John Isherwood

How about including some additional marker lights on the detailing sprue, to enable purchasers to produce variants not available within the main releases. Regards, John isherwood.

At no point was I making the case for conversion from coal to oil-fired steam locos. I was merely pointing out that the 'Puffing Billy' seemed to be following a path previously trodden by the FR / WHR, from which they subsequently turned back. Regards, John Isherwood.

Jason, I think it is completely correct to describe the Austerity / J94 as an industrial locomotive - even if it is one that had been purchased by BR. The design was developed from the Hunslet 50550, which was an industrial design. The Austerity / J94 was used overwhelmingly for the same duties as industrial locos, even when owned by the WD and subsequently BR. It was not conceived as, or widely used as, a passenger loco, and it undoubtedly looks out of place on coaching stock. That is not to say it should not be preserved - far from it - but it does give the impression of being a 'last resort' when used on timetabled passenger trains. Regards, John Isherwood.

That's stretching a point, I'd say. The Bodmin & Wenford, an otherwise excellent railway, is using a 'J94' industrial on passenger work at present. I'm sure that there are sound technical reasons why a mainline loco was / is not available, but an industrial on the prestige (and not cheap) evening dining special was a bit of a disappointment. Regards, John Isherwood.

Isn't someone from the Duchy producing a PRA? Weren't the PRAs built on chassis from PVVs? Or am I talking b*ll*cks? Regards, John Isherwood.

Nothing stays the same - there is no law that says that 'heritage' railways have to operate exactly as they did, back in the 'bad old days'. Would that include lagging the boilers with asbestos, so that the workshop staff develop asbestosis? ....that the driver and fireman have to go home to a tin bath in front of the fire? The past is the past, thank goodness; the 'heritage' lines produce a recognisable facsimile of what we experienced, but they make no pretence at bringing back the wholly authentic past. Regards, John Isherwood.

It is worth pointing out, though, that I seem to recall that the FR / WHR reverted to coal-firing for at least some locos. I can't recall why - but there must have been a good reason. Regards, John Isherwood,

Justin, It was meant as a joke - sorry that wasn't apparent. Regards, John Isherwood.

Actually, no. I know it's authentic - but only because the painter / numberer hadn't read his numbering manual correctly. It offended my eye at the time, and it still does. Regards, John Isherwood.

Croid - wasn't that a fish or bone or animal hide derivative? I certainly recall it as being - how shall I put it - distinctly aromatic! Regards, John Isherwood.

I've got it !!! ..... and Heljan have the perfect credentials for this ..... what the EM and P4 aficionados need is ..... a Tubby-Gronk !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Sorry - you're wrong! It doesn't work for many of us - as has been pointed out already. Regards, John Isherwood.

Compromise - the eternal cure-all for when scaling the prototype can't be done. The obvious compromise - allowing the external dimensions of the model to be to scale - would be to narrow the gauge on which the model runs ....... but then someone already did that, didn't they? The plain fact is that you can't have it all ways - particularly with outside-framed locos; give me an accurate body on a compromised-gauge chassis any time ! I certainly don't want a Class 11 or 12 with substandard thickness springs, cranks or rods, or with cosmetic outside frames that are so thin that they'll crack if any significant pressure is applied. Regards, John Isherwood.

I wouldn't wish to be anywhere within earshot of a prototype Dean Goods doing 65 mph !!! Regards, John isherwood.

Whatever your feelings about the issue, it would have been polite to the established group members not to have 'barged-in', ranting and raving. A less intrusive approach would have achieved exactly the same result; possibly even sooner; and certainly without creating the reasonable animosity that you have encountered. Perhaps you may wish to go out, and come in again in a more reasonable frame of mind? Regards, John Isherwood.

That was the problem the last time that we had this issue. SEF's webmaster needs to keep certificates up-to-date. Regards, John Isherwood.

Oh that life were so easy ! So EM is close to, and P4 is near-as-dammit to, scale. Presumably, you'd want the width over flycranks and rods to be prototypical, so that they didn't clobber your close-to-prototypical platform face spacings? No doubt dibber25 would welcome your advice as to how the outside frames, flycranks and rods can be reproduced to scale thickness and clearances, in order to achieve this. I cannot imagine that those who have committed to EM and P4 will not have considered the problems specific to outside-framed locos, before making their gauge choices? I await your response with interest! Regards, John Isherwood.

Windows 7 and Firefox. Regards, John Isherwood.

Nope - that's no good either. Regards, John Isherwood.

Err - no; (D)12040 is not in the list of forthcoming releases. Regards, John Isherwood.

https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p57769627/h269cba8#h269cba8 In this (rather distinctive) livery? Five figure GWR cast plates with just the '6' polished / painted; large hand-painted '6' on the cab (and radiator?); GWR-style 'BRITISH RAILWAYS'. Intriguing, and certainly one for me! Regards, John Isherwood.

Yep - I just had the 'Don't switch off your computer' message and around a quarter of an hour wait whilst it did it's thing. Trouble was - I had a technician waiting to install a smart meter, who needed to turn of the electricity! Such is life ....... ! Regards, John Isherwood.

Me too - and I don't use Win10. Regards, John Isherwood.

Since the locomotive livery in question is a complete fiction; (except perhaps in 'preservation'), I can't imagine why you would wish to perpetuate it. The GWR didn't ever own a single 2-6-4T! Regards, John Isherwood,

Couldn't agree more - and two versions into the bargain. I've got them all - Tri-ang, Genesis and Bill Bedford's - but an RTR would be very desirable for running a decent rake. Regards, John Isherwood.