Peter Bedding

Hi kevb, Thanks for the preview of some future Oxford products, Can you tell us more? Forecast production dates have been notoriously unreliable, but presumably there are further releases planned and it would be nice to see what else in this vein may be in the pipeline. PB

Tim It occurs to me that you might like this to complement Bill's main station building. It is a standard Yeovil and Exeter design, and was built a number of years ago for a loft layout of Chard Junction, and situated in Beaminster. Regards PB

Bill, I am in awe of your latest masterpiece. Having studied the buildings of the Yeovil and Exeter Railway for my own inspiration, I would say that yours is spot on. You have captured just about all of Tite's signature for that period, including the colour of the brick and stonework. PB

Quite right, I had structured my pocket money for plural purchases, and when I read of the cancellation, and of the alleged reason (reason as in logic, or reason as in lame excuse?), my warmth for things Hornby took a dive. At the end of WW2, #283 was captured on film with 2-set 54 at Wadebridge. At the same time, 2-set 20 was filmed nearby. T9 283 was not the only Withered Arm regular, and I was looking forward to having a multiple choice working time table. PB

Brake Van specials were a very popular formation on the Wenford branch. With so many BWTs already distributed, all of the right ingredients are coming together nicely. PB

This is no time for wobbly hands, you have an L12 to finish and display. PB

Nice one, Nat.

I find it hard to have a firm favourite from one day to the next. For all that I share John's enthusiasm for the T9 (no layout can have too many), other Drummond and Adam 4-4-0s share the pedestal, as does the straight-framed "Saint". And Gresley had a good eye, too.

The numbers of garden birds do seem to be proportional to the birdseed that is placed out for them. Also, and as commented on by others, the once-rare-ish sparrowhawk is thriving, and I would say on a slight increase. Whilst driving along a Dorset country lane t'other afternoon, no camera available, a sparrowhawk appeared from my left, flew in close formation alongside the car for several seconds until I slowed down. It then peeled off across the front of the car and disappeared over the nearside hedge. It looked very sleek and well-fed. PB

Bachmann's Shillingstone buildings look rather nice, and I am still short of a r-t-p station building for my purposes. Another posting on the Forum mentioned East Budleigh, and a quick glance at my Middleton Press "Branch Lines to Exmouth" shows similarities between Dorset Central and the Budleigh Salterton Railway. Not exactly the same but a credible fiction. PB

In 1960/62 I worked in W3 (Brunel Road), and from my workplace upstairs window I daily looked across Old Oak Common to the WR Main Line. At that time, Old Oak Common Shed kept all its express passenger engines in outstanding clean condition, and the WR invented any reason to paint its coaches chocolate and cream. There was a constant stream of express trains looking as they should; istr a daily Blue Pullman as well. Apologies for drifting OT, but they were salad days. PB

To start my morning, Courtesy of the youtube collection. Jazz singer, and sometime wild child Anita O'Day singing "Sweet Georgia Brown" at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, recorded as "Jazz on a Summer's Day". Then I turned back a little to an earlier recording, 1941, Miss O'Day and Gene Krupa's band "Thanks for the Boogie Ride." PB

You tube, Today it has been: Sibelius Second Symphony, followed by Peter Paul and Mary. Tomorrow, wherever the whim shall take. PB

I well understand that more skilled modellers than I find that the 2012 r-t-r announcements leave their glass half empty, but I would like to register the viewpoint of their poorer cousins (well-washed but less skilled) whose glass is already more than half full. Right now, in the queue for my hard-earned shekels, I have (r-t-r in Bulleid Era 3 liveries), new M7, O2 and T9 locos. Upcoming coaches include Gate Stock (Maunsell and Bulleid) and a Third Open R4 (Maunsell). R-t-p for that Era includes half the 1940s London Fire Service (and some provincials), a young convoy of military vehicles in Mickey Mouse and RAF liveries, and Southern National OWB Utility Duple/Bedford single deck buses (perfect in quantity for any Withered Arm layout). And that's not all. Now, in the last few days, forum members with reliable and legitimate sources tell us that the r-t-p market is to be further enhanced with an Austin Tilly, and a mobile WD canteen lorry. (What's the betting on a NAAFI wagon?). And today, another Era 3 BWT (#3314). Also, Kernow have given broad hints (nudge and wink) that more ex-LSWR is being considered. Now, I have the square root of zero inside information, but I do know that the 1914 Gate Stock shared the standard 56ft non corridor underframe and Fox's lightweight bogies with any number of Eastleigh's finest diagrams. And it would take a minor, almost invisible modification to present these sub-assemblies with 56ft corridor stock. The Southern field is rich and fertile; my thanks to all for what I have already been given this year. PB

I spent last week on Purbeck (sadly no trains to Swanage). The house/self-catering apartment in which I stayed had a large garden with many mature shrubs. Plenty of birdlife, but most unexpected was that each shrub group had a large and noisy colony of house sparrows. Too many to count.

