BernardTPM

The tandem we* had in the '60s had a back pedal brake. Did a lot of touring on that before getting my own 'proper' bike. Fixed wheel braking is the same as engine braking in cars; holding back the revolutions against gravity. * my Dad's, of course, but my Mum, myself and later my younger brother all had turns on the back over the years until it was sold circa 1970.

I suspect a dying skill; mostly they just seem to be laid/chucked down on the ground unless there's a stand. I've done this style of parking before (though not for quite a while), but sometimes you get a kerb too low for it to work.

Yes, the bogies had 4' 6" w.b. against 4' 8" and a total wheelbase of 18' 8" against 20'.

Yes, the steel mineral has the proportions of the 21t version, but slightly wide for H0 like most Playcraft offerings.

Looks like there was a packing error in the kit: one power bogie side missing, but an extra trailing bogie side. Hope you can find a way round that; I remember the real ones with affection.

Ah, the 1968 Tri-ang Hornby Vanwide. The real vans were 17' 6" whereas the Tri-ang chassis was just 16', but they took the all the length out of the doors. The two ends and fixed side panels were well modelled though; theoretically you could just build scale sized doors, mount on a new underframe (oddly enough with LMS style fitted brake gear) and new longer roof to make it a scale model. Of course, they chose the oddball version with vents in the doors but not on the ends. Or buy the Parkside kit or an R-T-R one now, but back in the '70s those options weren't around. Hornby did a new Vanwide in the '80s, this time 16' 6" long but with everything shortened in proportion so the end panels were too narrow on that one.

The livery is a special Christmas one, but the model to which it is applied is a new one and will undoubtedly be available in 'sensible' prototype liveries in due course. The construction methods appear to be the same as the new 5 and 7 plank wagons, but this one is a scale 17' 6" over headstocks rather than 16' 6".

I did one like that back in the '70s inspired by the MRC article (though their model was done 'properly from a GWR Wills King and extras), domed like the Welch painting. I wonder if it is still around. I used the 'Lord of the Isles' name as per painting and the Hawksworth style tender body was scratchbuilt.

Thought: Some Gresley coaches actually had steel panelling, but were painted to represent wood. Perhaps here the varnished wood could have the beading painted on to represent steel painted like wood. At least the kit is made the grain runs correctly; horizontal below waist, vertical above.

Dapol introduced a Semi-detached themselves: C057

Yes and no: their mineral wagon is a scale 17' 6" long (1:148 - 36mm) whereas the Triang one is a scale 16' long (1:76 - 64mm), so neither is right, but the buffers are set too high like the Tri-ang 1960s plastic chassis. Back in the early 1980s I removed the surplus 2mm from quite a few of the Lima mineral bodies, taking it out either side of the door. Here's the strange thing: the small strengthening fillets under the turned over top were then correctly aligned at 1/3rd & 2/3rd positions whereas with the extra length they were offset to the outside. That suggests they did their stretch by just adding in two 'slices' rather than stretching every dimension evenly. They did do a BR van later on the same chassis which was, of course, the correct length, though just a little wide.

The Kitmaster model is a Restaurant First Open and would have worked with a separate Kitchen car. With a different style of seating it would also suit an early Mk.1 FO, but it is not a self-contained Catering vehicle. It is also possible to convert then to First Corridor with a little work.

One thing to bear in mind, it is in current condition; it looked rather different back in the '60s and '70s.

It would be very close to this type.

The DC electrification was extended to Southen-on-Sea by 1956, though it was converted to 6.25kV AC in late 1960, so wasn't DC for very long.

High calcium (i.e. bone) content

Interesting as I have bought a Hornby shorty Mk.3 body for similar nefarious purposes, a non-Pullman Met.Camm. Intercity train. The earlier 7-bay version will do 1st class, the later 8-bay body 2nd...

And the Southern CCTs and PMVs seemed to have bodies designed to catch all that dust, appearing an overall dusty brown regardless of the Crimson, Green or Blue underneath.

Great Western Sleeper, 1930s.

In the first picture the wagon attached to the shunter was originally a Conflat A, but probably just a runner wagon by then. The air-braked plate wagons date that photo to the 1980s. In the second picture the wagons in the shed looks to be lows of some sort. The angle it is taken means it's not clear enough to determine if it has drop sides. Two plank wagons are quite rare, but I did find one here in use as a match truck, but that may not be the right type. In the next siding that looks like 16 ton minerals either side of a (longer) 21t mineral with a further 16t mineral in the distance. Behind the two ex-GWR vans probably a couple of 21t hoppers then an open wagon (yet another 16t mineral?) and a bogie bolster. I would guess the second picture was taken at a rather earlier date, possibly even late '60s as pre-Nationalisation vans went out of normal service in the early '70s.

If it were a shock van it would also have markings on the ends. I suspect they are simply the post 1963 'boxed' markings. It does look to be plywood rather than planked.

The Mainline model was a Fruit A like this. The Cattle wagon conversion by Dapol is this.

The 6.25kV (still AC at 50 cycles) was used closer in to London (out to Shenfield in this case) where there were more low overbridges. It was phased out in 1983 as by that time it was decided that clearances were sufficient for 25kV. When it was still dual voltage the changeover would be automatic.

Indeed a scale inch and a half worse.

Manufacturers have got that one wrong before, like printing the stripes the same both sides (so pointing to both ends). Another marking seen on minerals was a smaller 'V' shape with the point of the V cut off, indicating a bottom discharge door in the floor. Here's an example, though the lines are slightly wavy looking because of the pressed metal door.