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Very good to see these images of the roof gardens at Lewis's. I had vague memories of being taken there when I was little in the early 50s, but memories are often unreliable.

You want accuracy from newspaper reporters!?

Fascinating photos! The first is of a Webb compound 2-8-0 in full LNWR lined livery taken in pregrouping (before 1923) days, confirmed by the dress style of the ladies, and I suspect prior to the first world war, whereas the second is taken, I'm guessing, about twenty years later. The loco is a...

It's always a trade-off. If you model in N (2mm/ft) you get 4 times as much railway in a given area compared to 00 (4mm/ft). However models of any given loco/coach/truck are almost as expensive in N as they are in 00, which always strikes me as a bit of a cheat. Conversely, modelling in 0 gauge...

I think your model is not alone. Some of the more recent Hornby models are beautifully detailed, but some of the bits fall off as soon as you take them out of the box! Worse if you try and take the chassis out of the body (for routine maintenance) you finish up destroying even more of the...

Thanks Mac I'm not going to admit to how many locos I possess, but I believe that we are known as "locoholics!" It's what comes of carrying on building them and not selling any.

Such a joy watching trains passing by at speed. When I was little, circa 1950, on the back of my parents' tandem on Sunday afternoon jaunts, we came through Wootton Wawen quite often and I could never manage to pronounce the name properly!

Yes, I understand that other posts in this thread have given the explanation as to what the "jug handles" mean, but not all Imperial Petrels had them. Mine certainly doesn't.

Mostly because you have to program a loco before it will go. Secondly because you have to allocate a number to the loco and this means you have only 64 to choose from. Thirdly you have to remember which one your chosen loco is and if you have any more than 64, you are in trouble, because you...

Glad you're OK with the baseboard. Yes, I have scratch built quite a lot in 00. Mostly loco chassis to go under kit built or proprietary bodies (all steam). everything from 0-6-0 inside cylinders (nice and simple) to 4-6-0 and Pacifics with outside cylinders & valve gear. Also kit-bashing...

Hi Do you mean the models or the baseboard? If the latter, then the important thing is to ensure the baseboard is good and rigid. Ideally the subframe needs to be of 80 x 20 mm timbers in an egg-box cross braced framing spaced no more than 40mm apart. This will give you a baseboard which is...

You're right, this is an 0-4-4 tank, but it's an Isle of Wight loco, a London & South Western O2. The 0-4-4 I had in mind was an LMS loco, one of only 10 built in 1932 and numbered in the 41900-9 series. Unfortunately the number on the loco in New St is too blurred to read.

It's great to get first hand accounts of these trades (and tools) that have long since disappeared. I'm also fascinated by the New St photo; what looks at first sight to be one of the ubiquitous Jinties shunting stock is apparently something different. Although not entirely clear, it SEEMS to...

I hope this thread produces some good reminiscences. As a 5 year old I had many a happy Sunday afternoon at Bentley Heath watching the traffic in and out of Snow Hill GWR. Trains used to come through there at a rate and often the driver was hanging on the whistle. It was the most exciting thing...

Naah! He was an LBSCR E2.

What a lovely old boy Wilbert Awdry was. Benign and kindly, he always had an optimistically benevolent view of the world. But what was so perceptive was the way he characterised the different personalities of the engines he envisaged. Gordon was always so bumptiously proud and bossy, Thomas was...

Don't know if anyone else had a similar memory, but when I was little living in Yardley Wood, my parents were keen cyclists and many of the Sunday runs into rural Warwickshire finished up at the tea rooms at Bentley Heath. Paradise for me, because the GW main line passed only a short distance...

You are right that a GWR loco was tried out (and failed) for banking but it was a 2-8-0 tank engine with outside cylinders. The GWR loading gauge was more generous which is why its cylinders fouled the platform at Bromsgrove. The Western pannier tanks (94xx class) had inside cylinders which gave...

In my view, any hobby which requires the exercise of skills (and therefore of trying to improve your abilities) is wholly worthwhile.

I understand entirely; I too discovered girls, beer and cars (not necessarily in that order), but it wasn't just that that turned me away from railways (at least for a while!) It was the dieselisation that really depressed me. I was spotting on Nuneaton station in mid 1959 and I was waiting...