bbishop

Just occasionally CEPs, VEPs etc operated a suburban service (often a London bound service just before the evening rush) in which case the hoi polloi could travel in the first class accommodation. My recollection of the VEPs is that the trim was exaxtly the same as the second class but the compartments were wider and they seated three a side. At a later date, one of the first class compartments was redesignated to second class and became four a side. Bill

Yes, I'm just home - having spent four days at Lord's, followed tonight by a dash to Kensington for the Prom concert. I started at Lord's at 8:00am, when the queue was literally round the block. Bill

Just back from Lords, two days down and two to go. And I get in for nothing! Bill

Hang on Colin, I have seen Avon Junction at several shows and have never seen you behind it. Underneath maybe, but never behind. What I don't know is whether you were recovering from a hangover, sleeping off an all night shift or sorting out the electrics. Bill

Following on from my rather emotional outburst, may I offer condolences to Huddersfield supporters and with them all the best in the play-offs. It was an incredible race and with another couple of games we would have both overtaken Brighton. Bill

Yippee! Bill (Scummer)

Hi, The T9 class came with two cab widths and with three types of tender. It appears that you have the wide cab version (with superheater) and a watercart tender. I need to go into a bit of history. Firstly, the T9s were superheated between 1922 and 1929. Then after grouping in 1923, a number were transferred to the SECR and LBSCR sections to provide competent four coupled express locos. Only superheated locos were transferred and they were paired with 6 wheel tenders due to small turntables. Tenders with 14 foot wheelbase went with locos to the SECR and 13 foot tenders went with locos to the LBSCR. For whatever reason (which might have simply been the cycle of general repairs providing the opportunity to fit a superheated boiler), a high proportion of the 15 wide cab locos acquired 6 wheel tenders. This left the following with watercarts: 302 - E302 to 5/1932, Bulleid green livery 1/1941 305 - E305 to 2/1933, Maunsell green & Bulleid lettering 8/1940 337 - dual braked to 2/1933, E337 to 4/1933, black livery after 3/1941 338 - dual braked to 10/1934, E338 to 11/1932, black livery after 3/1941 This is very simplistic, I haven't dealt with the fitting of snifting valves, the height of the capuchon on the stove pipe chimney and plates to the tender coal rails. You will need to find photos. My source book is LSWR Locomotives, the Drummond classes by Don Bradley ISBN 0 906867 42 8. There are other books. Bill

No, that was the one game that wasn't 1 - 1. Even remember where we stood, alongside the old stand at the southern end, we must have needed a quick get-away. Can Mr Martin come up with a date? Bill

And I've seen most of them, althouth the game I remember is when Flanagan and Hales scored a hatful each. Bill

And now brought down to earth at St Mary's. By the way, do you notice that some games almost always have the same score? Charlton v Saints at the Valley is usually 1 - 1. Was I the only Scummer who cycled to the game? Bill aka Scummer exiled to South East London

Guys, I like this plan. A couple of options with the signal diagram, although there is nothing wrong with version 6. The Southern Region may have had only one ground disk permitting reversal on the Up line to either the Down line or into the Sidings. It depends how close the points were. The second is that the West Country main line could be very busy. Your plan will not permit the signalman to accept another train on the Up line whilst there is shunting into the Exchange sidings (it's the ¼ mile rule). So there could be an outer home signal back in the Salisbury direction, so the signalman could accept a train to that signal whilst shunting was going on. Probably no impact on your modelled area other than another signal wire leading off stage. There would be less shunting across to the Down line so they probably wouldn't have bothered with an outer home in that direction. By the way, have you considered the architecture of your signal box? The LSWR might have provided a block post with perhaps six levers, so the box would have been replaced when the sidings were installed. You could consider a brick building with flat concrete roof. Bill Bill

Kelly, One niggle about your trackplan. Whilst the South Western wasn't phobic about facing points on running lines, they were unusual leading into dead end sidings. A more likely design would be a single slip opposite the signal box and a trailing point opposite the distant signal. Oh and a second niggle, the distant signals are far too close to the home signals, I think they should be ¼ mile away. Bill

I have soldered a second wire to my baseplate, ending in a crocodile clip. I rarely use the baseplate any more. Bill

Kelly, I use a variable temperature iron for most of my soldering, turned right down for whitemetal. The problem with the 18W Antex is that it doesn't provide much heat so there is a risk of melting the whitemetal before it forms a joint. The secret of whitemetal soldering is "straight in - straight out". There is a subtle difference between 188 and 145 solder. 188 has a low surface tension so it makes a neat joint but is no good as a filler. 145 has a high surface tension so will form big blobs and is better at filling gaps. I've never got on with liquid fluxes. My favourite flux is powerflow (comes in yellow tubs). It's very good with whitemetal but it is corrosive and must be washed off immediately. If I can't clean my work immediately, and for any electrical jobs, then I'll use Fry's Fluxite. Bill

Tim, A while back, you asked about motive power on the Meldon stone trains. I've checked in Main Line to the West part 3 and extracted the following for 1951 : Salisbury Duty 473 had a N15, this would be a Urie N15 or 1st Eastleigh series of King Arthurs (with Urie cab and watercart tender) Exmouth Junction Duties 509 - 513 all had an N, probably Woolwich locos numbered between 31826-75 Exmouth Junction Duty 514 had a S15, probably Maunsell 30841-46 with flush sided bogie tender Loco details from LSWR Locomotives, the Urie classes, or from Locomotive History of the SECR Bill