Cwmtwrch

L was apparenly intended to show 24T capacity, so the wagon may have been modified in some way, or it was an error. No. 1/149 was a single Lot (3120) of 1,000 welded 21T hoppers built in 1958/9, 100 vacuum piped, the rest unfitted. They had roller bearings; buffer design varied. A number were later given disc brake VB in 1963, removed 1969-70.

Their pristine condition and lack of indication of ownership supports this suggestion.

WW2 airborne operations varied considerably in size, type of targets, competence of opponents and level of success, if any, so 'classic' is perhaps difficult to identify. In this particular case there were some decidedly awkward problems: No airborne were available at the time, as they were all committed to Market Garden. This was probably misconceived, but switching the drop zones at short notice just wasn't possible, given the size of the operation and therefore the amount of planning involved. Also, the airborne had had several previous planned drops cancelled at short notice because the land forces had overrun the intended targets, which was becoming a political and morale issue in view of the British shortage of infantry. Dropping airborne onto smallish islands [or almost islands] depends on a level of accuracy which wasn't realistic for the technology of the era, especially since many hundreds of aircraft would be required, many with inexperienced pilots and aircrew. Any resulting dropping into the water would have caused heavy casualties, judging by events on D-Day and in Sicily. Airborne of the time had very limited medium weapons capabilities and no heavy weapons capability, not helpful against fortified positions set up for all-round defense. The Germans were as well aware of the possibilties as the Allies, if not more so, and took steps to maximise both ground and anti-aircraft defenses. The coastal dykes made securing 'beachheads' rather more difficult than usual, particularly for armour. In the end the allies bombed the dykes, flooding most of the areas inside, to make gaps for assault boats and vehicles to enter. Sweeping the Scheldt estuary of mines took over three weeks once the banks were secured, incidentally.

Judging from the fittings it was an LNER diagram 23 plywood BK container dating from 1935. The colour is a bit odd, though, as according to LNER Wagons 4A they were originally Oxford Blue.

The 1936 GWR General Appendix refers to the strings on the sheets as sheet ties. Loads were mostly roped under the sheet, but odd cases of roping over the sheet do appear in photographs.

The numbers and dates I have used are fairly specific to the period I model [1959-60 basically, although the odd anachronism sometimes creeps in]. The life of traditional sheets was quite short, the usual figure given being a maximum of five years, and BR had so many [an article in the BR ER Magazine for December 1954 gives a total stock of 360,000 sheets] that they reached 999999 and went back to the beginning and started again circa 1959/60. To be honest, I don't want to put time and effort into supplying other people; it would take up time I would rather spend modelling [I sometimes think I spend too much time on here as it is...]

Sheeted covered containers appeared about as often as sheeted vans did, judging by photos. Whether it's all down to the condition of the roof I don't know. Particularly vulnerable loads in open wagons were double sheeted [one sheet on top of another] for extra protection, so I wonder if a sheeted van or container might be another version of this in some cases?

Apart from not looking like chains, repeated use would probably damage the wagon paintwork. I could produce dummy chains, which would have to be rigid, of course, but with one end unsecured the risk of damage when the container is not on the wagon is increased. I could put chains on containers not intended for removal, but then some would have chains and others not, which would look odd, and I would have to rope the ones in Highfits, which would be even more difficult to deal with. I might change my mind, but for the moments I've accepted the absence of chains and ropes for consistency and ease of use.

I use an Epson printer, the inks for which are liable to fade over time, so after printing I brush paint with Humbrol matt varnish while the sheets are still flat to try and reduce this. The ink is dry to the touch immediately, but is still affected a little by the varnish. The longer I leave it the less the print is affected; I usually leave it for a day or two now. Varnishing a week after printing seems to produce very little effect. The first time I varnished one with this result I wasn't going to do it again, but a second look suggested the effect might be useful. For sheets that have been in use for a while I gently crunch them in my hand after the varnish has dried and flatten them out before applying them [if you varnish before doing this the varnish will tend to accumulate in the folds, which doesn't look very realistic]. I sometimes use paint over the varnish to provide further weathering, and the inside, where folding makes it visible, is just painted matt black, as are the edges if needed. It seems to have worked OK so far, but if necessary I can just print some more. I don't know if it works with other inks/varnishes, so you would need to experiment.

That's what I thought at the time, but I've recently found photographs of two 9ft wb vans which appear to have been converted [sigh!]. Whether this was in error or the intention was to convert all post-1936 vans, I don't know, but some playing about with numbers makes me inclined to think the latter explanation may be correct.

