checkrail

Yep, was quite easy to resist the burial party or wedding cameo, or the vicar standing in the lychgate with the bible tucked under his arm (like that Monty's Models figure where the book looks nearly as big and heavy as him).

Indeed. And it was a stiff climb to get up here for these aerial views. John C.

A fairly hectic weekend at Warley with nightmare trains (the real ones, not the ones in the exhibition) and a meet-up there on Saturday with my son and grandsons. My son asked his 4 year old to look out for Grandad in the hall - he came back and said, "They all look like Grandad". Says something about the demographic I suppose. And now back to the bucolic peace of Stoke Courtenay. John C.

Yep, shouldn't look gift horses in the mouth I suppose. But I've already got small prairies, 57xx/8750 panniers, and a B set (and a 28xx). But I ain't got a Bulldog - or a Saint for that matter.

As for the Rapido 44xx whichever variant I choose will probably involve a bit of 'let's pretend'. It's either 4408, on the fairly unlikely assumption that it still hadn't received cabside shutters at the end of the 30s (and I've no idea where that loco hung out at that time), or 4402, altering history a bit so it didn't have the flange lubricating apparatus for its Princetown branch duties. But perhaps sometimes we can worry too much about stuff like this - I'm not building a museum exhibit, I'm just trying to create the impression or atmosphere of a particular railway area and era. And of course there's alreay one big 'let's pretend' element - Stoke Courtenay doesn't exist! Do any of you remember a 1964 David Jenkinson article in RM, 'Is your mutton dressed as lamb?', in which, while promoting the idea of fidelity to period, he also suggested that one might adopt a slightly elastic timeframe - say, 1936-9 (my example)? I suppose I already do this - I have one loco which wasn't built until 1939 but have probably got a greater proportion of coaching stock still in pre-1934 livery than I should for that date. A bit of Rule 1 creeping in, like my Accurascale Manor. John C.

So there's me still trying to decide which version of Rapido's 44xx to order when we're suddenly blessed with the promise of a plethora of pannier variations. What a great job Accurascale are doing. My somewhat customised Bachmann 57xx and 8750 still look pretty alright to me (and one at least is a superb runner and slow shunter) so I'm unlikely to get rid of them. But has often been said one can't have too many panniers, so I rather suspect two Accurascale sisters will join them. So I need to do more research into which variants to go for. Nearest suitable from first releases or wait to see what other combinations come along. I rather suspect it'll be the first option. John C.

Thanks for all the likes from fellow members of the small prairie appreciation society. Last three of yesterday's snaps below. John C.

Here are three more from the same sequence. 4574. Don't know how that handrail got bent, but it did happen on the real railway! In the next pics we see that the branch train includes the daily through coach from Paddington. John C.

Little Prairies working hard today. 5557 pulls away with the Earlsbridge branch train while sister engine 4574 shunts the yard. John C.

Wonderful stuff!

Just realised - that's WWS static grass, not Noch (that's in the fields). When a layout's been in existence for a while you forget where stuff came from, and how you made things!

Plenty of pics in the various 1930s albums showing clerestories in trains hauled by Castles - and, indeed, Kings.

Unless it's heading for the monthly cattle market at Chuffnell Regis.

A local train to Newton Abbot provides a passenger turn for 6305. There have been quite a few varying interpretations of GWR coach brown knocking about over the years haven't there? I'm sure that grass has grown in the last few years. How do Noch do that? John C

So while I was at it I did the same with the most recent Castle photo. Here's 5041 again, but from a bit closer. Lamp lenses here seem to be present and correct. John C.

Had a smartphone moment today. When looking up a newly received grandchild pic I accidentally zoomed in on one of my recent King pics. It looked quite good and led me to go back to the original and do a bit of cropping. (And there are Herr und Frau Preiser again!) One thing this enlargement did reveal was that the Modelu lamps on 6019 no longer had their brilliant lenses. I've since replaced them but am running low on spares. Stock up at Warley maybe. (I find that I use up about 3 or 4 just trying to get one on!). Am now checking the other locos. John C.

No chance! The only Preiser figures on Stoke C. are crossing the footbridge. Given the period I expect they're about to be repatriated. Or perhaps arrested as spies?

The 1940s 'G <crest> W' lettering looks rather good on the small tender. How many Manor (or, for that matter, other) 3,500 gall. tenders carried that style, and how long did it last?

Top class weathering on those wagons.

Thanks Chris. It was a feature I wanted from the outset, with the station approach road following the track while dropping below it to meet the road running under the railway bridge. So it had to be planned in at the beginning. The L-girders supporting the layout were dropped to a lower level in this area and the trackbed supported by risers. The approach road itself was formed from a very long piece of hardboard cut from a 6 foot sheet in the shape of a sort of curved hockey stick, so that the lower join would be out of sight under the bridge. As Eric Morecambe said, "You can't see the join'. Not from the front of the layout anyway. The upper join, where the road meets the station forecourt (3 mm plywood) was well disguised with filler, glue and paint, but after 9 or 10 years a little crack has begun to appear. I'm currently loth to try to fix it as I want to avoid having to paint the whole road again! John C.

Is there any other kind of Manchester?* Well, we say that if you're at Old Trafford and you can see the Pennines it means it's going to rain in the next twenty minutes. If you can't see them it's because it's p***ing down.

A tripod up a tree? That must have been a balancing act worth seeing!

Not sure when your spotting days were Colin, but there's a great 1946 Maurice Earley pic of a full set of centenaries on a fast down Weston-super-Mare express, hauled by 1000 'County of Middlesex', in his album, 'The Great Western Scene'. I think it's the only post-war pic of a full set of these coaches I've seen - and immediate pre-war ones are pretty rare. My hunch has always been that the new window vents were installed in batches, with treated coaches being released back into service immediately and thus mixed with other stock. Then the war came along. Don't know whether it was a GW first (others might?) but the first time my son saw my mixed train of centenaries and Collett sunshine coaches he asked if they were the forerunners of the BR Mark 1s. Can't remember why the original 'Beclawat' (?) windows were deemed a failure. Were they too draughty so that you either roasted in the sun or had your perm blown to bits?

A busy morning at Stoke Courtenay with three passenger trains in view, with the usual motley mix of coach types typical of the GWR. John C.

I mentioned recently that the Airstream ventilators on my Centenary coaches, which I'd fashioned from cream coloured self adhesive labels, had faded - to white in fact. (With hindsight I could just have fabricated them from Plasikard Microstrip and painted them.). So out came the Railmatch coach cream and a fine brush, results as seen below. In the longer term I intend to renew these coaches with Comet sides, but this latest bodge will do for now. The thing that keeps me putting off the Comet conversion is the necessity of applying the double lining. I'm afraid I'm pretty hopeless at applying lining transfers. The coach behind the King and in front of the D121 in this Penzance - Paddington train is a returning through coach from Newquay, providing an occasional use for a Bachmann E159, relegated from its former role as the Earlsbridge through coach by an E95 toplight. Longer term I hope to apply Comet sides to this and my other Bachmann Colletts too. John C.