John Isherwood

Who would dare use an oversized '4' to renumber a model loco ?!? Regards, John Isherwood.

If that were the case, why do steam locos have firemen? Just fill up the firebox with coal at the depot, and the boiler with water and, by your reasoning, the steam generated would last for the round trip. Somehow, I don't think so!! Regards, John Isherwood.

I had noted printed requests for readers to recommend the publishers' range to fellow modellers. I did wonder then if there were 'problems', and the reduction of the subscription duration only added to my concerns. Regards, John Isherwood.

Go to a builders merchants and ask for kiln-dried silver sand - as used to brush into the gaps between concrete paving blocks. Regards, John Isherwood.

I hadn't thought that it would be necessary - but it makes you wonder! The website does give detailed instructions as to how to order - but BACS and Paypal customers sometimes think that my PC has the crystal ball add-on! Regards, John Isherwood.

Thanks Andy and John - I shall therefore await the tetchy letter / e-mail, asking why I haven't supplied the item paid for. I know the customer's name, and the sheet required; (from the reference given in the BACS transaction); but not the scale required or where to send it! This happens more often than you would believe. Regards, John Isherwood.

Sorry, DRAGE; (now corrected). Thanks, John Isherwood.

Correction - NOT the prototype CCT - that did not have Continental fittings.

Nope - shorter. In fact, the van in question could alternatively be the prototype CCT (BR Diagram 815), which was shorter than the production CCTs (BR Diagram 816). The ferry CCTs (BR Diagram 1/092), however, were built to the same dimensions as the prototype CCT. Regards, John Isherwood.

If anyone knows a Mr. Christopher Drage, who might have sent a BACS payment to Cambridge Custom Transfers, please could they ask him to contact cctrans@hotmail.com ASAP. Many thanks, John Isherwood.

The basis of my wagon stock is a few Hornby Dublo and Airfix kit wagons, dating from the 1960s, which have been improved over the intervening years. Serious wagon building started in the early 1970s with Ian Kirk's basic kits which, even then I seem to recall, provided numbering information. Since then, it has become something of an obsession, and the turning point came with the purchase of a full set of David Larkin's rolling stock data sheets. If a book has been published on pre-Nationalisation and BR wagons, it's on my bookshelf - and these volumes are used continuously. My wagon stock, including as-yet unbuilt kits, stands at 590 and each has, or has been allocated, an authentic number. Obsessional - probably; (but very satisfying)! Regards, John Isherwood.

My final post - as requested. My only point - as made in my first post - is that the much-used term 'in the spectrum' has no meaning; at least not one that anyone has been able to explain to me. Over and out. Regards, John Isherwood.

Nope, sorry Tony, but that is not the case nowadays. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the volume of detailed research that has been published concerning wagons WAY exceeds that devoted to coaches. How do you think that I manage to produce a very broad range of wagon transfers which, unless someone cares to contradict me, provides prototypical markings for wagons within the period that you model? How? - almost exclusively from the writings and on-line postings of a body of dedicated enthusiasts, who devoted just as much time to studying the intricacies of wagons as others have devoted to the minutiae of locos of the LNER. I do accept that, in your scheme of priorities, wagons are very much 'third class'; but that is probably because you subconsciously recognise that your time on this mortal coil is insufficient to produce Little Bytham, and stock it with locos, coaching stock, NPCCS and wagons all to the same standard of accuracy. That's fine, but I'm afraid that it is not true that it is difficult to get it right when it comes to wagons; it just requires the same level of dedication, (and investment in reference material), as making sure that the wash-out plugs on a Gresley Pacific are in the correct position. We all have our self-imposed 'red lines'; some of us include authentic numbering of freight stock. Regards, John Isherwood.

It's all fashionable gobbledy-g00k !! We're all different, but society insists on trying to label us all. EVERYONE has 'peculiarities' - there is no such thing as 'normal'. In a social environment, some personal 'peculiarities' are deemed to be undesirable and so the 'sufferer' is labelled as being 'abnormal'. This labelling - even amongst mental health professionals - is wholly counter-productive. When I discussed my symptoms with a mental health professional, it was explained to me that certain recent life experiences had sensitised me, and produced symptoms that I was finding disruptive to the way I wished to conduct my life. I was assisted to recognise the triggers for these symptoms, how to avoid or minimise them, and was prescribed medication that helped me to avoid over-reacting. At no point was it suggested that I was 'on the spectrum' which, IMHO, is a convenient catch-all to reassure sufferers that they are 'normal', and to avoid the need to look closer into the actual cause of the mental problems. ... which in itself could well be a symptom of insufficient mental health professionals trying to help an overwhelming body of patients! Regards, John Isherwood.

