wagonman

There was quite a lot of rabbit traffic generated on the exGER lines – mainly from Thetford Forest. I believe it all went to London first.

Thanks Simon, that's good to know. Richard

I must point out that this is a (lengthy) list of corrections to the Russell books – and is still available from http://www.gwsg.org.uk. David Hyde compiled an equally lengthy* list of corrections to Jack Slinn's Siphons book which I am not aware of seeing published. * 2 sheets of closely typed A4

I'm not convinced that the Vichy regime could be regarded as strictly neutral. Certainly Churchill didn't trust the French Admiral Darlan. Later, when the Germans tried to seize the Atlantic fleet at Toulon, the French themselves scuttled it. Timber from the Baltic – deals and 'battins' – was being imported into ports like Cley/Blakeney on the east coast of England in the C18. Stupid question: why were they called knees instead of elbows? Don't bother to answer that!

Shortage of native grown timber or not, in the early C19 quite a few merchant ships were built in northern Canada, particularly on Prince Edward Island. Details in the Merchant Navy Lists.

The use of external side knees was indeed to provide a clear space inside for merchandise traffic. Obviously for mineral traffic there was no problem with internal encumbrances. Richard

I don't think so. The use of wooden packing to space out the extended side knee iron washer strips from the solebar was a 'feature' of early wagons built by the Radstock Wagon Co so I assume this is one of theirs built after the change of gauge in 1875. Converted from dead buffer to self-contained spring types sometime in the 1900s but I've not found its re-registration. I assume it is being used for stone traffic from Edward Free's quarry at Hallatrow, though quite what it is doing on the gas works sidings at Weston I don't know. Richard

On the subject of WHD&S wagons, here's one caught at Weston-super-Mare. What's in front is far more interesting though...

Worse still, they could change colour during one of their regular scheduled visits to the repair shops.

Such consideration is laudable. I know of a Mr & Mrs Earp who named their second son Wyatt – he lives next door to me. And yes, we do have a Doc Holliday in the village as well.

In such cases it's often a mother's maiden name being perpetuated.* On Chas's earlier point about old names coming back into use, Charlotte and Alice – the names of my grandmothers – are also the names of several young ladies of my acquaintance. * Rats. Beat me to it!

Might get wrecked instead. On no, that's Ethel Smyth.

I/we am/are not trying to diss AI but to improve it. I would be delighted if it could be made to work with a reasonable degree of accuracy, but can't think how this could be done. I heard recently of a case of AI being used to distinguish between skin moles that were or were not cancerous. Unfortunately it "learned" that anything with a ruler in the photo was cancerous...

The only thing I'd commit myself to is that the lettering is shaded. If the diamond on the door is indeed red then it's unlikely the rest of the body would be the same colour which points towards grey (or dare I say green? No, I daren't) as the most likely colour. Perhaps you could ask your AI robot to try that – and rusty black for the underpinnings.

The last two categories seem to be the commonest. Class 5 can be deduced from the owner's membership of the RCH commuted charge schemes if after 1926. Sometimes a wagon will be mentioned in an accident report or a repairer's notebook – but I suppose that counts as documentary evidence.

As produced by our very own Mr Bedford if memory serves me right – it often doesn't these days!

Good question. On balance I would go for your second suggestion "on hire to". "Empty to" would have stipulated a specific colliery, and "sold to" didn't happen. It does rather put a spanner in the Loco Coal works, so to speak. This discussion made me dig out my copy of Chris Handley's excellent book on the Maritime Activities of the S&DR. These activities – primarily the importation of rails from Newport – ended abruptly in 1933 when they sold their last two vessels, the SS Julia and the SS Radstock. Though they did carry occasional cargoes of coal under S&D auspices I doubt it was on behalf of the Loco Dept. Further digging required.

Another of the Casserley photos from the late '20s...

Platform 6 is/was only ever used for trains on the Sheringham, Yarmouth and Lowestoft lines, none of which were electrified, so there was no need to wire it up.

His older brother Edgar went to Australia in 1875 where he later got into a spot of bother... Joseph appears in every census return so if he made a trip to the US it was of less than 10 years duration.

Clip? It's the whole ***** movie. All 90 minutes!

While I'm being boring, I probably should point out that Times New Roman was designed in 1931. It was however derived from a much older face called Plantin which might be available on your computer too. I have an urge to eat a Tunnock's wafer...

Green Rizla+ is 17.5 gsm, the Orange is 20.

If you're rich enough what happens is ... not a lot.

Your reasoning is sound, Linny. The wagon looks good and Stanley is not around to contradict you! Richard