Peter Bedding

A few more for the motorist: No MOT A working secondhand car for £5. (Less sometimes). Re-cut tyres for 7s/6d from a dealer in Exchange and Mart. Farmers' cars that left a cloud of smoke, smelling vaguely of paraffin. Also: The freedom to roam across open country.

That's an attractive design brief, Chris. Is there a new project title to enable us to follow progress? PB

Thanks Muz and Andy. Very logical and user friendly. PB

Hello Muz I have long admired your Bulleid conversions (i.e. back to original build standard). I just hope that 'ere long the Men of Margate will similarly alter their tooling. PB

Good evening Adam. Thanks for the Middleton Press clue. I have just checked their "Branch Lines around Plymouth" volume. Photo number 41 is a mid/late 1930s pic showing 225 in Maunsell passenger livery and Westinghouse fitted. (other photos in this book are of our friend 182, which by the way runs as well as ever). However, as part of the same forage I extracted "Plymouth Steam 1954-1963" from the shelf. On Page 26 there is a 1957 photo of 30225 very clearly without Westinghouse pp fittings. So I think that your conjecture stands scrutiny. For me though, the debate now is to choose between Bulleid black, (1941 onwards) or Bulleid lettering on Maunsell unlined green (limited application between 1939 and 1941). (This is the livery of choice for the L11 currently in the Yeovil erecting shop, and also dare I say it for Set 410, due September.) I applaud Kernow's courage and vision in taking on this particular prototype, and I wish them every success. I fully expect my order to adjust upwards. Meanwhile, patience. PB

Kernow show 2 photographs of one particular O2. The first, as Number 225, is in Bulleid livery, and a close look will reveal that it is motor-fitted (Southern-speak for pull-push operation). The second, as Number 30225 in BR livery, appears to have had this extra Westinghouse equipment removed. Bradley confirms that, as 225, this loco was motor-fitted in 1932. So were the pump and cylinders removed at some time? Just as interesting, Bradley says of this loco that it was painted in unlined Maunsell green, with Bulleid lettering, in December 1939. Would there have been time, before nationalistion, to further repaint a loco in Bulleid black? I guess the answer must be yes, but I have no idea if it were so repainted. Our friends at Kernow have indicated that they are planning to produce the model in Bulleid Black, though I have not seen any statement regarding the motor fittings. However it comes, I am sure that good use can be made of one or more. PB

Hello Tim, I am not sure why you should not change a legend before a layout is finished, I do it regularly. My "Southwest by Southern" started as a roundy, a smaller location has changed it to an end-to-end "U". A legend to include a Minories track plan failed the area requirement test, so yet another BLT is in gestation. Seeing your plan for Beaminster Jn reminded me of an earlier unfulfilled legend based on the planned extension to Castleman's Corkscrew. So with that all in mind, I bought a copy of Nigel Bray's "The Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway" from the bookstall at yesterday's SWC meeting. (Guess the subject of the talk, and the speaker). I am now working on the new legend for my Cross-Country Mid Wessex Terminus. I have to justify some "Arthurs", T9s, N Class', a Q1, M7s, a T1, and an O2 pull-push. Before long I hope to be justifying a BWT, more O2s, and an L11. At the moment, I have had to retreat from the railway room whilst some glue dries, and the vapour disperses, so perhaps I can forecast this afternoon's mental activity. If I had the space, I would now look again at Fullerton Junction. Almost unlimited possibilities. And wooden shacks! PB

Hello Ray, Yours is one particularly and deceptively un-simple question. It gives us enthusiasts on this topic much scope to disclose our laboriously acquired knowledge. As to buying books "blind", I agree it is niggling to buy one that turns out a dud, but I fear it is an occupational hazard. I do believe though, that the answers to your questions have all been covered in print and on line, and researching in depth may well give you hours of innocent pleasure for years to come. Attempting something like a useful answer, though, Hornby's Maunsell (pronounced Mansell) Restriction 4 coaches are rightly considered to be classics for accuracy and detail. Also, the lined olive green livery is spot on for newly painted stock from 1926 (when the low window variant was first made), until 1938, when a brighter unlined colour was introduced for service vehicles. At first, priority was given to corridor stock; non-corridor stock started to receive the brighter colour from 1941. In addition, there were (as said above) interim versions of Maunsell livery without lining, and interim versions of Bulleid livery with Maunsell-style numbers on coaches (i.e. round-topped "3"s.) Many subtle variations in hue were created, and were added to by the crimson and cream era. Efforts would have been made to keep uniformity within a set, but the make-up of a train would vary. The Ocean Liner trains received preference, otherwise the West-of-England came lower down the list. Perhaps unfair to use the term "kaleidoscope", but until the new BR(S) green was introduced in 1956 it would have been quite usual to see a variety of liveries on any journey. Precision Paints (no connection) produce pre and post war representations of "Malachite" green. They are good enough for many of us. Hornby have in the past (on their "generic" models) produced a perfectly convincing representation of malachite. I have no idea why Hornby rejected this for their current R4 coaches in supposedly post-war livery. No point in frothing, but very sadly they are not for me. Bachmann have produced several of the post-nationalisation diagrams, but production standards have moved on, and for many modellers the limitations are too great. But the field for Bulleid pre-nationalisation coaches, in today's standards and in an acceptable green is wide open, and in this race I think the winner will take all. Hth PB

