Adam

Looking pretty good - shouldn’t the tiebar have been folded up on itself? That’s certainly normally how Justin does it. At present what I think I can see is the half etched dimples to emboss in order to represent the boltheads (and the tiebars themselves look a bit low). Adam

Nice work - especially the solution to the steps - but weren't Fruit Ds brown under the GWR? They were certainly coaching stock so far as livery was concerned under BR. Adam

Ah, the O2 - my second ever loco was one of those. From memory, the tanks and footplate are very much the best bit. The chassis will need additional spacers (the instructions imply a lot of structural 0.45mm wire, i.e., the brake hangers, but that's easy to resolve) and the boiler - and especially the smokebox - are not good at all, though you're not the rookie I was. Things to watch for: the later pattern front has an undersized door (I think the original is fine, but that's not the one I wanted! I built mine up with Milliput); the smokebox wrappers will foul the front drivers, even in P4. Obviously that big bit of tube is a massive heatsink and it's very tricky indeed to build square. Details: the instructions have a cab layout drawing that turns out to come from an LNER J15 (you can see the upward extension of the roof and where the screw reverser was tippexed out) and on mine, at least, there was no reversing lever. Most of the brass castings are pretty good (though some - the tank fillers, for example - aren't right for at least some O2s, being generic). Adam

Hi Tim, Assuming it's actually liquid milk and not powder then probably bulk road tanker. Otherwise, I imagine you're talking whole tank volumes for serious production. Powder would be in vans, of course. Adam

Yes, via - of all the possible routes! - the WD control of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. Dad has just completed a scratchbuilt conversion of just this variant, so you’re all very welcome. Adam

No, the Impetus Simplex was too, and possibly the 88DS? When dad built his Simplex, he used gears from a dead Mainline Warship. With both axles driven it pulls fairly well - more than a regauged EM LIMA class 20 on one occasion. Adam

BR rated them 4F, believe it or not. Load limits are obviously a bit variable, but I’ve seen 18 loaded minerals quoted for one NCB system (not flat, not the best track). The limit on the real thing is as much what you can stop rather than start, but I’m quite happy with the 30 wagons (each) my 4mm pair can shift, not that I have the space to let them do it. Adam

Looking good. Lamps? I think you're modelling post-war, aren't you, so white (I happen to have Jenkinson's 'The Big Four in Colour' next to me). One over each buffer, I think - one red lens, one plain for pilot or shunting work. Adam

Oh, I don't know - Orpington has a waiting room with heating and a door (though it's in Orpington...). Keep up the good work - and don't forget the staff cubby hole under the stairs at the country end of platform 3: I've never seen the door closed, Adam

What a superb rendition. I can't say that using Sevenoaks station as a passenger fills me with joy, especially at this time of year, but your attention to detail and capture of the character of the place is spot on. Adam

No, it’s not. Above the solebar it’s fine, corners aren’t terrible, raised plank lines on the interior, chassis is frankly poor - and it’s nearly 40 years old, the tools have paid for themselves and some people will still build and buy them: others won’t know of it or build kits anyway. It doesn’t, ultimately, matter all that much. I’m not replacing mine, anyway. Adam

That was what I was driving at (though primarily looking at archival research): I’ve too often found well-quoted ‘fact’ to be not quite right, or big gaps in ‘received wisdom’ revealed by looking at material at Kew (the transfer of the West Somerset Railway to preservation being a case in point - I’m not sure any of the established works on the line have used the stuff BR or the local authority created having looked at it myself). But unless you tell the reader what you’ve looked at, what chance have they got? Adam

I can only echo @drduncan (for similar reasons - it goes against my professional training and experience - I’m lucky enough to do history for a living). One of the reasons I find some of the recent posts so useful is that they lift the veil on some of the sources used. But not cited in anything I’ve seen in print. By anyone. Ever. Anecdotally, it should be said that railway histories are notorious among historians of other topics (professional and otherwise) in this respect and there’s no especially good reason for this. References are a tool to help all researchers, they enable readers to flush out what has been used, what hasn’t, and where additional information for other things might be (that are not necessarily the subject of what is being read). All that’s needed is the call number of the record the researcher looked at (this is the key bit) and where that is (the name of the archive - secondary!). If there is a hand list of the whereabouts of say, all the original records of surviving PO registers, or private wagon builders, I haven’t seen it, nor would I know where to look. Adam

As you'll hopefully be able to see, I've added the picture to the original post for reference. Adam

Found on Facebook, Sutton Bridge c.1886 some 299s (I think), with nice timber loads and an under runner. Credit to the M&GN Circle, which makes the GNR double bolster in the foreground all the more appropriate. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=519311577005606&set=pb.100067803036939.-2207520000.&type=3 Adam EDIT: Image added for reference.

