wainwright1

Might some of these limited restriction coaches be used for excursions, say at weekends, when they were not needed for the City services. We were wondering if they could have worked through the widened lines to Crystal Palace and therefore appeared on our High Level layout. All the best Ray

I think that at least one of the grey ones is preserved and do I recall a later variation of the grey livery with an LT roundel on the ducket ? All the best Ray

It is confirmed that Joe Jenner has left the railway. I spoke to someone during the week with regard to the Model Railway Weekend and they are supposed to get somebody to call me back to confirm who will be doing the arrangements. So far nothing received. All the best Ray

Its so you can see the fireman in his string vest sweating his whatsits off !!! All the best Ray

Hi Dave. I spoke to Joe before Christmas and he said that they would be making a decision whether to proceed in January. I have subsequently seen it shown as being on the first weekend in July. Our club are provisionally invited to attend with one of our layouts, but we have not received a formal invite yet. All the best Ray

We did the same with our Hornby 2 Bill and 2 Hals. It is not noticeable unless you specifically look for it. Ray

Hi Tom. Very nice, but you got the livery wrong. It should be maroon, with either Metropolitan or London Transport on the side ! More temptations. All the best Ray

Hi Rob. You do not seem to have got around to printing the Dancehall brake van yet. I note that yours is a Southern built one. Here's my take on that using the Cambrian kit and adding the half plank to the bottom of the sides.. All the best Ray

Hi Rob. On your various cattle wagons, did you consider putting grooves in the back of the upright timbers to take the safety bars rather than printing them as part of the side. That way some brass or nickel silver wire can be inserted which can be more scale thickness and stronger than if printed. Looking forward to those 4mm kits. All the best Ray

That looks very nice.. I believe that the first few R1 rebuilds were carried out in the Wainwright period, so can legitimately carry the full livery. I was not aware that Mr Snail had done the artwork for the paper prints of the livery panels. Must have a word with him. By the way, what type of paper did you print them onto, or was it transfer paper ? Many thanks All the best Ray

One of these would be nice ! All the best Ray

The Q or Q1 tank would be the ideal loco for my branch train on Hawkhurst. I have at least four pictures showing them in the Wainwright period. I looked for a suitable kit, but the only ones I could find would be a Falcon Brass one, which be a struggle for me and I do not think is currently available. The other might be a SER Kits 7mm one reduced to 4mm, but that would not include the resin cast boiler, smokebox etc included in the 7mm version. Plus some of the etchings are so fine I do not think that they would reduce down satisfactorily. I did look at doing the cut and shut with the R1, but that would have been a major exercise as well and I do not think that there is a suitable chassis to adapt for the purpose. All the best Ray

Unfortunate date as it will clash with the Bluebell Railway Model Railway Show if that goes ahead on its usual weekend. We have a layout provisionally booked. Ray

Had a good look at these. Without referring to any books, the blue one looks like an H class judging by the pagoda roof, but what is the grey one ? A Q1 class would have the flared tanks and bunker, but they would be lower than the H. An R1 0-4-4 would have higher tanks etc. but would not have the flares. Is it a R1 0-6-0 cut and shut, though that would have a pagoda roof. I would be interested to know. All the best Ray

Without re-opening the previous debate, Hattons do seem determined to produce the SE & CR coaches in an inappropriate colour. I have not ordered any. All the best Ray

Is it still on their website ? When I look at it, it does not appear anymore. All the best Ray

Lots of interesting useful data there Tom. I have seen most of the info in the various books covering the coaching stock. I am being a bit flexible with my dates on Hawkhurst so that I can use what is (or was) available in kit form. I think that the only LC & DR 4 wheeled produced were the ones that Roxey did originally as a commission for the Blackfriars Bridge Station layout project. Unfortunately, these actually came out under scale, more like H0 than 00. So I have opted for the D & S 6 wheeled coaches and have acquired enough kits to do a 12 coach set. Why 12 coaches ? Well, there are a couple of pictures showing several rakes of these excursion stock coaches in the sidings at Crystal Palace and at least one, possibly two of them, appear to have only 12 rather than 14 coaches. There is a secondary benefit for using only 12 coaches, as we also have a layout of Crystal Palace High Level Station set in Southern Railway days, so I can use this set as old stock which has not yet been re-painted into Southern livery. Also, a tank engine and 12 coaches will fit in the head shunt on CPHL, whereas a 14 coach set will not. Which is not to say that I would not acquire a set of the older 4 wheeled stock if it became available at an affordable price, and it looks like Mr Snail might make that possible. All the best Happy New Year Ray

Your tempting me again. I would very much like set of these in 4mm, although they would not have appeared on my Hawkhurst branch. My branch train (based on photos) is formed of an ex-LC & DR all 1st, all 2nd and all 3rd, plus an ex-SER 4 wheeled full break. The rush hour train, (much more vague), is made up of three bogie coaches which may have been attached to through trains to London. These would all be painted in the lined red livery apart from the full break. My hop-pickers special will be made up of 12 ex-LC & DR 6 wheelers, fortunately painted in the later brown livery. The stock before this would have been ancient SER 4 wheelers, perhaps close coupled. All the best Happy New Year Ray

Corgi Original Omnibus did some of their 4Q4 single deck buses with the sliding door in the closed position and at least a couple in the open position. I think that some of the East Lanc's forward entrance half cab double decker's, which they did in several versions, may have also had slid-able doors. The roof sections on the OB could also be made slid-able. All the best Ray

The only surviving one is sitting in the 1 - 1 collection in the warehouse next door to their offices. All the best Merry Christmas Ray

I got the Great Locomotives version (static), which I believe they scanned and reduced from the 7mm version that Bachmann produced for Kader's centenary. Unfortunately, they cocked it up and it came out more H0 than 00. It also had a chauldron wagon with it. All the best Merry Christmas Ray

Mine arrived this morning quite unannounced. Had a quick look and looks o.k. Will give it closer scrutiny later on. My Caledonian 0-6-0 arrived five minutes before. One by the postman and the other in a post office van. All the best Ray

Not heard anything about mine either. Ray

A spotty dog type model suspended on a wire at each end with the legs flopping about on the treadmill. That would look interesting ! I am sure that some of our more interesting modellers could make that look quite good. After I, recall a locomotive on here somewhere with two legs at the back pushing it along the track !!! All the best Merry Christmas Ray

Reminds me of that old TV advert.... Courage and Barclays and Simmonds bring you the top ten beers..... That included one called Russian Imperial if I remember correctly. That takes it to a whole new level. All the best Merry Christmas Ray