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When I read the original post, I though to myself that I would always include at least two tying wires through soldered laminations that have to be filed to shape and, given the thought that clearly goes into the production of most 2mm etchings, I was surprised that the necessary dimples or holes hadn't been incorporated into the etch to ensure that they were in exactly the right place - clearly they had been! One further tip, when soldering laminations together that are subsequently going to have to be filed (or broached) to shape/size, I always use one of the high melting point solders that includes some silver in its mix. It is surprising how much localised heat filing and broaching can generate and the use of the hmp solder helps ensure that they don't delaminate - it is particularly effective for laminating coupling rods which will require subsequent broaching of the bearing holes. It also has the added benefit that, using a temperature controlled iron appropriately set, one can subsequently solder the built-up item into position without fear of delamination.

Coming along very nicely - and those bricks may well have not had frogs anyway. It is still too tidy, but putting that right takes a lot of thought which is best done over a period of time. So don't hurry it.

It was never a universal practice and it didn't just date from the Second World War, the earliest examples that I have found datable photos of date back to the Edwardian era - the then new GWR rail motor halts for example. Look for photos of your chosen station, or of stations of similar size in the vicinity, taken in the 1950s or 1960s, you can usually find something on the internet. Where white platform edges were introduced as a wartime ARP measure (or indeed earlier) they usually persisted much longer than the other wartime white paint markings.

Tim, That part-demolished building is starting to look really good. However, I suspect that really difficult bit is yet to come, getting the piles of what I might call the "petit"-debris right, the broken up plaster from ceilings and walls, for example, and an overall "dusty" look. If the demolition was actually being worked on, there might well be a bonfire burning somewhere too. Unfortunately, very few photographs seem to exist of the demolition of small buildings at that period when there was little machinery involvement. There are though a few pictures of bomb damage which might help, this one http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.415/Bomb-damage-on-Cundy-Road-Custom-House.html for example. This video clip on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex1nKk39vsw of a visit by the "high and mighty" to a slum clearance site might be useful too. David

One bit of street furniture that would have almost certainly appeared in the streets modelled on CF, possibly more than once, but which I think is lacking, is a fire call post which were commonplace on London streets between the end of the Victorian era and the early 1950s. Although there was more than one design, that depicted below was typical, probably about 5 feet tall and painted LFB red, and should be easy to model even in 2FS.

Actually Tim, I suspect that that spacing is about right with the second L centred on the door, it just looks odd without all the ironmongery of a wagon side in place. Sometimes wagon painters just ignored the ironmongery (especially if they had to paint a long name) and just sign-wrote over, it but it does seem as if, where they could, they most commonly placed letters so as to avoid it (and doubtless it was easier to do so). In Inkscape it would be easy to adjust the lettering by splitting a name up into individual letters and adjusting their positioning, so what the software does with a particular font shouldn't be a constraint. Inkscape would also make it easy to adjust the relative width of individual characters if necessary - as I am sure that Justin has done with the letter O, comparing the two examples. I don't know if Justin did it but it is also possible to load a photo or drawing of the real wagon side in the background when laying out lettering in Inkscape, which makes the task much simpler.

In which case, I wish you bon chance. It is interesting to note, though, that Frank Dyer had a fully working route indicator display (but not Theatre type) on the first Borchester layout, 60 years ago now. Spectators couldn't see it but it did definitely work.

The railways started thinking about ARP in 1938 but didn't do much that was positive (beyond starting to store redundant items rather than actually scrapping them) until the Munich crisis in late September suddenly concentrated minds. (So suddenly in fact that several under-river tunnels on the London Tube system were closed in the middle of the evening rush hour so that concrete "plugs" could be inserted at each end of them.) As I half-stated, the SR immediate response for colour light signals was to insert low intensity (dimming) switches in all the circuits, but the SR already had a very large number of colour light signals and that response was probably the most practical at the time even though it proved insufficient. It is quite possible that the LNER, with far fewer such signals, would have gone immediately for a long hood solution (although I think the ability to dim would have been required as well), in which case the changes would probably have been implemented during 1939 - it could even be that your photo was originally taken to illustrate the work. Unfortunately, relatively few records seem to have been kept of the detail of ARP work, even at the time (let alone archived). I only know the detail of the work on the Southern because it was described to me well over fifty years ago by someone who had actually been stuck up on signal gantries during air raids doing it. (Incidentally, road traffic lights were masked with two small slits in the form of a cross cut into the mask, they were already much lower intensity than railway c/l signals.)

Triang clerestories form an excellent base for making up many of the ex-LBSCR sets but not the ex-LSWR or ex-SECR ones. You really need Mike King's book on the subject to answer your other queries as the whole area is a complex minefield which Mike explains well. Brighton motor sets didn't do a lot of work on most of the ex-LSWR system (and in fact a lot of it didn't really see motor sets at all) but many of the conversions were done with a specific task in mind (they cost money so needed justifiable authorisation) and Brighton vehicles could easily have been chosen for the conversions for a particular branch anywhere on the Southern.

