john new

Possibly from the Bailey Gate dairy on the southern (ex-Dorset Central) leg, i.e.south of Templecombe. Wikipedia has some notes and extra references here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey_Gate_railway_station Just to be picky, and written tongue in cheek, the Stockton & Darlington (S&D) did not reach Dorset that was the S&DJR!

I doubt freight for the far-west originating on the S&DJR or north of it on MR connected routes would need to involve the GWR unless it was to/from a GW only point west of Exeter. As the S&DJR was fully connected to the ex-LSWR main line to Exeter at Templecombe, and the LSWR was part of the S&D's Joint operating group, that would logically be the route freight took to/from Exeter and beyond. Can anyone confirm this? Perhaps a better question is how was freight traffic on to the S&DJR originating at GWR stations west of Exeter routed as they would equally want to minimise mileages before it left their own network and passed onto either the LSWR or MR lines. (Highbridge and/or Wells? as per earlier responders answer)

Transfer or stencil up side down?

Grew up by the SW mainline at Shawford until we moved in the summer of 1972. We did sometimes see Peaks, although no idea now of which specific variety or on which of the inter-regional services, and Hymeks on the trains that had come down off the Western Region. Hymeks regulars on the Bristol (and beyond?) Pompey’s via Southampton as others have said. One afternoon during a period of industrial action whilst waiting on Eastleigh station going home from college (so between 68 & 72)* a Hymek brought a massive pax load southbound which was the regular late afternoon/early evening southbound train and its length suggested also plus the stock of an earlier service doubled up! IIRC that HYMEK turn was a train ex-Birmingham and ran twice or possibly three times a day. *One FT course then followed by a PT day release course so can’t be more accurate for dates.

In a tidy up recently I found two ancient card kits for LNER coaches, which must be of a similar age - just the overlays nothing else. One from Prototype one from TRIX. May scan/print and have a go at building.

Wouldn't the type of van deployed to carry the pigeon baskets (if that was the working this is) depend on the originating stations for loading up? Pigeons originating from collecting points on the WR therefore going north in WR vans.

Re scenic two-rail. Sort of, in that I am happy to buy/run an old model provided it looks close enough to remind me of what it is supposed to be. I can live with old Lima coaches etc., behind my Tri-ang Class 31 as they still look like a 31 pulling some Mk 1s. The overall effect satisfies even if the specific details are less than accurate. HD Three rail - big collection, but no layout currently as no space (My previous exhibition circuit layout). There is a distinction between collecting and correctly displaying a marque and running trains.

Copyright is a problem area - 1) for the original to be out of copyright the photographer would have had to have died before 31 December 1949, copyright in general is 70 years from date of death of the creator not the date of creation of the work. Unless a BR image (50 year Crown Copyright) then the photo should not have been copied for publication as the photographer was obviously still alive when he/she took it in 1959! 2) Whether or not the original was legally copied, then yes you do own copyright of the new digital image but obviously not the original artistic content of whatever it is you have now digitally copied. Notable examples of this re-copyrighting are old maps on-line, museum produced images etc. For example you can legally copy paper OS maps from prior to 1970 (50 year copyright has expired) and do what you like with them but not so for the digital rescans on sites like that of the National Library of Scotland, it is only their new rescan that is back in copyright not the master copy. As their new rescan is in copyright they have rules regarding what you can do with them, how many copies can be licenced for further reproduction etc. It can be a nightmare though, for the SLS Journal I often have to republish images with no known source, the Society makes no claim on the photo' content BUT the page layout etc., of the page it is on is very definitely our copyright.

Tennis, trap shooting, two-man bob sleigh.

The big red bulb coming on and the associated b-doing sound when something goes wrong is sadly lacking from modern controllers. The electronics may make for better control but the lack of the alerts is retrograde.

Not sure it has been mentioned - Hull in November is also off. (see website for details - https://www.hullmrs.org/ ) With regard to show attendance in marquees, also one with poor experiences to date of having stands in temporary marquees. Either cold and damp or hot and stuffy, if it is grass on the floor too easy to lose anything small that gets dropped to say nothing of the problems of levelling. Even had to bail early from the second afternoon of an event back in 2018 as gusts of wind were twisting the tent frame and making it unsafe. Luckily for all it was quite late by then and little footfall lost.

Another that worked well, and I say that because unlike many higher quality layouts I can still remember seeing it, was the Virgin trains promo’ layout. Oval, probably 8ft x 6ft or thereabouts if my memory is correct but segmented with angled scenic dividers, again from memory, making four different scenic sections. Yes it was far more entry level than those mentioned earlier but interesting.

Sad news. A regular at York Model Railway Show over the years and excellent modeller. RIP Bob.

And it had been subsequently shown Bottas remained within the defined bubble boundaries but Leclerc didn’t.

Not sure if this the correct place to post this*, our SLS Meetings page updated today for the beginning of what would normally be the Autumn season resumption during September. The latest position is that all our summer days out events have been cancelled and nothing is likely to be held until October at the earliest. Even where Centres usually begin in September, those meetings are already off or almost certainly off. Some dates have been tentatively listed for early October, the next update on those is expected from Centres in mid-August for a website update plus release to members via the printed September/October Newsletter. * if the wrong place happy for the Mods to move it.

