wainwright1

Sorry. Belay that last question Colin. I have just had another look and see that he uses the name BEC. Gets rather confusing when you can remember the old BEC whitemetal kits. All the best Ray

Hi Pandora. I think that quite a lot of the old 18 inch track work was also still intact and used to move stuff around the site before it closed, though not using locomotives. Thanks Colin. Brian Robinson sounds like the person who had the Tower tram kits. Mind you, I think that he was out of the country this time last year, so has he ever returned ? Does he use a company name for his site, as I cannot find anything under his name. I think that I got a link from somewhere else last time I looked for the kits. All the best Ray

Hi All. Just a couple of points. I do not think that cobble stones would have been present on a lot of roads as they would have been smoothed and surfaced with tarmac. However, would there still have been 'Tarry blocks' visible directly next to the running rails ? They would be much easier to model than cobbling the whole street. I believe that the manufacturer of the Black Beetle motor bogies has retired and that production had therefore ceased, similar to the situation with Mashima motors. Branchlines may still have some in stock, but will not be able to re-stock them. I think that Roxey Mouldings also stock/stocked them. Did I see mention of cutting and shutting a proprietary mechanism to provide a powered chassis for a tram. I had another look through, but could not find the reference. I have looked through the KW Tram site and there is plenty of scope on there for all aspects of tram modelling. I do not think that KW make the former Tower plastic tram kits, but cannot find the name of the current manufacturer. I have been on their website before, but cannot find it at the moment. All the best Ray

Just checked the KW Trams website and they say that they have acquired the ABS whitemetal tram, bus and road vehicle kits in 4mm and 7mm. They also appear to have the former Tower plastic kits, and the range also includes motor bogies and other useful items. Looks very good. All the best Ray

To clarify. So can we now buy the complete whitemetal kits and the motorising parts. Ray

Hi Colin. Are we talking about the former Tower plastic tram kits or whitemetal kits ? All the best Ray

Hi Colin. Are we talking about the former Tower plastic tram kits ? All the best Ray

Grove Street Tramway. Not many pictures on the web. Here's some inspiration for Sem. Breath in. A nice Southern shot of what looks like a push-pull fitted ex-Brighton D1 working the train. This was probably the most used type of loco on the tramway. No parking controls then. I think that the building on the right was the Queen Victoria pub. Convoys Wharf. This was where the entrance to the cattle market was. The gateway has been considerably widened. The tracks used to go in at an angle on the corner. The loco shed was to the left just inside the gateway. Hope you find useful. All the best Ray

This was a quite short goods only tramway so would not require electrification. Interestingly, this started off with horse drawn wagons, then the Corporation of London purchased a petrol locomotive and a couple of vans. Finally the tramway was worked by the steam locos from the main yard. They did try an 08 shunter towards the end, though it was not very successful. The tramway route out of the yard changed twice during its existence. The first route bizarrely reversed out of the wharf side, crossing several tracks on one of the level crossings before proceeding down the street. No pictures of this unfortunately, but there is a signal box diagram showing this configuration. The second route came out of the side of the main yard, fairly conventional curving down towards the road.. The third route took advantage of bomb damage flattening some houses which cleared space that enabled a more gentle curve out of the yard, although there was still a bit of a gradient down into the road which caused problems for the 08 shunter and some of the larger steam locos that were tried. There are quite a few pictures of the train negotiating the tramway. The original cattle market later became an army stores depot and later still became Convoys Wharf where Rupert Murdoch brought in the paper for his gutter press publications. I have not been down there recently, but I believe that this has all now closed and the site is due to be re-developed into blocks of luxury flats. Interestingly, there was a small engine shed just to the left side of the gates of the entrance to the cattle market where the tracks entered. This was still standing when we researched and photographed the location, although that particular entrance did not look like it had been used for many years. The engine shed was subsequently demolished. All the best Ray

