They're indeed quite good, the Arnold ones. I've got several of the old versions, that is, not the most recent ones that are being sold now. (Which are basically the same, just perhaps with more modern innards, like a digital port.) The old ones, by the way, may be more affordable, e.g. if you check on eBay.
I don't think I have the tight N gauge radius curves, which I guess would be (over here) Minitrix R1, 194.6mm/7.7", but the Crocodiles certainly don't pose any problems on Minitrix R2, 228.2 mm/8.9" curves, which is nice. They run well on my experimental layout on old Minitrix/Roco tracks and Peco Code 55 (flex) tracks and points.
That link shows the model as out-of-stock, so no RRP that I can see.
However, there are a couple on sale on eBay at £150 and £179, which actually compares quite favourably with other good quality models in N or even 00/H0 scale...mind you, virtually all model railway Stuff is very pricey these days.
Another version, DCC fitted, is £278.50 from Hornby. Marklin and Trix both do amazing HO models at around E520, again DCC fitted - one wonders if they are in fact the same model! Trix also do a fascination Be 4/6 which is one I didn't know.
Märklin and Trix these days are indeed the same model, BT: Märklin for AC and Trix for DC. Märklin bought Trix a number of years ago, stopped the 3-rail DC Trix Express, and renamed the former Trix International 2-rail DC version models simply as Trix.
Same as Fleischmann, who bought the Austrian manufacturer Roco HO and N a while back, but discontinued the Roco N gauge. Fleischmann these days I think has HO and N, Roco only HO. The N brand of Märklin - which they originally didn't have - is now Minitrix (Trix N). The original Märklin-own miniature gauge is the cute former 'Märklin Miniclub' in DC, in Z gauge, 1:220.
I must say I'm glad I listened to advice not to go for Z, but instead to choose N! Only slightly bigger, but considerably more brands and material, and less niche.
I used to do N back in the 60s, mostly Arnold Rapido and Minitrix, but haven't done any modelling for over 50 years. I did think of swapping to British, but the quality just wasn't there until Bachmann took over Graham Farish, and even then it took a long time to upgrade the range.
I dabbled briefly in American N gauge in the 70s - a small terminus, based on a *short line* (think Mixed Train Daily ) with diesel haulage (an F7) and limited passenger service (a rather nice combine). The US prototypes are, of course, a good deal larger than BR stock, so if I were to go back to N, I'd cross the Pond again.
European prototypes are good, too, and some of the models of Japanese and Chinese prototypes are spectacular. Kato seem to be going in for stuff which can fit into very small spaces (perhaps reflecting the size - or lack of it - of Japanese houses/flats?), and this is also tempting.
However, the gradual decline of my powers of sight and touch mean that it's probably not a good idea. Somehow, British N has never especially interested or attracted me, but each to their own.
I have got a bit of my modelling mojo back, though I find these days that what I really enjoy doing is putting wagon kits together. This probably explains why I have over 100, far more than I 'need'. Ideally, I would employ someone to do everything else.
A new manufacturer has just set up recently. His kits are wonderful and he has promised two GCR wagons. My cup overfloweth. I can see myself building half a dozen fish vans for a start.
I have got a bit of my modelling mojo back, though I find these days that what I really enjoy doing is putting wagon kits together. This probably explains why I have over 100, far more than I 'need'. Ideally, I would employ someone to do everything else.
You do, I hope, have locomotives and track as well ...?
I have got a bit of my modelling mojo back, though I find these days that what I really enjoy doing is putting wagon kits together. This probably explains why I have over 100, far more than I 'need'. Ideally, I would employ someone to do everything else.
You do, I hope, have locomotives and track as well ...?
Oh yes. But I would gladly subcontract all that stuff.
I dabbled briefly in American N gauge in the 70s - a small terminus, based on a *short line* (think Mixed Train Daily ) with diesel haulage (an F7) and limited passenger service (a rather nice combine). The US prototypes are, of course, a good deal larger than BR stock, so if I were to go back to N, I'd cross the Pond again.
European prototypes are good, too, and some of the models of Japanese and Chinese prototypes are spectacular. Kato seem to be going in for stuff which can fit into very small spaces (perhaps reflecting the size - or lack of it - of Japanese houses/flats?), and this is also tempting.
However, the gradual decline of my powers of sight and touch mean that it's probably not a good idea. Somehow, British N has never especially interested or attracted me, but each to their own.
