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Jesse, I hope that the blue bus is not going to be plonked on that bridge? William

In contrast to the fantastic bridge structure created by zr2498 here is something really simple. I broke my leg a few weeks ago so couldn't work on constructing my main layout, which is what I had previously planned to do, so made a few models instead. ASmomg them was this Atlas HO kit for Maywood Station in New Jersey, but I built it as similar in period & style to some stations on the Darjeeling & Himalayan Railway, which I am modelling in 009. There aren't many UK station kits that haven't been around for years, so maybe if one can accept the difference in scale looking at what's available in the USA might be worthwhile? (the locals in the Darjeeling area are quite small - it's where many Gurkhas come from.

Totally agree. Though I, probably like many others, have been disappointed after items that Tony puts on here, which I would have liked to buy, have been bought by his close contacts. we need to remember that the aim is to raise money for the bereaved & for Cancer Research UK. Also with so many items to sell, pack & post how much easier is it for Tony to sell 21 coaches in one go to one person rather than to 21 individuals? William

Hello Tony, Your most recent 9f doesn't look incredible to me: it looks believable & will no doubt look even better once it's been weathered, but weather the crew too. No criticism of your work, but many wonderfully weathered & realistic model locos often have crew who appear to be wearing brand new overalls. They stand out a mile. Regards, William

Here is my GNR C2 (LNER C12) built by someone at or on behalf of the Norman Wisenden business many years ago & painted by Larry Goddard. Yours stands up well compared to the painting of an acknowledged master! William

Gentlemen, What was intended to be a gentle dig at Tony after seeing tension lock couplings on your superb models seems to have upset you, which was certainly not my intention. For that I apologise. Of course tension lock couplings have the advantages you describe & as has been written many times on this blog "each to his own". In retrospect I thought perhaps rather stupidly that it would be a bit of fun to point out something on Little Bytham that Tony has written about repeatedly that he hates with a vengeance. William

Superb models but I also spotted the hated RTR hook & bar couplings on the Sherwood coal wagon & on the non-corridor LNER coach & on Little Bytham too! What is going on?

Wow! That appears to be a self-driving bus & in 1957! Amazing! However, maybe it's just a prototype because there aren't any passengers probably for safety reasons. Isn't it odd that it can't have gone into production. One wonders what went wrong, but then it does lean rather a lot to the left (in the photo). William

Here is the not very good photo (taken with an iPhone) of my LNWR Jubilee built from the kit designed by Joe Wilkinson.

Jol, Happy to report that I have an example of your work designing the Jubilee model. It's excellent. I will try to take a photo soon of it & post it on here. I probably have other examples of your design work too but I don't know the order in which they were introduced. Rest assured I am a very satisfied customer. William

Jol, Take heart. I don't build many loco kits (actually only 2 built) as I don't have the time while getting my layout finished, but a friend has built many LRM LNWR loco kits for me, most of which I think you design, & the builder universally praises the quality of the kits & the results are superb. I have few photos of them but I guess that's it's probable that you designed the kit for the Precedent model loco below. William

One would expect German trains to be as efficient as the reputation the country enjoys, but they are not. The long distance trains are often very late & as a result connections are missed. I have spent many cold unhappy hours on Mannheim station having missed the connection to Basel after my train from Frankfurt Airport was late. One problem is that the schedules are too tight with very tight connections between connecting trains which may have travelled long distances & several hours before arriving at the station for a connection. The other problem is that Germans aren't Swiss! William

Operational discipline & culture go hand in hand in Switzerland, where I have lived for the last 30 years, but the trains went electric, which are inherently more reliable than steam, because gradients are often steep, much steeper than in the UK & the big electric company wanted a large corporate customer. However, you are right to state that culture plays a big part in the success of any efficient organisation, but the traction does make a significant difference to how the trains perform. I frequently changed long distance trains late on winter nights at stations in the middle of the Swiss mountains with a 3 minute arrival & departure interval. I never missed one. William

What IF the railway companies in GB had decided as the Swiss Federal Railways did to go electric in the early part of the last century? Well the UK would now have reliable punctual clean trains used much more than they are now as a result. Admittedly the geography of Switzerland & the lack of coal in the country, which had increased dramatically in price at the time, played a major part in the decision. William

Perhaps we should call you "Tony the quark from now on"? Or perhaps "Tony the newly discovered sub-atomic particle" There's the fact that two separated particles can interact instantaneously, a phenomenon called quantum entanglement. ... This principle of quantum mechanics suggests that particles can exist in two separate locations at once. William

