roythebus1

I think the TLVs were standard GUV or maybe a a BG fitted with jumpers and air/EP brakes. Not around in my time as a driver.

I had one when they first came out. It ran for several shows on the MRC's "New Annington" layout in the 1980s. eventually decided to narrow it, new got finished so ended up in the bin. I ay still have the bogies around somewhere. The comment re the Trix coaches a few posts above, I had an 8-car set of these in the late 1960s. with a good shove they'd go round the MRC's test track twice! Quite how Trix managed to get them so free running is a mystery. I've never seen anything that good before or since.

And so the plot thickens...dan dan daaann!!!

I mentioned the NLL via Willesden and Kew, part of the NSWJR. :) Was the link at Staines ever used? Edited to add to the bit about crews being sent to Sevrrn Tunnel for relief, the rugby men I worked with in 1975 told the same sort of tales, of working freight from Crewe to Willesden, being looped at Hanslope or somewhere similar, not turning a wheel and getting relieved by another crew 10 hours later! Quite how the got to Hanslope is a mystery, maybe dropped off a passing freight? If they were behind another train (permissive block in the loops) the fireman would tie the loco coupling to the brake van coupling in front, so when that train moved, the coupling would drop with an almighty clang and wake the crew up!

My mistake with F stock and G stock!F stock, also known as "tanks" by the crews because of their weight and reputed speed, with oval cab windows. It was unusual to use Q stock on the circle services. The guard's control equipment was powered by batteries with discharged when the guard's control key livened up his panel. There was enough reserve there for about 4 hours work if I remember correctly. so after 4 circles, the battery would go flat! When the crew changed ends, when the motorman put his control key in, the guard's batteries would charge up. they were wired in series with the cab light and marker lights across the 650v supply! Everything else on Q stock worked on line volts IIRC. Norman Eagles was a member of The Model Railway Club in London and used to do a transport film show twice a year. He was also the official London Transport club steward, in the days when the old companies had their own "stewards". There was never a British Railways steward! Cyril Freezer's son Nick worked with me for years on the MRC's New Annington layout in the late 1970s to late 1980s as well as his full-time job with LT! I've shared the news of the Q stock project to the District Dave website as well as the FB District Line Past and Present group where it will hopefully get some more interest. Already someone asking if it will be available in7mm/ft.

The wagon shortage was exacerbated by the cross-London routes vulnerability to the Luftwaffe. We had the East London Line, mostly underground, via the City widened Lines to the GN and Midland lines as well as the GW at Paddington. This was out of action for lengthy periods when Moorgate and Farringdon were badly damaged.This also affected goods traffic via Blackfriars. The West London Line, all above ground. Limited goods traffic on the Turnham Green/Gunnersbury-Richmond line. Next was the NLL via Brentford. The next available route round London was at Reading!

My first attempt at a Met loco was converting a Triang M7 into the 0-4-4T E class. Later I produced a cast whitemetal model of the F class and still have a few in stock if you want a decent model of it. As a result I've got a few pictures as I bought a copy of all those in the LTE collection! Have a look on the FB group Metroplitan Railway Past and Present, there's some on there. I'm just building one of my F class kits using the SE Finecast etched chassis. They also produced a model of the F class.

SJP is a sub-surface station so there's no escalators from the platforms to street level. On the later O/P/Q stock it was not possible, as others have said, to lift the seats. Uner them was a plethora of isolating cocks, the flap with the star hid the brake release valve (the star is still used on main line trains), and "heaters". Lots of things tht worked on 650 volts that you really wanted to go near. If the Circle train was a District train, the F stock with the flat front and clerestory roof, later to become Q23, had a separate guard's compartment that kids could hide in. This was accessible from the passenger saloon and was shut off when occupied by the guard by putting a bar across the gap that had GUARD ONLY on it. I know what they were like, I worked on them as a guard in 1970 and 1971 when they were withdrawn. The lights would go dim when the train started and would go out when the train went over gaps in the current rails.

There was also a lot of preparation by the railways pre WW2. Duplicating the telephone network, control rooms, storing bridge-sized girders around the place, bridge timbers, rails, the lot. I recently read a book about London's main line railways during WW2 which mentions the preparations in the opening chapters. It was interesting t read that Britain nearly ran out of wagons at one stage, not because of war damaging them, but because of the difficulty of getting empty coal wagons out of places like London and the docks and getting fresh supplies in. London was down to 2 days food and fuel reserve at one point.

I can't find my Skinley blue print despite it being on the workbench fr the last few months! I have a 31mm Black Beetle bogie with a question mark and another at 29mm marked as Q stock. It'll be a case of going as near as you can as BB won't make them to odd 0.25mm dimensions. I bought. load from them earlier this year to stock up for future requirements, trying to save shipping costs, and it cost a fortune in import duty as the limit is £120 in value for duty-free. Be warned. but delivery was within a couple of weeks. As you may know, most LT stock had spoked wheels. I spoke with BB about doing some with spoked wheels but he said it wasn't possible from a production POV as he couldn't get 12mm spoked wheels to RP25 in Aus. However there's nothing to stop you changing the wheels if you can find some that fit.

When I was secondman at Rugby in 1975 we had an evening parcels train to Willesden. we used to pick up or drop off a couple of the Insulfish/parcel vans at Hemel Hempstead using the train engine, usually an electric loco. And the first job I had was an evening parcel train to Crewe, an SR utiltiy van and an electric loco.

No.

Q23 bogies have a different wheelbase at either end according to my Skinley blueprint. Different bogie design as well.

The advent of the internet auction sites have greatly reduced a lot of the former "collectable" stuff. Mind you, I'm sitting on a small fortune of GS Models bus kits if ever I get time to sort out all the parts and remember what goes with what kit. There's also about 20 Met Railway 0-6-2T kits.

Who knows? But I know I've seen a film of it and would like to see it again, or any reports of said damage.

Try posting this in the "London Undergrouns" section further down the "prototype" section and the District Dave website, there's sections on there for historic and modelling.

If you look at the fare quoted above £55 return, it's a tad over 50p/mile for London to Brighton. The Government/IR figures for using your car for business and tax purposes is 45p/mile. I tend to compare prices by the cost of a gallon of diesel or a pint of beer. :)

Do you still need any information for the Q38 car? I still have the large scale LT drawing for it. I got that in te early 1970s when I was running GS Models and was intending to do it as a cast metal kit. I also have the 1938 tube stock drawing but that's already been done! Anyway, all is looking good and I've got a couple of Black Beetle motors to go in them. :) I won't bother with the resin kit after all, it needs a lot of work to make it look right so hardly worth the trouble now yours are coming out. I can see a lot of demand for the Q38 as COP/R stock as well!

I've recently been tasked with disposing of a late friend's railway collection. It contained a number of Kitmaster kits, including about 6 part-built and unbuilt Umbauwagen coaches. I've compared the built items with the Roco models and they are almost identical in measurements, very good models but lacking some of the fine detil of the mass-produced Roco version. If anyone's interested in them pm me or have a look on Ebay next weekend. Oh, there's also a load of the Airfix Interfrigo wagons part-built and unbuilt, another good HO model.

Look out for them on Ebay in the near future!

Any further developments on this project?

I don't know if anyone's posted this link on here yet, but it's gaining a lot of support on FB. https://busandtrainuser.com/2023/07/08/ticket-office-closure-con/

Thanks, any takers? :)

I've recently cleared out a late friend's railway collection, it includes about 6 part-made and unmade Kitmaster stainless steel coaches. Are these accurate models? I know the German "umbauwagen" coaches are quite accurate as I've compared them with the Roco coaches and they are almost as good. These kits are seeking a good home.

the high speed runs underatekn by the SNCF in 1952 and 1955 are well-documented and I've just watched through the 3-part documntary on youtube, fascinating stuff. But, a few years ago I remember seeing another film of the aftermath of one or more of the runs, stuff the SNCF didn't want people to see. It showed damage caused to the track caused by the train beginning to "snake" at high speed and taking the track out of alignment with it. This was film taken from the rear of the train as well as some ariel footage of the damage. It also showed the damage caused to the pantographs running at such high speed and high amps required for those sort of speeds at 15v dc! I've just tried an internet search for that film, but nothing so far has turned up. does anyone else remember seeing this film or clips of it? It may have been "cutting room floor" clips that weren't to be seen by yht publc?