jonny777

It is great to see how model photos appear much more lifelike with natural outdoor lighting.

I have my own thoughts on Summer feeding. I find that if the weather is good, (i.e sunny and dry) the food is not consumed very quickly, but as soon as wet weather arrives, even for a short spell, the small birds reappear at the feeders. I presume that food is difficult for them to find in the rain as insects become less abundant. The other reason is that during late spring and early summer, parent birds bring their juveniles to the feeders in order to either make it easy to feed them and save energy with shorter flying trips, or to show them where a regular source of food can be found , and thus improve their chances of survival. Therefore I keep feeding the birds through the summer, but in lower quantities as it is not eaten as quickly. I do understand that some garden birds may become more dependent on human sources of easy meals, but with a 75-80% decline in farmland birds over the last 40 years, I believe that if we can keep healthy populations of breeding birds in gardens, their populations will rise and the excess numbers will slowly re-colonise hedgerows in more arable areas.

Excellent. More photos please. I love that one of the Warship on vans.

Yes the jetty at Folkestone was rather longer than a 12 car CEP/BEP formation and the juice must have stopped in the station, so the MLV could be unhitched and move under its own power nearer to the ferries. At least that is what I always presumed happened, but kick myself now - that I was never to bothered to actually go and photograph the procedure. They were normally at the London end, rather convenient at both ends really, given the reversal at Folkestone Junction. I don't know what would have happened if one had been marshalled at the other end. Maybe it would have been quickly uncoupled at Central and allowed to make its own way down the hill before the passenger service? If you are interested in this section of line during steam days, there are some great sequences on the Online video production Vintage Southern. This is probably long out of stock in most shops, but there is (at present) a copy posted on Youtube. The same footage was included in a more modern production called Steam Around Folkestone, and that has more modern scenes added with footage of preserved steam visits. This latter one may still be available.

Ah yes, stuffed chine. I haven't had that for a few decades since leaving the county. I even find it difficult to buy haslet in Somerset (and if I do find it, they call it haz-let; and not hacelet as it was pronounced where I was born in South Lincs). But I digress. I'm glad you managed to get a copy of the Ludlum book, although I missed out on the Mablethorpe one and have been trying to find a copy everywhere. I fear that a 500 mile round trip may be necessary to even stand a chance of getting one now, and it only came out in June.

I get a feeling that you do not really want just a stabling point model, possibly because there is not enough satisfaction moving locos on and off shed. That kind of layout may be ideal for some, but as I half went along that route some years ago, I can say that it was not for me as I needed more variety in operation. However, if you have a number of SR steam locos already, but want to accommodate 2-Bils/Hals then the choice of location must be very limited. I am getting out of my depth here, but might something on the old East London line south of the river be appropriate? The place I was thinking of was Old Kent Road Junction, although I am not sure how much of the spur to the ELR survived into the BR era, but you could "imagine" that it had done; and that occasional goods trains ran from the GE lines, mingling with the passenger trains to/from London Bridge / Victoria.

You did very well there, because that book is not officially published until tomorrow I believe. (At least that is what it said when I pre-ordered it from Waterstones). The first volume featured the Mablethorpe branch.

Mmmmm..... mushy peas Would they go with the chicken curry I am cooking? I don't want to ruin your excellent modelling work by nitpicking, but do you think your windows are both a little high and not quite deep enough on the body sides? The current ones look a little Met-Camm in size. This picture shows them to almost align with the cab front windows at the bottom, and slightly below cab window level at the top. Or am I just being cruel?

Sans Pareil at the 1980 Rainhill Trials Anniversary cavalcade.

Wow, snow at Dungeness - that is not something which occurs very often.

I wish to cheat (under the OP rules), in that while this slide is in my collection I did not take the photo, but I think it is a nice portrait anyway. If someone now tells me that this is actually a Colour-Rail slide, then I will conclude that virtually all steam images sold on Ebay are duplicates made of commercial slides.

Not just at Nottingham; it was a common occurrence at Temple Meads in BR days. The local from Weston would draw up to the HST waiting to depart for Paddington, and for through passengers it was just a short walk along the platform:- Now, in the private era, the local (usually from Taunton these days) will arrive on a random low numbered platform such as 5, and the Paddington service invariably leaves from platform 15. I think it is called progress. EDITED: to compensate for my dyslexic keyboard.

I always consider a brewery to be a good rail-served industry to have on a layout, because there are various raw materials to be shipped in and plenty of covered wagons needed for the beer that is sent out. You can make up your own trip workings for local deliveries and have plenty of shunting going on if there is room in the brewery sidings modelled. Plus a relevant backscene can suggest a larger area of buildings behind the 'live' part. I presume the brewery 'waste' was utilised in some way - farming? But I have no idea how that was transported - open wagons?

My railway photography has dwindled to a few shots on preserved lines, and this one at Minehead appears to be the last one that I took.

I also think that a PW train counts as a freight. 50015 heads north away from Temple Meads and is about to pass 47188 - 30th October 1989.

I think this counts as a 50 on a freight train. 50020 has arrived at Bath Road yard box with a consignment of fuel oil for the depot. 20th March 1989

Thanks royaloak. I am really beginning to lose the brain cells I think.

OK, although they were not that common, at least in my collection. At first glance I thought this was at Dawlish, but the slide mount says Coryton - 29th June 1981 This is near Westerleigh on 13th Dec 1988

I may have posted this before. If so I apologise. I believe it is 50002, but could someone tell me the location?

Your Mum sounds to be in a similar position to my Dad. He will be 91 on Thursday and still has a subscription to Heritage Railway and Steam Railway magazines. When he has finished with them he parcels them up and posts them to me, so I read all the preservation news about 6 weeks late. I am amazed how active many people in their 90s still are, although he did volunteer to give up driving a few years back after a minor accident at a roundabout.

I love the Art Deco dress in the third photo of that series. It is almost Clarice Cliff.

We were even more posh in our corner of 1960s Lincolnshire. Although some local spotters called them bog-units, we just called them dmus.

That looks really good Jason. I look forward to seeing the styrene versions.

You got a booklet with yours? I never noticed one of those in my box.

Hi Jason. As someone who became thoroughly fed up with 114s passing behind the family home for many years in the 1960s and early 70s, I love the efforts you are going to in order to build a 4mm version. However, on looking at the printed side on that Lima chassis there seemed to be something wrong to me (just by eye, you understand, I haven't seen the real thing for about 30 years) - but it took me a while to figure out what it was. Finally, I decided it was the window spacing, and looking at a photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_114#mediaviewer/File:56006_at_Kidderminster.JPG it is the small window adjacent to the first passenger door on the bodyside. The spacing between it and the following four saloon windows is much narrower than all the other window spacings; which gives the unit its rather individual look. Here is another photo of one at Grantham which shows up the narrowness of the gap between the two windows very well. https://www.flickr.com/photos/32978671@N08/3268442565/