R Marshall

Mick, Beautiful picture. Regards, Roy

Mick, I'm sorry I can't agree - nothing against "flying pigs", but the D20s were elegant, ex-NER and were very effective engines of their time. Biased - me? Great picture, by the way. Regards, Roy

See the Bachmann pages for the debate on whether a J72 in NER green from the Bachmann tooling would be accurate - I have grave doubts. Lined NER black is a better bet.

An M would be great - perhaps as part of the National Collection in miniature from Locomotion? I'd have one of these in any gauge:

Rob, The BR line through Murton was essentially NE to SW, though the colliery line down to the coast was East-West. I don't know which years you might remember, but the chances are that the two types were J27 and Q6 - there are lots of pictures of these in the final years of steam in the NE, running empties up Seaton Bank from Ryhope and coal loads back again. There might have been the odd WD 2-8-0 as well, but I haven't seen pictures of them on that line. The line was used as a diversionary route when the coast line between Sunderland and Hartlepool was unavailable, so local passenger, express passenger (A1s, A2s, A3s, etc - which explains your green loco) and parcels would also have passed on that line between Ryhope and Hart Station. Regards, Roy

Mick, Another superb picture. 52B Heaton certainly is a puzzle - I only have allocations for 1950, 1955, 1959 and later. 61456 was certainly at York in 1950 and 1955, Selby in 1959. Heaton didn't have any B16s in any of those years. Regards, Roy

I'd buy one in BR lined black if they did it in N Gauge - not much chance probably. I can't justify it in the North Eastern Region, but it's a lovely beast.

I agree, but I don't think Bachmann have tooled up for the dimensional differences for the 1898/9 batch - great if they have. There's always 68723 and 68736, the well known station pilots, and, of course, 69023 as preserved.

RCTS Part 3A says the C4s (known as Jersey Lilies) were "employed on main line work on the GC" for over 30 years "only finally displaced in 1936 by class B17 4-6-0s".

My 1955 ABC shows 68696 at West Auckland (51F), but Stockton (51E) by the 1959 edition. I'm as doubtful as you are about 2173 (one of the 1914 batch) - the NER started painting goods engines black in 1904. It might be argued that the style of lining in the photo grey shot suggests green livery was applied, but there are several pictures of T2s and T3s (LNER Q6s and Q7s) with the same lining - these certainly never wore green.

Farish should produce the flat sided 1928 build Pullman Brake ends to complement the Metro-Cammells - without them there isn't a full (8 with steam, more with diesels) set for the late steam/transition era. Then it's only a little step to produce the other flat sided Pullmans, a bit like the NGS Thompson BG leading to further Thompsons (of course helped by the shrink ray from the OO models). And with grey roofs, please.

W M Smith - What chance of a 4CC?

Mick, Some amazing footage on there - favourites are the NER Class Q (D17/2) and what I think must be a Class S3 (B16/1), but the GNR Atlantics are good too. What a variety of coaching stock in almost all the trains! Regards, Roy

Michael, Many thanks - this is very helpful. Regards, Roy

David, Many thanks - great pictures. Regards, Roy

David, I've got one of the NGS Hunslet diesel shunters on order and I've started to look for pictures of the real thing in NCB Northumberland and Durham Area green livery. I don't suppose..........? Regards, Roy

I think the CAD images look great and, if we want the wagons, just get behind the project.

Doug, That's a diagram 50 boiler. Diagram 50A boilers were introduced in 1938 and can be distinguished by the position of the dome - on these boilers it was positioned between the 3rd and 4th boiler bands (counting the smokebox joint as the first). You can see what I mean on this shot of 63395 (apologies, if I've posted this before!). Regards, Roy

Mick, I've looked at the 12 illustrations in RCTS Part 6C (3 of these with Q10 boilers) and none of the 12 appear to have the "piano front" cover over the top of the frames. There is no mention of any such variation in the text, as far as I can see. Another great picture - thanks. Regards, Roy

Here are two cropped shots of J72s, showing 1749 (1899 batch) and 2173 (1914 batch). 1749 shows a lamp with the handle possibly aligned side to side (though much finer than the handle on the EP sample), It's faint, so difficult to be sure. Certainly other early NER classes did carry lamps with side to side handles, so I stand corrected. However, the Class E alongside (J71) has a fore and aft handle which can be seen very faintly. In addition, the shot of 2173 in works grey shows only lamps with fore and aft handles. Looking at lamps on other NER classes leads me to conclude that fore and aft handles were normal from the early years of the 20th Century. I have a picture of 66 Aerolite in works grey in its 1902 rebuilt form showing lamps of this pattern. Hopefully Andy Y can get this message across - lamps with side to side handles should be used with caution. If the other pattern of lamp modelled by Bachmann is not correct, happily Modelu can supply 3D prints of the correct type. Regards, Roy

The lamp pattern is still wrong - can someone get a message through, please!

Dave, Many thanks - my bid for 4 grey N gauge wagons is now in and I did get the confirmation message. Regards, Roy Marshall

Dave, The earlier the batch the better, for me (excepting the first batch, which seems to have been the only one without roller bearings) - it would allow use a good bit before the end of steam and well into the diesel era. Others may not agree, of course! Really need that (those) Q6 in N now! Regards, Roy

Another great picture - thanks Mick. Regards, Roy

Trevor, All credit to Chris - he was a great photographer and very knowledgeable about railway matters. The last time I saw him was at the "Great Goodbye" at Shildon in 2014. A lot of his pictures are on photo-forums.net, under the Time Capsules segment - worth a look and free to download. Regards, Roy