Anotheran

Rude of the English to pinch all the Roman letters for their new fangled language that the Welsh had been using before English existed 😁

It was really good to see Bleat in Stafford on Saturday. Sorry I didn't actually say hello. You were in the middle of a discussion as to how a catching sandpipe was causing problems, so I didn't want to interrupt! Photos on here are always good. But your work looks even better in the flesh. I have seen Bleat a couple of times now, and if that really was its final outing then I look forward to seeing your next presentation out and about.

Thank you. That's rather interesting. I found when looking at plastic to plastic welds that d-limonene worked as well or even better than MekPak on some of the kits but not at all on others. I assume specifics of the plastic composition caused the differences. I'd not even thought of using it to bond metal to plastic. But as you say, sticking something into soft plaster is a good analogy and that has been a method of adding adornment to surfaces for milenia! I will definitely use going forwards as more forgiving than a quick drying superglue!

Please forgive me being a little on the slow side, but I can't tell from the text whether this is intended as irony or fact, as I don't know whether d-limonene is actually of any use for bonding brass to plastic. Given that I have a large bottle of d-limonene and a pile of mixed media kits I'm actually curious. (Though I do suspect that most of my d-limonene will have evaporated before I actually get to do some proper modelling!)

When I first looked I thought I saw wisps of steam in front of the trees on the right hand side behind the loco. In fact it's the shadows on the backscene behind the trees! Very effective though, and an all round great picture!

Those of you of a nervous disposition look away now as I'm posting an update after nine months. Family life has got in the way, but this evening I decided that I at least should try some kit building to get back to things. Sorry, it's not really anything new. I thought that the quickest results would be to have a go at some more 16-ton minerals. Sadly way out of date for my favourite era. But I did have three kits waiting close at hand and I thought I'd give a production run a try. Not finished by a long way, but I've advanced them in little over an hour to a stage that at least they look like waggons! The pictures are only there as proof that I've actually done something! They're no different from the one that I did back seven years ago! All the fiddly bits left to do, so they may be done one at a time. But we'll see how it goes. They're sat on my desk now, so they'll keep nagging at me to get on with them. So shouldn't be nine months before the next instalment. But that's all for today. I now need to go to make sure that the two newest additions to our flock of bantam chickens have managed to find their way into the coop! Thanks for looking!

Great views Shaun. I particularly like the pub and the teashop ones as the effect of looking up at the train on the viaduct is quite striking with the multiple layers of scenery in front of them. Is that bridge in the second to last really 14' clearance between the lines though? From the height of the car it looks to me more like 11 or 12. Don't want to take the top off any of your vehicles by driving them through an incorrectly signed bridge because if they hit it that could stop the trains for quite a long time while the engineers come out to confirm it's still structurally sound! 😉

I know you've still got the tiles to do, but right now it almost looks like you've had a fresh fall of snow on the rooves. Beautiful modelling even if you are going to get rid of the snow!

Having your goods shed the same size as the After Eights box sounds a good idea to me. Particularly if you follow your normal technique of leaving the roof removable and filling the interior... ...with After Eights

I was very pleased to see on the pre-grouping waggons thread a post by wagonbasher Andy saying that Tackeroo may be at the Stafford show in September. I only saw it in Gnosall and it wasn't working very well at the time so am very keen to see the Andy squared layout up and running! Go for it lads!

Looking again at the diagrams... There could be some logic to three bolsters... Each is directly above one of the three axles, which means that weight is equally distributed from the bolsters directly above the axles. Obviously the wagon frame should be distributing the weight evenly, but I guess a little bit of help in that distribution by putting the bolsters in the right place can't be a bad thing.

Maybe it's a GWR thing... both the diagrams in Atkins et al for diagram J6 and diagram J10 (figures 161 and 169 respectively) and the photograph of number 40987 to J10 (plate 215) show three bolsters. So if it is meant to be a BEAVER C then it is missing one. However, I know even less about other companies than the GWR (and I don't have books for them either) so BEAVER C could be a completely incorrect identification and it may not be missing a bolster. (But it does look like the pictures in the book to me)

Looking at GWR Goods Wagons (Atkins, Beard & Tourret) page190, other than the missing central bolster, it looks very like the BEAVER C (built to diagram J6 in 1889 of which there was one, or converted from broad gauge to diagram J10 in 1880 of which there were eleven). Dia J6 was 27'7" over the headstocks, dia J10 27'6", both with a 9' x 9' wheelbase. But I'm sure there are others out there more expert than me.

In both the second and third sentences the phrase "with a bull" is used, implying that even if stock is horned they do not need to be tethered unless they are being carried with a bull. The only requirement for tying seems to be when a bull is either on it's own, or present with other stock.

John Wilkes Poundley of Black Hall, Kerry, was partner to David Walker until 1867. They were responsible for Kerry station, which opened in 1863. On the disused stations site photographs stated to be of the early 1900s do show the chimneys with pots, the brickwork of which does appear to be contemporaneous with the rest of the building. That doesn't mean they haven't been rebuilt, just that they don't look like they have. It also shows very decorative bargeboards. The Wikipedia entry for J W Poundley and D Walker shows photographs of other buildings with similar ornate bargeboards and states that these were "typical" of Poundley. So maybe in Traeth Mawr... Interestingly the 1861 census of Black Hall says that JW was a land agent but that his son John Edward, was a surveyor, which in the 19th century censuses is often synonymous with architect. In 1871, however, after the dissolution of his partnership with David Walker, JW is listed as the County Surveyor and his son as a land agent! One wonders if the enumerator mixed them up in 1861. JW died in 1872, but his grandson, also John Wilkes, entered the law profession (articled clerk in 1891, solicitor in 1901, still in Black Hall in Kerry) so could well have travelled along the line to Traeth Mawr to take a look at his grandfather's work in 1895 as a 22 year old. None of the above is likely to be of any help, but it may be interesting in some way!