Morello Cherry

I am not sure if it is any use but in the Simmons' Railways: An Anthology there is an excerpt from a piece by Osbert Sitwell from 1944 about travelling through Paddington. He mentions the lawns being referred to by the stationmaster. This might be of interest:

For what it is worth the Maggs book has a section on Yatton to Clevedon branch and the WCPLR. Interestingly it shows Clevedon Station in 1898 with a number of coal wagons from Radstock - Toomer and a Bird and Co (with dumb buffers). It also shows from 1921 coal being loaded from the WCPLR's sailing barge Lily into wagons on the WCLPR. Maggs notes that the WCLPR in its promotional material noted its proximity to the Somerset and South Wales coalfields. I think the biggest takeaway from this discussion is that when modelling coal traffic to the Southwest, it can be whatever you want it to be because pretty much every option seems to have occurred. I understood in the context of this thread the term imports to refer to the direction of the traffic through the harbour concerned. And the distinction between origin to be between domestic imports and foreign imports.

A diesel version of the 71 and 73? To pursue another counter factual - the 210 becomes of the DEMU of choice on the SR in the 1980s replacing the aging 3H/3D. No need for 166/165 on Gatwick-Reading, etc potential for a future development using the 319 body (pre-dating the 769?).

When I was thinking of long distance services I was thinking along the lines of the Weymouth services. The majority of the service provided by MU with the service supplemented by loco hauled trains (think Weymouth/Southampton boat trains). OK. Thinking counter factual history. SR retains control of its lines. SR designs a long/medium distance wide bodied 6L which can be used on Portsmouth-Bristol-Cardiff, and Brighton-Plymouth, the S&D and also forms the core of the WoE services, with Summer expresses supplemented by loco + coaches services (would there have been weight restrictions on what could work west of Exeter?) Expanded 3D/H order to cover local services on S&D, Reading-Gatwick, WoE branches and North Devon and Cornwall. Or taking your 33/TC idea further SR electrifies to Exeter (ie the Bournemouth of WoE lines). Expanded TC and REP order. REP + 2 x TC to Exeter. 4 TC + 33 to Plymouth, 4 TC + 33 to Ilfracombe. Salisbury, Yeovil services etc in the hands of CIGs etc 33/0 all become 33/1by default and 33 + TC becomes standard diesel hauled format on everything other than short hauled diesel services (Brighton-Plymouth, Reading-Gatwick, Portsmouth-Cardiff, Bristol-Weymouth. 3H for use on the branches on the WoE and N.Devon and Cornwall. I seem to recall reading that there was a service at one point that was very overpowered. Something like VEP (for Soton?) + 4TC + 33/1 (for Salisbury) or something like that which split at Basingstoke.

So here is a question, thinking about longer distance journeys and the modern use of 159s on the Exeter line. Could they have designed a DEMU precursor using the CIG/BIG/TC/REP body work for Waterloo - Exeter and beyond. Thinking about the 6L but rather than restricted width, Instead using the Mk1 body, buffet facilities for longer journeys. Ability to split at Salisbury. A 6E? Also, wasn't the 73 originally going to be a duel mode MLV? So presumably the equipment would have fitted in an MLV body MK1, so you might have lost a lot of the first carriage but you could still have had it have haulage capacity? Presumably the electric equipment would be able to go under the body as per the other SR electrics?

For sure but it seemed sensible to flag up all the identified wagons in case someone wants to model a coastal Somerset goods yard c1923 or c1936. What I find more interesting is that in a space of less than 9 miles (and 13 years) we have coal arriving by rail and coal arriving by coaster. The book also has a lot of stuff about the Somerset coalfield lines: Pensford, Kilmersdon etc. Worth noting that the amount of coal dispatched from Pensford, Radstock etc on the GWR branch halved from their 1913 levels by 1933. (The book also has a photo of an ex-ROD 2-8-0 on a train of empties at Clutton in 1953 - not somewhere I would have immediately associated with the class).

For what it is worth. Colin G. Maggs 'Branchlines of Somerset' (Bath: Alan Sutton, 1993) p.106 has a photo from 1936 of an SR wagon being loaded with coal from a coaster at Watchet Harbour (in shot are GWR, SR wagons and an LNWR wagon) and on p.111 a 1923 photo of Minehead Station and goods yard which includes LNWR, Midland wagons, a Cheshire Lines van and a Cannock and Rugeley colliery wagon.

Last two from the guidebook. Interestingly there is nothing on the Ffestiniog but there is a longish account of the railway in the guidebook. Apologies for the wonky scan. Clearly the quality of your fishing was an integral part of these advertising campaigns.

Not quite fascinating adverts for railway equipment but when clearing the flat of a friend of mine, I came across an 1892 Guidebook to North Wales. There was a section of railway adverts and as I don't want to spam up @ChrisN's thread about Barmouth I thought I'd post them here.

Just posted for interest, this is the review of Barmouth. Praising its sewage and water system and the bridge. I found the fact that there were steamer tours from Portmadoc (sic) and Aberystwyth interesting.