How concerned are you about accuracy of the markings? If you are happy to ignore them, then any thin paper or foil suitably coloured will do, as described above. Otherwise, you will probably have to print your own, as there are, so far as I know, no accurate commercial offerings for any era and no transfers [unless you can make your own]. Printed on thin paper from my own artwork. Roughly shaped to non-existent chains because the container is intended to be removable. The lack of chains is very obvious, I know, but I've had to compromise and I didn't feel like trying to create dummy chains... No ties fitted as this one is also intended to be removable, along with the packing inside. Not the official way of applying a wagon sheet, but not unknown in practice. Sheets were tightly controlled, and wagon sheets were officially not to be used for anything else except when unavoidable - there were separate station sheets for goods stored temporarily in goods yards and others for road vehicles. Sheets would not normally be seen at the lineside.

No as far as I know, although I am open to correction; this would be an operational matter for the company involved. The RCH did list the agreed handover points from one company to another, I think, with details of any restrictions which applied at each of them, and supplied number takers to record wagons that went through them, but that was no more than administering what the companies had agreed between themselves [as, indeed, were all of the RCH's activities effectively; the member companies told the RCH what they wanted done, not vice-versa]. In the 1920s, the railways were controlled by the WW1 Railway Executive Committee until 1921, and were then grouped from 1923 [although a few amalgamations were carried out earlier by agreement], so many transfer points between companies then vanished.

I only have the first edition of Atkins et al, which mentions, in connection with post-1921 Lots of V14/V16, that "some of these lots were built by outside contractors (such as L983 by the Gloucester RCW)". The example L983 is from V14, but the use of the plural shows other Lots were involved, so is this an example of an earlier contractor-built V16?

They can be downloaded from the S4 Society website https://www.scalefour.org/hollar/ as print them yourself PDFs, which I had forgotten.

Oops, apologies all. 4mm ones certainly were available, but Wizard don't seem to have them listed?

I live in the westcountry, so it seems quite extortionate to me, since I would be very unlikely to be back for several years, if at all, given my age. I would have thought that most locals would soon lose interest in regular trips on any steam railway unless they happen to be enthusiasts, who are steadily dying off and largely not being replaced by younger people.

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wagons/hr702/ Note that the orange border is incorrect and should be removed. Fyffes labels sometimes appear in photographs with a slightly irregular yellow border, but that just means that it was placed on top of a Geest label [which was slightly larger], as far as I know.

The change varied according to location and importer, but up to the early 1960s (very roughly) BR delivered to each destination separately, as instructed by the importers, whether in train loads or in a single van. In 1961 bananas started to be imported in boxes instead on the stem, initially as an experiment, but this quickly became the normal method. At about the same time ripening methods started to change, and the importers started to close warehouses in favour of larger establishments with onward distribution by road, a process which eventually killed off rail traffic completely. So far as I know there was never rail distribution to central warehouses with subsequent further distribution by rail. Once bananas start to ripen the process cannot be slowed down, and the fruit is very vulnerable to damage, so delay in arrival at the final destination and additional handling were to be avoided.

The chassis for the first two buses on the route were Swiss built, by Saurer. They were replaced in 1930 and 1931 by buses on specially modified Leyland Bull chassis, which had a handbrake on all four wheels and a rachet brake on the rear axle. The two Fodens and the last hill bus, a Leyland, had similar braking equipment.

Colour photographs show that the original colour [for both types] was a lighter green than the later standard; it is clear in photos which show a mixed formation,such as the one in Alan Butchers "The Heyday of the DMU". dated to 1962, in the West Midlands. It shows a DMBS in unlined dark green with cream whiskers and four marker lights, a TC in lighter green and a DMS also in unlined dark green. The second unit is entirely in the lighter green.

Depends if they were cloth or leather as well. No idea on colour, I'm afraid; interior shots of buses generally are very uncommon.

I think that this should be the other way round; two character headcode later than the plain front.

I agree there is some welded replating in the visible side, but the doors appear to have a vertical division in them, suggesting to me that they may be 'cupboard' doors rather than the standard type, possibly welded replacements for pressed originals. The end door [I think it is a door, not replating] appears to have four hinges evenly spaced, the corner pair of which have a rivetted strip extending from the hinge to the floor. Ex-PO seems the only answer, I think; a shame there is no external view of the wagon. The shot is reversed, incidentally - we drive on the left...

Sorry, no. I know a bit about the local buses and railways, courtesy of various books, but very little about the area otherwise. Looking at the photographs, I think that the "1935" building is most likely the original B & M building brought back into use, which would seem to imply that the demolition you refer to was before 1900. The horizontal beams carried a second poster hoarding in earlier photos.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/135466-lowmac-carrying-a-container-in-1968/