Bulwell Hall

Thanks - glad you like it! Glad you like Kingstorre as well - and please don't give up as the article was meant to inspire and not to discourage - that is most certainly not what was intended! And don't forget - Kingstorre is the result of over forty years of dedicated work. Gerry

Brown vehicle - and other vehicles - tail traffic was rather more common that we think. Look out for the Steam on 35mm DVDs from John Huntley and see how many GWR passenger trains ran with tail traffic - even the Cheltenham Flyer (the "Fastest Train in the World") wasn't exempt as there is film of the train with various vans hung on the back. The practice continued well into BR days.

Couldn't agree more - they would go like "s..t off a slippery shovel"!

Well it looks like a LNER cattle wagon to me.

I'm just trying to imagine 1420 with a High Level chassis and Ultrascale wheels - still not yet convinced. The chimney looks a bit 'iffy' but it is streets ahead of the old Airfix version. Gerry

It will probably be the same bloke that reckons he saw King George V at Kingsbridge! It is quite amazing where that engine got to - I met a bloke once who saw it at Weymouth "when he was a lad"! Gerry

By coincidence I was in The Hop Pole only last week - very pleased to see the running-in board reinstated on the platform and nicely painted. No sign of a steam railmotor in the bay platform waiting to leave for Mallingford though! Gerry

The late lamented Morlands Brewery of Abingdon - and look at that pub sign!

What a superb train! Brand spanking new Bullied Pacific, ancient GWR low Siphon, Collett Full Brake and I can't see the rest. But the six-wheel Siphon running into BR days has given me food for thought. What is the origin of this photo please? Gerry

Thanks Dave - very good of you to say so. I was very saddened to learn just this week that Colin L. Caddy passed away very recently. He was a great recorder of the changing Dorset railway scene and his photographic archive is very extensive. He was also into buses and his archive of Southern National etc. is equally extensive but thats another story! Gerry

I have just spotted this post and it took me right back! Many, many years ago, back in the early to mid 1960s, we had several family holidays at Eype. Whilst there we would go for long walks around the area and my late father and myself dreamt up this imaginary light railway that terminated at Eype! Not sure that it would necessarily have been narrow gauge but it would almost certainly have had Arthur Pain buildings as we also visited the Hemyock branch during the same holidays. Must be something about the topography of West Dorset that gets the imagination going! Gerry P.S. Eype continues to have a powerful hold on me and I still visit as often as I can - all to do with the nostalgia of childhood holidays and simpler times I guess.

Fantastic work Morgan! Can't wait to see the finished wheels set up in the frames with the rods and valve gear attached- it's really going to be something! Gerry

According to Peter Cross - who has one of the models of Brent of which I am aware - it was 1947. I would be interested to see those Mike Longridge photos Mark. Gerry

There is just the small matter of funding the mass digitising of thousands of photographs! We all know what has happened to Government funding in the last five years and still the national museums are not allowed to charge admission. Digital prints are availiable from the NRM - but they will cost you around £30.00 per photograph - they are so inaccessible they might as well be on the moon!

Yes - some TPOs for example were turned everyday. At Bristol TM the LMS TPO was taken out to Mangotsfield and went round the the triangular junction there every day although that was the LMS of course! I believe that Old Oak Common carriage sidings had a turntable.

My coach is finished in GWR livery of circa 1943. I don't think too many coaches were finished in this way before the adoption of Hawksworth double waist lining but a few examples are to be found in the various Jim Russell books although not nessecarily a Bow Ended Bk 3rd - it just depends on how fussy you are! Photos of GWR coaches in the 1940s are not exactly common bit it is quite likely that a Bk 3rd was painted in this way. You may find the attached photos of interest although they are of the very early BR period. Again photos of coaches in that period are rare - especially in colour - but livery variations are easily identified. Note the coach in the foreground in the train at Leamington has double waist lining, GWR initials instead of 'Great Western' but no brown panel and lining at cantrail level. As an aside the photo of the train, whilst not of the best quality - being somewhat under exposed - does show the general appearence of GWR stock at this period and shows the considerable variation in the shade of both cream and brown. There is simply no need to be too pedantic about getting the exact shades - there is a world of difference between a freshly painted and varnished coach and one that has been in traffic for years and has became faded and worn. David Jenkinsons book on the Big Four in Colour has some useful pre-war views of passenger trains in colour in the 1930s so it was not just a result of poor wartime and austerity era maintainence. Hope this is of help.

