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Shouldn't the leading wheels have one more spoke? No, this is an extraordinary feat. A year is not long for something so unique, in my view. You've not only built something to entertain yourself, but allowed us all to enjoy a piece of history. An HMRS article seems very appropriate.

Thank you. Being 1849 the loco was a coke burner. Coke was often supplied to the locos in sacks and couldn’t be piled up like coal so easily as it’s light weight would cause it tumble around and fall off. Therefore the complete lack of any bunker sort of makes sense. I can only imagine that when the fireman was running low, the brakesman would haul another sack over to the loco. It’s something I will have to make sure I include on the model.

Thank you Eric, not Brighton related but a fascinating little loco. Looking forward to starting the tender/carriage next.

Thanks very much. I’ll keep on with it.

Hi Chris, I will echo Eric's thoughts! Cheers, Ian

Chris I had wondered how you were going to follow the Bodmer, without choosing something mundane or "modern" - I should have known. Another lovely piece of work. Best wishes Eric

Now that is Steampunk! Hat...coat... Absolutely glorious, almost sickening that it's been your secondary back-up project! Really lovely, can't wait to see more in future updates.

Lima vans - correct, the CCT on the right is a BR Mk1 vehicle, mid 1950s onwards. The bogie van is fine apart from the BR bogies, which can be replaced with spares from Bachmann. Hornby - BR Mk1 brake third on the left, the POS (Post Office, Sorting) on the right is surprisingly accurate for an LMS vehicle apart from the bogies (BR again) and the toy operating bits. It's pretty close to one of the 57' designs albeit with some 60' features (the toilet window I think). They did operate in ones and twos attached to passenger trains, not just in full TPOs. Dapol - Period 2 non-corridor lav composite, usually a suburban coach but could be used as a strengthener. The brake third is Period 3 and accurate. If you want to keep the Dapol bogies use brass pinpoints to keep the wheelsets in, otherwise swap for Bachmann LMS bogies. Both accurate but a bit basic by current standards. 'Tri-ang' - Hornby 1980s vintage I believe, generic Period 3 LMS composite, kind of looks like all of them without being accurate for any of them. Generic bogies again. The heavy lines on the roof are correct, if poorly done on the Hornby ones and a bit overdone on the Airfix/Dapol ones. The lines on LMS coach roofs were prominent flat strips covering the butt joints between the roof panels, whereas those on most Mk1s were welds. Mainline - correct, Period 1 BTK, and an accurate model of it too although in the later livery. The other one is an Airfix/Dapol composite, I think, accurate if it is, but a bit light on underframe detail and it looks as though the windows might have been replaced, the Airfix/Dapol ones usually have a heavy prismatic effect. Finally - Hornby or possibly Tri-ang BR Mk1 brake third. As for what you could use, all the LMS coaches there are in the later 'simplified liveries, and the Period 3 coaches are suitable for 1933 onwards (dates vary for each diagram). The Precedents were almost gone by 1933, so really only the Mainline MK1 and the non-corridor composite out of that lot, and then perhaps only in the earlier fully lined livery. But it's your trainset and Rule 1 applies. Have a look at Ben Alder's Far North Line - he's got locos on there which only ever existed on paper, never mind didn't survive that long, and it's totally convincing.

Yes. In fact wheels really bother me when I’m building early locos. Gibson, Sharman, Romford etc are all very well but so chunky and often have the wrong spoke count too. I have made my own in the past but it’s a lot of work and they can be a little too delicate. Thanks for your generous comments too.

Thank you. I’m quite glad it’s done. I can move on to something else equally challenging!

While on the subject of animals and rail transport, we must also not forget the issues caused by categorisation of pigs... Sadly Farthing is not a little country station.

Works both ways. The first house we bought, there were four 1970s-style chairs in the front garden - the square wood framed sort that one used to find in the lobbies of public buildings, so hideous there's not even a photo on Google Images. They went straight to the dump. Next time I went to the dump, the dump staff had them in their office.

I can’t remember where it was, possibly New Radnor, but a customer once arrived to ask of the goods clerk the whereabouts of his new chair, only to find said employee sitting on it!

Agree. I thought of this:

I know.

You can change the time at the bottom of the page, or set it to "immediately":

Thanks Ian, much appreciated.

Yep, new drawing. I keep my eyes open for anything that might be fun to draw up. This is the second version of this one, I somehow contrived to lose the first vector version. Still can't imagine where I could have put it.

That sounds intriguing Jim. I considered looking for more information in my books, but wouldn't know where to look for that particular issue! Edit: Jim sent me the short-story to which he was alluding. It is available here and made me laugh: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/171/american-short-fiction/3456/pigs-is-pigs/

Absolutely wonderful, Mikkel! I can imagine the station staff "effing and jeffing" as they struggle with the slippery little beggars and shocked young ladies having to be escorted away from the scene, having never heard such language before.

Thank you. It was a struggle this one but I learned a lot from it, mostly about my limits!

Worth all of the blood sweat and tears! Thanks for posting.

Brilliant, as ever. On the question of disposal of undeliverable goods, E.L. Ahrons has a tale relating to a station on the Midland's Leeds & Bradford line. A local family had gone on a yachting holiday, shutting up their house. A few days after their departure, a goose (dead) arrived at the station for them, a present from a friend. After a decent interval, 'a carefully-worded communication was despatched to Derby, giving a most harrowing description of the parcel - a bird hopelessly in the throes of incipient decomposition - with an urgent enquiry for immediate instructions as to its disposal. A wire was duly received in reply, which contained, so report said, permission to bury the bird, and Mr. Stationmaster "buried" it. I am unable to indicate definitely the exact site of its interment, but ... it was concluded by the inhabitants of the surrounding district that the bird had found a resting-place "somewhere in stationmaster".' As an aside, I notice that your method of carriage painting gives the impression of the brown line on the cream panels - in fact the angle between panel and beading.

Thanks Martyn. I have just had a look at your thatching on Pott Row, very tempting to try out though I don't have anywhere on the layouts for a thatched building. Thanks Duncan, it was fun to do as usual. I did struggle a bit with the eels though, not easy to get right! Many thanks LBRJ. The original plan was to do just one single photo. I don't know why these things always develop!

I'd echo what Mikkel has said here. This is just superb information. The tips that Duncan has so kindly provided are also very relevant if you are building your own chassis, either from a kit or from scratch. The tip about the 30 thou on the GW Models wheel press is intriguing and I may well try that myself. One thing that I do try to do, when building a chassis kit with AG or Ultrascale wheels, is to make as many of the wheels sets as possible, capable of being dropped out for maintenance.

That is brilliant. Martyn

At last nights local EMGS meeting, where I was showing progress of the Class 5, a Mr Bixley, famed for his knowledge and love of things Brightonish and pre 1945 expressed the same opinion. The discussion then considered the asthetics of Class 5 and the Black 5 and came to the conclusion that it is the high running plate on the standard with a lack of splashers that gives it a clean line. Another observation is that the Black 5's boiler is set lower, thus giving it a more universal loading gauge but making it look more dumpy. I must admit I hadn't really noticed. But I think that it is worth studying a few photos and then discussing over a few beers.