Dungrange

12pm is never read as midnight: always mid-day. Think about 12:00:01 (ie one second after noon). It is after noon and therefore post meridian. I agree that using 12 midnight or 12 noon is clearer, but if you are going use 12 am and 12 pm, 12 am is always midnight and 12 pm is always noon. If you are going to be pedantic, at least be correct. Anyway, we now only have three hours to wait, for what looks like a 00 model with a London, possibly London Underground connection.

Interesting. In that case the definition of an 'incident' in this case is people being where they are not normally meant to be and presumably 'railway interest' means that the photograph must have a locomotive in it!

Do we know whether any definitely carried grey skirts with coach brown bodies? I'm assuming that those constructed in 1914 would have kept their blue skirts throughout the war and if any were painted with grey skirts before the 1919 that it would most likely have been those from the earliest (ie 1903) batch.

The three C53s that entered traffic in March 2021 obviously went straight to crimson and grey, but did any of the locomotives that were built between 1903 and 1914 carry the crimson and grey livery? What date was the photograph of 138 with black skirts? Any idea why they weren't either blue or grey?

Well reading through this thread from post 1 was a marathon! When the list of liveries was first announced and it didn't include the early GER livery (which I think is the most attractive), I kind of lost interest in the J70 project. I can understand why Model Rail didn't take the plunge, because there was nothing else available ready-to-run. Move forward a couple of years and we now have a GER van produced by Oxford Rail and the Wisbech and Upwell Bogie coaches being produced in GER liveried train packs with a C53 in matching livery being produced by Rapido. I've pre-ordered one of the GER train packs being produced by Rapido, so I now have the locomotive that I quite fancied from a few years ago (even if it predates the rest of my stock by the best part of a century). However, to build a layout requires more than one locomotive, so I'm wondering, does the fact that Rapido are producing GER livery variants increase or decrease the potential demand for a stand-alone GER version from Model Rail in the future? Clearly some that may have purchased a GER version if Model Rail had produced one may not do so now (either because they bought an LNER/BR version and repainted it, or because they can buy the Rapido train pack), but equally the availability of the GER train packs from Rapido could actually increase demand. It does in my case: am I alone?

There's always the cover of Mr Big's second album 'Lean into it'.

How can you do that without ordering duplicate coaches? I'd like another GER liveried model in 00 gauge, but without the coaches (ie I think one coach pack is enough).

Can anyone advise me as to when the SECR Dia 1426 vans were first introduced to traffic on the SECR? Some reviews, eg https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/rapido-oo-gauge-secr-box-vans-and-ballast-wagons, give the year 2018, but there are other references to 2019 and I'd like to know which is correct. The information on the Bluebell Railway website (https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/15750.html) states that no 15750 was part of lot of 50 built between February and April 1919. Was this the first batch, or was there an earlier batch built in 2018, in which case, how many were built in the first batch, when in 1918 did they enter traffic and what was the number series for the first batch?

Are you sure? I thought it was Bachmann who started the most currently use Era system in the UK and then Hornby adopted the cut-off points that Bachmann were already using. Whilst an Era system can never be as detailed as some people would want, I use it to filter down to models I may be interested in. As someone primarily interested in the post-privatisation period (Era 9), I can usually filter out models from Eras 3, 4, 5 and 6 as being of little no interest to me. It's possible that some models from Era 7 may still be around in departmental use (and therefore worth a glance), but some of the stock sold as Era 8 is often appropriate for my time period, or appropriate with some de-branding or alternative logos applied. It's a way to save looking through a list of 1,000 00 models listed on a website. However no system will simply and accurately define whether a particular model and livery is accurate for Location X in the summer of 1956. Those who want an answer to that specific question need to undertake their own research. However, for those who have little issue with the liberal use of Rule 1, it does allow them to focus in on stock for a grouping era layout, even if some of their stock was withdrawing in 1930 and other items didn't enter service until after World War 2. The vast majority of purchasers of ready to run stock probably don't care about a specific location and nor do they have a tightly defined period of interest.

From speaking with one of the Revolution Trains guys at Model Rail Scotland, it seems that they are largely taking an advantage of a spare production 'slot' in the factory. That is, the factory has the capacity to produce a rerun of a model and Revolution Trains decided to take that slot and produce the 00 TEA wagons. In the case of Bachmann / Farish, the question is would they make a larger margin on using a production slot to produce an N gauge TEA or something else? It's simply a model that is competing with scores of other models in the Bachmann / Farish range. What should they not make to make Farish TEA wagons (and why)?

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a bump plate?

Did the pooling of ordinary opens from 2 January 1917 just relate to railway owned unfitted open wagons, or did this also include the private owner fleet?

Welcome - I hope that you find what you're looking for on this site.

This implies that there is a possibility that only one of the two coaches in the crimson lake pack received crimson lake livery. Is it known when that bogie tramcar was actually repainted (or perhaps by what date it was first known to carry the livery)? Also, are details known as to when each of the locomotives were painted crimson lake? I'm interested to know if it would have been likely to see a crimson lake locomotive haul a train of teak coaches, or similarly for a brown and blue loco to haul crimson lake coaches. Finally, would I be correct to assume that number 125 in the Crimson lake pack represents the condition that it was in between circa 1919 and 1921 (as after that date, it would have carried its number on the skirts)?

