Wickham Green too

The 10000 series was reserved for diesel locos and 20000 for electrics - and these were seen as the way forward ............ the question has to be why the WR were allowed to persist with their heavy numberplates which could have been melted down to pay for renumbering - without that anomaly a more logical scheme could have been implemented ( LMS loco retaining their numbers as the largest.

Photo 4 : I don't think there were any trio sets incorporating a hundred-seat third - though I've not checked Gould. Photo 5 : Your 'Ironclad' is probably one of the six flush-sided Corridor Thirds .... more like a proto-Thanet !

I thought you were going to say the bridge was torn off ......... which could have been somewhat ambiguous !

The only time I've come across an Insixfish - or was it a couple - was in Scotland ..... grounded in a farmyard somewhere within trucking distance of Inverurie like so much other rolling stock.

Apart from the Anglo-Scottish routes there were a number of regular through trains between different-braked railways : Brighton-Cardiff and the 'Sunny South Express' come to mind. Then railway amalgamations threw up mis-matches : the GER and NER became part of a generally vac-braked LNER and the former retained air braked services for many years. the Caledonian as part of the LMS has already been mentioned as has the Isle of Wight on the largely vac-braked Southern. The SR itself comprised the air-braked Brighton sandwiched between vacuum LSWR and SECR - thought the latter had barely rid itself of the Westinghouse legacy from the LCDR !

English bond, don't forget ! ...... the railways rarely used anything else.

OK then : Try Chris at sales@srg.org.uk ........ if the tools are still OK he may be able to do an H55 kit for you.

The "Earles Cement" van is, in fact a standard Standard Southern Railway van ( vac-fitted by BR ) .... nothing special I'm afraid. The sixteen tonner is unlikely to be carrying bunkering coal at this date - but there could have been outlets on Skye that didn't rely on peat for heating ??!? Yes, fish would have been packed in ice and shifted as quickly as possible.

Try Chris at sales@srg.org.uk ........ if the tools are still OK he may be able to do an H53 kit for you.

The drawings in the MRC book are exactly ( ? ) the same as published, in instalments, in the magazine - so the mag, itself probably doesn't give you anything you haven't got.

Mike King, in his Southern Coaches 'bible', says "... the new carriage-stock livery should be crimson lake and cream, so what better way of enhancing the external illusion than by painting on imitation English bond brickwork over the crimson, with fake half-timbered beams superimposed on the cream?" ....... he doesn't mention a colour for the 'planked' service door.

Ditto - my three Ns are fine but my T9 suffered the usual motor retainer problem .....and the 'as new' "Cheltenham" Schools I bought from a well known retailer most certainly wasn't how I would have accepted it new !

......... and the standard 10' wheelbase rather than 9' .......... and the brakegear's nothing like that fitted to the ferry vans .......... and the roof's always been the wrong shape ............. but it's a starting point !

I think it's a photo pasted on the backscene !

My Ratio vans - simple plank version - came with them as standard ......... is that no longer the case ?

.......... er - when we're allowed to go shopping for ( allegedly ) non-essentials .......... then i'll be right behind you in the queue !

Well, the continuous drawgear should hold OK - but whether there'd be any woodwork around it's a different matter !!?!

Keep it quiet or the Stairfoot set might disappear at dead of night !

This could be a candidate - - though I can find no reference to her being broken up.

Ah - but was it actually panned at speed or is the backscene / foreground cunningly painted to make us think that it was ??!?

In the early fifties the 16T mineral wagon was very much a replacement for the fleet of decrepit former Private Owner coal wagons so is unlikely to have been seen in any other traffic. There were, though, privately-owned five-plank RCH 1923 wagons and similar-sized steel opens ( some of either ending up with M36xxxx & M48xxxx numbers ). At this time, of course, ballast was often sourced more locally so any suitable-looking wagon to hand might have been used : it was only the Southern that had really long distance ballast flows, in bogie hoppers, from Meldon ........ not unlike the ICI hoppers shipping limestone from the Peak District. Other uses for limestone might involve burning it to quicklime - which required specialised wagons - or tarring for roadstone ( the Southern, at least labelling wagons which were not to be used for anything else ).

Try your local supermarket ...... they've usually got a selection of IPAs among the beers ( essential shopping, only, of course ).

Maybe Met police in disguise !

I've never cruised on anything larger than S.S. Shieldhall - above - but from what I've heard a lot of cruise 'packages' involve flying from wherever to A, cruising to B and flying home - so the ship has a far longer circuit, carrying different passengers for different segments. ( No doubt the whole thing's available, complete, if you've got the dosh .... and the patience ! )

Thank - yes that was my drift ..... though pure speculation on my part : I guess the livery was copied from a packet of frozen somethingorother !