bécasse

It is perhaps worth remembering that there is an important historical difference in driving standards between the UK and France. UK drivers tend to drive up to the speed limit rather than keep to the timetable, French drivers, on the other hand, drive strictly to the timetable (which is always based on lower speeds than the line limit) and only accelerate up to the line limit when a train has been delayed en route. IIRC, SNCF drivers' bonuses were related to their ability to keep within plus/minus two minutes of the booked time. In the early days of Eurostar when I was typically making six or seven return trips a month, I quickly discovered that I could work out who was crewing the train just from the way it was driven, and with a French driver one rarely got the "this train is now travelling at 300 km/h" announcement on the LGV because the timetable was based on 270 km/h. Eurostar had to pay regular "fines" to Railtrack following early arrivals at Waterloo but never for trains which had SNCF drivers. One other point about LGVs is that they were always tested before they opened at much higher speeds than would be permitted once they were opened to traffic , sometimes 50% plus higher. I don't know whether this has changed since the fatal accident on the LGV-est extension, but I was told by a senior SNCF manager that one of the reasons that it was done was to highlight any unforeseen design problems - a legacy of the first LGV route through Bourgogne where some of the vertical curves proved to be too tight and speed limits had to be imposed to prevent trains from taking off as they breasted summits.

A 4REP on its own could certainly better that, and did, which is why they were limited to 60 mph when running "light". My long-deceased informant who was on the test train concerned wouldn't tell me the actual speed (as apparently the whole process was meant to be kept secret) but did say that, surprisingly given the third-rail power source, they would have shown Mallard a clean set of heels.

Half-a-century ago when we were creating an accurate P4 model of Bembridge in the Isle of Wight, we undertook the practical experiment of standing an equivalent distance at the real place as spectators would be at a show and looking at the telephone and fence wires (which were at least partly still in place), and this enabled us to confirm that they are effectively invisible. Poles and posts were placed precisely where they existed on the prototype. photo: the late Ian Lyle - one of "the five"

Pull and push set 734, converted from ex-LSWR so-called "emigrant" coaches during WWII, formed BTK-CK and gangwayed within the set, and seen here in the early BR lined crimson livery for secondary stock - you can see why the lining was sooned dropped from the livery as it rarely suited panelled vehicles. Sets 734 and 735 were allocated to Exeter as spares, primarily to replace rostered pull and push sets as required but sometimes used on hauled services as well. Yeovil Junction - Yeovil Town would have been a typical place to see them and they were also often used on Brookwood - Bisley specials for rifle events at the latter.

You have a lot of gear interfaces there in addition to driving the second axle via coupling rods. I wouldn't try any remedial work until I had the unit thoroughly run in. Toothpaste, as suggested, works quite well as a "gentleman's" grinding paste and is easy to wash off afterwards. I would be inclined to ensure that the axle bearings and coupling rod pins are well lubricated as well, my choice would be to use lock graphite puffed in.

As it is fitted should it have instanter, rather than 3-link, couplings?

Chatham, before the loops were taken out (as part of the electrification works) in 1958, and the train is the winter version (untitled) of the Kentish Belle with two Pullman cars in the formation, 11.35am from Victoria, 12.30-12.33pm at Chatham continuing to Ramsgate via Margate. The use of a Schools is unusual as it would normally have a Bulleid light pacific.

It certainly isn't in the immediate area of Brockenhurst, the main line and Castleman's corkscrew were both double track and only the Lymington branch, going off at Lymington Junction, was single. Steam-era photos show that, although there were similarities, it definitely wasn't there, and the only other two locations on the branch (L. Town and L. Pier) with signal boxes had distinctive signals with short arms on rail-built posts, instantly ruling them out too.

There are only a limited number of ex-LSWR single line contenders in the Hampshire and Dorset area: Tongham remnant Bentley - Bordon Alton - Meon Valley - Knowle (plus the single line at Fareham) Stokes Bay remnant Botley - Bishops Waltham Alton - Winchester Junction Fullerton Junction remnant Porton/Salisbury - Bulford (Totton - Fawley) Brockenhurst - Lymington Pier Alderbury Junction - West Moors Hamworthy Junction - Hamworthy Wareham - Swanage (Somerset & Dorset) Chard Junction - Chard Town Axminster - Lyme Regis

The odd thing is though is that the photo doesn't look right for any location on any of those lines. The signal box visible seems to be either a type 3B or a type 4 fitted with a circular metal ventilator and stovepipe, neither of which were unknown on such boxes but weren't common either, and it's location relative to the commencement of the single line is also unusual, at least for any of the lines where that central single disc head code applied, as by 1890 the LSWR had become canny and realised that if you located a box conveniently on one platform at crossing stations the signalman could help with general station duties between trains. There is also something slightly odd about the loco too because it is recorded as being renumbered in August 1949 but the tender in the photo seems to still be lettered SOUTHERN which would not have been the case for a tender repainted in late 1949. The probable explanation is that the tender is a temporary exchange. 30695 was certainly a Bournemouth loco throughout the likely timescale of the photo. Finally, given the size and make up of the train, it is unlikely to be on an insignificant dead-end branch line. Now I wait to be proved wrong on all those points - after all, the photo has to be of somewhere!

