Invicta

I don't quite run to half-a-dozen (IIRC 4 at last count, including my original from my teens circa 1980), but the CCT is definitely still a useful model. Sticking with ex-LMS parcels stock, although it's been superceded by Hornby's take on the same vehicle, I never felt the urge to replace my Mainline/Bachmann LMS 50' BGs when the Hornby version appeared Although it doesn't inhabit the same planet as modern RTR, I must admit I do like a bit of Wrenn- on the experience of my own Duchess and various Bulleids, 8Fs and 2-6-4Ts I've run belonging to former clubmates, they'll pull pretty much anything you'd want to hang on the back of them, and like the vintage Hornby Dublo they originate from, they do have a certain presence and charm of their own. As for maintaining them, I took a long break from modelling between my teens in the late 80's and the early 2000s, and pretty much the one loco that ran immediately straight from the box when I revived my teenage collection of Hornby, Mainline, AIrfix, Lima etc from about 15 years slumbering in a drawer, was my Wrenn 'City of London'.

...and a Midland 5-plank displayed on the length of track at the top of the incline at Middleton Top When the Soar Lane lift bridge from Leicester West Bridge was displayed at the former Snibston museum, it had a 5-plank on the track... ...and there were quite a few other wagons in the colliery sidings.- from memory they included a couple of 16-tonners, a tanker and a Midland/LMS brake van- IIRC the brake van at least is now at Mountsorrel, along with the Ellis & Everard 5-plank that used to be displayed in the museum

Another long-time customer right back to the days of the Coalville shop (albeit with a very long gap while I was living 180 miles away), and definitely to be recommended- I've had quite a few secondhand bargains from them in the last few years.

Definitely recommended, I've bought quite a few kits and bits from them at various shows.

That's a new one to me- As a Leicestershire teenager, my model-buyng mainly centred around Signal Box and Geoff's Toys in Coalville, with very occasional visits to Apex Craft or Norcol Models in Leicester, but Hinckley was always a bit off the beaten track for me- Found this feature on past Hinckley shops from the local paper website... https://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/gallery/1980s-shops-11443843 ...including a 1983 pic of Readers Return, complete with a selection of period Mainline in the window... https://i2-prod.hinckleytimes.net/incoming/article11443723.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/JS80755638.jpg Looking at the pic, I see what you mean in your description, it doesn't look like the most inviting of shops!

It's not a part of the world I know particularly well, but I had a vague memory that I'd read somewhere that some of the Skaledale buildings were of Lincolnshire prototypes. One that defiintely isn't is R8756, Jubilee Clock Tower, which is the one on Margate seafront https://www.hattons.co.uk/417004/hornby_r8756_po_clock_tower_skaledale_range_pre_owned_imperfect_box/stockdetail.aspx https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margate_Clock_Tower_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1715234.jpg Another Kent building, from Bachmann (44-0020) The Jackdaw pub, is from Denton, between Canterbury and Dover- it was used as a location for the 1969 "Battle of Britain" film https://www.hattons.co.uk/301182/bachmann_branchline_44_0020_ln_the_jackdaw_pub_pre_owned_like_new/stockdetail.aspx http://www.dover-kent.com/Jackdaw-Denton.html The Jackdaw isn't the only film/TV star to appear in the Bachmann Scenecraft range- the "Corner Store" (44-0046) is from Lister Avenue in Doncaster- but is best known as Arkwright's shop in "Open All Hours" https://www.hattons.co.uk/107467/bachmann_branchline_44_0046_brick_built_corner_store_wright_s_groceries_/stockdetail.aspx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_All_Hours There have been quite a few that I've looked at over the years and thought "That building looks familiar from somewhere"- Anyone able to offer some more definite IDs?

The Hornby "Granite" station buildings are definitely Midland Settle & Carlisle- they've also been released in a different colourscheme as Dent station: https://www.hattons.co.uk/36047/hornby_r9680_dent_station/stockdetail.aspx They released the matching Dent Snow Huts, and a Midland signal box as well. Bachmann also did a Midland signal box- 44-172 "Tall signal box" https://www.hattons.co.uk/52764/bachmann_branchline_44_172_tall_signal_box_102_x_65_x_120mm_/stockdetail.aspx This is the box that originally stood on the level crossing at Coalville before it was moved to the former Snibston colliery/museum site: http://www.nigeltout.com/html/coalville-1970s.html

Re: the Airfix Scot, wasn't some of Airfix's tooling destroyed in the period between Airfix going bust and the model railway range being bought by Palitoy, and General Mills pulling out of the toy/model business a couple of years later. IIRC, didn't one of the mags once publish an interview with the late David Boyle, where he mentioned seeing some of the ex-Kitmaster kit tooling (from memory either the Garratt or Stirling SIngle, neither of which ever reappeared in either Airfix or Dapol guise) being destroyed with a sledgehammer when he was negotiating the AIrfix/Dapol deal? With an existing Rebuilt Scot in the Mainline range, I can imagine Palitoy wouldn't have been too concerned about the tools for the Airfix one which duplicated their own product. It will be interesting to see what does emerge for future EFE releases- as a couple of people have suggested, there's no shortage of commissioned tooling around which might warrant a re-release, it just depends on who controls the rights to that and whether they might be willing to strike a deal with Bachmann.

The giveaway is that the original Mainline tooling had working sliding doors, complete with suitably out-of-scale runners - it also appeared in an "Allsopp's Lager Beer" PO livery, which was genuine, just (as ever!) not on an LMS sliding-door van...

