R416 Hornby Travelling Post Office Coach

 

Recently, someone dropped off a box of "stuff" on one of the tables of the railway club. Truth is, most of it was junk, broken plastic buildings, ancient and battered rolling stock. One item that appealed to me though, was this Travelling Post Office coach. 

I think it's a unprototypical BR blue and grey livery that grabbed me. Hornby has produced a TPO for many years, the original being a Tri-ang product. That one took the mail in through one side, and chucked it out the other. This version, from 1980, is a little more prototypical in that entry and exit are from the same side, in something approaching a realistic manner. 

Operated by skates that hit ramps under the coach, the top and bottom "nets" are swung open when required. 

The top net collects the mailbags, as long as the coach is travelling in the correct direction. 

When it snaps shut, the bags drop into the bottom net, which has a hole in the base to drop them at the appropriate point. 

Sadly, my coach has come with either operating device, but I'm sure I can pick one up. TPO coaches never seem to be very valuable, one of these in this livery with all the bits, if on eBay for less than a tenner, and that's not that unusual. A shame, as this is a rare operating accessory with a real railway background. 

 

As far as I know this set has appeared in GWR, BR blue, and Red 1980s Royal Mail colours, and now it's back in the Railroad range, with a quite modest livery. I'm going to say that blue and grey is my favourite. The final mail drop was in 1971 - could this have been a blue coach? I'm sure someone will know. 

Finally, while digging around, I tripped over this video that demos the Hornby, Dublo and Joueff (didn't know about this one, was it really HO? ) versions. 

Tamiya Extra Thin, Low Odor Cement

 

Using plastic solvent is smelly. Those of us who have been at it for many years, hardly notice the whiff, but normal people do. 

Spotting a bottle of Low Odor cement in a shop, I thought I'd give it a try - can a smell-free product really work? 

First impressions are, yes it can. The liquid cement flows freely, once applied using the brush in the lid. Sticking power seems good, but it is slower than MekPak. Not a lot, but Mek tends to be pretty much instant, whereas there is a noticeable wait with this stuff. 

What about the smell? Well, there is a slight odour, but you have to sniff hard to spot it, so I'd say it does what it says on the bottle. 

Price?  Between five and six quid for a 40ml bottle. So, more expensive than buying Mek in a big bottle, but not too dissimilar to the smaller bottles. The bottle design is worthy of note, you'd have the be pretty clumsy to knock this over. 

 Definitely worth a go if the smell of building plastic models bothers you. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Swiss coal transhipment

An interesting view from a couple of years ago in Switzerland. Approaching Thun on the boat, we passed by this gantry for moving coal from ships to railway wagons. Via a great big pile, presumably a stockpile. 

A quick look on Google maps gives another angle, although oddly, the gantry itself hardly shows up. The gantry spans four tracks, and well as poking out over the water to unload ships. 

It strikes me that this would be quite a slow way to move coal, and I wonder why the stuff isn't moved all the way by rail. Or in a mountainous country, is this too hard? 

Also, what is the coal for? Switzerland is known for extensive use of clean power. Who is burning this stuff? 

Regardless, this would make a fantastic model. Good luck if you fancy making it work in HO, though, there's not much structure to hide the mechanical parts!

Classic pub in The Collector

 

More classic kitbuilding in the Hornby Collectors Club magazine. I'm back in the 80s (which I'm sure is only a few years ago) with the Hornby "Bell Inn" kit, produced for them by Piko. 

Unlike a lot of the other buidlings in the range, this isn't a European structure pretending to be British, it really is a UK pub. Looking at the catalogue from 1990, there were half a dozen of these, although this is the most interesting to my mind. Maybe by this point in time, the Margate bean counters had been persuaded of the benefits of proper kits. 

One surprise is just how big this model is. 155mm long, 80mm wide. Modern resin buildings tend to exhibit selective compression, some ranges more than others, so this seems oddly big compared to them.  

It took me a long while to locate this kit, but once I found it, it appeared in a couple of photo shoots I carried out, including the South Coast MRC's layout, Canalside. 

I rather like this model, it has character. The only thing I'd change is the wall coverings. Stickers are provided, but they aren't perfectly cut around the windows, and the finish is very flat. Maybe one day I'll redo them with Redutex, or even scribe the stone myself. It would be a worthwhile upgrade. 

SWAG haul

 

I made a profit!

Sales on the Bing'n'Buy £60. Puchases £18. That is the right way around, and best of all, the volume of items sold was considerably greater than those bought. 

A couple of kit bundles leapt out at me. I'll always buy Cooper Craft tool sets, there is nothing better. I've also acquired some singboards for their letters. 

Whitemetal cats? Well, they were only a couple of quid, and I like cats. 

There were several kits I knew nothing about too. Normally, that guarantees they will come home with me, but this time, I was good. 

John Day Models is a name I know, but not well. I've never seen this GWR halt though. Did it become the Wills halt with the pagoda waiting room? 

I can see a use for this one day. But then I also fancy the 7mm scale halt from Peco. That will wait until I have real use for it.  

Time to bank some cash!