BMacdermott

Hello Phil Thanks for this. I have literally just this minute finished a phone call with Peter Smith. He joined the railway there in 1953 and 'gravity moves' had long-since been curtailed on safety grounds. We think - as I surmised - that this incident was the one of 17 August 1956. Some stock up in the sidings had been receiving fitters' attention. When the rostered propelling loco buffered up, it nudged the coaches into movement - and away it went. Apologies to Ray Von for going slightly off topic here. Brian

Hello Phil Not sure about that... I have emailed S&D man Peter Smith (one-time of Branksome Depot) to see if he has heard that. I have a feeling that the story has been 'conflated' with a similar event. This is (technically) off topic for this thread, but thought it ought to be looked into. Brian

Hello Gilbert Z 0-8-0T for me, please. Thanks. Brian

Thanks for letting us know. I only met Geoff a few times. He was certainly dedicated to running a good show. Brian

Hello Gilbert & Tony Difficult to tell but isn't the one over the left buffer a 'tail lamp'? Brian

Thanks, yes, it does look a bit 'dark' doesn't it. Brian

Hello everyone Does anyone know what station that is? If the location has a loco shed, perhaps these might be Special Traffic Notices (STNs) etc destined for an MPD? The loco shows 'light engine' lamp code. Empty water churns from Bruton Road Crossing were sometimes carried on S&D loco buffer beams. Brian

Hello Mike Poll Team colleague and GWR author, John Lewis, has just told me that he believes that the MoD had an establishment just beyond Didcot power station. Did that have tight curves where the 15xx would be handy? I think I have convinced myself that I do need to get one on order! Brian

Hello everyone Congratulations to Bachmann on this one - we put the loco into the The 2019 00 Wishlist Poll as it was then within our cut-off date of 2005 for inclusion (having been originally released in 2004). It was very High Polling. Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

Hello everyone Just to add to the comments of Axlebox and TheSignalEngineer (but without wishing to go off topic!), the Conflat L and Containers have always been in the upper echelons of (what was) The 00 Wishlist Poll. Brian

Hello everyone Slightly off topic for LNER Banana Vans per se, but below is an extract from a late 1959 Special Traffic Notice (STN). Brian

Hello Accurascale Well done on this announcement - I intend to get Nos.7810 and 7812. Putting my 'Poll Team hat' on for a moment, the Manor has been in The Top 50 of (what was) The Annual 00 Wishlist Poll since 2014. In 2019 (the final 'full' Poll), the loco was the most-wanted GWR loco and came in overall 2nd position - just two votes behind the USATC S-160. All the very best with the project! Brian

Hello everyone Readers might like to be aware that Trains Illustrated June 1954 carries an article entitled Bananas Galore - which gives an outline of how banana transit was arranged at that time. There are no photos nor mention of specific vans, though At that time, four to six banana boats were coming in every week - roughly one to each of Avonmouth, Garston, Liverpool, London (PLA), Preston and Southampton. The article states that the biggest of these ships required 700 vans to accommodate the cargo. Brian

Hello Steve Thanks for writing. Indeed, it's true that I could get a replacement or refund, but my supplier is out of stock with no more from Bachmann. I'm (relatively) happy with my 'bodge' - many people wouldn't notice the very slight stutter - only when moving off at dead slow speed for a second or so - and I'm not having any real problem with it on 'station pilot duty'. I have, however, sent a 'note of concern' to the shop to pass to Bachmann and I know that has already been done. If the loco gets worse, then it will go back. Brian

Hello everyone I received my three 94xx a couple of days ago...two are perfect runners but one has the 'close to top dead center stutter' that others have reported. I took the body off and noticed that the motor seemed a little wobbly. I found that if I held the motor 'biased' to one side or other, the problem went away. I then went a bit further and poked a wooden tooth pick between the motor and frame to 'fix it' without my hand interfering with the running. Well...it seemed to cure the problem by about 95%. I have now fixed the motor in place