wainwright1

Tony. Our posts passed like ships in the night. These look very good. Very interested in this as I would particularly would like to make up a couple of E1 cars using the Tower models kits. Is the frame made from plasticard. If so what thickness ? Are the bogies very old ones or fairly recent ones ? I think that this type might still be available from one of the specialist manufacturers I was looking at a few weeks ago. How are the bogies mounted onto the board. Are there press studs, the old fashioned method. Or some other way ? Look forward to hearing from you. All the best Ray P.S. Went to the East Grinstead show yesterday and bought Hatton's full Wainwright liveried P class No. 27 from the Bluebell Railway stand for my Hawkhurst layout. An absolute beauty.

Hi Tony and Dave. I do not have the Ken Harvie book but do have the Lewisham one. As I do not access to my trams books at the moment, can you tell me what were the differences between the standard Feltham and experimental car No. 2 ? I see the Street Level printed cobbles as produced by Charlie Connor. I know Charlie and his dad Jim, the former publisher and editor of The London Railway Record. Charlie is I believe now a full time Baptist minister looking after three chapels up in Bedfordshire. There were rumours about him organising some exhibitions up there, but I have no heard anything definite yet. Might see Jim or even Charlie at Alexandra Palace next week. All the best Ray

Hi Roythebus. (No relation to Bertiethebus ?) Interested in your collection of trams for disposal. You say that these are powered by Tria-ang motor units. Now, the E1s and Felthams are bogie trams, so I do not think that there would be a suitable Tri-ang mechanism that would have fitted those ? I might be interested in the snow broom, but would not want to prevent Thirty2A adding to his collection for his forthcoming layout. Interested in your recollection about operating Adrian Swain's tram layout 1970/1. I think that I attended virtually all the exhibitions at the Horticultural Halls , (Can't remember when it moved there from the Central Hall). That was when I used to visit fairly local shows before I had a car. I don't remember seeing it, but it is a long time ago. Was Adrian producing his kits then ? I presume that he was, although a number of the tram kits would have originated with other manufacturers: Bec, Varney, Pirate, to name a few possibles. All the best Ray

Hi Colin and Tony. As you are no doubt aware, there was also a horse tram depot almost opposite Peckham Rye. north side East Dulwich Road/Peckham Rye West. When the original Kings Arms pub was bombed during the war it got flattened and when they cleared away the rubble they found a lot of horse tramway tracks under the floor/courtyard of the pub where there had presumably been a depot. They had obviously just built up on top of it perhaps incorporating the existing buildings in the pub ? I recall seeing some very nice photos of these findings in Southwark Local History Library. A new pub was built after the war to a modern style, but that closed I think at least ten years ago and was converted into flats. More inspiration. All the best Ray

Colin. Your depth of knowledge astounds me. When I get a copy of the 1914 edition we will see if there were any changes post electrification. I never realised that Rotherhithe New Road had such a good shopping centre. I can only remember a small Co-op parade - greengrocers, butchers and grocers I think. A splendid selection of trams. You certainly do not need to build any new rolling stock. All the best Ray

