BMacdermott

Hello Gilbert & Tony Difficult to tell but isn't the one over the left buffer a 'tail lamp'? Brian

Thanks, yes, it does look a bit 'dark' doesn't it. Brian

Hello everyone Does anyone know what station that is? If the location has a loco shed, perhaps these might be Special Traffic Notices (STNs) etc destined for an MPD? The loco shows 'light engine' lamp code. Empty water churns from Bruton Road Crossing were sometimes carried on S&D loco buffer beams. Brian

Hello Mike Poll Team colleague and GWR author, John Lewis, has just told me that he believes that the MoD had an establishment just beyond Didcot power station. Did that have tight curves where the 15xx would be handy? I think I have convinced myself that I do need to get one on order! Brian

Hello everyone Congratulations to Bachmann on this one - we put the loco into the The 2019 00 Wishlist Poll as it was then within our cut-off date of 2005 for inclusion (having been originally released in 2004). It was very High Polling. Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

Hello everyone Just to add to the comments of Axlebox and TheSignalEngineer (but without wishing to go off topic!), the Conflat L and Containers have always been in the upper echelons of (what was) The 00 Wishlist Poll. Brian

Hello everyone Slightly off topic for LNER Banana Vans per se, but below is an extract from a late 1959 Special Traffic Notice (STN). Brian

Hello Accurascale Well done on this announcement - I intend to get Nos.7810 and 7812. Putting my 'Poll Team hat' on for a moment, the Manor has been in The Top 50 of (what was) The Annual 00 Wishlist Poll since 2014. In 2019 (the final 'full' Poll), the loco was the most-wanted GWR loco and came in overall 2nd position - just two votes behind the USATC S-160. All the very best with the project! Brian

Hello everyone Readers might like to be aware that Trains Illustrated June 1954 carries an article entitled Bananas Galore - which gives an outline of how banana transit was arranged at that time. There are no photos nor mention of specific vans, though At that time, four to six banana boats were coming in every week - roughly one to each of Avonmouth, Garston, Liverpool, London (PLA), Preston and Southampton. The article states that the biggest of these ships required 700 vans to accommodate the cargo. Brian

Hello Steve Thanks for writing. Indeed, it's true that I could get a replacement or refund, but my supplier is out of stock with no more from Bachmann. I'm (relatively) happy with my 'bodge' - many people wouldn't notice the very slight stutter - only when moving off at dead slow speed for a second or so - and I'm not having any real problem with it on 'station pilot duty'. I have, however, sent a 'note of concern' to the shop to pass to Bachmann and I know that has already been done. If the loco gets worse, then it will go back. Brian

Hello everyone I received my three 94xx a couple of days ago...two are perfect runners but one has the 'close to top dead center stutter' that others have reported. I took the body off and noticed that the motor seemed a little wobbly. I found that if I held the motor 'biased' to one side or other, the problem went away. I then went a bit further and poked a wooden tooth pick between the motor and frame to 'fix it' without my hand interfering with the running. Well...it seemed to cure the problem by about 95%. I have now fixed the motor in place with some Duck tape (which can be removed if needed) and she is running fairly well. I am using this one on 'station pilot duties' and the 'stutter' is hardly noticeable. However, I think it would become a nuisance if I was shunting with it as you can hear the motor 'work slightly harder' as it goes through that same point in the rotation. Brian

Hello Peter I have emailed Mike Arlett and Peter Smith and will reply if they have any info. Brian

Hello Fredo The 00 Poll Team has sent them 'chapter & verse' on why they should be made...and, I guess, one or two others have, too. Brian (on behalf of The 00 Wishlist Poll Team)

Hello Chris and all at Kernow That is excellent news - well done to all. Brian

Hello everyone You may like to know about the appeal on the link below. Brian (no connection other than satisfied shop customer) https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/bure-valley-railway-appeal-for-boiler-7069316

