ChrisN

Shaun, Looking great as usual. It is interesting that you have used 7mm brick for dressed stone. I have a number of houses tio build, eventually, all in small blocks of three or four, plus an inn and another chapel. This looks like a material that I might try.

Shaun, Just brilliant. You know I get side tracked by interiors as well. Interesting as to how you did it as well. I thought parlours were the comfortable room at the front with the sofa and chairs that only got used on Sundays. (We had one big room downstairs in our council house so I am not sure.)

Shaun, Yes, sorry, you said it was a kit. Old man's disease. I read it in the morning and had forgotten by the evening. My excuse is that it was a busy day. It is not encouraging if they cannot send you the right kits though.

Like when my friend got knocked off his bike by an ambulance, and so they then took him to hospital. (He was not seriously hurt.)

Shaun, Did you make the windows? The house certainly does look the part.

Glad I came across this thread, although I do look at your web site from time to time. You know I am after a certain LBSCR horsebox, 🙂, but if there is anything LCDR, ( do not ask), then I may be tempted, but I have put the dumb buffered PO wagon on my Christmas list.

You 'Edit' the first post in the thread, and that will also allow you to edit the title and tags.

I understand, (*citation needed), that Edward, at least in Awdry's mind, was a Cambrian large Bogie, 4-4-0 in its final form.

Thinking about it, Goring does not seem very far from Paddington, ?45 minutes, to need water troughs. Did locos fill up at Reading, so if they did not stop they did so at these troughs?

Don, I think you are right. I am not intending to run a 2-2-2 into Traeth Mawr, I am just interested in what might have pulled the train that contained the through coach from Paddington. Part of my background understanding.

Nick, An interesting selection. I would be surprised if the Cambrian let the Stnd Goods past Dolgelley, as although the GWR had running powers, the Cambrian were very keen that they were not exercised, and so made sure it had locos to do the job. the 1/30 from Paddington, and the 1/40 from Birkenhead were the expresses that had the corridor coaches, so it is interesting that they were pulled by 2-4-0s. Both the 4/45 from Paddington and the 4/15 from Birkenhead are labelled in Bradshaws 'Birmingham and North Express', so 2-4-0s were taking over as time went on.

Thanks Nick, So it appears that it must have been some type of 2-2-2, but not an Achilles as it was not classed as an express. So what did they put on at Wolverhampton, or could it have been another 2-2-2? It would be nice to have shed allocations but I think the earliest are something like 1902.

Mike, Thank you, this is very interesting, it does imply that a 2-2-2 would have pulled the 10:02. The 9:50 was described as 'The Birmingham and North Express, but the 10:02 one was the one that had the through coach to Barmouth Traeth Mawr, either from Birmingham, or in early 1895 from Paddington. I have checked again and found that they did not put 'X' or 'SC' against the coaches themselves, (X is corridor, and SC semi-corridor), but had a note on the return trip that the coaches were a coupled corridor set. In winter 1894/5 they consisted of : Brake Third, Third, First, Second, Brake Third', and came up by the 1:40pm from Birkenhead, and went back by the 1:30pm from Paddington, so there must have been two sets.

A very interesting picture, and thank you @Compound2632 for the illumination of the carriage types.. There is nothing in the 1894/5 through carriage workings that only has three carriages. The next one I have is 1907, but the Sir Daniel's were gone by then. It is true that the Cambrian did not have any clerestory carriages, and only had bogie tri-composites for through traffic from 1895. I think before then, the GWR supplied the carriages. (In the later 'Through Carriage workings' it states, which days each company supplied the coaches, so either the Cambrian did not do that at this time, or they changed how they stated things.) I had assumed that with only 30 locos in the Achilles Class that there would not have been enough to do more than the 'posh' expresses, but if they were replaced half way by another class then maybe they did more than I thought. It is is debateable whether a 'First Line loco' would have pulled the 10:02, but I am sure it would have pulled the 9:50. However, it is possible that is was some kind of 2-2-2.

