Nevermakeit

Thanks very much for that comprehensive answer. It is very interesting to a novice like me to know how all these bits and pieces are put together. I look forward to seeing the finished result.

What is the significance of the panel being made of aluminium, please? Thank you.

How did you decide on the ballast colour, please? Is it based on a specific location? Thanks.

Still related to the signal box, does anyone know whether bricks have changed in size since the box was built (early 20th century)? I was thinking of counting the number of bricks to get an approximate size for the box, but if bricks today are longer (or shorter) and fatter (or thinner), it will distort the answer. Thanks.

How long would it be between the Lampeter signalman acknowledging the train from Llanybyther and it arriving at the station, please? Presumably he is responsible for it all that time?

Photo 7 of the Landrover against the fence looks so life-like. How did you make the barbed wire, please? (The other pictures are great too!)

So, presumably Llanybyther wouldn't see 5-5-5 to Lampeter because it wasn't open yet, and there was no facility for it to go to the next open box towards Aberystwyth? But when Lampeter opened it would send 5-5-5 to both Llanybyther and Derry Ormond (if I have remembered correctly)? Thanks.

On page 222 of the Section D of the South Wales Working Timetable 1949, it shows that the Lampeter signal box opened at 7am. The previous one at Llanybyther opened at 6.30am. When the Llanybyther box opened, would it send a bell code to notify the boxes either side of it, and if so, what would happen at Lampeter, as the box wouldn't have been open? Thanks.

What is the dark grey surface between the wood and the track, please? Thanks.

Are you making your own boards, or have you bought ready-made ones? Thanks.

Thanks for that - useful information. I have seen somewhere that they ran a special train for the opening of the new church sometime in the 1870s I think, but don't know about the college chapel.

Yes, ideally I would like to see a copy of whatever log books the railway used to record goods traffic, but I don't know if they would even still exist!

Thanks for this. The picture in your message looks rather red - aren't distant signals usually yellow? Or is this a special one? Thanks.

Is there a link to your model anywhere, please? I would be interested to see it. Thanks.

No need to apologise for going 'off topic' - any and all information relating to train operation in the area and period is on-topic for me! Thanks

Who made the milk tanker, and how did you make it look so realistically grubby, please?

So 'fixed at caution' means that the signals didn't have any levers connected, and didn't change, and the train could drive past them (presumably more slowly!) without having to wait for any further indication?

Would he also have to change the points separately, or would they be set by the same lever that set the signal? Thanks.

Thank you for this information. What would be the sequence of operation? I assume the points would be set first, then the signals? Or is it signals first if setting to 'stop' and points first if the signal is being set to 'go'? Would the platform signal be set before the Advance Starting Signal or the other way round? Thanks.

Thanks very much for that. Yes, it is the loss of the knowledge of how the day to day operations were carried out that is such a problem. I will certainly have a look at the PDF. Thanks.

It certainly looks very good - although not really my region!

Regarding the 'Down Advanced Starter', presumably the fireman would need to watch the signal at the end of the platform, whilst the driver would watch the Down Advanced Starter? Would this be unusual, or would it normally be the case that both would be watching out for signals? Would the platform signal and Down Advanced Starter operate in sync, or would they control separate sections of track? Would the Down Advanced Starter cover both the Down track re-joining the single line, and the exit from the sidings, and would those points operate in sync? Thank you.

Going back to this photograph, there are a surprisingly large (to me, at least) number of wagons in the goods yard. Presumably these would have taken some time to unload? Would there be any health and safety rules in place in 1949 regarding what would happen if another train arrived whilst unloading was going on? Would it have stopped whilst the new train was shunted, or would people just be told 'shunting is going on, hold on tight in case of bumps'?! Would non-railway staff unloading demurrage wagons only be allowed on-site at certain times? Thanks.

Who is the manufacturer, please?

Whilst idly trawling through RMWeb, I came across a picture from @Miss Prism which shows a passenger train on the way to Lampeter with milk tanks at the rear. On the website http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc/archives/03-2013/2 there is a photograph of a passenger train on the way to Lampeter with milk tanks at the front. Was there a policy on where in the train the milk tanks should go, or was it more or less at the whim of the driver (or dependent on other factors)? Similarly with goods trains - I believe that all the vehicles for Lampeter would be grouped together in the train, but by the time it got to Lampeter, would they be at the front, next to the locomotive, or at the rear, next to the guards van? (assuming it was from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth, for example) Thanks.