Edwardian

Least said about them the better.

Gosh, how could I forget those! I sort of think the Kernow steam raicar will count in dues course - it's a coach wot moves without a seperate engine! And Dapol will return to the fray with an autocoach that will count too. Some 1890s clerestories would look splendid too if any takers can be found!

Don't know how I missed these EFE Rail coaches being released in LSWR livery: I believe these are the 1906 sets that PC Models once produced. I have a set of these, in various stages of completion/disrepair because it struck me as an appropriate rset to run as a through service to Ilfracombe. The EFE ones are likely to outshine the PC versions. The other set I intend to use as a a through service to Ilfracombe is the older 4 and a half set, which are Roxey kits requiring only a little TLC to bring them back into service. That leaves a branch sets. I was thinking of one train of 4-6 wheelers and one of the 2-coach 1909 bogie set. Add through coaches, horse boxes, carriage trucks, luggage vans and brakes etc to suit. So is this that rarest of things, a case of a pre-Grouping RTR release that is a fit with pre-exisiting plans and notions? So, let's take a look. They are lit with electric, but that's fine because Stone's system was mandated for all new carriages in 1901, however, that was rolled back in favour of gas in 1905! I don't think this was applied universally and I think the cross-country mainline sets we're dealing with had electric lighting from the first. The sets were built from 1904, but the EFE coaches (and IIRC the PC kits) represent the majority built 1906-1910, as these had the dguard's duckets on the brake thirds moved from the carriage ends. There were two of these brake thrids, to drawing 1446, in the set of four. Next down the picture comes a First/Third Lav. Comp. This seems to match the drawing 1298 of the set. There follows what looks like the correct drawing 1302 Second-Third Lav. Comp. Note that in these sets, some of the Second Class passengers have access to a loo. All but one of the First compartments has access to a loo. Third Class passengers are expected to exercise supreme self control. Given that there are known to have been used on expresses between London and Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Weymouth and North Devon, it might be worth paying for an upgrade!

I felt 4mm/OO was implied from the context. Overall, as well as in 009 the first might be said to be Peco's Lynton & Barnstaple, but I do not grant them that as the tooling is for the Southern condition, even where the livery applied is pre-Grouping. So, the Bachmann SE&CR were the first. I stand corrected regarding the EFE coaches; I had not realised they had been released in LSWR livery. I will break out the Weddell and see how they stack up in the original livery. Are these the ones PC did many moons ago? So, yes, the third! Generics, much as I praise them, don't count as, yes, "accurate to a specific prototype" was also implied!

So, I'm going to wax lyrical about these, only the second third standard gauge specific to prototype pre-Grouping coaches release RTR. I think they will be justly praised for the balcony detail, but, for me, my inner coach nerd thrills at features like the profile of the waist beading; a stylistic hangover from the 1860-1870s really, but so wonderful to see in crisply moulded plastic, a feature etched brass cannot really capture. And then there are those bulbous GE vents in the eaves panel. Crucially, they are discernably sitting inside the recessed panel. Just like the real thing! Then there are the roof fittings and the gas lamps seen on the verandahs. I do congratualate those involved at Rapido, because this really is a superb job. It would be great to see Rapido tackle other pre-Grouping coaching stock, because these are so beautifully done. Perhaps a T26 and a rake of GE 6-wheelers would be nice!

Quick question if I may. Are there any happy users of a Model Rail J70 who use tension lock couplings and therefore do not need the alternative cowcatchers supplied? Happy to offer cold hard cash for same. Please feel free to PM.

I must say, I had assumed they would, and did not discover until checking the accessory bag just now! As I intend to use screw/3 links, I would have fitted the ones without the tension lock holes. I would happily pay extra for them if they were made available as spares. I don't think Model Rail do spares for the J70s, but others may know more of course. EDIT: I dare say you could print them, but they would surely be very fragile. Horses for courses I suggest that the metal used by Rapido was the best option and, so, yes, it's a bit of a problem for the non-tension lock user not to have the alternative cow catchers supplied with the Model Rail locos. Also, the very thing we need exists, so re-inventing the cowcatcher ... well, it feels like something we shouldn't have to do! Compromises are inevitable, though I was not expecting this particular one.

No, Rob, no etched plates. In an ideal world I'd add a number plate for one of the earliest of the class, and change the buffers to suit a prototype of my choosing. Nor do they come with the alternative cowcatchers. The only cow catchers are the ones fitted, with big gaps in them for the tension lock couplings. If there is anyone out there with one of the J70s who uses tension locks and has a spare set of the alternative cowcatchers, I'd be grateful to hear from them!

Linked to two rural tramways, the W&UT and the Bishop's Lynn Tramway (!), not to mention Annie's virtual line, and, of course, there was the Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway for the coaches and GER dock lines for the locos. In a world of 'what ifs' based on the practice of prototype lines, there is plenty of scope for using these, I think. But, yes, a non-GER line would not use this equipment, and I think that is the meat of your point?

