nigel newling

I do remember sitting in a 155 (when new and before they split them into 153s) at Warminster for an hour. The doors had shut but not registered as such so the train could not move. They had to send a fitter up from Westbury to get us going.

Great stuff. My son returned to London from Bath this afternoon. I understand from him that every other timetabled train slot was taken by new trains (presumably 800s) running as a "ghost" trains, stopping at the platforms but not embarking passengers. Consequently the HSTs, running in the alternate slots, were loaded to danger point - and that was from Bath! :-(

Had smart meters fitted by British Gas then changed supplier (as encouraged by government "to make market forces operate") for a lower tariff. My new supplier is unable to read my smart meters so I receive a monthly e-mail from them requesting that I send them my meter readings to avoid estimating errors. Not so smart meters! :-)

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to remove this infill in order to get back to a scalloped version without too much body damage?

Just a quick correction to Johnster's reply. Wagons from the 4 companies retained their company running number but with the prefix W, M, E or S. BR started a new sequence with the prefix B for their builds, even when the build was a direct copy of a company design. There was a quick "paint job" on the wagons to convert the existing company identities (from the 1936 standard layout) to running number prefixes by painting out the Gs, Ls & Ss, Ns and Rs on the wagon sides, with a similar reduction on the registration plates. This change was achieved within a few months of nationalisation. Full repaints to grey or bauxite took quite a lot longer.

Can we manage a 38xx on a loose coupled freight?

I love those "train spotter" views. A "thumbs up" is just not enough.

I will hold your coat. I have at least 10 Mainline Collett brake composites and thirds that would benefit from laser glaze flush windows. :-D

The platforms at Bath were always low. My Grandfather started his working life as the boy porter there. His job was to look out for first class passengers alighting from London trains and provide them with a footstool to step down on. As was the way of the era, he was "adopted" by a regular traveller, sent to Sandhurst and received his commission in time to join the contemptible little army in 1914.

I am pretty certain that there are only two longitudinal gas tanks under H25/H33 restaurant cars which eases the congestion under there.

Hate to mention this Castle but the brakes on your Mink don't work The Morton lever with the reversing cam should be on the side with the two push rods - but they look great. :-)

Filth,pure filth... ... but, no matter how filthy they got, the slide bars and piston rods always gleamed ...

You should note that the Hornby 7ft bogies have their pin off-centre to get the wheels back where they belong. The 41ft centres suit the H25 - but for one of those you would need bogies with their pin in the centre of their wheelbase. (Sorry Lofty - didn't do an F5 first :-))

The brass sprue shows the 4 stocks that comprise the set. 2 silver Buffer shanks are visible, care is needed to remove them from the sprue as they can snap at the notch along their length. This notch is to accommodate the fork on the end of the spring etch. The round heads in the etch are visible. The oval heads are obscured behind the spring etch.

My latest pack of Slater's 4193 have a small round head cast on the end of the buffer shank. Included in the pack is an etch of round and oval heads that can be glued / soldered to the base shank to make up either form of the buffer.

GW engines don't "clank" :-)

The shank length is fine on the master. The mistake is that they often get cut (or broken) from the sprue at the spring notch rather than the true end of the shank. I have brought this to the attention of Slater on more than one occasion and been supplied with replacements.

David Geen GW/16, Slater's 4913

... Both David Geen and Slaters do them

As a youngster living near Cheltenham I distinctly remember the Standish races - in both directions. The 14XXs always won, beating both Jubilees and Peaks. The other race was the Panniers from Malvern Road v the LMS from Lansdown. Again always a GW win but sabotaged by the Tramway Junction bobby (LMS) letting his train in to Eastgate ahead of the GW train into Central.

my guess - its for an 84 series 8F built at Swindon.

Collett van thirds did not have a rooftop water tank at the van end and, consequently, no end steps at that end either

... with a crank arm and a slotted connecting link to a crank on the VB cross shaft. The slotted connecting link arrangement allows the vacumm brake to operate freely. There are drawings of what this looks like in the F14 slip coach drawing in the John Lewis GW Coaches Official Drawings No3 book ISBN 1-874103-42-9

Just a guess but are those extra v hangers for the guards handbrake cross shaft?

As plating was so random, I think we GWR disciples will have to accept that any r-t-r toplights are going to be full panelled and it will be up to us how we achieve the random panelling look. The alternative is to stick with only the steel panelled later production, which would be a shame. Incidentally, D47s were split between the BARS I and BARS II bodywork panelling. I was taken to task by Coach Bogie for missing that in an earlier coach identification thread. :-)