jwealleans

I think we're probably all waiting for you to clean it up before we use it again.

You could smell the 'Boro almost before you saw it in those days. Whoever thought we'd be nostalgic for them? Great stuff.

On that diagram it's labelled 'slotted link'. Edit - see Tony's correction lower down (to save you all telling me I'm wrong).

Other uses for a Merlin. I thought I'd read about a chap who killed himself in a Merlin engined car, or was it a Meteor?

Best I can suggest is to have a look on Larry Goddard (Coachmann)'s thread and see what he uses. I'd be more inclined to put red oxide under it, as I'd have thought the grey might give it a blue tinge. That said, I'm sure I've read that the Midland used at least one coat of blue undercoat on their coaches. Alternatively, try it with both undercoats on sample pieces and see which you prefer in daylight.

Rover Damask Red is also used. Bear in mind that the undercoat will have a significant effect on the final colour.

Thanks, Barry. The set was condemned in 1953 after a shunting accident. I don't know any more detail than that.

This is a busy time of year and we had an exceptionally good crop of hay, so it's been even busier than usual. All is safely gathered in, though, so more time at the bench beckons ( I hope). I have been getting on with detailing and finishing the Quint, starting from the centre again. The centre cars are almost ready for lining and letters now. The ends require more work, because of the domed ends. They do give a nice result, though, once you've got them properly blended in. Just a bit more to do along the cantrail here. Roofs won't be finished until I have the roof boards. I have had a most generous offer to make those, so watch this space. I have also been working on some coaches for Corfe at Ormesby Hall. Some of the whitemetal bogies are distorting or disintegrating with age, so we're having to rebuild them. We've standardised on the MJT ones as a replacement as they're robust and run well but are also fairly simple to put together. The old whitemetal bogies, once disassembled, serve as cosmetic overlays. I have no idea whether these are available any more even should we try to replace them.

But me going up and down on my shiny chrome stool while fiddling with myself is OK, is it? I think 'B-' there, Mr King - confusing solicit səˈlɪsɪt/ verb verb: solicit; 3rd person present: solicits; past tense: solicited; past participle: solicited; gerund or present participle: soliciting 1. ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone. "he called a meeting to solicit their views" synonyms: ask for, request, apply for, put in for, seek, beg, plead for, sue for, crave, canvass, call for, drum up, press for; More with solicitude səˈlɪsɪtjuːd/ noun noun: solicitude care or concern for someone or something. "I was touched by his solicitude" synonyms: concern, care, attentiveness, mindfulness, consideration, considerateness, thoughtfulness, solicitousness, carefulness I think 6 of the best from Mrs King and extra study is called for. Should we require anyone to solicit on a professional basis, Gilbert, I'm sure you'd be at the top of our thoughts. Even if they have had the gall to label you 'former'.

Moi? Derive amusement from the misfortune of others? I will be the living embodiment of solicitude. Sheet BL52 in John's range - I'll have to check if it's a 'variant' or not. Second hand but unused so half price to you, guv.

... or I could just sit at the back going up and down on my shiny black and chrome stool and let the rest of you worry about it....?

Does this explain why I can't ever get the control panel to do what I want it to, then?

I meant to ask you about that. Was it me who finished it off, or did it work again after I'd hexed it?

Not really what you'd call in 'the Duchy' either, is it?

More problems for Hornby as it seems the new Chinese factory might have mixed the P2 tooling up with something else...

... And has anyone else noticed the paperclip holding the barrier up?

Wasn't the conjugated gear patented jointly by Holcroft and Gresley? Gresley also tried to recruit Holcroft onto the staff at Doncaster but his CME (Maunsell? SECR, I believe) wouldn't release him.

It's an auction. He bid higher than you. He won. No-one has a right to buy stuff just because they think they should. Snipe program or not, if you had bid higher, you'd have won. I'd be miffed if I'd sat up until 3 am to try to win something - but then that's why I use a snipe program. And I only win occasionally.

That D3 is a bit of a half hearted attempt at the Thompson 4-4-0, I think.

Has he been drinking? His coupling rods have gone all wobbly. It's not Boris in disguise, is it?

THere's at least one photograph of a Gresley coach freshly outshopped in fully lined teak in (I think) 1952. I can't remember off the top of my head what lettering has been used. I think it may well be another case of works variations; there were a large number of coach photographs taken in the years immediately after the war on Ebay some time ago. What was noticeable was that the ex-GE coaches were uniformly painted (one assumes brown) while the ex-GN ones, some of which were very elderly, were visibly still in a teak finish.

Not a tool van - I was told they were used to move explosives round the dockyard (presumably too much explosive in one place was considered a bad idea). That is my photograph - these vehicles (there are two) are now at Beamish. They arrived there via the now defunct Army museum at Beverley. http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=11311 http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=11312

This keeps being repeated. The London Extension opened in 1899. The Berne Gauge was defined in 1912. Whatever gauge was adopted as the standard by the GC (and it was generous by British standards) it could not have been the Berne gauge.

I can only answer that by referring to the GWR diagram, which was the same as the first LNER build (the LNER borrowed the drawings, apparently, although there are detail differences). The GWR ones worked in blocks between Birkenhead and Wrexham. I can only assume that the LNER ones did the same, but possibly over a wider range as I've read they worked to Sunderland as well as into East Anglia. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of them in traffic. All that said I have a GWR train consist from 1933 near Bristol which has a single grain van in it, but it may have been on its way somewhere for repair or to be tried on a different traffic.