adanapress

Italian State railways - Help Needed, in the Mussolini period, say 1942, what lettering would have been on the side of steam locos., This is to help identify one in a painting in a museum in fact derailed laying on its side after RAF bombing.

Thanks again for connector offers, but no thanks, my wiring such as it is, is soldered solid everywhere and I'm much to shy to contemplate moving it to exhibitions etc. Besides its ''not finished'' only just now got the track moderately reliable, no scenics at all yet.

On Salt Cay in the Turks & Caicos Islands the white house jetty still has sort of 2 foot gauge remains both sides, just a few feet. Also in Little Caicos off the jetty there are remains of wagons a few feet under the surface. At least two pairs of wheels have sockets for con rods, what that means I dont know. The Caicos tramway was laid by a Mr Murphy for the transport of Sisal once grown as a cash crop there. Donkey traction at one stage.

Hi, Unravelled I'd like those Lima DMU bits, am building a DMU fleet and have some working already. ( That lovely Triang DMU power bogie is what I rely on to re-power things. ) Always looking for bits of those as well. . Let me know how much and a guess at postage and I will send a cheque with my postal address. Stafford (working 'Finescale' 00 and hand built track. 10 feet by two).

Has anybody got a photo of an 08, or indeed 09, with a rectangular box maybe 18 inches square projecting perhaps 8 inches, located on the outside, at the back, centrally between the windows>

It occurs to me that just perhaps it might be better not to get too involved with any Devonport runs, or indeed any other military type runs, perhaps in Scotland..

HI, Ron Ron Ron you are quite right, my memory is going, indeed as you say, the 104 not the 111 I do know that almost everyone in the aviation industry thought then and still do now that the TSR2 cancellation was a vast mistake.

As Melmerby says, the cancellations list is horrendous Blue Streak for another and the Bren Carrier replacement (not) programme, as for the F111K, there was extensive bribery by the company right across Europe to get the flying coffin sold. ( See Netherlands for one outrageous case)

Will you be doing the US Army liveried version, big whte star etc? Derby area stores depot just before D day, or is this just an Urban legend?

Another possibility that the Model Railway world has yet to look into is from the printing world Some enthusiasts are still working the old letterpress process with separate letters of type. They space their lines apart with type metal (more or less pewter) strips always .750 of an inch wide, usually not longer than about 12 inches, and the thicknesses are called one point, two point, three point, and six point. A point is about 13 thousandths of an inch. So, long thin strips which fit very nicely in a OO coach floor in a pleasing variety of weights. A vast range of other cube shapes are also available. Ask your local letterpress printer, they do exist. Try British Printing Society , amiable nutters all.

I've bought a new capacitor that claims its OK both for DCC and straight DC, I'm on DC. I'm now nervous, before I get to connect the two wires to the two brushes, any comments? Old style motors involved, eg X04s and the old Triang R 157 DMU two car set.

I wonder if they will make a khaki with big white star liveried one, as per the US Army operated one?

Its my belief that a good deal of heavy work has actually already been done at Euston, quite apart from everywhere else.

And also from me. so sad. best wishes o all affected, hope the New Year brings you better news, many thanks for your excellent past service and wonderful well thought out range.

In the days of the steam shuttle service Epping (over the bridge from the Central Line terminators) to Ongar the stock was auto fitted Push-Pull type. (see the relevant Ian Kirk Model with warning bell.) I don't recall seeing a turntable at Ongar. An anecdote from the late 1940s/early 50s that same period more or less, a De Havilland Vampire jet taking off from North Weald runway, had a flame out, and crashed into a shallow cutting on the line. and a train nearby derailed a bit 'due to the blast' , but this may be local 'urban legend'

There was also the Railway Letter Service, usually handled by the parcels office staff, and for those interested the present day Great Central Railway has, or did have in the parcels office at Rothley, a stock of both the proper forms for parcels traffic and proper Railway Letter Stamps, which you lick and stick on and look rather like GPO stamps. I know they did once have, because I printed both, free of charge of course. .

Wether this ad anything to do with the fact that the printers McCoquodales did a great deal of work for the railways, but just to report two specially arranged parcel ops that were running n the 50s and 60s, Firstly '' the McCorquodale hamper'' which certainly ran from Beccles to Liverpool Street and back pretty much daily, carrying publishers proofs etc. That was alleged to have been running since before WW1, but I doubt that. Then, started more recently, an arrangement whereby I personally could go onto the platform at Euston, and hand a parcel of proofs, blocks etc, directly to the hand of a guard of a Manchester express, and he was met on the platform in Piccadilly by someone from Henry Blacklocks or some other firm in the McQ group, George Faukiners say. This could happen whenever we wished to work it, and was typically three times a week. Blacklocks of course had been the printers of Bradshaws, by then long since ceased. I never once had a problem over several years, thank you to all those helpful guards..

Whilst visiting Rev Awdry way back then he suggested to me that it would be nice to visit the regular driver of the tram, one Charlie Raunds, who was then in the local hospital. I did so taking the usual grapes, and found him full of local politics, he was on (? chairman?) of a local council committee and was worried that while he was away unwell some sort of palace coup would remove him from office! A lovely man, real proper railwayman and happenstance he knew my Uncle then the District Motive Power Super at Norwich Thorpe. In due course he fixed a footplate ride for me on the then new diesel. Quite a day that was!

A nice tale about the railway family from way back in the early 1960s. The then District Motive Power boss at Norwich, one Geoff Ford (a former Gresley Premium Apprentice) after a long illness, passed away. The family had gathered in his home at Strumpshaw, & were awaiting the various cars to take us to the funeral. To our vast amazement a large coach pulled up in the lane outside, packed solid with his men who came to the funeral and sang their heads off. The family was vastly moved as you can imagine. Many many thanks to the fellers of that era in that branch, from his nephew. I sadly doubt if one sees this sort of thing so much now, the managers are perhaps not quite the same nowadays, I fear. .

I don't think that's the layout I saw him operating all those years ago n the vicarage near Wisbech. I do recall him saying that his original Toby had been pinched at some event or other. I certainly gave him an item of rolling stock, in return for his help with my book, on the line, privately published long long ago. I took my own single unit diesel railcar along to show him and try on his layout back then. and he made one the same, bodging two Triang bodies.

The Trecwn RNAD branch and its narrpw gauge extension further up the valley was interesting, particularly the standard gauge terminus, large-ish but with no facilities whatever!. .

Going back to that second overbridge, I see is/was called Vine Street bridge. The odd thing about it was that there never seemed to be any other traffic on it, just used by trolleybuses as a lay by. When I last saw it, maybe 1960 or so, there were little sort of junction boxes in that roadway, and an unmistakable trolley ohle pole. still standing. Does anypne know if its even still there. Immediately across the road was an imposing building, the HQ of Pooleys, who had those unusual railway P.O.wagons for weighbridge adjustment.

Hi, Becasse, my memories of Farringdon in the 1950s include a postitive link between the Met and the widened lines immediately at the north end of the Farringdon platforms, and also an 08 shunter parked at what i believe was a head shunt for the Farrngdon LNER depot. This was on a definite rising gradient and the buffers were right under the trolleybus only bridge part of the famous 'grid iron' structure.

Does anyone remember the white bus and perhaps know what happened to it?