IWCR

Buses In heavy traffic I slow/stop to let the bus out. In quiet periods when nothing is behind me the bus can wait 10 seconds. I have no desire to sit behind a slow bus on an empty road. Pete

Some of the money laundering bits I cannot understand. A few years ago I was going abroad on a trip and ordered a couple of hundred in relevant foreign currency at the Post Office. When I was collecting I was intending to pay by cheque (on a UK bank in the same town). No not allowed due to "Money Laundering" rules, I had to go to the bank, draw cash and exchange this. I would have thought exchanging cash for new would have been more of a problem. Pete

Condensation is more of a problem with a non-superheated loco hence Drain Cocks will be used more often and after much shorter stops. This generally applies to older engines, often with slide valves. A modern loco with Superheat and piston valves would as stated earlier not need to use the drains at all once warmed through unless a prolonged stand occurred during the working period.] Pete

Re: "Side Tank Rivets" These are actually nuts on studs which secure the tank covers over the actual tank side. The tank cover was used with lagging to give some insulation to the tanks in the days of feed heaters and cross-head driven pumps. The feed heater was the pipe coming back from the smokebox to the tank each side with a vent at the top of the tank. Later in the days of injectors lagging removed but the covers were retained. I think 12 studs was the as built arrangement, over the years some were removed or broken hence variations, as always a dated photo of a specific loco is needed to check what is right for any individual engine. Pete

Were these available with two options, round or square faces? Seem to remember buying some L&B type couplings but had to get both as the seller didnt have enough of the correct type. Pete

Many people kept 1 or 2 pigs for meat, hence a pigsty & run. Likely a covered wood pile for fuel. As stated above vegtables would be grown, this would need to be walled or fenced in to keep rabbits off. Probably some fruit trees, mainly Apple. Pete

The Southern built no medium / small passenger locos and no loco hauled carriages for suburban or branch line services. The money went on electrification, the displaced locos and carriages from electrified areas then serving for this traffic. After WW2 there was a real need to start replacing the many elderly locos and a new design was prepared. This was the "Leader", the less said about that the better. After Nationalisation the need was met by building Class 2 and 3 tanks but many Southern old locos lasted until the closures of the lines concerned. Pete

There were pre-grouping tankers in common use. Even my local railway which was in a minor isolated area had several in regular use.. These comprised 2 or 3 private owner tanks carrying Naptha (basically paraffin) and a further 2 or 3 railway owned tanks carrying tar collected from local gas works. All these tankers were 4 wheel and around the 10 ton capacity. I suspect similar small numbers would have been widespread across the UK, Pete

Yes These work using a float attached to a chain, the chain runs over a wheel at the tank lip then down to a weight (the indicator). When the tank is full the floats at the top hence the weights at the bottom. Pete

Check the height over the cylinders, you can scale this off the photo comparing it to the driving wheel size. Scale at (presumably) 4mm to the foot for model height. Select 1 or 3 accordingly. Pete

There were a lot of 4 wheelers in use on suburban services and many of these were ex mainline 6 wheelers with the middle wheelset removed. Most of these were ex LCDR which were well built teak vehicles, SER four wheelers seem to have been of poorer standard and not favoured for rebuilding. It was from the mid 1920s onwards that they started to become uncommon, As electrification spread the newer stock displaced was cascaded onto the lower tier lines clearing out the remaining 4 wheelers, a considerable number then moving to the Isle of Wight. These themselves were then replaced within 10 years or so by the early bogie carriages which by then were following the same procedure. Pete

The continued use of class 37s is the result of enviromental legislation. Ideally these should now be gone and have been replaced by locos more efficient and less polluting. However, finding / developing an appropriatly sized engine which will fit within a loco to UK loading gauge and meet current emission requirements is extremely difficult, any new builds / refits have to meet these and the market (UK) for them is limited. The class 37 predates these requirements and hence has no need to conform to them. Yes better engines are available but these do not meet the new emission limits hence cannot be used even though they would be an improvement on the current ones. Pete

If you are visiting the Isle of Wight Steam Railway check their website, services run until the end of October but it is the tail end of the season and not all days are operating days. On operating days the Island Line trains stop at Smallbrook Junction for the connection. Pete