I thought it might be appropriate to post this photo of my recently completed Hornby Collett Bk 3rd. These really are outstandingly good models for the price and are easily the most significant new release for GWR modellers for years. As soon as I took the model out of the box I could see that it had potential and so it has proved to be. After considering the options I decided that the model as supplied could be altered to my chosen post WW2 appearence quite easily. The coach was dismantled and fortunately little cyano had been used in assembly and the model came apart and the glazing released without any alarming cracking sounds! The interior was detail painted by hand to show the correct mahogany and walnut panelling and the horrible printed luggage van window grills and corridor handrails were removed using IPA applied with cotton wool buds. Replacement etched luggage window grills were from Martin Finney - now availiable from Brassmasters. On the exterior all lettering was removed by gently scraping away with a brand new No.10 scalpel blade whilst the lower waist lining was removed using a sharpened cocktail stick and T-Cut worked very gently. The lettering was replaced in 1940s Gill Sans style using CPL transfers and then the moulded on door handles were pared off and replaced with etched door handles from David Geen. The moulded gangway connectors were replaced with Masokits etched brass components which was probably the most demanding part of the exercise. The model was re-wheeled to EM gauge and the wheel sets were pretty much a drop in substitution - only a small amount of material had to be pared off the back of the brake blocks. Brake push rods from brass wire and a dynamo belt from scrap brass etch were added as was steam heat pipe from brass wire. I also replaced the buffers using Hubert Carr sprung buffers with the correct 18" diameter heads which improved the appearence considerably. The replacement or additional parts were touched in with blach paint and then the greatest transformation of all was made by repainting the roof in 'railway filth' - an ad hoc mix of Humbrol Matt Black(33) and Matt Earth (29) - applied using my air brush having first masked the sides and ends. The result is very satisfactory and the finished model sits well alongside other coaches that I already have. I will certainly be doing more of these and further details will be found in a forthcoming MRJ very soon! Gerry

Hi Nigel If you find out could you let me know please? Best wishes Gerry

Well, I am aware of five layouts based on Brent either built or still under construction. Any more and it will become as hackneyed a subject for modeling as Ashburton used to be! Mind you so far as I am concerned the Ashburton Branch is absolutely delightfull with bags of personality - its just a bit limited operationaly - and Chris Lammacrafts model now housed in Buckfastleigh Goods Shed is a delight. Brent on the other had the lot but where do you start - modelling the 'up' and 'down' Limited would be a lifetimes modelling for me! And at least one of these layouts already has a model of the Kingsbridge Rabbit Van although I think it may have gone to Birmingham via Bristol TM rather than London.

Hmm.... OXFord perhaps or maybe CHELTenham or LeaMingToN. I can't imagine a pannier called Tarquin lasting more than five minutes at a shed such as LYDney!

With a name like Tarquin I would bet that he was not a Tyseley pannier!

Did anyone notice the GWR Roundel etched in the mirror......? Go Great Western!

Yes - I'm still waiting for mine to come up from Cornwall and I'm getting quite concerned especially given other developments at Hornby this week! Mine too were ordered when they were first announced. Gerry

Absolutely lovely Adam! What a sight for sore eyes she must have made in the 1950s if you happend to come across her at Brighton amongst all those black engines and green EMUs!

I managed to see a couple of these at the local BS4 meeting yesterday evening. They really are very, very good indeed! With a few minor tweeks and alterations they will be even better and are the most significant addition to the range of GWR coaches for years. I look forward to mine arriving at some point with considerable anticipation but unfortunately they are stuck in Cornwall waiting for the All 3rds and Compos to arrive. I may have to order another All 3rd though as I am sure they will have disappeared from the market within weeks and you can never have too many C54s! Gerry