Wickham Green too

Exactly - Diagrams were issued for the staff to work out what each vehicle could take ( whether passenger or goods ) and how much track space it would take up, how much loco-power was needed to haul it etc. ............. the 'cosmetics' of windows was totally irrelevant.

I guess that was a two-plough van too ? ........ the GWR had single-plough vans from 1893 and their chief rivals - the LSWR - had a some pretty close copies from Hurst Nelson five years later ...... then the GSWR copied the design again : the survivor dates from 1906. ( Were there other copies ? )

As with all things 'railway', the term 'standard' should be treated with extreme caution : 'low window' Maunsell coaches may have started off with single rainstrips - and may or may not have gained a second one later whereas the 'high' window' variant generally started out with two. The 'high window' variant itself can be split into two types ; those with a single vent over each lavatory window and those with a twin vent - seems an insignificant modification BUT at ( about ? ) the same time the chassis was reversed so the dynamo appeared under the corridor rather than under the compartment side ....................... AAAGH !

There's a far better copy of that photo in "Official Drawings of LMS Wagons ; No.2 : R.J.Essery / Wild Swan, 1997 - together with comprehensive drawings ..... apparently they were 'Oysters' rather than 'Sharks' in BR days ! Essery & K.R.Morgan comment in "The LMS Wagon" ( David & Charles, 1977 ) that "... there is some evidence to suggest that the original grey was darker than used on normal freight stock." - though, of course, said evidence may be no more than that one photie !!?!

Must have been from the last batch built ( Lot 3394 ) - these were 250 vans from Ashford .............. they're probably not all behind that single Type 2, tho.

I don't think it's a Dia.1782 as what would have been compartment ventilator looks to be more-or less centred over the axlebox - wrong for PII TK or TO .......... I'd guess a former catering vehicle or Brake Third which didn't have the lavvy at the end !!?!

So the only more 'modern' main line diesels that could have turned up at Bletchley at the time would have been the Bulleid trio !!!!

Looks like it's only the leading Stanier coach which isn't a Mk1 - but by 1959 they might have been able to find a more 'modern' loco* if they'd waited a bit. * not sure where the earliest EE type 4s were operating - maybe better known as class 40s

If they were ferried into the UK in the late forties ( I see no chaining-down rings ) and if Rivarossi are producing them in 4mm scale I'd love to take a couple .......................

I think blue would have been correct for a corporate solebar at this date ....... and note that the bogie ( etc.) is a very deep brown rather than black.

..... more likely gently squeezed out of shape rather than dislodged.

ditto .......

I think a few early air-brake wagons on BR had something similar.

Well, you shouldn't need to empty THAT retention tank very often.

..... for which the class 12 and, later, a couple of generations of 09 came about.

I was wondering whether 5480 was actually used between October and January - or was it sat in a siding awaiting formal condemnation ?

Cardan shaft drive from the centrally mounted motor's a bit too conspicuous for my liking !

George shows off his developing garden railway to his friends -

It's not only diesel units that get mis-matched : -

No such decisions need to be made about the parcels van - as usual.

I don't know whether this one's still available .....

That's a very modern, environmentally friendly way of looking at things and attitudes might have been different back then if the debris was hidden in the bottom of a ravine where only the wind and rain could get to them - apart from any bits ( the boiler ) sufficiently undamaged to be worth retaining. As subsequent posts have noted, the other remains were, indeed, recovered so access cannot have been TOO difficult.

But then if the loco plunged off the side of the mountain, the expense of recovering anything which wasn't reusable would NOT have been covered by its scrap value !

Not sure the sun's even that up to date ........... I think it still works on a time-interval system !

I did say AS WELL AS - so "Lea Green 1234" couldn't be confused with "Lea Green Hall 7890" however garbled the numbers became. ( You could even add a check digit at the end to flag-up any error.)