Andy Hayter

I really must invest in a copy but the publicity suggests a mid brown https://www.gehf.fr/inscriptions-et-couleurs-des-wagons-de-marchandises/

At the risk of Monty Pythonesque escalation: Stolen the sun - you were lucky. We woke up to 4cm snow. Now melting but it's pretty nippy and indoor "work" is called for today

That may be true when a Bachmann model is in direct competition with a competitor but the number of such concurrent models is quite limited across the ranges and across time.

The thing about muddling in France profound is that you can wait literally years for an exhibition and then 2 come along at once. Yesterday we travelled north to Annonay for a general muddling expo. A few railway items that were OK to really very good. Sadly the 3 rail 0 gauge layout was not working while we were there but to be honest these "collectors layouts" interesting though they can be are not really my thing. Lots of off road radio controlled 4x4s on show doing their stuff over rough terrain. The articulated radio controlled truck set up was very impressive and I could see that joystick control was just as difficult as moving the real thing. Some very nice models which I probably did not fully appreciate, with some very good driving, which I did. The powered boats were very good and perhaps the cherry on the cake was a radio controlled hot air balloon. Very appropriate for the birthplace of manned flight in a hot air balloon courtesy of the Montgolfier brothers. And French for a balloon is a Montgolfier as a consequence. And next weekend near Valence a proper muddle train exhibition - held once every 2 years, covid permitting, which it didn't.

The sack barrow would not help much even if you were allowed to use it. You would be taking the boards through the door on the wrong axis but one skate board might just do the job. I suspect 2 would be messy when you get to that raised threshold.

To be clear here. I was not expecting a full history. I would have liked some indications such as: Livery introduced with the first 1907 build specs and continued until at least 19xx Photographic evidence of this livery in use in 19xx ( and 19xx) - providing some potential limits Livery in use until the take over in 19xx where progressive change commenced. New livery introduced from roughly 19xx - either as an indicative start of end point. etc.. I don't in any way want to suggest that these anything but a are a massive step forward from where we have been with rtr, but a dearth of prototype info from the producer is a disappointment. Those who disagree are invited to keep stum the next time they see a class 66 hauling Dapmannby PO wagons on an exhibition layout. If you don't inform your purchasers they are very likely to go wrong. .

It has been mentioned obliquely but the route you will carry these is important. Doorways are a real challenge getting you and the board through at the same time. You suggest the route is at one level, without actually saying so. In that case I would consider building a small dolly say 60-90cm long and a bit wider than your boards with 4 castors underneath. Sit the board side on on the dolly and push it through to its destination. You then only have to lift on and off at each end. It may seem excessive for a few metres but it will save a lot of effort.

Andy I appreciate the sentiment of people doing some of their own research, but your suggestion is how many volumes of Turton times how much average cost per volume? I suspect it comes to a very substantial cost that will prevent many from having the resource to buy any of these wagons. I would have hoped that Rapido - or its commissioners - would have been able to provide some rough dates for its potential customers . It seems they have fallen into the Dapmannby trap of producing pretty wagons with no background data. Sorry if that sounds harsh on you and Rapido.

Which is perhaps a bit surprising given the Abbots Ripton disaster of 1876. Snow on signal arms (several in succession) set at danger, weighted the arms so that they were forced down into a quasi open position. Upper quadrant would be fail safe in the event of such a failure but it seems such a warning was ignored for many years. I wonder why the obvious lessons were not taken into account for 50 odd years.

It is a rather technical term relating to these very large vat-like barrels. Dictionaries will give you several translations of a barrel but foudre is often not among them - tonneau, fut barrique etc.. Plus the typical translation of foudre is lightning

Bi-foudres are the wagons you have with 2 (bi-) barrels (foudres) used for moving wine in bulk from principally the South of France towards the agglomerations to the North.

The American experience suggests no, it would not have any serious effect on violent crimes.

Unless of course they have already done that. There will be much going on that we will never be party to.

The problem with UPF is how to define it. Many in the UK use the basis of anything that you don't keep in the kitchen that is used in food or it's preparation makes that food UPF. So I don't have a stock of rennet or its vegan equivalent so cheese is UPF - I don't keep saltpetre, so most cured meats from bacon and ham, though salami, chorizo and mortadella are equally UPF. Both are processes used for ages to preserve produce - which in itself does not make them fully safe to consume.

😄 All of which are external and can be washed off. Acid rain - a bit old hat and almost no industry downwind this side of the Atlantic Diesel particulates - lots of diesel cars and vans in our area of 300 souls with no agglomerations anywhere near. For sure they will be there but this is rural France not semi-urban England. Dog Piddle - more likely to be cat. We have 19 just now. So we take suitable precautions. As to rat and mouse piddle - yes possible but more likely to be vole and shrew. If you want to live in a sterile environment then I think NASA may be looking for victims volunteers for their moon base.