Wickham Green too

John has been kind enough to check Barry Fletcher's contemporary notes and they confirm that 31487 did retain 'SOUTHERN' on the tender when renumbered in June'48. Not long afterwards ( date not recorded ) it received lined black livery with B.R. style Gill Sans 'BRITISH RAILWAYS' on the tender and cabside number to suit ......... in May '49 it lost the tender lettering ( so blank ) but gained a smokebox plate. Needless to say tender insignia changes MIGHT be explained by tender swaps - but it seems that Rails' combination is more than a little unlikely within the known timescale.

Would make more sense if further Quad, Quin or Twin variants came from the same source.

Obviously none you've mentioned ........ I know nothing of Thameslink north of the Thames - but if it's not stopping there I'd guess it's empty.

That's pretty close to a Mk2 Class 124, isn't it !

The original HMRS 'Siphons' book states "All the bogie Siphons ... had brown bodies and ends with black underframes ..." - maybe conflicting information will be published in the forthcoming revision.

Don't forget one MN was tried with an automatic stoker .............

The loco looks to have a fresh coat of Rail Blue - which might give a date clue !!?!

Possibly too far away ? : https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=52.142147~1.069125&lvl=19.2&style=x&pi=5.5&dir=329.1

Obviously before someone had the great* / stupid* idea of smothering Santa Special thingies with strings of fairy lights. * delete to choice

They're 2.85m wide ( 9'4'' in old money ) ....... and they're somewhat longer than Eurostar at 23m 'cos they're not articulated.

But there are lots of signal boxes and/or level crossings and/or crossing huts on that thread ..................... as it happens, neither Haughley, Baylham nor Wassicks appear on Corneliuslundie's listing - sorry to waste your time responding. ☹️

Have a word with KR Models for that one ! 😊

Try the Signal Box Photos thread perhaps ? 😕

Not really wanting to get into politics here, I suspect Ben Elton didn't want to spend the whole programme delving into the minutiae of WHY there are long running strikes - in the rail industry and elsewhere.

Not to be confused with all those short lengths of centre third rail they installed for AWS operation !

It would be a low-loader job nowadays !

... last seen - in an overdue-for-replacement livery - somewhat further from Reading : - 12/6/23

Ah ! ............... the British Railways sandwich joke is alive and well ! 🙄

... and the non-standard gutters. ................. I'm pretty sure it's 8754 : built as a Driving Brake for the 'Enterprise', rebuilt for railcar use and rebuilt again to eliminate the spurious guards van. York Road : 17/5/94 Dundalk : 9/5/04

Depends on the facilities you desire ...... onboard catering is almost completely absent ! ☹️

C'mon ...... put yer modeller's hat on and suggest installing the latest - not necessarily appropriate - sound file from XYX Digital !

Hmmm ..... never seen those JBBH thingies before !

Yes, the only time they were likely to run in significant numbers of the same diagram would have been when brand new, leaving Swindon for an initial loading point.

Up my local branch we've had 'Networkers' from two different manufacturers and class 376 for umpteen years - now some 707s have flown in to give three totally incompatible types. In pre-Networker days we had EPBs of two basic styles and innumerable individual configurations - but prior to the EPBs we had 4SUBs of Bulleid style ( plus a few Maunsell style ) and earlier rebuilds with pre-grouping bodies : those had run as three-car sets from electrification - with two-car trailers for peak hours ............................. I don't think they all looked the same ! 😊

Those who remain are probably reading this ......... 🙂