Suffolk Dave

How, that would be very interesting. And surely, the shores of the Humber are renowned for their big, azure, Mediterranean like skies.

Indeed it must have been. As an 'ull lad myself, it had long gone by the time I started to notice the railway. My spotting days were few in number as Paragon yielded more DMUs than locos. That said, I did delight in those faded Class 03s and that's probably how I got my love the humble shunter!

Amaziii, thanks sharing your thoughts on 52f's kits

Hi Mike Thanks for the insight into the locos. I'm not too familiar with 52F kits so took a look at their website. The T1 kit looks and sounds impressive. I'm rather fond of shunters of all sizes and now I've seen this T1 kit my brain will be working on a justification for having one! Dave

I had similar delays last year and it wasn't helped by the Gmail issue (reported elsewhere in the modelling world I'm sure) which meant they didn't receive my catch up messages. They are a small outfit proving a valuable - if not unique - service to railway modellers. Considering the troubles they've been through, I think we've just got to recognise that orders will take longer to process and lay off from pressurising them.

The T1 is an impressive looking loco, Mike. Can you tell us which kit manufacture your models come from?

Thanks Mick I think the model I've seen is probably the one you mention. Curiously, the RCTS LNER pdf covering the J72 makes no reference to coupling rods painted or otherwise, not even on the fully lined station pilots. I think I'll depict the rods as plain steel with a weathering of old deposits and frame dirt.

I am working on an old 1990's Bachmann J72, having given it a new High Level Kits chassis. Some detailing of the body is currently work in progress. Ultimately, the loco will be in a mid 1930s unlined black with the full LNER lettering but I am curious about the colour of the coupling rods. Obviously old monochrome photos don't help but I've seen examples of models with the rods painted red. I know we should avoid modelling from a model but I can't find any references on-line to the actual colour - if they were ever painted at all - of the coupling rods. If anyone out there in RMweb land could shed some light on the treatment of J72 coupling rods I'd be very grateful.

Curiously, a Eustace Brackenstall also seems to have been a murder victim in a Sherlock Holmes story...

I certainly hope not!

Recently I painted an Edwardian family group. I'd bought 'Mrs Sanders' but realising she was in a more Victorian era dress decided to paint her as an older lady with greying hair - a mother with her grown up children. I made an assumption that in the times before mass produced clothing folk would have had fewer clothes and wore them for longer. Hence, the old lady is still going out in the fabulous red silk number her late husband bought her years ago! And, just in case anyone is wondering, her two sons are identical twins!

Another inspiring Masterclass! Thanks for sharing 😃👍

With the Maltings being just a short drive from me, I shall be following your layout development with interest. 😃 Keep up the good work!

I know what you mean about number sequences. I have a fondness for Class 08 248 which I believe was a Hull based loco.