Model Railway Forum

I can't say I get too worked up about it.

I suppose it is just a bit more eccentric but I would have thought Far Tottering and Oystercreek would have been more attractive.

Not for me I am afraid. I also feel a bit Miffed that the Bassett Lowke label has been attributed to this series.

WTD Broadly speaking that was the case. Some locos like the LMS 8F were limited in speed unless the driving wheels had been carefully balanced which then allowed them to run faster. Locos with balanced wheels had a 'star' painted on the cab side under the number. Steam traction generally was self li...

Something else to consider was that a drawing called a 'Diagram' was issued to motive power depots, and to train planning offices which listed on it all the parameters for the locomotive illustrated. The maximum permitted speed, minimum curve, weights on each axle, length, height and width and other...

The speed of trains is defined by the Rules and Regulations and by the practicalities of operation. Railway Companies issued Rule Books, Working Timetables, Books of Regulations and Instructions and also paper instructions to Locomotive Depots, Signal boxes and Stations. When staff came on duty ever...

Before 1939 there were between 4,000 and 5,000 different traders owning between 1 and 1,000 wagons each. There were nearly 700,000 privately owned wagons. 11,500 were owned by traders who owned less than ten vehicles each. Even most of the larger traders would not have had sufficient rolling stock t...

Thank you Nick for enhancing the reply. The subject of use and detention of wagons has been a complicated topic, not only for private owner wagons, but railway owned wagons too. The matter of free days, placement and such like keeping many clerks in goods offices fully employed trying to sort out cu...

On the real railway the interval between adjacent tracks was referred to as the "Six Foot" which was approximately 1830 mm between the rails of adjacent lines (3360mm centre to centre). This has to be regarded as an absolute minimum, and in practice was often greater. In OO the distances will be 24m...

Remember that wagons in service got dirty, and bashed about, so within days of being turned out new they gathered a film of dust and grime, which stayed on them and gradually got worse and worse until the wagon went in for a major overhaul. It was rare for anyone to wash a goods wagon. Because of th...

I won't say it never happened but I believe the individual companies tried to keep their own locomotives, brake vans, and non-pool wagons under their own control and on their own territory. Many brake vans were painted with routing restrictions, especially on the GWR which not only kept them on the ...

The 'official' colours for buffer stops on the Southern Region were as follows- The legs and supporting structure was to be green if adjacent to a station platform, otherwise they were to be treated with black tar. The buffer beam / buffer plank on the front side should be white, with a horizontal r...