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.

I thought this was a really clever use of different shapes and textures for a scenic break, and really good forced perspective in the view through the arch, also clever spot lighting there, I've not seen that before. The cranes painted on the backscene are very convincing but perhaps some of the other colours are a bit questionable - I'm really not sure about that phone box. The curve's too sharp of course but can't be helped given the constraints of space. I think they were pushing their luck with the name on the business under the arch. I've never liked humorous names on models, it spoils the illusion. Entrance to Swansea Docks (station apparently to the right). From a Facebook group, borrowed from somewhere else, no details of photographer, no hits on Google Lens.

'We used to provide links back to the images on the National Railway Museum's Derby Collection web site, but those web pages have now been taken off-line. Some of the images have been moved to a new web site under different terms and conditions at the Science & Society Picture library. You can try this search for the image, but I'm afraid it may well not find anything.' I know a fair bit about copyright but I have become increasingly willing to make copies of everything I see which might be useful because so much of it just disappears either completely or behind paywalls, usually without warning. I am then faced with the dilemma of whether or not to share my collection with others. Anyway, here's my contribution. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cirencester_town/cirencester_town_old33.jpg It shows metal plates just like the ones in the image of Slough. I wonder if these were (a) kept at the station, or (b) kept on board wagons like Lowmacs that needed them, or (c) despatched to a station on request like sheets, ropes and chains? Perhaps what happened was that when a wagon was ordered for booked traffic the same order would specify what other equipment was needed. I remember reading an article somewhere about circuses being moved by rail. The circus would specify what the traffic was and the railway would assemble all the necessary wagons and all the other equipment that would be needed to load, secure, and unload the traffic.

I do like those setts. Very convincing, particularly the four falls to a central drain. But I wonder what the horse thinks about his empy hay rack... which reminds me of a plaintive letter reproduced in the book on James Smart where a bargee is asking for money and saying that their horse has nothing to eat. To answer your question, yes in 2016 we waited 30 days for a weather window to get to the Scillies, but it never came, a bit like this summer after that lovely period of settled weather in May/June. So we headed up to Padstow as the next leg of that summer's cruise. Our current berth is Sutton Harbour in Plymouth. If they ever make a proper job of Lydney harbour I'd like to keep her there, but that may never happen. As you say, she is designed to be like a small ship with a hull speed of 8kts and a range of about 2,500 miles at 7kts. The fender posts at Fremington Quay are a bit unusual - they have what appear to be sacrificial fenders fixed to the main posts with steel side plates. I can't remember seeing that anywhere else. I wonder if that's a modern addition. Old quays and jetties which used to be busy industrial paces are fascinating. I've started a gallery on Flickr for Fremington. https://flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/galleries/72157721968723104/with/9256027812/

Oh I give up. Humour has no place on the internet. All my little jokes fall flat even when I add one of those emoji whatsits to signify a smile. ☹️

Perhaps a mariner's view of Fremington Quay might be of some interest. All the north Devon approaches are difficult - if you go up to the ex. Coastguard station at Padstow (now run by the National Coastwatch Institution) they have a map of all the wrecks in the entrance to the River Camel, dozens and dozens of them. The Taw and Torridge esutuaries are similarly littered. From Reeds Almanac, 2019 edition Chartlet - Fremington Quay no longer of any significance and not shown Admiralty chart 2019, overview Approach to Fremington Quay Fremington Quay

I am pretty sure this is Penzance, the impounded dock north of the South Pier which is protected by a half-tide gate. It's a lovely picture. I can't resist adding a modern view with my boat Coracle moored against the part of the wall hidden by William Ashburner and somewhat squished by a rather domineering catamaran.

Wow, what a rabbit hole that Silverton siding is. Armchair investigating at its finest. Picture of Silverton Mill in 1933, I think looking north west (wagons top right hand corner). Now, how did they get planning permission for that in beautiful countryside? 😊 https://www.teignrail.co.uk/scouting/64-silverton/ https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw041144 https://maps.nls.uk/view/189239859 Still no information found about how the siding was worked.

Andrew Probyn has agreed I can mention his find, posted on Facebook. It is remnants of the Chattenden and Upnor railway, Kent (named Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway after 1906). The first image is on the pier at Upnor, the second where the line crosses a footpath. He says it looks like there could be more track in the undergrowth. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6764981156879242&set=pcb.9975804295764842 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6764981180212573&set=pcb.9975804295764842

Thanks - it's always good to know where things come from. I'm wary abut including anything else apart from the Burwell line at the moment but I will be visiting the archives at Cambridge in the late autumn and if I see any material about the other Cambridgeshire agricultural lines I will either include it or make its existence known so that others can look at it.

One memory leads to another. Before milk was "homogenised" one could tell when cows had left their winter quarters and feed and were out in the pastures eating the first flush of spring grass. The bit of cream on the top of the milk was fatter and there was more of it, some days it was thicker than single cream. Yum! I do hope the person who invented semi-skimmed homogenised milk spends their time in purgatory trying to drink the stuff while watching the chosen few enjoying the real thing. I like the engine shed.