Harlequin

Fear not, Rex! You are on the list for this run, as requested. I'll PM you when it's ready to send out.

That's a lovely photo, full of atmosphere. The sign on the door probably does say "Cloak Room" - because the one hanging under the canopy definitely does! 😊 Phil

The window on the platform side isn't full height and as far as I can see it never has been. It's bricked up to half height in the original drawings, in the 1971 photos and in Mikkel's own photos. Note that in the 1971 photo you can see daylight through the light above the Gent's door and we are looking diagonally into the room, so we can reasonably guess that that entire division of the building was the Gents with no subdivision for the ladies. Present day photos show a row of seats blocking that door so possibly the next door along is now used, as you suggest. It would be easy to find out by visiting and it might give some clues about the original arrangement. Phil

Ah yes! There is plumbing on the other side - that's where the vent pipe has already been noted. Also, the windows on the other side have higher sills than all the other windows in that elevation, presumably for privacy. The high sills are evident in the photos and when you look, they are as clear as day on the original drawings too. So it all points towards that room being the gents. The ladies is probably adjacent, possibly taking up a small corner of that division of the building. Edit: The window on the platform side is also shown with a high sill in the original drawings. Phil

In this photo: I think the sign hanging under the canopy outside the open single door on the right says, "Gentlemen". Phil

Latching Hall-effect sensor.

Might the boxes be a form of "safety deposit system", that allowed passengers to deposit or retrieve valuables when the cloakroom was unstaffed??? You can see holes in the panels, possibly keyholes. From an earlier period because whatever the boxes were they were obviously not in use when the photo was taken. Phil

The curved turnouts in this design could be Peco Code83 parts.

I've been looking at Russell, Great Western Engines Vol. 2. Lots of drawings of Saints with square frames in there, including the experimental Atlantics. (I think we can rule out the Atlantics as an RTR Saint variant, right?) On page 49 Fig. 119 Diagram L with No. 2 superheater, Fig. 120 Diagram P with No. 3 superheater, Fig.121 a Maskelyne drawing of 2920 in 1935 condition with No.4 superheater (and curved/dropped running plate). I can't see any visible difference in the smokeboxes that would tell me what kind of superheater they have! (Only a pipe cover blister in Maskeylne's drawing?) (I think we can also eliminate the experimental piston valve covers as seen on your photo of 2925, Neal: https://media-eu.invisioncic.com/y320084/monthly_2024_11/IMG_2980.jpeg.55bba2eba2113480c0da5e967f8e158c.jpeg) BTW: 2902 Lady of the Lake had a horseshoe mounted in her cab for good luck.

Hmmm, so there are a lot of difficult variations for a manufacturer to cope with in that loco and it didn't last very long. I'd better not get my hopes up for an RTR version!

Hopefully, modern tooling would cope with both variants of cab. Here's my favourite straight-framed Saint - just because of the name!

You've got crossovers in the main lines again. I realise you may have done that for spacing reasons (although that hasn't worked out on the left hand side) but they are how a real station would be set up and so you could keep them, and make them both trailing. That would allow you to remove two of the trailing crossovers in the grey lines and either compress the pointwork a bit and/or make the platforms longer and/or make the bar in the H wider. In the photos you posted of your folded figure of eight layout there was a really steep incline between the levels. Did that work OK? Could trains climb it successfully?

Interesting... Is the chain looped through the hook pulley and connected up underneath the jib? It's hard to be sure from that photo. Like this? Then it should wind round the drum with each loop packed close against the next, something like this: But even then it looks like you've got a lot more chain to spare! I can only assume that you won the chain lottery and got more than everyone else! The two lengths joined together should be about 300mm to 330mm long in total. The prototype chain was 328mm long at 4mm scale so if you have more there's no problem with cutting off the excess.

Have you found this page before, Andy? http://www.helstonhistory.co.uk/helstons-shops-transport/helston-branch-railway/ You probably have but if not, it names GWR staff who worked on the line. Might be fun or useful... During running sessions the Helston signalman is either Horace or Bert. 😊