wagonman

The second set of brakes was usually added to wagons in the 1920s/early '30s. Older wagons (i.e. pre1907 spec) would have been at the back of the queue and many went for scrap before they could receive a second set. Any PO coal wagons built after 1912 would have had the second set of brakes from new.

I have severe doubts about the longitudinal planking... Normally wagon floors were laid across the underframe and with a curb rail to keep them al in place. Also probably not over 12 inches wide planks!

They did have other land holdings – famously in the Manchester area which the 1st Earl had casually sold off without even realising it sat on millions of tons of coal (he was more interested in his turnips and sheep) – but I'm not aware of any in the Forest of Dean. The archives at Holkham Hall are very comprehensive though...

Apropos nothing very much, there are – or used to be – several pubs called the Ostrich in NW Norfolk as most of the land in that area belonged to the Holkham Estate and that exotic bird featured on their family crest. By the time the College of Arms had finished with it the ostrich often looked more like a dodo...

Those horrendous pizza cutter wheels won't be tempting me anytime soon...

PS: If you're going as far back as 1943 then you can sneak in a few late surviving toplights.

I've looked at lots of photos of the DN&S over the years and never have I seen a Mk1 coach in use. Lots of Colletts starting with the bow-ended stock, then the Sunshine – often mixed in the same train – with latterly a Hawkesworth or two. Using Mk1s, except in full sets, would have meant digging out adaptors for the corridor connections. Also no non-corridor stock, not even a B-set as far I can see. All in crimson and cream until after 1956 when the odd maroon might turn up. I presume you've been bulk-buying Collett Goods locos...

In 4mm scale a fiddle yard of the sort you've sketched out intended to take a 4-6-0 plus 6 bogies would need to be at least 8 feet long so that's 16 feet gone already. How long is your room? Why would any railway company want to run excursions from London to a small wayside station in rural Suffolk? Even if they did, the train would terminate in one of the main platforms before being taken forward to say Lowestoft for servicing and lay-over. The siding behind the platform would be separated from it by a fence or, as it's the GER we're talking about, a brick wall. Not much happened at stations like Middleton...

Tar pipe? 'TP' most likely means telegraph pole – or was that meant to be an April Fool joke?

On the subject of "foot room" the station building is far too close to the platform edge – the Board of Trade would never have allowed that!

Great Gabbard sandbank, I think...

A couple of thoughts: why would a 'minor' station need a full size bay platform? Secondly, the fiddle yards together seem to take more space than the station. Wouldn't a traverse or cassette system save space and allow a longer scenic section?

I see the West Norfolk is really at the cutting edge of technology fitting its wagons with four brake shoes each. Such extravagance when all other railways were only using two (4 shoes became compulsory for new build after 1912 but older wagons were allowed time to catch up; many never did) – perhaps they are economising by not providing brake levers? :-)

Nice photos but I should add that of your Cley photos, two are from Salthouse and the third from Weybourne, I think. :-)

Definitely recommend the Brunskill as a must for any modeller's bookshelves!

There used to be a nightclub – or should that be 'nightclub' – in Norwich with a couple of caryatids guarding the door. They even had names! They were rather Neanderthal looking figures maybe intended to augment the bouncers...

The Burnham Overy Town (so-called to differentiate it from Burnham Overy Staithe) cottages are interesting as they seem to be mainly built of clunch (hard chalk) which is not uncommon in the west of Norfolk. Further east along the coast, beach flint becomes the common material, morphing into field flint as you move inland. Flints are heavy – you don't want to have to cart them any further than necessary. Ah, the joys of vernacular architecture. The dominance of pantiles as roofing material is due mainly to the fact that ships exporting Norfolk grain to the Low Countries needed a return cargo in lieu of ballast and generally chose Dutch tiles (and sometimes bricks). So pantiles usurped the native reed thatch...

A lovely pair of carstone cottages. They have the look of early estate cottages...

This is an E37 composite built c1892 so still likely to be in use on mainline services even, in 1908, if not front-line stuff. They would look nice behind a 'City' or a Dean 'Single' but strictly more likely to be being hauled by a 'Bulldog' or one of the 2-4-0 classes none of which are available RtR. The livery didn't disappear overnight in 1908 – some coaches could be seen in this livery as late as 1913.

Indeed they did, still fitted with their chain brakes too, I believe. They were replaced by the exLSWR 6-wheeler and the exH&B 4-wheeler.

Don't forget that the W&U and the the WC&P caches were all specifically designed to be accessible from ground level "platforms". The ANDR coaches were exBarnum & Bailey Circus train stock and likewise had low level access. I assume the WNR has more or less normal height platforms. I'd suggest that the secret of plausible freelancing is to go for the ordinary rather than the extraordinary, but it's your railway...

Karlgarin does a special 7mm scale code 100 FB rail, wider than the usual 4mm scale stuff, which is ideal for lightly laid Victorian or Edwardian branch lines...

Only 2 pubs? Come, come; you can do better than that! My village had – according to the 1912 Kelly's – 4 pubs, 2 bakers, 2 grocers/drapers, 2 blacksmiths, 2 boot repairers, 1 butcher, 1 basket maker, 1 hair dresser, 1 stationer/post office, and, famously, 1 taxidermist! And that was just the tradespeople with shops – there were plenty of other tradesmen such as carpenters, wheelwrights, millers, painters, dressmakers etc. There was even a bank, albeit only on Tuesday afternoons. Communities were perforce much more self-sufficient in those days. One thing we didn't have was a railway station though it almost happened...

Ah yes, the Norfolk Alps. Holt is about 200 feet above sea level – as is much of the surrounding area...

Good God, where?