Echo

The Sondes class was built for the East Kent Railway, which didn't start operations until the late 1850s. The locos listed in the RCTS book don't include any 2-2-0s. To be honest, your 2-2-0T looks way too early to have been built for the EKR/LCDR.

The LCDR Sondes class was a 4-4-0T, designed by Crampton, but not a Crampton in the technical sense. The RCTS LC&DR loco book has a side elevation,

It is actually a Leyland Atlantean with Alexander body owned by East Midland see https://www.flickr.com/photos/manofyorkshire/14800186322/in/gallery-60176944@N02-72157646912415846/ I don't think they had Fleetlines, at least not with those bodies A C registration would be 1 January 1965 – 31 December 1965, so the date given for the photo (J1605) may be a couple of years out

Latin American and Australian railways had lots of Beyer Peacock products too, many of which were very closely related - also the Belfast & County Down. Some designs had clear links to Metropolitan tank locos; others to Beattie and Adams LSWR designs. Beyer Peacock would be a good choice for any fictitious railway, as would someone like Sharp Stewart.

If you want a small English island in an estuary, then Roa Island near Barrow is a good example - connected to the mainland by a causeway and wth a tiny railway station (called Piel)

I prefer mine medium to rare

Do a handstand

Looks very much like the exit from Wisbech Station onto Elm Road. The trees on the other side of the road look about right - see HERE for a view from the opposite direction

Wales v Iceland for the final?

The Great Northern made a similar proposal around 1900 IIRC. Speculation that it was a negotiating tactic to screw concessions from the GC and MR. They probably never seriously intended to build it. This may be true of a number of other schemes, like an LNWR proposed line to Newcastle.

If ever there were one that deserved to be built, it was the Grindleford, Baslow & Bakewell, which actually made a junction at Hassop if I remember correctly, rather than Bakewell. The topography was not bad for the Peak District. I think the Midland had proposed to bypass the Chatsworth Estate by building a similar route towards Manchester, way back before the Monsal Dale route was chosen instead. The other two standard gauge schemes sound almost as far-fetched as the LD&EC route west of Chesterfield. There was some formidable terrain to cross in both routes, I think.

Tomorrow's French Headlines.......

There are plenty of chassis kits on the market for 4mm scale - all you have to do is widen them to suit the new gauge with wider spacers. Personally, I think the superstructures are likely to be the most difficult bit, though even here you may be able to adapt RTR loco bodies and kits. Just choose your prototypes very carefully. Some were very similar to UK locos..

Those front splashers leave little room for a rocking axle. Counter-intuitively, I would be tempted to make the driving axle the compensated one.

Looking back through my notes I found this scaled version of that Engineer plan. I suspect that if you eliminate the redundant trackwork you would more or less have the 1950s/60s plan. The position of the remaining turnouts and crossovers can't have changed much because of the constraints of the site.

Thanks for that Martin, Unfortunately the OS maps are not much help though as the track layout changed considerably after the last large scale map was issued. I am OK for info - it was Hayfield who was wondering what else was available.

The area has changed out of all recognition, so Google Earth won't be much help I am afraid. The best scale plans are probably those in 'The Engineer' for the SECR rebuilding. I am not aware of anything for the BR era, other than OS maps.

Going back a few posts, I thought about modelling Ludgate Hill in 2mm scale at one time and may yet pluck up the courage to have a go. One observation on your trackplan (not a criticism) - the crossings at CR441 and CR494 seem much closer together in photos of the early 1950s. This one dates from 1953. © Copyright Ben Brooksbank and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. To me, this was going to be the big challenge. An article in the Scalefour News 178 called 'Shortening My Crossing' described something similar, where 3 tracks cross at more or less the same place. I guess it was a throwback to the earlier, more complicated track of the SE&CR layout.

I had always imagined that Market Place would have been a bit like Inverness - a terminus pointing in 2 directions. Looking at the few places the western section would pass through, I reckon passenger traffic over the Pennines might be a little sparse?

You can make a screenshot image direct from Templot. Just use Output/Make a Trackpad Screenshot

It might be worth looking at bridge construction abroad. Latin America, India and other places has some pretty spectacular viaducts in very challenging terrain.

Someone like 'Purple Bricks' may be better for you than a local estate agent - they are Internet based and cover a wide area of the country. I have no connection with them myself, but a neighbour sold a house very quickly with them recently.

Ariels Girdle was rebuilt into a rather ungainly 2-4-0T The French did rebuild some Cramptons as tank locos - here is a larger beast

Fascinating idea, but what a challenge! I suspect a lot of detail is missing, not to mention an end elevation or a photo. It looks to have a lot in common with French Cramptons - see this page and the one before, for example.