Having got into N this year and sold all my OO I’m loving it. It’s come on leaps and bounds since the 1990s when I worked in a permanent N gauge exhibition layout in an old railway carriage for a few years at weekends. Given small children and space limitations it’s astonishing to me what I can do with the 8’x5.5’ I’ve got for it.
(I do OO9 Lynton and Barnstaple and Talyllyn on the side too)
What I've always found fascinating is the technical and design progress from the early models to the latest ones! Somewhere I've got a book which I think I asked for as a Christmas present in my teenie years, and which details the history of model trains. Amazing story.
On auction sites, you occasionally see vintage trains for sale. It would be tempting, in any case, and in any scale, to run them on a contemporary layout, as they basically should run on there.
Here's a history of N gauge; I'm posting this just to marvel at the incredible development and human ingenuity of it all.
'Real' 1:1 railways have come a long way too, of course!
On auction sites, you occasionally see vintage trains for sale. It would be tempting, in any case, and in any scale, to run them on a contemporary layout, as they basically should run on there.
I doubt it, sadly. Quite apart from 3-rail vehicles not working on 2-rail, you'd run into problems with wheel standards.
Here's a history of N gauge; I'm posting this just to marvel at the incredible development and human ingenuity of it all.
As a small child I had a large amount of the Lone Star push-along trains, so it's not surprising that I got into their Treble-O-Lectric early on. I remember showing the locos to my school friends and they were amazed: most of them were into Hornby-Dublo or the old Hornby O gauge. On a visit to Austria we bought one of the early Arnold V200 diesels, without realising that it was already obsolete!
Yes, I had some of the old Lone Star push-along trains - rather crudely made, but Fun!
You're right about vintage trains having wheel standards that are incompatible with today's much more realistic track, though it might be possible to change the wheels of (say) vintage Triang rolling stock. The locomotives would require a great deal of work to fit them for today's Peco Streamline, I guess.
On auction sites, you occasionally see vintage trains for sale. It would be tempting, in any case, and in any scale, to run them on a contemporary layout, as they basically should run on there.
I doubt it, sadly. Quite apart from 3-rail vehicles not working on 2-rail, you'd run into problems with wheel standards.
I guess I meant N-gauge on N-gauge, etc. - but you're certainly right with the wheel standards; would have to take this into consideration.
Only the other day I was reading a post (elsewhere) bemoaning the lack of common wheel standards even in recent 00.
The delusion that there was ever a 'universal' standard was just that. My frustration with 00 was a major factor in persuading me to change to O Gauge, circa 1991. Finescale 7mm is a tad sloppy too, but compared to 00 (or should I say '00') it is almost perfection. (It is pretty comparable to EM.)
It's impossible to get good running without consistent wheel and track standards. But that means a move to EM, P4, 7mm FS (at a push) or S7. P4 and S7 have their own issues - it helps to be a skilled model engineer - but at least their standards are consistent. 00 is like the wild west. Every maker does it differently and they all change their minds on wheel profiles every so often.
You can, of course, get good running in 00 if you have your track and wheels to a consistent standard. But if you're going to re-wheel everything you might just as well go to EM and avoid the 'narrow gauge look'.
Of course, 00 track gauge is spot on for anyone modelling Blackburn and Darwen trams, but that's a bit of a niche hobby.
Not just Blackburn and Darwen trams, but the Middleton Railway when first steam-worked (1812-1835) was roughly the same gauge...
IOW, all 00 scale models are narrow-gauge...H0 is fine, of course, as it stands, and EM showed the way decades ago, but with virtually no commercial support AFAIK.
The Triang TT3 range of the 1950s/60s was similar - a scale of 3mm to the foot, running on 12mm gauge track, meant that they were still narrow-gauge. Mind you, the introduction of TT3 was a godsend to those who wanted to model 3-foot gauge lines in 00 scale (think Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Southwold Railway...).
The Glasgow Subway hint makes me think of how you can solve all of this: you create a layout with buildings and a few Subway/Underground station entrances, and when people ask where are the trains, point to the fact that it's all undergound and thus can't be seen.
For the discerning cityscape modeller who hates trains (and trams).
May I point my Right Honorable Colleague to a useful post (if I may say so myself) on an earlier incarnation of this highly este(a)med thread, here?
In other news, here is a video of someone who created functioning cat-size LEGO trams, using 3D printing and many of the technical features of life-size trains!
To be fair, he's built quite a lot more since that was made.
Another model with amazing realism and a sense of "place" is "Pempoul", based on the French Reseau Breton. But it may have too much railway for you ...