I think a lot of this has been discussed previously in other threads, probably one belonging to @Edwardian's, and to some extent mine, although it was not aimed at agricultural produce. I seem to remember that 'Night Soil' from London was sent to Bedford, although I am not sure what the good citizens of Bedford had done to deserve that. I also remember a list of what it cost to carry different types of animals, although it was probably put up as a picture so may well be lost. Finally, the partitions in cattle wagons were to keep partial loads from falling over, but the GWR introduced a system, as outlined in @Mikkel's blog to ensure that the owners did not put them in a different place and so claim they had been overcharged.

Mike, Very Interesting. In the through carriage working list, the instruction is that if one 8 wheel coach is not available, then two 6 six wheel coaches should be substituted, and if two 8 wheel coaches are not available then it should be three 6 wheel coaches. I have not worked it out but, (within an order of magnitude, 🙂), the train length is about the same as the 1894/5 length. One 8 wheel carriage and one 6 wheel van, were dropped at Wolverhampton. I note that the Sir Daniels worked the northern expresses, and were not scraped or rebuilt until at least 1898, so apart from the prestigious expresses, that did have an Achilles, did the others still have these old 2-2-2s? Also, what took over at Wolverhampton as @Northroader says? So as not to worry you, the 'Young Englishman' was only nearly 10 on 24th December 1874, and was safely at home with his parents. He did not go to Traeth Mawr until 1878 when he was sent to school there.

Now for a question, for all those who know anything about pre-grouping GWR, preferably pre 20th century. I said on @MikeOxon's Pre-Grouping Blog I stated that the 10:02 to Birkenhead from Paddington was pulled by an Achilles Class loco. Thinking about this, there were only 30 of these locos, so one may have pulled the 9:50 express, and one the afternoon train that had corridor coaches, although none were on the list for winter 1894/95, but probably not the 10:02 which was not really an express, but better than a semi-fast. So what did pull it? It was a nine coach train when it left Paddington, ( 8 bogies and a 6 wheel van.) (You may ask is this relevant to my thread? Well, the 'Young Englishman, who lived in Ty Mawr up the Naf Valley, also had a house in South Kensington, and would have made the journey from Paddington to Traeth Mawr regularly, taking advantage of any through coaches, so he would have travelled on this one. Yes, I did ask him for what the loco was but he said he had lost his diary where he had written it, and it was a long while ago.) Answers on a postcard please, either what the loco was or where I might look for the answer. If no one knows I will have to brave the GWR section of the forum. If you have been, thanks for looking.

Thank you all, and thank you everyone for your ratings. There are few things that I do that I am really satisfied with, and this is one of them. Also, it is nearly finished, which may be a first.🙂

Would the chalk be clean or covered in vegetation? There is a cutting on the M3 which I remember after it was just built was pristine white, now it is covered in green. Would the smoky atmosphere not allow that to happen?

Brilliant Mike. It looks very similar to the Achilles Class as the first ones were built as 2-2-2. You will say they are vastly different.

Mikkel, Thank you. I do like that picture. The kiosks that I have looked at all seem to be more heavily loaded than my one, but I think it is a case of impression rather than slavish adherence to reality. Also, we are at Traeth Mawr not a busy London, or other main line station. It was great fun, firstly working out which papers would be there, and then what periodicals for a population of conservative Welsh, ( conservative with a small 'c' as they were Liberal in politics,) and visitors from England. I suppose if he does not sel anything I must have got it wrong. I must admit this is one model that I feel I have not done badly at. Most I can look at and seelots of things that I would want to do better, but generally, I like the look of this.