0-6-0 goods classes, especially examples of GNR, LNWR and LB&SCR GER T26/LNER E4 2-4-0 GWR 517 Class and 2600 Class/Aberdare Non-generic pre-Grouping coaches generally, e.g. short bogie L&Y coaches for the Bachmann 2-4-2T, GCR for the Sonic release, GER suburban stock for the Oxford and Accurascale releases, etc, etc.

I am very happy right now! These are superb Well done Rapido!

Recently I received, by way of a 'thank you' some new toys, for which I, and the management of the Bishop's Lynn Tramway, are profoundly grateful... Of course, this is a goods locomotive, in terms of usage if not designation, and I think one built later than CA is set (i.e. it's not one of the original 1903 lot), but these are mere details. I have a G15, and some brass coach kits for the W&UT and, armed with the correct RAL number for the Rapido stock, I will be able to paint them up to match. The detail and quality of finish of modern RTR can be very impressive, and I think these will be only the second RTR SG coach release in pre-Grouping livery (of a pre-Groupinfg prototype as opposed to generics). I have 2-3 of the 4-wheelers and the Brake Van in brass kit form and the older luggage van in a very good 3d print. So ....

In my youth I was captivated by a visit here.

This book ..... The trick is having the knowledge and skill to be able to do what he has done with whatever version of whatever software you have. But, yes, the principle is sound.

That's certainly been my thought for the WNR's liveries. So many areas could be designed as entire panels.

So, as will be seen, the repairs in addition to the pony truck are larglely cosmetic. Fortunately both 'pins' for a tender connector are present. The front spring and valance will need reconstructing, along with the rear of the cab footplate and handrails. All casualties of the the inadequate packaging. The coupled wheelbase I have not checked, but I think it's likely to be at least close to correct. Ideally the mainframe would be reset slightly forward to allow a better alignment with the splashers. This would also align the leading wheels better with their axleboxes. The obvious mistake is that the tender frames are the wrong way round! The shorter interval should be to the rear. These frames are already loose at the ends, however, so I should be able to prise these off with care and swop them round! I note the cut outs are not the D-shaped. The Y14s had both patterns, but I'd need to swot up on the T26s. So, there are some issues, even without the need to back-date, but with the damage refund we are looking at a model that set me back c.£57 plus postage, so it's worth the risk and the hassle to try to get it right! Assuming a sound working model results, as I say, the changes to GER condition will not be great. I need a nice dished smoke box door, with separate handrail to the face, and Alan Gibson's GER safety valve. The tender fenders need careful removal. Then some detail would not go amiss: Loco and tender guard irons, lamp irons , loco brakes, and sand boxes and pipes come immediately to mind. Then the challenge of the fully lined ultramarine livery.

So, spot the mistake! Those tender fenders will need to come off, too. It's been said of the Great Western that it could be run with just two types, the Hall Class and a Pannier. That always stuck me as a bit silly, but if you had to run the Great Eastern with just two classes, you might get away with it if these were the Y14 0-6-0 and the T26 2-4-0 'Intermediates'. So, clearly I must find my way to one of the latter for CA.

Yes, probably that next, and, after that, give that goon in Argentina enough time to fail and the Falklands will be invaded again. Brazil is an ally of Guyana, so it might intervene.

Right. Thanks to all. It's looking like araldite on a joint reinforced with brass rod pinning. I would be fairly confident that, if I bring enough care and competence to the task (far from guaranteed!) it should suffice and avoid more fundamental and traumatic options! There are a number of changes required, other than the repairs. On an initial assessment, I would say a back-dated cased safety valve and dished smokebox door. Also, I'm grateful that the builder used glue, because he's built the tender frames back to front! Hopefully I'll end up with a free running engine!

A quite brilliant conception and I look forward to developments Are your platforms low enough for the period? Worth checking, I suggest. Quite a bit of wheel showing on the engines, and the platform is a step down from the upper coach footboard.

So, today I received my quarterly water bill ... for £3,515 odd. So, after taking a deep breath, I 'phoned my supplier. I have had poor experiences with utilities suppliers, notably Scottish Power, who spent months trying to bully me via debt collectors and unlawful threats of disconnection before conceding their meter was faulty and producing a statement showing that I had not used the electricity consumption of a small town, but was in fact comfortably in credit. However, I had to listen to remarkably little of Yorkshire Water's 'brass band favourites' album before a very helpful man from Bradford told me not to worry, he'd have a word with his boss and sort it out. He rang me back within an hour or two, having sorted it out. I ended the day £23.65 in credit. No idea what caused all this, other than this was apparently an historic thing at their end. I drink Yorkshire water now ...

