Edwardian

What a lovely little engine. Hard to resist an attempt to model it. Thanks.

Motive power, so far:

Dawn-Iron-Horse; that explains it!

Brilliant. So, a static engine during the time the layout is set. Though Eohippus was not known to science and named until 1876.

Very effective trees.

Brilliant, Kevin, though are we to assume that the name was conferred on re-building and that this occurred sometime after 1876? How did you know it was supposed to be green?

"To try to bring this thread back on track (!)" Ambitious. Useful info on the track, thanks. I like the idea of short pre-Grouping rail-lengths (clickety-clack) and was assuming 30'. 24' sounds better! Re signals, I had thought of a slot in post starter and something of the disc variety for the level crossing. Some Victorian ground signals would be great. See the great little one on the Hunstanton picture. However, I have no idea how to signal this station as I have not got so far as to begin considering the issue, having only just had a track-plan more or less forced out of me by you lot! Boulton's Siding seems a must, but must buy track components rather than new books. That would be fun. If a future extension of the WNR includes a representation of that company's own version of Melton Constable, we can have some fun with first generation locos.

A, probably withdrawn and non-working, 1850s loco stud is a massive distraction that I really don't need! But it would be great fun! So far I like the EB Wilsons; not too big or too small and just about the right 'look' for the archetypal 1850s engines, I should have thought:

Yes

You have a great eye and a great touch for model-building work, if I may say so. Look forward to a shot of them in situ.

Not sure my numerous creditors would be so easily fooled. So the WNR is to have nine locomotives? Who's paying for that lot, I'd like to know?!? Initially I had thought of the names of some of Nelson's ships; Captain, Agamemnon. Then, having realised that a late 1860s Sharp Stewart 0-6-0T like the GC/FR types was a good addition to my plans, the name Armadale suggested itself, no doubt because I am currently re-reading the novel, which dates from the '60s and is partly set in Norfolk. Then you come up with the Muses. Well, I could not remember all their names, and, having seen what comes up when you Google The Nine Muses these days (Korean Popsters largely made up of legs, from what I could tell), I decided to do this the old fashioned way and leafed through to Musae in my Everyman's Smaller Classical Dictionary to find: Clio (History) Euterpe (lyric poetry) Thalia (comedy) Melpomene (tragedy) Terpsichore (choral dance & song) Erato (mistakes - no, sorry, erotic poetry ("Gad Sir! This is the 1860s!")) Polymnia (sublime hymn (!)) Urania (astronomy) Calliope (epic poetry) Originally I had planned only 3 locos: Adam-designed 0-4-2T (late 1860s - late 1870s), Fox Walker 0-6-0ST (late 1870s), and, an 0-6-0 Not-an-Ilfracombe Goods (early 1870s). Now I have added a Sharp Stewart 2-4-0T (mid-1870s) and 0-6-0T (late 1860s) to my plans. Still only 5. However, the idea that the infrastructure dates from the mid-late 1850s, rather suggests the need to have, or to have had, an earlier generation of locos. Have not yet considered this prospect in any detail. Yes, weird and confusing numbering seems essential in order to add that touch of prototypical verisimilitude. To work well, though, I'd need a lot of coaches. But then, if I'm to have nine locomotives ....! One very strange and highly novel item of loco power ....! Costinuffe & Failsmore's patent reed burning locomotive?

Phew! Glad that wasn't addressed to me! I'd never patronise anyone. You do know what I mean by the word "patronise"?

Sorry to hear that you are suffering this again. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

You have mastered the art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmRgQX82O4

Or you could try more practical gauge-scale combinations, like EM or OO. I'll get my coat ....

No, that picture is of Castle Aching's Home for Distressed Gentlefolk. This is Mereport's Orphanage for the Children of the Culpably Indigent:

I should think about the time they turned deep purple, in about 1968.

I have yet to plan any Poor Relief (such as that experienced by Mr Careless Hand-Chafer, perhaps) for Castle Aching, though Mereport boasts The Countess of Thorney's Orphanage for the Children of the Culpably Indigent. For Castle Aching, perhaps some almshouses?

I shudder to think now that we have the, somewhat onanistically named, Mr Careless Hand-Chafer on the scene.

Fascinating video, glad I watched it as it laid to rest my visions of a Chinchilla in one-hand and a large cheese-grater in the other. With much less effort than it takes to fill a small boat with sand, you can achieve much the same effect with a Labrador and a patch of fox sh1t. Mind you, not so good for useful modelling by-products ....

Apart from the ethical concerns, I imagine that it is quite a laborious, potential hazardous and messy process grinding a chinchilla into dust.

It might, of course, simply be the result of my present irascible state, but I cannot see what business any modeller has in blithely waving his hand across platforms at a proximity to their surface sufficient to put him at risk of chafing. It strikes me as the height of irresponsibility. What business has the fellow in behaving so recklessly? Never mind his wounded appendage; what of the platform fencing, seats, running in boards, barrows, passengers and staff? Are they to be Swept to Oblivion by Mr Careless Hand-Chafer?!? Honestly. Sandpaper seems to me to have the advantage of being free (have some lying around somewhere) and simple to use, so I am tending in that direction, despite Health & Safety Guidelines to the contrary!

What is the date of that catalogue, please?

Thank you, Dave, for the measurements; that is especially helpful. All of which, Kevin, is what makes it fun and witty, IMHO. Still, that's professional architects for you .... Helpful confirmation, thanks. Use very fine sandpaper? Fascinating. Looking forward to exploring that brick history website, though not whilst under the satirical gaze of the Memsahib. Kevin will be all over you for this one (it's not a pyramid)!

I did! Seriously, though, aren't you chaps supposed to be able to make your own wheels? I mean, we hear a lot about true modelling, the art of making things for yourself, dying out .... Really seriously, ignorance is bliss, and I am feeling particularly blissful on the subject of P4 standards, but I would have thought it not beyond the Ingenuity of Man to replace the axles and grind down the flanges. If you really wanted to. I mean, you can't expect everything to be done for you in this "finescale" lark, can you?!?