Forward!

Another real plus of Minories was probably not anticipated by Freezer when he designed it. The plan is ideal for two-locos to operate it at once, either as complete trains or as a complete train + a station pilot set up. With the advent of DCC that's now easily achievable. I have always thought of Minories as a two-operator layout as equally suited to the show circuit as the spare bedroom. Will

Yeah, my wife and I were big Harry Potter fans as kids. We're both very close to turning 40... Will

I don't think there's much to add, but assuming some poor marketing intern at Hornby is chained to a laptop and forced to read this thread, here's my two cents to prolong his agony. I probably follow a quite common trajectory of Gen X and millennials. Enjoyed toy trains as a kid (at various degrees of seriousness), dropped away from the hobby in my 20s, and is now re-discovering the hobby as someone in their 30s or 40s, maybe along with introducing their own kids to the wonderful world of model trains too. Now it's too late for me, because when I went through this rediscovery in the mid 2000s I opted for N gauge. But I can certainly see how someone making that choice of scale (unencumbered with decades of accumulated stock) might take a punt on 120. I moved to N at a time when I felt standards of detail and running quality were just about becoming acceptable- see through spokes on steam engine wheels, separately applied details and good livery application. I haven't seen these TT120 locos, but they remind me of the level of detail that was achieved in N gauge around 10 years ago. In some ways I wonder whether Hornby has missed the boat a bit by not releasing TT120 back when N gauge was still considered rubbish on both detail and running quality! I must admit the apparent large flanges of the TT120 steam locos and compromises in plate frames/cartazzi trucks to negotiate set track curves are a bit of a disappointment. The improvement in couplers over N gauge is welcome though. I'd want to see them in the plastic, but to me they look more like larger N gauge models than smaller 4mm ones. I'm probably unusual though in that I am lucky that I have a good sized layout- 16ft scenic area, which in N gauge is just about enough to run something approaching scale length express trains of 10-12 carriages without appearing to be tail chasing. But let's be honest, put your hands up. Who really runs top-link expresses on their HOME layouts in prototypical formations, even in N gauge? I don't know anyone much my age (38) who does! They just don't have the space to replicate "railway in landscape" convincingly. No doubt Hornby has considered all of this, and I wish them well. Will

I know it's not the OP's era, but for completeness, there's some further information on the Newcastle-Bournemouth during pre-grouping era on Steve Bank's website: https://www.steve-banks.org/gcr/328-gcr-london-extension-express-passenger

Both good points. Increasingly though I'm finding larger companies (i.e. the big multinationals) are committing to net zero by 2030 or so, and in pursuit of that they are increasingly less bothered by the extra cost of their employees using more sustainable travel. And in some cases, my wife's company included, corporate net zero plans are based around the principle of offsetting the extra costs of sustainable travel against restricting the number of times employees need to travel. My wife has gone from having a long-haul flight at least once every month, to maybe two or three times a year. Everything else being done remotely. That reduction frees up a lot of T+S budget to pay for expensive trips on Eurostar! With flexible working becoming the norm, working on the train is certainly being recognised as a major benefit. My wife often does day trips to her Amsterdam HQ, and can still put in a full day's work. You can't do that so easily in a crowded airport lounge or on an aircraft! It's early days, and it's very easy for governments and businesses to commit to net zero in 10-20 years time, but when push comes to shove, what matters is what we do in the next 2-5 years. I think it would be an excellent decision for the Scottish government to take on the CS franchise, and let's hope in 10 years time it is a viable, and valued alternative to the current business trip involving Easyjet and a Premier Inn. Will

Maybe it's a question of when not if these services become viable. For instance my wife's company, a multi billion publisher has just told their staff that flights will not be allowed in any circumstances where a viable rail alternative is available. That means anyone travelling within the UK will need to use rail, and indeed, anyone travelling to continental Europe will, with a few exceptions be required to use trains too. Last month she used Eurostar three times. Things will be changing over the next decade. Maybe the Scottish government would be making a wise investment in CS if they get in now! Will

Maybe also worth pointing out that some classes being introduced at the time of grouping were often turned out in their pre-grouping liveries, sometimes with the insignia of their new owners applied. A good example is the GCR9N/LNER A5. Several were turned out in GCR green with "L&NER" lettering. Indeed, the upcoming Sonic Models model offers an option in just that scheme.

