IWCR

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

A rather simplified bit of pipework on the Dapol terrier is the Westinghouse steam lines. The pipe coming out of the cab opening to the top cylinder is actually the supply, this comes off a backhead valvle or from one of the valves over the firebox and via the governor. The pipe out of the other side of the top cylinder is the exhaust, this goes up and along the tank top then into the smokebox where it is directed up the chimney. On my Dapol model this pipe runs to a boiler steam valve hence the Westinghouse is fed live steam from both ends with no exhaust. The blower valve is actually mounted on the left side of smokebox operated by a rod through the inside of the handrail. No external pipework visible. This is correctly modelled. Details will differ according to exact prototype. Pete

Brakes was a "to do later". The first 30 years of its existence it had none. The Isle of Wight uses Air Brake, all the other vehicles it was to run with were vacuum hence no point trying to get it braked by the deadline. Through piped for the TV running and marshaled between braked vehicles. The carriage was turned out in its early condition, ie: no brakes, bare board seating in the Seconds and lower running boards. Now having brakes fitted, the Seconds now have thinly padded leather seats and the lower running board is gone, this was its condition in the 1890's and brings it into a condition where public passengers can be carried. Also looking to the future there will be later Oldbury vehicles restored some with 3rd class compartments, these had bare board seats and when originally introduced the earlier Seconds were upgraded accordingly as has now been done. Eventually 1st, 2cnd and 3rd will be available to the relevant standard. Pete

Dont get a decent car for a first time driver. Get something cheap, the first year or two will often result in minor problems as experience is gained and the confident feeling arrives a bit to early. Unlikely a serious accident but minor bangs on kerb edges, "hedge rash" etc are likely, these can generally be ignored on an cheap vehicle (hence no claim) but require expensive cosmetic repairs on something good. Once a couple of years experience is gained (and premiums are dropping) then get the car you really want. Yes its nice to impress your mates with the cool car but this can be costly. I once stopped to help someone on a country road at night, they were a new driver and had just rolled the family car, he was unhurt but totally distraught about how to tell his parents who had only just finished paying for it. The car was a mess having clipped a tree then rolled more than once, I couldnt even identify the make. Pete

Winding them up is always tempting but may give problems. I had one call, a person named "Nigel" acting for "The National Electricity Board" with a strong sub continent accent. I wound him up good & proper but had then two follow up phone calls around 2am with verbal abuse. The telephone companies could snuff these calls out quickly by blocking known sources, they wont of course, they make money from them. Pete

Yes all had Drummond Chimneys along with Marsh boilers. They were fitted with 3 coal rails which were then sheeted on the Island. W4 had different shaped tank fillers than the others. Pete

I used Lowestoft several times late 80's or early 90's, at that time there was a steam loco tender parked in the station with a hole cut in the side, presumably being used as a coal bunker?. I think it had gone by my last visit. Nice to know the station signs still in place. Pete

The Southern did have a large range of old tank locomotives, this was due to the policy of concentrating on Electrification, no suburban locomotives or loco hauled suburban stock was built at all. Improvements out in the sticks being met by newish pregrouping locos and stock displaced from electrified areas. Hence a model of a Southern Branch line needs these designs which could often be very locally specific. Post WW2 it was identified that replacements for the now elderly fleet would be required, the resulting design was the "Leader", (less said the better). The Southern Region finally began bringing in small modern tanks such as Ivatt 2's and the BR standards after nationalisation. Many of the older locos made it into the 60's, often not being replaced due to line closures instead. The E1 is excellent news and I will certainly buy some, another possible livery option would be Malachite Green, (both SR & BR lettering) which was carried by W1 and W4 on the IOW. Pete

Re Southern Vectis The main loss of services was more than 10 years ago and yes the main routes do have a better service than ever. However even in the last few years several villages have lost their services. Alverstone Havenstreet Newbridge Newchurch Newtown Porchfield Thorness Yafford Several remaining routes were only kept open by being directly subsidised by County and Parish councils These includes routes such as Gurnard which was busy but virtually all on Bus Passes Where I live there was a useful half hourly bus service past my house, now nothing. Nearest bus route now over half a mile away. Wroxall where I lived before was served by the rail replacement bus from Shanklin station to Ventnor, again useful. This is now long gone, Wroxall still retains a bus service but now Shanklin can only be reached via Ventnor. Southern Vectis probably is a good company compared to some others however they are far from a wonderful comprehensive local transport system. Pete

Island lines passenger numbers are given as around 1.3 million in 2014/5, income is given as around £1 million. This gives an average income per passenger of 77p Something not right here. Pete

Depends on date of any repaint. At the beginning of the war repaints would still be in the standard SR lined Olive. Later repaints were not lined but still in Olive. Later still unlined black was introduced with Sunshine lettering. Repaints would only take place when required at overhaul etc not as a colour change policy. By the end of the war some locos were still in lined Olive not having had any major works visit, some in unlined Olive, some Black. This applies to all locos not just terriers although some express engines had just started appearing in Malachite green by the start of the war. (note: the Terriers were mostly still in full passenger service at this time and indeed up to withdrawl, only one or two served in a non-revenue role) Pete

Re: Free OAP travel This is for the buses, not Island Line. Though Im pretty sure when first introduced it did also include the trains, if so yes there would have been a reduction in numbers traveling when the concession ceased. Another cause of reduced numbers was a prolonged closure at the beginning of 2014 following flood damage. Examination of the passenger numbers and revenue declared gives a very low average journey price, indeed cheaper than the cheapest fare which would suggest something wrong with the statistics, I suspect the revenue from tickets sold on the mainland has not been fully credited. Pete

