Michael Crofts

Thanks for that link. I think this one from that set shows the site of the engine shed for the 18 inch gauge system, the white lean-to structure on the side of what was the Erecting Shop.

I have quite a few images of wagons carrying sacks (including grain, hops, and all the other things that were packed in hessian) un-sheeted while they wait to be unloaded, or loaded and waiting to be sheeted. I think your Healings wagon could be full of sacks without a sheet. If you want to add a special touch perhaps a folded sheet on top ready to be used? Two images of Cuckfield. Going by photos I've seen, dry goods like sacks were only sheeted if they were going to be exposed to rain. If they were sure of being got under cover before it rained sheets weren't used. It's a lot of work to sheet a load. I know, I've done it. And the traditional canvas sheets were very heavy things. Ipswich Maritime Trust photo I'm sure I read somewhere that Samuel Healing rebuilt the old watermill as a steam-powered mill, so definitely coal inbound, but I think the grain arrived by water so it would be flour that was exported by rail. Edit: barges for inbound grain, up to 1998 - http://www.strayoffthepath.co.uk/healings-mill---tewkesbury.html

But credit where credit is due, that's the first garden railway I've seen with ballast that is actually to scale.

Hanley on the Potteries Loop Credit to this post:

Thanks Richard @Tricky. The best way of preserving and presenting photos for rmweb is to put them online elsewhere and that's what I've done with the purloined images of your Bristol lighter. If you look at the description of each image you'll see I've credited you and linked to Monksgate. But if you would rather take back full control of your photos I'll send them to you and take them down from Flickr. Click on the photo (right click in Windows) and you should see the album. By the way, that's the most realistic depiction of a line (rope) and bubbles in water I've ever seen on a model. And your sense of colour is astonishing.

Is it the Lighter you are interested in? I confess I pinched some of those images and can post them if @Tricky agrees.

'I don’t think earth and shrubbery would have been allowed to bank up against the mill wall in this way. Any opinions?' Places were sometimes overgrown in the past, not everywhere was neat and tidy. This is Stiffkey bridge, Norfolk, photo taken in 1939, my collection (photographer unknown).

Nor do I and I'm never going to comment on sails again, ever. Can't think why I did it in the first place. Madness. Or Taylors Reserve. One or the other.

1688 (or 1689, depending on which reckoning of dates is used) means nothing to 90% of the current population of these Isles, but the Act of that date has been the foundation of a lot of good things, and I think it did make the English exceptional, for some time. 'It is my analysis that the people do indeed have indubitable rights and that placing politics above the rule of law is unconstitutional.' https://everyright.org/ As for termini, I miss 'the sigh of midnght trains in empty stations', which I remember from European travels as a teenager. Also that romantic evocation in gold letters on blue above the carriage windows: 'Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens'. Those were the days when a destination boad on a carriage showing Rome, Zurich, Marseilles, Vienna or even Munich meant luxury travel to exciting places.

From the excellent thread 'When the real thing looks like a model'

Why is it named Betsy? Local research needed.

An elegant ship but what's the name of the sail with its luff running between the two masts? And what benefit does it provide? To my eyes it's taking wind out of the foremast gaff (if it is a gaff, it might just be a topsail). And how do you get it out of the way in a jibe or a tack? You'd have your work cut out when changing the wind because there's also a boom pointing ahead of the foremast (part of a forestay?) - I could imagine it ripping a tear in the aft jib if you get a change of course wrong. (Spoiler: I don't think this was painted by a sailor)

I upvoted you for 'homonymity', which evaded my English language O and A level syllabi but adds a touch of class to a model railway thread. Mind you, in today's cantankerous world where people go around looking for things to be cross about, it's a word you'd want to use very carefully for fear of unfortunate misunderstandings.

As a bit of light relief from signalling, and knowing that canals are a popular scenic feature, I thought this might be OK for the topic. I think it's Gas Street basin in Worcester.