Fat Controller

For anyone who's interested in converting a TTA into one of the bitumen tanks, cast ends are available from S Kits, I believe

S3S was painted blue sometime before withdrawal; I saw it at Swansea High St in 1972.

I don't know about an ex-GWR vehicle vehicle bearing such a low number, but I saw an ex-SR van bearing an S*S number as late as 1972; it was one of the 3 4-wheeel passenger brakes for Continental work, *S

Looks like a nice model. Regarding the two hoppers in the train of car-carriers; they were carrying t flint for garden landscaping. loaded at Southampton docks and destined for Mossend.

Parkgate Steelworks?

I can confirm they were fairly common at BTM in 1974/5, working out of the parcel depot to to the west of the station (Pylle Hill?) One or two carried a 'V' TOPS code, though I can't remember the second or third characters.

Any idea what the bogie container flats are doing there?

There was an accident on the WCML, where a train of SAB (two-axle air-braked, vac-piped) ran away . Upon investigation, it was found that all the vac-pipes were coupled, but the air-brake was confined to the front loco.

This was taken in the latter days of the Train Ferry, i.e before November 1994, as there is a nuclear flask wagon towards the rear of the train. The coil wagons were still being delivered; I remember a rake of them at the 'Military Landing'' opposite Dover town yard..

'Yes, we have no bananas We have no bananas today...' was a popular wartme song, I believe'

I visited this shop (combined models and sweets-hop this morning, and was pleased to see they had they had a selection of Hornby-Dublo SD6 wagons. I paid £6 for a VGC Traffic Services tank; other items included two Fruit Ds, a Cattle wagon, steel-bodied Highfit, Breakdown train Packing Van. There were other items indicated as '3-rail'; I only glanced at these. Hoping this is of interest to someone.

Were any rivetted examples lettered in this style? I only recollect the welded sort;.

For engineers' spoil trains, I believe; saw them around Tyne Yard, in the early 1990s

You could turn a pallet truck in the width of a wagon, but it wasn't easy.

In the early 1970s, one of the GW-based examples was seen as a site hut at Pentrepoeth, Llanelli; it almost caused me run into it on my 'bike! It's origin and identity were a mystery to me at the time, there being virtually nothing published about wagons. Uneven wheel-loads, together with 'twist' in both wagons and track, remains a concern The problem seems to arise when several parameters are close to their limits.

Even when there were pallets, the loads were not secured to them, apart from a bit of Signode banding around the top layer. Back in 1979/80, I spent some months unloading 60kg sacks of gypsum from F1 Ferry vans. The load was on pallets, or at least it had been when loaded in Germany; due to the lack of anything securing the sacks in situ, they had slid between the pallets, into the space between load and doors etc. I reckon about a third of the load had to be rebagged; so much for labour-saving devices.

They were not the greatest of successes, being implicated in a number of plain-track derailments. possibly due to uneven loading. Many ended their careers as Internal Users, being used as stores around yards and depot.

I recollect working for a firm that used a small fleet of Leylands to deliver glazes and bagged clay around the North Midlands. As access was restricted in some some locations, they had a 'Terrier', complete with 'experienced' driver for 'okkard' jobs (If you've watched 'Great Pottery Throwdown', you'll have some idea). One morning, the Terrier was't aound, so the driver took out a 'Boxer' instead. I think the fleet manager got the first call to say the wagon seemed a bit tight, shortly getting one to say it was blocking both the works and the main road between Boslem and the D Road.

Burry Port and Gwendreath Vallley, not L&MMR. The L%MMR is the one at the top of the hill

Just a thought. Might the Cambrian BDA kit be a bit easier as a starting point?

Wasn't there a lot of swapping Mk1 stock about to release vehicles for rebuilding for the Bournemouth Electrification?

In the 'Export or Die' days of the 1950s and 1960s, Vauxhall (and doubtless others) would send crated CKD vehicles to the docks in whatever wagons were available. This included 16t Minerals.

Other loads in the two types:- Ppe :-Palletized bricks Latrge packing cases for the Grey Funnel Liine Tubes:- casks of beer, aluminium slabs, also large cases for the services. I nave seen a photo of a 'Pipe attached to a Milford- Swansea passenger working; presumably something for the MoD.

It's not David, but a French chap called Patrick Delmaere, though they seem to know a lot of the same people. There's often interesting photos, sometimes historic. What I've not found is a way of lining to individual photos; otherwise I'd link to a view of a Sete- Calais container, possibly trailer on flat car. This would be North African citrus fruit, possibly heading for the UK.

This link may be of use:- https://lapassiondutrain.blogspot.com/ The chap's based in Hazebrouk, but has contacts all over the place, regards Brian