GRASinBothell

Thanks. I like the look of it - it goes well with tinplate trains, and the sleepers have an "embedded in ballast" look, obviating the need for that miserable task, but already having a full complement of Atlas track for my layout, I won't be changing any time soon, Gordon

I rather like the tinprinted buildings. I have one of the Hornby E2E engine sheds, as well as a modern Darstaed single-road shed (though I'm not at all sure how I can cram the latter in to my layout!). On those, the tinprinting is just the building. I'm less keen on buildings like Hornby's station, where they included people, luggage, and scenery. Gordon

Is Maldon Rail "some assembly required" then? Gordon

Mettoy even managed to produce some with the right number of wheels. This was my first loco (long since gone to the great engine shed in the sky when its spring broke, I'm afraid...). Gordon

The Terrier has a lower buffer beam than other locos (note how the shank protrudes above the beam), so I've rather assumed the reason for the lack of a drop-link is to prevent it shorting on the centre rail... I've obtained ETS couplers from Raylo (Colin Toten), but those are designed to avoid having to cut a slot in the bufferbeam (which was what I wanted, to convert a Jep STEF refrigerated van). Gordon

Regarding the question of whether any coaches like that existed, remember that the standard way of repairing panelled coaches was steel flush panelling to cover the deteriorating woodwork. While most pictures I've seen have only covered part of the coach, it's not impossible that some may have had the entire side sheeted in this way. So, while none were built like that, it's not entirely impossible for one or two to have ended up not looking too dissimilar. Well, that would be my excuse if I had one... Gordon

Kevin, I was wondering whether your acquisition was before or after my posting, so I have the answer. Glad the suggestion was useful. Until my acquisition of several at Christmas, I only had a couple of Harry Potter figures, but I found that at exhibitions those were what the children gravitated to (well, that and the dinosaur figures, but the less said about them the better!). Gordon

Yes, the surf boards that the Nano Metalfigs stand on are a bit odd, but if you paint them to match where they're standing, it's not too bad. Some of them seem to stand with their legs very wide apart, which makes cutting down the surf board a bit difficult. Gordon

I thought that one of the key reasons for the under-scale track gauge in OO was the need to obtain adequate clearance between the over-width wheels and cylinders, and for the outside motion (especially considering the extra sideplay needed for the sharp curves in use). British locos also tended to have their driving wheels covered by splashers, which would need to be made wider to cover over-width wheels, whereas many other countries embraced the "everything on show" approach, thus avoiding that particular problem. Gordon

It depends how "old style" you're looking for. Derek Strickland (Progress Products) offers a vehicle carrier wagon, in the style of a Hornby wagon. He has his own website, though his eBay page seems to be more up to date. Gordon

Thanks for the explanation, Brian. Like Kevin, I've wondered why the National Coal Board had milk floats... I have a cream NCB one in a similar state to Kevin's. If I ever get to repaint it, I'll go for the Job's Dairy transfers, as my grandmother in Twickenham got her milk from them. Regarding Models of Yesteryear, the table of scales doesn't include some recent ones, including YSH1 Gypsy Caravan from 1993 and YSH2 London Omnibus (also horse-drawn) from 1995. Based on the figures on them, they appear to be 1/43-ish, though the gypsy caravan is possibly a little larger. Gordon

If you're having difficulty fitting it all into the length available, I wonder if you've considered a solution like what was used at Ventnor? They had a turntable to release the loco onto the run-around loop. And between the line on which the train came in and the run-around loop was an island platform. They had a contraption like a gangplank to get from the main platform to the island, though I never saw it used. Of course, this wasn't a common arrangement (but then, nor was having the line go straight into a tunnel on leaving the terminus, which Ventnor also does, and that hasn't deterred modellers!). I gather the Great Eastern was also prone to using this space-saving arrangement. Gordon