Nearholmer

Fascinating thread. As a side question: was Sept 1970 the high point of RM circulation? I think my first " bought new" copy was then too! I personally find two sorts of layouts inspiring: those that have a very believable "backstory", so that they seem to serve real communities; and, those that can be, and are, operated like a real railway, with at least a bit of complexity to the traffic pattern. The seriously brilliant ones fit both descriptions, The Buckingham Branches, The Madder Valley etc. The Buckingham Branches is so good a concept that I'm forever looking out for remains of the routes when I drive across the area ....... Leighton Buzzard (Linslade) seems more real than certain real stations! Lately, I've got into "prehistoric" model railways, working my way through model railway magazines and books from 1909-1911, 1925, and 1938 as sample years. There is a lot to learn from our ancestors, especially when it comes to designing for operation, rather than appearance, so I've found even the most ancient things quite inspirational. It's quite interesting to read things that were written when "modern image" meant the LNWR's latest express engine, so I will add the leading name from that era: Henry Greenly. He and WJB-L effectively invented our hobby! Kevin

Ah, it begins to become clearer! I found a brilliant Getty image of Christmas Mail being unloaded at kings cross station, from ordinary fitted goods vans, and it includes vast numbers of parcels of all sizes, plus bagged (letter?) Mail, which has been placed in distinct piles. Also, an image showing GWR staff unloading parcels vans, probably just pre or post First World War (moustache an uniform dating!) and there is a batch of churns among all the parcels. Finally, this image http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrls891.htm . The tank wagon apparently ran Dorrington, Shrewsbury, Banbury, Woodford, Marylebone, and return. Has anyone written pre-WW2 "parcels" up for Backtrack? If not, it would make a really helpful and interesting article. Kevin

Chaps This is getting interesting; thank you. The van to Calne, BTW, was almost certainly for sausages. The few pre-nationalisation pictures that I have found of complete parcels trains are two different ones of a Paddington- Shrewsbury working, which seems to contain a hotch-potch of things, including a six wheeled milk tank, but all GWR vehicles, and an LMS one! which looks to be all LMS vehicles. One thing I would debate is the contention that all post office parcels would have travelled in "Royal Mail" vehicles. Bagged mail was conveyed in all sorts of vehicles, in what we know as "parcels trains", and in ordinary passenger trains, either in attached vans, in the brake van, or in locked passenger compartments (the seat cushions were supposed to be turned over to stop them getting too grubby). I strongly suspect that the same applied to post office parcels that were too big to fit in a mail bag. I have watched post office traffic being loaded and unloaded many, many times, so this is eye witness testimony, if you will. Kevin

Thanks chaps. I'd still like to see photos of parcels vans "off company" before 1948 to totally convince me. This is partly because I have a feeling that the railways own parcel services were in competition with one another between major towns. And, partly because the post office operates on a "hub and spoke" basis, which does involve unloading and re-sorting at the hubs, so that if each spoke was contracted to one railway company, no need for inter-running of vans. The exceptions like the tobacco (wasn't there a dock at/near Neyland, implying export to Eire or the US?) and Palethorpe's sausages I do understand. Kevin

Fascinating thread, great photos, many memories jogged! One thought; one question. Surprised that the SR EMUs don't seem to get a nod: MLVs were used on their own, and with trailing vehicles, and there were various PAN (= parcels and newspapers) units at different times. My question is very similar to Rovex's in Post 415: it seems quite a challenge to find pre-BR photos of parcels trains (WarwickshireRailways.com is the only source that I've stumbled upon), and I'm left mystified as to whether there was as much inter-company operation of vans pre-war, as there was inter-regional operation under BR. Does anyone know? I run coarse scale 0 gauge, so am no rivet-counter, but I do like to run formations that look semi-plausible. So, is it OK to have GWR, LMS or LNER vans in my SR parcels and newspaper train? Guidance gratefully received, Kevin

Crikey, didn't even know there was a show on, and even nearer to home that the previous one! Unlikely that I will get time to attend, but if I do, I shall try to come and say hello. My, very different from your, efforts are now the subject of a thread in the Southern Railway part of this forum, under the title "A visit to Birlstone". Determinedly coarse-scale, but you might find it interesting. Kevin

I've posted a bit more about my vintage-style layout-under-construction under the heading "A visit to Birlstone" in the Southern Railway zone - it is meant to be a Southern layout (Ok, I know the BL 0-6-0 is in LNER livery!), and I thought it might interest/educate/annoy the fine-scalers who inhabit that part of the forum. Have a look, if you are interested. Kevin

Another Watford maker who advertised in MR&L c1914 was Ball, I think. Butcher also originated the line of fine-scale LNWR signals in 0 scale, which became much better known under the Bassett-Lowke label, and they certainly produced locos with the "boiler motor", as illustrated by Greenly in his book on model electric railways, c1911. K

Thanks, Peter. Having looked at your site, I realise that I (briefly) saw Felsen at MK in February. I live very near the venue, and made a half day visit to the exhibition, fully intending to study everything in detail, but ended up spending most of the time operating a friend's 009 layout and/or chatting to the guys running the "tinplate" layout! I've also seen, and greatly admired, your French metre gauge layout - very smart modelling, and very smart choice of scale/gauge combination. I'm a fan of French n.g. too - last week I diverted a family walk during our holiday to investigate interesting metre gauge archaeology on the former CFD Aisne. Kevin

Brilliant! I'm a long-time Brighton fan, and fascinated by your use of printed paper; great modern twist on a traditional approach. Before rejecting the idea of printed material for coaches,you might want to Google "Mr Cat Graphics". Mr Cat, actually Brian Wright, is a genius at producing exceedingly convincing printed card coach sides in 0 scale, a lot of his work appears on coaches produced by "Ace Trains of London", also worth a Google. My point being that you may well find that you can produce convincing Stroudley stock by print alone. The beading on the real thing is actually very fine, and I often think that models with raised detail,even etched brass,sometimes over-cook it. Will this layout be appearing anywhere in the London area? Kevin

Slightly off topic, but if you like Terriers and 0 gauge, it is worth considering the coarse-scale alternative to the models under discussion here. They are made by ETS in the Czech Republic on behalf of two UK suppliers, both with websites, Raylo and W J Vintage, and are switchable 2/3 rail. These are "modern tinplate" models, all metal, with a very sophisticated clutch/motor system that runs silky-smooth. Price is about the same as Dapol, and liveries are manifold, including KESR, GWR and LSWR AR, as well as various Brighton, SR and BR ones. Picture is of my LSWR one, hauling modern tinplate stock from Darstaed and Ace. Kevin

Hello Gentlemen I found this thread yesterday, and heartened by the fact that RMWeb has a "cell" of classic 0 gaugers, joined up. Prompted by a friend, I re-entered this realm after a fifty year gap about two years ago, and have disposed of most of the long-time LGB and 16mm/ft stock to fund a layout. Main interest is Bassett Lowke (modern and vintage) and Ace, rather than Hornby. The Grand Plan is a scenic layout that uses techniques and materials that were used c1935-55, but thus far I haven't progressed beyond track on bare baseboards, because I keep getting distracted into playing trains - I designed-in quite a bit of operating potential, rather in Freezer style. If things have worked, the attached picture shows a corner of my work in progress, with a combination of BL, Hornby and Ace things in view. Track is Maldon Rail N/S. Regards, K