Re: the Pier Both the pedestrian pier and the derelict tramway pier are lightly built structures. Neither would be capable of carrying light rail vehicles. (the original trams were very light) The pedestrian pier can only carry light vehicles (cars / vans) hence not even buses can reach the pier head. No chance of any Isle of Wight County Council money, they have none. Souhern Vectis would just close the line, they have withdrawn many local routes on the Island, even ones heavily used, the problem being much of the ridership is on free OAP passes, many of the village routes were virtually all OAP ridership, these are paid for by the IWCC at a rate which Southern Vectis finds is unsustainable. Central government grants for this and local additional monies being inadequate to pay more. This is also the problem for free ridership on Island Line for OAPs, great in theory and would certainly increase passenger numbers, but someone has to pay, who?. Pete

The main purpose of any modernisation will be to reduce costs, keeping two different types of stock one of them a high maintenance heritage type wont do this. The load carrying ability of the pier structure is not the problem, the condition of it is. It requires a lot of work to put it right, this needs doing regardless of the stock using it. Keeping the existing stock running on it will not avoid the neccesity of this or significantly reduce the costs compared to restoring full load capacity. Assuming the pier is repaired the tunnel route to St Johns requires little work (hence cost), several options of available stock which will fit the tunnel have been identified so why make expensive changes?. Pete

I am not aware of any photos of a tram going through the house, there is one of it without a tram but with the track either still in place or recently lifted, (linear marks where the rails would have been). It wouldnt have been only trams using this as the tramway had sidings on the quays at Ryde and wagons from the railways at St Johns were horse hauled to these. Pete

Prior to the railway pier being built along with the tunnel and line to St Johns the Pier Tram did run through the streets to St Johns. This involved some nasty curves coming off the esplanade and it went right through the ground floor of one of the Victorian villas, an opening literally one room wide & high. This property is still there though the tram hole has long since been returned to a room. Ryde is very much built on a hill and any rail / tram route is forced along the valley of Monkton Meade brook. Pete

Hydrofoils no. There was a "Sidewall" operating for a period, this was like a hovercraft but with rigid fixed blade like sides to the hull with an air cushion underneath. No land going capability. I did travel on it once. Pete

These could literally be a Reed Bed. Primary settlement in the small tanks shown. these would be worked in sequence with a "full" one being isolated for cleaning, the solids being removed for farmland manure. Dirty water then through into what is basically an area of marshland with reeds, this strains / cleans to some extent with a large wetted surface area for bacteria to digest the waste. The run-off then going into the brook. With this and the dye works on the right the state of the brook would not be good. Pete

Preserved railways etc can use period tobacco adverts but only for brands which no longer exist. For models displayed to the public? probable grey area but to play safe apply the same policy. Pete

Have you seen the TV programmes on the railway in Mumbai? people being killed on the railway is just accepted as a fact of life, the vast majority are pedestrians, everyone just walks across the tracks without a care, most only just pausing to allow the train past. Significant numbers also fall from the roof or sides of trains where they are traveling. For comparison road deaths are around 150,000 a year. Pete

Signals controlled from the ground frame can serve a useful purpose. They can be interlocked with the pointwork or use detection. Pointwork not set correctly, they cant be pulled. A hand signal can be given any time and mistakes do happen. Pete

"Ryde" and the other Southern retained locomotives held in the Eastleigh paintshop were stored for possible preservation, there had been talk of a museum but no firm plans. As stated the war lead directly to their scrapping, the primary need was to clear the space for war work, the scrap metal was a secondary consideration, indeed some other locos outside on the scrap road were still there in 1946. Pete

Yes contact Havenstreet. Drawings etc for the Drewry motor cars are scarce and little has been located, the remains of Tramcar no2 were preserved basically as a chassis with some body parts, this is currently being used as the basis for a reconstruction. When introduced in 1927 these initially ran with the trailer cars from the previous electric trams, yes the Grapes car was used with no2. One of the electric driving cars is also preserved at Havenstreet. Later the trailers were replaced with new build vehicles of similar appearances to the Drewrys, these were built by the Southern and a comprehensive set of drawings survive, a replica is to be built to work with no2. Pete

I believe it is also part of the MOT to check headlight alignment, the bright part of the beam should not shine through a car rear window (nominal height used) at a given distance (25yds?) regardless of vehicle type & height. Yes many vehicles have excessively bright lights which I am sure are illegal, as you say little or no control, in fact police cars are often a major culprit. Pete

Hello The L&B had 2 cranes & one match truck. One was permanently at Lynton station as a yard crane, the other and match as a travelling crane based at Pilton yard, Barnstaple Photo of crane at Lynton: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tF9Gz-gdMxM/S-qOeQOHUjI/AAAAAAAAAIM/t6PTC00mozo/s1600/LB1015.jpg Photo of crane at Barnstaple http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tF9Gz-gdMxM/S9QybrRHMjI/AAAAAAAAAHE/aNH2MoJMQE8/s1600/L%26B+Crane+%40Pilton.jpg Photo from Backwoods minatures website: http://www.backwoodsminiatures.com/xcraneset.jpg There are other photos in the various L&B books including one of both cranes and the match being moved to Barnstaple station for shipping out after closure, where the two jibs were sharing the match truck one was too high and struck the footbridge at a crossing. The quarry example I can only remember as a magazine article, I think it was in Wales somewhere with the derelict remains still being present in the 1970's. Pete