corneliuslundie

Or both rails? It is a half barrier crossing so either the equipment must have misbehaved or . . . Jonathan

My concern is whether they will still be around to undertake the contract if there is no work for the factories in the meantime. Jonathan

Nearly as many as I have OCEAN mineral wagons. J

I seem to remember that it was recently announced that Alsthom has no orders for the UK factory for some time, in fact until they start building stock for HS2. Is that likely to affect whether they can deliver? And if so will that mean more delay to opening? Jonathan

Proper trains, ie hauled by Deltics. Nice. Jonathan

Not all pre-grouping wagons were even renumbered until 1928 or so so they would certainly not have been repainted. (That excludes those which got lost. In 1933 the GWR wrote off quite a few which had not been seen since 1922 and there was one example of a south Wales wagon which was written off in 1933 and turned up at Swindon still on pre-grouping livery in 1940.) Jonathan

If only they could do it that fast they would have reached Manchester before anyone could think about changes to the project. Jonathan

Or as consultants. J

I like your new name for the PM (first version). I think we should all adopt it. Jonathan

The colliery pics are really useful from a modelling perspective. Obviously, now, I can see that the building I built for the club layout is far too smart. Jonathan

Don't whisper it or one of the politicos will hear it. Jonathan

"What wagons and where?" A three year degree course I assume, at the very least. J

An obvious prototype for the next Accurascale model. Jonathan PS I shan't be buying one.

It already reminds me of the bridge over the Severn At Caersws. Jonathan

I know that I posted the news item but perhaps we had better keep off politics. We don't want to upset Andy again. Jonathan

Or the weather? J

From the BBC this morning. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67441085 Has no-one told him the money was to be borrowed? Is this what one means by the phrase "pouring money down the drain"? Jonathan

Also sausages from Calne in Wiltshire to as far as Yorkshire regularly, with vans carrying boards stating the route. And a one-off: a slaughterhouse in Llanindloes had its allocated van which ran regularly to London (Hamer's Mutton Van). Jonathan

Until late in its life all the Cambrian 2-plank wagons, the type usually seen carrying slates, were 7 or 8 tons capacity. I can't speak for the LNWR. Jonathan

Re slate by sea, I recently acquired two books: Richards, A J: "The rails and sails of Welsh slate" (Llygad Gwalch, 2011) Richards, A J: "The slate railways of Wales" (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2002) Richards also published a Gazetteer of the Welsh slate industry. This was more recently "updated and edited" by Des Marshall from the same publisher - I have it from the library at the moment: probably reliable but the English is atrocious and there are lots of typos The one thing all three have in common is the same photo of a ship loading with slate at Aberdyfi. The first two are well written and packed with information. Jonathan

"in places it looks as if they've built a canal. " A high speed canal I hope! Hat, coat . . . Jonathan

I can't speak for other companies, but going through the registers of withdrawn GWR and pre-grouping Welsh wagons, there are numerous occasions when random numbers from a series of opens are listed as "coal". This makes me think that they were probably older wagons which were switched from goods to coal duties, as they may well have spent a lot of time idle at loco sheds, especially the smaller ones where loco coal may have been moved direct from wagon to tender or bunker. Another thought: in South Wales the ports almost all had hydraulic systems for dock gates, coal hoists etc, These would have needed coal, as would the power stations found in some docks. Does this apply in other parts of the country? Jonathan

I may have missed the explanation but why is it necessary to build the Colne valley Viaduct? Could no practicable route be found which avoided the lakes? Jonathan

I am curious as to what the "other" mineral traffic originating on the GER would have been. Were there some major quarries? Jonathan

Re that Chinese line, let's hope it is feeding coal to a steel works from which we can buy the rails for HS2 as our own steel works will not be able to supply - steel produced by electric arc furnaces is not suitable. It has already been stated that the switch of the two British steelworks to electric-arc furnaces will mean that we have to import steel - and that will be from countries which use coal to make it. But I am afraid that that is probably not the main customer for the new Chinese line. Jonathan