But what does 'on a spectrum' mean? Nobody can tell me. I have had serious anxiety symptoms; I have had a mental breakdown; I have had CBT; I remain on antidepressants and still occasionally get anxious, and have obsessive habits and thoughts all of the time. But I am not on any 'spectrum' - I can't be because I don't know what it means! I have a disruptive mental condition, caused by historic stress, with which I have learned to live, with the help of medication. I am me - I don't need a label of 'being on the spectrum' to define me; I just get on with life and its good - most of the time. Regards, John Isherwood.

I know that I exhibit obsessional behaviour, and have permanently obsessional thought processes. I would consider trainspotting (in my youth), and buying and building excessive numbers of model railway rolling stock indicative of that condition. However, I do not feel the need to declare myself to be within any spectrum - it's just how I am. I would consider persons who spend hours knocking a little white ball around with sticks to be somewhat odd and obsessive, not to mention the sizeable proportion of the population who get excessively emotional when 'their' team of eleven ball kickers and catchers fails to perform up to expectations! It just part of the human condition. Regards, John Isherwood.

As my wife had a career in what is now known as special educational needs, I am well aware of the difficulties experienced by genuine sufferers of autism. Unfortunately, being 'on the spectrum' seems to be fashionable nowadays, and the term is used as an excuse, especially by lazy parents, for behaviour which would otherwise be classed as willful, rude and otherwise unreasonable. Living close to a small 'exclusive' coastal resort, popular with the privileged and the 'nouveau riche', one is lead to believe that the overwhelming majority of the offspring of this sector of society are 'on the spectrum', such is the extremity of their arrogant, inconsiderate and undisciplined behaviour! Regards, John Isherwood.

What does this mean - I hear it regularly nowadays? Does it imply that you are fastidious about correct detail? If so, join the rest of us - does that mean we are all 'on the spectrum'? Regards, John Isherwood.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't OO Works models moulded in small numbers in resin, to a standard of detail that would not be acceptable to most potential purchasers of an N gauge King. Producing resin mouldings in a small workshop cannot be compared to mass-producing plastic injection mouldings. Regards, John Isherwood.

Maroon, and any remaining crimson containers were gradually repainted into bauxite around the time that the 'boxed' style lettering was introduced. I'd guess that the container to which you refer is an early repaint. Regards, John Isherwood.

If that's the way they want to do it, are we so impatient that we cannot wait a few minutes for a response? This 'I WANT IT NOW' attitude is getting out of hand! By having to phone Cambourne for availability, Kernow have the opportunity to say "No, it's not in stock at Guildford, but we can supply it to you by mail order". Good business practice. Regards, John Isherwood.

I have no knowledge of, or interest in, Class 92 or the N market. I merely suggested that your assumption was incorrect. Regards, John Isherwood.

The converted lifeboat station was, I understand, at one time in the possession of Edward Woodward. Regards, John Isherwood.

The plot thickens - From the same source, another similar FM container marked for banana traffic, and a very similar livery; (dated 03.03.1966 for both photos). Regards, John Isherwood.

The FM container was built in 1949 - but it was ordered in 1946. I would surmise that construction was delayed due to post-war materials shortages. The BDF container is very interesting - I have not come across this variant before. The livery appears to be the standard crimson or maroon; certainly not yellow as that would require black lettering. FM containers were white with black lettering, with some being repainted into ice blue with black, or occasionally white lettering. It is just possible that the livery is ice blue with white lettering, but I doubt it. Clearly its insulation has qualified it to be used for banana traffic, something that I've also not seen before. The photo must have been taken fairly late in the banana traffic period, as steam-heated vans were originally used to ripen the fruit in transit. I wonder if the former meat hooks in the FM container were used to hang the bunches of bananas. Altogether, a very interesting photo. Regards, John Isherwood.