CKPR

Workington docks are still rail connected and generate traffic, both originating and terminating, from time to time.

Alas, no. It probably pulls off the rare feat of being less informative than its predecessor despite being written 75 years later.

Let's just say that the 1947 Oakwood Press book on the M&CR by Jack Simmons is readily available S/H for about half the price of the new one and leave it at that.

Just to let you know that my review of the recently published Oakwood Press book on the M&CR has been published in the August edition of 'Cumbrian Railways'.

The M&C always used the south bay on the down lines that was known rather predictably as the Maryport bay. I'll leave to others to comment on any terminating LNWR or CR services as I can't immediately think of any.

Another possibility is Carlisle, which had double track bay platforms at the north for NBR and GSWR services and at the south for the NER and MR lines.

Any excuse - https://youtu.be/TFCuE5rHbPA

Sounds like the situation was stable...Taxi !

I don't have photo to hand but look for photographs of Cockermouth station in the 1950s - early 1960s as the cattle docks were beside the platforms and intact until closure in 1966 and can seen in most pictures taken at that time.

I think this was an article by Rathbone Holme and was in RM in 1977 - it was in an article he wrote about a friends layout that British outline but operated with continental stock. My 1977 RMs are inaccessible at the moment so I can't be any more specific other than it wasn't from 1976.

Yes, that is the 0-4-2 reduced to its constituent parts, or at least the footplate and tender. The discrepancy in width was bothering me and whilst it doesn't really show on the 0-4-2T and the 0-6-0, which are quite chunky engines, comparision with the Cauliflower made the 0-4-2 look out of proportion. I thought I'd try cutting it down to the correct width before marking out a new footplate and it seems to have worked. Even reducing the width of the buffer beam was straightforward, albeit the rear plate fell off in the process. Just need to solder it all back together and then on with the splashers, etc.

He's not the Anti Christ, he's just a very naughty boy !

When I was a post-grad in London many years ago, calling in on the Protestant Truth Society was part of our Sunday afternoon promenade along with the Scientologists to whom my American friends delighted in posting notes such as "Ron is dead - get over it!". I recall them also obtaining PTS booklets to send back to their Catholic friends in the mid-west.

Which is why a couple of my M&CR engines are 6" / 2mm too wide as I didn't read the weight diagrams properly and perpetuated an error from the old W.Hardin Osborne "drawings".

Alas, no front elevation but it seems to indicate that there might be more information in The Mitchell Library in Glasgow. There's also the LMS weight diagrams for the M&CR engines that remained after 1923 but these don't show the front elevation as I've found to my cost. These used to be available from the Cumbrian Railways Association.

The M&C 0-4-0Ts were a Neilson design and had a local cousin in the form of 'Dandie Dimont' of the Brampton Rly. There's a drawing of the latter in the book 'Lord Carlisles Railways' and I'll have a look to see if it's any use.

What Flying Pig says. Moreover, the GWR didn't go in for subsidiary companies but rather assimilated other railway companies before, during and after the 1923 grouping. As a result, the GWR had quite a few non-GWR engines, some of which were standard industrial designs (e.g. the engines from thr Alexandra Dock Co.), that were usually 'Swindonized' through rebuilding with GW fittings.

Here's a long shot for an industrial branch on the GWR - Stirchley sidings that served a chemical works in what is now Telford and which remained open until the 1950s. Obviously, it wouldn't fit in your available space but might provide some inspiration for a GWR served industrial site other than the quarries, mines or docks usually associated with the GWR.

Of course, The Premier Line never sullied it's locomotives with anything as vulgar as the company initials [well, almost never] as it was obvious that you were lucky enough to be travelling on the LNWR.

It's at times like this that I get an AFV kit, preferably an old Tamiya one from the 1970s, and just build it out of the box. No correcting major faults, no aftermarket etch and certainly no resin additions, but I might add a few details using plastic card, wire and scrap brass.

Now this new project I am liking very much ! Of course, you know that you really should be using clockwork...

Shameful confession time - I was aware of the issues with the end door hinges but had got a bit fed up of tinkering with wagons as I was also refurbishing a batch of S/H O gauge 7 & 8 plank wagons for 'Seahouses'. If I recall correctly, the MWCo kits have a more correct representation of the end door hinges.

The former can't make the trains run on time ?

When I said no more scratchbuilding of 4mm pre-grouping mineral wagons, I was of course thinking of only building kits in the future. A recent trip back to Cumbria found me in the ever excellent C&M Models in Carlisle where I spotted a reasonably priced Oxford Models NBR 8T mineral wagon - a cheap'n'cheerful way of building up the through mineral trains from Scotland that ran over the M&CR ? Conversion to EM involved fitting MJT W-irons and Wizard axleboxes & springs, Wizard brake levers and plenty of etched brass bling from the Mainly Trains [now Wizard] etch. The frankly poor weathered paint finish was very stubborn and survived two baths in Mr Muscle but it should be covered up by a coat of Halfords primer. All in all, a nice wagon and easier than wrestling with the old MWCo kit (of which I've several in the cupboard).

Sounds quite prototypical to me !