County of Yorkshire

I'm mulling over a layout set in the Gloucester area circa 1945-1948, so thank you for this. Gloucester - one of the few places to have both a GWR and LMS MPD, and plenty of 4f's... CoY

How often would these have graced GWR metals prior to nationalisation? I think some were shedded at Bristol actually, but I'm unsure whether I can justify one for my layout that's still in the conceptual stages. And yet for beasts such as these, there's always rule 1...

That's a fascinating photo. Interesting that wartime maroon is still in evidence amongst the coaching stock. Is the leading vehicle a parcel van of LMS design? Prototype justification in slinging a Stanier 50ft BG into my inter-regional parcels rake at any rate! Also looks like a van of Southern design on the far left right - didn't think these would have been that widely travelled prior to nationalisation. Cheers, CoY Edit - this ones not bad either. Yet another foreign vehicle leading the rake! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GWR-4587-Train-at-Kingswear-1947-/141035084502?pt=UK_Collectables_Railwayana_RL&hash=item20d6589ad6

Both my local model shop and the Hattons website are both saying that 'Wellington' is now not due until the 16th December! This is quite galling as it was until very recently pencilled-in to arrive this month, having been absent from Hornby's recently released list of postponed items. Looking at it, we'll be lucky to have out copper-capped mitts on one of these until the turn of the year - when it was originally in Hornby's 2012 catalogue! Surely a two-year delay is a record for a loco with existing tooling? Ah well, back to my decade-old Dunster Castle... CoY

Thinking about it, I might be tempted if it came with scale load included - what with the price at the pumps now!

Perhaps this deserves a thread of its own. It's not eBay, but it's certainly madness... http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1081183.htm

Has anyone re-liveried one of these yet? I received mine today coiffed with the shirtbutton, but I am itching to apply the Hawksworth livery. Any tips?

This is a worrying development. One wonders if the upcoming GWR Castle release will have 'design clever' principles applied to the existing model - moulded hand rails, smoke-box darts et al. I would be pretty annoyed it that were the case - I'm hanging fire on pre-ordering one as it is, let alone the new tooling Hall...

Any chance of an out of area (?) 56xx on a short mineral working? CoY

I've been lurking and following this wonderful thread with interest, and it has given me a veritable platter of food for thought! I have for a long time been planning a post-war GWR layout, a project which still hasn't taken-off, due to lack of sufficient space, but I can for now live out my (hopefully) future endeavours by proxy of your wonderful layout! I have a couple of questions, if I may. What make are your cattle wagons? Am I right in thinking Bachmann? I am currently hunting for a rake, and the Bachmann efforts seem ever so slightly more refined than Dapol's, though I realise neither are of a correct diagram. Secondly, I don't suppose you possess any locos in GWR wartime black? I think it is a very attractive livery, especially on the 28xx's and panniers - as evidenced in recent years at Didcot. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been a livery available in RTR - but I suppose one could 'backdate' a BR black loco. Finally, what are everyone's thoughts on the Hornby Hawksworth's in the divisive GWR livery? I currently don't trust myself to kit-build, and the Hornby Colletts are extremely long in the tooth - so I have half a dozen to supplement the Bachmann Collett's. Can I convince myself that all 6 Hornby diagrams made it out onto the network by December 1947? I think so! Keep up the good work! CoY