One other oddity with regard to SLS specials and Co-Bos is related, with photo, in our latest publication - Internal Combustion A Compilation by R A S Hennessey. A special ran to the R&ER on 26th May 1968 with various intended haulage options had the scheduled change of loco at ".......Carnforth where Type 4 (Class 40) diesel D316 took over. This locomotive failed at Ulverston on the outward journey and was replaced by D5717........" Probably a very rare instance of a Co-Bo doing the rescuing rather than being rescued!

If you look on here on the Prototype for Everything thread you will see another photo of the same train - it is the tour train headboard, also carried on the Black Five.

This is just a guess but the unique co-bo configuration of the class would give a bonus for tribology testing which IIRC is all about assessing slipping and adhesion rates etc. With the co-bos they would receive the advantage of being able to test for any different behavioural characteristics between a 2 axle and 3 axle variant bogie at the same time in identical conditions. To do so without using a co-bo would have needed two locomotives.

It is not just exhibitions that are being hit for clubs/Societies. Our draft SLS meetings/talks indoor programme for the early Autumn is in complete doubt, probably until at least the New Year - most already announced events are now confirmed as off, or are in doubt, and the usual programme resumption dates were not even announced by several of our local Centres. These are open and advertised events although mostly only attended by regular members. Postponement/ cancellation reasons are a mix - this includes venues not being open but mostly participants not yet willing or wanting to risk attending as either speaker or audience member. Another related issue for meetings, which will also impact to a lesser extent on exhibitions, is the loss of that % of the membership/gate who having broken their habitual attendance cycle, find they haven’t missed it and stop attending permanently. The % may well be small but it will accelerate the existing decline. Although the immediate thought is this is more likely to be the elderly, with budgets being hit for the younger element too through the increases in unemployment (announcements of these swathing job cuts are already in the news), potentially it is an across the board hit. This is an instance where I hope I am proved wrong.

Large, light weight painters dust sheet?

Re the weird on/off message. Perhaps the container(s) that Hattons had been told had their 66s inside (hence the announcement of imminent arrival) could not be found when the ship actually docked this week at the UK entry port for unloading. I do not want to speculate beyond that.

There was a four horse version trialled on the LSWR IIRC circa 1850. There is a write up and line art illustration in a published book which I do have, but this afternoon I can't remember the title to look it up and provide a reference.

Congrats to the winner, Jerry Clifford, well done.

The talk about practice and increased luck a few pages back struck home over the weekend. For the BRM steps build challenge I drew up a draft image using Photoshop that was not bad, and needed a perforated plywood base jig saw cutting for it to sit on. The final phase to be a scratch build in card with hand painting. Photoshop and other IT design tools I use regularly. My woodwork used to be rubbish, I am still not to professional standards but after doing a fair bit over the last two-years it is considerably improved and the plywood base was satisfactorily installed. When it came to the scratch build bit using card, at which a few years ago I was competent in, the end result was poor to awful! Reason, lack of use of that skill in the last decade through using Photoshop and card kit artwork based on my own photographs.

Sadly the steps in my final result disappointed me but I did enjoy doing it so here are some notes and photos. They are added as much as anything as diary entry type reminder to me of what I did and why. Step 1) A draft for the building, the first idea I dropped but idea two for the other end of the layout, merging elements of three buildings, looked like it might work. As for the use it could be a Nunnery, York has(had?) at least two and the Monastery of the Poor Claires was nearby the fictitious location for the layout. (For images see the earlier posts above) Step 2) To finally get around to building the necessary removable plate (See earlier post). This aspect was successfully achieved so the challenge has been beneficial due to completion of this aspect. It bolts up from the bottom and is held in place by captive Tee Nuts. Step 3) Construct the steps. The first go using card failed, too flexible and although the card was the right thickness (2mm so approx two bricks high) it was also making the flight have too many steps. (Problem with my straightening out the design and then adding the second floor.) The issue was not the resultant number of steps but that it was increasing the going, or length, of the flight. I think each step was being given too much tread length. End result - scrap and restart, remember the problem for a future build. Step 4) Have a second go using foam board and a card facing for the brickwork. It sort of worked BUT highlighted the steps height problem – each step by using foam board has a riser twice as high as it should be for 4mm. Also if I was doing it again I would make the steps from some square section balsa (or similar) as I forgot to allow for the end of each stair protruding into the brickwork. I used a quick version of the Pendon technique of scoring the brickwork into card and then painting. In the several years since I last tried this I have lost the knack, but I did enjoy it and will do a few more test pieces. For any future build I would need to (a) better research bond styles and (b) work out some form of embossing measuring jig for the horizontals at only 1/1.5mm apart! As I realised it was not going to be fully finished for the RMWeb/BRM deadline I experimented with a tissue paper and PVA overlay to simulate worn rock hewn steps (Something I might well use in the future). It needs more work on the technique, doing a pair of steps at a time, but the experiment has broadly worked. I also got the colour balance wrong when painting, too much red in the watercolour mix, again using the colours in this way also something I am out of practice with. I also need a new boxed set of watercolour paints as this set must be over 20 years old now! Finally it needs some filler. Step 5) Build the guard rail - I ran out of time – I planned to file an angle into the head of a few brass panel pins, solder those to a strip of copper wire, suitably bent to shape, and then superglue the pins into the steps so as to form the uprights for the rail. Summary, a very interesting challenge, one key layout milestone completed (the base plate). several lessons learnt, and a reminder of techniques I need to revisit as my skills have got very, very, ring-rusty. A version of this building, or something similar, may well get added at that end of the layout as the view blocker but with a different design to the steps. It is also likely to be at 90deg to the original placing.