What about somewhere like Moreton-in-Marsh or Kingham? Not West of England but still interesting. https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/moreton_marsh.htm Even a through station like Charlbury had an interesting track plan - loading bay + long gas works siding.

Because I was doing this in a hurry yesterday I missed another page of Barmouth adverts. (And on the subject of Trunks and bags as well)

These popped up on flickr today

On the subject of adverts. I may have mentioned that I have acquired from a late friend a turn of the century scrapbook with postcards from North Wales. While clearing the flat I found an 1892 Guidebook to North Wales entitled 'The Gossiping Guide to North Wales' - think Victorian Rough Guide. There is a long section on Barmouth and some adverts from Barmouth. I've scanned the adverts and can scan the rest if people are interested. The scans aren't the greatest but the book is pretty fragile and I don't want to damage it.

I am not disputing any of that. But when you look at the various design innovations that Bulleid introduced in the WC/BB/MNs and the design of the Q1 (which looks like no other 0-6-0), the one thing that isn't innovative is the use of inside cylinders. IMO if there had been a way for Bulleid to move the cylinders outside (to ease maintenance etc etc) then he wouldn't have done. That he didn't reflects the challenges, not least of all route availability. Thinking about the comparison with outside cylinder locomotives in Europe, I'd assume that the loading gauge gives the designer more room to play with. Whether it is an optical illusion but the outside cylinder 0-6-0s in Europe always look very wide at the front where the cylinders are. I assume also ground level platforms etc, means there are less things to smack into.

The interesting one to me is the Bulleid Q1. Bulleid who is possibly the most innovative and experimental locomotive designer of their generation. Produces an inside cylinder 0-6-0 tender engine (the last 0-6-0 tender design in the UK?). Someone who was willing to design the Leader, chain valve gears, throw out tradition, accepted wisdom, standard practice and so on and so forth, turns up and 0-6-0 with an inside motion. I tend to think that if anyone would have been someone to take a punt on trying to build a workable outside cylinder 0-6-0 then it would have been Bulleid. He didn't which I think tells us something about the problems associated with it. Notable that Ivatt and Riddles basically give up on 0-6-0 and instead go for 2-6-0s which do have the space for outside cylinders and easier maintenance access.

The Epping and Ongar might be able to help.

What's the story behind the railcars? What services were they used for?

I wonder if @andrewshimmin can shine any light on the Clayton in Egypt and if there is anything about it in his book on Egyptian railways? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Locomotives-Egypt-Andrew-Shimmin/dp/1900340887

How about the Porta modified Hunslet that was tested on the Cotswold line from Kingham to Yarnton in 1963? Interesting that it was based in Swindon so I guess it must have moved quite a bit. Leeds to Swindon to Oxford. https://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/ldp/austerity/portaausterity.htm I assume other loco manufacturers must have tested their locos somewhere before sending them off?

I am happy to be corrected by weren't some of the Train Robbery gang known for mail robberies on the Brighton Line? So maybe there was form there. Not that I wish to cast aspersions on people from South London and Brighton.

Were the refreshments Slanina and Tuica? The narrow gauge line at Sibiu is worth checking out. Although it is a very nascent project. They have done well in the face of many set backs. The museum/depot there was also good. I was allowed in for free 'because it was friday' when I was there a few years back.

I visited Sighet a while back and did some agro tourism in Vadu Izei. It is a really nice part of the world. Did you go to the Prison Museum in the centre of town? Not the most cheerful of places but very moving. There were some good restaurants in town as well as I remember. The journey from train Sighet to Bucharest is an interesting if long one as you amble through Maramures and Transylvania, and you really do amble. Did you visit the line down in Sibiu?

Maybe it is an urban thing? or generational as well - most people I was dealing with were under 50. Living in a city it wasn't used, especially not in the way in which it was used everywhere in Vienna. For example in Vienna, go into your local Spar, you greet people with Grüß Gott, go to work you greet people with Grüß Gott. In Bavaria I'd use (Guten) Morgen. Maybe if I were out in the sticks I might have come across it more.

Having lived Vienna as my first German speaking city my spoken German is full of Viennese/Austrian German inflections. The upshot is that when I moved to Bavaria, greeting people with/going to shops etc and saying Grüß Gott got me some very strange looks. That said, we had Austrian regional TV on our TV which I watched to improve my German but frankly some of the regional accents were completely unintelligible. But it can also work the other way, at a pub I used to drink at there were two barmaids, one Slovak and one Polish, the Slovak would speak in Slovak and the Pole in Polish to one another and they understood each other fine. So it is possible for two people to speak two different languages and to be mutually intelligible and it is also possible for two people to speak the same language and for them to not be able to understand one another. This video always makes me laugh. There was actually a court case in Vienna a couple of years back. A guy had been stopped by the police and the policeman arrested him for saying 'Oida' and he got fined for insulting a policeman, the court case hinged on what was meant by the 'Oida'. (Her video on Austrian slang is also good. gemma geht scho machma)