MrWolf

Obviously a great deal of research, market expertise and thought has gone into the pricing of this locomotive. £, 2, 3, 4, . 5, 0 If I could be bothered, I would have a look look at his other items for sale and see if there's anything for sale for say: £12.34, £23.45, £34.56 etc. etc. But I have more pressing issues to attend to, chiefly, swearing at the battery on Miss Riding Hood's Triumph Herald. It's sulking at lack of use.

Agreed, but that wasn't quite the point I was making. Many of these minor lines ran trains in such a way that would never have been tolerated on the main lines. I think it is a pretty brave thing you're doing to try and define a tramway, especially when so many of the original operators couldn't seem to decide either, such as the Selsey Tramway. Did the definition somehow allow them to operate outside of the regular railway rules as did the light railway act? It seems many had a foot in both camps. If I think tramway, the first thought is some horse drawn plateway, followed by electric powered mobile Victorian conservatories. ( I actually like them, I would definitely use public transport if we still had those things)

Hey! Keep it down! Don't want Joe Schmoe realising where we get em! Due to the lockdown we have a real glut, I mean bargain bundle of scale pit props / telephone poles (aka barbecue skewers)

PSSST! I've got a limited supply of black market coffee stirrers liberated from Wetherspoons before the lockdown if anybody's interested? £25. No questions asked.

That's all I have ever used it for. I put all the old red and blue chequer board flags back into the kitchen of my first house and sealed them with Johnson Klear. It was amusing watching the dog trying to gain traction on that floor if someone came to the door. Dobermans' are not fitted with sanding gear and it's probably not advisable to try retro fitting it either!

Whilst I agree that could be said, many of the light and independent railways had only a tenuous grasp on signals and block working. Quite a few had signals and didn't use them, many working "one engine in steam ' thereby avoiding the need for block working, telegraph etc. As for the W&U, once the wooden tram engines wore out, they were replaced with diesel shunters fitted with rudimentary skirts. The rest of the stock was no different to mainline stock, so I would vote for it to be included. Otherwise we might question the industrial or military locomotives that powered the other minor railways, putting them in a different category. Quite a few also ran converted tramcars and colonial coaches that don't really sit well with the 'true railway '. As for the Ford and Wolseley Siddley railbuses / lorries that ran on many lines, your guess is as good as mine! I suspect if we simply say: If it at some point in its existence carried passengers, was external or internal combustion powered and standard gauge, it's in. That should stop us becoming bogged down in semantics.

I think it would be useful to have a light railways section. If only to bring all of the information together library style. I have long been interested in the likes of the Bishops Castle Railway, who were often given a hand up by the GWR and LNWR, but all approaches to them for a takeover were declined. They might have lasted a bit longer had this happened and I doubt that the line would have been profitable enough for the investment necessary for a total transformation. Which brings me to the point; where exactly do we draw the line? The Garstang & Knott End Railway was an independent that found itself under the wing of the LMS at grouping. But that extended to little more than a new coat of paint on the locomotives. The GKER retained its shall we say, unique charm to the very end.

Quite. Had a quick look: "Vintage Dandy annual, 1980, £40 + £2 postage. We have about 100 such comic annuals at the back of the shop, 3 for a fiver is the going rate!

Wasn't that given away with the introductory copy of one of those £2.99 for the first month then £17.99 for the next twenty five years magazines? There will be loads about.

Having spent time working in Africa, I once convinced someone that there was a town in Somalia called "Dafuq" Comes in handy in cases like this.

Bury Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway. It had a very tight loading guage, even the Great Western had to abandon their standardization and hack about their locos and brake vans. A similar problem was had by the LMS in the midlands with the Leicester & Swannington Railway. They kept a pair of original spec Midland Railway 2Fs going right to the end as nothing much else would fit through Glenfield tunnel.

I wonder if it's possible to un see something? Those pictures should put anyone off taking drugs...

Top to bottom, pre WW1 style galvanized cask. Galvanized type with angle iron ribs, used for highly flammable liquids at least up to the end of WW2. Galvanized type with applied shaped ribs showing side plug. Common type for oils and kerosene WW1 onwards, this is a 1930s example. Note the pressed reinforcing ribs of the upper and lower sections.

The 55 US gallon oil drum was first patented in 1905, replacing a type of steel barrel that looked like a wooden cask, which cost much more to make and tended to leak. They became popular in Europe during WW1 through military use and became commonplace. Early ones often have a plug halfway up from the top as well as a drain and vent plug in the top. Hope that helps. Rob Wolf

They do, it might be better to commit that cardinal sin and simply not bed it in as you would with your masonry buildings. BTW, I have found a wills pagoda in my stash, it might have to be done! There used to be some really good pagoda kits on the market, complete with windows etc. Naturally, the invoke a bidding war on ebay...

I suspect that the raised base it sat on would've been only the thickness of a single brick, slightly inset to allow rainwater to drip away and not collect around the lower edge of the corrugated iron, otherwise it would rust like a bean tin in a salt mine. Standard practice with steel buildings. The black paint around the bottom is more likely to be dark brown, it was used occasionally on items that saw a lot of traffic such as the bottoms of engine shed and signal box doors. The bottom of that hut, once it did start to rust, would receive attention, rather than a full repaint.

Not at all rare. Worth £10 on a good day if it works. It's actually a pistol drill although you could get an attachment to convert it to a pillar drill. I remember borrowing one from my great uncle back in the 80s to drill out a broken stud in an engine. It would drill a hole to Australia, they were so well made but capable of breaking your wrist like a twig if you didn't respect the amount of torque. I still wince when I see one and remember it snatching!

The first coaches I ever had were 20 year old Triang clerestories, detailing them is what got me into modelling. I've also got an old K's A31, it's in the queue for surgery. As for the weight, I'm glad I used 9mm ply for my layout boards! I think the only brown vehicles you can't get new are syphons C and F. An old K's plastic syphon F just made £41 on flea bay. Don't get me started on the demise of the likes of Coopercraft. You could do a lot with them once you had binned the wheels.

Knowing my luck, he will have and SWMBO will hit buy it now. She's rather partial to er, unusual bits of antique furniture. She'd then sit cross legged in it like a skinny Buddha and eat her breakfast. (we've had that conversation)

They're still some of the most useful coaches for bashing into representations of actual prototypes. I cut and shut them, fit Dean bogies, detail and paint them. The panelling is really well moulded, considering that the moulds are approaching 60 years old. Despite the popularity of the GWR with modellers, we are no longer well served with kits for wagons and coaches, which is probably why old K's and D&S kits are fetching daft money on eBay. There are plenty of these about in rough condition for not much money. I can't justify spending a fortune on etched kits and as with some of my other interests, I like bringing things back from the dead!

Tempted to message the seller and ask him if when he nicked this from Alcatraz, did he get the electric chair that goes with it?

We hope you're daft enough not to do your homework and simply wave money at us, because you're a serious collector and you've got to have it no matter the price in case someone else gets it?

It's dealer obfuscation for "second hand".

Exactly, it's just like buying a new car that's an "ex demonstrator" it's got 500 miles on the odometer and dozens of Joe's have kicked the tyres. Hence, it's up to a grand under book price. POA is short for Price Only After We've Felt Your Wallet....

Amen to that. In fact, whenever I see superlatives used in the title I immediately think that the vendor is using diversionary language. The vintage vehicle trade is rife with it and my other pet hate £POA