Olive_Green1923

First time attending and thought it was a great show. Some lovely layouts of all shapes, sizes and gauges - many of which to a high standard. The selection of traders was also very good, and - (I’m not sure whether they were a late addition) - but having a manufacturer present (Rapido) was also a bonus. The staff and volunteers were also very warm and welcoming, and provided a very nice atmosphere.

Can anyone clarify when abouts the SR would have started repainting wagons and guards vans after 1923? I’m particularly interested in the SECR six wheel guards vans. These were grey at grouping - when would they have been painted brown and red? Presumably this was to make them matching with the LSWR vans? And when also would wagons have been painted brown and given SR lettering? I guess this isn’t as much the case for LSWR wagons as they were already brown, but would LBSCR/SECR wagons have been repainted fairly swiftly, or did they remain in their respective pre-grouping colours until many years later / scrapping? Thanks.

I will soon embark on building my first O Gauge Slater's Gloucester 5 Plank Open Wagon. The wagon is blank, so I will need to paint and letter it myself - which I'm looking forward to doing in order to produce wagons not readily available - but I have some basic questions first: 1. What is the best method? Is it painting the wagon and then using transfers from one of the main suppliers (Fox, HMRS etc)? Or would it be to hand paint the lettering? If the latter, what is the recommended method for doing this? 2. If the letters are being hand painted, should I do this before assembly, or can it be done easily with the wagon already built? NB: I did have a search of RMWeb for an existing thread on this, but couldn't find anything. Happy to be pointed in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

Apologies - off topic, but will you be taking your E1 and O1 samples to Bristol this week? Looking forward to coming over and having a chat.

On topics such as this I feel a duty to be the Cassandra. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what Labour announce, the railways will remain vastly under-funded and therefore will not become the system that we enthusiasts dream of, nor the land of milk and honey that Labour will promise it to be. Firstly, because they will have numerous other promises which will need money, and secondly, because as we all know, the DfT is actually the Department for Roads, and the Treasury too has a culture of being anti-railways. These dispositions and dogmas will remain engrained within them, regardless of which political party is in power.

Yes ditto, I thought I'd read recently that the Stroudley 4 wheelers didn't carry over into Grouping on the mainland. A quick Google and Roxey Mouldings say that two sets went to IoW while the rest were scrapped by Grouping. See here: https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/70/4c60-26ft-four-wheel-brake-third/ One of the other Roxey coaches says some also went to Lancing for a while. Looks like I may have to exercise the old Rule 1 then.

I'm new to this thread, but I have some questions as someone who has recently started in O Gauge and is quite keen on these coaches. - I've read that prototypically these coaches were in sets of 8 - 11 coaches. Is that indeed the case for every single coach for the entirety of their lives?....or were some put into smaller sets of 3 or 4 coaches? I only ask because whenever I have seen these on layouts, they're usually in sets of no more than 4 coaches, or is this a case of 'Rule 1' because of space/cost limitations? - What is the story behind the Olive Green ones that are soon to be released? Can anyone shed any light on when and where they were used? And whether they ran in smaller sets as above? Thanks very much.

Any particular glue? Does it depend on whether the surface is plastic or metal?

Iain Dale is technically not the source. He just edits the book and hosts the podcast. The source is the historian Miranda Malins, who specialises in the life of Cromwell and who wrote the chapter on him in the book. As mentioned, I’m personally not a monarchy buff, but by coincidence had recently read the chapter and listened to the podcast, and therefore learnt much about him which I never knew, including the supposed facts I flagged earlier re: his reputation amongst the establishment.

It’s amazing how many political scandals get poured over in such finite detail, leading to various books, articles, TV dramas or passing references in society, yet the scandal of Marples is little known or ever discussed, yet it led to one of the biggest acts of self harm ever committed on this country, yet Beeching always carries the can for it (not completely unjustifiably though).

Apparently he has, right from the top, according to some sources. Queen Elizabeth II is known to have blocked a set of commemorative stamps because he was on one of them. At the Admiralty, Churchill wanted to name a battleship after him, but it was vetoed by the King. And at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge (Cromwell’s Alma Mater), there is a painting of him which is hidden by curtains if a Royal visits the college. These facts were unknown to me until recently (as a relative novice on all things Monarchy), but Iain Dale’s recent Kings & Queens book (and accompanying podcast) is very good for giving succinct explanations of the life and legacy of each monarch. The quirk, of course, is that it includes both the Cromwells, despite them not being “monarchs”.