Hi Tony. Yes the modern tram layout was built by the Croydon MRS. It is fairly simple and I think operates automatically. By the way, in my notes about the map, the river I refer to is Deptford Creek, or the Quaggy or Ravensbourne. I am not sure if this is the location that Colin is referring to as 'Deptford Wharf ?' From memory there were three rivers which merged together and eventually came out into the Thames at Deptford Creek. Two of them join just below Lewisham Station and can be seen from the platform. I cannot remember the name of the third one. I think that the river was navigable up to about the bridge on Deptford Broadway. The river was crossed by two other bridges, the road lifting bridge on Creek Road which I think is still operational and the the horizontal rising railway bridge, originally on the London and Greenwich Railway, which I think is now permanently fixed due to the lack of river traffic. This used to require the removal of fish plates, electrical cables etc. before it could be raised. Quite a drawn out process. This was the third bridge used by the railway. The first opened with the extension of the line to Greenwich in 1838 and was a drawbridge type. I believe possibly the first railway bridge of its type in the world. This was replaced with a more modern version of the same type, I think off the top of head early in the 20th century. There are some nice photos of this replacement work possibly in the Greenwich Local Studies Library. By the way, I have copies of the late Ted Oakley's books and he gave a talk about trams to the Peckham Society some years ago. He covered the 'Ha' penny Bumper' horse tram route which ran over various sections through Bermondsey to several termini including Spa Road, Dunton Road, Rotherhithe Red Lion and Canal Bridge (Old Kent Road) and was the last horse tram route in London, closing during the first world war. Several pictures exist in Southwark Local Studies Library and elsewhere including a couple in Southwark Park Road near to the street market in 'The Blue' which used to extend along a large length of the road. Mind you, the poor old horse looked rather emaciated ! He also mentioned another even more obscure backstreet horse tram route which ran intermittently around Peckham and East Dulwich along such streets as Choumert Road and Crystal Palace Road up from East Dulwich Road. Not sure when that closed, but he showed what I think was the only picture of a tram on that service and it was a 'Toast Rack' type with curtains on the sides totally different to those used elsewhere in South London All the best Ray P.S Might see you Tuesday evening Tony ?

Hi All. Just a few notes on the map. This shows the close proximity of the depot to the river. The dispensary is what I think was the Miller Hospital ? The floor mill shown by the river on the left was Mumford's Floor Mill, quite a tall building with large vents on the roof. It is still standing and now converted into flats. I think that the name of the pub further down is the North Pole. Or that might be another one further up the road. The building to the right of the Police Station is the Greenwich Court, now out of use as such since they opened the large Belmarsh Prison and Court complex. The building to the left is the old Morgue. Long out of use and has been boarded up for many years. The building on the corner was a small primary school. This building was in use, but is now boarded up and I think has been purchased for conversion into a hotel. I hope that this might be of interest. All the best Ray

Hi Colin. I have attached small snippet of the 1894 O/S which shows what I think is the tram depot. Greenwich High Road runs up from the bottom left corner and the depot entrance is between the G and R. There appears to be some other track work just inside the entrance and possibly some more track linking buildings, but that may be something completely different. Perhaps you could confirm if that is correct. Tony. Some very nice photos. I think that there used to be another tower wagon owned by a group who had an RT, RF Tower Wagon and one of the STL converted tenders. These were stored in a barn on a farm somewhere which was torched and I think all the vehicles were lost. I do have pictures of these vehicles from rallies, but would have to do some searching to find them. I have an un-built kit for the ABS Tower Wagon and a tree lopper STL, also an old BEC Feltham tram kit, all in white metal. I organised an exhibition in 1982 to celebrate 30 years of the end of the trams in the Brunel Pumphouse up in Rotherhithe. It was spread over two weekends and a couple of days during the week between. We even ran a special free bus service from New Cross Bus Garage (Tram Depot) up to Rotherhithe using RT 1702. The event was quite well attended despite being a small affair, but helped to raise the profile for the trams. All the best Ray

Hi Red Devil. Pleased to hear that Walford Arches still exists. I saw it at several exhibitions and the trolleybuses performed very well. I had heard that it had a problem with the wire in the road rusting to the point that there was not enough iron left for the magnets to follow. I have been looking for a better quality wire, ideally a galvanised or plastic coated one to eliminate or reduce the rusting problem. Your cobble stones appear to be hand carved, the same as mine. I use Tetrion which can be mixed so it dries quite hard so that when you carve it the effect is quite crisp, but it also crumbles a little giving a worn finish without the plaster being too soft. Once the plaster has been given a good coat of enamel paint it increases its strength and reduces the tendency to chip. Now the $64,000 question, how did you produce your grooved rail which looks very good ? All the best Ray