Hi Colin. Very interesting details about the buildings. I was lucky when developing my Hawkhurst layout that there had been two series of aerial photos taken in 1949 and 1951 (IIRC) , by John Piper, some of which were published in the Middleton Press book on the Hawkhurst Branch Line. Subsequently I met John Grant who had been the surveyor for the Bluebell Railway and was a friend of one of our club members who had a complete set of the pictures and let me have some copies including some not in the book. These showed some features that did not appear in previously published books and enabled me to add extra details to the layout. With regard to the stock used on the East London Line, I think that up to about 1952 the stock used was the old 'B' stock with the clerestory roofs and manually operated doors. The 'F' stock must have come after this, and then I think that it was 'P' stock followed by the famous 'Q' stock. Then for a couple of years the 1938 tube stock. Luckily they did not raise the track level as after this they reverted to the surface type 'A' stock and refurbished 'A' stock. (I may stand corrected). I have a DVD which illustrates most of this stock in use on the East London Line All the best Ray

Hi Sem. Here's a question. Are your depot sidings electrified ? That will limit what you can run into there. Another snippet: Don't forget that the East London Line had a depot for its passenger stock located between the forks of the New Cross Gate and New Cross branches. I assume that prior to electrification there would have been facilities for steam locos there as well. I cannot remember now how the line was worked and if they operated their own stock then. I do know that the Brighton and the GER amongst others worked services through the Thames Tunnel to Liverpool Street from Peckham Rye and some through the widened lines via the St Mary's curve. I think that most of this fizzled out after the South London Line was electrified in 1909, but the freight traffic continued until the 1960's. I have just cross matched you with Alex, so I would guesstimate that you club is in the Hastings area ? All the best Ray

Talking of oil lamp days Colin, I think that Queens Road Peckham was the last station in London to have gas lighting on the platforms. I believe that Brading on the Isle of Wight was the last station in the country to have gas lighting. All the best Ray

Hi Sem. Thanks for the pictures. I can relate to a couple of them, taken not long before the whole lot was demolished. I think that the pub building is still standing. Not sure if it is still a pub though. I know that it was closed, re-opened and closed again. It was used for location filming for a couple of tv programmes back in the 1970's/80's. Don't worry about the connections as there so many permutations and they are all off scene so really anything goes. I think that I can recall seeing pictures of a rail tour which came down the East London Line with Met No. 1 on the front, or L44 as it was lettered then. I think that there was also a visit from Sarah Siddons or one of the other Bo Bo electrics. I am concerned that you are using the full length of the board for your sidings, but bearing in mind that you do not have any run round facilities, once you get a loco on there you only really have the basis of a shunting puzzle where you can bring stock in, but cannot take it out again. I'd like to know how you did your 3D visualisations, obviously using Charlie's kits and back scenes, but probably too complicated for me to do. All the best Ray

