Regularity

Neither did he! :)

No one could…

Not known for left wing sympathies, but known for being prepared to stand up and speak. He was, until recently, a member of the Conservative party but the manipulation of it by a small group of influential people and Johnson’s “clinical and merciless” mendacity led to him leaving in 2019. Step forward Peter Oborne!

I knew that, too. :)

Transshipment wagons (usually a van, but a sheeted open could suffice) would be sent out from various transfer sheds on a regular and set routine. For example, according to Touret et al’s book on GWR wagons, less than wagonload shipments from all over the GWR we’re concentrated into a single (or more if necessary, I suppose) transshipment van at Oxford for onward transit via the LNWR/LMS to Northampton. The railways were very much the “white van men” of their time. This would be for regular, goods rated traffic, and I guess irregular flows as well. Some traffic would always go by NPCS, and some would go that way if perhaps more urgent or delicate, but would cost more. I read David St.John Thomas’s “The Country Railway” many decades ago now, but his chapter on operations at South Molton have always stuck in my mind. IIRC, there were 3 daily freights. One was a through freight which was the only train to use the automatic token exchange, one was a pick up which spent some time shunting the yard (not sure if it shunted in both directions) and then there was one which had a set formation, which stopped with the designated “station wagon” near the parcels office for loading and unloading, but did no shunting. Again, I don’t know if this happened in both directions, but if anyone has access to the WTT during WWII, that might confirm the situation. Following this example, that’s 3 freight trains a day in each direction, each with different functions, in amongst the regular passenger trains. Interesting variety.

I think that is a really important point, especially with regards to branchlines. Many of these were built with local money, as much to ensure the continued prosperity of the area served - if only by keeping down the cost of coal. Even if they paid dividends, it is doubtful that anyone saw a return on their investment, and proceeds from selling the branch to a larger company would be less than the original capital. It is possible that dividends plus share of purchase proceeds may have come close to that, but I expect that was rare. That makes the wanton destruction of so many abandoned trackbeds such a waste. As we know, Watkin’s ambition led to MS&L being short for “Money Sunk and Lost”, and under the GC it was “Gone Completely”! Beware capitalists using other people’s money!

This realisation is something that increasingly chimes with me, albeit with different prototypes in mind. I mean, how many trains can you run at one time? But also, what happens if one breaks down? So two locos is a minimum, and two each for passenger (where a railmotor counts as one, and the other can stand in on freight if necessary) and freight (where one at least might be “mixed traffic”) is good.

Have you read the reports into the Selsey tram crash of 1923, which resulted in the death of the fireman? I admit I haven’t read the original, but it is covered in Laurie Cooksey’s superb two-volume work on the line. Let’s just say that the Colonel displays an indifference to the loss of a life. Also, HFS was very dismissive about the “shirkers in Boston Lodge” when writing to Austen. I suggest we agree to differ, but to my reading he wasn’t a pleasant person.

Maybe not, but they are pretty good at applying “weathering”…

The SE&C was a joint operating company of the South Eastern Railway and the London Chatham and Dover Railway, formed in 1899 but which remained nominally independent until the grouping. I think you may mean SER? And in this case, it wasn’t just Watkin (also involved with the Metropolitan Railway and Chemin de Fer du Nord, and an abortive CJanel tunnel attempt, his dream being a continuous railway between Manchester and Paris via London) but also James Staats Forbes (involved with the Metropolitan District Railway) , who really did not like Watkin.

Later on they did, and the Midland tried to abandon the Settle-Carlisle route, but Parliament wouldn’t let them.

IKB was an absolute swine to work for, I believe. Mind you, having read various works about his miscellaneous collection of minor railways, I have never understood why anyone would say anything positive about Colonel Stephens, either.

Good. Glad to know that I am in good company!

As long as you weren’t painting ladies’ privates…

Quite. When these pointless “Greatest Briton” type exercises are undertaken, I always think that anyone who was alive during living memory should be excluded.

I knew what you meant, Mike.

I dunno, after all, a 4-4-0 is just an 0-4-4 going the other way… Superb! (But surely, an “F”, not an “F-“ [eff minus]?)

The other point is that, somewhat bizarre if you think about it for too long, as we get further and further away from the past, we seem to be able to find more recorded information about it!

You get an F-…!

I know that was meant tongue in check, but… Why? Whoever it was (I say it this way as I am not casting aspersions on a genuinely inspirational modeller) who has/had accepted something incorrect may have done so out of a position of not knowing, necessity (needed something in a hurry, so created stand-ins) or they simply didn’t care (“passenger trains get in the way of the real money makers). It’s just a variant on GBS’s maxim that one shouldn’t do unto others as one wished to be done unto as their tastes may differ. If something does bother you, then it bothers you, even if it didn’t or doesn’t bother someone - or indeed anyone - else.

Not good weather for paintings a door, as T’ other half is discovering. Yes, the gloss is drying quickly in the sun, but not quickly enough for assorted seeds etc picked up by the breeze to not get stuck into the paint. Still, she wanted to move, and she decided to repaint the door to “help sell the house”.

Not at all. Weathering works best with multiple stages, different textures, and different techniques: wash, stipple, dry-brush and powders in that order. Cannot be done all at once.

Not sure how much run-through power appears on VRS, but that’s always an option.

Can we have a photo of your superb model with the doors open, please?

Was Churchward known for up-bending? I think, perhaps, we ought not to be told…