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Nick Holliday

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  1. This article gives plenty of background to this train. https://www.victorianvoices.net/ARTICLES/MISC/LadiesRealm/LR1902-HospitalTrain.pdf
  2. I remember that so well. Thanks for mentioning it. I had dreams of emulating it by building a layout running around the walls of my bedroom. Never happened of course: O levels, A levels, Uni, growing up etc. I only discovered in the past few years that it was done by a gentleman named Bob Symes who, apparently, was well known in railway modelling circles in those days. There's a video on YouTube somewhere where he says how he filmed it. It was O gauge and the loco only ran over a few yards of track IRC. The rest was done by very clever camera work and editing. The film, made by Bob Symes (Robert Symes-Shutzmann - full name) can be seen here, starting at 4:00 As he explains before it starts, it was made in a BBC2 sound stage, which had been made redundant due to the new colour stage being opened, so the actual year it was made was sometime between 1964 when BB2 started, and 1968 when colour broadcasts began, probably nearer the latter date. It seems as if the film was intended only for personal use, but the Controller of BBC2 came upon it, and decided it would be suitable as a filler, but long after the more familiar interludes (potter's wheel etc.). Use was made of his Payerbrook & Fairlie layout, which had appeared at at least one MRC show in Westminster, which was definitely 00 gauge. I think there was a short set of straight track, with a tunnel and an underbridge, which looks suspiciously like the Hornby bridge then available, with the odd panel in the centre. An article in, I think, Model Railway Constructor showed how it was filmed, with a camera dolly running parallel with the track for most shots, with the mask of a carriage window used for some shots, and clever editing made the run look infinitely longer than it was. The final shot shows the train stopping at one of the stations on the P&F, and a hand removes the loco.
  3. Came across this brief snippet on YouTube showing one of the early Southern diesels, probably 10202 being refilled at Waterloo. Short but showing how it was done in those pioneering days. Sorry, I can’t work out how to insert the actual video, but it should be easy to find.
  4. There were more GWR locomotives available much earlier than 1970. From around 1950, Gaiety was producing a fairly accurate Pannier tank; cast metal body with a robust chassis. This was available in a number of variations until the sixties. The main concern was some rather sturdy boiler fittings, which a keen modeller could easily address. Rev. Awdry is said to have been inspired by this model when he created Duck. Another manufacturer active in the fifties was Graham Farish. They produced a small range of OO locos, mostly forgettable but including a GWR King and, apparently, a large Prairie. This range was abandoned by 1959, but, in a relaunch in 1961, bounced back with the Prairie and the 94xx pannier tank, together with a GWR Toad brake van. Not exactly bucolic Western branch stock, but better than nothing, until the Keyser 14xx kit appeared.
  5. Sorry to disappoint you, but there was a real Stroudley E2 loco. In 1894 he produced No 157, Barcelona, which he called an E Special. https://www.lbscr.org/Rolling-Stock/Locomotives/Stroudley/ES.xhtml It was designed to haul goods trains on the Cuckoo Line, and was basically an E with a larger boiler and Gladstone cylinders. Although Marsh did allocate E2, the nomenclature never stuck, and it was called E1 before the Billinton tanks appeared. According to Bradley it came out in passenger livery, although designed for more humble duties, but was painted goods green in 1890. It was withdrawn in 1922.
  6. Given that Ernest Carter’s livery book was published in 1952 and Oswald Nock’s L&YR book came out in 1969, there’s a strong possibility that OSN was merely quoting, as I did above, that single reference. Effectively a “re-tweet” that unfortunately does not validate it.
  7. Having built a model of Fittleworth https://www.scalefour.org/layouts/fittleworth.html which had cassette fiddle yards at each end, with reduced space I am thinking of operating with a single fiddle yard at the non-platform end, which also allows a separate headshunt. I would strongly recommend you reverse your plan so that it works in a similar way. At the moment with a headshunt that only just takes a tender loco, and the rear siding's turnout is only a couple of wagons away from the headshunt turnout, you will only be able to move one or two wagons at a time, making shunting of a long train a nightmare. With your fiddle yard effectively at the other end you can run longer strings of wagons in and out of the yard, and you could incorporate a separate headshunt which would allow you to shuttle passenger trains in and out whilst still shunting the yard. I have very very crudely sketched out how it might work. Obviously the curved bit needs to be straightened out, but you can move the key point at the entrance to the station further out to increase the length of train the run-round loop can handle. If you retain the bridge at the end of the platform, it can suggest that the line extends further, and perhaps a second fiddle yard could be added if you find the extra space, or take it to an exhibition. There are plenty of prototype examples where running round the passenger train is done away from the platform.
