88D

Lofty, Johnster: I think they’re keen on such things? Apologies to them both if they are not!

Well, you live and learn!

Dapol is in Chirk, isn’t it? If so, Wales.

You’ll have to let us know how you got on with radio control for this huge monster! Insert smiley here.

Well, I bit the bullet and forked out the princely sum of £2.50 or so for a column of the magnets, each 2mm in diameter and 1mm thick. Laid directly on top of ballast (only need one) and actuated coupling perfectly. Remember, I use coupling one end and loop on the other; I don’t think I would have had the same success with double-coupled stock. But, the way forward for me on my new layout, and such a doddle to implement.

Hello all, I use Spratt & Winkle couplings on my 4mm EM layout, and have permanent magnets which actuate a mix of 3mm and 4mm versions. However, I am thinking of using neodymium magnets for my new layout, and have no idea of the power and size I need for this. Any of you use them, what spec, etc and where you got them from. Many thanks, in anticipation of loads of help! Dai

And lots of mosquitos lurking in the trees. I’ve never been bitten so much as in the forests.

A cheap option to modify the Windows is to use thin slivers of painted sellotape applied directly to the Windows. Looks the part from one foot, and my ‘transfers’ have remained in situ for nigh on twenty years.

When I first visited Hebden Bridge in the mid-late 70s, all the buildings were black. Loads of people had told me how pretty HB was, and I thought it looked a dump. Within 5 or 6 years so much sandblasting had been done, it had changed completely, and, yes, it looked pretty. Some of the buildings looked weird because they had been sand-blasted too much! coming back to railway roof colour, my time period is too late for white rooves. But I paint in various shades of grey and highlight certain areas: toilet tanks, sorted gas lamps, etc. So that no train has a uniform roof colour.

I stand to be corrected, but I think this is the Gwynfi valley service. Never been there as most kept to their own valley in the 50s! BTW, Aberdare valley was known as Queen of the Valleys because it was so wide. As a Merthyr boy, we used to riposte that we were King of the Valleys! Gosh, those were the days

My old school is on it, the castle built for iron masters. Good view of Quakers Yard trains, and I wonder if the ganger overlooking the Penydarren tram road is the one who spotted the ballast disappearing from the neighbouring viaduct - this caused the closure of the Quakers Yard (HL) line to Merthyr. There’s also a very good DVD by a band called Public Service Broadcast who specialise in putting films like these to music, whilst keeping most of the commentary.

The circle is now closed!

Idiot me. I had read this was the 1950 photo, not the 1929 photo. Still, glad to know that my eyes are ok, if not my brain cells!

The weird thing about this photo is that the white-roofed vehicle behind the loco appears to be a clerestory. Surprising that they would do it up at that late stage of its career? Unless my eyes aren’t what they were, and my point would then be pointless!

Miss Prism already beat me to it. Now on GWR Modelling site.

Gosh, that is a good find. I’m sure Miss Prism of this parish would be interested.

I preferred the look of the rebuilt Crostis to the original and to the standards. No smoke deflectors leads to cleaner lines - there might be a few exceptions.

Many thanks. I’m sure arrangements will have been changed with Covid as well.

When you are in York, do you knock on a door, make an appointment, or what? How do you know what’s in York, and what’s at Kew? Hope you , or anybody else, can help with this as I would like to know more of the Merthyr/Brecon scene. I should have paid more attention when I was a schoolboy, hey ho. Cheers, Dai Davies

Not sure about prototypical accuracy and so on; but to me, it doesn’t look right!

Ha ha, it looks like the precursor to a Hoover as well!

The long-lost precursor of the Southern Pacific cab-forwards? Big oaks out of little acorns grow! Seriously, you had to feel sorry for the fireman, and the driver must have been roasting at times. There’s a certain charm to them, though.

Thanks for your replies on this. You’ve made me think again, which means I’ll probably come along with other questions after my hols! This is where I miss train shows, as you can talk and see in vivo!

Advice again, please. I model in EM, and will be using radio for tank and tender locos. I reckon I’ll use mainly 2x Lipos for tender engines and 1 for the smaller tank engines. What batteries (make, model) do you use, and are you happy with them? Cheers, Dai

In terms of etches, Justin Newitt might be a possibility? He does a lot of milk tank add-ons. I have no connection with him, so I am not speaking on his behalf: it would just seem to be a marriage made in Heaven!