Forward!

One problem I've found with 'roving' staff, particularly at large stations, is that they tend to attract a scrum of people seeking assistance. Especially so if something goes wrong with the services. That often means the most assertive get their problems solved first. The queuing system is abandoned, and that, frankly, signals the imminent collapse of society. Will

oops. clumsy typo!

Don't forget the MSLR/GCR's pretty little Class 4 and 5 (LNER J61, J63) They are typical dock shunters, but I believe the J63 was at least initially also intended for station pilot work and the first few fitted with condensors. If they did perform that work, they didn't do it for long as the class rapidly became concentrated at Grimsby and Immingham. Will

A number of ECML services have been diverted up north via the Peterborough-Lincoln-Gainsborough-Doncaster GN/GE joint line. I've witnessed a number of LNER Azumas and Grand Central 180s on this route, with consequent cancellations in services on EMR, presumably to preserve the same number of pathways. I haven't seen Northern services affected. I had the bad luck of needing to get up to York from Lincoln yesterday for work and there was a general chorus of very unhappy and generally confused ECML passengers present on both legs of the journey! To be fair the LNER staff were doing a really good job of helping. (And for what it's worth I cannot stand EMR trains. Their 170 fleet has the ambience of a mid 90s coach, coupled with utterly useless wifi and most importantly for a medium distance service- no charging points!)

Hi all, I'm slightly ashamed to admit the modern railway doesn't interest me much nowadays. But a few days ago I witnessed at Saxilby, Lincolnshire a long train of aggregate/scrap wagons (which to my very untrained eye looked like JRAs) heading for Lincoln on the former GE/GN joint line. I didn't manage to get a photo, but the formation had a 'dead' class 66 positioned roughly halfway through the consist. Was this a case of a failed train being adjoined to another or something else entirely? Just curious. Will

Worth pointingout that the RN used the term stoker, and the merchant service used fireman. But the firemen worked down in what was always known as the stokehold. And in the later steam age their work was regulated by mechanical aids including the infamous Kilroy stoking indicator. To firemen, stoking was simply a verb. Stoking was part of a fireman's duties, but it wasn't a definition of his role.

Not quite 100 percent achievable RTR, but you could come quite close for the Cotswold Line. Not the most exciting line for variety though! Will

If it's the South West you're modelling then surely it's got to be a Bristol-built Peckett...? Will

Thanks Andrew, So the answer appears to be 'it depends'! I can justify one of each on my train then! Will

Hi all, Hope this is a quick one to answer. Hawksworth K45/6 full brake as depicted by Hornby in full passenger crimson/cream. Other sources say the 1950 BR-built batch were outshopped in plain crimson. I'm assuming any from the previous final GWR were left in their GWR colours (if not numbering) until their first shopping. So is the Hornby 'crimson and cream' model correct for the the early 1950s?

1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials presentation set perhaps?😉

Given the success of the NER Dynamometer car, how about the GWR equivalent? Legitimately run it behind everything from a Saint to 9F, and 'foreign' locomotives during the exchanged too. Just like the LNER carriage I can imagine people buying one to just put on the display cabinet behind their favourite top link GWR engine. And the best thing is it still exists for Rapido to fire measuring lasers at!

Indeed. I suspect I'm probably exactly the sort of enthusiast who not only implicitly believed "the GWR always ensured the train engine lead the assisting engine", I've been susceptible to repeating this much publicised contention to friends too. Funny how quick corporate knowledge can be scattered, fragmented or downright obfuscated! It's not even 70 years ago!

I cannot even pretend to add anything useful to this, but would it be useful to consider the origins of the commonly held belief that it was GWR practice to place assisting engines behind the train engine? In my naivety I've taken this prinicple as read for years, and I have certainly seen Edwardian photographs in which a basically a brand new Star or Saint is leading a 10 year old Bulldog on an express through Dawlish. Is this my clouded mind just jumping to the conclusion that "it's a brand new Churchward loco, so it must have been the train engine!" I just can't imagine what must have been top link power in their day being used as assisting engines!