Hi Colin. That is very interesting, it is a pity that one of those schemes did not come off. I assume that your mention of Crystal Palace Goods Yard refers to the low level station ? I thought that the site there was a bit land locked so would have made it difficult. By the way, I do remember that there was a scheme proposed for a railway heritage centre there in the 1980's. I think that I still have a copy of the prospectus for it. That came to nothing as well. You probably know that we have built a layout of Crystal Palace High Level Station which did not have a goods yard. See southwarkmrc.wordpress.com. I nipped up to the Ian Allan shop, but they only had a copy of the 1894 105 O/S sheet rather than the 1914 one. This does however show the horse tramways and a depot coming off Greenwich High Road, presumably the precursor of your stores depot. The piece of layout looks very interesting, so maybe this dialog might stimulate you towards a spurt of new modelling. I have laid some paving on a couple of layouts and have found that once you have laid a base of Plasticard and cut all your slabs from 10 thou sheet to a standard size, removed the cutting burrs and slightly bevelled the edges, you can lay the paving quite quickly in the usual alternate courses which once trimmed, fitted with a kerb and painted look very good. One of our former members, Little Jim, now longer with us, laid all the paving on Crystal Palace in this way, not to mention all the planking on the platforms and without recourse to a straight jacket ! One of the things I always thought about tram points and junctions is that the electrics could get quite complicated especially when the prospect of a common return loop exists, not to mention cross overs in the same proximity. Using overhead pick up would alleviate a lot of this, but getting trolley poles to work properly can also cause problems Mind you, I tend to work out track circuits simply colour coded on paper, then do the wiring stage by stage testing each section until it is complete. Judging by your comments, I expect that you have come across Peter and Len from the Feltham group at one time or another. Good modelling Ray

Hi Colin. No it was not due to gout, the A & E doctor confirmed that. It is feeling a lot better, though still quite red. The location of the Deptford depot is now a little clearer. I remember the Merryweather Factory, a place where they built many fire engines and also some railway locomotives. Narrow gauge if I remember correctly and mostly for export ? The buildings later became an industrial estate, but more recently were demolished. So that piece of history has now been lost. I also remember the Miller Hospital. I think that the frontage of that was retained after it closed, but cannot remember if that is still standing ? The Greenwich Narrow Gauge Club used to have their exhibitions just up the road at the old town hall, West Greenwich House, until they started Expo Narrow Gauge at the White Oaks Centre. I think that their clubroom is still there though. I will have to get a copy of O/S sheet 105 next time I go to the Ian Allan shop as they stock the Godfrey Edition reprints. I can then study the details for this depot. You might be interested to know that the Feltham tram is not owned by the London Transport Museum. It was purchased privately by a small group of enthusiasts including the late Peter Atkinson and Len Field. While the tram was at Covent Garden it was up on blocks and on special occasions visitors were allowed to get up on the tram and drive it on relatively low power, bearing in mind it still had the original wiring !. Obviously being on blocks it did not go anywhere. This was supervised by Peter and I and other members of the RT 1702 Bus Preservation Group used to assist him. Unfortunately, after Peter had a stroke this practice ceased and eventually the tram was moved to Acton with most of the other tram related items. Len field is still around in his mid eighties and the treasurer of the bus group. He also used to go up to Crich in its early days on his Lambretta and assist on various projects. I think that the Feltham is on indefinite loan, but do not know what the terms of the loan were. Could be the reason why they would not let it out Incidentally, I have had a ride on the other Feltham car, the 'Cissie' centre entrance one up at Crich 2-3 years ago, which was quite interesting. I have lost count of the number of people who say that they have got a ticket for the last tram in London. I think that they must have printed thousands of them. Bye the way, the last tram ran 15 days before I was born. Happy days Ray

