webbcompound

i think it stops the thing sticking to the wagon during construction

As did I, though my figures are long gone. The new ones are all plastic (these are HaT), and like the railway are a case of second childhood AKA retirement. And thanks for the kind words. I hope my railway stuff is also up to scratch when I eventually reveal it to the adoring crowds/jeering mob on the Pre-grouping strand

I paint a large scale version of the flag (as large as you like) on paper, scan it, then print it out vastly reduced onto ordinary paper (gives better definition and detail than if you paint it actual size). Obviously both sides and the bit round the pole as a single unit. The flag is then glued, wrapped round the pole, and as the glue dries (or after, depends on the glue) the flag can be folded in whatever draped or flying folds you desire. No need to muck about with transfers, melting plastic or anything like that. There are various sites for wargamers that have flags ready made for you to print out (free of charge!) but they are mostly not from the periods we model as taking the colours onto the field had stopped by the time of most modeller's railways.The photos are some flags made the way I describe (though not my design) for the 1/45th Regimernt in the Peninsular War (railway stuff on workbench shows I am bona-fide and not a purely wargaming infiltrator!), plus some Neapolitan flags of 1806 from one of the free sites to show how they should be drawn.These would be printed out 8mm square in 4mm/foot scale

These are nice Phil, but using WD stock during the war. Mine would be pre war (1906) so would have to use ordinary stock, so less vehicles/guns per wagon. I have seen a single gun and limber close together on a short dropside

I don't see this. Sticking a piece of brass onto an old rtr after cutting a rough hole out where the windows are is pretty basic modelmaking. You don't even have to hold everything square, which you would with a full plastic kit, and the painting is going to be identical

Of course an interesting military variant is the "going to summer manoevers/camp" train. They can include all kinds of "foreign" stock, dependent on where the terriers come from, or the regulars are based. A typical infantry unit would have a set of old stock for ORs, a nicer first class carriage for officers, and a horsebox or two for the officer's mounts. They would be accompanied by a train of assorted flat, or low sided stock for the GS wagons, a couple of carriages for the drivers, and cattle trucks for the draft horses. Obviously cavalry, and artillery units would have different compositions. A project lurking at the back of my list would be a Garrison Artillery battery of 60pounders, only four guns needed, but lots of supporting waggons and horses so maybe a bit expensive to build. The batteries from Portsmouth went to Salisbury Plain, and the north midlands units went to Cheshire and North Wales, but I would think somebody went to North Norfolk. Something from London could have quite a wide choice of originating railways. If this is all too military you could have a theatre train (there is a theatre for the holidaymakers nearby isn't there?) There are some nice photos of a Midland Railway stock train in action, with a couple of carriages, a scenery wagon and a couple of flats, all as far as I am aware, attainable from kits, and if you were unloading the painted flts would make for an interesting load..

If the issues with kitmaking are cost and ability surely the answer is the etched side. They can be stuck onto older carriages of the right roof profile and length. This gets rid of the "difficult" bits of carriage making, reduces the cost of the etched parts enormously (in terms of research, design, production etc) and so puts variants within the reach of the less.well endowed financially and in terms of competence.

Edwardian said "All this Royal Train diversion caused me to return to the idea of depicting the Yeomanry. We have, as you know, one Yeomanry Officer extant. Ultimately I would love to model the Yeomanry on exercise. Either a patrol or in the station yard loading cattle trucks and horse boxes in order to go off to Annual Camp by train. Until now I had not considered representing the ceremonial function. Inspired by the possibility of a Royal visit, a had a little Google an identified a second-hand volume on the Yeomanry units of Norfolk for a princely £1.98, so I have ordered it. I should be able to post some more detail on the uniforms once this arrives." You might find these from W^D Models useful. The uniforms had not changed since WW1 (some LOC troops in France in 1939 were still in tunics, not battledress) They are supposed to be 4mm:1foot so should be exactly right. They are also excellent mouldings http://www.wdmodels.com/page3.htm#wd29

Oh no! Not another discussion about the merits of DC versus DCC

Of course since we are proposing selling to modellers, and they have quite personal views on the other components they want to use, often replacing the ones in a kit, you could just sell the shell and leave the buyer to source the rest, cheaper and simpler.

The photos I have seen of this stock in use on the LNWR do not show a completely consistent ride height even before it was sold off.

I agree with this. I started off thinking the colour should be brownish, but now think it is decidedly red. Here is a picture of some red lead which helped sway me

Well Chris I think you do. Cleaningcarriages was a mans job. Clerical jobs were certainly the majority. As for cleaning of stations etc this wasn't a seperate job, but was a requirement of the station staff, as was the case with engineers and engineering shops. Once they ceased to have responsibility for keeping their own workplaces clean and tidy things would start to slide.

Central stores in the LNWR engineering shop was exclusively run by women, and many stations (run by families) had female clerks. Don't know what percentage this came out as but likely to be at least similar to GCR

Haydon Bridge, (Northumberland) currently has a population of 2000 or so. Around 1900 it was about 1200 or less. There was a tiny town gas works just by the station (obviously coal came in on the railway). The site of the gas works is next to the coal yard, and is barely wide enough to park two lorries next to each other, so long and thin in typical model railway fashion. It is marked on the 1895 OS map. Here is the best I can find. If you peer and squint at the point where the railway running SE to NW crosses the dashed vertical line you can just make out "Gas Works" and see its elongated shape Just found a much better image, the 25 inch to the mile map https://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/005035FS.htm

cannot load them onto RM Web.The site just keeps saying they are too big. Any tips? I I use this free online service http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx

Will the lamps be available in 4mm as well? I was about to scratchbuild some LNWR ones, but yours would be better

Although the sky (with its clouds) usually goes all the way down to the horizon. Really big clouds can be seen consequently from a long way away. I once saw the top of a massive storm in the midlands from South wales (borders), maybe more than 60 miles away. Just the tops of the thunderheads could be seen over the horizon, with flashes of lightning inside, but of course no sound.

Although plenty of flatbed carriers for carriages/automobiles still around. The LNWR one at NRM was built in 1908 http://www.nrm.org.uk/OurCollection/LocomotivesAndRollingStock/CollectionItem?objid=1988-7009

Both a bit ultra-modern, but still working stations: Kansas city Union Station, but this isn't the station roof. Or this one in Tokyo. definitely the station roof, although more Central American pyramids than Egyptian.

Not far from the truth. I did some work in Wisbech and the museum has a pamphlet about the fens and Laudnum (tincture of opium). the chemist in the town during the 19th century had a 100 gallon tank to contain his weekly supply, and when it was banned in the 20s there was a temporary exemption for Norfolk. There is a suggestion that the popular image of Norfolk people as "slow" derives from the fact that most of the labourers were permanently stoned.

They do say that barns are built with rounded corners so the devil can't hide in them and spoil the corn. Given the dubiously supernatural nature of blacksmithing I guess there is a similar reasoning going on here.

Private owner wagons would tend to kept relatively clean as they were advertising and the owners wanted that visible. In most pictures they look relatively clean but not spotless. Probably sending a boy along the line with a brush in tha case of a colliery. A small scale merchanmt with a couple of wagons quite likely to wash them. The railway company goods stock on the other hand can look quite grubby.

Butanone is a serious solvent so shouldn't let the chairs fall off the sleepers. Perhaps you didnt have them pressed down enough or for long enough. As far as holding the chairs to the rails, these shouldn't be glued at all as they grip the rails but need to move to deal with heat expansion, and obviously with a slide chair only one rail is gripped, the other is free floating

Actually, yes petrol.. Large amounts transported in wooden barrels pre WW1