  8. I think a greater factor was that all three classes persisted on the continent until the nineteen fifties, at least. I can recall wooden seats in third class on a trip to Greece in 1960. This meant there was felt to be a need to accommodate passengers in suitably appointed carriages, after their short sea crossing over the Channel to the south coast ports.
  9. I'm not sure that the probable culprit is actually aiming for world domination. I can't see how this is pushing other bloggers out of their way. I suspect that they are not sure how a blog works (I don't) and think that editing is the way to do it. This is counter-productive as each "new" entry appears identical at first sight to previous ones, and I would think that most readers will just ignore it completely, even if the latest entry might actually be interesting. I believe a bit of guidance and education from the RMweb team would help to resolve some of these issues.
  10. The Image Leicester website https://imageleicestershire.org.uk/collection?key=T3siUCI6eyJ0eXBlIjoxLCJpZHMiOlszNl19fQ&WINID=1676569521207 has around 100 photos of the locos used in the construction of the GCR London Extension. Among the views of, mainly, Manning Wardle locos, there are several views of open cabs, some without locomen getting in the way!
  11. 3SMR list handrail knobs, but are the ones you have issues with?
  12. The reference you are after is from E F Carter's book on liveries. 1876 - There was apparently a great variety in engine number-plates. Engines built or rebuilt at Miles Platting Works had vermilion plates, some with an outer border of dark brown. Engines built by Sharp, Stewart were dark indigo. Those built by Kitsons were generally blue of an indigo shade, whilst those engines by the Vulcan Foundry had pale blue plates. Neilson-built engines had chocolate-coloured plates, and those from Beyer, Peacock the same green as the locomotive bodies. The trouble is he doesn't state his sources, and just seemed to record everything he found, without checking, so there are several contradictory entries throughout the book. To put this one in context, there are 8 different entries for the year, which all refer to numberplates, yet none of the others mention this rainbow effect. I suspect the L&YR Society has discussed this in the past, but there doesn't seem to be anything about it in the book on L&Y locos.
  13. Lightmoor Press do a small number of books covering European and more distant locations. Not immediately apparent from their main index page, but mainly narrow gauge (or monorail).
  14. This looks like a website https://www.alphagraphixkits.co.uk
  15. According to the drawings on this website the brake lever itself was 3/4 in thick at the “curly” end (0.010” thick in 4mm) tapering up to 1 in thick at the V end (0.013 in thick in 4mm) although there is a thickening right at extreme end, more exaggerated where a clutch mechanism is required.
  16. Unless I’ve missed something, I would be inclined to insert a crossover between the clockwise and anticlockwise sidings, so that some workings can disappear into the fiddle yard and then return, if they don’t require shunting; railcars, multiple units or pull-push trains. This breaks up the orbiting in the same direction effect.
  17. The signalling diagram is not meant to be an accurate rendition of the full layout, but to clearly identify the various areas within the signaller’s control, and often there is a bit of distortion or omission to make things clear, rather like the London Underground maps. It’s probably better to consult a large scale OS map at the same time - it may not get all the pointwork correct, but it should give a better idea of the actual disposition of the tracks.
  18. Not sure if this comment is with regard to the soft fruit or coal traffic. There was a route that did not require the use of the wagon hoist, using one of Liverpool Street's platform lines. This was the route used by passenger excursion trains, often quite long, with no height or width restrictions, as well as the lengthy horse box trains from Newmarket, whose "passengers" would not really want to be shunted/hoisted/shunted in the goods yard. The LBSCR certainly continued to be part of a goods service to Liverpool Street, at least until the 1918 working timetable. The Goods Working Book notes: "Working of Goods traffic between LBSC and Midland Railway (LT&S Section) - The GER will, when required, on week-days, run the following service (marked by B) to New Cross and back with traffic to and from the LT&S Line. It is very important that the train from New Cross to Liverpool Street should run punctually, and special attention should be given to the working. If there is not sufficient Tilbury Line traffic to make a full load, wagons from the GE Line may be attached." The WTT shows that a train from LS to NX left LS at 2.37pm Monday to Friday, and 10.33pm on Saturday, both Q paths, with a return trip at 7.05pm Monday to Saturday (not a provisional path!) and a Q path available at 12.15am on Saturday. On Sunday it would seem that Whitechapel goods was partially closed, as there Q paths at 2.15am and 4.30am southbound and 1.00am, 3.07am and 5.45am northbound, with one definite service at 5.50pm to LS.
