PGN

Hando ... are they going to introduce a motorail service? OCTs with golf buggies ...

If they think you made THAT one up, what on earth would they make of some of the other SMJ constituent companies? I am thinking here, obviously, of the delightfully-named Easton Neston Mineral and Towcester, Roade & Olney Junction Railway. This one is particularly dear to my heart, of course, because it is the only British railway company ever to have featured Olney in its name ... and I am a member of the Olney MRC!

That's really nice modelling. I wish I could get my corners to butt up that cleanly when modelling with embossed styrene sheet!

And here's the (nearly) finished O class 0-4-4T in NER livery. I still need to add coal to the bunker, a locomotive crew, and possibly a reversing lever from N Brass Locomotives. Number plates will have to wait until Narrow Planet are accepting orders again. The panel edging is brush work, whereas the lining out has been done with Modelmaster lining transfers. I am not sure it is an altogether happy combination, and I think for the second build I will use the lining transfers throughout. This was the first time I had used them, though, and I was in two minds about trying them at all until after I had done the panel edging. The compromises in the kit design meant that the lining could not be applied in a strictly true-to-prototype manner; but all in all I am very pleased with how this one has turned out.

Oh ... the documentary evidence was pretty explicit about who had committed it and how ... he just didn't understand how it had been possible to do that and escape undetected. Once he'd visited the locus in quo, he understood ...

Well ... this may be a joke to you, but ... ... my brother's a history professor, and he was always bemused by some documents he had referred to, suggesting that one of the subjects had literally got away with murder, but he could not figure out how. Eventually he decided to go to the actual location (in rural France) and have a good look around, to see if he could reconcile the documentary accounts with the actual physical geography; and when he did this, all became clear to him, Not, however, before the good citizens of this sleepy French town had become thoroughly suspicious of this stranger in their midst, poking around in all the back alleys, and confronted him demanding to know what he was up to. His answer - "I'm investigating a murder" - had them all very excited indeed ... until he went on to explain that it had been committed in 1795!

Yes ... quite. I've read all that (several times) and it leaves my head spinning! Hence my question ... is my locomotive a J4 in GNR-speak, or is it a J4 in LNER-speak? And if it's a J4 in LNER-speak, what does that mean it is in GNR-speak?

Thanks Becasse ... Is that J4 in the GNR classification, or J4 in the LNER classification?

I acquired this N gauge scratch build last year, and I've been trying to identify it ever since. I am assuming that its running number (394) is a correct locomotive number for the prototype ... but what IS the prototype? I mean, obviously it's going to be a J-something or other ... but what is that something or other? (And yes ... I'm aware that the numerical designations changed between the GNR and LNER scemes, so that a GNR J13 became an LNER J52, and a GNR J23 became an LNER J50 or J51 ... so it would be helpful if any replies make it clear whether they're using the GNR or LNER classification ... ) I should be very grateful for any thoughts that people might have.

And a while back (QUITE a while back) someone was bemoaning the paucity of Midland locomotives in my roster. So here's the kit-bashed "Yankee Mogul" which I finished just before Christmas (still running with a part that I fashioned from scrap brass to replace a missing piece of valve gear ... I have a second-hand non-runner on its way which I will cannibalise for a "proper" replacement part ...

Here's my latest project: an ex-Highfield Models kit for an NER O class 0-4-4T passenger tank (LNER class G5) ... the moulds and masters are now owned by B H Enterprises and they will happily supply the kit, but without instructions as Peter Middleton never wrote any. I've got mine running on a Dapol M7 chassis, and here it is presented in primer (it's currently in my paint shop receiving full NER livery ... photos to follow when complete)

Well, I'm steadily getting closer to the point where my N gauge pre-grouping layout "Neraland 2" will be ready to join the exhibition circuit ... I may even get there before there is an exhibition circuit to join! It's basically just a scenic test track (single track oval; passing station; ladder fiddle yard with a few kickback sidings at rear) to be used as a vehicle to show my growing collection of pre-grouping trains. Ideally, at an exhibition I will take viewers (well, those that have the patience to stay in front of the one layout) on a tour Britain, looking in on all the major railway companies and a fair few of the minor ones, and ideally showing at least 4 trains for each company (a passenger and a goods in each direction as an absolute minimum). I've recently marked the major milestone of my 50th train entering service, and I hope to hit the 60 mark some time in 2021.

I've assembled quite a few more trains since then ... and I'm currently working on the LNWR goods, headed by a Coal Tank and brought up by a Newman Miniatures 3D printed LNWR brake van.