Hello Colin, Tony, Dave etc. Just catching up. Had a bit of trouble with an infection in my big toe. Now seems under control and on the mend. Colin. Been looking at the old OS map for Greenwich 1913 trying to find your Deptford Wharf Depot. On the west bank of Deptford Creek it shows an engineering works (non specific). Next to this is shown Stowage Wharf. Now My father worked at Deptford Power Station as a turbine operator and my uncle Charlie also worked there on the outside unloading coal from the barges. This area was called 'The Stowage.' Wikipedia indicates that the power station opened 1899 which must be this site, so I wonder why it is not identified as such on the map ? On the east side of the Creek is a shown a large building, but no description. The main road over here is Creek Road over which there were tram tracks heading to Greenwich on routes 68/70. Greenwich High Road is further east and runs up north east from Deptford Broadway. I wonder if you meant that the tramway depot was down at the Broadway end of the Creek ? Unfortunately I do not have a copy of the OS map 105 covering the Broadway which might be more revealing. There were tram lines up here for routes 36/38/40. Did you see the programme about Hornby on BBC4 last night. I found it quite interesting with lots of my Double 0 Gauge Association colleagues in it. I was interviewed and filmed for about half an hour, though they did not show me in it. Might be keeping that for the x rated version or 'It will be alright on the night.' The second episode next week should be good with a confrontation between Simon Kohler and two other manufacturers. I keep my eyes open for items that would be useful for motorising buses and other road vehicles. Unfortunately, the Faller steering units seem to be the only viable ones available, but tend to be rather expensive. I did come across another brand that did kits of parts for steering units which went up in half millimetre increments, but that was from a firm in Poland and they did not provide the wheels. I did not fancy doing financial deals with Poland and subsequently mislaid the link I had. I have also looked at manufacturing some steering units myself, particularly for 8ft wide vehicles which the Faller units cannot really stretch to. I collected a number of brass components to make them from, but they have to be quite precise and it was difficult to get all the items as accurate as was necessary for the job. I will return to that later. (I have seen it done by other people, including a Corgi 1:50th scale Bedford OB coach). I have just received an email confirming an invitation to exhibit at the London Transport Museum Family Fun Weekend at their Acton Works site on 13th and 14th July. So better get on with our St Mellion layout. All the best Ray

Hi All. I have looked around under various categories, but cannot find anything relevant. Can anyone advise if anybody has produced transfers for the rolling stock used on the Longmoor Military Railway or its predecessor the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway ? Many thanks RB

Hi Pilou. Many thanks for that info on the Proto 87 Sig and HO stores Electric Avenue and City Streets range. It looks very interesting and the rail looks like that which Tramalan used to do. Looking at the etched sections for the switches, it is not easy to see how much deeper the grooves are to keep the wheels on the tracks than those on the old PC etchings. The stone sets look good, but the main problem is that the sets should curve with the tracks as they go around corners and obviously with a fairly flexible system this is not easy. On the St Mellion quayside I cut all the stone sets by hand so that they go with the track shape. I have also cut the sets on the drive way into the coal yard on Crystal Palace in the same way, but this and the subsequent painting with a variety of stone shades is very time consuming. I wonder if anyone will import these items for the British market ? By the way, modelling working trolley buses can be easier than buses, if you can get the twin overhead wiring working properly with twin trolley poles. You use the same steering system and don't need to carry a battery on board and can control the speed more easily with a controller. The late Tony Chlad had a very nice layout called Walford Arches which featured many London trolleybuses and even a B Type bus ! All the best Ray

