Tim Hale

The goods 'Arfur has finally arrived at its new home and is being prepared for revenue earning service - a simple decoder installation is a bit of a head scratcher on such beautifully-made kitbuilts - no 8-pin socket and not a great deal of room. A small but capable decoder is needed and the Kuehn family of decoders are our first choice. The loco will be part of a trio on the group's layout - Beaminster Junction - the other two are a pair of Urie N15's which represent the both tender types from the 50's. These might be joined by a first series H15 from the PDK range but that is in the distant future. Thank you to David for his excellent work.

The Scalefour Society in offering a GCR tender kit, maybe the answer? Scroll down S4 Stores

Dave has yet to release a driving trailer for an exLSWR set but he does offer an exLBSCR P+P set. It is many years since the Triang clerestories were cut n'shut to form bodies for the cross-country set but the chassis have always been on the to-do list, maybe after the scenery is completed on the layout we will have some time to complete the job? Thanks for letting us know about the water crane, we have some Southwark Bridge details on the other to-do list. BTW, here is an image of the SCC roadsign that will be made from a set of Dart Castings with Chris Nevard's guidance, the bin is about 50 years out of place.

After a rather disjointed start, have attempted to replicate the stock that would have been found in the area during our timeframe of the latter half of the 50's. As we had originally planned to build a branchline, an M7 and P+P set seemed obligatory unfortunately the only kits seemed to be the old Blacksmith range (seen above) although it must be rather out of place in West Dorset but the preferred gated stock was just not available. The background of Hornby and Bachmann boxes are a reminder of the wonderful items of stock that we could dream about ten years ago, the layout is home to at least four Maunsell sets and there are plans for building an exLSWR 3-car cross-country set as described by Terry Gough almost 50 years ago in RM. We now have three pairs of hands contributing to the construction of the layout, with a combined age of at least one hundred and seventy, fortunately we hope to have the layout completed by Easter 2012. DesA

For the past few years both Hornby and Bachmann have produced some excellent stock for those of the Southern persuasion, what is missing is the infrastructure of Southern Railway buildings. However not is all lost, there are a few excellent books that provide plans and views of buildings, whilst amongst the archives of Railway Modeller and Model Railway Constructor there are a few gems to be found- John Charman and Frank Crudass were prolific contributors to both magazines, the latter featuring his layout Wadebridge. Frank Crudass RM 11/68 Building a super-detail tank wagon, pages 336, 337. RM 08/69 N Class Locomotive 2-6-0 SE&CR Maunsell Design RM 06/70 LSWR Rail Built Buffer Stop MRC 06/65 SR Platform barrows MRC 03/66 Building 30200 - building the Wills 4mm scale kit MRC 07/66 SR Platform seats MRC 04-5/67 Modelling the Beattie Well Tank MRC 07/66 SR Platform seats MRC 1980 Annual Wadebridge Island Platform John Charman MRC 08/71 LSWR Loading Gauge - John Charman describes the prototype and the model

Hi, Everyone viewing the Thunderbolt takes a different memory away with them, my 'moment' was the realisation that the opening shot featured a light Pacific with a cut-down tender and must have been one of the very first as the film was shot in '52 and released in '53 (source BFI archive) DesA.

As a resident in a rural community I am fairly aware of the radical changes in British agriculture since the end of WW2, unfortunately these do not seem to have been recognised by modellers unless it is the choice of farm mechanisation but what other agricultural clichés are committed ? The exodus of workforce from the field and farm has forced changes in the countryside as has the cessation of agricultural traffic on the rail- it is not just a matter of the withdrawal of cattle wagons, even the contents of those wagons has changed and I can recall the arrival of the all conquering Holsteins to the West Country but please remember that they were an alien breed until the 60's. Many of our native breeds have disappeared as milk or beef producers however breed associations keep the memories alive and a quick repaint is all that is needed in most cases but it would be useful to have some accurate models of shorthorns or Devon reds. British livestock associations.

Markit Crosshead This might help DesA

May I second the recommendation to use Markits excellent machined nickel silver crossheads for double slidebars. I recently had the pleasure of using them in place of DJH's offerings and the Markit items proved to be head n'shoulders above anything else. The added advantage, they are suitable for use straight out of the packet. DesA

SWMBO has expressed a desire to see 'what all the fuss is about' therefore we will find ourselves driving up from the West Country to see for ourselves. Many thanks for the constant inspiration.. DesA

One of the 'tricks' with SR 4-6-0's is to use undersize bogie wheels to avoid the rear axle fouling the cylinders, Hornby's current N15 is such an example of this practice. The difference is barely noticeable in normal use and the N15 remains my preferred all time 'great' . I look forward to the saga of the 'chonker' with a fair amount of anticipation. DesA

Apart from Rokal, I can only recall one other West Germany manufacturer of TT But there are a few more manufacturers that might be suitable for your needs: Beckmann, Roco, Gutzold, Kres, Schirmer, Modist. Modellbahnwelt in 08262 Muldenhammer seems to carry a few more TT lines than most. DesA

Rather nice, it certainly captures the look of the S15, long and purposeful. Just right for Meldon stone traffic or fast goods.

I have a collection of postcard images of the early H15's which should prove invaluable as will be Bradford Barton Urie book. Happy to Help