Poor Old Bruce

Farkham is going to Gateshead in a couple of weeks (they are at Hazel Grove this weekend btw). Get the boys to put in a word for you.

In simplistic terms, if the masters are well made so that you can make moulds from them and the castings actually go together it's a bit longer than the rubber mould takes to cure and then the castings take to cure and pack. After that it's down to how long the post takes. The longest part is actually making the masters.

Don't remember a chauldron from 3H but, at a swapmeet, I did once pick up a couple of kits by Eames. Not seen any before or since though.

So did 'The Palatine' - and a twelve-wheeler to boot!

As Captain Mainwaring would say "I was waiting for someone to spot that"

'Pullman' gangways use Buckeye couplings and the gangway for buffing. What Coachman calls the 'LNWR' type use a screw coupling with buffers. In order to couple the different types, the Pullman type required the buffers to be retraced (there are removable bits on the buffer shanks) and the Buckeye coupling was designed to be hinged down to reveal a standard hook to take the coupling of the adjacent vehicle or loco. Then there is the problem of getting the gangways to join up but I am not quite sure what form the adaptor takes.

Hope not as they are easier to apply if wanted than to remove if not. None visible on the Bachmann photo.

Just to give this topic a boost, here are some pics of E27004 in blue and E27005 in green at Manchester Piccadilly on their last Saturday in service. They had all been withdrawn by the following Monday. Bit of a fluke really as we had been photographing fire-and-water machines at Chinley but the weather was hopeless (fortnight at f/2.8 with CT18) so went into the big city (well Manchester anyway) to see what was happening there. Interesting to note that, of the two GUVs behind E27004, one is lined and the other apparently not.

Won't you be in just about the same pitch for our exhibition on the first weekend in October?

There are two decent sources of information on tank wagons: One is "Petroleum Rail Tank Wagons of Britain" written and published by Robert Tourret although the 'Petroleum' bit of the title is a bit misleading as it covers all sorts of tank wagons. A second (revised) edition of this has recently been published but it comes at a hefty price, at DEMU one trader was asking 34.50 but I got a copy from another for 27.00. The second book is "Oil On The Rails" by Alan Coppin, published in 1999 by the HMRS (ISBN 0 902 835 17 3). The books tell us that the wheelbase of a lot of the 14T tanks was actually 10ft 6in and they were 18ft over headstocks if you want to get picky about the models. There were also smaller (older) wagons on 9ft wb chassis. The diameter of the barrel also varied according to the amount and specific gravity of the intended payload. Standard sizes quoted by Tourret for the 'diameter inside centre barrel' are 5ft 7.5in; 5ft 10.5in; 6ft 2.875in; 6ft 7.25in and 7ft 2.125in. The Airfix/Dapol kits represent a 1960s wagon of 35 Tons Gross Laden Weight (GLW) while the Airkix RTR wagon represents a 20T (load) wagon, some of which were about (apparently - but not necessarily of the same design) in 1908! Liveries are another story HTH Richard

Is that the extra-strong glue then

Compared to some places, Aberdeen IS south.

Fair comment, Bob. I was trying to be a bit more specific than that. Flood has mentioned February 1988 so that makes it the Winter timetable.

You have forgotten to tell us the date of the layout

Graham did have to do a 'double take' when he spotted the thread on here about Hornby's DCC sound fitted 'Herring Gull' before he realised that the subject was actually an A4 and not a bird Richard

And another

AFAIK they were used in pairs on Midland Line expresses out of St. Pancras. There was a tale, though, of one expiring before leaving St. P and the other only managing to get as far as Kentish Town. Single units were used on Derby-Manchester trains. Anyone want a pair of HD ones? Richard

Should get to Kirkhill (aka Harris's Sidings - (In Joke)) ready for Saturday then. Another plug for the exhibition! Richard

I was assuming the van at Matlock Bath was a 10T job based on my experience of Slater's kits and a (probably insufficient) knowledge of the 'Midland Wagons' books. If there were 8T vans to a similar body style then I don't know. Sorry. Richard

Wouldn't that barrier coach make it 5S25 or is it analagous to 'engine and brake van(s)' ? Richard

Is that for 'full size photographs' or 'cardboard cut-outs'? (with apologies to Monty Python - fell off bike in Harris's Sidings) Richard

That is definitely a container, it has the rubber bumpers at each corner and the side braces going from the bottom corners inwards and upwards. Your photos show that the other end is corrugated, so doors each side and one end only. Richard

6600 Volts??????????? I thought it was 1500v, still not a toy to be played with willy-nilly. Richard

So that's what Alan meant about calling at a chippy on the way. I thought he was hungry . Richard

I've got Freightliner 66521 can take it as far as Nobb's End if that helps. Richard