billbedford

Wagon pooling came about because the pre-war system had failed during the first years of the war. Not only was there an increase in traffic due to the rates for sea-bourn carriage increasing, but there was massive misuse of wagons by the military. For instance, RCH returns for January 1916 showed that Government departments held 5000 wagons for an aggregate of 50000 days. It was also common for wagons to be sent on unnecessary journeys, sometimes of only a few miles, and using a whole wagon for minimal loads. Much of this information came from "Britains Railways in World War 1" by J.A.B. Hamilton, published 1967.

... and it is always possible that somewhere in the stores at Swindon there was a box of flatter commode handles that would bring coaches that went "foreign" into the required width spec.

The LNER hired one of the GW diesel railcars to test the concept.

But GW stock worked the Newcastle - S Wales trains on alternate days. Did the GW keep special stock for these workings? LNER stock was 9ft 3in over handles.

1933? wasn't this the period the ex-GC restaurant cars were withdrawn pending rebuilding to kitchen cars?

All the Bill Bedford etches are being produced by the Scalefour Society, though the website has not been updated to reflect this.

Well, yes, if someone wanted to damage an undersea pipeline, a couple of mine warfare ships would be a good starting point. Türkiye depends on the Blue Stream pipeline for much of its energy.

Only the third ship is a steamer, all the others are schooners.

When who fired O4s for up to 10 years described working on the U1 as shifting two men's coal for one man's wages there is a good chance that there was something intrinsically wrong with the loco. The grate area was 56.5 sqft, just less than 40% more than the grate on an A1, and I believe bigger than any other on UK railways.

But the reason these locos were planned was to take 100 wagon trains from Wath to Immingham. The U1 failed miserably on it first test run by running out of steam before it got to Woodhead.

It was the six cylinders that bu**ered up the U1. The boiler was designed for 4. The size of the firebox suggests that it was intended to burn colloid fuel.

Do you use bonsai grass seeds with that?

It's not how bad the critters are, it's just the sheer numbers...

This goes back a long way. In fact, to the time that apprenticeships were reduced from seven years to three. At the end of their time, apprentices had a habit of leaving their employers to find better-paid jobs, leaving the employers unable to recoup the cost of instruction.

That Crab would look better if the builder hadn't mixed up his wheel sets.

I put that down to the film-makers being especially woke.

In fairness, I should point out that Norwegian tunnels are in hard rock and built well away from the typical underground urban sprawl found in the UK.

Yes, but if you are modelling anything on London River what you really need is a shed load of swimhead barges.

Does Norway count as the Wild West? https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford/status/1695015246833025522

Wouldn't a near-infinite set of variables lead to near-infinite shades in the real thing?

We all suffer for our art...

I don't seem to have that problem. The temperature strip on the tank reads a fairly constant 26ºC, so the heater seems to work. My understanding is that raw resin is quite viscous and the suppliers dilute it with various solvents. It sounds like you have a reaction to one of these solvents rather than the actual resin. Changing the resin brand you use may help.

Yes, all the first-generation resins were much the same, it's only in the last few years that more resilient resins have come on the market. I'm using Elegoo ABS 2.0 for most of the models, but I use Sirya Tech Blu for finer stuff like couplings and buffers, particularly the buffer springs. I also have some Photocentric Durable UV80, but I find that a bit softer than the Sirya Tech ones.

You are using an inherently brittle resin. Not fully curing your models means they will become more brittle over time. Many formulations are designed to be more resilient, but they need a degree of experimentation to discover which is best for your work.