Adam

Looking pretty good - shouldn’t the tiebar have been folded up on itself? That’s certainly normally how Justin does it. At present what I think I can see is the half etched dimples to emboss in order to represent the boltheads (and the tiebars themselves look a bit low). Adam

Nice work - especially the solution to the steps - but weren't Fruit Ds brown under the GWR? They were certainly coaching stock so far as livery was concerned under BR. Adam

Ah, the O2 - my second ever loco was one of those. From memory, the tanks and footplate are very much the best bit. The chassis will need additional spacers (the instructions imply a lot of structural 0.45mm wire, i.e., the brake hangers, but that's easy to resolve) and the boiler - and especially the smokebox - are not good at all, though you're not the rookie I was. Things to watch for: the later pattern front has an undersized door (I think the original is fine, but that's not the one I wanted! I built mine up with Milliput); the smokebox wrappers will foul the front drivers, even in P4. Obviously that big bit of tube is a massive heatsink and it's very tricky indeed to build square. Details: the instructions have a cab layout drawing that turns out to come from an LNER J15 (you can see the upward extension of the roof and where the screw reverser was tippexed out) and on mine, at least, there was no reversing lever. Most of the brass castings are pretty good (though some - the tank fillers, for example - aren't right for at least some O2s, being generic). Adam

Hi Tim, Assuming it's actually liquid milk and not powder then probably bulk road tanker. Otherwise, I imagine you're talking whole tank volumes for serious production. Powder would be in vans, of course. Adam

Yes, via - of all the possible routes! - the WD control of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. Dad has just completed a scratchbuilt conversion of just this variant, so you’re all very welcome. Adam

No, the Impetus Simplex was too, and possibly the 88DS? When dad built his Simplex, he used gears from a dead Mainline Warship. With both axles driven it pulls fairly well - more than a regauged EM LIMA class 20 on one occasion. Adam

BR rated them 4F, believe it or not. Load limits are obviously a bit variable, but I’ve seen 18 loaded minerals quoted for one NCB system (not flat, not the best track). The limit on the real thing is as much what you can stop rather than start, but I’m quite happy with the 30 wagons (each) my 4mm pair can shift, not that I have the space to let them do it. Adam

Looking good. Lamps? I think you're modelling post-war, aren't you, so white (I happen to have Jenkinson's 'The Big Four in Colour' next to me). One over each buffer, I think - one red lens, one plain for pilot or shunting work. Adam

Oh, I don't know - Orpington has a waiting room with heating and a door (though it's in Orpington...). Keep up the good work - and don't forget the staff cubby hole under the stairs at the country end of platform 3: I've never seen the door closed, Adam

What a superb rendition. I can't say that using Sevenoaks station as a passenger fills me with joy, especially at this time of year, but your attention to detail and capture of the character of the place is spot on. Adam

No, it’s not. Above the solebar it’s fine, corners aren’t terrible, raised plank lines on the interior, chassis is frankly poor - and it’s nearly 40 years old, the tools have paid for themselves and some people will still build and buy them: others won’t know of it or build kits anyway. It doesn’t, ultimately, matter all that much. I’m not replacing mine, anyway. Adam

That was what I was driving at (though primarily looking at archival research): I’ve too often found well-quoted ‘fact’ to be not quite right, or big gaps in ‘received wisdom’ revealed by looking at material at Kew (the transfer of the West Somerset Railway to preservation being a case in point - I’m not sure any of the established works on the line have used the stuff BR or the local authority created having looked at it myself). But unless you tell the reader what you’ve looked at, what chance have they got? Adam

I can only echo @drduncan (for similar reasons - it goes against my professional training and experience - I’m lucky enough to do history for a living). One of the reasons I find some of the recent posts so useful is that they lift the veil on some of the sources used. But not cited in anything I’ve seen in print. By anyone. Ever. Anecdotally, it should be said that railway histories are notorious among historians of other topics (professional and otherwise) in this respect and there’s no especially good reason for this. References are a tool to help all researchers, they enable readers to flush out what has been used, what hasn’t, and where additional information for other things might be (that are not necessarily the subject of what is being read). All that’s needed is the call number of the record the researcher looked at (this is the key bit) and where that is (the name of the archive - secondary!). If there is a hand list of the whereabouts of say, all the original records of surviving PO registers, or private wagon builders, I haven’t seen it, nor would I know where to look. Adam

As you'll hopefully be able to see, I've added the picture to the original post for reference. Adam

Found on Facebook, Sutton Bridge c.1886 some 299s (I think), with nice timber loads and an under runner. Credit to the M&GN Circle, which makes the GNR double bolster in the foreground all the more appropriate. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=519311577005606&set=pb.100067803036939.-2207520000.&type=3 Adam EDIT: Image added for reference.