Yes, and that's the point, which is why I used the words "a British monoculture of her [Braverman's] own imagining" It's a right-wing populist trope feeding into conspiracy theories, so of course it has no objective reality! It's like the guy who interviewed MAGA Republicans at a Trump rally asking "so, you want to make America great again. When would you say it was last great?" A variety of answers were given. In response to each the interviewer asked, 'but what about such and such issue of that time', and each interviewee in turn conceded that, no, their chosen moment of greatness was not actually a time when the US was objectively great. Eventually they got back to Day 1 1776 and the concession that it's all been downhill since then! The point is that This England, to which immigrants are to assimilate, which is to revel at last in its hard-won sovereignty, does not exist, it has never existed, it is not a place, not a reality and certainly not a set of acceptable values, but a fictitious sentimental mental hinterland England where Daily Mail readers dwell in their alternative reality and Dame Vera neverendingly sings about ironically non-indigenous bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover. It's b0ll0cks. No, nor would it matter if they didn't, but the populist narrative does not require any of it to be true! This is why it is so hard to counter this nonsense; the truth, facts, have no impact on the belief. BREXIT, Johnson, Braverman, Small Boats, Take Back Control; these are merely the delusional totems of a cult.

Well, they weren't wrong, were they?

I have to say that I think that underlying this government's policies is White genocide conspiracy theory This might seem odd when we have a Prime Minister of Indian extraction, a black British Home Secretary and two rabidly authoritarian, anti-immigration ex-Home Secretaries who both have heritage in the Indian sub-continent. I think the clue lies in Cruella Braverman's mad rants against multiculturism prior to leaving office. I may be quite wrong, but bear with while I try to reason this one out. James O'Brien asked how could the Home Secretary, an asian woman raised to one of the high offices of state claim that multicultralism has failed? That, I suspect, is because Mr O'Brien and the then Home Secretary understand the term 'multiculturalism' in entirely different ways. As a term, I don't think that 'multicultralism' has a single settled definition, but a reasonably general definition would be 'the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society'. I guess that Braverman believes it to represent diversity and pluralism, where the reality of the rich tapestry of British life is woven with threads from many cultures, preserving their customs and identities. In other words, Braverman sees multicultralism as the opposite of assimilation, and she hates it for that. She, I guess, believes in assimilation into a British monoculture of her own imagining, which is predominently white and certainly with inherited white anglo-saxon cultural norms. It is a world where the Notting Hill carnival is eschewed in favour of endless repeats of Midsomer Murders. If you are a well-to-do, middle class person with drive and ambition, or drive ambition and an incredibly wealthy spouse, and you embrace the culture of the establishment of the country your parents came to, you can be as brown as you like and that does not matter, this is not a rascist country, government studies have shown. Now that is not intended to sound snide. Such efforts at assimilation with the dominant culture of a country are a perfectly legitimate choice. The fact remains, assimilated sons and daughters of immigrants with wealth and access to power are not the ones Daily Mail readers are taught to fear. This is ironic, because these politicians, along with their multitudinous white colleagues, are those most likely to cause anarchy in Britiain by their cynically casual erosion of the rule of law and the conventions and institutions of our democracy in the pursuit of bonkers populist policies and their own personal corruption. The question is to what extent should immigrants be required to assimilate. Those of us old enough will remember how the waters of the metaphorical Tiber were prophesied to run red with blood because of a lack of assimilation, and, later, we had Norman Tebbit with his 'cricket test'. It remains a preoccupation of those on the right of the Conservative Party. Multicultralism says it's fine not to conform to the host country monoculture. And, well, it is fine. So is it more than a theorhetical problem, a manufactured issue? A strawman argument like the little boats themselves? We have never, I suggest, been comfortable with immigrants doing everything they did at home. Where cultural practises offend the laws of the land and the predominent morality that the law is created to reflect, we do require compliance; so-called honour killings and female circumcision are examples of this. By and large, though, within the fairly generous parameters of the law, people are free to continue their own cultural traditions and to pursue freedom of religion etc. Why is this, or might it be, a problem? Well, I suggest, it isn't. So, why should Braverman, like the Borg, abhor multiculturalism in favour of assimilation? Well, I think it is because of a populist fear of large numbers of poor, unassimilated, cuturally and ethnically foreign (for which read 'brown' by and large) migrants "overwhelming" an indigenous population and culture (for which read 'white'). In other words, if there are too many unassimilated poor brown people coming in who do not share our 'values', they will ultimately displace the culture of the host nation and its indigenous folk will ultimately become the oppressed minority. For this reason, having a wealthy assimilated brown prime minister and three successive brown Home Secretaries in no way lessens the inherently rascist spectre that is the sub-textual appeal of current Conservative policy to it base.

Ah, was it not Hoffnung with his mistranslated continental hotel brochures who said "Every room contains a french widow offering inviting prospects"