PatB

If I remember correctly it may be a very late Bond Minicar or it could conceivably be a Reliant Rebel.

I finally got around to scanning a couple of the better shots from my collection from the early 80s. Here's a rather magnificent beastie snapped in the car park at Silverstone at a VSCC meeting in 1982. This Trojan was caught at a microcar rally later the same year. I assume that it had the optional high compression cylinder head and straight-through exhaust . As for a genuinely high performance microcar, there were a few Messerschmidt TG500s there too. At the same event was this Peel Trident. Only marginally bigger than the P50 that Top Gear has so much fun with but, as you can see from the rear/cockpit shot, it's nominally a 2-seater .

The weathering on the end of that coach would repay the (probably considerable) effort to reproduce it.

Sure. How many do ya want? https://www.google.com.au/search?q=frazer+nash+bmw&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ksT3UZ_DOZHNlAX8sYGgBg&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=461

Yes, but given its continuing availability via the Thomas range they've certainly had value for money out of their tooling .

With my pedant's hat on, I think that tail end shot is an Austin 7. The spare wheel hub looks 7ish and what I can see of the rear suspension looks like the 1/4 elliptic springs and friction dampers that Stanley Edge and Sir Herbert gave their baby. Can't help with the MG identification from the photo, but the most obvious distinguishing feature between the TC and the TD was that most (all?) TCs had classic centre lock wire wheels and most (all?) TDs had bolt on pressed steel disc wheels. The body shapes were significantly different too, but without seeing examples of each side by side it's not something which immediately strikes the viewer. Nice photos though.

December 1982 but to save you looking it up I'll send you a PM

Maybe I'm just jaundiced by seeing monster price tags on tatty 1970s and 80s stuff, that wasn't all that great to start with, on the dealers' stands at our local annual show. Admittedly, the wares on offer seem to be the same year after year after year so maybe the market has a certain amount of sense .

Fairly typical of used prices in the Antipodes, I'm afraid, for anything that hasn't actually passed through the family dog.

I think it's rather charming .

Did any Pullman cars actually end up in an abandoned and neglected state? Presumably they went somewhere when withdrawn but, apart from ones used for other functions such as the one at the Pecorama, I don't recall ever seeing any photos.

I suspect that a tender appendage inhibits many things .

Not trying to pick a fight but I take it that you are aware of the relative casualty rates of equestrian activities vs motorcycling .

Thus proving that someone in the motive power department had an interesting sense of humour .

Blimey. High Level make nice kits but 195 quid?! For that money you could buy enough tools to build in etched brass, some wagon kits to practice on and build your own Armstrong Whitworth shunter.

I've managed to dig up the RM issues concerned. There are two plans; one of Barrow and Grange-over-Sands and a second of Whitehaven Bransty and Corkickle. Both are in the idiom of the early 1980s; that is, with quite a lot packed into the space and an emphasis on operation over exact scale reproduction. No bad thing in my opinion, child of the Freezer generation that I am . If you'd like, and if I can prise MissB off the scanner for five minutes, I'll shoot them over to you by PM.

Oh, I agree, they do happen. I grew up in rural Somerset and remember quite a number of AEC Matadors operating as recovery vehicles, logging tugs etc. into the 1980s (by which time they were pretty decrepit), and several early post-war tractors in daily use. Some of the buses and coaches which took me to school were bordering on the classic even then too. Like I said, not unique but certainly worthy of recognition. I'm not sure if it counts, but one local garage had a recovery hack which was a Rover P4 with all the rear glass removed and a crane built from old scaffold tubes protruding from the rear seat and boot area. Sort of Mad Max 2 with tweed .

Over the years Railway Modeller has had a couple of Plans of the Month based on the area around Barrow. They've looked quite interesting from both a scenic and an operational point of view.

Not to mention that the tiny proportion of the UK vehicle fleet that is over 25 years old their overall contribution to air pollution is negligible. Don't blame a tiny but easily identifiable group for a problem that is really the responsibility of the non-enthusiast majority. It's also worth pointing out, I think, that an awful lot of RMWebbers are very enthusiastic about burning large quantities of fairly grubby fossil fuel in an inefficient device with no emission controls, resulting in a filthy exhaust, full of carcinogenic particulates. And we do this not for practical transport but entirely for recreation, often in otherwise pristine rural areas. And that goes for both steam and heritage diesels .

I remember those from when I (very occasionally) passed through Leicester in the late 1980s. Archaic looking beasties with solid tyres (although Bluebottle's link shows that at least one has pneumatics). Even the early 50s date is reasonably impressive. Not too many commercial vehicles (road vehicles, obviously, before anyone in the cheap seats shouts "Beattie Well Tank" ) have a service life of 35+ years in the hands of the original owners and so a large fleet which has is noteworthy.

I had one of those. It was old even when I got it. Although beautifully made by Austin themselves, its durability was imparted by being constructed, apparently, from cast iron and lumps of lead. As a result it was so staggeringly heavy that I can't recall ever actually getting it to move under pedal propulsion. Presumably why most of them ended up on kiddy roundabouts in fairgrounds, where they did good service well into the 1980s. Possibly later, but I haven't been to a fair for a while.

Yep, mostly Bishopston. In one episode we get to see a (genuine) street name and there are also recognisable shots at various times of some of the shops on Gloucester Road.

Were the wheelsets on unfitted goods stock machined to such tight tolerances that 3/4" off the track gauge really make that much difference? I can see them getting a bit squealy though.

Given the price tags I've seen in my local knackered rubbish pre-loved model shops on curly Superquick buildings I'd say it was a bargain .

Ooooh! Back to the 60s foam and a breadknife look .