2F might be the most likely of those- although I'm almost surprised that between Heljan's forays into the diesel-era one-offs, and KR Models picking up the torch for R-T-R oddities with GT3, Fell, Leader etc, that no-one has announced an RTR 'Bertha' to an expectantly-waiting world yet! I suppose some of the more 'niche' Southern releases (Beattie Well Tank, Adams Radial, 'P', B4 etc) etc are helped by the fact they survived until pretty late in the day on BR compared to something like a Flatiron (last ones withdrawn before WW2?), and examples are on hand in preservation to scan/measure/inspire us to reach for our wallets

That's the thing, isn't it. My work situation is that I'm back-room office staff, so working from home, but as we support front-line key-workers I've also been going into the office regularly when needed, throughout lockdown, so am seeing both 'worlds' - and there do seem to be an increasing number of people out there who aren't taking much effort at all to socially distance. I've had exactly that experience of apparently picking something up at a show in the past- I felt a bit rough with some cold-ish symptoms the day after Doncaster last year, which within 48 hours escalated into a trip to the local walk-in, who referred me straight to A+E and two nights in hospital... Believe me I won't be taking too many risks with my exhibition attendance (my usual routine for the last few years has been Doncaster, Derby, GCR, FBRM Peterborough, Gaydon/MK and Warley plus any local shows) in the near future until I'm convinced we've got some kind of real control over COVID

Mmm, I see what you mean- 1970's NCB corporate blue and yellow really doesn't do much to complement the lines of an Austerity tank, it really is hideous! https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/hunslet-works-no-3818-east-fife-area-no-19-68019-0-6-0st/ I think I might have to have one for my little NCB collection though....

The Durham coast pic in BoD's post reminds me a lot of the similar photos of French lighthouses taken by Jean Guichard, which is probably what prompted FC's thought about Brittany

At risk of dragging the thread off-topic onto 4-wheeled LMS fish vans, Cambrian also offer the earlier (late 1920's iirc) D1885 https://www.trainshop.co.uk/cambrian/5058-c87-lms-6ton-fish-van-d1885.html

The GCR's website refers to 'a reserved compartment for between one and six people', which implies they will- I suppose there's a bit of pragmatism at work at this early stage, in that one person booking a compartment is better than an empty one. http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/special-events/reopening-july-2020/

Yes, I backdated the Cambrian Shark kit into an approximation of the LMS van some years back, and opted for red oxide rather than grey based on the same references to the Essery books (although mine still has BR-style veranda doors, rather than safety rails to stop my PW gang from falling out, because I rashly worked from notes I'd taken from a library copy of the book, rather than directly from the book! One day I'll revisit it and do a better job) Incidentally, the photo of the 1939-built van Wheatley mentions above also features the small 1936-style LMS lettering and wagon number style and curiously was a one-off which was 6" wider across the lookouts

A combination of a Liverpool Corporation bus with a Binns Road destination and an East Kent with the Westwood destination, both complete with Triang/Hornby advertising might have been nice, and slightly less random

IIRC this is discussed in the Essery & Jenkinson Illustrated History of LMS Locomotives, vol 1, the general overview and liveries volume. As I recall, the gist of it is that at first all locomotives were supposed to have smokebox door plates, but in practice the majority of ex-LNWR locos never got them, and by about the late '20's the practice had been officially abandoned - apart from on ex-Midland locos, which of course already had them, and new-build LMS standards - and they didn't last long on the minority of ex-LNWR locos which had received them when first repainted after grouping,

Just had a quick search through my stash of unbuilt kits, and (bear in mind here that some of these have been sitting in a box for over a decade) some Slaters kits definitely came with a basic self-assembly tension lock as you described- they also sometimes (I thought always, but the first one I opened didn't have them) included a pair of mounting bosses for the old wide Triang/Hornby tension-lock, but that's not much use for the modern small ones. I will confess back in the day to having made my own mounts for Bachmann tension locks from plastic strip (...and predictably ended up with slightly inconsistent coupling heights...) but would agree that the Parkside NEM mounts are probably the way ahead here.

The GCR (North) at Ruddington have a Mk2 BSO, which IIRC is fitted with a brake valve in this manner- Last time I was there a couple of years back we were propelled on the return trip, with the Austerity tank 0-6-0 tender conversion '2890', which was visiting at the time, rather than the 'top and tail' arrangement (HST 41001 + 33 ) used on my previous visit. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mk2_BSO_E9389.jpg

RCTS 'East Midlander' railtour, 13th May 1962, Nottingham Victoria-Darlington. I've got a very vague memory of reading somewhere that Nottingham shed put it to use for a short time after the tour on local trains before returning it to the Southern region? Can anyone confirm the story, or am I completely imagining this? https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/620513rc.html https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p518773543/h90D410A#h7d83f4f

Definitely- I'd be amazed if we don't see the Coronation Scot vehicles reappear in future catalogues in BR guise. Given that in the blog they mention the rest of the vehicles being done by modifying their existing tooling, with the RFO and kitchen car being all-new, it strikes me that they'd be missing a fairly open goal if they don't adapt the design work for these to tool up the more 'workaday' open coaches in the future as well.

My local Morrison's (Coalville, N.W. Leics) has stocked BRM for a while- in fact it's been my usual source locally for a few years - funnily enough it;s local newsagents where I struggle to get a copy

Essery also states that 500 were converted back to mineral wagons in 1945- if they were intended as a temporary expedient, then making the conversion as minimal as possible makes sense. The book suggests that 346 of them became twin case wagons, as you mentioned, from 1942, and a further 154 pairs were split up and converted to flat case wagons around the same time.

That's brilliant Tony, exactly what I was looking for! The interior view shows the bolster arrangement much more clearly than the LMS drawing, and the photos show the side doors removed, whereas the LMS drawing seemed to imply them being left in place I've got a few Parkside RCH minerals in my wagon kit stash, and I can see a couple of them embarking on a whole new career as bolster wagons fairly shortly...