bbishop

Rowan, Not my area of expertise. My usual first port of call, Historic Carriage Drawings, has minimal information on NER non-corridor stock with two photos and two-and-a-bit drawings. A quick skim of the webby thing came up with - Books on NER Coaches - The LNER Encyclopedia. This could be useful. On the D&S front, Andrew at W M Collectables has a number of carriage kits. They aren't listed on his website, but you could e-mail him at [email protected] Bill

Wise words. The impact of a broken crank axle was demonstrated when Bibby Line demolished much of Crewkerne station. Amazing there were no casualties. The Packets were all withdrawn from service and ultrasound testing(?) determined a number of axles were of flawed manufacture. Meanwhile the Southern borrowed V2 locomotives. Bill

I regret to inform you that Tony Adams (TonyA of this parish) died about ten days ago. He had been generally unwell for a while and was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease about eight months ago. The disease progressed with awful rapidity, Tony was hospitalised before Christmas and gently died a week ago Sunday. The funeral is on Wednesday 5 February. Tony was especially interested in the railways of Germany and military railways. He built Nürnberg Winkelhof in HO set in Epoche 2; this was a shunting puzzle located in the scrag end of the engine shed. It was exhibited around South East England. He provided information to Mike Christiansen for the history of the Longmoor Military Railway and built an inglenook layout in OO, which was exhibited occasionally. He was also brave enough to operate my layouts. Bill Bishop

If I might add to a couple of the topics. I'm part of the Management team at Stevenage, so basically had an hour to rush round all the layouts. I'm not disputing the choice of Brinklow, but personally I appreciated the suburban scenicks of Hedges Hill Cutting and the art deco of Aerodrome Park. On the subject of exhibition operating, have we discussed interaction with the public? Burntisland cracked it with the "top hat" out front. A problem can occur when an operator (say, the signalman) is involved in a long discussion with a spectator, the layout grinds to a halt and all-bar-one walk away. The operators on my layout (Höchstädt) will interact with the public but anyone with a complex question is directed towards the fiddle yard. This is open to the public, with the information sheets set out between the cassettes and the public. If the fiddle yard operator has to receive a train and send out the next one, a simple "can you give me a couple of minutes?" usually means the punter waits and then resumes the conversation. Tony, please keep injecting themes into this thread, which is far and away the best one on RMWeb. You once explained to this modeller of the London & South Western Railway and Deutsches Bundesbahn, the etymology of the three variants of the Thompson A2 Pacifics. So I have no interest in how Hornby will tool each individual locomotive but accept that some people do ..... Bill

Grahame, Negotiate a 3D model with somebody. Bill

Paul, almost all layouts need lighting. However, you and I agree the lighting need not be above the layout. My lighting is in buildings, on platforms and especially in the beer garden. You have the lights coming on and off in the flats, maybe a bit of a cliché - but I like it! I find that pools of lights does work, maybe spotlights over the fruit and veg market, construction works etc, then park the pusher steam locomotives under the lights. Bill

I asked a question about S&D milk vans, which was forwarded to Stephen. The Southwark Bridge team operate a rolling 24 hour timetable based on the documents pertaining to Waterloo in 1912. It's not the full timetable, because SB only has six platforms whilst Waterloo had 18, We get to operate a two hour chunk on six Saturdays a year; so far we have concentrated on the day time timetable because we have a lot of passenger coaches but a limited number of vans, especially "foreign" vans. But at some point we will operate the overnight timetable. The LSWR combined some incoming milk trains to send out a cavalcade of milk empties at about 3am. As well as native vehicles, there were M&SWJn vans detached at Andover and S&D vans detached at Templecombe. There were several S&D vans, it's strange that the Carriage Workings required one to be Westinghouse fitted when the actuality was they were all so fitted. Next time I'm at SB, I'll note down all the destinations and post them on this thread. Thanks, Stephen. Bill

Tony, yes. Most pre grouping company wagons were built with brakes on one side. They had to have levers on both sides and they had to face to the right. This meant a clutch system such as Morton or lift link. Of course, by 1960 anno domini would have caught up with the majority of pre grouping wagons. Bill

Jamie, D84 were a homogenous bunch. About the only variation was whether they had flat or bulbous (as per the rh wagon) axleguards. Bill

Lettering on both wagons appears to be: sides: ◊ LNWR ◊ the D84 has 10 TONS on top plank solebar: plate with L.N.W. above number ends: number Suitable numbers are: D6 = 38909; D84 = 30582. Bill

Thank you Stephen, just a comment that my D84 wagon is whitemetal (lovely kit from ABS apart from the infamous floor, replaced by scribed plywood). Adrian may yet have some of his released kits in store, but we are unlikely to see any of the "yet to be released". I'm not in touch with Adrian, but I know someone who is and enquiries could be initiated for released kits. Adrian never had more than a dozen kits in stock and as a kit sells out, that's it ..... I know, I acquired the last LBSC open a couple of years ago. I have split my pre grouping wagons and kits into two piles. Northern kits are painted as at 31/12/1922 and are going to Jamie; I will keep the southern kits, painted as at 31/12/1912. The LNWR wagons fall into the latter pile. In truth, Jamie already has enough LSWR and LBSC wagons on LGA. On a historical note, by 1922 the D6 wagon had migrated to engineering stock and very unlikely to be seen on LGA. Bill

Gentlemen, Jamie has offered to send me transfers for my two LNWR wagons. They are both ABS kits, and comparing them to the Wagon Book the 4 plank is to Diagram 84 and the 2 plank is to Diagram 6. If anyone still has the original boxes and/or Adrian's list, could they confirm for me? Bill

Mike, I'm sure you are correct. I'm only thinking of operating potential. Bill

Jamie, I have two LNWR wagons that need transfers. I think they are a four plank and a two plank, but would the latter just have the illiterate diamond? They are packed away somewhere! I think the L&Y van is slightly down at one end. Do not, repeat not, attempt to correct it; it is a sheer fluke that I managed to get all four wheels touching the track at the same time. Bill