Before 1965 vehicle registration was the responsibility of the County Councils. So once you've identified the regional code of licence number it's worth checking with the relevant County Record Office (Local Authority Archive Service) whether they hold the original registers/card indexes. Survivability is patchy- it depends entirely on whether the councils kept the records once they relinquished the responsibility. Many just binned them. Will

A thought does just occur to me. N gauge and 00 gauge emerged as compromise scale/gauge combinations to allow the fitting of practical mechanisms into models representing smaller UK loading gauges. A true scale/gauge is not a problem for modern RTR, but a lot of people on here are suggesting (if not outright hoping) that UK makers/cottage manufacturers could utilise proprietary European TT gauge mechanisms to power UK-outline models. But surely we'd be in the same position as we were back in the mid 20th century? It may be a silly example, but I'm guessing that if you actually tried to just plonk a true-scale Warship bodyshell onto a TT-scale Piko V200 mechanism you'd have exactly the same problem Swindon had making the real thing fit! Will

To echo others, check out your local library service or County Records Office for free access to online census transcription services. They will often offer free access. I'd always advise reading a census alongside a contemporary trade directory and while keeping sight of a near-contemporary 25 inch OS map (also available free online for most of the UK at the National Library of Scotland website or at your local county record office). If your period of interest is the 1860s, the earliest 1st edition 25'' OS map will probably date to a good 10-20 years after your period of interest, but street layouts and district names rarely change so radically in the provincial towns of England during the later 19th century that a later map is not a useful tool for getting your bearings against the census returns and working out which address a census entry is most likely relating to. However, if you really want an exhaustive list of all staff employed at a particular station at a given time, the census isn't a great way of reconstructing this information. Railway servants did not necessarily live in the towns where their stations were located- station masters and freight agents aside (who would have taken company-owned houses), many more junior officers and unskilled workers did often travel in from the rural hinterlands even at that early date. The return for my village in Oxfordshire includes a couple of families living there in the 186-s who were engine cleaners at Oxford, 15 miles down the branch line, for instance. And while it's an extreme example, Swindon works certainly drew a good proportion of it's unskilled labour force from villages many miles away right from the very beginning. If you're interested more in the station at High Wycombe than the town itself I would be more tempted to start by interrogating railway company sources rather than using the census. There's not a great chance such records will survive, and people will be much more informed than me, but The NRM and STEAM archives would be good places to start just to get a sense of what sort of sources are available to you. Will

This thought had entered my head. I assumed it was confined to an earlier era- pre 1914 reconstruction, and certainly pre-1934? I know there was the construction of the dedicated milk platforms in the immediate post-WWI period which presumably eliminated milk traffic from the passenger station (and milk tankers had been introduced by my modelling era of 1939-1952 anyway). I also know that in the 30s there were real efforts to tidy up and rebuild the 'Lawn' at Paddington to expel the clutter of parcels handling from the passenger areas. I think from the reading I've done the late- I infer that night parcels and newspaper traffic was handled from the passenger station (i.e. when it was unlikely to interfere with passenger experience), so I assumed that by the 1930s day-time rakes were brought in/out as whole trains- being reformed elsewhere? Or to put it simply, by the late 30s- BR era it wouldn't be prototypical to model a pilot loco retrieving only a portion of an ECS rake, or a single BG or catering vehicle? Have I got that right? Will

"The driver of an express train goes mad with jealousy and plans to kill all in his charge. This gripping low-budget b-movie portmanteau thriller..." This sounds absolutely epic. Thanks! Will

Wow, thanks for the replies! I've long been interested in locomotives, but not so much how the railways are actually operated. For most of my time collecting 4mm scale model GWR locos I've been content letting them sit in the cabinet and occaisonally watching them run around a tail-chasing loop in the spare room! Like many, I've therefore amassed quite a collection of substantial express passenger locos that would need a layout the size of Pete Waterman's to run them all at speed hauling 14-carriages behind them! So I'm looking for ideas for a cameo layout (12-15ft long) that is a little more interesting than the rather cliched depot micro-layout that you now see everywhere due to everyone's homes (and budgets!) shrinking. I therefore got thinking about depicting a 'slice' of a much larger station, and then I got thinking- why not model the section of Paddington between Bishop's Road Bridge, and the start of the trainshed, both acting as scenic breaks- on average it's only about 100 metres. That's positively micro-layout territory! Would be really interested in further responses on any aspects of operations at Paddington, and everyone is of course most welcome to widen the topic out to the operations of the major London termini during steam era more generally. Will