Hi Sem and Colin. Just been re-reading the foregoing notes. A few further snippets of information: The rear elevation of St Bartholomew's church was actually the parish rooms which seem to have been moved across the road on your plan. The church was very substantially built of red brick. The parish rooms a two storey building was IIRC built of yellow brick. The correct name for the canal was the Grand Surrey Canal. It was not very grand, although when originally built the developers aims were for it to extend as far as Portsmouth. In effect it never got further than Camberwell Road with a branch off to Peckham, Canal Head most appropriately. It was a sailing barge canal with no locks, basically an extension of South Dock at Surrey Docks. There was also the Croydon Canal which branched off the Surrey Canal. This had a relatively short life following a fairly torturous route from New Cross up I think a ladder of thirty locks to the summit at Brockley. This was a tow path canal the barges of which had problems getting along the Surrey Canal to the junction as the latter had no tow path ! The London and Croydon Railway bought it and used the straight bits as part of its track bed down to West Croydon Station. A couple of things related to the horse tramway might be off interest. If you have or can get a copy of the 1894 or 1914 Deptford North map which adjoins the Old Kent Road one, on the left hand top corner, coming up Rotherhithe New Road, right on the edge on the South London Line is the original South Bermondsey Station, opened 1866, closed 1917, and just a little bit further north is Southwark Park Station which dated for 1902 and closed in 1917, on the Greenwich line. (Just above Rotherhithe Road Carriage Depot). The horse tramway ran past both of these, so there was some interaction. South Bermondsey Station had at this time three tracks, but only two platforms on the outside tracks. The middle track was a fast reversible one used in the rush hour. This ran all the way through to Peckham Rye station. Intermediate Old Kent Road Station had only two platforms, but Queens Road Peckham and Peckham Rye both had three platforms. There are I think three nice H.C. Casserley photos taken off the platform at South Bermondsey and a couple taken off the platform of Southwark Park, but none taken at ground level of the outside of the stations. Some of the remains of South Bermondsey were there until not that long ago and I wrote an article about it for the London Railway Record. They were however demolished prior to the adjacent arches being refurbished. The ground level building at Southwark Park was fairly plain and still stands apart from the loss of a few architectural features. Incidentally, there was a horse tram depot along side Queens Road Peckham Station in Station Passage. When I first moved to where I live now, you could see the remains of the horse tram tracks through the broken tarmac surface which included at least three passing places. These were subsequently torn up and scrapped when they resurfaced the road despite being offered and declined by Crich. A couple of years ago a few more lengths of rail appeared when the cleared the forecourt area in front of the station on the corner of Queens Road and Asylum Road. these would have formed the entrance to the depot. I think that I have seen a picture taken down Station Passage which showed these tracks without the tarmac, but I cannot remember where I saw it. The railway development is this area was very complex and after allowing for the main lines running south from London Bridge Station you have to add the connecting lines from the East London Line and the Deptford Wharf Branch. These included the ELL connection to New Cross, the up ELL link on the west side of New Cross Gate and the down ELL link on the east side of New Cross Gate. There were also the connection coming off the South London Line at Old Kent Road Junction. This split three ways the left line to the ELL at Surrey Docks, the middle one to Deptford Wharf and the third one formed a loop back around eastwards to New Cross Gate and there were a lot of linking bits in between. The Deptford Wharf Branch was an interesting one which we researched around thirty years ago as a possible layout project. Originally called the Thames Junction Railway, this was a goods only branch built by the Brighton to a railway owned wharf on the Thames incorporating the old established Dudman's or Deadman's Dock. This connected in to the lines to New Cross Gate and the South London Line and its route crossed the Grand Surrey Canal, first on a lifting bridge then further north at a higher level on an over bridge. The wharf was more or less divided into two halves with Grove Street forming the boundary. The inland half was a substantial yard and the river side half an equally large wharf complex including a very large covered dock area. There were two signal boxes, three level crossings and a massive foot bridge which spanned the lot. Also, which might be of particular interest, there was a line which came out of the east side of the yard and formed the Grove Street Tramway that ran down the middle of the road to the Corporation of London Foreign Cattle Market. Between the Wharf and the cattle market was the Royal Victualling Yard, later Royal Victoria Yard which had its own metre gauge system and in the cattle market was some standard gauge and it own 18 inch system. So there was plenty of scope for traffic between these different points and the main lines as well as the connections north of the river via the East London Line, over which you also had Underground services. I sized up the prototype for a layout having an approximate 12 ft river frontage by about 8 ft inland depth up to the bridge and we produced a set of display panels showing a large number of photographs of the wharf branch, but we did not develop it as a layout as we found that all the the goods workings were loco worked up to the landward side of the yard, but were then shunted using capstans across Grove Street which although making a very nice diorama, would have been virtually impossible to operate. Unfortunately I do not have any photographs taken of the area where I used ti live, but would be interested in seeing your pictures of Barkworth Road. I presume that your Blackstone West layout is of a fair size and is currently located in a clubroom somewhere. I do not know what your current space availability at home is, but baseboards built to a modular format from standard 4ft x 2ft plywood panels might suit your requirements. These can usually be purchased from suppliers (B & Q) ready cut to size so you just have to cut and assemble the frames from timber. Two of these would give you a good length and depth for a reasonable sized layout with a good opportunity for longer sidings and shunting potential. It would also be quite easy to store on its end if fitted with packing boards. I hope that this some of this might stimulate some further thoughts. Open for comment. All the best Ray

