John_Miles

The pictures on the Bachmann website are of actual engines rather than the models. The one in Midland livery shows a loco with a Johnson chimney, small Johnson numbers, continuous handrail and a flat Deeley smokebox door with dogs. Is this how the model will appear. This would date the engine to a very narrow band of years from around 1903 to 1907. However, I would certainly splash out on one of these, even though I already have two 2228 class engines which are more correct for my South Wales early 20thC layout.

I have the space bar problem from time to time. The photo looks like it is taken on the west side of Derby loco works.

I agree with Graham (previous post), I was booked as one of his operators. Nothing has moved on our road all day due to snow drifts. Things are moving on the main road which is about half a mile away but if I could have got the car that far, there is no way it would have managed the trip over to Graham's - too many hills. Preston got it right.

As someone who has been a co-author of a Ligtmoor book, I have had a good insight of their business model and if you think they are making lots of money you couldn't be more wrong. It's more like how do they manage to keep going on such thin margins. I did an article for the Welsh Railways Research Circle which gives the costs and income for a book, so my views are in the public domain. If you compare Lightmoor with Middleton Press: a typical Middleton book has around 60 pages, 120 photos plus a few 6 inch to the mile maps. It costs just short of £20. A Lightmoor book will have around 250 page, 500 photos, good quality plans / maps and costs £30. As a cost per page or per photo they are an absolute bargin.

A real shame. I hope the financial implications for the organisers are not too severe.. We ( the Ynysybwl crowd) were really looking forward to what is always a first class exhibition.

There is a good source of limestone at Penwyllt (aka Craigynos) at the top end of the Swansea Valley. Given that goods were charged by the mile why move limestone from Llynclys / Pantmawr to the Swansea Valley. And IIRC there is dolomitic limestone at Nantgarw just to the north of Cardiff. So again closer than Mid-Wales.

Lilleshall wagons were to be found in the Swansea Valley, apparently having been used to transport lime, which is interesting because there were lime quarries just to the north of Ynysygeinon. There is an excellent photo in the Swansea Vale Railway by Miles et al (yes this is a commercial). South Wales Anthracite wagons could be expected to be found anywhere in England and Wales. I have examples as far away as East Anglia and Leicestershire. The only other place in the UK that had anthracite was Scotland.

If you are referring to the "father of railways" it's Stephenson. Sorry for being pedantic.

There is now a large crane and a cruncher and between them they are demolishing the southern span (the one with no track beneath it). There is a possession on the relief lines and the electrical type people are using it to install piles for the overhead wires supports.

Politicians like to sound good by promising to do things well into the future. For example there was a promise to get rid of plastics by 2040 or similar. Nothing will happen. This is posturing so they can say they are doing something.

The slow pace of work on Splott Road bridge continues and now it is to b eclosed for a few weeks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-42908326

It's Ynysybwl with no "e" on the end. . ​​As English people like to say, there are no vowels - which is obviously wrong if you think about it

The track was built by a former Notwork Rail track engineer - that's why it looks right.

The sleepers on Ynysybwl are ply and were stained with a Colron product - I think it was mahogany. The chairs I can't comment on because I am colour blind (there are two of us in the Ynysybwl team) but I would guess it was Humbrol 186. I thought the show was excellent and I was pleasantly surprised to find that parts of Stevenage had escaped the New Town curse. Much better than Bracknell - the home of ExpoEM.

The LMS was an amalgamation of several large companies. The two largest, the LNWR and the Midland were both of comparable size to the GWR, although the supporters of the latter had the biggest opinion of their company. The L&Y was not far behind in size. From the LNER, the only company of comparable size was the NER. So it's not surprising that the LMS was the largest.