Aah Hello Dave, or should I say Mr Southern Electric. I remember seeing your models and layouts long before there were ready to run models available, apart from the Hornby Dublo 2 EPB and the Triang 2 NON. Colin. I see your reference to Deptford Wharf. That is very interesting, as when our club was set up more than 30 years ago, we looked at this prototype as a possible layout and collected a number maps and photographs. We visited the site quite a few times and photographed the remaining details. We also tracked down several people who had worked there. I calculated that in 4mm the bulk of the track plan would probably fit on six base boards, with a 12 foot river frontage and and 8 foot depth tapering back to the incoming tracks. There would have been a separate extension for the Grove Street Tramway down to the Corporation of London Foreign Cattle Market, later Army Stores Depot, later still Convoys Wharf. Interestingly, between the wharf and the cattle market, there was the Royal Victualling Yard, later Royal Victoria Yard, which had an internal metre gauge system and the cattle market had its own 18 inch system and both also had connections to the standard gauge at various times. The street tramway was originally operated with horse power, then petrol loco and finally steam and the access from the main yard was altered on two occasions. We did not proceed with the project as operationally it had very limited potential due to the fact loco operated trains only worked up to Grove Street, where there were multiple level crossings with very long gates and from then on all the movements were done using cables and hydraulic capstans. The riverside part of the yard also had around 15 wagon tables and a lot of the tracks turned through roughly 90 degrees inside the yard which would have created lots of difficult angled track joints across the baseboard joints. This was a railway owned wharf originally L.B. & S.C.R., rather than part of the London Docks, but I do not recall ever seeing any reference to London Transport Tramways having a presence there. Perhaps you can enlighten us. I agree with you about the parking situation for the Beckenham and West Wickham show. We normally get there early, park up and go into their cafe to get a cup of tea and bacon roll before the show opens. I am also dabbling a bit with 009 and hoping to combine this with 00 on a military themed layout, but currently have more than enough to do on Hawkhurst, Crystal Palace High Level and St Mellion to keep me busy for the moment. I am also tinkering with working model buses and trying source suitable components at sensible prices to make this viable. Faller prices are ridiculous. All the best Ray

Hi Colin and Tony. Pleased to receive your replies. Been to our friends at the Beckenham and West Wickham Club open day today. Very convivial with a good selection of layouts on display, including some that have not been seen before and well attended. I have a number of the Kingsway Models kits in store covering a number of local garages and depots. The only other local tram depots I can think of are Walworth, which is now a working bus garage and the old Rye Lane Depot in Peckham, which I think was mainly a stores depot and has been completely obliterated with a Burger King and Lidl Store covering the site. The V you refer to is I think between St James Road and Rotherhithe New Road ? I should be able to remember what was on that site before it was redeveloped, but for some reason cannot. I can remember the houses on the end of Verney Road coming out on the other side of Rotherhithe New Road and the timber yard, or was it a furniture factory going up to Canal Bridge and the old shops coming back down the other side of the road. (The location of that very nice photo of the Ha' Penny Bumper horse drawn tram). Currently I am working on two of our club layouts, Crystal Palace High Level and St Mellion, actually one of our chairman's layouts. Both of these have exhibition bookings this year and require a fair amount of work on them. So they will be taking up a fair amount of my time. I also have my own layout Hawkhurst, which does not have any bookings at the moment, but also needs a new board finishing off scenically, renewal of three broken points, plus refurbishment of the overall layout and in particular photo display panels on the side of its fiddle yard boards. So I have plenty of work to do without starting anything new. By the way Gary Cross the leading light on our Crystal Palace layout has also started another private layout of Lordship Lane, two stations up the branch. This will feature the tram tracks under the bridge, though only as a static section with a couple of trams. I note the reference to bending tracks and soldering. I think that SMP do or did some point kits for tram points which had quite a tight radius. These were of a copper clad construction involving soldering. I have done work on inset track creating continuous check rail using PECO flexible track, cutting about every 6th sleeper web, then soldering rail to a copper clad sleepers using roller track gauges to keep everything parallel and correctly spaced. I have also used phosphor-bronze rail for this, but I do not think that this would be appropriate for tramway track. The outside areas and gap between the rails is then infilled with filler and can then be carved to represent wooden tarry blocks or cobble stones as required. You might be surprised how easy it can be to bend rails to a tight curve especially if using code 75 rail. There used be a trader who sold drawn grooved tramway rail, Tramalan, but unfortunately that disappeared years ago, I never saw any and I am not sure how fine it was and if the trams would stay on it. Also many years ago, PC Models who did a range of coach kits and the very nice Methix and Pressfix railway transfers, did a range of etched track components. I saw some of these quite some time ago, and they were really only suitable for cosmetic use. At some point in the future I am hoping to produce a military layout, possibly army/navy, somewhere in southern England. I have already put by a collection of buildings, locomotives, rolling stock, military vehicles and fixtures and fittings for this and have three 40in square base boards from an aborted club layout which could be the nucleus for the project. However, lots of other things to finish first. We have very friendly relationship with our neighbouring clubs, Beckenham and West Wickham, Croydon and Erith and I am sure that they would be most pleased to invite your layouts to their exhibitions once they are progressed, perhaps together with a couple of other layouts they could make up a complete tramway section. Our club would be most pleased to discuss, advise and assist you on details for your project, so If you would like to visit us at our clubroom , I will message you with the address and contact details. All the best RB See attached picture of St Mellion quayside with inset track.

