Chrisbr

Thanks for the link Mike, some interesting material there. I can find only one more photo (strange how hard it is to find decent detail shots of FPLs and lock bars...) of Dunkerton in the early 20s with a similar looking arrangement, only this time you can see standard cranks on either side as the photo was taken from the 4ft. It looks to me as if the FPL rod from the box is connected to the cross rod between the two cranks under the FPL cover. So not unique, but certainly not common by the time photographers were recording the scene later in the century...

Chris, It's the original station at Wilmcote, the points lead off the single main line to sidings for the station and local Lime/Cement works. There are two rods coming from the Signal box, one driving the switches and one the FPL, so don't think it's an economic FPL variant. I have since discovered the original negative is held by HMRS so will endeavour to obtain a copy, but that may take a while in the current circumstances. Tim - yes that is similar to various other sources I have seen, but doesn't seem to fit the early example above, as far as I can make out....

Chris, Thanks for responding and while I understand later practise was to connect the FPL lever to the far end of the lock bar and the plunger to the near end, as you say, providing confidence that the lock bar was functioning as designed, this early example does not seem to follow that practise. A wider snip shows no connection to the lock bar at the far end and having played with the contrast etc. of the original scan, I can see no evidence of a rocking shaft or other connection to the lock bar closer to the FPL itself. The only possibility is the dark shadow right at

I have the following snip from a picture of GWR point work and am trying to understand what cranks (not visible under the FPL cover of course) would have been used to convert the transverse movtion of the FPL drive rod (top left) into the fore and aft movement needed for the Facing Point lock plunger and also the Lock Bar (top right)... Did the GWR have such a thing as a "T" crank, or would it have been a standard crank in conjunction with a reversing crank? If the latter, how were both cranks attached to the Facing point lock plunger?

Yes, fist column is Cambrian number, middle column is build year, last column GWR number.

Sadly I have a copy of the 54xxx book, but not the 55xxx one!

Some shots from various wagons at Didcot - take your pick -

Excellent addition and as Kitpw noted - you have achieved a layout with no end... looking forward to seeing it in real life at some point!

Great idea and and hmrspaul says a humungous one, but that doesn;t mean it can't be done. In following up my interest in wagon number plates, I have made copies of 13 books already. Taking the pictures with a modern smartphone is relatively easy and provides good qualtiy photos - one photo per page of the register, so details of each wagon split across two photos. You still have the issue of the axlebox column on the left hand page often being hidden by the binding/fold of the page but that can be true even if sitting in front of the book. As I see it there are three bi

According to RCTS 4 coupled tank engines - "Nos. 3600-20, except No.3614, were built with 6 1/2 in, diameter piston valves, which were placed between the cylinders." The rest were all built with slide valves and all those with piston valves had been recyindered by 1908,

@Compound2632 I only have a small selection of the wagon stock books and not the ones relating to these builds, so can't comment about the "Factory" marking on any of these wagons. Certainly there are comments made about the signage added to wagons later in life, typically "Not for common user" or "Return to ...." as well as some more interesting examples I've come across, but I have not noted "... Factory" so far. I may well do a trawl over the next few days to see what I find.

you mean one of these? close up of said iron mink @ didcot

Wagon register records "Length between centres of Journals" as 6' 4" and Journals as being 8 x 3 1/2. Beyond that I can't help....

Length is 16' 2" and Breadth is 7' 2". Wheels 3'6" dia and 9' 9" wheelbase with Double (lever) brakes. Orignal tare 4.7.0 and load 9 tons, at some point amended to tare 4.14.0 and load 8 tons.

Stephen, I'm not sure you're correct about the number of the HP wagon - it was only looking again just now that I noticed the number is on the end as well as the side of the wagon and I'm pretty convinced it's a 5 not 8. If that is indeed correct, the wagon in the photo is converted BG wagon (ex 1461) and is recorded as having a wooden body 1' 10" tall and an Iron underdrame. It was converted from BG in October 1874 and scrapped in 1909. Chris