Darryl Tooley

Doncaster had built somewhere around 2,000 engines by this stage; it was the works number that required the book-cooking. D

Sort of. Not in peacetime, no. Here's what the LNER Rule Book of 1933 has to say:- Rule 240 (10) 'Not more than five vehicles containing explosives must be conveyed by any one train at any one time. Vehicles containing explosives or highly inflammable liquids or tank wagons containing compressed liquefied gases must be marshalled as near the middle of the train as possible. Vehicles containing explosives and tank wagons containing compressed liquefied gases must not be placed on the train near to vehicles containing inflammable liquids or other traffic of an inflammable nature.' Rule 240 (14) may also be of interest to modellers:- 'At both the sending and receiving stations vehicles containing any description of explosives or dangerous goods or traffic of an inflammable nature referred to in Clause (4) must not be placed within any of the Company’s sheds or warehouses. On arrival at the receiving station such vehicles must be immediately separated from other vehicles.' D

According to LNER Standard Gresley Carriages (Harris, 1998) dia 182 was introduced in 1934. However the same volume includes a photo, (which I seem to recall being told was taken by H C Casserley from the bottom of his garden) of an open third to dia 216 No 60525 at Bromley South on 21 June 1936. Given that dia 182 and 216 are both 52'6" open thirds, and No 60525 is between a tender bearing a number starting '10.....' and an LNWR arc-roof corridor carriage, I can't help wondering if this is not the same photograph as the one you've seen, or at any rate, the same train. D

The Hornby J83 and Lima J50 were earlier. It's probably just as well there weren't any real ones left to compare them to. D

Generally thought to be based on the North Eastern Railway's dia V4 brake vans. D

I think these might be LNER 12 ton Sleeper wagons (See Tatlow's LNER Wagons Part 4A pp57/8). D

The engine has electric lights (underneath the lamps) which I don't think any of the V1s had, so it is probably L1 No 67800, a KX engine from building until 1956. D

Here's a likely candidate. https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wagons/frd012/ D

There were other locomotives put into traffic during this time, which is why Flying Scotsman is generally described as the first express engine to be built by the LNER. D

... er, this, perhaps? .....er, no. That's an experiment, not a problem. D

Addison Road, Kensington, 30th January 1948. Yes, he later said that this resulted in his getting more than 19,000 out of 20,000 locos painted black, which is what he'd wanted all along. D

'62 was in malachite, '63 in LNER green and '64 in GWR green. Riddles thought so too. D

He was. What is less certain is why. The late Dr Hughes plausibly suggests, in 'The Gresley Influence' (Ian Allan, 1983), that it was with the intention of gently pointing him in the direction of recommending a younger man. If this were done judiciously, Robinson might leave the room thinking it was his idea all along; there is no need to impute his later recollection to senility. From C J Allen’s account of the formation of the LNER in 'The London & North Eastern Railway' (Ian Allan, 1966) it is clear that each of the constituent companies was concerned to get as many of its own men in the top jobs as possible, which resulted in a good deal of jockeying for position, horse trading, and general politicking. Seen in this light, there are good reasons for getting Robinson’s seal of approval on Gresley’s appointment. As you say, however, we will probably never know. D

It's not far off. The LNER was by some distance the most highly-geared of the Big Four. In plain English, that's a bit like saying their credit card repayments were bigger than everyone else's. This had largely to do with the financial health of the constituent companies. The LNER never had quite enough money to spare for the capital investments it would have liked, and quite a few of the improvements it did make, were done with Government assistance. D

Slightly. There was a proposal in 1924 for a 5’ 2” three-cylinder Mogul, to replace various pre-grouping 0-6-0s, but what eventually materialised, doubtless for reasons of cost, was the J39. There was a proposal in the early 1930s for an ‘improved K3’ with an articulated tender, in the manner of the two ex-NER Atlantics so rebuilt. Unlike them, however, a booster was not envisaged, the object of the exercise being to provide a better-riding vehicle than the K3. (Sources: RCTS Locomotives of the LNER Vols 6A and 10A, LNER Locomotive Development (J Armstrong, Peco Publishing) and Nigel Gresley Locomotive Engineer (F A S Brown, Ian Allan Ltd) D

Apparently not. https://www.mandgn.org/overall-collection/mainline-set D

I’d agree with all of that. The fact that the wagon is partly in direct sunlight, and partly not, is clear from looking at the rear faces of the wheels on the far side, of which the same is also true. The very low sun is something that should be taken into account when interpreting the tonality of this photograph, I feel. D

The Board of Trade gave the railways until 1938 to fit all wagons with a right-handed lever brake on both sides. A red full-length diagonal was applied to LMS and LNER end-door mineral wagons from 1924, changing to white from early 1926, and including SR wagons from that point. The diagonal was applied to the washer plate at the appropriate end from mid-1938. D

Yes. Zooming in on the photo, there's only one wagon's worth of axleboxes and brake lever. The only photograph I've seen of one in LNER livery. Also interesting is that the adjacent coal wagon is so branded. Not usually thought necessary, as far as I'm aware. D

The 1938 total given in Hudson is for coal wagons. I should have remembered that not all PO wagons were coal wagons. The numbers would seem to suggest that the percentage of PO wagons for traffics other than coal was a fair deal higher around the time of nationalisation than at grouping. D

According to Bill Hudson in 'Private Owner Wagons' Vol 1 (OPC, 1976) there were 626,223 PO wagons recorded in the 1918 census, but the total had dropped to about 450,000 by 1938. D

They were. See 'Private Owner Wagons' Vol 1 by Bill Hudson (OPC, 1976) for the first two and the last page of 'The Modellers Sketchbook of Private Owner Wagons' Book 3 by A G Thomas for the third. I expect this is where Bachmann sourced their information. These were the old 17’ 6” moulding. D

By the mid-50s, none. One or two East Anglian lines were still using six-wheelers at Nationalisation, but the ones on the Mid-Suffolk, withdrawn towards the end of 1951, were probably the last to go. The last four-wheelers on Great Eastern metals went well before WW2, and these were suburban carriages. D

All the ones that I've seen have a plastic body and whitemetal underframe. From memory this range dated from late 70s and there were only ever about half a dozen wagon kits in the range. The ones I remember, having bought them, are LNER Longfit and Fish Van, HR Meat Van and NBR van (below). D

Generally thought to have been based on an L&Y prototype. https://lyrs.org.uk/wagons/ D