Atso - I really like what I'm seeing there. Is this a one-off, or are you doing anything else like this in N??

Well, it's not bad ... but you have breached the cardinal rule of heraldry that metals cannot abut metals and tinctures cannot abut tinctures. (Think about the mediaeval technology of making a shield ... you either had a painted wooden shield to which you affixed metal charges ... or you had a metal field on which you painted the charges.) You have or abutting azure for the fields of your two halves. That having been said, coats of arms invented in the 19th century were notorious for this sort of thing, so I think you can get away with it. I have rather greater concerns about your motto. Your cases are all wrong. "vi" is either dative or ablative, whereas "vapor" is either nominative or vocative. This makes no sense. If you had "vi vaporis", however, then we can read "vi" as ablative and "vaporis" can only be genitive, giving us "by the power of steam" which is probably, I think, the meaning you intended to convey is it not?

OK ... here's a brief history of the line. The farming community in West Huntingdonshire, inspired by the success of the Potton & Sandy Tramway, promoted their own line along the Kym valley: the St Neots and Kimbolton Tramway, which had stations at Kimbolton, Perry (on a site which is now Grafham Water), Southoe, LIttle Paxton, Eaton Ford (for St Neots) and Eaton Socon. In order to save on civil engineering costs the line never crossed the river Great Ouse, serving St Neots from Eaton Ford on the west bank of the river, and hence it made no connection with the Great Northern main line. Nevertheless. Produce for transhipment had to be carted between the two stations, across the bridge and through the town, and this ultimately limited the value of the line as a means of accessing the London markets. Nevertheless, the Midland railway, alarmed at the prospects of the proposed expansion of the Stratford-upon-Avon and MIdland Junction Railway to develop into a major route linking east and west coast ports, realised the need to promote an alternative which would not draw traffic away from Midland metals. It therefore supported, and invested in, the Rushden & Kimbolton Junction Railway which made an end-on junction with its own Rushden branch, and had stations at Newton Bromswold, Melchbourne, Swineshead and Kimbolton. When the line was completed the company took over the financially struggling St Neots and Kimbolton Tramway, to form the grandly-named Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire Railway. The MIdland worked the traffic and the line prospered, throwing out a branch from Perry to Keysoe with intermediate stations at Great Staughton and Little Staughton, and a second branch from Southoe to Huntingson with intermediate stations at Diddington, Buckden, and Brampton. This second branch, however, brought the company into conflict with the Great Northern which perceived (correctly), in the proposed Perry - Diddington curve, an attempt to give the Midland a direct and easy route into Huntingdon. The Great Northern threatened to oppose the bill in Parliament; and eventually a compromise was reached. The key terms of the compromise were (1) the Perry - Diddington curve was dropped from the bill; (2) the Midland would stop working the line within 5 years of completion of the Southoe - Huntingdon branch; and (3) no train that had started or passed through Perry Junction would reverse at Southoe Junction, Little Paxton or Eaton Ford if it was to proceed to or through Diddington; and no train which has started at or passed through Diddington would reverse at Southoe Junction, Little Paxton or Eaton Ford if it was to proceed to or through Perry Junction. So the Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire Railway had to acquire its own stock and commence running its own trains, and although assisted in this by the Midland (which still saw the potential for through-running, even if trains had to proceed as far as Eaton Socon to reverse) but even so the cost was financially crippling, and within a few years the company fell into receivership. Meanwhile, the Huntingdon and Ely Junction Railway, with intermediate stations at St Ives, Earith, Haddenham, Witchford and Ely (which it approached from the north) had been promoted and was under construction; and its promoters quickly saw the opportunity to acquire a ready-made railway empire much more extensive than that which they had ever dreamed of owning. Hurriedly applying for a bill to authorise the acquisition, they bought the Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire out of receivership and merged the two lines to form the Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire & East Coast Railway. Like so many other railway promoters before them, however, they had bitten off more than they could chew; and in 1900 they too failed financially. However, the Light Railways Act was by now on the statute book, and so the local landowners, who needed the line to transport their produce to market, approached Colonel Holman F Stephens and asked if he would consider running the line. His reply was that provided they obtained the Light Railway Order and provided the rolling stock, he would run the line as contractor for one half of the traffic receipts, subject to a minimum level of receipts per train run. The landowners formed a new company, the Ouse Valley Light Railway Company Limited, and through this company they acquired the rolling stock of the Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire & East Coast Railway and entered into an agreement for Colonel Stephens to work the line for them. The agreement, however, had set the minimum payment per train rather too high, and gave Colonel Stephens a financial incentive to run a much more intensive service then the traffic of the district could possibly justify - which he promptly did! If you look in Bradshaws, you will find that there are five timetables for the Ouse Valley Light Railway in the later years of its operation: 1. Eaton Ford - Rushden 2. Eaton Ford - Huntingdon 3. Huntingdon - Ely (always operated as a separate line, with trains not always connecting particularly sensibly at Huntingdon) 4. Southoe Junction - Keysoe (with good connections for the Huntingdon trains) 5. Eaton Ford - Eaton Socon The Eaton Ford - Eaton Socon shuttle was usually worked by a Sentinel steam railcar; but this was occasionally sent to work the Southoe Junction - Keysoe services at times when traffic on the branch was expected to be exceptionally light, as it was more economical to use an underworked locomotive on the short shuttle line than on the longer branch. [EDITED TO SAY ... on checking Jowitt's atlas, it seems that Kimbolton DID have a station, but on a Midland route that did not connect to the Rushden/Higham Ferrers branch. Oh boo ... this means that the above history does not really work. Back to the drawing board, then ... )

The Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and East Coast Railway - which got no closer to the East Coast than Ely - offers some interesting possibilities. Give me a little while to pore over some maps and stuff, and I'll come back with a suggested history of the line.

The 94xx and Holden Tank were released late 1971. The only British outline RTR locomotives you could have had prior to that were Highfield hand built models running on Minitrix or Arnold chassis.

Haulage power? Minitrix 2MT 2-6-2T? Every one I ever owned would have struggled to pull the skin off a rice pudding. The only N gauge locomotive I've known to be less capable of shifting stock was the Dapol M7 0-4-4T

Amazing modelling Simon ... as ever

Gentlemen, The trick is to marry a lady who is into horses. The amount of money they get through if they have one (or more) of them makes your modelling budget look like small change. Oh, and you get a 7.5 tonne lorry into the bargain, which is very useful for moving large portable layouts about the place ...

Here's the link to my pre-grouping N gauge workbench thread: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/43725-pgns-pre-grouping-n-gauge-workbench/

I've been wondering for some time what my next project ought to be. I've been looking from time to time at the Planit Engineering white metal kit for the NSR New C / New F class 0-6-4T, but if I ever were to get it built I'd have nothing for it to pull. I did buy a couple of the etched brass 6-wheel coach kits way back in about 1990, but back then I lacked the skills to build them. Somebody at the Norwich club said he'd put them together for me, but he didn't do a great job; they don't have underframes or roofs; and in any event there are only two of them and neither is a brake coach. So they've been sitting reproachfully in my "stalled projects" box ever since, too. But then ... on Ebay ... I saw a lot of part-built etched brass coach kits and they looked familiar. I put a bid on them, and bought them for just a tad under £25 including the postage. When they arrived ... every one of them was a Planit Engineering NSR 6-wheel coach, and two of them were brakes. All of the major parts are there; not so sure about the minor parts but no worries: I'm not intending to use the etched underframes in any event (still beyond my skills) and will be looking to mount them on continental RTR 6-wheel chassis. Not all of the roofs are there but that's not the end of the world either. As I recall, Mike Bryant never even used to include roofs in his etched brass coach kits, as he reckoned there were better ways of making them. So ... here are the major parts of what I bought (none of the construction to date is my work ... ). I now have a project to work on; and when it is finished I shall have a rake of coaches for the 0-6-4T to pull and no excuse whatever for not getting on and building it!

(ii), (iii) and (iv) all admitted. (i) true but irrelevant - there is no rule that says the sleeper service has to run to / from Euston. There are plenty of empty late-evening platform faces at King's Cross and St Pancras. Similarly, there is no rule that says all of the sleeper carriages have to be crammed into a single train. There are already two departures - the Lowlander with portions for Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the Highlander with portions for Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William. They could (if so minded) split the Highlander into two separate departures - the West Highlander with portions for Oban, Fort William and Kyle of Lochalsh, and the East Highlander with portions for Aberdeen, and Inverness. (No ... I'm not suggesting that they should, or that it would be economically viable or anything .... your points ii - iv are already admitted ... I'm just saying that the length of the platform face at Euston does not have to be a limiting factor if one or more of your points ii - iv were to be remedied and the political will was there to organise it in some other way.)

Hmmmm ... the lighting wasn't great for the pictures of the S15. I'll have to try to get some better ones at some point ...