Hi Sim. Now to look at the railway element of the plan Before addressing specifics, I would make some observations about your objectives: The layout is intended to fulfil the following requirements: - It must be small enough to be built and operated at home. - It must use a reasonable amount of stuff I already have, particularly stock. - It must be interesting to operate, and also to watch at an exhibition. - It must provide me with something fresh. - It must be of at least equal standard to Odiham and I will aspire to Harford Street. The current plan measures 5ft long and I think about 15ins-18ins wide (Britain's been metric for 55 years, and yet I use imperial... go figure...). I intend for it to be split into two boards as one 5ft long board would be a nightmare! Initially it will be entirely self-contained but I intend adding a separate fiddle yard later, possibly. The construction of a 5ft x 18inch baseboard should not be a problem if it has a 6mm plywood top which should keep it relatively light and manoeuvrable. It should also be able to fit in the back of an average estate car or an adaptable hatch back. Most of the baseboards we have built for our layouts are designed to be packed together face to face with packing boards that have hand holds to enable easy handling. Of course, to use the layout at home you must cut your cloth according to the space you have available. Looking at your plan it would appear that you will require two, possibly three fiddle yard areas to service the visible part of the layout. I work in imperial as I can visualise what things will look like. This was particularly useful when I was the club exhibition manager (12 shows) and I could pace out approximate sizes for layouts and tables before resorting to a tape to produce the finely detailed floor plan on paper. Metres and centimetres are useless for this. Sheet materials such as plywood are also still sold in imperial 8ft x 4ft sheets. To put the railway content into context. The original map already makes the area look like the railway mania has been working overtime and your additions make it even more of a tangle. I have been trying to work out what might make it logical. The railway components are two separate elements - the yard and the through line. The Yard. Firstly, your sidings in the yard are fairly small and simple with not much operational potential particularly for an exhibition layout. These are served by links from two local lines. These links would need considerable infrastructure which would have required justification for their construction. So what is the purpose of your railway depot ? I cannot see why there would be a satellite yard linked to the larger yards at Bricklayers Arms so that could be taken off. Not sure about the connection to the South London Line as this would only take you to London Bridge Station which would not provide any goods traffic. The East London Line coming down from Surrey Docks is already on its way to Old Kent Road Junction , so that could be turned westwards after passing under the Croydon line and before reaching the canal lifting bridge, then running alongside the canal, then under the South London Line and/or your alternative line, thus reaching your destination on the level and causing a lot less disruption to the surrounding area. Now what we need is a reason for a feed coming south through the Thames Tunnel to a small depot in south London. The Through Line. Here's another idea for the through line. Rather than the green line being a completely separate line why not bring it in along the bottom of the Bricklayers Arms depot as a continuation of that branch. The Bricklayers Arms branch was originally planned to go much further towards London originally called the Grand West End Terminus falling well short of its intended destination. This passenger line would follow the line of Rolls Road, cross St James's Road and Rotherhithe New Road just ahead of Verney Way where the tramway would come in. You can then have your station and the line could continue on and join the South London Line and the Croydon line as per your plan, to provide alternative services to those from London Bridge. Note: If you made the baseboard slightly wider, you could include the canal and model part of the gas works with its interesting narrow gauge system some of which appears to have been visible just across from your area of interest. This features in Industrial Railways of the South East by Middleton Press. I hope that this might prove interesting. All the best Ray

