robertcwp

No doubt it could be arranged! P1080842m by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

I went to the show on Saturday and thought it was well worth the trip, even with the M25 roadworks. I arrived before opening time so was able to park in the Dockyard car park without any trouble. £3.50 for up to seven hours of parking was not a problem. I never use exhibition catering and always take my own supplies so that was not an issue for me. I thought the wide variety of layouts was good for a mass-market show as there was something for everyone. I picked up a couple of bargains on trade stands too. Some suggestions for next year: Have more seating in the venue. This is important for those of an older generation and those with health issues that mean that standing up for long periods can be a problem. Encourage all attending layouts to have lighting. It's really important given the shed can appear dark as so much daylight is visible outside the shed. Have a proper bookseller. There were some stands selling books but nothing such as D&E or Bill Hudson. Have a more comprehensive vendor of tools, equipment, etc, such as Squires. I was unable to purchase any of the items I had on my shopping list.

Also on the subject of smaller kit makers, how about Three Aitch? Apologies if they have been mentioned already. They did a few wagons, most notably the coke hoppers, of which there are around 25-30 on Retford, now joined by around 16 Hornby ones. I believe the late Roy Jackson was involved in the Three Aitch kits.

Isn't that ex-GER rather than GCR, possibly built from the D&S kit? Sandra has one under construction for Retford to go in the Liverpool-Parkeston boat train.

There is a Silver Jubilee dining triplet on Retford, which I think is from the Rupert Brown range. It's certainly metal.

Yes I used spare doors from my two green Ceps but changed the headcode. Bogies were from Bachmann spares I think. Bands are HMRS transfers.

On the topic of the footbridge and views from it, here are a couple of recent additions to my original image collection: 60053_Retford_25-8-55 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr 60114_Retford_25-8-55 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr And one from north of the footbridge: 90034_Retford_25-8-55 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Hard to say exactly but probably not beyond its first overhaul in the early 1960s. The buffet cars also gained Commonwealth bogies whilst the units were still green. I moved mine forward to a more mid-1960s condition: P1090135am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr P1090136am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr 7005 retained a whistle in this condition, as confirmed by a 1965 photo in an Ian Allan abc of the era.

I think an RTR Great Northern (Thompson incarnation) would sell well. Lots of livery potential too. We have seen most of the one-off diesels covered RTR, even The Fell.

Thanks for this. I had a look at the photo and agree it's a Tavern Car pair. This confirms that they lasted in some ER trains well into the Spring of 1950.

I concur, not that there is a great deal of evidence to go on. In case it's of interest, this is the Master Cutler when it retained the Tavern RKB but had lost the accompanying RCO: And the Harwich-Liverpool, still shown with the pair: Thanks to John Marsh of Shipley MRS for the above information. Unfortunately, I do not have the 1949-50 GN Main Line or GE workings.

I hadn't been aware of, or had forgotten, about that error. It doesn't trouble me. At £200 or more a go, I'm not inclined to replace my existing fleet.

I have read this new book and it is very interesting with lots of good photos. Well worth having if you are a coaching stock enthusiast. Although the execution was flawed, in particular the restaurant trailers, the kitchen/buffet concept was sound and was the basis for conversions of other pre-nationalisation designs, notably SR and LMS, and the large and long-lived fleet of Mark 1 RB cars. The concept was also followed with Mark 3 loco-hauled and HST catering cars and the final catering cars built for BR, the Mark 4 ones which had a buffet counter and the capability to provide a full meal service. Just a few small points to add or amend: P22 - I have never managed to find photographic proof that a pair ran in either the South Yorkshireman or Norfolkman, but they might have done briefly. P34 - there were 13 4 Buf units not 12. 14 buffet cars were constructed because the one in 3073 was lost due to enemy action and a replacement was built, which ended up in a different unit. P58 - caption to photo on page 59 - as is noted elsewhere in the book, the Harwich-Liverpool trains required two sets so workings for five out of eight are accounted for, rather than four. P78 - I think the image of a green Tavern car at Padstow that is referred to may be one that is in my collection (see below). P84 - conversion to bottled gas began well before the kitchen buffets were rebuilt, with 7896 noted in the 1955 carriage working appendix as fitted for liquid gas. All except 7897 were listed thus in the Summer 1957 appendix. See photo below of 7893. P88 - the SR retained responsibility for the Waterloo-Exeter sets for several years after the transfer of lines west of Salisbury to the WR and some rebuilt tavern car kitchen buffet cars were still in sets on that route in 1967, usually paired with a Mark 1 open. See below for photos. It's possible that the ER had the tavern cars inflicted upon them because their stock had Pullman gangways and buckeye couplings. GWR and LMS stock would have required gangway adaptors. There are some published photos of tavern cars in the Master Cutler. Steam Days January 2006 Master Cutler article: northbound Master Cutler in July 1949 behind 60102 climbing between West Wycombe and Saunderton with 11 vehicles including a Bulleid Tavern Car pair (RKB/RCO). Page 215 in Named Trains on LNER Lines Part II (Yeadon, Book Law): southbound Master Cutler at Wembley Park, Monday 19 September 1949 behind 61188 includes a tavern car RKB running with a Gresley pantry third in teak finish and a crimson and cream Gresley open first, which the carriage workings indicate had 24 seats allocated for service of meals and not counted in the seating totals, so there was first class dining as well as third class. The remaining 18 seats in the FO might have had meals served as well.. There is also a photo in a Steam Days magazine of the White Rose with a tavern car pair, but I do not have a note of which edition. In 'Cross-Country Steam' by Stanley Creer (IA 1979) there is a photo of the Bournemouth-Birkenhead train in 1954 including a tavern car pair. Page 211 in Scenes from the Past Part 29 Woodhead Part Two (Foxline) has a photo of the Harwich boat train at Wharncliffe Wood behind 61132 with a tavern car pair in the formation. S7893S_15-8-57 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr Padstow by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D821_Wimbledon_16-6-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr D803_Wimbledon_26-5-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Or possibly 3Z46 as I think ECS was 3 at the time.

I think it makes sense not to attempt to cover ad hoc codes that were only in STNs. I think the 33 at Basingstoke is a John Vaughan image. Lots of his negatives have gone on sale recently. No details came with it. I think the 60 for the final two digits of a 4-character code is quite possibly what is being displayed. Here are some examples from my collection. I think the first one is an inter-regional summer dated service judging by the stock: D6526_BeaulieuRd_6-66 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr G2 was the regular code for this working at the time and is listed in the book: D6564_SotonC_8-3-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr C2 on what is stated on the slide mount to be a Waterloo-Weymouth service - this is noted in the book as a code that was observed in use at the time and appears in other images in my collection: D6503_Weybridge_1235-Wloo-Weym_4-3-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr This one is another oddity: D6541_RaynesPark_1-7-67 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr I think the 72 in this image is what is listed in the book as Stewarts Lane-Nunhead-Orpington-Folkestone-Dover and is probably in use for an empty stock working from Chart Leacon back to the SWD via Stewarts Lane. Note the unusual formation of a 4 Vep, 4TC and 4EPB: 4-VEP_7716_4TC_414_4-EPB_5363_PettsWood_22-3-69 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr