Regularity

Ah. As in the early draft of that well-known children’s story, “Not Now, Barnard Castle”?

Also, between the drivers, mostly hidden by the coupling rods.

Provided that you remove yourself from the general aversion to having axles that are allowed to move up and down, and the bizarre fixation with fixed axles within compensated frames, then as long as you take time and care - and if you like buying expensive jigs, if that’s your thing - then a working chassis is not too difficult to achieve. You can then carve the body about as much as you wish. Not modelling in “metric mix” scales, do Hornby produce an early/original (I really dislike the term “unrebuilt”!) Claud? I can’t imagine much that would be useable from a Gresley re-build, other than maybe the wheels and coupling rods, possibly the cast block as an aide to drilling or for hacking about if you have access to a vertical mill. Sometimes it is simply easier to start for yourself, even kits get it wrong. The AGW E4 has the boiler at the wrong pitch for a start...

A thing of grace and beauty, that.

I am not sure about the T26, but as the GER under Holden only had two diameters of boiler, a Y14 should be able to donate quite a bit towards classes T26, T19, D27 single wheeler and C32, although in the latter case I am not sure just how much would remain...Really not sure how much anY14 can contribute to a Claud: they had more in common with what was later J16/J17, depending of firebox. A scribing stand, or simply some callipers, are all that is needed to help mark out the positions. If you read up on the various lines on Oakwood books, etc, it is clear that the passenger fitted Y14s were used interchangeably with the T26s. I think they were actually dual fitted, so even better.

One of my favourites, too: I even got as far as a running chassis for loco and tender. The former went under the late John Coulter’s Cambrian 2-4-0T. The GER used the no 1 class, plus their successors the T26 (E4) and indeed the fitted versions of Y14 (J15) for a lot of cross country power, deploying them as genuine mixed traffic engines: there is a lovely photo of one on a fairly lengthy train composed mostly of 5 plank opens in a booklet on Norfolk railways, showing just valuable they were. The later T19R 4-4-0 rebuilds, which used the rear bogies from the E10 0-4-4Ts, (D13) were also used this way, and seem to have been the replacements for the little Johnson engines.

No gloves - quite shocking! I must admit that the lady without the gloves has a slightly wistful air about her, reminiscent of fadings.I did wonder if perchance there was someone under that enormous dress? A lot of art has more to it than we at first realise, particularly where the artist wanted to slyly cock a snoop at the authorities. Mind you, there could be some funny events. One of Whistler’s “Nocturne in Black and Gold” was described by John Ruskin as being the result of him “flinging a pot of paint into the public’s face” (I am surprised this hasn’t been actually done as a form of immersive art - or perhaps it has?) and the thin-skinned creator promptly sued for libel. He won - after all, he simply had to prove that he hadn’t done this, and had put time and effort into his work - but the jury awarded him all of a farthing in damages, and the judge awarded no costs. It ruined both of them. Edit: Black and Gold, not t’other way about.

And you said I had a dirty mind...

I wonder if it inspired Iain Rice in suspending his fiddle yard on Trerice? I am always put in mind of a Ramsbottom smokebox door when I see it! I fudged mine a bit...

The smokebox locking handle. This is LNWR design at its best: simplicity.

Depends on whether you can reach or not.

What, like a 4-8-2?

Ah. Ok then. I confused Chris’s model with yours. Doh!

Presumably you are selling the flat car as well, as center beams didn’t appear (mostly) until the mid 70s...

In terms of the “second phase body” of class 25, I reckon that’s the most Ratty MacRatface I’ve seen. Superb

Since we fell behind Germany (as the U.K. and not as the British Empire) circa 1870, we had lost long before the 20th Century. The reason we run the “Dreadnought race” was that we started so far ahead with our navy that we only had to match German production to stay substantially ahead.

Yes. Just like so many modelling bugbears: simply the result of not paying enough attention to the prototype.

Without nationalisation, the question is, how long would the railways have survived without the abolition of common carrier status? Or in the case of the LNER, just how long could it survive?

You might want to look at this thread in the DCC part of the forum: jmri-to-control-dcc-layout-anyone-using-it

Given the central beam down the spine of the wagon, as well as the turning force applied to the truck which would be upended, I would say not.

The ballasting is very well done - as is the attention to trackwork generally. Can you share with use the materials used, and how they were applied?

Have you seen some of the liveries foisted upon us over the past 3 decades?

That’s bl00dy lovely.

No, I am not suggesting that. Recording new sounds is a non-trivial activity, so until the exact sound come along, find something of a similar size and configuration. Decoders can be re-blown for a relatively small amount. Or just don’t bother with the sound until the perfect one comes along.

Try some parallel thinking. The “LMS” 2p, 3f, 4f, 1f (tank), 3f (tank) are all pregrouping. Similarly, the GWR 14xx is a revamped 517, the 57xx a revamped “large” pannier tank, and the 64xx an updated “small” pannier. OK so there might have been some small differences but fundamentally Collet realised that the legacy he inherited from Chirchward was extremely strong, and other than a few improvements to details, he was happy to turn a Star into a Castle, etc, and spend his time on more pressing matters such as running the mechanical side of the railway. The rather more fragmented locomotive development of the LNER and SR might make that a little harder, but have a look and find similar locos. That said, I am hoping to one day have LNWR sounds from the coal tank produced by Paul Chetter (I like what he has done with the rest of the programming on Zimo decoders) but I am happy to use something which had similar prototype dimensions for inside cylinders, and I have a J94 sound decoder awaiting fitting. If a coal tank file appears later, I can always send the decoder to Digitrains for a reblow.