P.S. Back in the 1970's Jim Varney, Transport Replicas, did a white metal kit for an old single deck London horse tram. Available in two versions, 'The People', one of the earliest to run in London and the other was with LCC markings. This bore a good resemblance to the 'Ha'penny Bumper' and would make a nice little cameo. (Even better if you motorised it and made the horses legs move !!!). The kit was later available from ABS kits, references R003 and R004. Unfortunately ABS now appears to have packed up as well due to Adrian Swain's ill health. However kits do turn up from time to time at exhibitions and bus rallies etc. All the best Ray

Hi Sem and Colin. More tramways. I have been having another look at the maps with regards to the horse trams. I think that you may have traced it all out. So looking at the western end of the line, the tracks went up Southwark Park Road then Grange Road, before turning left into Bermondsey New Road which was later to become Tower Bridge Road. They went along almost to what we call Bricklayers Arms road junction and terminated without connecting to the main lines at the junction of Old Kent Road/New Kent Road, similar to that at Canal Bridge. Another leg branched off from Grange Road, ran up Spa Road, turned left up Thurland Road and once again connected to the main lines along Jamaica Road. On the 1914 Bermondsey and Wapping map, the leg up Spa Road/Thurland Road has disappeared and the line in Tower Bridge Road has been taken over and electrified and now forms part of the main line which continues up Tower Bridge Road, then turns left up Tooley Street (or whatever it is at that point), then onward to its terminus at Duke Street Hill outside London Bridge Station. Interestingly, there was still a connection for the horse tramway to the electrified line at the junction between Grange Road and Tower Bridge Road. I wonder how that was used. Point to note is that the horse tramway was virtually all single track apart from a fair number of passing places. I do not think that there is a depot visible anywhere on the horse tramway system, so am not sure where they changed horses. (Colin will know). Perhaps they used the one off off Evelyn Street, Deptford, next to the railway bridge for the Deptford Wharf Branch. (Later Molins factory site). My club colleague Gary has just phoned me and he did his apprenticeship at Molins and said that the paint workshop there still had the tram tracks inside it, so probably occupied the old depot buildings ! Pity he never took any photos. Anyway, here is a very nice picture of the Ha'penny Bumper at rest at its terminus at the southern end of St James Road/Rotherhithe New Road. The old Kent Road runs across in the background. There is a very informative description of the tramway and this scene on the link below. www.tramwayinfo.com/Tramframe.htm?https://www.tramwayinfo.com/trampostcards/Postc183.htm I can relate to some of the properties in view. The wall on the left was the side of a wood turners workshop which was still there until the 1970's possibly '80's. Further on is the side of buildings on the Old Kent Road which were a small parade of I think three or four shops at least one of which was still open in the late 1950's, before demolition, (Now occupied by Curry's/PC World). Then came the 'Canal Bridge.' Most of the buildings on the Old Kent Road in the background were still there into the 1980's, (Perhaps a few gaps due to bombing), including at least one pub (Can't remember the name). The building on the right hand end of St James Road was also a pub, (Again I can't remember the name). This building remained until the 1980's, but after demolition the site still remains empty. The shops on the left were still there until the 1970's, I can remember the tobacconist/confectioners still being open, but in a progressively decrepit state, then demolished. This area is now part of the car park for a SELCO depot. There are some other pictures in the Southwark Local Studies Library, mostly views in Southwark Park Road with the horse trams in action negotiating the street market which used to extend along both sides of the road in those days. I hope that this is of interest. Now I must get on with some modelling. All the best Ray

