Jim Martin

Obviously, this topic has generated lots of replies, and I'm very grateful to everyone who's provided information. Several people have asked if I could post the actual photograph: I do intend to, but unfortunately the whole batch has been put in A Safe Place. When I find where that is, I'll do something about posting it. Jim

I persevered with MRJ a little longer than you - into the low 200s. I'll root out my collection and see if I can find that article. Jim

This happened to me on the one occasion that I've ever bought a brand new car. We got it from a Fiat dealer called R Howarth of Formby and we were given a choice of registrations in a series of L###RHF. HF was the code for Liverpool; but I don't know if they just opportunistically got a number block beginning with R to match their name, or if they'd have registered the cars they sold wherever would have got them the letter combination they wanted. If they'd been R Howarth of Ainsdale, maybe they'd have registered their cars in Dudley! Jim

I've been given a set of old photographs which are allegedly of my ancestors. One of them clearly shows a car and I was hoping that it might be possible to date the photos from the car. Is there any way of identifying an old car from its registration? I was wondering if there's a database of such things. It's a saloon, registration NOH975 or possibly NUH975. Jim

And that's why I plan to have all three on my layout! Jim

Was he? I didn't know that (although it wouldn't have been that surprising in an American male of his generation). I know about his wife skipping the country with his negatives. Jim

I'm sure I've seen a 70s-set layout with NF graffiti in one of the magazines, possibly REx.

I used to have an ambition (now largely abandoned) to build a layout based on the Frisco around 1960. There were divided coaches still in use then; and a fair bit of Jim Crow-driven signage around depots.

Etched Pixels do a conversion kit to turn a 3-car class 170 into a class 323 in n-gauge. Electra Rail Graphics do a range of vinyl sides for various liveries. Jim

It's probably just as well that the liveries I want aren't in the initial batch. It'll give me a chance to save up for a couple. They look very nice, mind. Jim

Excellent show: easily the best (albeit the first) that I've been to since 2019. I don't think I'd seen any of the layouts before, and all of them were very interesting. I loved Hinksey Yard and Wellpark; and for such a small layout, Ryecroft had a really nice idea behind it - looking down on an urban terminus and seeing units sliding in and out without knowing where they'd come from or where they were going to. Also had long chats with Grahame Hedges and Carl White (I've subscribed to your YouTube channel, Carl!) among others. I've never travelled this far to go to an exhibition before; but it was well worth it. Jim

I'd agree with everything Morello says, but you should be aware that you can't just rock up to the National Archives at the moment. Apart from requiring a reader's ticket (which has always been the case, and which you can apply for online in 10 minutes, plus another 10 once you get there to show your forms of identification and get the card made), at present you need to pre-book your visit and also which records you want to see.

Yes, until 1866. I believe there's still a parish of Chepping Wycombe, but it no longer coincides with the boundaries of the borough. Jim

I'm a DEMU member, so I get a free ticket this year. I got an email from the society on 8th July titled "Members Free Ticket to Showcase", followed shortly afterwards by another titled "You have been added to the guestlist for DEMU Showcase 2022", which is the one with the QR code. The second email is from "Team FIXR", rather than DEMU. I'm assuming that this is a legit email: it seems a bit too specific to be spam. In drafting this reply I've read both emails more thoroughly than I had before and this has actually answered my original question! Jim

<deleted>

I'm very much looking forward to meeting you tomorrow, having been a frequent poster on your buildings topic in the past. Jim

Can I just waft the QR code on my phone in the general direction of whoever's on the door, or do I need to print out a ticket, or what? Jim

Very nice! I love these old school projects that are spiritually from a time when RTR simply wasn't an option.

Judging from Google Streetview and the Amtrak schedule, that's the Eastbound Southwestern Chief (already 4 1/2 hours late, judging by the timestamp), so he was facing a 58 minute trip to the next stop at Winslow, hanging off the side of the train. All-in-all, I'd say he was lucky that the conductor noticed him and stopped the train.

It was about 2009 that I travelled on it, between Crewe and Inverness.

Good point. When I rode the Caledonian Sleeper a few years back, the catering was a packet of Highland Shortbread, coffee and an apple for breakfast, plus niblets on sale in the lounge car in the evening. Obviously, the drinks provision was a lot more extravagant.

I have an old issue of Traction (March/April 2012) with an account of an overnighter at Carlisle as late as 1987. The sleeper services are covered in detail: 1S07 / 1M16: 2 sleepers Euston-Fort William + 4 Euston-Inverness (all of these are in both directions) 1S06 / 1M14: 3 Euston-Stranraer 1S25 / 1M15: 10 Euston-Inverness 1S18 / 1M10: 2 Euston-Carlisle + 3 Euston-Glasgow 1S26 / 1M11: 8 Euston-Glasgow + 2 Euston-Perth 1S77 / 1M23: 9 Euston-Edinburgh 1S19 / 1V32: 2 Bristol-Glasgow + 2 Bristol-Edinburgh That's 47 sleeping cars - all Mk3s - in each direction on the WCML alone. 94 cars a night isn't far short of half the total fleet. All these trains carried additional stock: vans, motorail vans, seating accommodation of various types. The closest thing to a catering car any of these trains carried was a lounge car in the Euston-Edinburgh service. Jim

That is absolutely terrific! Thanks so much! Jim

Does anyone know the location of any Great Central or LNER (GC section) Carriage Working Notices, ideally from the 1920s? I've looked in the National Archive, GCRS archive and NRM archive catalogues and I can't see anything there. Thanks Jim

Many thanks for all of the suggestions. The tap is now fixed, although not the way I expected. My wife remembered this morning that several years ago she'd found an engineering company that takes on small jobs. A quick check and it turns out that they're still in business and even open on Saturday mornings. It took them about ten minutes to remove the screw, clean up the thread and pop a new screw in, ready to go. If anyone in Liverpool needs their services, it's Fernland Engineering and I recommend them very highly. They're in Seymour Street industrial estate, which is by where Millers Bridge meets the Dock Road. Why it took Mrs M so long to remember this is a mystery to us both. She reckons that finding a solution to a problem is a journey, and you have to go through all the failed ideas to find the one that succeeds. I, on the other hand, am put in mind of this: Jim