Happy to oblige! And not just the Ilfracombe station external, the external view of Bideford is completely new to me. What a marvellous set of photos that have been "sleeping" somewhere. Top marks for quality, subject, and colour reproduction. The date of 2010 may mislead some chaps, but on this forum we all know differently. PB

Thank you chaps for the advance warning. I don't think that there was any LSWR influence in the design of this prototype. However, operational circumstances took them in number to the Withered Arm, and so they became an Era 3/4 icon all over the Southern network, including the far-flung West. Perfect behind the N class mogul, just as good behind the Q1 and T9, at home in Padstow, and alongside a Gate-stock pair. The addition of this little gem is an essential step in the right direction for 4mm freight working, I shall be looking to place an order asap. PB

Certainly no problem, pedantic or otherwise, about siting a pillbox close to a previous building. Some (pillboxes that is) were incorporated into an existing house, others became disguised as a house. One rather magnificent non-standard pillbox in Yeovil, immediately in front of a house, has been demolished in the last 2/3 years to permit landscaping the front garden in suburban style. PB

Sorry no photos, but West Dorset kitchen window observation report: Each year seems to be slightly different. Until last winter, greenfinches monopolised the garden feeding station, with other finches and tits in a minority. Last winter, the greenfinches all but vanished, and their place was taken by goldfinches and chaffinches. This year the greenfinches have started a comeback, but the goldfinches remain; up to a dozen goldfinches on the feeding station at any one time, and as many more in the local circuit. This morning's score included the usual goldfinches, some greenfinches and four bluetits. They all vanished of a sudden, and our occasional sparrowhawk took their place for a couple of minutes, very close to the window. For feed we offer sunflower kernels, niger seed (is that the right spelling of niger?), and this year we have added some commercial fatballs. This last have not been popular, and the birds ignore peanuts. The seed, however, is hoovered down in significant quantities. Our local birdfood shop seems unaffected by the wider economy. PB

Is this any help? http://www.little-bu...s-kits/k37.html PB

Me big bruvver an' me regularly collected bomb shrapnel from our South London suburban back garden; we knew what it did to buildings. By 1945 we would also have had a fair understanding of what happened to any family in a house hit by a doodlebug or V2 even. But it is horrifying to think that some frogs may also have suffered.

Hello Ken I have also tuned in to Oxford's future programmes, and the OWB in particular. I haven't got an immediate application for the RN version, though I shall have to have one to inspect at close quarters. My great hope is that Oxford will soon produce a variant in Tilling Green, and with both Western National and Southern National lettering. I believe that in the immediate postwar period Southern National used OWBs to Padstow, and there are the odd photos of one parked in the forecourt. PB

As indicated above, my current work-in-progress is titled "SouthWest by Southern". This is a title that I created several years ago, firstly for a roundy that unfortunately outgrew my resources, and had to be sold to become a Great Western layout! I retained my working title for the next project, the end-to-end depicted above, and with its own thread in the Layout section of the Forum. I am convinced that I am the originator of this title, and until recently the sole user. I now see that another Forum user has lifted my title, including the use of upper and lower case fonts, to use as an external link to a blogspot, which itself has "borrowed" my choice of layout name. This to me raises an interesting question, when is plagiarism acceptable, and when is it not so? I freely admit to attempting to reproduce inspirational themes in another's earlier layout. The list would be endless, but the airfield on "Wartime" has a touch of genius in its simplicity, and the execution of "Rowlands Castle" just leaves me awestruck. If I could incorporate any part of these layouts in my own work I would do so, and give full credit. So why is it that I feel a tad miffed when my unique layout title gets lifted? The work shown under the borrowed title is excellent; I would be flattered if the world should think it mine. But it ain't, and perhaps there is the issue. I have corresponded with the "borrower" in the belief that the issue will disappear. In the meantime I ask Forum readers to note the duplication of titles. Mine will be the poorer work. PB

Hello Tim, It's a free world, and you are entitled to your views on architectural history. However, I prefer the accepted view regarding the the use of Tite's designs for the intermediate stations on the Exeter Extension. When I compiled my earlier thread (#23 above), I wanted to make a generalisation in the briefest manner. However, the subject clearly deserves better. Of these intermediate stations, each had its own history, but Chard Junction was particularly different. Firstly though, the goods shed was unmistakeably in Tite's "Gothic Revival" style used along the line. The design generally used brick, but at Crewkerne stone was used as an alternative. Yeovil Town Station had a larger version, that was further enlarged with time, and Exeter Queen Street had a monster version, with room for more than one internal track. The defining features are the Gothic arch used for the main doorway at each end, the buttresses, the hamstone quoins to apertures and corners, and the capping stones to each gable. And yes, these features also reflect local non-railway practice. The stationmaster's house was detached, and sited to the north of the goods yard. The building on the up platform only housed the business needs for passengers and parcels. The first building, constructed with the opening of the line, appears to have been camera-shy, but the one photo known to exist reveals a single storey wooden building similar to though larger than Sutton Bingham. This first building was replaced after 1913 with a brick building that survived until the end of steam. Investigation of plans shows that the second building had the same footprint as the first, and the photo shows that both buildings were much similar with ridges and gabled ends. The use of decorative stonework matches the other Gothic Revival styled buildings on this line. Sutton Bingham was home to the other wooden station building. There are many photos of this, showing road and platform elevations, and whatever may be said about the construction, it certainly was not just two wooden huts. Roof detail, gable ends, and the Gothic arches to the passenger doorways all reveal attention to detail and the corporate image. Comparison of these elevations with, say, Broad Clyst, confirm the existence of a single design office for almost all of the original Extension stations. Hope this is of interest PB

Hello Tim I am watching with much interest. Your track plan is spot on for much of the ex-LSW network, but a little re-writing of history may be appropriate for other features of the station site. Originally, the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway, Exeter extension, had a very definite house style for the station buildings, and goods sheds. Much was in place by 1860, and remained until Beeching. Some of the station houses seem to have been modified, either with enlargements, or simplifying the gable ends, but the house style remained. I have chosen to side-step the problem by inventing a fictitious cross-country route and terminus, but still hoping to keep the Yeovil to Exeter architectural style. Scratch-construction of these buildings will be my limiting factor. PB