratchbuilt around a clear plastic shell. About 80% finished, still needs flashing, gutters & a few other bits here & there.

West Highland Station building - Work in progress! by will5210, on Flickr

Signal Box (Cruel close up!)
Finished, but I''m not completely happy with the downpipes so I may redo them at some point.

DSC01772 by will5210, on Flickr

In the 'to-do' pile are a Gem D34 (which I've tentatively started), Nucast K2 & maybe a J38, J39, J36 + J37 or 2 along with various wagon kits.

Thanks for looking in.

Glad to see them making an appearance on here Will.

Don't knock those locos off the roof trusses now, will you?

Hi Will

The Apple Green K4 looks very nice.
Pushing things a bit to have one on Leaman Road.

Thanks chaps.

Graeme - don't worry, they were just there for the photos. The wood is actually just blocks of 3"x2" i use to rest models on for painting.

Tom - I'm sure you could justify a brand new K4 working its way north for Summer Season in '38! (Maybe a bit far fetched )

Like that station building, very tidy indeed.

jwealleans wrote:Like that station building, very tidy indeed.

Thank you very much!

On the subject of the Station building, am I right in saying LNER buildings in the late '30s would be green & cream rather than green & white? Bit of a boob on my part, but I'll leave it for now & change it when I can be bothered

AFAIR they were always '... and cream', the change being from brown and cream to green and cream. There was a link to the station colours website posted on here within the last couple of days. I know the green is 'Buckingham Green' as it happens (now) to be the colour of the ironwork on my house.

Hmmm I suspected as much.

I've seen this early 30s photo which seems to show the two tone green North British colour scheme:

Ardlui 096. More Workers by will5210, on Flickr
but I think they changed in the late 30s to cream as you say.

Good morning all
I like the K4's, I shall build one at some time.
I think the D34 were lovely locos and a pair of them would look great.
I think the K4's were produced to reduce the amount of double heading.
The "Northern Belle" tour train was hauled by a pair of Glens on the West Highland. What a model that would make.
Earlswood nob

earlswood nob wrote:Good morning all
I like the K4's, I shall build one at some time.
I think the D34 were lovely locos and a pair of them would look great.
I think the K4's were produced to reduce the amount of double heading.
The "Northern Belle" tour train was hauled by a pair of Glens on the West Highland. What a model that would make.
Earlswood nob

Hi & thanks,

yes K4s weren't permitted to double head on the West Highland & could handle 9 coaches unaided.

I plan to have a variety of K2/D34, K2/K2 & D34/D34 double headed combinations in the future including the Northern Belle.

On the subject of D34s, can anyone identify the fish vans in this photo? Are they the 6 wheeled NBR version?

rlypier by will5210, on Flickr

cheers

The leading ones look like it, Will - I can't really make it out past the first three.

jwealleans wrote:The leading ones look like it, Will - I can't really make it out past the first three.

Excellent - Many thanks. It's a shame it's such a small picture isn't it? I'd love to do a model of Mallaig pier.

Yes they were the ones I was thinking of. The one to the left of the loading platform seems to be the same type also.

I have an unbuilt etched kit for 1 of these to tackle at some stage.

cheers

Will, you have a PM

Will, you sell yourself short – that is the best model I have yet seen of the standard West Highland station building!

Another possibility is that the thirties photo of Ardlui shows the early LNER scheme of dark brown with cream or stone. If it is the North British two-tone green scheme then it reveals some differences from the British Rail scheme of the (?)nineteen-eighties. The Station Colours site suggests that the BR scheme represented a return to that of the North British whilst acknowledging that no documentary confirmation of this had come to light – it would be interesting to know whether this is, in fact, the case. The BR scheme involves the application of white paint to such items as glazing bars, whereas your picture of Ardlui seems to show these in a dark(ish) colour.

Larger versions of the picture of Glen Croe appear in John McGregor’s ‘100 Years of the West Highland Railway’ and Vol 3 of Peter Tatlow’ ‘LNER Wagons’ From these it is apparent that there at least five of the NBR Dia.C35B fish vans visible, together with 3 or perhaps 4 LNER Dia.23 fish vans.

These 6-wheel fish vans were clearly frequent visitors at Mallaig. I have another picture showing No. 4700 Loch Lomond ready to depart with two fish vans at the head of a passenger service. The second van is probably a North Eastern van to Dia.F6, the first a NBR six-wheeler, whilst another such North British van can be seen on the incline leading to the coal stage.

In his writings on the subject John McGregor used to say that K4’s never worked over the WHR as part of a double heading combination, I believe due to axle loading considerations. More recently I think he or another author has suggested that any prohibition on such an arrangement there may have been was disregarded if operating exigencies warranted it.

Anyhow, great topic; please keep posts with West Highland content coming.

Hi John, thanks for looking in & for your kind words re the Station Building. Unfortunately it's not quite so perfect close up!

Yes it seems I'll be needing a few more 6 wheel fish vans at some point in the future & I'll look into the Diagram 23 van too.
I have a book on LNER/NBR wagons by John Hooper on order which should hopefully help with the freight stock. I think I'll ask for volume 3 of the Tatlow books for Christmas too.

cheers