None of the Island LBSC vans were Stroudleys, they were all later builds. However the visual differences are minimal. Diagram 1433 is the relevant one, most IOW examples being uprated to 10 Tons. Diagram 1436 is virtually identical, these also ran on the Island, The ones with the end bar are to Diagram 1434, these have steel underframes. Most were withdrawn or transferred to departmental use between WW2 and 1955. Some traffic vehicles did last to the end of steam but these were very rarely used. Pete

The first Isle of Wight loco repaints in unlined black were in 1941, dont know about mainland. One island A1x was still in black at the start of 1949 but British Railways in sunshine lettering was applied very quickly. I believe some mainland locos retained Southern for longer. Pete

Hello Good to know these etches have been corrected, or are they all new items? The flush panel sections are screwed on with raised head countersunk screws, these are in holes which are countersunk into the timber with the steel panel punched into the countersunk, the result is a slightly raised head which has the appearance of a rivet. A minor detail: The waist panel just inboard of the Guards doors is made of slate, this was unpainted on vehicles when first transferred but certainly painted over by BR green days. Presumably this was for chalking on destinations for newspapers etc. I will certainly be interested in 2mm versions if/when available. Pete

The SECR Brake thirds were originally 7 comp birdcage brakes. These were converted to 4 compartments with no birdcage. The section of extended brake van should be flush sheeted, these were never fully paneled. The brake end is correct with the adjacent paneled sections each side of the doors, the luggage doors are correct however the area to the left of these should be flush sheeted and all the way to the first compartment door. Later of course other areas had flat sheeting fitted during repairs, this was normally over the mouldings. Pete

On the Isle of Wight Steam Railway today (and tomorrow) 3 pre-grouping sets running. 1) 4 off bogies, (all LBSC) 2) 5 off 4 wheelers, (2 LBSC, 2 LCDR, 1 NLR) 3) 2 off 4 wheeler Push-pull set (2 LCDR) Hauled by 3 Victorian locomotives (1 LSWR, 2 LBSC) All with an Isle of Wight history except 1 bogie (which is of an IOW type but not an actual IOW vehicle) Pete

Throughout most of the preservation era the Mk1 carriage has been the easy option, cheap, readily available and "ready to run". This is why there is so many, in most cases they were the only practical source of passenger carrying stock. This is no longer the case, a good servicable Mk1 now is worth serious money, yes there are plenty available in need of restoration but a heavy restoration will like the older stock also cost many 10's of thousands. In recent years there has been a steady trickle of pre-nationalisation carriages being restored and put into use, this is partly because the preserved railways are better established and now able to tackle the work but also the costs are now not really much different. The Mk1 will remain the principle preserved railway carriage and a well restored one is a good traveling experience but the supply is limited and earlier stock is now commercially viable. Pete

The SECR terrier had the wheel quartering reversed from the LBSC standard, this was done to match other SECR locos to avoid confusion on setting up for oiling etc. Not sure when it was done but this would be a lot of work to just make it their standard hence would likely to have been following a crank axle failure (hence replacement). These wheelsets are I believe currently under Boxhill at the NRM. Do any of the models actually show this crank arrangement? Pete

Apologies for motorway queue jumping, Ive had to do this on the M4. Heading home from a job in heavy traffic, Overtaking slow traffic which was in the left lane, soon after finding the left lane totally stopped, then realising it is the queue for the A34 junction some 5 miles away which I needed to use, the next turning off beyond this being Reading more than 10 miles further. Slowed and indicated, someone did let me in, thanks, (it wasnt deliberate.) Pete

Some of these jokes (and some posts on other topics) could do with a question mark option on the selection buttons. ? = No understand. Pete

Cowes was an oddity, the footbridge did not connect the platforms, it went over them. This was to maintain a public right of way when the platforms were extended cutting of Cross Street which previously had been a level crossing. There was no access within the station to the bridge. This bridge is now also on the Mid Hants at Medstead. Pete

The carriages photographed are actually a Push-Pull set hence the train would normally remain as shown regardless of direction traveled. However they and the loco are not currently fitted for such and do operate normally. The guards brake can operationally be anywhere within the train, historically normally at the end (or both ends with two brakes), a hang over from before continuous brakes when a brake had to be the end vehicle and from the days of flimsier stock when there was a slightly higher risk to the ends of a train in the event of an accident. Pete

The underframe was ex LNWR, this was overhauled & prepared specifically for the carriage, however I believe this was done prior to the commencement of filming and the 6 months timescale hence was not included as part of the programme. Pete