hmrspaul

Apologies for taking this too far off topic. And thank you for the advice. I used to know all this, driving at least annually into Europe for many years. I used the Caen route at least once. I liked the Hovercraft when venturing further east to Italy etc. As mentioned the last years used the train - so long ago I think the final time was Bologna to Calais on the longest train I had seen - 17 coaches and 27 car carriers (how could this not pay) which arrived, late, in Calais to learn that Princess Di had been killed just before we went around Paris. Then although a Platinum card holder on Eurostar in retirement recently my voyaging has been far more distant and I am out of touch with the ways of entry into Europe, with or without a visa. Paul

Several pages on and I still think this is the best advice. IIRC one of the so called antique shows on TV had a Corgi 007 Bond Aston Martin for silly money. Unplayed with, in original box etc. Now I remember them piled high in the department stores of the mid 60s. But will only have lasted as long as the film it was related to was in vogue - quite brief. The vast majority will have been junked years ago - as was all my very battered Dinky Toys by my parents when I left home. Another TV high earner was a Dinky fire tender from the 1950s, bought via an offer on a cereals packet and never opened - not the outer wrapping I mean, let alone the box. It would have needed an X-ray to prove the collectable was inside! I've always disliked the idea of collectors in the hobby because it means that no modelling is done; the model has to be pristine, no weathering, no upgrading of detail and there was a period when far too many exhibition layouts had out of the box rolling stock. I think that has changed for the better but perhaps now with the super inflation of new prices there will be a new tendency to leave well alone. As for O gauge, I do wonder about the market for super detailed brass locos at £3K and more. I agree with another comment that the cheaper RTR stuff has hit secondhand kit built model prices. Paul

Thank you. I wrongly assumed the ferry route had closed a long time ago. We are planning on driving to the Dordogne this spring/summer for the first time in a long time and will have to think about the various routes. From York there is a lot to be said for routes which avoid the M25; I found driving son to Uni in Southampton remarkably easy compared to getting into the London mess. Mind all the experiences are a few years ago and the whole of the South East seems to have ground to a standstill more recently - or it has whenever I've ventured that way driving. Paul

Shameful loss of a really useful route into France; Newhaven to Dieppe was the quickest way to the south of France, saved having to drive around Paris etc. Didn't bother me so much after we moved north as I started using the French car trains - another loss I believe. The Chunnel has many advantages but Spain and southern France are a long drive from Calais in comparison with Dieppe. Paul

Couldn't edit. Should add that not all had the turned under bottom, such as https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brmineralweld/e2eb19b1f PAul

There were lots of rebuild methods. The full rebuild has the bottom of the sides curved under -Bachmann do this. Your original would have been fine for the type of simple rebuild where the alteration was to remove the top door and weld a steel sheet in place https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brmineralweld/e3dc0fa4c Paul

This photo shows an earlyish use of NCL https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/road/e3eba94e4 Worth resurrecting as we have never managed to confirm what this trailer did. Not for livestock I think we agree, perhaps as a mobile exhibition trailer? Merv also pointed out many years ago the grey tractor is interesting as it the internal user livery for BR road vehicles! Paul

No I haven't! Some of my friends are very au fait with the search engine. Personally I just pop down to my local library when I want something having emailed to reserve in advance. Yep, my lady chose the house and it is 7 minutes walk to the NRM and a further 3 to the search engine! I spent too much of my working life doing library related research to really enjoy it very much. Paul PS the paint dates quoted appear accurate, very few railway books reference sources.

No We measured the grounded tank in Rugby, but I don't know if I have a photocopy of the field drawing. I'm thousands of miles from my library, ask me beginning of February via email [email protected] Pura Vida Paul

Murgatroyds/BP had 4 distinctive designs of bogie chlorine tank https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bpcmchlorinetbv https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/bpcmchlorinetbb The truly ICI ones disappeared a lot earlier https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/iciunfittank and were for Caustic Soda. ICI used 4 wheel tank wagons for chlorine. One type is illustrated in Fidczuk, Peter (2007) Gas by Rail Part 3: Murgatroyd’s. Railway Archive No. 15 p25 – 42 + back cover. Drawing – diagram of bogie tank BPCM770xx series liquid chlorine Paul

Yes, and as I remark perhaps would have been useful as the BDAs have continued in use with low payload and having to use under runners for many longer loads. I suppose the cargowaggon flats are the nearest replacement. https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brblaprototype Paul

As this is such an old topic my link is out of date. Here are mine https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/halibut Paul

The low discharge was for the heavy, relatively safe, fuel oils - delivered in the black tanks. The high discharge was for siphoning light, flammable, fuel oils. The first photo shows the unfitted tank wagons of the later photos have been replaced by class A vacuum braked tank wagons - they look like the early type recently modelled by Heljan in 4 and 7mm. If bitumen was also being delivered it would have required either a supply of steam or flames into flame tubes as it had to be warmed to discharge it. Nice very interesting photos of facilities rarely noticed by photographers. Paul

As said all sorts of larger animals were carried in cattle wagons. Including bulls which had to be tethered by their nose ring - and not many in a wagon. Horses had to be covered during the winter months (the legislation actually gives different start and end dates for different types of the horse family. But the tarpulin had to be lifted in the center line so they could breath! The animals were quite closely packed so they wouldn't fall - and also if the partition could be put in place the price of transport came down. Photos of livestock trains in action are quite rare, but there is a full BTF film of the farm move mentioned earlier. There should be plenty on livestock trains in the archives of RMWeb, often discussed Paul

Which is So many colour photos for them to choose from Seriously, what period of time? Paul