As others have said, pick up goods practices might seem inefficient to our eyes, but we mustn't lose sight of the sheer scale of rolling stock that was available at the time. The LNER alone inherited 250,000 wagons at grouping. While of course many would be for minerals traffic and a minority designed for specialised loads, but that's still a heck of a lot of general merchandise wagons kicking around the system! Will

Just a thought as we celebrate the 100 anniversary of Railway Grouping coming into effect: would Grouping be a viable way forward for Britain's railways in 2023? What would a new regional (rather than sectorised) 'big four' companies look like in 2023? Pros? Cons? Thoughts? Will

Depends on how far you want to take it (you sound like you are aiming for a representative train rather than a replica of a specific modern charter set?). I'd echo what others above have written, but perhaps add that it is worth thinking about MK.1 bogies if your 'railtour' is intended to be a depiction of a set that would venture out on to your modern 'Network Rail' layout. Preserved mainline MK.1s would have had very long service lives with a number of upgrades over the years. What you see today are carriages that left revenue-earning service in the late 80's or even 1990s. Thusly they are very different in appearance to when they were first built in the 50s and 60s. Carriages permitted to run on today's national network will be riding on the later Commonwealth and B4 bogie types. Utter detail geeks will note that they will also have air braking and electric train heating too. As others have said, modern safety placards and TOPS data is also a (minor) consideration that changes their appearance subtly. However, in my view, a rake of BR MK.1s in maroon, riding on Commonwealth or B4 bogies would give vaguely the right impression straight out of the box. As for train formations representative of a modern railtour, I'd suggest a very high proportion of open stock, and a mid-train catering vehicle- something like an RMB. Maybe 'top and tail' your Mk.Is with a pair of 'barrier' MK.IIs or else (assuming you're using dcc) put a diesel locomotive on the rear of the train. That should give you a flavour of the modern railtour scene. Better yet- go on one! They're a lovely way to see the country! Will

I'm lucky enough to work in the former drawing offices of the GWR at Swindon, completely surrounded by the modern railway. I always thought the modern railway was rather dull. But actually, it's surprising just how much variety you see when you spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week staring at the same stretch of the GW mainline!

Do you have a geographical region in mind? Manors were a small class (only 20 pre-war) built for a specific purpose of achieving the lighter 'blue' route availability. They tended therefore to congregate on a small number of workings.

Worth noting that besides using superannuated 'road' engines, a number of the pre-group companies solved the problem of needing dedicated shunting engines by purchasing "industrial" locomotive designs. For example the MS&LR in the late 19th century had a number of Manning Wardle K class and a couple of Hudswell Clarkes on their books for working Grimsby docks before Pollitt finally designed the Class 5 (LNER J62) in 1897. Will

Out of interest- that wheelbase looks tiny- like 7ft or something? Did these ever travel on the mainline or where they for works use only? Will

Just spotted- there's a picture at https://1501pta.jimdofree.com/7a-british-railways/ which shows 1501 in april 1950. Not looking particularly filthy, but I can't make out a crest! Maybe it's just an atefact of photography.

Thanks guys. Much appreciated

I suspect you're right, but there is a tiny part of me that hopes they're just waiting to see what Dapol do with their models to work whether there's a market to reintroduce kits of different diagrams to fill the gaps, or even considering releasing sets of components/sides for anyone who wants to kitbash. As I said, I really suspect not. I just can't see it would be commercially viable. Slaters know that kitbuilding is alive and well in 7mm, but in 4mm it is a dying art. Nowadays almost anything, no matter how obscure, seems to be commissioned as short-run rtr. I enjooy kitbuilding, but I have and will continue to succumb to the trend. I could BUILD a carriage kit that unpainted would look (almost) as good as a Dapol rtr model, but I'm happy to admit that I certainly couldn't paint and line that kit to anywhere near the current rtr standard. And I'm not alone- modern rtr is decorated so beautifully you'd have to commission the megastars of commercial hand painting- the Ian Rathbone's of this world- to match that sort of finish. At what is that costing now? A little more than 49 quid a coach, I bet....! Will

Hi all, Quite tempted with the upcoming Rapido 15XX. I could, at a push, include one on my layout but it would have to depict a brand new loco. I see Rapido is offering a G.W.R. green livery which I'm sure must be a what-if. So out of the other livery options they're offering was the class' delivery scheme plain black (unlettered, unlined); lined black (early emblem) or a combination of both on different locos as they were outshopped? Did any received the "BRITISH RAILWAYS" lettering? A built date of July 1949 would put it right on the cusp of the introduction of the lion+wheel crest right? And the GWR.org livery pages note that Panniers 1503–5 were lined, but doesn't note whether that was from their build dates or later on in the BR period. Would appreciate a steer. Thanks, Will