Jim Martin

Frankly, I'd question the basic premise that British modellers are all that insular. I accept that some individuals aren't interested in overseas railways, just as some as aren't interested in diesels or narrow gauge or industrial railways; but taken as a whole, I'd want to know how many other countries can sustain a mainstream monthly modelling magazine which covers only railways from outside that country (i.e. Continental Modeller) before I'd condemn British modellers for not acknowledging foreign prototypes enough.

Locomotives Illustrated no. 145, page 13, is captioned "... No 362 is having to work harder on the 1 in 175 climb through the Chilterns near Gerrards Cross with the eleven carriage 12:15pm Marylebone-Sheffield express in 1912..." The same photo (I think) is on page 28 of Great Central Remembered, by D.L. Franks, similarly captioned but with a reference to there being three "Barnum" open thirds in the train, which is clearly incorrect. No 362 was a Gorton-based Atlantic, but it was a top-line express locomotive and it was on the GC&GW joint line. Bear in mind that in 1910 "Robinson 4-4-0" would have meant GC class 11B/11C i.e. the LNER D9. The Directors didn't enter service until 1913. Also, there weren't that many 4-6-0s in service: the "fish engines" (LNER B5) and "small-wheeled fish engines" (B9), the two locomotives built for comparison with the Atlantics (B1) and the Imminghams (B4). I'm not certain where the early 4-6-0s were based - I assume that the goods engines were in the north. The Sir Sam Fays were introduced in 1912. Jim

Mine arrived today and looks very good. Jim

The GCR society has quite an extensive collection of timetables in its archive. It's members only, so you'd have to join. The list can be downloaded from http://www.gcrsociety.co.uk/archive.html. I have copies of the WTT pages for the Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bridge line which I assume I obtained from the society back when I used to be a member. Jim

You're getting a ton of upvotes for that. Jim

I can't speak to your experience, obviously, but here's a news article from last year which notes that 7600 people were sent to prison in Germany in 2016 for repeated fare-dodging on public transport (and a complaint from an industry spokesman that this was only 3% of repeat offenders): https://m.dw.com/en/last-stop-jail-how-to-deal-with-fare-dodgers-in-germany/a-42407504 Here's another from 2016 where SNCF's losses from fare evasion are estimated at €300 million per year: https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/main-line/sncf-to-launch-tgv-ticket-barrier-trial/ And here are the Dutch, reducing the level of fate evasion from its 2015 level of roughly 1000 people fined every day by the expedient of installing ticket barriers at major stations, such that 90% of passengers have to pass through one: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/12/turnstiles-help-cut-fare-dodging-on-dutch-trains-by-one-third/ So let's not get carried away, eh? Jim

Lots of suburban stations only have ticket-buying facilities on one platform. My local station does. I don't see why that means that I shouldn't have to buy a ticket. Jim

They appear on the Merseyrail network. I think that the ones we see here are based at Wigan. Last year I saw something that I've always assumed must happen, but which I'd never personally witnessed before: an MPV running through Moorfields station (which is basically a tube station). That was... loud. Jim

Hi Sven Back in the 1980s, the magazine Model Railway Constructor (no longer published, sadly) produced an annual, one of which featured an article on BR ferry wagons by Paul Bartlett and Trevor Mann (both acknowledged wagon experts; Paul Bartlett's website has already been mentioned above). This included scale plans of several types, including a Lowmac. I don't know which year's book it was in, but I'm sure that someone here will be able to tell you. If all else fails, I'd suggest a private message to RMWebber Dibber25: he was the editor of MRC back then and he'd be bound to know. Copies of the MRC annuals are readily available on eBay. Jim

Get a towel, the bigger the better; soak in water, wad it up and jam it into the machine; switch on the spin cycle. With an unbalanced load like that, your whole kitchen will shake, let alone the worktop. Jim

Mixing black and yellow paint will give you a sort of khaki green, so if you used a yellowy-brown like ochre it wouldn't surprise me if you got a greenish shade: it certainly looks like that to me in your earlier photograph. However it started out, though, the weathered colour in your most recent photos looks like a pretty good approximation of dirty concrete. Jim

According to a very useful article in an ancient issue of the HMRS Journal, there were only six corridor coaches built with "armoured ends" (i.e. the anti-telescoping device): 5-compt Brake 3rd no. 98 7-compt 1st no. 886 Kitchen Composite no. 699 Open 3rd no. 283 6-compt Brake 3rd no. 1595 8-compt 3rd no. 347 The first five were all built in 1915/16 and seem to have been intended as a set train. What I assume is a reproduction of a contemporary magazine, showing the carriages marshalled as above and captioned "diagram of London and Manchester armoured express train" can be found on pages 186-7 of British Railway Carriages of the 20th Century, volume 1 by David Jenkinson. The sixth coach was built in 1919 and was a bit of an oddity, being only 56' long and flush-sided (not matchboarded). Three 60' matchboard open thirds with standard ends were built in 1911/3 (nos. 229, 349/50) but I don't know how the body layout compared with the 1916 coach. Jim

The carriages with steel ends were those originally fitted with Robinson's patent anti-telescoping device - a sort of interlocking grooved block not dissimilar to the buffers fitted on modern-day "Desiro" multiple units. You can see them clearly in this photo: https://pjbrailwayphotos.piwigo.com/_datas/9/o/6/9o6rl289yj/i/uploads/9/o/6/9o6rl289yj//2016/10/14/20161014210502-5d832033-me.jpg The wooden ends were just wood. Jim

The GCR Bournemouth stock was smaller in the sense of being shorter, rather than narrower, than other stock (54' or 56', I can't recall which, as opposed to 60' for the standard stock). The LSWR seemed to be able to accommodate pretty big carriages: the "ironclads" weren't small. Some of the matchboard carriages had pressure ventilation - early air conditioning - which accounts for the lack of roof vents. Jim