All Southern Railway catch points had point levers (and a CATCH POINTS sign) alongside them, although there may have been a handful that could be signal box worked where the catch point (or rather a sprung point providing the same protection as a catch point) lay within station limits and circumstances could arise where it might need to be worked.

Guided trolleybus system - as in Caen (where they call them trams but guided single-wire trolleybuses is more accurate)?

running and shunt signal levers - red point levers - black facing point lock lever - blue spare levers - white

Make sure it is a Southern layout. The Southern Region was well aware of how annoying to nearby residents a sound-based system would be, so it installed light "stalks" on top of its S&T equipment cupboards which flashed to indicate that the lineman should ring the box. It could easily be reproduced in model form, probably even in N, using a very short length of fibre optic and a flashing bulb hidden in a model of an equipment box - and it wouldn't annoy nearby stand holders.

Can't you narrow the doorway by soldering some brass strip (etch waste?) in at right angles and then filing to shape? Given your obvious skills you could probably even correct the panelling in the process. Then you would stand a reasonable chance of reproducing the double door as you intended.

The chronology is wrong, Didcot - Newbury closed before the Didcot - Swindon stopping trains were withdrawn.

The British Transport Commission was abolished at the end of 1962 and the title British Transport Police thus became operative wef 1 January 1963.

While I am not sure that my preference wouldn't have been for a typically (especially for the period) murky London day with virtually nothing visible, the current dramatic sky isn't at all bad and the inclusion of the Alexandra Palace high-point is certainly correct (on a clear day we could see it from our front garden in south-east London). I think that the answer with the gas-holders is to accept that they will never look right painted on the back-scene itself, but to try various flat reproductions printed on paper and mounted in various positions immediately front of the back-scene itself until you find a position and size that seems to work. The reproductions themselves could be paintings, pen-and-ink drawings or computer-produced drawings although I would suggest initially trying "fuzzy" photographs, if you can find ones taken from a suitable angle, computer-manipulated. That would certainly tell you whether it is possible to include a representation of the gas-holders without them looking totally wrong. If you can get a representation of the gas-holders looking right, then that will also pose the question of whether the arched-roof of St.Pancras station should be visible behind them.

There is also a mention that he realises that his modelled buildings aren't in fact tall enough because he fell into the old trap of assuming that each row of bricks plus mortar rises 3 inches. Ignoring modern metric bricks, there is a useful, but not invariable, guide that whilst mortared bricks in the south-east of England do tend to rise in 3 inch courses, the further north-west one goes in the British Isles, the fatter the bricks become, so that four brick courses may rise 13½ inches or even more. If you are measuring up a brick-built building, always, always measure the height of, say, twenty brick courses. If you have failed to do this, comparing the brick coursing with doors and windows can help as joinery work tended to be produced in 3" multiples.

Electrical flex, as used for connecting appliances rather than house wiring, contains multiple strands of fine wire. To straighten it fasten one end of a single strand (in a vice for example) and pull hard on the other end using pliers until it gives very slightly. The wire solders easily too.

Tim, Wouldn't the static horses have feeding bags, I seem to recollect from my youth that giving them a few oats to chew was common practice to keep waiting horses "occupied"? Certainly, though, that scene is starting to look very impressive.

This practice can have significant advantages providing that the repackager is located in the same Customs' territory as the purchaser, because the repackager has to pay all the Customs' charges due and not the purchaser. Given that there is usually a per-shipment handling charge due for Customs' examination, and it is rather more than nominal even if no actual charges are raised, that can result in both a financial and convenience gain for the purchaser.

You could be very proud of that model if it were in 4mm scale, in 2FS it is quite remarkable - and you aren't even a dentist!

This is a montage of a tiny section of the relevant 25" OS maps for 1902 and 1981 for Sturminster Newton with the approximate direction of sunlight indicated as seen in the above photo. This would suggest that the photo was taken between 17.00 and 17.30 and close to mid-summer's day when the elevation of the sun would be ~35° (so an object 3 metres high would cast a perpendicular shadow ~4,25 metres long). I will leave the 3D-trigonometrical proof to others but it doesn't seem empirically to be out of line with what is shown in the photo. One other piece of relevant information is that the goods shed had not only be demolished but replaced by a distinctly larger building with a totally different footprint by the time the 1981 OS map was surveyed (say 1980) so, coupled with the information on NCL, we can say that the photo dates from the 1970s.

That is interesting in that you see it as a join whereas I see it as horizontal iron or steel strip strapping. Obviously you have the advantage of seeing pictures of doors at other locations where its purpose may be more obvious, and certainly your description of the situation at Blandford would seem to suggest a join. However, except perhaps in wartime, I can't see any advantage (and definitely some disadvantages) in making up the door with two lengths of timber, in the sort of lengths required to cover a door there would no price advantage in using shorter lengths, timber gets markedly more relatively expensive as the width increases but not as the length does.