It's certainly very redolent of French metre-gauge lines, and I was fortunate in 1973 to travel on the CF du Blanc a Argent, a similar line, on one of the angular De Dion Bouton railcars which had been transferred from the RB. They had a good turn of speed, but were not exactly comfortable!
On a different note, there's been some interesting speculation on the Deep State thread, down in Purgatory, regarding the existence (or not) of strategic reserves of steam locomotives, for possible use if oil runs out...or if electricity is somehow lost completely...
Someone ( @Marvin the Martian , I think) reckoned that there were far more locomotives preserved - many, of course, in working order - than could have been kept in a secret store under Box Hill, or wherever.
Is there any comprehensive record anywhere of just how many steam locomotives exist in preservation? I'm thinking of standard-gauge locos, given that our national railways are of Stephenson coal-cart gauge, and also given the fact that a number of heritage lines are now once more connected to the main system.
A goodly number of *preserved* locos will be out of service for repairs or overhaul at any given time, and many may well never work again unless funds and person-power become available, but I would hazard a guess that the number which could be steamed up tomorrow is a three-figure number...
It is a bit depressing to go to the preserved railways' websites and compare the number of "operational" locos with those "stored", "on display", "awaiting overhaul" or "being overhauled". A railway with (say) 10 locos on its books may well only have two that can be used.
Of course, what we now lack on the wider network is infrastructure. It's one thing to pun a one-off steam special, coaled up at its base and filled en route from a fire truck, towing a support coach, it's quite another to have dozens active on the main line. We need to remember how (dirtily) labour intensive steam traction was ... and of course even "the right kind of" coal is hard to come by these days!
Indeed. On reflection, my estimate of 100+ available for service may well be wildly optimistic...
Somehow, steam locos, when working on the *main line*, never look quite right IYSWIM - the infrastructure has changed so much since the 1960s! - but full marks to those heritage railways which do look right...
Nor do they sound right: no "clickety clack" on jointed track.
Not do even heritage railways always look right. Either they are simply too clean and pristine to be real; and/or else they may use (I'm sure for excellent reasons) flat-bottomed rails with concrete or even plastic sleepers! I remember travelling on the Festiniog Railway (with only one "f") in 1969 and the track then, complete with staggered rail joints, was very different to what it is today. (Having said that, I'm far happier having preserved railways as they are than not having them! And of course no-one under 70 can really remember what day-to-day steam railways were like).
Someone ( @Marvin the Martian , I think) reckoned that there were far more locomotives preserved - many, of course, in working order - than could have been kept in a secret store under Box Hill, or wherever.
Indeed, t'was I.
Is there any comprehensive record anywhere of just how many steam locomotives exist in preservation? I'm thinking of standard-gauge locos, given that our national railways are of Stephenson coal-cart gauge, and also given the fact that a number of heritage lines are now once more connected to the main system.
Nor do they sound right: no "clickety clack" on jointed track.
Not do even heritage railways always look right. Either they are simply too clean and pristine to be real; and/or else they may use (I'm sure for excellent reasons) flat-bottomed rails with concrete or even plastic sleepers! I remember travelling on the Festiniog Railway (with only one "f") in 1969 and the track then, complete with staggered rail joints, was very different to what it is today. (Having said that, I'm far happier having preserved railways as they are than not having them! And of course no-one under 70 can really remember what day-to-day steam railways were like).
Of course, flat bottomed rail with concrete sleepers is actually right for the pre-preservation Great Central, which managed to get relayed as part of upgrades shockingly close to its closure…
In honour of Brighton Works, they fielded three other engines built there - a Terrier (Fenchurch, looking very smart in LBSCR livery), a BR Standard 2-6-4T (the most elegant modern tank engines on our railways - I had my first cab ride on one of them!), and one of the magnificent Jarvis/Bulleid Pacifics (the finest modern express locomotives to run on BR).
Never been on a Standard 4 tank loco, but yes, I agree with your assessment of them. I think it's the shape of the tanks which does it.
A rebuilt "Merchant Navy" would be even better than a Light Pacific (though I do like the original versions, complete with their eccentricities which must have been maddening for both fitters and crew).
Agreed re the Merchant Navies - I was referring to all the Pacifics rebuilt by Ron Jarvis and his team. True - Jarvis got rid of the major eccentricities (and the tendency for the lagging to catch fire under the outer casing), and everything was much easier to get at. He was sensible in retaining the superb Bulleid boiler, one of the best ever designed and those distinctive BFB wheels
I can still remember seeing (and hearing) Clan Line, late one Sunday night, as she made a trial trip along the main line...my bedroom window overlooked the said main line; This would have been around 1974-75, so she'd been in preservation for a while even then.