Hi All. Can anybody advise if Dan is still at the address he used to put on his kits, i.e. 46 The Street. I have dropped him a line with an sae, but so far not received a reply. Perhaps you could message me with an updated address if he has one. Many thanks Ray

The wheels on the picture of Stepney are definite just coloured plastic, very similar to the incorrect 'pinky' colour Hornby have painted all their more recent old L.B. & S.C.R. liveried Terriers, albeit with the gaps painted in on the balances. The picture in the Hornby catalogue shows the model with the lining panels on the tanks and the wheels look the same colour as the body, so hopefully all will be well when the model arrives. The bottom section of the boiler which appears to be unpainted plastic, seems to show a similar problem to the Oxford Adams Radial etc, where this is produced as part of the running plate casting, but does not quite align properly with the rest of the boiler. Lets hope that on the production models this can be pushed up into the correct position and painted to match. Comment has been made about the guard irons not being the right shape. I wonder if they have been shaped to fit behind the sand boxes on the locos which had them moved below the footplate ? Perhaps Hornby have only tooled one option for this or maybe there might be correctly shaped ones for each type ? I am looking forward to these arriving with three on order at a very reasonable price. (Just hope that they get the right shade of green on the S.E. & C.R. one this time). Also hoping for the Isle of Wight pre-grouping ones next year. Anybody doing Oldbury 4 wheeled coach kits yet ? RB

Hi thirty2a and coline33. just come across your blog, although I note that there have not been any postings for a while. A very interesting discussion on tramway depots in South London. You both seem to have local connections with me as I used to live about five minutes walk from Rotherhithe New Road and now live a little further, just off the Old Kent Road. Colin, I like your idea for the tram depot in Rotherhithe New Road and wonder exactly where that would have possibly been ? There used to be a British Road Services Depot close to North West Kent Junction Signal Box which fitted in the space between the Bricklayers Arms branch and the South London Line viaduct. Not sure what was there before it, a Southern Railway vehicle depot or something else ? The site might have been big enough for a tram depot with an interesting back scene. thirty2a. I note that you live Rotherhithe and wonder if I have come across you as I am the Secretary of your local model railway club, the Southwark and District MRC. We are now approaching the end of our 33rd year of operation and are always looking for new members or associates in the local area. I was not aware of the tramway exhibitions held at the Arnhem Gallery, Fairfield Halls, which I think are now coming to the end of a fairly extensive refurbishment. I think that you are both building layouts which will be suitable for exhibition once they are more progressed. We have not held our own exhibition for quite a few years due a reduced number of members, lack of funds or a suitable local venue, but are regularly involved with the other clubs in the south London area providing layouts, demonstration stands etc, and I am sure that the organisers would be most pleased to invite you to show your models. and we can always help with manning if you require assistance. Any chance of an update on your two projects ? Incidentally, there used to be a horse tram depot in Leo street, just around the back of where I live now, off the Old Kent Road and another off Queens Road in Station Passage along side Queens Road Station. Surprising, there was still some original horse tramway track including point work for three passing places extant and visible through pot holes at the latter until about twenty years ago. Unfortunately, it was all ripped up when they refurbished the roadway. All the best R B

