magmouse

That's an interesting thought - we need one of Stephen's graphs of build rate over time, to see if there is a spike in build/replacement for a relatively short time, with a more typical steady state rate either side.

Any thoughts as to why that might be the case? The rot-accelerating properties of bovine ordure? Is this specific to the Midland, or did other railway companies also replace cattle wagons more often than other types? Not expecting you to necessarily have all the answers to these questions, but your observation has piqued my curiosity. Nick.

IANA(H)E, but I think 'bowler' would be a fair description - they seem to vary somewhat in shape (height, radius of the domed crown, brim...): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat Certainly commonly worn by working class people in the later part of the 19th century, according to the wikipedia article. Nick.

I agree, but then we have a mystery: 11" tall, non-standard slates.

That's disappointing - like Stephen, I have a Cambrian 2-plank wagon waiting in the wings for a load of slate. Not sure what else would bring a Cambrian wagon to the Dorset coast in the pre-common user period... Nick.

I think we are looking at 10” wagon sides, with 12” slates. At the far end of the wagon, there is a row of 10” slates, and we just see the cap strip of the wagon end.

Singles are 10”, doubles 12”, and upwards from there, in the traditional sizing of Welsh slates - see http://www.penmorfa.com/Slate/sizes.htm Nick.

In other situations, two or more people can load... Embedded image from https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gallery/look-nostalgic-pictures-show-north-7946482 ... though hopefully passing more than one slate at a time. (I like the guys on the right who look like they are at a record fair) Nick.

Possibly - what I have seen in photos of narrow gauge slate trucks is slates used as wedges. See for example: R0608d (RD10054). Padarn Railway. August, 1961. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr Nick.

Of course, but as you note, there are very few photos that show slate loaded in standard gauge wagons. I am happy to be proved wrong, but I am not aware of any evidence of slates being loaded with their faces towards the ends of the wagon (unless part of a packing arrangement with a small proportion of the slates facing that way to ensure a tight pack overall - you see this sometimes in pictures of narrow gauge slate wagons). Nick.

Yes - see my comment when we discussed this previously on 15 November, up-thread: ”the slates are less prone to breakage if stacked facing sideways. The main shocks the slates will receive in transit will be along the length of the wagon (acceleration and braking forces). The slates are better able to withstand these shocks if they are applied to the edge of the slate, rather than the face.” Nick.

I'll try to be more reasonable in future... The buffers and couplings were, from memory, treated with chemical blackening, followed by weathering powders - the later possibly mixed with a bit of paint or dilute PVA to get them to stick. Nick.

Mike - when I was doing my LSWR 3-plank (below), I found a suggestion that Tamiya "flat brown XF-10" is a good colour for LSWR brown, and that's what I used. I am thinking that may be easier for you to find than specific railway colours, as Tamiya will be stocked by more generalist model shops. Nick.

Foreman to fitter: "For goodness sake, man, hurry up! Her Majesty is due any minute, and we can't have her shunted into the end loading dock!"

Sorry to disappoint - I completely agree with you. Some of the best* modelling is not the most highly accurate or detailed - think of the work of those early pioneers, George Iliffe Stokes and John Ahern. Their models were filled with atmosphere and a sense of place, even when they didn't represent a real place. Equally, we have probably all seen models that are highly accurate but somehow lack that crucial something. For me, I am aiming for character in my models - what are the specific qualities of, say, a wagon that make it distinctively itself? Sometimes that needs careful attention to accuracy and detail, but sometimes those are not so important, I find. Nick. * 'best' being highly subjective of course - for me, it is a model that invokes another time and place.

Hi Graham, No, I didn't, though there should be something. I am imagining these are carrying wine, come by sea to Netherport from France via Cherbourg.* They might then have end bungs, which you probably wouldn't be able to see if they were on the ends that are facing each other. A lame excuse, I know... Nick. * if I am feeling especially fanciful, the explanation is that in Nether-world, the branch line down to Netherport departs the mainline at Wanton Abbas - the town being named for the local abbey. There is another abbey of the same order in France, which - by reason of an ancient debt - sends wine to the English abbey every year.

Or if we knew both the time of day and the date, we could determine the orientation of the wagon, and so the track, and thus eliminate many possible locations! Nick.

I am reasonably sure this is a trick of the light - the particular angle of this framing member, relative to the direction of the sunlight, is such that it casts no shadow, unlike other parts of the frame. Nick.

Consider me duly pleased. The photo also supports my sense that the red wagon livery was an all-over red, including solebars and ironwork. The issue with the left-hand GWR lettering is curious, if the given date is anything like correct. The lettering looks quite bright, and not the best part of 15 years old - the roof is also quite pale, suggesting relatively new paintwork. The tare weight below the running number is given with just the numbers, without the text 'Tare'. Another oddity is the load capacity and tare weight are below the GWR and running number - with the later 'GWR on the right' style, they go above, but looking through a few pictures of the earlier style shows some variations in the placement of the 4 pieces of information: running number, tare, capacity and company initials. I agree regarding the solebars being flitched. Nick.

Possibly, just possibly, articulated?

These photos, with an overview of the station platforms and track, and some rolling stock in place, really show the scale of what you are doing. Very impressive! Nick.

Yes, the photo shows bulb section solebars. Because these don’t have a flat bottom surfaces for the bearing spring shoes to rest against, there were wooden blocks sandwiched between the back of the solebar and the w-iron. The blocks projected down below the bottom of the solebar, which you can see in the close-up excerpt of the photo posted by Mikkel. As noted, wooden bump stops for the bearing springs were used with this form of construction, similar to those used on earlier wooden underframed wagons. The inverted top hat bump stops seem to have come in with channel section solebars. Regarding the sheet tie-off points commented on by Stephen, the sequence of development is as follows, as far as I can tell: wooden framed wagons - rings bulb section wagons - combined cleats-and-hooks where they could be fitted (ends, and on the side sheeting) but rings below the doors. Presumably the small overhang of the bulb section solebar didn’t allow enough space for them to go under the side of the body. channel section wagons - cleat-and-hooks throughout, either facing outwards (on the ends) or downwards (under the side body overhang). Nick.

Yay!

Just remembered there is a website for the books, with some of the pictures, for those that may be interested: https://fuel-design.com/publishing/soviet-metro-stations/ Nick.

I have a wonderful book of photographs of Soviet metro stations - companion to two volumes of Soviet bus stops. The later, especially, may sound a little, er, niche, but they really are amazingly diverse and quite fascinating. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/herwig-christopher-fuel/ Nick.