7mm Yorky D's LT - Wagonery tales from the Met.

[76043]

Surprised to see the Green Line e-plates getting such high prices at auction, when they are more reasonable on eBay. I saw a 721 go for £30 last year.

Those Gibson boxes seemed to have quite a long life, I'll ask my Dad why he had one as a OPO driver well into the days when you just had a thing called a module that you plugged into a wayfarer machine. It looks like it has some bullock maroon paint on it too.

 

[Peter Insole]

Oh...oh...oh...£30 for a 721?

Drat! Missed it, and I doubt there will another one along shortly either?!

76043, the extra colour is the not unpleasant "Routemaster" Damask Red!

There is a company not far from me that have been restoring several RM's recently. I assume that they have either had difficulty, or were not bothered to attempt to match the original shade and have been slapping a high gloss "Maroon" all over everything!

Oddly, it looks, and is much, much too bright. Although I guess their clients are probably impressed by the finish, and I suppose that's what matters in the end?



Sorry, I should have warned you all to wear welding arc eye protection!

Who ever would have thought that BS 540 could ever be considered dazzling...???

Pete.

 

[Arun]

The bus body has been stripped down and the castings ready for priming.

The body is held together with 7 machine screws and since Hachette Livre are a French company only they could come up with a screw head like this.......

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The body is in two pieces and like 4mm EFE die cast buses I have taken apart the detail is relatively crisp once the thick paint is removed.

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.......and yes I have made up a sheet from a sample of the LT moquette used in their buses from the 1940's to the 60's for printing onto a decal sheet once it has been scaled.
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What method did you employ to remove the paint? I have one of these and I quite like the idea of turning it into a Greenline version with an etched roundel on the upper deck.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Gibson shown for size - can measure that along with the harness as well later (when I get home from work this evening!),

if you are tempted to go the whole hog that is...?!

Thanks for the measurements Pete. I'm tempted to model the Gibson as well . It's a question of finding the right figures to represent the LT conductor and driver.

I also remember seeing conductors standing astride on the rear platform, Gibson resting on their belly, hands in pockets and their back leaning on the platform grab pole. I'm surprised they didn't fall off given the relative speed some of the buses took the corners....

And no, I won't be going for the old model railway cliché of the Mary Celeste bus unless it has a seat cushion propped up outside against the rear..... and I've seen a few of these during my days in London!

Otherwise I'll add a few passengers and have the driver and conductor outside on a crew change.

Oddly, it looks, and is much, much too bright. Although I guess their clients are probably impressed by the finish, and I suppose that's what matters in the end?

And it keeps another RM on the road....

Oh...oh...oh...£30 for a 721?

Drat! Missed it, and I doubt there will another one along shortly either?!

Another one! Surely it should be three to keep up with the bus tradition.

I've noticed it's the Green Line E plates with destinations and those of early routes cut by LT which command the prices. I think when I picked my 706 Edgware Watford Aylesbury destined and 712/713 numbered E plates at Garston garage many many years ago they were about 20 pence each.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

What method did you employ to remove the paint? I have one of these and I quite like the idea of turning it into a Greenline version with an etched roundel on the upper deck.

That would be good - a Green Line version.

I used this on the metal lower and upper decks after removing all of the plastic parts . I poured about 3/4 into a tub and left the parts there to soak. It is a thick liquid and is normally painted on.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Just been adding treads from Evergreen styrene strip to the rear stairs....

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

And something for the booking hall - made up a ticket machine from styrene based on the machines introduced in the 60's and issued the yellow card tickets.

Here with a primer to show up any flaws. The 7mm figure is for scale.

 

[2-Bil]

YD------et al----------Have a butchers at this ------Lloyd Rich Flickr------London transport items----------has a Gibson in action with a soundtrack! Might jus float a memory boat for a minute or two---------------------- Respects Brian W

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Lloyd Rich Flickr------London transport items

Well well well - you live and learn.... I didn't realise the Gibson ticket machines were made in Tring.

 

[cbrailways]

My grandfather was an LT conductor in the 1950/60s, and as a youngster I remember him with one of those machines. The conductors could all issue tickets with one hand whilst taking money and giving any change with the other hand at the same time!

 

[oldravendale]

That's an optical supplier and antiques shop, along with some other businesses now. But I had no idea they were based in Tring.

Brian

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Spent most of the daylight hours making this pattern - one half of the underground 'Yellow' ticket gates as shown in this LT Museum collection photo.


This is made from styrene and shown painted to see what it looks like. Decals will be prepared for the signs and the luggage rollers are yet to be built.




This is for scale.


And an unfinished case for the Gibson ticket machine.

