Wickham Green

Unlikely to be a test run from Metro Cammell in Brum - unless there was some particular reason they had to be checked-out on York ( by top brass p'raps ? ).

Vive la difference !

That's stock which was retained specifically for Summer Saturdays ( and other special traffic ) and would be swept away very quickly by Dr.Beeching.

I was once on an HST from St.Austell to Pad ( which, incidentally, has probably never seen a Pacer ) and we suffered a broken window just after Plymouth : the conductor cordoned off the area completely 'for safety reasons' - and cordoned us off from the Travelling Chef in the process ........................ I'd not been able to get close enough to assess the damage myself but my suspicions were confirmed when a couple of guys knocked out the remains of the outer window pane at Newton and the train was allowed to proceed ...... and the passengers were then allowed to discover what little the Chef still had to offer. ( Yes, I do still think of HSTs as modern trains.)

Don't forget the Walker railcars on the County Donegal etc......

I got works drawings for the 'L' from the erstwhile BR/OPC joint venture a number of yonks ago - so I guess the 'L1' will be available from the NRM ............ otherwise, there are drawings from Skinley ( not one of his best if I remember ) and in Jim Russell's book ....... probably from Ian Beattie in the Muddler at some time, too.

EXACTLY why I said gradual !

Or better still shouts "STOP, YOU IDIOT" at the driver ....... or is wired into the controls to bring the vehicle to a gradual halt.

Frightening to hear that a relatively civilised country like Oz hadn't got "a protection system .... that could stop trains that pass signals at danger." installed !

So why the hell should we bother with ready to run at all if we're all happy to have a layout populated with the few things - which are 'ours' - that we've managed to build in our lunchtimes ? ............ and, perhaps anyone who who is happy to live only with rolling stock that's 'theirs' are wasting their time on this thread ..... and wasting everyone else' time too !

Yeeeeah - but the BG ( in its BR Mk1 form and its predecessors ) was around aeons before the BRUTE was invented !

...... and the DJH "D1/E1" has a boiler that's far too big for either a D1 or E1 ......... and even too large for an L1 ! : not one of their best kits !

I don't think any BGs ever carried green livery (?).

This - and the two Kings - might have been a matter of overhang on curvature and the risk of buffer locking ?

Did DJH do an L1 ? ..... they certainly did an L - with the wrong tender ! ..................... Crownline did an etched kit for an L1 and you might see one of them on fleabane once in a blue moon.

And - talking of the Southern - don't forget some of the Dover Boat Trains carried enough luggage and/or mails to need TWO bogie vans attached to a 12-car electric set : either a pair of Motor Parcels Vans or one and a through-wired BG.

Yep, a chocolate an' cream one the Southern nicked off the Western when they had the chance !

You needn't stand too far back as - liveries excepted - few changes were made to the L1s ................ the snifting valves disappeared from the smokeboxes around nationalisation and ......... er .............................

.......... or charge them an arm and several legs to carry them in the hold.

Maybe it's just the lorry's fault for being too high !!

They had real ( reel ? ) fun making those films ...........

Makes sense ...... though I would have thought they'd put the batteries in the coach where there's more space !

But why on earth should anyone faff about building one at lunchtime IF the - no doubt superior - one might land on their doormat the next day ? ............ particularly as they may well have other projects - to scratch or kit build - that they'd rather spend the time on : wagons - or whatever - that HAVEN'T been promised by the trade ( yet ).

Of course not - but if someone's invested lots of dosh in a suitable locomotive and rake of wagons in the aeons since they put their name down for a brakevan to complete their train, they can only feel peeved if they're not being told when ( if ) it's going to appear.

Yes, Bradley lumps all the mogul family in the SECR volume too - even the W class which didn't appear 'til 1932 ! ( Odder still, perhaps, is inclusion of the 'G' class in the LCDR volume ! )