Mikkel

I hadn't noticed the missing door locks either, funny how we can be blind to certain details. Thanks for posting those additional photos, Nick. That's a good point about the solebars, it means a lot of photos are of no use when examining solebar colours.

I hope not, we would miss your superb little layouts! :-)

Dickens never fails I had no idea Pumblechook was a seed merchant. Oh well, maybe it was a favoured name in the family.

These proud traditions were no doubt at the front of his mind when, in the summer of 1947, farmer Pumblechook Sweet of Kingsbridge decided to celebrate a good harvest by consuming a large amount of ale before driving his tractor onto the village bridge, from where he intended to declare war on taxes, the government and his cousin John. As fate (and the ale) would have it, Mr Sweet's steering was a little off and both he and the tractor thus ended up in the village stream. Never mind, announced Mr Sweet, I needed a new tractor anyway, and with squelching boots he walked directly to the post office and placed an order for a blue Fordson Major. Robin, I really don't know why you have never heard of Pumblechook. Perhaps your family decided it was best to discretely distance themselves from him after that unfortunate affair with the mayor's weather vane?

Hi Nick, very nice to see some of your superb work, and what a wonderful beast this is. I really like the slightly antiquated look of these vans. Good thing that your knowledge of the prototype allows you to identify the mistakes in the instructions. It illustrates once again just how important it is to study the prototype closely before and during construction. Perhaps your notes would be useful for the new owners - the roof issue seems to be particularly problematic. I can relate to your creative use of the HMRS sheets to get the correct lettering. I think it's kind of fun to do, although also a little nerve wracking! I actually like the shade of grey you have arrived at - it looks right to me and does not seem too black. The fact that it is close to black, though, only serves to illustrates how the notion of black liveries for this period may have arisen. I won't try to convince you about the red livery, it's all about assumptions and hypotheses anyway, and I'm certainly not sure myself either! It just seems rational that Churchward would have made a single sweeping livery change, changing the livery and lettering at the same time in 1904. Is that roof perhaps a litle too clean?

Hi Mike, I can't help with the DCC question but it's nice to see some locos populating you fantastic shed. Looks like the traverser has seen some heavy use, a very nice effect I think.

Hi Mark, more of your excellent and subdued colouring, it's a treat to behold. I hope John Fawkes is not related to Guy!

Hi Ian, that's a very nice representation of the roof trussing. Those photos from the Newbury shed are very inspiring, not least for all those interesting and diverse types of goods lying around!

Hi Rob. Just a little visit to (Nodding) Brent, and a pleasure as always. Those shots from the bank are very nice indeed. I agree about Hawksworth coaches in maroon, very pleasing. I forget, do we know who owns the tractor?

Hello William. To my knowledge they are now only available directly from the following address (found at the supplier.txt website which is well maintained). ABS Models (Adrian Swain) 39 Napier Road Hamworthy Poole Dorset BH15 4JX tel: 01202 672 891 Please note that the kit I had was labelled as "Fourmost Models" manufactured by ABS. I am not sure what the business relationship was there, but I assume ABS still have it available (I bought mine 3-4 years ago when ABS was available from the now defunct Keykits website). I hope people will correct me if my info is out of date!

I have also sent an email to Andrew expressing interest. I do agree that some less grand figures would also be good - although I would expect that in the Edwardian period you would often be wearing your best clothes if you were lucky enough to travel by train.

Thanks Don, but your modelling is definetely not puny efforts! I really enjoyed your Hockley Goods - any plans for something similar?

Yipee! Figures of this quality and periode are extremely welcome! Where do I sign?

Wonderful shots, Job, thanks for sharing them! I will have a look at the groups you suggest, many thanks.