The curved tank, cab. and bunker sides on the big 2-6-4Ts are said to have been so designed, in order to match the profile of BR Mk1 coaches, or perhaps to pass safely through carriage washing plants...
Or (says Wikipedia) to fit a more restricted loading gauge than their LMS antecedents. (Think of cutting down the boiler mountings on Gresley's A1 Pacifics).
All classes I saw in 'real life' even though the Southern was a long way from anywhere I lived. The Brighton Atlantic was at Chichester, Terriers at Havant, rebuilt West Country, various and Standard 2-6-4s on the Midland Region. I've a sneaking fondness though for the original Fowler version with the parallel boiler and older style cab.
In honour of Brighton Works, they fielded three other engines built there - a Terrier (Fenchurch, looking very smart in LBSCR livery), a BR Standard 2-6-4T (the most elegant modern tank engines on our railways - I had my first cab ride on one of them!), and one of the magnificent Jarvis/Bulleid Pacifics (the finest modern express locomotives to run on BR).
I wish I could remember the engine I was on for my first cab ride. It was certainly 2-6-4 from Ladyburn in Greenock, where my uncle worked, and most likely a Fairburn. I vaguely remember (this was 1955) that there were Standard 2-6-4s there as well, but am not certain. Perhaps that was later. Is there an on-line shed allocation list anywhere? The one I used to use has vanished and I haven't yet found another.
In honour of Brighton Works, they fielded three other engines built there - a Terrier (Fenchurch, looking very smart in LBSCR livery), a BR Standard 2-6-4T (the most elegant modern tank engines on our railways - I had my first cab ride on one of them!), and one of the magnificent Jarvis/Bulleid Pacifics (the finest modern express locomotives to run on BR).
I wish I could remember the engine I was on for my first cab ride. It was certainly 2-6-4 from Ladyburn in Greenock, where my uncle worked, and most likely a Fairburn. I vaguely remember (this was 1955) that there were Standard 2-6-4s there as well, but am not certain. Perhaps that was later. Is there an on-line shed allocation list anywhere? The one I used to use has vanished and I haven't yet found another.
The Wikipedia article on the 2-6-4Ts says:
A...group worked from Polmadie depot in the Scottish region on the Glasgow commuter services.
Would this fit the bill? The Standards were built between 1951 and 1956.
In honour of Brighton Works, they fielded three other engines built there - a Terrier (Fenchurch, looking very smart in LBSCR livery), a BR Standard 2-6-4T (the most elegant modern tank engines on our railways - I had my first cab ride on one of them!), and one of the magnificent Jarvis/Bulleid Pacifics (the finest modern express locomotives to run on BR).
I wish I could remember the engine I was on for my first cab ride. It was certainly 2-6-4 from Ladyburn in Greenock, where my uncle worked, and most likely a Fairburn. I vaguely remember (this was 1955) that there were Standard 2-6-4s there as well, but am not certain. Perhaps that was later. Is there an on-line shed allocation list anywhere? The one I used to use has vanished and I haven't yet found another.
The Wikipedia article on the 2-6-4Ts says:
A...group worked from Polmadie depot in the Scottish region on the Glasgow commuter services.
Would this fit the bill? The Standards were built between 1951 and 1956.
That's the right period, so I probably did see them at Cartsdyke station, where I spent much of that summer - it was a busy line at that time. (I also remember the Ladyburn Pug and a Pickersgill 4-4-0 that even then, looked ancient).
Did the Pug (an ex-Caledonian 0-4-0ST, I presume) have one of those quaint little tenders, converted from an old wooden open wagon?
My cab ride on a Standard tank was for the whole length of Platform 1 at Our Station...probably in 1963 or 1964. Steam haulage on the local trains to the Town To The West ceased at the end of 1964, but we still had steam (mostly Standard tanks or Maunsell Moguls) on various other services to and from the Town To The South and beyond through most of 1965.
A visiting railtour in early 1966 gave me the delightful sight of an N class Mogul (31411) resplendent in clean BR lined black on Our Shed's turntable.
Ah! The trouble with nostalgia is that it simply isn't what it was...
Comments
I don't think I have the tight N gauge radius curves, which I guess would be (over here) Minitrix R1, 194.6mm/7.7", but the Crocodiles certainly don't pose any problems on Minitrix R2, 228.2 mm/8.9" curves, which is nice. They run well on my experimental layout on old Minitrix/Roco tracks and Peco Code 55 (flex) tracks and points.