AboutservicesfromStThomas.TheoriginalquestionwasaboutthroughcarriagessoIansweredthat.ThefollowingcommentsaboutaservicebetweenHerefordandSwanseaarecorrect.IIrctherewere3throughtrainsperday.Thesetendedtoconnect ateitherYnisygeinonjunctionorPontardawewiththecorrespondingservicefromBrynammaninthedowndirectionandsplitintheupdirection.PhotographicevidenceshowsthattherewasnodoubleheadingsoGurnosshedmusthaveprovidedan engine. Another interesting fact is that Gerry Reynolds has done a study of the 0-4-4Ts and come to the conclusion that there were not enough to haul all the passenger trains so other engines must have been used. Photographic evidence shows that 1Fs were used but given the Midland's fondness for using 0-6-0s on passenger trains, I suspect these were also used from time to time. I suspect the service was marginal at best. The population served north of the Swansea Valley is very small. Hay is classed as a town but has a population of around 1500, Brecon has a population of around 3000. What was a major source of traffic was cattle and sheep. The Midland moved vastly more of these into Hereford than the other railways. Again, apologies for the space bar problem. The Midland north of Brum did just about serve Cannock Chase. The was a branch north from the Water Orton Wolverhampton line to Brownhills.

IamhavingproblemswithtryingtopostonRMWebasitrefusestorecognisemyspacebar.Thisdoesn'toccurwithanyothersoftwaresowhatiswrongIdon'tknow.ThemainthroughworkingsfromStThomasweretoBirmingham. Thesewerethroughcarriagesrather than trains and (Space bar now recognised!!!) as the agreement with the GWR was that the Midland was only allowed to work its own goods trains between Worcester and Hereford. Any passenger stock had to be attached to a GWR train. No doubt the GWR ensured that the train was exceptionally slow. The Midland's running powers came from its initial investment in the West Midlands Railway which the Midland and LNWR (they were on speaking terms at the time) tried to control with the idea of taking it over but Parliament put a stop to this and the GWR stepped in. You would though think that the Midland would have sufficient clout to insist on running its own passenger trains so possibly they made the decision that the traffic on offer wasn't worth it.

The only problem I experience is that being male I cannot multi-task so when I talk to the public, the operating tends to suffer. However, exhibitions are essentially social affairs and meeting and talking to people is a big part of what we are there for. We have all benefitted from asking others how to do things.

I used to live near the GCR mainline between Staveley and Arkwright Town when I were a lad. My school also overlooked the line so I spent many hours in the classroom and elsewhere observing 04s and others (mostly WDs). It was uphill towards Arkwright Town and all the coal trains plodded along, no matter what the engine. Downhill they were relatively fast and the clanking noise from the WDs was very loud whereas the 04s were much more quite. I liked them, they were / are handsome engines. There were also infrequent locals hauled by Directors and A5s. As they were locals the speed was nothing special.

I have just spoken to Tudor Watkins and he says the Hereford Aberystwyth service existed in 1893 and was still operating in around 1910. There is also a rumour that for one year (which I think was 1908) there was a Swansea to Aberystwyth service via Three Cocks and Moat Lane.

The accepted wisdom here in South Wales is that the Aberystwyth through carriages were Midland. I have however never seen any documentary evidence to back this up. The service only lasted for a year because it was faster ( and I suppose cheaper) to travel using the GWR route via Carmarthen.

And then the Midland had Henry Fowler. A gas engineer trained by the L&Y who boasted he knew nothing about locomotive design and it showed. What a shame after the marvels of S.W.J. to have the stagnation that Fowler brought. That said, Midland engines were, with the exception of the Super Ds better than anything the LNWR had. This was demonstrated by the LMS and particularly Stamp's statistics.

A mark two Cortina - that takes me back. I bought one as my first car in 1973 and then spent the next two years trying to stop it going rusty. I lost.

Do you have it on your back on trains? Being a tall person, if I have to sit next to the isle, I tend to get bashed by people with rucksacks who decide to do a 180 degree turn. Much better to carry it in front of you in confined spaces.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/128589-mystery-wagon-owner/ Well-worth-a look.