PhilJ W

John, please pass on my best wishes to Debs and goodnight all.

If your prepared to accept a model slightly underscale theres quite a few models in 1/24 scale.

The MTS plastic kit is quite good but the interior is a bit sparse.

I have a part built Billings Cutty Sark. Most of the hard work had been done, namely constructing the plank on frame hull. That has left only the masts and rigging to do. I bought it because it was remarkably cheap, about £40 IIRC. The main reason for its purchase was the scale, 1/75, so it should fit in with 00 scale nicely. If you check the scales used by Billing you will find several models in 1/75 scale.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just been looking at the 'Changing face of Bristol' thread. Apparently someone didn't like a number of trees spoiling his view so he clubbed together with some of his neighbours to employ a tree surgeon to remove them. The problem was they weren't on his property they were on Network Rails property and were holding up the side of a cutting. He claims to have received an e-mail from NR giving him permission to remove the trees but the first thing NR heard about it was complaints from train drivers that someone was trespassing on the line. I am following this with interest.

If Network Rail have to reinforce the embankment I assume they will make those who paid for the tree surgeon pay for the cost of doing so. It would be a great pity if they had to sell their houses to pay it (thats if their houses haven't slid down into the cutting). And if their houses did suffer in any way due to the removal of those trees what will their insurance companies do?

Rubble doesn't work as well as as broken wall tiles and pottery shards.

It was manufactured by Bachmann but doesn't use the Eko body as its definitely HO scale.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I hope we hear more news of Debs soon, best wishes to her and any other ER's who are undergoing treatment. The foxes were somewhat noisy last night, fortunately I've been able to make any den sites in the garden unusable. Thats it for now, be back later.

I think that it is a Bedford MW going by the short wheelbase. The Ford and Morris-Commercial 15cwt trucks had longer wheelbases. Also the Bedford was semi-forward control and the driving poition would be in line with the side doors.

Goodnight all.

Nearly forgot, the road/rail wheels as fitted to the Oxford Rail Defenders were invented in America c. 1953. One of the first vehicles to be so equipped was a Jeep Station Wagon.

Thanks for that, I've checked on E-bay and there is a stockist for ToyEko in France but a bit pricy at £9.20 each.

I have placed the Oxford and Husky Zephyrs side by side and there is no noticable difference in dimensions including the width.

It is evidently right hand drive, going by the lack of a steering wheel on the left and the single screen wiper on the right. The style of the wheels suggests that it could have been rebuilt from an ex British army vehicle. The front axle looks very much like a Bedford MW 15cwt.

The radiator grill looks like a Thorneycroft. Its capacity would be about 2 tons (or 2 tonnes) which would be at the bottom end of the Thornycroft range.

I have a book called Londons Lost Riverscape, basically a photographic album of both sides of the River Thames from London Bridge to Greenwich taken in 1937. In one photograph it shows containers being loaded onto a ship, these containers appear to be the same size as the contemporary railway containers, the principle difference being they all had a flat roof. The fish-belly frame appears to be the same as contemporary bogie flat wagons.

Someone has modelled a bogie toad. On the subject of bogies certainly all passenger rated stock such as the fish vans would be on coach bogies. Fish and refridgerator vans usually have relatively small single doors basically to keep the cold in. As for passenger rated stock what about milk tankers? As the dairies owned the tanks and they were sometimes transferred to new chassis its quite possible for two tanks to have been fitted on a single (bogie) chassis. A large horsebox like the one depicted would probably have a grooms compartment almost certainly placed centrally.

The Glasgow and Paris maps have arrived thank you. Now all I have to do is date them, the Paris map is possibly pre-war and the Glasgow map is possibly 1950's.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Nothing much to report this morning, breakfast has been eaten and mugatee # 2 is about to be consumed.

Goodnight all.

I had the misfortune to meet Tim Wonnacott a few years ago. His head was so far up his @r$e he needed the big hat to stop it disappearing altogether.

I once had a car that was bright yellow (as BT used to paint their vans). One bright sunny morning an idiot came out of a side turning leaving a big scrape along the side. His first words were "I didn't see you."

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Don't worry Bob, its not big enough to get stuck in the bath. I looked out on the street from an upstairs window and in the shadows created by some trees I saw some flashing LED's moving in a strange way. They moved into the light and it turned out to be a collar attached to a rather large dog. Whether or not the pooch appreciated it I couldn't tell but he was walking quite docilely on a lead.

German MOT failures are dispatched to Poland which has a less stringent MOT and when they fail that test they are sent further east ending up in Russia.