Hello Tony and everyone Having just revisited Archie’s video on page 2200 and watched the shunting of the freight train, I remembered that you aren’t a shunting fan (so to speak) – looking at the video about 10 minutes in, you remark about picking up ‘your choice’ of wagons. Nothing wrong with that; it’s your railway and you run it your way! However, I know that you have visitors who do like ‘proper shunting’, so they – and other readers here – may like to see my system. As you know, I have an eye level layout which has a goods yard probably 50% the size of Little Bytham, so my system would need a little adaptation to suit and I’ll make some suggestions later in this text. My lower layout has six long ‘sorting sidings’ – as opposed to a goods yard per se – as well as multiple cyclic diagrams of passenger and parcels trains which work to a different ‘system’. I will outline those in another post if anyone so wishes. The photo below shows my Shunting Instructions. On the ‘real railway’ during your time-frame, wagons were ordered or despatched as required by the relevant freight authority. My chart below simulates this as it ‘makes me’ shunt to order as opposed to whim or fancy. Let’s say your freight arrived at 10.05am. It was moving to your right (which might be called Down, North, Up, East etc). Reference to the time column 01-10 (minutes past any hour) shows that I must drop off the first four wagons of our train – I make the assumption that ‘the yard in rear’ has kindly placed them at the head for me! These four wagons would be shunted to suitable locations: Cattle Wagons to cattle dock; Containers to crane; etc. The column ‘Collect’ instructs me to collect Wooden Vans, Cattle Wagons and Open Wagons such as may be to hand; if none are to hand, then so be it, you can’t/don’t collect. Working out how to get all the inbounds in the ‘right places’ and all the outbounds behind the tender can take a lot of head scratching – but that is the fun and realistic part of the operation! The random method means that you sometimes get a very long train and, conversely, there are days when you might end up with just a simple Engine & Brake Van. At Little Bytham, the term Wooden Vans might be split up as: Wooden Vans (Fitted) Wooden Vans (Unfitted) Wooden Vans (Sliding Door) Plywood Vans etc You could do the same with Cattle: LNER types GWR types MR types etc And Opens might be: Loaded Opens Sheeted Opens 5-plank Opens Steel-sided Opens etc My view is that shunting to a system is far more challenging and realistic than simply ‘shuffling things around’, so I have added my italics to Headstock’s strapline: Rule one, the right loco, on the right train, in the right location, doing what it is rightly supposed to do. Many of you here love to ‘make things’ and that is laudable…but I love to ‘run things’. That is where I get my pleasure! Finally, in these lockdown times, I see and hear of many people who say they are 'bored' or 'have nothing to do'. Aren't we lucky - as a railway modelling community - that we have so much to get on with? Brian

Hello Mel That is brilliant! Brian

Hello Tim All good here thanks! I'm not so involved with S&D matters these days but still have regular contact with Mike Arlett and Peter Smith. Up until 'the Covid problem', my wife and I were meeting up with Jonathan Edwards and his good lady on a regular 'annual natter and lunch' basis - we hope to resume as soon as we can. According to my notes, the change of procedure at Templecombe was due to the arrival times on Saturday - effectively putting the trains 'wrong way round' so to speak. All the best with the project and I look forward to seeing more! Brian

Hello Paperlad I have an abiding memory of coming in on Luton Rwy 18 and bouncing - Training Officer Gourlay rammed the throttle in so hard I thought it was going to come out through the propellor! Fortunately, this gave us enough 'thrust' to get down safely albeit a tad hard. Brian

Hello PMP My log book says: 10.10.71, HZ, Bulpitt, 1825-1855, 30 minutes, Climbing. I guess the light must have been almost gone by the time we landed! Brian

Hello Tim Many thanks for this - apologies, but I have only just discovered your thread! Hope you are well. All the best. Brian

Hello Paperlad and everyone A couple of bits of paper from my training days... It was always very exciting landing on 36 as you were crossing the runway. Now a car park! My logbook says I did 9 hours and 45 minutes which included two lessons on stalling. If anyone knows Luton Flying School from those days (late 1971) my instructors were: Stephens; Gourlay; and Brian Bulpitt. Sadly, I cannot recall Training Officer Gourlay's first name (!) but he was a joy to learn with. I think he liked that fact that I was taking my lessons very seriously. During one take-off roll, he thrust his trusty clipboard sideways across my vision out of the windscreen and bellowed: "OK...fly the instruments!" - which I did for a short while. This may sound 'dangerous' but I assure you it was done 'professionally'. Brian

Hello rob d2 and Paperlad Indeed a different world to 'my' Hotel Zulu...I'm sure I could see the ground through the floor in that thing! More photos to follow. Brian

Hello everyone A couple of shots from late summer/early autumn 1971 when I was learning to fly at Luton. The shots are: 8mm cine film transferred onto CD, then 'screen grabbed' on my mobile - hence the quality! The first shot is up in the tower; the second is Hotel Zulu - one I flew once or twice. Had to give up the lessons...marriage got in the way! Brian

Hello Wickham Green too The credit is all to Mike King who states the fact in the caption. Brian