LBSCR coaches - six wheelers / Billinton bogie coaches Not sure if this has already been covered, but it would be great if you'd consider doing some LBSCR coaches. Granted, the E1 was predominantly a goods engine, but it seems a natural step after the E1, the recently announced LBSCR wagons and the wider range of SECR products you are doing. The calibre of your GWR 'B' sets also shows what could be possible with such lovely coaches. Not withstanding the clear demand that is present amongst LBSCR / SR enthusiasts (and the growing demand for Era 1 & 2, in general, à la Hattons Genesis coaches) there is also a gap in the RTR market for these i.e. Hornby's Maunsells & rebuilds, EFE's LSWR Cross Country sets, and Bachmann's SECR Birdcages. Without getting bogged down into too much detail as it can get quite messy, maybe some six-wheel sets that were taken through into SR stock? Or indeed some Billinton bogie coaches, particularly the Type A or B 3-coach rover sets? These were widespread across the Central section, and after removal of lookouts would also be found on the SECR, working in tandem with the birdcage stock. Some sets of course would also be found on the urban SW section as well as local/branch lines in Devon. So they're very much an all-rounder for general SR modellers as well as those wedded purely to Brighton.

Yes indeed. The quote from Bradley about lined black being used from New Year 1924 is irrelevant, which is my oversight during a late night! It’s the next bit which lists the locos that were withdrawn in Brighton livery, which in the absence of any further info on each loco, presumably means it’s a toss up between them being in Umber or Marsh-era lined black (??), except 110 which we know had the latter.

As JSpencer correctly says, 110, 123, 142, 686, 690, 693, 694 had Stroudley boilers at Grouping. Note that 686, 690, 693 & 694 were previously 86, 90, 101, & 102 respectively, having been renumbered between 06/1912 and 05/1913. Bradley doesn’t explicitly list the liveries for each loco, but he does say the following: ”Until the last few weeks of 1923, Brighton Works used umber for all repaints and still lettered the side tanks LBSC … By the New Year, lined black was the standard livery with the ‘B’ prefix until the 1931 renumbering scheme.” The following is paraphrased for the above Stroudley locos: “Nos. 110, 123, 686 & 693 were withdrawn in Brighton livery in 1924-7.” Appreciate this doesn’t definitively say which Stroudley boilered E1s definitely had lined black, but hopefully it makes things easier.

Happy to have a look in Bradley and relay back anything I can find, but I know that the former Pulborough layout (and subsequently Plumpton Green) has no.100 in lined black. I would have thought this was based on a prototype.

As the deadline nears, are you able to say whether the threshold of 100 orders for no.110 has been met? If it hasn’t, maybe this’ll spur a flurry of late orders to get it over the line! My order is already in of course. Thanks.

Thank you Ian. Will let you know.

Having done some scratchbuilding and kit-bashing for some buildings, I'm keen to take the next plunge into scratchbuilding some wooden plank wagons (pre-grouping and Grouping era), but I'm struggling to find an existing thread where all the basics on materials, tools, construction, detailing (rivets etc) are explained step by step. I have found a couple of threads which nearly do the job, but none of the photos will load because the threads are from a few years ago - I think this is because the RMWeb servers have lost a lot of photos from old threads (?). I've also done a search of the Railway Modeller archive which is usually very useful, but nothing relevant seems to pop up there either. There are lots of very good articles by Ian Nuttall in particular, but they don't delve into the basic details for a scratchbuild novice like me. Grateful for any links to existing threads or indeed just some advice directly on this thread. Appreciate that methods will differ a bit on materials and construction methods, but anything is better than nothing! Thanks in advance.

It really would be something to have an RTR version of that T3. No hints there at all, Rapido….. ;)

Indeed. Wouldn’t have exactly been without precedent - just look at Launceston.

The Dartside Scenics YouTube channel is great for learning new scenery methods, and his IKEA shelf layout is a great example of something to try out before doing a full layout. The beauty of this is that you could add multiple shelves together whilst experimenting with different methods, which allows you to see progress in your skills as well as to compare different methods side by side. Also great for storing rolling stock and doing photography (if that’s your thing). OO Neal on YouTube has also done two very good layout build series’, showing what can be done with small modular boards.

Unfortunately there are some who would rather just plough all inward transport investment into tarmacing over yet more of the Cornish countryside with new road or bypasses.

St Kew also very nice (or it was when I was last there) - haven't heard any bad reviews since.

I did recently ponder about doing a layout of a fictional Rock station (or a station enroute from the NCR such as Chapel Amble), but you only have to go back and look at what was in Rock at the the turn of the century to conclude that a railway would never have been warranted, especially as Padstow and its harbour were across the estuary. That said, if one ignores the logic and just steams ahead with a counterfactual theory, then some lovely layouts can be created for that part of the world, such as Harlyn Pier or St Merryn (both O gauge).

Extending the Ruthern Bridge branch was another proposal which was floated twice. One Act of Parliament in 1865 would have taken the line to Truro, but money ran out, and in 1873 another Act was obtained to connect it up to the Cornwall Minerals Railway which was being built at the time, but the idea failed due to commercial prospects. The latter also included a Y junction at Grogley.