Ian, may I suggest that you offer a prayer in the direction of Northstar? Adrian's latest revision to his website will be of interest. My current wish list is for Set 410 (unlined Maunsell green) and Set 20 (proper Malachite). I hope to see them stretch their legs through Beaminster Jn in the fullness of time; my KA number 736 and Northstar Set 422 have both had a proving run. It's skill levels like mine that do wonders for the r-t-r/r-t-p market. PB

(As an aside, I seem unable to exercise control over my edit facility; I edited my earlier post only in an attempt to correct my grammar. The edit record is as strange to me as to others.) However, whist here, I am delighted to add that this project looks as good in the flesh as is indicated by the text and photos. It has all the right ingredients. John Charman certainly started something, over five decades ago. PB

I have a similar collection of ready-to-plonk buildings, and I shall be delighted to copy your painting ideas. My ideal choice of station building would be closer to one of the designs of Sir William Tite (Topsham is my favourite, but others also light my fire). If Skaledale continue to miss this opportunity then scratchbuild will be unavoidable. Like others, I am following your progress with great interest. PB

Truly awe-inspiring. Where next, one wonders. Meldon viaduct? Too easy. PB

Ditto; very useful PB

You will be able to access this, and much else, through the members of the South Western Circle. Good hunting. PB

Chris, The following SEmGpage shows Q1 (3029) at Exmouth Jn in 1945. Odd that it should be this number, not C29 http://www.semgonline.com/shed_allocations/shed-alloc.html Still poses more questions than answers PB

and fans of Inspector Morse will know how it's pronounced....

At Wadebridge, BWT 30586 was for long the favourite station pilot; a major part of its daily roster was to detach (and subsequently re-attach) a fitted van from the rear of a North Cornwall mixed train (T9 plus Maunsell 2 set) at the down platform, then shunt backward and forwards to deliver it into the Goods Shed. Vehicles in view on the adjacent station forecourt might have been crimson/cream BR lorries (Pocketbond), Tilling green Bristol/ECW buses (OOC), and assorted private cars (Oxford). Have I left anything out? PB

Oh dear. You have raised the bar more than somewhat. Why is it that experts always make it look so easy? PB

I like it. In fact, I like it very much. It just looks right. PB

A year or so in the past, there was a magazine article on constructing a straight-framed Saint, "Lady of Quality". If Messrs Bachmann or Hornby were to produce one to today's state-of-art, with some matching Edwardian-era coaches, I would succumb to temptation yet again. PB

Hello Pete The following link should be useful in your quest for prototype info: http://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/milk.htm This subject has been aired on the forum several times in the last two/three years, so a search should also be of value. The following points have emerged over time. Milk tanks were rated as non-passenger coaching stock, and could be attached to the rear of passenger trains. On the Southern they started their journey from their creamery to London in twos and threes to a marshalling point (such as Templecombe), where they would be made up into a dedicated train. When empty, they could be attched to a semi-fast, from, say Templecombe to Seaton Jn, i.e A West Country hauling a Bulleid three set and then two/three tanks. As the tanks were brake fitted, there would not be any need for extra guards or brake vehicles. The vehicle underframes were built and owned by the Railway Company (i.e SR, GWR, BR etc), but the actual containers remained the property of the Milk Company. The vehicles (particularly in WW2) followed the demand and supply; which is to say that it would not be uncommon to find GWR-plated underframes operating in and out of a SR-based creamery (and vice versa). At one time the Yeovil Town pilot engine (a K10) started its morning duty with a trip out to Chard Jn and Seaton Jn, collect the full tanks and take them as far as Templecombe, to join loads coming from the S&D. From then the train engine would have been any A class loco, ideally an S15 or WC. Hornby's Van C would be ideal for this. During WW2, Exmouth Jn was allocated a Q1, which could easily have brought full tanks in from Yeoford and Crediton, to connect with loads originating on the GWR. A milk tank would contain 3000 gallons, an awful lot of 17gallon churns on a daily basis. So it would have been a very large creamery to export six tanks every day. Churn traffic operated alongside the tank traffic. Hth PB