So much information, it is difficult to address so many points. The Tramway. I have copies of the 1871,1894, and 1914 Old Kent Road Ordnance Survey maps, Alan Godfrey editions. The 1894 one shows parts of the horse tramway tracks in Southwark Park Road, Raymouth Road and Rotherhithe New Road. The 1914 does not show the tracks in Rotherhithe New Road. Presume that these were disused prior to the remainder of this system. I do not have the 1894 copy of the adjoining Deptford North map, but do have the 1914 one. This shows the tracks turning north east out of Raymouth Road, up to Rotherhithe, the Red Lion pub and the tracks joining the main tramway along Lower Road here. Don't forget that that the main tramway was also horse drawn at this time, not being electrified until the turn of the century. N.B. The line did not connect to the main lines at the southern end on the Old Kent Road at Canal Bridge. So you could have an excuse for at least the section between Rotherhithe Red Lion and down to Rotherhithe New Road to Canal Bridge being retained and electrified and connected, although the gradient into Old Kent Road might make this difficult. Your blue line for the tramway seems to cut through a lot of houses. It would more likely go up Rotherhithe New Road and then turn down Verney Road to access the depot. You appear to have planted your depot over the west end of Varcoe Road. Interestingly on top of the sawing, planing and moulding mills, which I think are still standing and operating in some related form ! I will read your notes again and comment on the railway elements tomorrow. All the best Ray Re your last point on my name, did you operate any of Charlie's layouts at exhibitions ? I might have seen you there.

Have you seen Bermondsey (Canal Road). Under 'Layout Topics.' Lots of local interest. Ray

Hi Sem. So much information in such a small space of time. All so familiar. Now where to start ???? Firstly may I ask if you are nocturnal, as you seem to send out most of your stuff in the early hours ? I feel like you are treading on my toes. Looking at the map, usefully just above here, I can advise that I lived the first 25 years of my life in Credon Road. which is in the top left corner, in No. 31 next to No. 29 as shown on the map. I also went to Sunday School at St Bartholomew's and my secondary school was just off the top of the map, Credon Boys Secondary Modern. I also had an uncle and aunt who lived in Verney Road for a time, before moving to Chubworthy Street in Deptford. A substantial area to the West of Credon Road was bulldozed in the 1960's to make way for the notorious Bonamy Estate. All of that has been subsequently bulldozed again and replaced with smaller blocks of housing. All of the housing to East side of the Credon Road was bulldozed at a later date, including our house, the church and my old school, the only exceptions being the church vicarage and the pub, The Bramcote Arms (IIRC). Now here's the important part, virtually all the housing in this area was two storey terrace houses laid out in a large estate going back to the 1870's. From memory, most of the houses had bay windows, some being square like ours and others like a half hexagon. So you need to seek out appropriate kits or scratch-build the surrounding area to this standard. Now to get down to nuts and bolts. I am trying to work out what you have altered on the map. Credon Road used to continue down to become Varcoe Road. The parish rooms were not there, so I present that they had been bombed and replaced with post war industrial buildings that housed Dell Plant Hire to name one and a timber yard that was served by the canal at the bottom end before the road turned East. I think that you have placed some additional houses here, but the area South of Verney Road at this point and below that on Varcoe Road were both un-redeveloped bomb sites, so you could see right down to the boundary wall of the canal, although there was no public access to it there. You did however know when there was a tug and steel lighters going down the canal, as you could see the top of the funnel on the tug above the wall as it went along. The bomb site on Verney Road had a cardboard box factory built on (George Howard's), it was very useful to us younger modellers (1960's), as at the back they had a yard where they dumped all their off-cuts which they were quite happy for us to take away and use for scratch building houses etc for our layouts. When I had a walkabout in this area last year, the factory was in the throws of being demolished. Full circle Incidentally, as you may be aware, South Bermondsey Station closed during WW1 as an economy measure. A new station was later opened with the same name in 1927 (I think) at a location slightly further South East of the original. This was actually in Deptford ! Mind you when we lived in Credon Road, everybody said it was in South Bermondsey, although it was actually in the top North East corner of Camberwell borough at that time and the Postal Code was SE16, which was Rotherhithe. Confused !!! Your final tramway alignment, depot and sidings seem to be along the course of the canal. There is now a Surrey Canal Road which was laid out along part of the course of the canal, although that is further to the East and runs from where Canterbury Bridge once stood on Ilderton Road up to Trundley's Road where there was an interesting almost hump-backed bridge. I see that you are paying homage to Charlie Connor, one of our old muckers, using images of his Street Level Models range which I believe he is in the throws of re-launching, together with his expanding 3D printed Loco range. We also know his dad Jim well, back from the days when he edited and published the London Railway Record. Incidentally, are you familiar with the 'Ha'penny Bumper' ? This was a horse tramway which operated a little more to the North. The middle part of it ran along Southwark Park Road and it threw off branches to Dunton Road and Spa Road at the West end and Rotherhithe Red Lion pub North East end and Canal Bridge, bottom end of Rotherhithe New Road, just off the Old Kent Road. This succumbed during WW1 never having been electrified and I believe was the last horse drawn tramway to operate in London. Nice picture of Car 106 in LCC livery. We visited the LCC Tramway Trust depot at Bethnall Green several times while that car was being restored and have also ridden on it several times at Crich. I am surprised that Colin Withey has not posted on here yet. He is a mine of information about tramways in London. No doubt he will pick it up later. I hope that this is of interest and be most happy to fill in gaps which you might have about the local area. I am Secretary of our local model railway club, Southwark and District M.R.C. and note that there are several posters on here who seem to live in or have past connections with our catchment area., Our modelling interests seem to have followed similar paths. I have modelled Hawkhurst Station, Kent (SE & CR), and also work on our club layout of Crystal Palace High Level (SR), as well as our Chairman Steve's St Mellion layout (GWR), which we treat as a club layout. I am however also contemplating a working bus layout and another simple underground layout on two levels, possibly combined and have also acquired quite a bit of stock and buildings for a military themed layout. I look forward to seeing further updates. All the best Ray Blanchard

