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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...

Nice pic, Ken. Can't make out which loco it is, but it just goes to show what a large scale US locos were built to. IIRC they were permitted to be nearly 16 ft tall? Sadly here in the UK, being pioneers, we were limited by the size of bridges built over the early railways, which meant we were...

A couple of brilliant photos. The first one of 46202 must rank as one of the few pics taken of it in action. Such a pitifully short life for a potentially very intriguing loco. Outshopped in August 1952 (I think) and smashed up on October 8th 1952. It was a hybrid, being a Princess boiler atop a...

Information on the early history of steam locomotion is very patchy. Your question is a good one, because I have heard of other stationary engines being turned into locomotives. The Pen-y-Darren tranway loco comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others.

I was very pleased to see the reference to Derek Harrison (aka Mr Snow Hill) and his book. Many years ago, we members of the Wolverhampton Model Railway Club had a very good illustrated talk by him, at the end of which I bought a signed copy of his book, which I still have. Sad that he is long gone!

I wish I hadn't been such a smart-ar*e to claim that Berwyn station was Carrog. What a mistake-a-to make. Perhaps I should engage brain before releasing gob!?

Would you like to elaborate on that? I thought I was the only person alive who remembered Egbert the engine! Speaking of Sammy the Shunter, does anyone remember a smashing old boy called Harold Elliott. He had a magnificent model railway which I had the joy of seeing at Bingley Hall in the...

Yes, as a kid, I had Sammy the Shunter books, too. There were other "humanoid" engines around in the 50s, the name "Egbert the Engine" comes to mind.

As a trainspotter who used to infest the chunk of platform at the south east end of the station between the LNW and Midland sides of the station between about 1956 to 1958, it is so good to see historic views of the old station. Herr Hitler's Luftwaffe did so much damage to the LNW side during...

So good to see what a beautiful job has been made of "Henrietta", based I understand, on one of the vehicles on the Wisbech & Upwell tramway in East Anglia. It was there, I believe, that Wilbert Awdry was an incumbent in the parish of Emneth. This tramway was the basis of his stories of Toby the...

All of this brings me to a serious exercise in nostalgia. I lived in Birmingham until late 1954, when we moved with my father's work to Kidderminster. Up till then we had been regular members of the CTC Southern Section (Family), but my parent's interest in cycling waned. Nevertheless we...

Thanks for that information. My machine is obviously one of the "normal" models. I was a tad disappointed to find (way back then) that I had to stick to 26" wheels because 27" wheels would not fit. It's clear that mine has the original front wheel, whereas the rear wheel was replaced (sometime...

That's a helluva record; wish I could claim to have done anything like that! Your reference to "jug handle" defeats me. Can you give me a clue what it means?

As a railway nut, I bought a lot of Hornby's recent offerings over the years; the best ones have been the Britannias, A3s and the big Stanier & Fowler tank engines. The most disappointing have been the Duchesses and Royal Scots, the very ones I wanted to be the best! Poor traction and motor...