@Jammy2305. Thanks - that takes care of the bodyside numbers - any ideas on changing the number on the works plate?

I bought a couple of these in Great Eastern Railway livery, so obviously at least one of these will need to be renumbered. Any recommendations for transfers both for the bodyside numbers and the number on the solebar?

Agreed, but if they were to meet on a single track section, then one or other train would have to reverse. I can't see that happening, so the operating practise would have had to try and avoid that scenario occurring. That would either be by informing the driver that he would have to wait at whatever passing loop for a train travelling in the opposing direction, or where they don't generally meet a train in the opposing direction because you send say three outbound trains and then await three return trains (almost like an extension of the one engine in steam operating practise on a small branch line).

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but do any of these books on the Wisbech and Upwell tramway have a better description of wagon types in use on the line in the late Great Eastern Railway period. The video of the Grower's Special (https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=803600), which I think is the one that @Gilbert linked to above highlights that covered vans were dominant in 1961, but I'm assuming that was less likely to be the case in the pre-grouping period.

I've noticed that there are a few books that cover the Wisbech and Upwell tramway. Is that book by Peter Paye the best of them? I'm principally interested in understanding the operation and traffic conveyed in the late Great Eastern Railway period (ie where goods were imported from and exported to). I understand that the Great Eastern Railway Society have a copy of an 1899 timetable and that the National Archives have a 1927 timetable, but not sure if that's the one with the last passenger services or the first timetable with the tramway as a goods only line. These would presumably imply how the line was operated, which I understand was largely sending several trains in one direction and then several in the reverse direction. I understand that the principal traffic was coal inbound (towards upwell) and fruit and potatoes outbound (to Wisbech and beyond) but I'm not sure what else was seen on the line. A lot of photographs that I've stumbled upon are from BR days, where covered vans seem to dominate ('The Grower's Special' from 1961 that @roythebus highlighted above is one example). However covered goods vans were much less common in the pre-grouping period, so I'm interested in understanding what wagon types were used for what traffic. I realise that this is a bit of a ramble when asking for a book recommendation.

@HonestTom Okay - where in the country are you based? Someone has posted an advert for some on Gumtree, but it's for collection from Wiltshire - https://www.gumtree.com/p/arts-crafts/crafters-a4-corduroy-card-by-craft-uk-ltd-new-unopened-packs-/1451642921. If that's not convenient, then I suppose you could e-mail and ask if he/she would post however many packs you want.

Is this the stuff you are looking for. https://www.cuttingedgecrafts.co.uk/craft-uk-ltd---craft-essentials-a4-corduroy-card-310gsm-5-pack.html I assume that other suppliers will just call it corrugated card.

An inbound goods train would stop in the station platform and the brake van would be uncoupled. The rest of the train would then traverse the crossover into the head-shunt. The arriving locomotive would then proceed to shunt the incoming wagons into the Goods Shed Siding or the Mileage Siding as required. The same locomotive would then form the outbound goods train from these two sidings and propel this back to the station platform and then draw the train into the loop. It would then run round the wagons and proceed to the platform to pick up the brake van, passing the outgoing rake once again to get the brake van on the rear of the train. It would then run round and couple up to the front of the train ready to depart. There's probably not a great need for the Engine Shed, as this would probably be a one engine in steam scenario. However, it could be used to stable a locomotive overnight for an early morning departure. If you wanted to add another siding, you could always add a short siding from the station end of the Run-Around Loop to allow end loading from the platform onto a Lowmac or similar such wagon.

They have indeed - they are the ones that I have on order with my local retailer. If West Coast Railways Mk2c is in the next batch, then it will be added to my list or purchases. However, I'll pass on the Blue and Grey ones.

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but when Oxford Rail introduced their model of the GER banana vans, the information that they published about these was: "The Great Eastern Railway did not possess any vans of their own for banana trade and usually hired vans to transport the fruit from other companies. The GER would often run complete trains of between 20 to 25 vans in total. It was not until after the Great War that imports of bananas recommenced and an order was placed in 1923 to build 100 covered vans with hand and vacuum brakes plus steam-heating to help ripen the fruit. By the end of 1923, the building of the vans was completed and they became the last GER design vans to be built. These vans lasted well and survived into the 1960s." I'm assuming that the situation could have been similar for strawberries or indeed any other perishable traffic where the originating company did not possess enough vans to meet their export needs. I'm not sure whether there was regular companies that the GER hired from, or whether that was influenced by the intended destination of the produce. It would certainly make some sense to hire vans from the destination area as there is then only one empty inward run and then a loaded outward run before they go off hire. Hired from elsewhere would have more empty running.

From Wikipedia: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Railway_Jones_Goods_Class) The first of the class, Number 103, (LMS 17916) was set aside for preservation by the LMS in 1934. It was restored to working order by British Railways in 1959 and spent several years operating enthusiasts' tours. During this time, it appeared in the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, playing the part of a French locomotive, complete with NORD lettering on the tender. It was finally retired in 1966 and is today in the Glasgow Museum of Transport. In addition to being the first ever British 4-6-0, no. 103 has since 1966 also had the less positive distinction of being the only former Highland Railway locomotive still in existence. I suppose you could therefore claim that one did last into BR days (albeit only between 1959 and 1966), but it is of course a locomotive that has been preserved and therefore available for a site visit.