Hi all, Forgive me for a really elementary question from a beginner modeller. Am I right in my understanding that large terminus stations such as Paddington that didn't have engine-release roads would have used pilot engines to move stock around? Have I got this sequence correct? 1) Passenger train arrives at "arrival side", passengers (and parcels?) disembark. 2) Pilot engine comes down from the depot and couples to rear of empty stock. 3) Takes empty stock to carriage depot/sidings for cleaning and prep for next turn. 4) Train engine is released and works light-engine back to loco depot for same. 5) Pilot engine deposits freshly cleaned carriage rake in the "departure side" platforms (and is now trapped at the headstocks in the process) 6) Train engine is re-attached to carriages and passenger train departs. 7) Pilot engine is released and either goes to pick up more empty stock or returns to depot light-engine. I'm thinking this could be an interesting little cameo layout (obvs not using full-length express trains!), allowing me to run a lot of the varied GWR/early BR mainline locos I have collected over the years. Is there anything here I've misunderstood? Are there any subtleties to the operation that I've missed? Thanks in advance, Will

Thanks for that Ceinewydd, very much appreciated! Good to have the confirmation of the composition of an 'A' set even if an appropriate all-first diagram candidate remains rather elusive! Interesting stuff about the 'M' sets too, I still haven't managed to pin down the exact year that the 6-wheel sets gave way to the bogie stock on the Fairford branch, but I suspect it was quite late. Will

Any chance of seeing the cottage/farmhouse? Often vernacular architecture can be used to narrow down a photo to a broad region quite well. I must admit, for no other reason than gut instinct I also immediately thought 'Cotswold Line' when I saw the photo for the first time. Don't really know why! Will

Nothing about the box mentioned in published references, but given the urgency with which the station was constructed (work began May 1944, opened in October), the non-standard nature of the box (which for all the world looks like a cut-and-shut recycling job), and the extensive use of asbestos for the neighbouring passenger facilities, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the box didn't have it's asbestos roof from the beginning! Will

It's a common GWR arrangement. Along the Oxfordshire Fairford branch there was even a station (Kelmscott) where the kickback siding was brought back into the station itself almost at platform level! http://www.fairfordbranch.co.uk/Kelmscott.htm Will

As others have said, carriage workings are a vastly complicated topic, especially if you're starting to consider through coaches and cross-country workings. But if you're interested in finding out more about UK passenger train workings, I would recommend joining the BR coaching Stock email group- https://brcoachingstock.groups.io/ Will

Not to me! That's the rest of my working day gone! Will

Thanks all, I should have been clearer on reflection. It was the specific reference to a first that intrigued me as nothing much jumped to mind. "A Set" appears in a few places in the carriage working and I should also note (in 1935 at least) it is described in the introduction as something different to a "Standard London Suburban Set" which is composed of a much more familiar van-third, compo, compo, van third arrangement. The books notes the to formations were interchangeable, and the way they are tabulated makes it clear the intention was to provide for approximately the same ratio of 1st:3rd compartments in both sets. I wonder what they meant my it? A corridor toplight sandwiched in a non-corridor train? Maybe I'm just getting too hung up on the letter of the diagram book- I should add that I am a real novice when it comes to seriously attempting to model prototypical train formations. I must admit the only reason I am really interested is one of these "A-Sets" spent the day shuttling between Paddington, Oxford, Dicot and Reading, but at one point during the day it escaped down the Fairford branch only as far as the station I happen to model- Bampton (Brize Norton). I wonder if the chaps at Oxford just wanted to get it out of the way for a couple of hours in the middle of the day! Will

How about Winteringham Haven station on the North Lindsey Light Railway (ex GCR/LNER)? It was intended as a through-station but remained a terminus. However, a short extension curved off away to sidings on the banks of the Humber before continuing along the riverbank to eventually terminate at Whitton. The line in Winteringham doesn't cross a major river so much as a large drain, but it kind of does what you're seeking- and in my view it's an eminently modellable slice of a impressively bleak North Lincs. Sadly the NLS only has the 6-inch map available, but it gives the general idea. If you're interested I can get you the relevant 25-inch OS map when I'm back at work on Monday. https://maps.nls.uk/view/101586926 Will

Hi all, In the 1935 carriage working book there is reference to a London "A Set" comprised of: Van Third (6 compartments) First (8 compartments) Third (9 compartments) Van Third (6 compartments) Indicative example of a route this set was assigned to is outer London cross-country services such as Paddington-Oxford. Would anyone be able to suggest the likely diagrams for these? Will

I guess the answer might be in here somewhere then! https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50139/explore_and_discover/1628/metro-cammell_collection Will

Hi Trevor, If you're interested in railway operation (I know that's a hobby in itself in North America!) you may also want to do some reading to understand the role the Railway Clearing House (RCH) played in managing goods traffic between the various pre-grouping British railway companies. There are some specialist books on this topic, but this 1930s article is as good an introduction as I have found available online. https://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/clearing-house.html And if you really want to go to town, this contemporary book gives you some ideas of the issues facing those trying to manage the complex web of railways in the early 20th century. https://archive.org/details/britishrailways01rossgoog Will