Edwardian

So, as regular parishioners may recall, each Christmas I furnish my own railway presents, to spare the family the trauma. This year I took advantage of a second-user listing to complete my trinity of Bachmann L&YR Aspinall1008 Class (Hughes Class 5) tanks. Also, this.... Now, before you decide that I have taken leave of my senses, I had better explain. I have no working layout. Since dismantling the test track layout on moving house, what, two and a half years ago, I have had no means to test locos. It stuck my that I should rig up my Bachmann train set controller to some track and deal with that. Said controller was nowhere to be found, however. So, thinks I, when I bought it, it was only £25, so I'll buy another. Well, they're not £25 anymore. The cheapest complete controller set I could find was £75. I thought I'd see if anyone was flogging a second hand Bachmann train set for less. Well, they weren't, but this one was on offer for £75, so I thought I may as well go for this, as the circuit of track would allow me to run in RTR locos, everyone of which has yet to be run in. The clincher was that the vendor was including some sections of straight track, which would be easier for placing some of my locos of the track, and would allow me to test those kit built locos that wouldn't fancy the train set curves. So... This arrived two days ago, since when I have been testing locos interpersed with desperate hunts for those not seen in years. I think all the kit-built locos have been now found, save one large Swindon saddle tank, though, of course, it's always possible I've simply forgotton one or two. Anyway, I have now tested all the kit-built locos I could find, and have run those RTR locos acquired since the move, which had not, therefore, run until now. There are a couple of surprise failures - ones I am sure did run - and a previously untested NER C Class that runs splendidly, provided it's forward. The rest on the 'problem pile' are very much the usual suspects. To be continued....

What a perfect modeller's compact passenger terminus!

Well, 4 hours ago I was sound alseep. No yetis in Yorkshire. No snow. Plenty of wind, however.

The locus in quo...

Well, it's near enough Easby, which the old Richmond branch used to pass, so pretty familiar turf. It's a 10 minute drive away.

It is hard to imagine that such a deep cut could be self-inflicted, so I have my doubts. Hell hath no fury, on the other hand. The timely presence of at least one other policeman is also interesting. I cannot help but wonder whether Mrs Ashton had sought solace for her husband's long absences at Cardiff library and, perhaps, had not expected him to return home in the middle of them. But, hey, we're killing the mood, so apologies.

Here's an old time copper for you, Chris, though I assume that you will have come across this picture yourself by now. He's a member of Merionethshire Constabulary pictured in 1894. As I assume from its proximity to Barmouth that Traeth Mawr lies Merionethshire, and IIRC your setting is 1895, this fellow would seem to be pretty spot on. It is to be hoped, however, that your Sergeant Roberts enjoys a happier home life and kinder fate than that of PC Ashton. I've always felt too much poetry has a deleterious effect: Link

At rent of £38K a year! St Trinian's Hall, on the other hand, can be yours for £2.5m

Assuming Blanche can't find her own way home

My neck of the woods, too...

Hear, hear!

Thank you, Don It's the Scalescenes church using the flint texture, so very much a match for other CA buildings. I have had it for sometime in download form with the intention of using parts thereof for St Tabitha's, possibly trying to do it in perspective form. This example, however, is the downloaded kit built as God and Scalescenes intended, and I thought I could use it for St Tabs pending a more ambitious attempt at the subject.

West Highland?

This is an example, I think, of the W&U carriages being treated slightly differently from general stock.

Thank you, Chris, and you

And to you and yours, Annie, Thank you.

Thank you! With the advent of the EFE cross country stock, I am prompted to restore my Roxey 4 1/2 set and to acquire the 2 coaches I need for the c.1909 onwards branch set and, IIRC, Branchlines did these kits.

Thanks, Neil I can report, however, that the sales@branchlines.com email address is defunct. I will try the rather more Twentieth Century communications options and ... wait!

Does anyone have functioning up to date contact details for the business, or confirmation that it is defunct. I probably last bought from them 2-3 years ago. They were good to deal with, as I recall. Now though I cannot find a catalogue or contact details that work. Businesses without a website are always a challenge for me to buy from, but that's their choice. However, ideally there would be some working means of communication readily available! Cottage industries are cottage industries, of course, and some are, well, less fussed than others about having customers, but, if you have to ask if the business is still aliveevery time you need it, it's fair to say that the business is not cutting through to all its potential market!

Three things, I reckon, I need for my EFE LSWR cross country set: - Dart Castings Mansell wheel inserts. A fresh supply of these has already beem obtained. - Screwlink couplings. I should have some in stock and there are a number of options. - Tall LSWR Laycock torpedo vents. Unexpectedly I have drawn a blank. Roxey must produce them for their kits, but do not market them separately, so I have sent an email to enquire. Branchlines are rumoured to do them, and, indeed, I need a couple of their LSWR coach kits, but they have never had a website so I have to track them down. They ran a blog briefly 2005-2008, but who knows if the contact information on there is still good. If anyone has any info or suggestions re the above...

Time for...

One might see St Augustine as guilty of similar. Nowadays some historians consider he was greatly embarrassed to find a fully functioning Romano-British church that was getting along just fine without him and the Patriarch in Rome. Considering his career was on the line, he reported accordingly.

Yes, well of course. all these calculations go to pot in 1905 when the WNR hosts a Grand Calvacade to celebrate it's half-century.

That was certainly a thing from the early-mid C14th Historians insist we call the Dark Ages the 'Early Mediaeval' period, as if the mediaeval period wasn't long enough already. They bang on endlessly, and have done for over a generation, about how prejudicial a term it is and that just because Rome had failed, it did not mean that we reverted to savagery, what about Lindisfarne, the Vikings were misunderstood and terribly nice once you got to know them, blah, blah, blah. In Britain, post Rome, the historic record goes dark. We may only view it, as it were, through a glass darkly. That is dark enough for me! Take it away, boys...