SP Steve

According to David Peel's "Locomotive Headboards - The Complete Story" two types of cast "Cornish Riviera Limited" headboards, one featuring cast lettering and the other painted lettering, were used concurrently with each other for the period 11 June 1956 to Summer 1958. One way to determine which is being carried is that on the cast letter version the letter "R" has an upturned tail which is absent on boards with painted lettering. In 1958 the title changed to "Cornish Riviera Express" but again the headboards used either cast or painted lettering. The Getty Images picture also features in the book and carries the following caption: "On the first day of the summer timetable, the brand new wooden board (with painted lettering) is given a shine for the press by driver Lewis Parker. The thickness of the board will be noted, 11 June 1956."

I know they say never to model a model but how about using a Britains diecast model as a reference source? They do a 1:32 version of a Howard 155 model which can be found on eBay for a reasonable sum and for your purposes should yield a scaled down 4mm version that looks the part (if necessary you could also use it's various proportions to make smaller / larger types to fit your wagons). Another avenue I've used for information are auction houses which deal with farm and machinery sales. They frequently catalogue their lots on line with a reasonable number of pictures taken from different angles. They sometimes give the tyre size but even if they don't by entering your own value for this you can then work out dimensions using it as your reference (it won't be 100% accurate but I've found it works to produce vehicles that look in proportion).

The following website has some useful insight into armour plate used on ships: https://kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1643 ARM ET and EL wagons could also find a use in transporting heavy castings as well as plate - there's a nice shot in Don Rowland's "Twilight of the Goods" showing a diagram 2/001 ARM EL B907113 at Carlisle in 1960 with just such a heavy block load. Incidentally when carrying plate on flat topped or armour plate wagons it was stipulated that loads were to be chained along their length as well as crosswise.

Using Wayback Machine I've retrieved the following information for the kits Blacksmith were doing back in 2010 and listed them as an Excel file. For anyone not familiar with using Wayback Machine then the following link should take you to the archived Blacksmith website pages (I think most of the links to their products shown on there work should you wish to look at the non-kit stuff they did : http://web.archive.org/web/20100715170643/http://www.blacksmithmodels.com/kits.htm Blacksmith Brass Kits.xlsx

The Aberdeen portion actually started its journey at Elgin as 1A08 05:52 Elgin - Carstairs which changed code from Aberdeen, becoming 1C83 and then joining with 1V90 10:47 Glasgow Central - Penzance at Carstairs (It was also given the "Cornish Scot" named train title). One sizable group using such long distance services at this time were military personnel, especially RAF and Navy. Many families remained in situ after spouses were posted to other camps or personnel were simply going to / returning from tours (especially at sea) so a steady flow of long distance travelers emerged.

The following links may be of help as they carry details for both steam, diesel and electric locos manufactured at Vulcan Foundry, although in the case of the latter two types the cutoff date is 1962. https://enuii.org/vulcan_foundry/diesel_and_electric_locomotive_list.htm https://enuii.org/vulcan_foundry/locomotive_list.htm https://enuii.org/vulcan_foundry/photographs/pictorial_loco_list.htm https://enuii.org/vulcan_foundry/photographs/pictorial_diesel_loco_list.htm

Royal Mail have announced details for a special issue of stamps commemorating LNER A1 locomotive No. 4472 "The Flying Scotsman", scheduled for release on the 9th March 2023. Poignantly the stamps will also be the final issue featuring the silhouette of HM Queen Elizabeth II. A variety of souvenir products are available for pre-order from: https://shop.royalmail.com/special-stamp-issues/flying-scotsman

According to Roger Harris' "The Allocation History of BR Multiple Units - Part 4" (which covers second & third generation DMUs and HST Stock) the following details are listed for the vehicles in question: 40310 - August 1985 40311 - November 1985 40312 - October 1985 40313 - Converted November 1985 but actually renumbered in February 1986 40314 - Converted circa December 1985 but believed renumbered February 1986 40315 - August 1985 40316 - September 1985 40317 - October 1985 40318 - as per 40314 40319 - September 1985 40320 - October 1985 40321 - September 1985 40339 - circa October 1985 40340 - October 1985 40341 - circa November 1985 40342 - circa December 1985 but in works for fire damage repair until August 1986 40343 - September 1985 Copies of the volume are still available at Bill Hudson. https://www.billhudsontransportbooks.co.uk/bhtb/bh14154/the-allocation-history-of-br-diesel-multiple-units-part-4/

Crecy's website is showing Volume 5 covering open wagons due April 2023 https://www.crecy.co.uk/the-acquired-wagons-of-british-railways-volume-5

I discovered the following regarding load for Milk trains, taken from a BR WR publication published by Paddington October 1974 titled "Loads For Passenger, Parcels, Motorail and Milk Trains".

Hopefully Eaton won't mind but for those interested in advance tickets then they can be purchased by following the link below: https://www.wiganfrm.org.uk/product/Expo2022/2?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

Hi Simon, Presumably you are referencing a picture in Russell's "Great Western Coaches 1903 - 1948" which depicts W1317W with a board carrying two BR coach crests either side of a "?? Tote System Vehicle" title. The Tote system was an American idea which allowed delivery of powdered loads direct from manufacturers to end users in leased dedicated containers. British Railways adopted the idea with the license for manufacturing the containers given to Pressoturn Ltd of Leamington Spa who, from 1959, built a series of "T" Type Containers which differed only in cubic capacities. A number of Dia 1/462 12T Pipe wagons were modified with internal springs to hold ten containers, a picture of which (along with further details) can be seen at: http://emgauge70s.co.uk/model_omwb184.html Incidentally the Russell image shows the sign board with an indistinct word before the "Tote System" wording which could possibly be "Pressoturn" - if so I wonder if the picture was taken at Leamington Spa?

Dave Larkin's data sheet states that the CONFLAT C code was reused in 1973 for Rectanks slightly modified to take whisky containers between Invergordon and Greenock. Later TOPS codes were FWP (FY001A) and FZP (FZ001A) and he has them finishing this traffic around 1978. It seems the only modification made was to fix spigots to the floor to locate the containers.

At one time I used to work in Thornbury so often took the road up through the docks rather than the M5. More by luck than judgement I came across 56.114 "Maltby Colliery" and 37.887 "Caerphilly Castle / Castell Caerfili" on the 25th June 1993. On the slide mount I have written "Gauging trials for new terminal - awaiting Class 60" which I presume is the subject of your image. On the 27th July 1993 I recorded 60.056 "William Beveridge" with a note on the mount stating "First load of coal from new terminal"

I have a Rails of Sheffield D9008 on pre-order but having just spoken to them they don't appear to be getting any P4 or EM wheelsets to send out. I'm in for an EM gauge set but how would I go about obtaining them? Will they appear on your website as a separately listed item or are they only obtainable as an option when ordering a loco?