The enlarged bunkers on the Isle of Wight were not started by the Southern Railway. There is a picture of one of the Isle of Wight Central Terriers in the later black livery sporting one. However, I am not sure if they all had this modification before the grouping. It is quite possible that the IoWCR ones ran in red and black livery before the bunkers were altered and I do not think that the Freshwater Yarmouth and Newport one was altered before 1923. So plenty of scope for the manufacturers. The more the merrier. I look forward to adding some of these to my collection. RB

I have been viewing this with interest. Looking very good. Hopefully we will now have a decent chassis without those unreliable plunger pick-ups. So we will also get a good representation of both the A1 and A1X versions with original wooden and iron brake shoes, plus options on the lamp irons, though perhaps not all the possible variations. Variations on the sand boxes at the front end and the bunker coal rails, though again perhaps not all the possible variations on the latter. Will there be more than one chimney option ? I believe that Simon Kohler has advised retailers visiting the trade presentation yesterday that a number of errors have already been noted and corrected, so it may well be that the finished articles will be nearer to the prototype examples that they represent. Just a couple of observations: From memory, did not one of the Kent and East Sussex Terriers have a modified bunker. i.e. No tool box and the height of the bunker was slightly increased. I think that it ran in this condition in both blue and green liveries but I can't off hand remember which one it was ? I hope that Hornby get the livery on Stepney and the SECR ones right. Dapol got the colour for Stroudley Improved Engine Green right on their original Boxhill and Stepney, but every Terrier that Hornby has produced in the Brighton livery has had the colour much too pinky. When they did the SECR version, they also manage to make that much too bright and sickly. Now that they done the H class and got the Wainwright livery right on that they have no excuse for getting it wrong on the Terrier. Obviously when they do more models such as the Isle of Wight pre-grouping versions they will need to produce an enlarged bunker, but that should not prove too difficult if they make the cab/bunker section as a separate moulding as on the original Dapol version. If they produce another LSWR one however, they will also need a different chimney and safety valves and I imagine that this will also be applicable to some other versions. The condensing pipes have also been mentioned as not being visible on any of the pre-production models. Perhaps they will be supplied in a set of optional add on parts as with the original Dapol version ? RB

Hi Ben. This was one of my Christmas presents. It starts with two sections of Bullied Pacifics on the main line and in the West Country, followed by a miscellany of other tendered types. Then there is a section on N and U moguls on the North Downs line, Redhill to Reading. After this there a three chapters on ex-Brighton locos, ex-SECR, USA and BR tanks, and ex-LSWR locos including M7s on the Lymington and Swanage branches. Finally, there is a very nice section on the Isle of Wight. The pictures are all from one photographer and the overall quality is very good. It would make a worthwhile investment. RB

And there was me thinking it was montly ! We will be there. Will you ? Hope you've restocked the bar after last time Harry and will Abba be the barmaid again ? Don't forget Paul's Chocolate Porter. Well, it is Christmas. RB

Bachmann is the obvious candidate for the Wainwright D class, as it was coupled to the same tender as the C class which they already have. So half the job is already done. RB

Interestingly, in An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol. 3 SECR, there are two pictures showing machinery wagons with a variety of traction engines loaded and they all appear to have their chimneys up. One of these pictures which appears to have a steam roller, traction engine and possibly a ploughing engine is captioned that it was either taken at Lydd or Cambridge. Possibly a delivery from Aveling and Porter ? RB