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

Anybody tried Long Man bitter? I had it from the pump, and it was gorgeous (from The Ship Inn at West Itchenor in East Sussex). I don’t know whether they do a bottled version, but I shall look out for it if so. Other notable drinks in the Chichester area came from Arundel Brewery and Really Crafty. As it was BofB celebrations and a Spitfire was flying overhead, take a guess on my beer that night?

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.

Heading down to Chichester area for a week. Any recommendations on pubs and beer will be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Dai

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

Female, I reckon.

Yep, and I don’t think it’s moulting!

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

Driving from Norfolk to Carlisle on Sunday, I managed to see: red kites, buzzards, a shedload of kestrels, a sparrowhawk and two peregrines. One of the peregrines did a swoop on a wood pigeon, which managed to skeedaddle out of the way at the very last minute. The peregrine couldn’t pick up speed again against the wood pigeon, who flew away with comparative ease. Good little contest though!

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

Went to St Aidans reserve near Castleford the other day. Saw a couple of spoonbills, whinchat, stonechat, shovelers plus the regulars. But also an humongous Ruston Bucyrus dragline. Never realised they were that big.

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!

Advice please. At long last, I decided to pursue radio control for my 4mm loft layout. I had decided on Deltang equipment, but have now found that they are discontinuing their receivers, and are looking for a buyer for the trains bit of the company. What lowish cost options are left from other companies?

My prob, someone had previously said that 51xx went up to Merthyr on the valleys run; and I didn’t make this clear that I was referring to that line. Hey ho, btw I heard , when I was very young!, from a relative who worked at Merthyr engine shed that they did a trial with a 43xx and that proved the point. When did this trial take place— I haven’t a clue, or even if it did. Unless you liked panniers, Merthyr must have been Pretty poor for trainspotters!

Yep, outside GWR outside cylinder locos could get to Merthyr via all the lines, bar the ‘mainline’ from Cardiff to Merthyr. The GW/RR line gave up the ghost in the early 50s with the collapse of the bridge trackbed at Quakers Yard. The BR outside cylinder locos could get up to Merthyr because they didn’t have the bulgy cylinders of the GWR types. The only outside cylinder locos I saw after MTA closure were 4555 on the Brecon memorial run, and The odd Mogul Ivatts- but these came via the B&m line into Merthyr. The photo of Abercanaid station, does not look like the old TV or Gw/RR station to me. The stations on both lines were stone/brick and double lines. I stand to be corrected if my memory is playing tricks.

I think I might have spoken with you previously on one of the Merthyr sites? Welcome anyway, Merthyr was an amazing station in the early 50s, but there are not enough photos of it! I bet you there’s more photos of the Culm Valley than for the Taff Valley!

Before 54, the MTA line had Stanier 3 2-6-2 tanks and Ivatt2-6-2 tanks. On the odd occasion, one would get exLNWR 0-8-0s and Coal tanks. The Hirwaun line had 64xx, very early on a 14xx was used. The miners’ trains were hauled by 56xx You never got outside cylinder ex-GWR locos, as they couldn’t get through Troedyrhiw and Merthyr Vale stations, so no 51xx. The Pontsticill service was mainly 64xx with auto coaches, but 57 and 97xx were used as well, still with auto coaches but running around at both ends of the line. There was often (always) a station pilot in Merthyr before 58 as Merthyr had separate incoming and outgoing platforms for the non-autocoach services. The go-to locos in Merthyr were panniers, and they operated most of the freight services; double-headed on Brecon freights. The odd ex-TV loco came to Merthyr as well. I wish I had been a spotter then!, Dai

Any truth in the rumour of sightings of a bearded vulture in the Peaks? And, no, it’s not April!

Cheers, my mistake.

Both BSA and Royal Enfield are made in India, and they are Indian companies.

The Rotank at Didcot has a circular cross-section, not oval, iirc?