mardle

I am pretty sure that the only thing "retooled" about the Thompson BG is the chassis. The body looks the same one that has been around for years. If I am right, the price seems somewhat excessive!!

Does anyone know when the revised position of the roof lights on the maroon vehicles was introduced ? Was the original position of the lights in the middle of the spaces between the roof ribs or towards the ends ?

I think the early Cliffe Uddingstone trains used the Gloucesterversion exclusively so anyone modelling the ECML (me!) who wants the train should be interested - another 25 for me please !!

Are there any plans to produce the Gloucester version ?

J50 on the ECML I seem to remember in one of Eric sawford's books a picture of a J50 light engine on a Sunday taking water at Huntingdon on it's way to Doncaster for scrapping I think. I have also seen at least one photo of a Hornsey J50 on Doncaster MPD post overhaul so presumably it will have gone back to Hornsey light engine

Still looks to me that Thane of Fife has cab droop! Looking at gordon s photo of the right hand side of the loco, the cab side horizontal hand rail is certainly not parallel with the boiler handrails and slopes downwards to the rear. Pity Hornby didn't sort this out given all the comments about it before the production models arrived.

Thanks Tony, very helpful.

The Tees Thames - carriage destination boards A request for some help please. I am about to order some carriage destination boards for my model of the up Tees Thames express that I run on Stoke Summit but I have a question. The real train obviously carried Tees Thames boards but I seem to think that it also carried Kings Cross - Saltburn boards and possibly also Kings Cross - Middlesbrough ones, which may have been combined to Kings Cross - Middlesbrough - Saltburn ones. Although I saw the train many times in the early 60s. I am afraid my memory draws a blank as to what the coach boards were. Any help would be very appreciated.

Just to show that Stoke Summit is alive and well, here is D9013 “The Black Watch” on 1A16 the down Flying Scotsman passing Stoke Box . Apologies for the poor photo quality as I took it on an iPhone as I wanted to post it on a Facebook group where someone had posted a photo of the real loco, train and headboard waiting to leave Kings Cross

Hi Ernie, Just out of interest how, did you ferret around the J M Boyes scans? John Boyes and I were school friends but I lost touch with him many years ago and then quite recently discovered that he had died. Geoff Hodson

Hi Fran, What sort of level of interest/orders would you need to consider making the Gloucester version? Cheers, Geoff Hodson

Almost all the photographic evidence I have of the Cliffe - Uddingstone train in 61/62/63 suggests that it was almost exclusively Gloucester built wagons. This covers both steam and SR diesel haulage

Biggleswade & Stoke Summit At the risk of sounding greedy, I am the current custodian of both Biggleswade & Stoke Summit. I acquired Biggleswade some years ago with the intention of erecting it in one of the barns on my farm on Dartmoor. Unfortunately, the planners from Dartmoor National Park had other ideas and so it was only partly erected in another already converted barn which at 30x10 was much smaller than the 45x15 needed for Biggleswade. A move was on the cards a few years ago so I anticipated being able to erect a custom built shed, rather like Tony did for LB. Family circumstances have meant a delay on the move but hopefully it will occur next year. In the meantime, when Stoke Summit became available, I couldn't resist as it fitted perfectly into my 30x10 barn and that is where it sits today with the majority of Biggleswade stored underneath it. Both layouts are in excellent condition and Stoke Summit operates (almost) faultlessly. I have managed to stock Stoke Summit with some 38 complete trains - a mixture of ready to run and kit built (a few locos and quite a few wagons). I will try and post some up to date photos when I have time and my photography improves!! Geoff Hodson

Attached is a photo of 68987 which I took in April 1962 in the scrap lines at Doncaster Works. At least it shows the electrification flashes on the left side of the loco. Geoff Hodson

I notice that Howes are already advertising a range of 02 spares including a sprue with both side window and GN style cabs. Geoff Hodson