In June Tony sold me the 0-6-2 tank shown in the photo below, which he was selling on behalf of a widow & the CRC. It looked quite well built & he had checked it to ensure it ran well, which it did. However, on delivery we saw that it had a large motor block very clearly visible in the cab. This didn't really matter as the intention was always to backdate it to its LNWR days. As I cannot yet travel to the UK my friend Frank Bulkan did this for me having fitted a Mashima motor, High Level gears, LNWR buffers, a Ramsbottom safety valve, correct trailing wheels, etc, & painted it & lined it with LNWR transfers. I am very pleased with the result. It didn't cost that much to do & possibly the greatest difficulty was trying to buy a new motor & gears in these Covid times, but fortunately I had spares. So my message to potential purchasers of secondhand locos especially from someone like Tony, who has reviewed them, is that you can often get a good result without too much difficulty at quite a low cost compared with buying all the parts & starting from scratch.

It's amazing to me at least what some railway modellers achieve in a small space so don't give up, but so far it seems that only large radius points are available in Peco bullhead OO track & each is 25.8cm long, so with 4 of those in 2 crossovers (total length 103.2 cm) the loop is only going to have capacity for very few wagons to shunt into the sidings at each end. If you could accept smaller radius points not currently available in the Peco bullhead range it would give you a little more capacity for the layout plan above? William

Good morning Tony, Where will your review of the book on the first 25 years of BR in North Wales, Chester & the Wirral be published? I ask because like you it was my stomping ground having been born & brought up In Bebington & later lived for a short time in Chester. William

Tony, It's not quite true to state that no RTR manufacturer has produced articulated carriages, so long as one accepts that Golden Age Models is or was an RTR manufacturer. They sold a Silver Jubilee set & a Coronation set, though neither ran well without modification as described by zr2498 on rmweb. I have a Silver Jubilee set & seem to recall that you were "somewhat critical" when you reviewed it? William

Very nice work Richard especially the painting. May I ask what kits you made these from, or perhaps they are your own etchings? William

Thanks for this Phil, but the Batasia loop is not typical of the rest of the line, which is 88 Km long & goes through some very dramatic scenery. In contrast the Batasia Loop is highly manicured for tourists on the Joy Train between Darjeeling & Ghum with topiary on the small trees & planted there & a memorial at its centre. I spent several days on the line in 2011 & it's the more desolate parts that I want to model, though admittedly there is a lot of greenery around the concrete terraces & embankments. Perhaps the still below from a video gives an idea of what I mean? William

Thanks to all since I last posted. I think I will seal the cardboard retaining walls with emulsion paint & then use chinchilla sand in acrylic paints like those used in the FOS Scale Models video mentioned above by DGO. There is an even more helpful FOS Scale Models video"Weathering concrete retaining walls". They are excellent videos. As ColinK is interested in a photo of my spiral please see 2 attached. I had first tried a scale version of Old Loop No. 1 on the DHR, but the gradient on the prototype to get clearance where the 2 tracks cross was 1:16 & my 4mm scale 009 gauge Backwoods Miniatures Class B 0-4-0 could only haul 2 coaches up it & the DHR pacific being built for me would not be able to go round the tight curves. So I modified the plan to fit the same topography but increased the size of the loops to use the Woodlands Scenics 5m 2% gradient in a plan similar to the Batasia Loop on the DHR. The photos show the central part of what will initially be a T-shaped layout with a modified version of Darjeeling Station with the same track plan on the upper level on the left & a 4 track run through station with a turntable on the lower level on the right. If all goes well then I will consider wider hidden loops to connect each end & allow a fiddle yard under the layout.

Thanks for these helpful replies. I want texture & the ability to "emboss" the finish with the pattern of the sections of concrete laid separately blocks which appear to be about 2' by 10'. The roughened surface should then provide a good key for lichens, mosses & other vegetation as in the prototype. I will experiment first but asked for help because Artex only seems to be available in large volume tins & is quite expensive especially if I don't end up using it on my model. Incidentally it's an 009 DHR layout in 4mm scale. William

I have built a spiral for my Darjeeling & Himalayan Railway model copying some of the concrete embankments on the prototype & clad the sides with cardboard. Now I want to simulate the weathered finish & wondered if Artex or a similar textured coating is a good option? If not, are there better options that others have used successfully? Thanks in advance, William

Quite a few J11s were transferred to the M&GN after the LNER took over the running of the line. The table below form the M&GN Bulletin 637/6-9 shows those transferred. They were allocated to the M&GN for only a few years & by 1943 all had left, but J11s continued to visit the line in the BR era. There is a photo of 64420 on a lengthy train of wagons at South Lynn on 01.08.1953.