 

[oldravendale]

This is for scale.
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'course it is, Dave......

B

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Like the proverbial London bus - nothing for ages then three turn up at once....

.... in this case three Quainton Road Models Metropolitan Railway 6T 2 plank dropside ballast wagons acquired from Rob Pulham.

The kits look like they are of their time as the brass might just as well be armour plating . Anyway they provide me with three LT wagons for which wheels and couplers will be diverted from other projects .

Furthermore it will mean getting used to my new Ersa RDS 80 soldering station after a relatively new Antex TCS50 just packed up.



The last of these prototypes were withdrawn in the mid 1950s - a bit early for my 1968 LT stock - which means I'll have to have a Met loco to accompany them . Until such time, rule 1 will apply.

 

[oldravendale]

The last of these prototypes were withdrawn in the mid 1950s - a bit early for my 1968 LT stock - which means I'll have to have a Met loco to accompany them . Until such time, rule 1 will apply.

Electric or steam, Dave? I can vouch for the Ken's Profiles Met electric loco which is a superb quality bit of work, and he has, or is in the latest state of developing the E or F tank - I can't remember which - with the other one to follow. (His Dreadnoughts also look superb but if the 1968 period is where you're going to stick.......)

Furthermore he's a mine of information about things Met and a super guy in to the bargain.

Brian

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Electric or steam, Dave?

Could be either - I spent a bit of time talking to Ken at Reading. He saw me looking at this sign from the destination panels on surface stock and promptly remarked it was not for sale!



I was checking it to see if this was on the reverse..



I like the idea of a Bo-Bo and it would either be no. 3 Sir Ralph Verney or no. 18 Michael Faraday - I'll have to check to see if 7mm nameplates are available.

 

[oldravendale]

Mine will deffo be No 18. It was the loco on the last official loco hauled train which I was on with my dear departed Dad.

My photos on the day were pretty poor, but here's one during the loco change at Rickmansworth

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Nice photo Brian - it shows the simplified LT lining.

Mine would have to be no. 3.

They had a very slick operation at Rickmansworth when changing locos - From anecdotal evidence some if not most were achieved within a few minutes. I've also read that as soon as the Met loco had cleared the points the steam loco was on the move to couple up.

 

[oldravendale]

Thanks Dave.

I have a one or two others of the Met Bugs, one reasonable and a couple of pretty poor! However, they all show the simplified lining, in case you are interested.

I can confirm from my first hand experience that your anecdotal evidence is correct in every regard. As a child and early teenager the family would visit Rickmansworth Aquadrome (a posh name for a gravel pit with a cafe) quite often in the summer. We always went to see the engine changed, and the stop never seemed longer than a normal station stop. Without any exceptions it was the slickest loco change I ever saw anywhere.

It's a great shame that there are no videos of it..... unless someone knows better.

Well waddya know:

Shame it's not in real time - or perhaps it is.

B

PS. Tell you what. That video sashays in to some lovely archive steam on the Met stuff. I'm now down a rabbit hole. I may be some time.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Some progress today but I had forgot how much hard work some brass kits are - especially when dealing with armour plate and a perceived lack of thought by the designer for the ease of construction. You would have thought an open wagon would be relatively simple . It also appears there was a era where there was a 'everything has to be built of brass' fixation.

To continue - a lot of time was spent cleaning up the parts after removing them from the fret and this is the first one of the trio on it's way - at least I thought so .

Chassis - I've already had to make adjustments to the brake gear by slicing 3mm from the top support otherwise the brakes do not line up with the wheels. I've also noted the wheels have about 3mm lateral movement but I don't know what for? I'll be disassembling the brake gear to move it inwards after reducing the wheels lateral movement.


Body - a bit of a struggle aligning the sides as each side and end are laminated by folding over. I managed it in the end and the sides and ends were tinned, folded over, secured with bulldog clips and blasted with a blow torch. The aligning of the sides would have been made easier if there were locating tabs with holes in which to insert some rod.... see next photo. The buffer beams ends are a fold up as are the door bumpers on the chassis and both have ended up with rounded corners. The wagon end posts are a similar fold up.

Having reached this stage of the now apparent false start there are a several things I'll be altering for the next pair, and partially rebuilding this one, including the brake gear noted earlier.

- adding solder to the buffer beam outer corners and filing them square.
- make new end posts and door bumpers - again square.

Now's the time to walk away, take stock of this lot and with the aid of Percy and his Verances (good band?) make good kit's shortcomings .

And a final controversial observation - rather than fill every conceivable space on an etch with kit parts it would be nice if consideration was given by some some (not all) kit designers to aid alignment when having to laminate parts. But alas economics is the driver.