I would definitely use Humbrol matt enamels for painting building kits and only use the acrylics for weathering. the latter can be thinned down so that only a thin layer is applied at a time until you get the finish you require. There have been inconsistencies with Humbrol paints, In particular I have had problems with matt black drying streaky and matt varnish not drying properly matt. I always test paints before actually applying them to a model to make sure that they are going to dry properly. Remember to stir them thoroughly and then test them and if you are not happy stir them again. This is even more the case with Precision Paints especially the 50ml tins, as you might have to stir them for 20 mins or more before they matt properly. If you have a dodgy tin of Humbrol that does not do what it should, take a note of the batch number on the label on the bottom of the tin and return it to your supplier. Explain the problem and if they have another tin from a different batch, ask them if they will exchange your original tin for it and return the dodgy tin to Hornby. I have had to do this several times, especially with the matt varnish. This is particularly important to me as I use tinted matt varnish with a few drops of paint added as a weathering finish after I have used acrylics to do the highlights. This helps to blend everything in and strengthens the final finish. I hope that this might be of assistance. Ray

I think that they are closed on lock down. Ray

Hi Colin. Only one question, where do you get the soap, I have not been able to find any. Look forward to further updates. All the best Ray

Hi Tony. It is a long time since the last post on your blog. Any progress with the layout ? We have been getting our Crystal Palace High Level layout ready for the Bluebell Railway Diamond Jubilee Exhibition which has almost certainly been cancelled. just waiting for the final confirmation. Dave Suart the organiser said that they will probably carry everything over to 2021 with as many of the layouts who are able to come re-invited. We have also been told by the church where our club meets to discontinue our club nights for the time being, so no progress on anything at the moment. Finally, Andy from our 'local' model railway shop, Kent Garden Railways, advised yesterday that he was shutting the shop for the duration. So nearly everything is shut down in the near future, although I have plenty of bits to work on at home. Perhaps once things return to normal, hopefully not too long. you may like to visit us in the clubroom, not too far away in Walworth. Ray