wainwright1

Was there supposed to be an update on this model during August ? All the best Ray

Got my LSWR and SR ones today and they are the correct chocolate brown colour.

Annoyingly the wheels look rather translucent and a bit pinky. Might still get one though and weather them.

Is that not the top of the ducket. Should it have lining ? All the best Ray

There are actually five Oldbury's, all different types, so they can make up quite a nice set from them. They had already started on the second one when we visited the museum last year. All the best Ray

I think that they are already available on the Methix/Pressfix Southern Coach transfer sheets. All the best Ray

I have a SEF kit for the S, so will not subscribe to that, but am still interested in the F class if that progresses. Would also like a Q class or two if you were to consider them. I bought a book a couple of weeks ago at the Ian Allan shop, This might be of interest: Rails Across the Harbour - Folkestone and its branch line. By John Hendy. Published by Invicta Maritime. £12.95. A nice little softback with lots of pictures including quite a few R and R1 shots which might be of interest and use to you. Also one of the pictures shows an engineers train on the swing bridge which includes at least six ballast wagons of the SER dumb buffered variety, Unfortunately, the picture is taken from an angle above, and the bottom of the picture cuts off just above the buffer, but you can see the metal stays and read some of the lettering/numbering on the nearest wagon. Hope that is of interest. All the best Ray P.S. Absolutely no urgency, but did you get my email about the working model bus steering units ?

I know the feeling. I was doing quite a lot when the lockdown started, but that has whittled down to virtually nothing at the moment. Our club is still closed with all the layouts locked up in it and we have no idea when we might be able to return. Now could that be the S Class ? All the best Ray

P.S. Forgot to say that I hope to be visiting the Island again in October and the steam railway. Will be pleased to see what progress they have made with the Oldbury's. All the best Ray

Thanks IWCR. Which company bought the LBSCR stock ? I suspect the IWCR. I forgot the Bembridge ones, which I think were bankrupt stock, from the Golden Valley Railway up north. Strange vehicles with the W irons mounted on the outside of the solebars, or at least the centre ones were . I recall that I have book with an aerial picture of Bembridge Station showing the train with these coaches and the Manning Wardle 0-6-0 called Bembridge which was called up for service during the first World War. The loco did return to this country after the conflict, but did not return to the IOW. Those coaches would make a nice model. Thanks for reminding me. Now was that two six wheelers and a four wheeled luggage break ? Seem to recall open galleries at the coach ends as well. All the best Ray

Hi All. We exhibited at the Family and Fun event at Acton Works last year that replaced the former model railway weekend. I think that they had virtually no model railway items on sale in the shop then, whereas on previous visits they had quite a lot of stock. We were invited again this year, but the Covid killed that off. Hopefully next year..... All the best Ray

Hi Will. That's certainly starting to take shape. You will have start building coal wagons en masse to fill up the sidings, assuming that is what the bulk of the traffic would have been ? All the best Ray

EFE only did one British tram, the Leeds Horsfield, albeit, they managed quite a few liveries on it. From memory, they did some overseas ones as well. On checking they did a Melbourne Australian one in two liveries. All the best Ray

Hi Will. A shot of the quayside from our St Mellion layout showing the weathering. All the best Ray

Hi Dave. I do not know if anyone has commented on this before. I'll stick my head out and probably get it bitten off, but it will provide some food for thought. I noticed on your train formations that you are showing an Isle of Wight train in Southern livery using a terrier with two four wheeled coaches and two six wheelers. No problem with the terrier, but the suggested coaches used on the Isle of Wight were ex London Chatham and Dover coaches. I think that the ones in question all started life as six wheelers, most of these were either 28ft or 30ft long*. but were either already or were at the point of transfer converted to four wheelers. I do not think that any six wheelers ran on the island. Now it might be possible to convert your six wheelers to four wheelers, the only problem being that the L.C. & D.R. ones were 30ft long whereas yours are going to be 32ft long and I think that they might look a bit stretched and ungainly. They would however need a new chassis with long diagonal braces visible on the solebars. Also your four wheelers will be just over 26ft long, so they would look a bit stubby in this context. (I won't mention the fact the fact that the Chatham coaches had square cornered beading and yours have round). That should set them off. * There were a couple of odd 28ft 9in brakes that got over there which came from a previously converted four coach corridor connected set (2 brakes + 2 saloons) previously used on the Isle of Sheppey ! From memory, a couple of the coaches from this set and some others are preserved and restored at the isle of Wight Steam Railway. Keep up the good work. All the best Ray

I wonder if a new run of these would sell, especially if the price were increased. They did produce quite a wide range of livery options on the original run. I think I saw some of the originals sold through Hattons and even at the Bluebell Railway shop, so probably slow movers. All the best Ray

Is there an accurate sound chip available for the J94 ? All the best Ray

Hopefully somebody will now pick up the Hudswell-Clarke project and bring it to fruition for a bit more variety. I am hoping for some 02s as well to fill the gap on the Isle of Wight front. All the best Ray

Hi Dave. Without wishing to put my neck on the block, I am not sure about this lighter shade of livery. I have a SE & CR layout and am a member of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Society and have seen a lot of livery detail references over the years, but no reference to this Bright Lake. As far as I am aware, the dark lake colour as used by Bachmann on their birdcage stock was the principal livery used on coaches from the turn of the century up until 1912/14 when a change to the dark brown 'Wellington Brown' commenced which then lasted up to the grouping in 1923. However for the first few years after the formation of the Joint Management Committee, some other livery variations were tried, including some coaches appearing in a pseudo half and half livery of dark red lower and varnished teak upper panels, but I do not think that they would have stayed that way for very long. Older South Eastern Railway vehicles would probably have carried on in their former livery for some time probably with a coat of varnish to freshen the paintwork, possibly darkening it in the process and the same with the Chatham coaches getting a fresh coat to their teak finish. I do not have a copy of the 'Britain's Railway Liveries', so cannot comment on that, but you could consult the South Eastern and Chatham Society who I am sure would be more than pleased to advise you on their livery records. Incidentally, some years ago Cherry Paints, now part of Phoenix Precision, produced a small range of railway paints including S.E.R. ones and I have a tin of their S.E.R. coach red which is as dark if not darker than the colour used by Bachmann on the S.E. & C.R. birdcage coaches, though that is without sampling and testing it. So where did they do their research ? Similarly, what did the K.E.S.R. match their colour to ? I hope that this helps. All the best Ray

Hi Dave. Have you checked the price that you are quoting for the SE & CR four coach sets ? Ray

Hi Dave. I like the price being quoted for the SE & CR four coach sets on the website. Can I order them at that price now ? All the best Ray

Hi Will. Starting to look good. Don't forget to apply some green slime between the high and low water line. I have a pot of appropriate paint, AK Slimy Green Light, that I bought from Hobby Holidays and used on the harbour on our St Mellion layout. It gives a very good effect. Following the recent announcements with regard to EFE Rail, it looks like there might be possibilities for some more of the O2s, with hopefully an upgrade to the motor/gear and weighting specification, perhaps hinted at by Graham Muz. All the best Ray P.S. Still no sign of our club re-opening at the moment.

Shame, I thought that they had seen the light. Ray

Thanks Paul. That's interesting. This was shown as being £349.95 when originally announced. Definitely an improvement. Ray

They let the kiddies out with a paint box. All the best Ray