I do think that you have been over-thinking this because, unless you can view the indicator head-on (which presumably viewers won't be able to), you will only be able to see that there is a display, and not what it reads, in 4mm scale. That to me suggests a mask with pin-prick holes which represent something but nothing specific mounted in front of a single LED - which should be "easily" accomplishable. Incidentally I would take exactly the same line with mechanical indicators so that one could see that there is an indication when the arm is off but not what it reads.

Do you have any clue as to the date of that photograph? I have a suspicion that they are emergency ARP hoods which would have been installed in approximately September 1940. While I am not certain what the situation on the LNER was, I do know that the Southern had to install such hoods on all of its (quite significant number of) colour light signals once it was identified that, even with the low-intensity switch thrown, they could be clearly seen at night from the air. On the Southern the work was considered so urgent that installation work continued round the clock with technicians working 12-hour days 7-days a week (and even during actual air raids) until the task was completed. It is unlikely that the LNER would have considered ARP needs back in 1937 when the signals were installed.

A very nice model of a strange prototype, especially given the LNWR's propensity to use standard parts. IIRC at various times in the 1930s an L&Y pug and a CR pug were shedded there. I don't think that I have ever seen a reference to what was shedded there pre-grouping.

It rather looks like it, note that it is electrically worked.

Tim, I accept that the exhibition environment is harsh, I was just surprised that the ratio of wear model/prototype should be that great. It was reflecting on that that led me to wonder whether the engineering principles in 2FS could be improved, without too much work I might add. The range of bits and pieces available to 2FS modellers these days looks most impressive (I am envious!) but lacathedrale's fascinating thread has opened my eyes to the amount of "bodging" that can still be involved. I have "been there and done it" of course but that was 50 years and more ago when, unless you were a competent model engineer (the name Cruikshank comes to mind), that was really the only course open to one whatever scale one was working in. David

The latest Model Railway Club Bulletin (no.506 Jan/Feb 2019) contains an interesting article by Tim entitled "Keeping the wheels turning on Copenhagen Fields". It doesn't say that it has been reprinted from anywhere so presumably this was its first publication but I would guess that it won't be its last. What particularly surprised me was the extent of the wear described and depicted. Tim makes the very valid point that "if you do the sums for some of our (CF's) engines they would be easily headed towards 200 real miles." Now that sounds like an awful long way, and in some respects it is, but with 2FS approximating to 1:150, that is only the equivalent to a full size milage of 30.000, at which point many main line locos would only just be nicely run in. Tim makes the extremely valid point that the 2mm Association has made a huge contribution to making modelling in 2FS a practical proposition - and one of the reasons that I avidly read this particular thread is the amount I can, and have been able to, learn from it - but it does make me wonder whether too much emphasis might have been placed on making something possible rather than in finding the most effective solution, simply because that is how 2FS, of necessity, developed. It is really an attitude of mind issue, "Eureka - I have found a solution" should be followed by "but is there a better solution?". I don't want that to sound too negative because I am only too aware that even retired people have limited time to devote to the good of their hobby and I am also aware that some who practice 4mm finescale might have taken matters a little too far in recent years, the original Study Group of (now) over half-a-century ago having carefully mulled through most of the issues before elaborating them as workable standards. Much of my modelling over the last couple of decades has been devoted to fine scale 7mm modelling of narrow gauge industrial items, which may sound very different from 2FS but is actually remarkably similar, albeit with, usually, a slightly wider track gauge and with very low prototype speeds to emulate [a typical 8 mph top speed in 7mm is still equivalent to a top scale speed of less than 30 mph in 2FS]. With tiny wheels, even low-revving motors like the (late-lamented) Mashima 1015 need multi-stage gearboxes to keep model speeds low and reliable. With nothing suitable commercially, I learnt to make my own, accurately marked out using a GW Models riveting tool, and with brass gears set out at exactly their theoretical pitch. When the boxes were first assembled, with gears at this pitch they could only be turned by hand, but with a little "lubrication" of Brasso they very quickly loosened up. Once this was achieved, they were thoroughly washed out and the fully-enclosed gearbox packed with graphite dust. They were then run in a little further using a powered drive at low speed until ready for use. I wondered how they might wear, so the first to be constructed was run continuously, admittedly off-load but at maximum motor speed, for a number of weeks. When the trial was finished, the enclosed gearbox was opened up and no signs of wear, neither physical on the gears (and bearings) themselves nor minute specks of brass could be detected. In other words, the gear train was working exactly as it theoretically should, neither too loose nor too tight.

I missed that last issue, mainly because I suspect that the real railway would have installed a ground frame (released by the signal box) rather than provide dollies and points actually worked by the box. As soon as you provide a ground frame (whether it is released by a box or by a single-line token/tablet/staff) close by the connection to the running line you no longer have to provide signals, in or out, and therefore providing a ground frame is cheaper (and, as a bonus, is easier to operate). The king lever on the ground frame usually works the facing point lock, so you need a two-lever GF. You need a trap exiting the loop (towards your fiddle yard) because it counts as a siding and therefore the provision of a trap (and dolly) is mandatory. The normal arrangement was to provide the trap and adjacent dolly so that it covered exit from both the loop and the siding, the traps being incorporated into the pointwork if space was tight.

You need a yellow dolly at the crossover point on the loop leading towards the phantom main-line, given that you are actually working the layout as a terminus, there is no need to model this as a working signal. You also need a trap alongside dolly 4. I am also doubtful about the shunt-ahead signal, with the works sidings, worked by the box, where they are you would need an advanced starter (doubtless off the modelled area) to protect the single line and thus shunt-ahead movements would be authorised by clearing the starter or by a hand-signal from the box. In practice the works sidings would almost certainly be worked by arriving freights, before they run straight into the headshunt (keeping the loco on the right end of the train for shunting). Moving to the platform road for running round would be the final move for freight workings. This sequence also means that you need a small RH subsidiary signal on the home (for direct admittance to the headshunt) and a pair of dollies (top to platform road, bottom to loop/headshunt) for no.6. I would dispense with 5 as 4 and its trap would protect movements from both the loop and the headshunt.

I too have used a (perfume-free) strong-hold hair spray and found it excellent using a spray-dip/sprinkle-spray sequence. My initial worry was that it might dry with a slight gloss but if it does it isn't detectable. I use it when building up grass depth from an electrostatic distributor as well and it works equally well, but doesn't need the second waft of spray in this case. The brand I use is a proprietary one from a Belgian supplier so there is no point in giving the name - doubtless the next time I need a can I will find either that it is no longer stocked or that the supplier has changed!

Birchwood Casey do several metal blackeners including ones specifically labelled for brass and aluminium. In practice, they will all "blacken" most metals (except phosphor bronze and stainless steel) but with slightly different effects so experimentation is worthwhile. Some nickel silver resists the Super Blue but the version intended for aluminium will usually take on it. I sometimes don't add paint at all after blackening - which does have the advantage that it can easily be "topped up" later using a brush if the blackening effect has worn off exposed edges.

........ but already making a name for himself within the company for suggesting that parts of the business which are profitable but not hugely profitable should be closed down or sold off. Fortunately for ICI, he was soon to find a "suitable" role elsewhere and the rest is, as they say, history.

If you do end up with the unfortunate task of having to add a 5mm extension (something I try to avoid too), I have found it best to cut a thin strip of 6mm MDF which is then glued with "strong" pva glue orthogonally to the end of piece needing extension. After allowing the glue to dry thoroughly (preferably at least 48 hours), I sand it all down flat to the required size. If it is going to form part of the sky, you might just need to add a little filler and then sand that down but I haven't had to do so so far. I also always sand down the last millimetre or so to the required size even without an extender fillet; temporarily cramping lengths of straight metal strips either side of the MDF makes it easy to get this just right. Remember, of course, that one should take precautions to avoid breathing in the sanding dust from the MDF.

I saw 7816 arrive at Oxford from the south hauling a couple of Halls one Sunday in June 1965. My memory says both loco and tender appeared to be green through the grime and that the G W R marking looked artificial, but that might have been because that was the only clean part of the loco.

I seem to recollect that the current version of Leighton Buzzard (Linslade) is a much enlarged replacement of the original which was a compact branch terminus, typical of its era, but very well rendered as was everything else that Peter Denny did. It was featured as Railway of the Month in the Modeller circa 1959/60. It sounds likely to be the layout that you found a photo of.

Merry Christmas to you both. It looks from the topless nature of the photo as if you opened that bottle of Bath Ale with a sharp carving knife - I have seen champagne opened that way before but never Bath (or any other) Ale! Personally, I enjoy something a little stronger (12%) around Christmas ........

I particularly recommend Brunskill's Vernacular Architecture. It was first published in 1971, my 1978 paperback edition cost me £ 2,95 (and is much thumbed) and it is still in print - Amazon have it in paperback at £ 18,95. It isn't just worth it for the drawings and diagrams, Brunskill explains clearly how materials and construction styles vary over the UK, the two are related, of course, and will stop you making many a howler in model building construction. One thing that I would add that I don't think Brunskill mentions is that, while bricks are typically 3" by 4½" in plan (with mortar included) and even modern metric bricks aren't far off that size, the height varies (or rather varied until about 50 years ago) with 3" (so four courses are 1' high) being typical in south east England, but as one moves north and west the brick height tends to increase (four courses equalling, say, 1'-1½" or even more). This can make quite a difference if one uses brick courses to estimate the height of walls (and ultimately buildings).