Tartaruga

The article gives no mention of him other than he modelled LMS and Midland which made me presume the link with Nottingham.

Hello Jim, Was this Peter Dobson? I was looking at his locos from card in March 2005 RM recently if so. Very impressive.

Yes the grab rails and the wipers are too thick. I really wanted a 50 but the pictures have put me off. Weathered up and in the flesh it may look the part so I'll wait and see.

I've had the same problem with my MN and also Castle, whereas my Jinty can pull almost anything. Does anybody know of a way around this? I was hoping my MN would pull a decent rake. One of the reasons I wanted a smaller scale.

When did large Model Railway Exhibitions start? I presume they were started by MRC's and grew from there but were there many pre-war?

As mentioned above just use a credit/debit card for buses and tube and is capped at a daily amount. Depending on when in september there is the Transport Museum Depot open day (21st - 24th) in Acton - https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/depot-open-days Again depending on the date; Kirkaldy Testing Museum is a bit niche https://www.testingworks.org.uk/about but an interesting story following the Tay Bridge collapse. Also near Tate Modern which is free. Hamleys does have model railway but just Hornby I seem to remember and yes overpriced. The shop isn't what it once was. Tooting Model Shop is still there. Santander bikes are another way to get about. Also other bike hire available such as Human Forest and Tier.

Great work as usual. Are the ends of the tank from the pipe or styrene?

I've always thought it was a shame there is no national archive for images of landscape and architecture. All depends on how good the local archive is. As you said Newton Abbot has a good library collection. I think it would be good for a national diary archive like Italy has. - http://archiviodiari.org/

Not in my local charity shops or boot sales 😒

Agreed. I have no local model shops or model railway club as a grapevine. I do belong to a national society and so the only way to ask a question is online! My Dad however still prefers to speak to people via a phone even if he can use a computer. On the other side I miss the presence of shops/businesses for a bargain. I do shop online for groceries but I still go to supermarkets for the discounted items at the end of day/week. I remember when small businesses or shops, on occasion, would chuck in something extra for free.

How big a company financially are Kato?

I presume as it has been taken up so readily by current modellers that their costs are being covered and they will advertise in the lead up to Christmas as planned last year. Newspaper advertising does seem a little strange though if trying to attract a younger market.

But if you are buying secondhand that can get you a lot of locos and rolling stock for a year.

I've just heard. Good luck in his retirement and yet again my prevarication has left me empty handed. 😫 I presume 2nd hand prices will increase too although I'm told they last forever

I don't think I've ever found a bargain on Ebay. I've seen a couple of items that i'm gutted missed but everything else still seems to go for silly money.