Martin S-C

There's no doubt that coal bins were a common feature of many railway yards but the practice would vary between railway companies, regions and routes. Check your prototype photos and plans is always the correct answer. I have about a dozen photos of goods yards showing coal bins and of course their placement varies, but placing them directly alongside sidings was definitely a thing. The attached picture of Wadhurst is the best evidence of wagons being unloaded direct over the back of coal bins I've found. You can see dropped lumps of coal on the track next to the bins.

Colin If you do find a method for showing rosebay willow herb in 4mm, please let us know. It was a very common plant in the wilder grasses along railway line fencing and in the corners of firelds and along roadside hedges and I am interested in trying to model it as well. It struck me that Kevin's tall yellow blooms could pass for foxgloves as well.

I am modelling a fictional railway but its location is near the Forest of Dean which was a significant coal mining region. I will check out my library of Wild Swan and Lightmoor Press titles again and see how common (or uncommon) coal merchants were in the yards of local stations of that area. And generally, yes, it was done every which way you can imagine over the course of a wide geography and timespan, I am sure. If anybody does have a photo of a coal wagon being unloaded direct into a coal bin via the door rested on the bin's back wall I'd be very very pleased to see it. I've searched long and hard with no success so far.

Thank you. There's been a few discussions on the Realistic Railway Modelling FaceBook group recently about how accurate we modellers are in placing coal bins hard up against a siding. One fellow denies it ever happened, claiming bins were placed opposite a siding or at the end of the yard and wagons were unloaded into sacks by hand or onto carts/lorries. There are multiple photos however of real wayside stations where coal bins and coal stacks are placed right alongside sidings but whether wagons were ever unloaded directly into them by dropping the side door over their backs (as yours are shaped to allow) so the coal could be directly shovelled out is up for discussion. I personally think it did happen due to the obvious simplicity of the process and why would a coal merchant double handle a load (wagon to cart and then cart to coal bin)? Demurrage charges would tend to encourage coal mechants to get the wagon unloaded as expeditiously as possible as well which would argue using it as a coal bunker to fill sacks from. Its a fascinating subject and amazing that there appears so little written or photographed about it prior to WWII, and with the passing years none who now have personal recollection of the process. I'd be very interested to hear others views on the subject. I know you, Kevin, are very keen on accuracy and if you can find the source of your coal bunker model I'd love to know more. I'd also like to put in a request for more photos of the Little Muddle goods yard and terminus.

Kevin - what is the wooden screen-like structure against the siding that lies between Misty and the GWR wagon being loaded from the van near the buffer stop? I thought they may be coal bins but I am not sure, looks like the lower sections have roofs over some kind of bunker or container...?

RMWeb badges would be a good idea, joking apart. "RMW" on the top, "forum username" below and the background in two colours to match your primary interests, these being period; Victorian, Pre-Grouping, Big4, Early BR, BR blue era, Privatisation, etc. And modelling speciality; Design/Planning, Baseboards, Track, Electrics, Kitbuilding, Signalling, Scenery, Operations, etc.

Could you isolate the lettering as one layer, reverse the image of the wagon side for the end door issue, paint the (now backwards) lettering out on that side and re-apply the saved lettering layer? When I was involved in MSTS from 2001 to about 2010 I didn't do any 3D modelling and only a small amount of retexturing of others models but I do recall it was a fun challenge to tweak textures to get them to fit different places, etc. I made a few of my own textures in Paint Shop Pro and even MS Paint but my efforts were pretty crude.

Yes, that's what I had in mind. Probably not allowed on the British standard gauge by the end of WWI though. I have some Highland sheep wagon kits that are opens with extra height rails. They may have to do to quench my love for drophead livestock transport. I'm using Slaters MR coke wagons as provender wagons too. I just have this odd hankering for open wagons that are effectively box vans with no roofs; something I can't put my finger on makes them highly appealing.

Barry, thank you very much for the edited additions of names. Jolly useful and saves me many awkard or embarrassing introductions!

Testing the engine in photographic grey. EDIT: Just noticed how light the buffer guides have been rendered. Odd.

Thanks very much. Unfortunately I am fairly new to RMWeb so don't know your real names for the most part!

Could you lift a texture direct off the image? The livery is white on black anyway. As to fonts and so on, I am not sure there is such a thing as a standard font on PO wagons. The names of companies, people and places were usually compressed or stretched to fit the space available, as you can see with the two renditions of "Llantwit" on the above wagon. The font has been vertically compressed and letter spacing adjusted on the smaller lettering. I suppose you can use an image editing program once you have the base font and alter the dimensions. I wish I could make my own transfers as once you can digitally manipulate images the sky is your limit but I'm a techophobe.

Which demo stands will you fine gentlemen be at, please?

What are you demo-ing at Warley? I will be there on the Sunday.

If you are seeking whimsical wagons Annie, here is a real one I have always liked. Some years ago POWSides did a 4mm scale kit of it but I have looked long and hard and haven't found one yet.

Actually the pigment ratios were set out in company instructions and paintshop foremen were highly skilled and proud individuals who made every effort to get things right. No self-respecting railway company (i.e. all of them) would allow wagons to out looking non-standard. That is not to say however that between repaints (which might be as much as a decade) different paint finishes did not react differently to varying conditions of sunlight, moisture, oil, grease and general dirt so you could see considerable variation from wagon to wagon. That having been said I do think the standard NBR grey was a little darker and bluer than depicted in your image Annie - but then yet again I might be perceiving a different colour completely because of the settings on my monitor and PC graphics card.

Yes, another reason to model prior to 1926 and the abolition of limewash for disinfecting cattle trucks. By the late 20s they just look too clean. I have toyed with the idea of chopping the roofs off a couple of cattle trucks in the Irish NG style and may yet get the blade to one or more of these.

Yep, there was a touch of humour in my post though. Thing is, why not bring the USA product into line with what they sold in Britain, making them Marathon bars on both sides of the pond (and presumably in every other country as well).

So was the same man-shopping logic behind changing Marathon to Snickers?

Very nice. I do like the solebar plates. What does the left hand one say? I think I read "WALSALL" on the lower line. I have checked my fleet and they are all still here, so we need to get Inspector Trunnion of the Yard on the case. It appears there is a black market wagon trader in the district. Would you know anything about that Annie? I do note you seem to have lost some rails though. I am just getting over a week or so of procrastination and then I really SHALL get the garage interior painted. I have the emulsion and brushes, I just keep finding excuses to stay inside in the warm. I have encountered the first downside of a model railway built in a garage. It has a heater but its just getting out of the house and across the miserable grey damp intervening 30 feet... I have distracted myself with a few cattle wagons, though I suspect I have way too many now for the layout. Still, variation is the spice of something-or-other. There was a fair bit of hoo-ha over the Oxford Rail's LNER cattle wagon's accuracy I recall and I have encountered another bonus of building a freelance layout - if the wagon is inaccurate... it just doesn't matter

Annie, that was the first MSTS, released back around 2000. Compare with Sem's images and you can now see how crude it was, although at the time we thought it was fantastic. The route editor was very flaky though. And my favourite engine of all time, Dean experimental 4-4-0ST No.13 which saw service on the Highworth branch in the early 1920s. (She also worked the Liskeard & Looe for many years, Annie)

Wow. Train sims have seriously improved since I played about building a route in MSTS1.

Three in a row!

I was going to ask what kind of image the tits left on the windows but on second thoughts I've decided not to.

If you notice, the bananas don't taste of bananas either.