However, there are a couple on sale on eBay at £150 and £179, which actually compares quite favourably with other good quality models in N or even 00/H0 scale...mind you, virtually all model railway Stuff is very pricey these days.
Same as Fleischmann, who bought the Austrian manufacturer Roco HO and N a while back, but discontinued the Roco N gauge. Fleischmann these days I think has HO and N, Roco only HO. The N brand of Märklin - which they originally didn't have - is now Minitrix (Trix N). The original Märklin-own miniature gauge is the cute former 'Märklin Miniclub' in DC, in Z gauge, 1:220.
I must say I'm glad I listened to advice not to go for Z, but instead to choose N! Only slightly bigger, but considerably more brands and material, and less niche.
European prototypes are good, too, and some of the models of Japanese and Chinese prototypes are spectacular. Kato seem to be going in for stuff which can fit into very small spaces (perhaps reflecting the size - or lack of it - of Japanese houses/flats?), and this is also tempting.
However, the gradual decline of my powers of sight and touch mean that it's probably not a good idea. Somehow, British N has never especially interested or attracted me, but each to their own.
A new manufacturer has just set up recently. His kits are wonderful and he has promised two GCR wagons. My cup overfloweth. I can see myself building half a dozen fish vans for a start.
Oh yes. But I would gladly subcontract all that stuff.
Having got into N this year and sold all my OO I’m loving it. It’s come on leaps and bounds since the 1990s when I worked in a permanent N gauge exhibition layout in an old railway carriage for a few years at weekends. Given small children and space limitations it’s astonishing to me what I can do with the 8’x5.5’ I’ve got for it.
(I do OO9 Lynton and Barnstaple and Talyllyn on the side too)
On auction sites, you occasionally see vintage trains for sale. It would be tempting, in any case, and in any scale, to run them on a contemporary layout, as they basically should run on there.
Here's a history of N gauge; I'm posting this just to marvel at the incredible development and human ingenuity of it all.
'Real' 1:1 railways have come a long way too, of course!
You're right about vintage trains having wheel standards that are incompatible with today's much more realistic track, though it might be possible to change the wheels of (say) vintage Triang rolling stock. The locomotives would require a great deal of work to fit them for today's Peco Streamline, I guess.
I guess I meant N-gauge on N-gauge, etc. - but you're certainly right with the wheel standards; would have to take this into consideration.
The delusion that there was ever a 'universal' standard was just that. My frustration with 00 was a major factor in persuading me to change to O Gauge, circa 1991. Finescale 7mm is a tad sloppy too, but compared to 00 (or should I say '00') it is almost perfection. (It is pretty comparable to EM.)
It's impossible to get good running without consistent wheel and track standards. But that means a move to EM, P4, 7mm FS (at a push) or S7. P4 and S7 have their own issues - it helps to be a skilled model engineer - but at least their standards are consistent. 00 is like the wild west. Every maker does it differently and they all change their minds on wheel profiles every so often.
Of course, 00 track gauge is spot on for anyone modelling Blackburn and Darwen trams, but that's a bit of a niche hobby.
Not just Blackburn and Darwen trams, but the Middleton Railway when first steam-worked (1812-1835) was roughly the same gauge...
IOW, all 00 scale models are narrow-gauge...H0 is fine, of course, as it stands, and EM showed the way decades ago, but with virtually no commercial support AFAIK.
The Triang TT3 range of the 1950s/60s was similar - a scale of 3mm to the foot, running on 12mm gauge track, meant that they were still narrow-gauge. Mind you, the introduction of TT3 was a godsend to those who wanted to model 3-foot gauge lines in 00 scale (think Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Southwold Railway...).
For the discerning cityscape modeller who hates trains (and trams).
In other news, here is a video of someone who created functioning cat-size LEGO trams, using 3D printing and many of the technical features of life-size trains!
To be fair, he's built quite a lot more since that was made.
Another model with amazing realism and a sense of "place" is "Pempoul", based on the French Reseau Breton. But it may have too much railway for you ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2gvQDsmWBg
It's certainly very redolent of French metre-gauge lines, and I was fortunate in 1973 to travel on the CF du Blanc a Argent, a similar line, on one of the angular De Dion Bouton railcars which had been transferred from the RB. They had a good turn of speed, but were not exactly comfortable!
On a different note, there's been some interesting speculation on the Deep State thread, down in Purgatory, regarding the existence (or not) of strategic reserves of steam locomotives, for possible use if oil runs out...or if electricity is somehow lost completely...