  19. Can’t vouch for this, but found some on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/748366866/brass-square-wire-half-hard?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=square+brass+rod&ref=sr_gallery-1-8&sts=1&organic_search_click=1&variation0=1262519858&variation1=1281112045 or Wizard Models do 0.4mm square wire for point rodding https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/tools/ls006_2/
  20. There’s a clear picture of a B & M goods brake in H C Casserley’s David and Charles book, Railway History in Pictures, Wales and the Welsh Border Counties. Unfortunately for this topic it is an outside framed, double covered veranda four wheel type, with no apparent Midland or North Western lineage. The Welsh Railways Research Circle, in their excellent Data Sheet describing how to produce models of Welsh wagons using various kits from other lines, do note that the B & M did purchase four four wheeled brakes from the Midland, but of the single open veranda type, as per the Slaters kit.
  21. What about this tiny LBSCR one? https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/97/4c67-lbscr-sr-stroudley-horsebox/ At least one survived into SR days.
  22. Livery Register No 3 has been superseded by Southern Style Part One London & South Western Railway, although I suspect that little of the information has changed. However, it is a bit ambiguous about the frame colour. It states that the frames originally (1885?) were painted in the dark green but a later (1896) paint specification sent to Messrs Dübs & Co, regarding the 700 class requires "The outside of frames, guard bars ...... to have one coat of lead colour paint and two coats of Japan black." This instruction also appears in an earlier Adams paint specification for passenger locos.
  23. No 400 was built in 1868 as an 0-4-0 saddle tank No. 27 to run a shuttle service on the Polegate to Hailsham branch and had to be quickly adapted as an 0-4-2 to improve running. It was rebuilt into the 0-4-0WT in 1874 to replace a secondhand Manning Wardle as Works Pilot at Brighton, finally being sent to Earlswood in 1877 to be the shunter at Redhill. The old MW had an interesting life, having been bought from the contractor Chappell in 1871, then sold back to him in 1874 and finally being purchased by the LSWR in 1884, where it lasted until 1894, carrying the name Sambo. The Brighton had some dedicated shunters earlier than that. Craven built two pairs of robust wing tank 0-6-0’s for shunting at Willow Walk yard, in 1866 and 1868. Three of them ended up on the Alexandra (Newport & South Wales) Docks and Railway Company in the 1880’s where they lasted until 1904/6.
  24. Just an observation, but, in real life, mortar was seldom actually white, coming in various shades of grey, brown or yellow, depending on the type of cement and sand being used, and sometimes deeply coloured, perhaps black, to suit the architect's whims. There are only a couple of examples of white mortar I can think of. One is where Historic England or a client has demanded that lime mortar should be used, for authenticity, and this does start off white, but slowly mellows, and, when used for repairs, stands out starkly when compared with the, perhaps, hundred year old existing mortar, which may have darkened considerably over the years, particularly if the area was smoky prior to the Clean Air Act; sometimes the restorers will deliberately age the mortar to make it a better match. The other is in tuck pointing. This is a technique to make rough brickwork look superior, and can be seen in places like 10 Downing Street. The façade is built using dark bricks, and the mortar is coloured to match and is flush pointed. After a short curing period a narrow routing tool, perhaps ¼ inch wide, is run along the centre line of the joint, using a straight edge or line, and the resultant groove filled with white lime putty. A few examples from my area. A Victorian terrace, with London stocks and red brick quoins and arches, with a creamy coloured mortar. A more modern example - Elizabethan I suppose, with a a dark red brick and a darker shade of mortar. What is interesting is the way the top half here, which is a balcony, shows the effect of weathering, with dark mould and white staining where chemicals have leached out of the modern mortar mix. The lower section has been protected by the overhang of the balcony and shows very little weathering. And finally, a wall on the house opposite the first example, where the end gable had been painted black, and has been subsequently repointed. Thanks to the contrast the new mortar does look very light, but it is a pale grey in colour.
  25. I think the coaches would be looking a bit drab by then. The SECR was created in 1899 and the P Class didn’t appear until 1909, and I think the teak would have been painted over in the intervening decade.
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