Not sure if the lock can be undone with one hand (I laughed out loud at that!). Incidentally, as I understand it the trick was that the lock could only be undone by opening the top of the doors, which meant any attempts to tamper with it would have been visible to station staff. Good point BJ about the screw couplings, that does seem a plausible reason. I must admit I'm a bit confused about the roof straps, so will leave them on while looking for more evidence. Thanks again Ian for that wonderful photo! Apart from the mex there is a lot of atmopshere in it! Miss P, I agree that on the large vans the letters should be more towards the sides, but as Ian says there is more room on the medium type. The kit instructions indicate the middle position, and I was hoping they might be basing it on a photo (well, hope springs eternal!). Mike, we've had so many of those flies this summer that I've had to take extra precautions that they didn't get stuck in wet primer on wagons! This one was just very sluggish though, the type that doesn't move until you grab it by the wings!

Hi Al and Ian, thanks, I searched Google to find out if there was a particular word for a clasp on a corset. Afterwards I realized that my search history won't look very good if my family comes across it! :-) In case anyone is interested, here are a few other models of medium and small GWR cattle wagons I've come across on RMweb (there may well be others of course). It's tempting to have a go at kitbashing a W3. Ian's 3D printed W2 in 2mm: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/45132-w2-complete-non-brake-side/ Pete's W3 in 7mm: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56859-gwr-w3-cattle-wagon/ Gingerbread's W3 in 2mm: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/748/entry-8179-cattle-train-gwr-2mm-fs/ Dave's W3 in 7mm: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-9715-cattle-trucks-revisited/

Hi Al, what a post - each one of those photos shows a whole little world of itself. It's a bit like a landscape outside a train window, actually. Superb. I know what you mean about composing a scene for a painting, it has a lot in common with layout building, I think. I look forward to seeing some French landscapes from your hand!

Hi Mark, this is great stuff, I really like your weathering and the way you blend colours to form a balanced scene. The weathering on the Ferguson is brilliant, it simply looks real.

Hi Ian. Yipee, another question to resolve. I'm not joking, I do like these problems - who needs to build layouts when there's a whole world to discover in a single wagon? :-) I did consult your research on these wagons in your blog, but hadn't noticed the lack of strapping. I'd be happy to redo the roof, but: On page 413 and page 423 of GWR Goods Wagons (1998 edition) there are photos of two different rakes of cattle wagons, of which many (all?) seem to be medium/outside framed. I had assumed these were W2 vans. Most of them have roof strapping - in fact several seem to have 5 or 6 straps, and only a few have no strapping. The kit drawing indicates 4 straps (may be wrong of course). As Nick says, the Swindon W3 drawing in Atkins et al is also shown with 4 roof straps, as is the prototype Beetle in the photo on p 423. Thanks very much for looking for that 1904 photo, would be interesting to hear what it says if you find it.

I wish we had a multiple quote function and a thanks button here in the blogs! Job, I understand your situation and admire how you find innovative ways to pursue your modelling despite it. Things have cooled down here too, and lots of rain today - the plants really needed it! Rob, that Farthing lettering (which is on an AA3 brake van) was time consuming but fun to do. I use the HMRS pressfix transfers. Contrary to what people say I find they can be shifted slightly if necessary before setting in (with a little water), and fixed down quite well with Vallejo's matt varnish. The Atkins et al tome passes unusually quickly over these wagons, but the kit instructions state that a few lasted into the 1930s (at least 12 lasted to 1930, the last one went in 1935). Nick, yes probably room for a few calves behind the partition. But still! I suppose these days we have forgotten how much even a small saving meant. Thanks for the info on the end lettering. I think I will wait and see if I can find any photos. And I really don't want to think how the instanter coupling came about! :-) Mark, glad you think the limewash works. Some people may not like this way of doing it, but as you say when these things are seen from a distance (as our models usually are) strong colours tend to appear more hazy/toned down. Paul, thanks. As you've just said over in your own blog, it's nice when we are able to keep our focus on a particular modelling project/task, rather than straying into all sorts of other tasks which is what usually happens :-)