Reassuringly retro' - I like the chunky bearings on the wormshafts. The Wrenn body looks rather good, especially with your titivations. I rather like 20s, which is why I have one - a Scottish one, which is about as far removed from the Western Section of the Southern as it's possible to get. That one is a simple Bachmann conversion, however, much less interesting. Adam

Hello Mike (et al), I did one of these, a refurbishment of one found in a box of decrepit wagons. Rather than grapple with the bits of Ratio chassis that were left, I used a Brian Morgan etch from the Scalefour Society. The results are below: And the finished article: Adam

Oh wow, that's excellent news - more or less standard RIV fittings open up all manner of wagon possibilities (and I have one in a box waiting an answer to the point and drawings for one or two others). Adam

There's the Portescaps, of course (second hand), this from Wizard Models: https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/locomotive/mgb1/ and I think Slater's do something broadly similar: https://slatersplastikard.com/linePage.php?suffix=JPG&code=SG4C. Adam

Thanks Neil, hopefully the picture below gives some idea of what I did. The tube was part of the barrel of a dead promotional pen - I can't remember what I stuck it down with, either Plastic Weld or superglue - and the extras were cut from plastic sheet. The domed part of the lid was a moulded plastic buffer head faired in with Milliput and the rivets were Archer's transfers (others do the same sort of thing now). I don't appear to have a picture of the completed wagon; I probably ought to do something about this... Adam

I've done one of these (and scratchbuilt something earlier, but not dissimilar), based on an A.E. West picture of one of Roads Reconstruction (1934)'s fleet at Yeovil Gasworks. There's scope for additional detail, not least in the valve access on top. Tourret's big book on oil tanks has a couple of drawings but these seem usually to have been about 2' 6" diameter and 1' tall. This is in EM. Adam EDIT: PS - here are the other two tar tanks I've built, transfers courtesy of a contact in Australia!:

Non-stop on the through lines (as it was from Salisbury to Exeter). NB, taking an HST round those curves at 90 would be around double the speed limit, good though it might look (not that they were strangers to the area on diversion). Adam

That isn't accurate - or at least, not completely so - the relevant legislation is noted here: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/legislation/other-archival-legislation/local-government-acts/ Local Authorities have a statutory responsibility to archive certain types of documentation relating to their own activities and archival arrangements are part of the process of establishment of all new local authorities (including the various unitary authorities established this week, it's a major citation headache for a book we have ready for typesetting). Collections not created by local authorities have slightly different status, particularly with regard to access and the nature of custodianship (they may be given, or placed in safe keeping under various arrangements - there's massive variation in the nature of those arrangements, some more logical than others). And there are, now, very, very clear standards for deaccessioning collections. So what I would say is that any body with materials vested in a local authority archive makes the paperwork on the status of that material securely stored and keeps their contact details up to date. The difficulty, in London boroughs in particular (as one of my PhD students is finding), and this is very pronounced, is accessibility, particularly opening times, and this comes around again and again with each review of local government spending (there are various approaches to getting around this - mostly by founding a trust that can provide local archival services on a commercial basis). I've written about this problem before, as part of - successful as it goes - opposition to cuts in Northants, and my view has not changed: https://blog.history.ac.uk/2017/07/access-to-archives/. Adam

Coming to this as someone lucky enough to be salaried in historical research, I can only empathise with all parties. It's not impossible, but is is a big challenge. This is a problem across the archive sector - there's simply no money for the business of archiving and the skills needed are massively under-rewarded: training requirements are substantial, wages are appalling - the Science Museum Group is well-known for being a poor payer, too even by these standards. The Head of Research at York is someone I know (along with others in his team) and he (and they) are well aware of the issues. The NRM has a large scale problem, borne of erratic acquisitions policies (or just saying 'yes' to everything for a long period if you like). As an accredited archive, with the requirement to do things a certain way to retain that accreditation, especially as that comes with statuary elements, coupled with extremely limited resources, complex collections at locations across the country, and big buildings full of stuff about which people feel very strongly. Funders to facilitate a proper volunteer liaison cataloguing programme are very, very few (The British Records Association, the Business Archives Council, some grants via the National Archives, a scattering of charitable trusts) and generally only attracted to limited scope, specific collection material (Ruston & Hornsby at the Lincolnshire Record Office, Dowty and GRC&W Co. at Gloucestershire Archives, Thomas Cook at Leicestershire and Rutland, and so on). As someone who works in the wider field, it has to be said that the general reputation of railway researchers for citing their sources in a way that's useful to researchers is poor, though it is improving and that - while unfair, perhaps - does not help (it isn't for want of enthusiasts in the archival sector, either!). Show the NRM the money - and we're talking six figures for project-based, multi-year work - and then it would be a different conversation. That they have no process for accepting the work of others is something that could be done, and probably should, but again, that costs staff time and with that, money. I might, but it's not my budget or my collections. Adam

I didn't know that was the answer, but it turns out that you're right (well, wood or iron, which accounts for the gasholder): https://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/info2.html#colouring. Something to add next time I do a thing on using OS maps in historical research. Adam