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Good to see you are still creating things, between playing trains. Just noticed your crane in the scrap-yard. As they are as rare as hens' teeth now I want a few, may I ask where you got yours? Thanks, and keep up the good work.

Of only oblique interest, I admit, but here is my 'substitute Night Ferry' from my teenage years (and I could not resist the picture in addition of the S.N.C.F. loco - so pretty): These are the quadri-lingual Joueff C.I.W.L. coaches. I used to run them between a Lima CCT and a wobbly Replica Railways BCK. Happy days.

Thanks for that. I wondered just what it was about, seeing a list of his writings as author. Shame there are no reviews on Amazon.

This is grim news, and more so because I printed his web-page offering the 'week's wage for a R-T-R coach' only last year, I thought. Very sorry to hear it. If anyone is interested and does not own it, I do recommend Behrend's 'Night Ferry' (1985). I had not heard of it before coming across this book on a visit to the Bluebell Railway shop. And of course the film, 'Link Span'.

Perhaps two - different liveries and the window vents were altered. But still, this seems like a cash machine to me.

I must say the idea of Meccano ferries springs to mind, on reading @Nearholmer 's idea of a multi-room arrangement. Wonderful.

Perhaps something could be done about making the 'Night Ferry' better known, to encourage interest and potential custom. Behrend himself, in his book, remarks upon a visitor to the N.R.M. gazing at the carriage, and telling they were still in use, to the visitor's amazement. Would it work as a 'train set'? One could have childish fun putting together a card 'train ferry' kit to accompany it, onto which to run the coaches. Then extend the set with some ferry-wagons for a freight service, a couple of '33's for a later model... Hours of endless fun!

Like everyone who yearns for a model of 'lesser interest', I only hope this is true. Yours waiting for a 4-CIG and a '74', let alone some re-releases...

It was in OO, making up a kit he supplied. The buyer specified wheels, etc. Was it 'Marc models'?

Herewith the Shildon exhibits: Not easy to photograph, but well worth a visit. There was one at the Bluebell Railway, used as a crew coach. Do not know if it is still there. Surely the most romantic and glamorous of the Southern's 'Inter-regional trains'.

Please let me raise my hand as a 'Night Ferry Nutter'; I made a pilgrimage to Shildon last year to see the carriage in the museum there. Will post pics when I can find them at home. If I am left a substantial sum by a long-lost Auntie, I intend buying a couple of made up kits from whoever it is that makes them. Sadly, it must wait till then as they are £250 each. As always when in a rush, I can not find a www link to the firm that does them.

May I just alert readers to the Victorian institution of the 'railway rug' (entry from Oxford English Dictionary on-line): railway rug n. now chiefly historical a rug or blanket designed for use by a railway passenger. 1850 Times 21 Dec. (Suppl. section) 11/5 (advt.) A great comfort is now provided in Nicoll's toga wrapper. It is a novel adaptation of the old railway rug. ... I believe they were provided by the railway companies, although there is a scene in an episode of the Jeremy Brett 'Sherlock Holmes' television series where he has one draped rakishly over a shoulder on the station platform. I recommend them over the knees for winter travelling, even in modern trains.

Thank you, @Andy WD . Not seen this before. Also note the motorway-style 'crash barriers' (both?) sides. I wonder why they had two slim flaps, rather than one more substantial. Hope this is of interest to others.

Just found this supplier as well: https://mackenziesyorkshirefarmshop.co.uk/products/aagrar-balti-sauce

Thanks for the inspiration: I never thought of using sausages - ideal for 'batch cooking/prep.' After all, they are just meat-balls/koftas in a different shape! Will look out for 'Aagrar'; not heard of them before.

Sorry I have not devoted the time to this thread recently as hoped - real life intervening. But I was piqued by this recipe. My partner and I can never get okra to cook like it turns out in restaurants, with some crunch; it just goes slimey. Any ideas? I assume it is in the technique (tried a few times long ago then gave up). Always a good 'litmus test' of a restaurant, we order it as a 'side'. Please let us know how your continuing trials go...

Please forgive the haste, but readers might also be interested in: https://museum.maidstone.gov.uk/our-museums/carriage-museum/ I will try and dig out some photographs I took there years ago. Well worth a visit and support, if rather under-lit.

That was it. Many thanks for jogging my memory. Incidentally, there was an issue of 'Traction' featuring 73-hauled Boat trains, I think, a few years ago, without wishing to reopen the '71 vs 73 debate'. I did not read it, but I think the issue description said something like the photographer had 'gone in search of them' (73-hauled trains, that is).

Knew I had the photostat somewhere: India Mail Murray 1891.pdf Sorry, do not know how to get P.D.F. files to 'display' in a post. Strangely, it does not name the train as the 'India Mail'.

Relating to this topic, one should mention the Fridays-only 'India Mail' (I am not sure which ports were used for England/France) that ran from London to Brindisi, for connections to Bombay/Mumbai. From my beloved Newhaven Marine, there was a sleeper service to meet the ferry that ran to Scotland. Cited on RMWeb in other posts, I regret I can not remember the details of this either. Perhaps someone can fill in the details. Sorry if too O.T.

I have seen a couple of photographs of this working - one in the Middleton Press book, I think - that show 73's. Perhaps they ousted the 71's?

Thanks to @peach james and @brossard for your suggestions. When I did my first sample trial of brick-work painting, I got better results doing the mortar colour first, and then applying the main brick colour gently with a sponge, with three or four diagonal 'passes' (and then individual bricks and patches in slight tonal variations). Interesting that Iain Rice does it the other way (bricks first, then, I assume, wiping off the mortar as a final coat). My father reported better results this way round as well. I will read the Gill Head thread with interest. Thank you both for giving this post your consideration, and the advice/hints. Best wishes to you.

It is funny that the demography of France - low population density - acts against wagon-load/'Speedlink'-style freight, I think, yet Britain's opposite also killed it off with it helping road haulage more. I admit I do not quite understand the arguments, but am perplexed by this paradox. As for not having an hourly shuttle, I feel this is the minimum to make a service attractive and what the usually-car-driving passenger will expect, and the article says there will be no buffet facilities on board. Mon Dieu! I just hope the French traveller follows my example, and packs a large and weighty feast when spending lunch-time on a train journey. This is making me thirst for a glass of Cotes du Rhone...

Sounds too good to be true, especially about returning freight, but I wish it well. Let us hope the French traveller is more of an 'aesthete' than the British.

Plate 2 looks pretty good to me! Nice composition, and a beautiful blue sky. 'Glare' but not 'flare' on the loco side, and the colours and front still discernable. Lovely; wish I had been there. Splendid work.