Bulwell Hall

Another interesting feature of this photo is what appears to be an auto trailer in the platform next to the Mainline and City set. I wasn't aware that these worked in to Paddington?

That looks very nice indeed! Very well proportioned and delicately detailed. Perhaps I could mention just one thing - 2021 class 0-6-0 pannier tank? Gerry

This is my version of 3335. The reason I have done her in wartime black is that the RCTS in Locomotives of the GWR state that latterly the remaining Bulldogs were in black. The photos that I have seen are by no means clear on this and I'm sure that when looking at black and white photos of grubby engines you can see what you want to see. Certainly at least one of the Birds was painted green with GWR lettering on the tender as there's an official photo of her. So who knows? My inclination was that during WW2 she was an old engine and not likely to last for much longer so would have been painted black as was Swindon practice at the time. Not much help I'm afraid.

The spare coaches certainly were kept at specific locations for use when required. The Carriage Working Programmes show where spare coaches were to be kept and also specified the class of vehicle that was to be used - 3rd, Bk Compo, etc. For example, the Bridport Branch had a two train service provided by two B sets. The CWP instructed that a spare coach was to be kept at Maiden Newton and photos sometimes show it in the 'Bridport Siding' by the signal box. There may also have been a spare at Bridport but I'm not sure about that and my copy of the CWP is not to hand at the moment. My CWP is for Summer 1947 and the spare coaches may only have been for the duration of the Summer timetable - I can check later if anyone really wants to know.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing this in print! Gerry

Well I certainly saw them on the SR Waterloo - Bournemouth line at Winchester City several times. I once saw Frilford Manor - the Reading Manor still in GW livery - on a Down parcels train and I even photographed Granville Manor on Eastleigh shed one Saturday afternoon.

It truly is a fact that a pannier never offends. What a lovely engine! Gerry

It truly is a fact that a pannier never offends! What a lovely engine!

B....y fantastic news! Long, long overdue and very welcome. Gerry

Very nice work indeed - it must be tiny in 2mm scale! I have always been attracted these small, early GWR boxes and they were commonly seen along the length of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth lines to both Weymouth and Salisbury. There were two small signal boxes at Maiden Newton until the 1880s and I assume - there being no photographs that I know of - that they were of this style. There was also a small signal box at Dorchester at the Yeovil end of the down platform, until circa 1912 and again I assume that it was of this style there being no photos showing it. These were the first signal boxes to be provided on the W,S & W and were replaced over the years as facilities were extended and enlarged. I believe that the Frome North Signal Box - formerly Frome Mineral Branch - was the last to remain and fortunately is now preserved at Didcot Railway Centre. Gerry

Absolutely agree Tony! Isn't there a saying about being wary of meeting your hero's - which can apply equally to ancient model railways? Another layout that made an enormous impression on me when it appeared in the Railway Modeller in 1962 was the Portreath branch. This EM gauge GWR branch line terminus really captivated me at the time but when I actually saw the layout many years later I was very disappointed indeed. But on reflection I realised that a combination of very youthful enthusiasm and naivety on my part - I was only 10 in 1962, clever photography and well written article and photo captions had created an impression that didn't match the reality. Indeed so crude and basic were these early models - and so abysmal was the running - that I do wonder sometimes how we managed to sustain our interest in those far off days. With the advent of modern developments such as DCC control, 3D printing transforming they way we make models and the deluge of high quality RTR models to name just a few, we truly never have had it so good!

Absolutely wonderful Frank - well done! Gerry

Having taken a very roundabout route the remaining locos and stock from Ken Northwoods North Devonshire Railway now reside in several boxes under my layout in my railway shed. Amongst them is the award winning Sayer Chaplin Modified Hall but sadly it has suffered over the years and is now in a sorry state. There is also a 14xx 0-4-2T - also built from Sayer Chaplin parts - and this is rather more presentable but both engines really are products of their time. As a young teenager I drooled over the NDR when it appeared in Railway Modeller in the 1960s and could only dream of having models such as these. Another of the locos in the collection is what was termed an 'Outside Frame Dean Goods' built from a Ks kit and this really was an object of desire to me at the time - John Harrisons Torpoint layout also had one and was another influential layout. But whilst they were probably state of the art when built in the 50s and 60s these locos really are just curiosities these days and they will find no place on my own layout. The same also goes for the coaches which are mostly Exleys and whilst highly desirable at the time now don't cut the mustard. Gerry

Whilst I am old enough to have ridden behind a Manor in BR service, living on the Southern Waterloo- Weymouth line as I did I don't recall having done so. But I certainly recall seeing them as they regularly turned up on the SR. Somewhere I have a snap taken on my juvenile Brownie camera of 7818 Granville Manor on shed at Eastleigh around 1964 whilst Frilsham Manor with the 'GWR' tender came though Winchester several times. I also saw Cookham Manor arrive at Taplow on a special from Birmingham at an early GWS open day at Taplow around 1966.

FWIW here is a GWR modellers take on an ex NER Horsebox built from a D&S kit. These are lovely kits that well repay the time taken to build them. And it is surprising how often these ex NER vehicles turn up in photos of GWR station yards so I needed little excuse to make one! Gerry