Various things have got in the way of modelling this week, like half term and seeing our grandchildren. However, a couple of weeks ago I brought down the station building to finish the guttering and realised that I need to paint the gutters. This would have had to have been done upstairs as the months for leaving the back door open are sadly passed. As I did not want to be anti-social I looked for which of the thousand projects I have on the go I should do. (I actually have lots of painting to do, but that is anti-social or I need to do it when my wife is at work.) I found my newspaper kiosk. I wondered why I had not finished it, and remembered that I had painted it a matt brown but it had come out shiny. I also had not written down which paint it was and when I used the tin I thought it was, it was a different colour. So I moved on. Looking at it again, I am sure it was that tin, but I had not mixed it properly. So, the answer was to leave it as it is and sometime when the weather is fine spray it with Matt Varnish. It needed finishing though. I cannot remember if I have reported this before, but I spent many happy hours, researching daily papers in 1895, and then periodicals. There are many Welsh newspapers that have been digitised, including at least one front page of The Traeth Mawr News and Advertiser. English papers were more difficult. I managed to get the front pages of a number of newspapers, two in Welsh, 2 in English plus the Traeth Mawr News, for the week beginning 15th March 1895 or for the day of 21st March. The Times and Telegraph were much earlier. (Somehow the Manchester Guardian never made it to the stall.) Headlines from the actual newspapers where appropriate were then extracted for display on the kiosk, where the newspaper was not current, the news that was about at the time was substituted. There is a web site for Victorian periodicals and front covers of several were obtained. (The Boys Own of that week was wonderful. Small double justified type for the stories, some pictures, but nothing like today. The front cover had a picture of several Englishmen, and an African native tied to trees, one had a hook instead of a hand so maybe that is how they will get away. Brilliant Stuff! And no, I did not read it, life is too short.) This was all done months ago. Now lots of pictures. I realised that I had built and not photographed, so here is a dark one of the back which may show what I did. The shelves are strips of card, the supports are the ends of strips of the same width cut into a small triangle. The whole lot Shellac'd, then painted. (Remember what is in this photo.) The paper underneath has the images of the front covers of the periodicals. They have been copied into a Silhouette file, and minimised so that each has the same width. I did not know what the original sizes, and I was not going to try and find out, (Come On! It took long enough anyway.) This still meant that all the periodicals were a different size. Just what I wanted. The same had been done for the newspapers and the headline strip at the bottom. There were cross lines to indicate wires to hold them in, as on the original kit headlines, but mine were too thin to be printed. The newspapers were stuck down with Pritt stick, once having been cut out. The periodicals at the top hanging down, obviously pegged to a line, are held in place by double sided tape. ((You have to stick it on the kiosk first, with the width you need, then remove the backing, then cut off the excess.) In the top picture you will notice three of the same periodical Pritt sticked to a piece of card. These are tiny. You put the Pritt stick on the end having cut out your tiny sheet, you then lick the end of the dentist's prong and the surface tension on this means you can pick up your tiny sheet and put it where you want it. It can be moved with the knife until pushed down hard. The more glue, covering part of the sheet you put down and add the next one. There are three at the top. The card was then cut at the end of the last one. You may notice a tiny strip of cardboard, and a tiny square on the top left of the paper. Squares like this were cut off, a blob, of PVA was then put on the shelf, the tiny square put there, more PVA on top, and then the card with the periodicals, put on it so that they lean back. Hopefull, this will give the impression of bulk. The back finished. Yes, there are books. These are old ones of my mum which have been put in my patent miniaturizer. Strips of paper, sort of measured, coloured with felt tips. Card cut to approximate sizes. PVE dob on the end of the strip, white card attached. Paper folded over, cut to size glued into place. Glued on the shelves there. Really they should be standing up, and there should be more of them, but I thought, they look more impressive this way. (Ok, I am showing off.) As seen from the front. Yes the newspapers should be folded, but I was impressed you could see such detail at such a small size. Looks like a Boys Own on the far right. Lower down, so you can see the top shelf. This is where it will be on the layout. There is no room on the platform.. It will be central between the two windows. I still need to decide on the Manager of the kiosk, although I do have the lad who will have a tray to sell papers on the platform. He will have to wait though. Also, I need to put the 'W. H. Smith's' logo on it. (Must remember.) If you have been, thanks for looking.

I watched a program on the training of Marine?/SAS officers out on Dartmoor. There was a guy from the West Indies who did not make it through, he was sent home, because he could not cope with the cold. I knew a guy from Nigeria whose job is at Waitrose HQ in the freezer department of the stores. He works inside the freezers. He seemed to get on fine, thick warm coat though, plus hat and thick gloves. Just checked my dates, it is neither the 26th or 28th March 1895, but the 21st. Just read the days papers!

I am not the one to say do not run two projects at once, so I would say that this looks a good second project. You need something to do while the 'paint is drying' on the shed project.

I had a friend who came from near Stornoway. He turned up one day when it was about 4.0C in his sandals.