Andy Kirkham

Something I've just noticed about the Britannia Bridge clip - the date on the bridge appears to be MDCCCI, which unless I'm mistaken means 1801 The bridge was opened in 1850

This one? https://player.bfi-staging.org.uk/free/film/watch-railway-traffic-on-the-lnwr-1897-online

Indeed, I've watched it over and over. At the nth viewing, I noticed (1) a person leans out of the window of the last-but-two carriage of the second train and waves to the men at the lineside and (2) and the very end you can see in the far distance the steam from the first train as it passes through the trees. Right at the end it looks as if the men are beginning to walk away and leave the scene, perhaps implying that the reason they had gathered there was to see the two trains pass. When I was watching the Henley clip (with the video sound off) my wife happened to be playing Elgar's Chanson de Matin on the piano. It seemed so poignant it brought tears to my eyes.

I think you can just spot outside cylinders and slidebars on the first loco, which would make it a compound - a Teutonic or a Dreadnought?

Marvellous films. In the LNWR one, I wonder who were the party of men promenading so nonchalantly over the tracks between trains. They appear to be wearing suits and ties, so they are probably officers rather than a P/W gang. They only just made it across before the Up train arrived.

Here's a video of the earlier model railway in Malahaide Castle. It was truly enormous and would have kept a child entranced for hours. Its no wonder people are disappointed in the new exhibition. But I wonder how much of Fry's work remained. It seems to have been continually updated to include the most modern trains.

Some pictures of Cyril Fry (and family) https://irishphotoarchive.photoshelter.com/image/I0000F.ASiQZWfU4 https://irishphotoarchive.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/1954-10-06-Mr-Cyril-Fry-Dundrum-with-his-Miniature-Belfast-Trams/G0000haexsurtIJI/I0000YEQuha8D7EI/C000094Ti_qheqAk https://irishphotoarchive.photoshelter.com/image/I0000efstUCXezJA

Shrewsbury in the days when it had an overall roof.

It always seems to be Freezer's Modeller that stirs the memory; it seemed to encapsulate the modelling zeitgeist in a way that MRC and MRN didn't manage to do. Was part of it the way it showcased Railway Of The Month as very much the headline feature? I think I only ever bought one copy of Model Railway News and can't remember much about it. It must have had its devotees at the time, but I don't remember anyone ever recalling it on RMWeb.

When I was teenager in the 1970s I was a member of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and one of the perks was unlimited free travel on the Talyllyn AND (if I remember correctly) the Festiniog as well. I can't remember what the prices were, but I suppose that the cost of membership would have been defrayed by a couple of return journeys. Now that fares are more expensive, I don't suppose the perks are quite so generous, but I wonder which societies offer the best travel benefits. Here's a reminder of what trip on a steam railway used to cost.

Here's a Percival's coach with the Half Past Ten logo https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=68929

This shows how demand has grown in recent decades. I remember in the 1970s the Oxford-Cambridge service was operated by a company called Percivals and I think the service may have been just one a day. At any rate the company's logo was a clockface showing 10:30, which was the departure time from both Oxford and, in the opposite direction, Cambridge. However my favourite Oxford bus company was Charlton-on-Otmoor Services (which would be a nice touch to include in Endeavour)

One of the few castles in GWR territory not to have a loco named after it.

Dolbadarn

And to continue the theme of castles which give their names to preserved GWR 4-6-0s - Clun Castle

Or Nunney Castle?

Is Blaise Castle too "Grimm"? It's already been used in Blueball Summit

From what I remember of contemporary magazines (early 70s) I don't recall anyone complaining about the quality of K's kits or suggesting that they needed any tweaking.

And again

I get Russian adverts too

Yes it is (or was) - I've got it - from Sutton Publishing

Decline of Steam Colin T Gifford One man's railway J.B.Snell The Railways: Nation, Network and People Simon Bradley Little Giants (history of Ffestiniog Locos) Chris Jones, Peter Dennis Great Western Branch Line Album Ian Krause Last Days of Steam in Gloucestershire Ben Ashworth The Narrow Gauge Railways of Bosnia-Herzegovina Keith Chester Compound Locomotives John Van Riemsdijk

Unusually, the train depicted at the beginning is too old for the era depicted. It is supposed to be 1980 but the coaches are maroon.

I didn't know there was a container terminal here. How long has it been there?