Everyone knows how the “standard” GWR cattle vans looked, but I’ve always fancied the earlier W2 vans with outside frames. So I dug out an ABS 4mm kit and brought it with me on the family holiday. These were "medium" sized cattle vans, with the option of adding a partition and thereby making them "small" if the customer so required. I've always wondered why this was worth the trouble, as the difference in space seems minimal ! I decided to build the kit as supplied, which is in the post-1905 condition with oil axleboxes, an updated locking mechanism for the doors, and the Wright-Marillier partition locking bar. And we all know what a Wright-Marillier partition locking bar is, don’t we! A regular household word it is. “Good morning dear. Wright Marillier partition locking bar?”. “Oh yes please, and two sugars”. Well, above is the 4mm version of such a mechanism, as supplied in the kit. It seems that in the early 1900s the GWR was having problems with farmers who paid for only part of a cattle wagon, and then moved the partition to increase the space when noone was looking. So in 1903 Messieurs Wright and Marillier of the GWR’s Wagon & Carriage department invented a locking bar that would help prevent this. Not quite Nobel prize stuff, I suppose, but a good example of practical engineering for everyday railway operation. The sides require a bit of preparation. Apart from fitting the locking bar, a door latch must be fashioned from wire and the main bars fitted. The W2s were built with “bulb” section solebars (where the upper lip is wider than the lower one), and an early distinctive type of round buffer housing. Those lugs on the casting above the solebar caused me a lot of headscratching. They don't seem to serve a purpose and get in the way of the assembly. In the end I simply removed them. I hope I haven't missed some vital point! Poor man's brass. I've finally realized why I get on better with whitemetal and plastic than with brass. They are much more forgiving materials, eg I can file and tweak and fill in to correct all my mistakes! Modelling in the wilds of Denmark. A fly of the genus Wotsit inspects the roof bands. Actually it may have a point: I think the bands should have been a tad flatter and wider. Standard grey and a bit of lime wash. I forgot to add the small "M" and "S" to the livery (now corrected, see the first photo). I know that the lime wash was often more pronounced in reality, but I find it can look a bit odd in 4mm scale. So I prefer this understated look. I haven’t finished the lettering on the ends as I am not sure how it should be. The photo in "GWR Goods Wagons" (Atkins et al) shows an experimental livery on the ends which was not carried forward. The kit instructions indicate the “GW” as seen here, but also with tonnes and tare in italics on the left hand side. But I thought that the standard end livery should be “GW” , running number and “Medium”? When the GWR introduced the large "GW" on goods stock in 1904, they ran into problems with the outside framed vans. There simply wasn't enough room between the frames. The solution was to use smaller, non-standard letters. I did the same. Photos from the early 1900s also show that on some wagons, the cross-bar on the “G” differed from the later standard style. The HMRS transfers have the later style (bottom right), so I modified them with a lick of paint (top left). The W2 in the bay siding. Surprisingly, the photo in Atkins et al shows it with screw-couplings, so I have added an (overscale) set of these until I work out if that was standard. Mr Wright and Mr and Mrs Marillier inspect their invention on the W2 at Farthing. What the world does not know is that the concept for the locking bar came from a clasp on Mrs Marillier's corset. What Mr Wright and Mr Marillier do not know is that they both got the idea from the same clasp.

Hi Ian, that tree already looks excellent. The density of branches and twigs is often a let-down on models trees, I find, and your model here shows just what a big difference it makes. A clever little trick to double the strands by looping them. I can just imagine the situation at the DIY store: "Excuse me Sir, why are you cutting up all our electrical cable?" "I am counting the strands" "You are what?" :-)

Here's a Peter K River in 4mm scale (built by the late Dave Perkins) which I owned for a while. I didn't know he also did a 7mm version. Some of his kits are still available at the Kemilway site, although mostly 4mm: http://www.kemilway.com/peter-k.html

Hi Mike, ok thanks, yes I can certainly see a similarity in the atmopshere there.

Hi again Dave oh yes I had forgotten about the Andrew Stadden figures, they are fantastic. The Churchward figure alone is almost worth building a whole layout around! I look forward to seeing some of them adapted. I agree about the Edwardian era as the pinnacle og aesthetic design. The "Armstrong" 4-4-0 must be one of the most beautiful machines ever made! Any plans for one of those? Not even sure there is a 7mm kit for it...?