Pete Haitch

I think I may have been looking at the wrong thing - https://www.mylondon.news/incoming/gallery/st-georges-day-wheelbarrow-race-7026981

No wonder I've been getting lost; some bloke in the Unicorn gave me this sketch and told me to take a short cut across the potato field and past the... wind mill.

The working timetables detailed below, shows 2 siphons running between Penzance/Helston and Sheffield. Elsewhere on this site there was a post stating that these carried rabbits for use in glove making. Also, that this was a long established pre-war flow. In the “Brown vehicles in passenger trains” thread, @martinT reports; “I've just acquired a Bristol Division 'Working of Coaches' book for October 28 1940 UFN, a fascinating document which provokes more questions. There are lots of references to Siphon Gs, but only a pair of references to a Siphon H. The 9.15pm Swindon to York conveyed, at its head, a Siphon H that was making a Neyland to Sheffield journey. It had arrived at Swindon on the 8.48am from Fishguard. The return journey, given as Sheffield to Swansea, was made as last vehicle (behind 2 Siphon Gs from Sheffield to Helston & Penzance) on the 10.5pm York to Bristol. It was worked forward from Temple Meads on the 9.5am departure to Swansea. The provoked questions are of course: 'why a Siphon H? What was the traffic?' “

Uh? Do tell me its called 'Bellerophon'.

I enjoyed the intro as it gave a chance to catch up on the back story. It looked and sounded great on my laptop. I also enjoyed finding the Uskin Models site - wow. Looking forward to more as when your time and mojo permit.

Brilliant - thank you for sharing - loved it.

Merton Abbey Mill 20190414_131349.mp4

In a similar situation but to add insult to injury the seller, despite sending a tracking code, has relisted the item! I am told its now on its way to me as I refused a refund of the purchase price less the postage.

Do you exhibit Exhill Works and its merry band at all - if so do you have any shows coming up? Whilst my siblings in Dawlish and Bovey are important to me, it doesn't stop me planning visits to coincide with other events occurring in the area - hence the question.

That's why I'm planning a small layout with a 40cm high backscene. Agree with you about wagons, I've got a couple on accommodation underframes pending more research and a final decision on couplings. I love the diversity of interest areas this hobby offers. I visited a model shop about 3 years ago when I returned to modelling - they offered me a heavy goods loco for £250 and a number of wagons at £25 each. I've seen some great layouts using such RTR items; but I bought some plastic, wheels and fittings and scratch built a wagon from 1905 instead. Each to their own.

Many layouts I saw in the early sixties were only modelled to the railway fence. Reasons for this were not necessarily through lack of desire, but could be lack of materials due to post war recession and the demands for materials for rebuilding (remember all those model fields that were coated in a mix of sawdust mixed with army surplus green paint?); longer working weeks and much shorter period between retirement and setting-off to meet one's maker. Whist I would agree that the necessary skills to be able to both proffer and receive helpful criticism, offered with positive intent, appear to be declining; I certainly question any suggestion that increasing the scenic fidelity is contributing to mediocracy any more than swapping brass sheet and files for CAD and 3D printing represents a decline in skills, rather than an adjustment to equally skilled use of new materials and tools. The 'wrong sort of farm animals' is so true. There is a picture of Gloucester cattle in Cornwall and another from the 1930s showing (IIRC) an ox-plough pulled by a couple of longhorns. Therefore I'm trying to produce some gloucesters with typical markings because, as a triple purpose breed, I can use one or two span as draught animals. As mediocre as using the the right axleboxes, or makers plate on the sole bar. I can think of 4 UK breeds of pig that would have been common in their native area in the 19th Century, but became extinct in the 2nd half of the 20th Century. Researching these can be just as demanding as that required to build a Victorian Era wagon. The form and, particularly, height of trees is another area that I feel is frequently ignored. This can give a false sense of perspective to a loco running in the countryside compromising the visual perception of its size. The limits of material technology mean that even the finest P4 model that overcomes gauge shortcomings, is compromised, but good scenery can help overcome this by giving a setting to provide some kind of relevant visual reference. The Lizard Peninsular has produced several different granites each of unique colour. I was so impressed to see @Andy Keane consider this before opting for the local greenstone as the basis for the road/yard surface colour on his outstanding Helston Revisited layout. This is detailed scenery research that will enhance a far from mediocre layout. Similarly, some 19th Century railways used local bricks for buildings. The brick size varied tremendously from what has become the Standard British Brick size - which is why some modelers will scribe the bricks for a building rather than using a brick paper or embossed sheet. All these things help build research and modelling skills as well as enhancing the railway operations by illustrating their social and commercial purpose. With a proposed layout name of Polhelyk, I'm studying willow trees to try and find a suitable one on which to base a model 'feature' tree. Its also stimulating me to consider whether I could create a master from which I could create a mould and cast some Panter axle boxes rather than live with what is currently on the wagons. For me, good practice and attention to detail in one area stimulates the same in another.

It will make exhibiting Helston rather easier if all you have to do is turn up with a laptop and a few VR headsets. Could lead to an interesting conversation with the exhibition manager though.

I'm currently waiting for LSWR transfers for the horsebox and thought I would order another to finish in sage green. Before I do, I was wondering how the D1508 LSWR cattle wagon test print was going and whether these would be available at some point?

Perhaps we should refer to the Rapido B set coaches as incromulent!

After catching up with this thread, I read one about the issues around taking a layout to exhibit on the continent. A business opportunity for the vessel owners on this forum perhaps. Now I know why @KNP has never included any revenuemen at Little Muddle. I look at the rigging in the picture and to me it looks sophisticated and fast for an age without computers, tri-radial stress load modelling, fluid dynamic modelling etc. etc. etc. It would be so awesome to have just a fraction of the innate knowledge that those shipwrights, sail-makers, riggers and etc. must have had.