Bulwell Hall

This is coming along very nicely now. Whilst it is well off my usual patch I did have a poke around up there many years ago - before the kids were born and they are in their 30's now! It intrigued and fascinated me then and the layout seems to be capturing the atmosphere of the place remarkably well. I love the idea of the 'long boiler' surviving up there. I hope to see it at Expo EM some time - please keep up the good work. Gerry

Niether should it have lining on the front of the cab - but then it probably wasn't lined at all. Collett Halls were still being turned out in unlined green in 1948 with some carrying 'British Railways' in GWR style lettering - for example see 4941 Llangedwyn Hall ex works at Swindon in April 1948 in 'Great Western Pictorial No 3' by Tony Sterndale - published by Wild Swan Books. Lined Collett Halls - with British Railways lettering - started appearing during 1948.

Well said - and a round of applause for that chap! Yet again we are learning that you only realise what you've lost when its gone - or nearly gone in this case! I too will miss it's regular appearence and it just reinforces the thought that the Great Western Railway really is disappearing into history. The world certainly is changing - and not for the better! Gerry

Superb John - and Morgan! This is what I was waiting to see - she really is looking the part now!

Lovely John - the photo just breathes atmosphere! I especially like the Grange! Gerry

Fabulous Jerry! Gerry

Those that went to China were shipped out there - those that got as far as Eastern Germany and Poland were those that were shipped to France and got left behind after Dunkirk. That there are no photos is not surprising as by 1945 railway enthusiasts in Dresden and Warsaw had rather more serious matters to think about than funny foreign locomotives!

Examples are reputed to have reached as far East as Dresden and possibly even Warsaw.

If this is set in Southampton - and the name suggests it is - then that pub really needs to be a Brickwoods pub - or possibly Strongs of Romsey.

Whilst on matters Hornby and GWR I was rather hoping that there would be news of a second run of the stunning Collett Bow Enders - this time in post war Hawksworth livery - and perhaps a Collett Bow Ended Restaurant Car to go with them! Mustn't be greedy though!

Looking very good Robin and well done Chris! Will there be a bottle cracked at the next meeting or should it wait until the metals are completed and the first train makes a circuit?

Perfection!

Very, very welcome news indeed! If it as good as more recent Hornby rolling stock - and it seems to be from the photos - it will be very good indeed and is long overdue. My order for three or four will be going in tomorrow - just need to get my John Hayes type upgrade on the Ratio Toad finished soon otherwise it will never be finished! Gerry

Looks like Dresden to me rather than Brent - just saying!

Fabulous again!

Fabulous!

Well done Andrew - keep up the good work!

The whole business of operating the Maiden Newton to Bridport mixed train is interesting and my investigations were inconclusive. Firstly the mixed train only worked in the down direction - Maiden Newton to Bridport - and there was no equivilent up mixed train. The first train of the day from Bridport comprised an engine - either pannier or 45xx - and a single coach - known to the staff as the 'night coach' and which was a former Toplight double ended slip coach - which worked up to MN and the coach was then stabled - usually at the far end of the gravity siding against the stops. The second departure of the day from Bridport was the usual branch engine - again either pannier or 45xx - and B set which worked to MN. The engine of the first train shunted the yard at MN which mostly entailed sorting the wagons left at MN by the passing overnight goods trains from Bristol East Depot and STJ to Weymouth and those wagons for Bridport were then attached to the six wheel Toad - which had arrived at MN at the rear of the previous afternoon/evening goods train. Then the Bridport wagons and the Toad were attached to the rear of the B set and BOTH engines and the complete ensemble worked back to Bridport! The departure for this working was from the Down main line platform - hence the need for an up starting signal on the down platform. The 'night coach' was returned to Bridport later in the day attached to a passenger train. There are two further interesting features attached to this unusual working - firstly, as this was an unbalanced working with two trains running from Bridport to MN but only one train returning the electric train staffs accumulated in the staff machine at MN signalbox. Therefore every fortnight, on a Monday morning I believe, a S&T man arrived from Yeovil and removed twelve staffs from the machine and carried them, in a leather carrier, back to Bridport by passenger train and placed them in the staff machine in Bridport signalbox. Needless to say there were very strict regulations about how this was done as obviously there could be implications in having more than one staff out of the machine but it was done and I know one of the linemen who's duty it was for some years. And secondly it is quite remarkable that this interesting operation does not seem to have ever been photographed - at least I have never found or even seen a photograph of the mixed train! It must have been well known to local railway enthusiasts of the time but it seems to have completely escaped the camera - a double headed mixed train must have made quite a sight. As for the Toad having vacuum and steam heat pipes I can offer no explanation. Perhaps, as Mike has said, it sometimes ran attached between the engine and the regular B set as a means of getting it to MN and was placed thus so that it could be easily removed when the B set was set back into the gravity siding. But nobody I have ever spoken to has mentioned this and sadly most, if not all of the railwaymen who would know, are no longer with us. Gerry

The Jim Russell photograph of 56943 was first published in his very first GWR Wagons book from OPC way back in 1971! Bradpole Crossing sounds like a nice idea for a diorama - depending on period you can choose from 7408, 7412, 4507, 4527 or 4562 as well as a number of 57xx panniers. Do keep us posted if you proceed with it.

56943 was allocated to Bridport specifically to work the daily morning mixed train from Maiden Newton to Bridport. The photograph used by Oxford was taken by Jim Russell in the summer of 1947 and shows the vehicle in very good condition so it may have only recently have been shopped and allocated to Bridport - the photo was taken of the vehicle standing in the up platform at Bridport and shows the afternoon goods being assembled ready for departure for Maiden Newton. So far as I know 56943 was unusual - unique? - in that it was vacuum fitted and had steam heat pipes for use when working the daily mixed train. The vehicle remained at Bridport until at least the mid 1950s when it was again photographed in Bridport goods yard in BR livery. And Bridport was anything but a sleepy branchline - it had an extensive passenger service worked by two locomotives and B sets as well as goods trains and there was little leeway in the service. Further information will be found in a new book to be released before Christmas from Wild Swan Books. This model should be able to find a home on my Maiden Newton project and I just hope they get it right as I have been lukewarm about their previous products - seperate handrails are a must for a start! Gerry

Well I never saw that one coming! Amazing that a RTR Toad is to appear which will be suitable for my Maiden Newton project - I really do hope they get this one right as I have been rather luke warm about their other products. Seperate handrails are a must for a starter! The Bridport six wheel Toad lasted until the mid 1950s and there will be several photographs of it in a forthcoming book - due out before Christmas from Wild Swan Books - plug over! Gerry

According to the RCTS, reporting at the time, there were no depot allocations for some years after the war. Also, as it was a wartime repaint, it could very easily have been repainted in 'stock brown' - again the RCTS gives contemporary reports of goods brake vans being repainted brown during wartime and in the aftermath. I also believe that, as a wartime expedient, some Minks were also painted 'stock brown' but I'd need to dig deep to find the reference. Gerry

Yes - every single one of them!

John This just gets better and better. I do look forward to seeing her on her proper wheels and with coupling rods, connecting rods and all the valve gear fitted! Keep up the good work - she is going to be stunning! Gerry

That does look very nice Dave. I am probably missing something but why not just model the Hunslet proposed L&B engine as it is? It was presumably properly 'worked out' by the Hunslet engineers so should work satisfactorily and I don't think it has ever been modelled. And I know it doesn't fit in with your railway but I am imagining it in Southern livery - possibly named 'Brit' or 'Asker'