The Barnums had a very odd profile indeed. Jim

This question was inspired by a specific incident which occurred during yesterday's chaos on the WCML, but it's not intended as a knock on any particular member of rail staff. I can see a whole range of detailed scenarios which could have occurred, so I'm more interested in the general principles employed than pointing the finger of blame. Yesterday's 14:37 from Watford Junction to Birmingham (a Virgin WC service which starts at Euston) was among the many trains cancelled. The station announcements at Watford said that the next service to Birmingham would probably be the 15:37 (again, a VWC Euston-Birmingham train: very few London Northwestern trains appeared to be running, and those that were weren't stopping at Watford) but that they were trying to arrange with Virgin's operations control for a train to make an additional stop to pick up passengers for the West Midlands. After a little while, they announced that a Euston to Edinburgh train would be stopping. This was the 9S80 14:43 Euston-Waverley via Birmingham, which magically became the 14:55 Watford-Edinburgh. Without going into all the details, this train flew through the station at undiminished speed at 15:02, with the announcement that "the next train at platform six will be the 14:55 Virgin Trains service to Edinburgh, calling at Milton Keynes Central, Coventry.." being cut off in mid-flow and replaced by someone saying that "we apologise to passengers waiting at platform six; the 14:55 to Edinburgh has failed to stop at the station". Clearly, this could have been anything from the driver forgetting to make a stop that wasn't part of the normal running of the train, right through to the staff at Watford (an LNW-run station) not actually having Virgin's agreement to stop the train at all, but thinking that they had. What I'm interested in is how the process plays out here. Judging from the subsequent running of 9S80, there doesn't seem to have been any big inquest en route (it was stopped at MKC for several minutes, but that's not unusual). Thanks Jim

I've seen something similar on the Portsmouth to Caen ferry. Rather than paying for a cabin (quite comfy-looking but pricey) or the reclining seat (cheaper but not all that easy to sleep in), the experienced voyagers set to marking out territories in the lounges, under stairways, beneath tables, behind plant pots etc. I walked around the ship in the small hours (see comment on reclining seat, above) and every corner had been claimed as part of someone's empire: some of them amazingly elaborate. Jim

Thanks for all these replies. I suppose that I was really wondering to what extent the railway would have tried to indulge the "disapproving looks and harrumphs" (an accurate description, I'd have thought). The point about staggered sitting times seems like a good one. I was thinking in terms of the catering being available at any time during the journey; but I suppose that would be quite impractical if you were providing full cooked meals, rather than today's pre-packed meals. Jim

In my lifetime of long distance train travel (from the early 80s, more or less), inter-city trains have generally been marshalled with first class accommodation at one end, standard class at the other and the catering vehicle in between. I know, though, that in the past some companies (the LNER, for example?) formed their trains with first class in the middle and third at either end. Here's something which has been bugging me recently ( for no good reason, really). If you have a train formed something like this: Brake 3rd 3rd 3rd open (set up for dining) Kitchen 1st (for dining) 1st 3rd Brake 3rd then you have a number of 3rd class passengers who are separated from the... "appropriate" dining facilities by the 1st class section. It doesn't seem likely that, in a society as class-conscious as Britain's in the inter-war period, 1st class passengers (least of all those enjoying their proper sit-down meal in the dining car) would have welcomed members of the lower orders walking through en route to the 3rd class dining car. How was this managed? Were 3rd class passengers who wanted a meal encouraged to sit at the "right" end of the train? Did they have to book their meal in advance? Did they, after all, just walk through the 1st class accommodation (the horror!)? Any ideas? Jim

I recall reading somewhere that the origin of the GN&NE joint stock lay in the directors of the North British discovering that East Coast Joint Stock carriages were being used on London to Newcastle trains, and demanding that the GNR and NER desist, thus creating the need for a new joint stock pool. Is that correct; and if so, when did this happen? Also, did GN&NE joint stock serve any other routes apart from London to Newcastle (London-Hull? London-Sunderland?)? Thanks Jim

So here comes the Sir Sam Fay? Jim

The link is for the pop-up photo. Try this instead - you can click on the photo to enlarge it: https://www.ngsjoin.com/kit-15-lmsbr-trestrol-bogie-well-wagon-ngsk0150-616-p.asp

There was a very good series of articles in the 3mm Society journal many years ago which addressed the question of a "typical branch terminus" and just how untypical many real-world termini were. The articles were later expanded and reprinted in the much-lamented Modeller's Backtrack. They didn't focus on the GWR particularly (although the "GWR branch terminus" was such a cliche within the hobby at that time that it was inevitably the basis of many of the examples). The main "case study" was of the Southern terminus at Bude, which demonstrated how local factors shaped the layout and working of stations very well. I'll see if I can dig out the reference when I get home. Jim

Weren't they mostly moving it out of Sheffield, to somewhere else? I remember reading an article about these trains (including special hopper wagons) in an old issue of the GCR Society journal. Jim

Firstly, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to respond. I've never thought of this as anything other than a long shot - as I said, my initial reaction was that "$___ happens" and that I'd just have to accept whatever costs came my way as a result. It's only now that those costs have reached an unseemly level (with the promise of more to come) that I've started considering whether there's any chance of claiming against someone. I do appreciate that the Council may well have done everything that they reasonably could have done (even if that was nothing at all) and if that's the case, then that's fine. If there's a possibility that they should have done something but didn't, though, I think it's reasonable to investigate that. My home insurance does actually cover the bike (although the repairs were one of the smaller expenses so far) so there is that. I doubt that any of my insurance covers the damage to me, though. I will attempt to find out if the council had been notified, and see how we go from there. Thanks again Jim