Someone ( @Marvin the Martian , I think) reckoned that there were far more locomotives preserved - many, of course, in working order - than could have been kept in a secret store under Box Hill, or wherever.
Is there any comprehensive record anywhere of just how many steam locomotives exist in preservation? I'm thinking of standard-gauge locos, given that our national railways are of Stephenson coal-cart gauge, and also given the fact that a number of heritage lines are now once more connected to the main system.
A goodly number of *preserved* locos will be out of service for repairs or overhaul at any given time, and many may well never work again unless funds and person-power become available, but I would hazard a guess that the number which could be steamed up tomorrow is a three-figure number...
Of course, what we now lack on the wider network is infrastructure. It's one thing to pun a one-off steam special, coaled up at its base and filled en route from a fire truck, towing a support coach, it's quite another to have dozens active on the main line. We need to remember how (dirtily) labour intensive steam traction was ... and of course even "the right kind of" coal is hard to come by these days!
Somehow, steam locos, when working on the *main line*, never look quite right IYSWIM - the infrastructure has changed so much since the 1960s! - but full marks to those heritage railways which do look right...
Not do even heritage railways always look right. Either they are simply too clean and pristine to be real; and/or else they may use (I'm sure for excellent reasons) flat-bottomed rails with concrete or even plastic sleepers! I remember travelling on the Festiniog Railway (with only one "f") in 1969 and the track then, complete with staggered rail joints, was very different to what it is today. (Having said that, I'm far happier having preserved railways as they are than not having them! And of course no-one under 70 can really remember what day-to-day steam railways were like).
Indeed, t'was I.
This may be a good place to start - though I don't think it includes former industrial locomotives...
This website reckons there are "over 400", though I note that it includes narrow-gauge ones as well.
Of course, flat bottomed rail with concrete sleepers is actually right for the pre-preservation Great Central, which managed to get relayed as part of upgrades shockingly close to its closure…
Thanks. At this distance in time, I can't recall if it were on SBB track or one of the private lines
(He was asked by them. Brilliant!)
Harking back to replica locomotives, the Bluebell Railway had some fun last weekend, running their full-size live-steam model of 32424 Beachy Head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5mg2gAiiQs
In honour of Brighton Works, they fielded three other engines built there - a Terrier (Fenchurch, looking very smart in LBSCR livery), a BR Standard 2-6-4T (the most elegant modern tank engines on our railways - I had my first cab ride on one of them!), and one of the magnificent Jarvis/Bulleid Pacifics (the finest modern express locomotives to run on BR).
A rebuilt "Merchant Navy" would be even better than a Light Pacific (though I do like the original versions, complete with their eccentricities which must have been maddening for both fitters and crew).
I can still remember seeing (and hearing) Clan Line, late one Sunday night, as she made a trial trip along the main line...my bedroom window overlooked the said main line; This would have been around 1974-75, so she'd been in preservation for a while even then.
The curved tank, cab. and bunker sides on the big 2-6-4Ts are said to have been so designed, in order to match the profile of BR Mk1 coaches, or perhaps to pass safely through carriage washing plants...
I wish I could remember the engine I was on for my first cab ride. It was certainly 2-6-4 from Ladyburn in Greenock, where my uncle worked, and most likely a Fairburn. I vaguely remember (this was 1955) that there were Standard 2-6-4s there as well, but am not certain. Perhaps that was later. Is there an on-line shed allocation list anywhere? The one I used to use has vanished and I haven't yet found another.
The Wikipedia article on the 2-6-4Ts says:
A...group worked from Polmadie depot in the Scottish region on the Glasgow commuter services.
Would this fit the bill? The Standards were built between 1951 and 1956.
Here's the article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_Standard_Class_4_2-6-4T
That's the right period, so I probably did see them at Cartsdyke station, where I spent much of that summer - it was a busy line at that time. (I also remember the Ladyburn Pug and a Pickersgill 4-4-0 that even then, looked ancient).
My cab ride on a Standard tank was for the whole length of Platform 1 at Our Station...probably in 1963 or 1964. Steam haulage on the local trains to the Town To The West ceased at the end of 1964, but we still had steam (mostly Standard tanks or Maunsell Moguls) on various other services to and from the Town To The South and beyond through most of 1965.
A visiting railtour in early 1966 gave me the delightful sight of an N class Mogul (31411) resplendent in clean BR lined black on Our Shed's turntable.
Ah! The trouble with nostalgia is that it simply isn't what it was...