TheSignalEngineer

Just when I was going to point out that when the 50p was introduced you could file down a Half-crown to the same shape and make 7/6 profit. Now that's what I call a real bargain.

I started a Period 1 LMS BCK recently. Two days before I went on holiday I started a test fit of the slices but couldn't find one of them. Turned the room upside down but couldn't find it. Vacuumed the carpet with a transparent bagless cleaner and still no sign. After coming back from holiday I was doing something in the same room, got up from my chair, turned round and the missing panel was in the middle of the floor. Where it had been in the intervening two weeks is known only unto the Carpet Fairy who carefully placed it there.

In addition to the obvious scams a lot of stuff advertised on both sites in the Greater Manchester area has turned out to be stolen, especially mountain bikes.

According to Mike King, S643S -S655S were originally Diagram 496 Firsts of the SECR 'Continental' stock. Renumbered in 1954 from 7376-81/83-89 and reclassified as Thirds to Diagram 54A. The A denoted that they had outward opening doors. The coach was built by BRCW in 1924. 7382 was lost in WW2. Must have been palatial Firsts as they had 6 1/2 compartments with only 26 seats in total.

I did think of buying one if I haven't gone down the Ratio route before they appear. If I do it will end up as one of the Departmentals residing at Aston, Bushbury or other West Midland locations up to about 1960. The livery will be unlined crud.

Decimalisation was a big con, we got short changed on everything.

I know where it was lost Stu. If you start at the right hand end of the coach the first compartment window is 1mm too narrow. This must have come about by Mainline following the drawing in the Historic Carriage Drawings book, The drawing in the Jenkinson and Essery Pictorial History is correct but the other is wrong. Mainline followed this and it was carried on by Replica and Bachmann. Eric

Ex L&Y TO M9698M at Birmingham New Street in 1956. Copyright RCTS https://rcts.zenfolio.com/coaching-stock/lmsr/other/ea870190b

I've just found a picture of a similar L&Y Open Third coach taken by D J Norton. It was M9679 which had windows added in the ends and internal seating alterations apparently for use as a road learning coach. On 21st August 1954 it was stabled in No2 South bay at Birmingham New Street. Two years later it was photographed at Deganwy

Depending on who you read abrasive saw blades have been around since at least the 1950s or 1970s. I my staff were certainly using both angle grinders and large portable cut off saws on the railway in the late 1980s.

I always thought 95p was 19/-

If they do, just keep it away from those cables. I once stopped a contractor cutting an existing cable duct at Wembley Central. It housed the 11kv feeder to the DC traction substation.

Just read some of the posts on the Hattons Generic 4-wheeler thread

Similarly we now have about 20 suburbans from the big four era after putting up with the Airfix LMS inter district lavatory stock for a generation and a half.

This GWR Tri-Composite lasted as an S&T Mess Van until 1954 https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh2493.htm

The windows and trussing look like it could be L&Y origin. It's surprising how many of carriages of this vintage turn up in photos of the early 1950s. Whilst looking for interesting stuff around the Midlands I've seen pictures of an ex-LNW coach built 1899 at New Street in 1952. It was transferred to the M&GN in 1937. It was next to an NER coach. Others were from the GER, Highland and GSWR, and a non-corridor coach of GCR origin which had come to the London Midland Region via the CLC.

I will be interested to see the chassis length of the 6 wheeler. Will it do as a basis for a Palethorpes van for instance. If so there could be a grounded body in my S&T depot and a few summerhouses for sale on Ebay. Or perhaps Hattons could do a sausage van of the right length.

Clive's plastic surgery certainly encouraged me to do a few to create things never done RTR.

I've not been able to find picture of the compartment side, only the drawing in the Jenkinson book, but some of those don't seem to quite add up, including one bit on the BTK which was followed by Mainline, Replica and Bachmann. Jenkinson included the only picture he could find of the corridor side but that doesn't seem to match the plan drawing next to it. I'm working to the picture and that seems to fit better with what I would expect.

A quick update on the D1755 BCK. Test fit of the compartment side. The toilet window is about 1mm too close to the brake doors and should have 2 equal panels on each side according to David Jenkinson's book. Not sure if I can be bothered with all of the cuts to put it right.

I did wonder if it had arrived on the Templecombe - Derby Perishables which dropped off market traffic at New Street at about 1.30am, and was to be attached to a train towards Bristol or to go further north.

Even later, John Turner, 53A Models of this parish, has recently posted some pictures of an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST shunting Sheerness Steel PXA big box wagons at a scrapyard in Shipley in 1983. I understand the loco had been restored there and soon moved on to other sites, but it would make a good excuse for using a Hattons version on a modern image layout.

I found the picture of it but not sure about posting as I can't remember where I scanned it from. It was definitely a Stove version as it's got a chimney on the side nearest the camera. It means I've no need to apply Rule 1 as it's even coupled to the Coal Tank 58900 that I have on my layout.

Spotted that yesterday, my soldering iron is getting twitchy. Think it may overtake my Hornby cut'n'shut.

Using the Load More Activity button has been erratic for me since the new site started. I tend to use View New Content for a quick look at what's happening rather than going through all activity. Sometimes it works OK but on other occasions I get about three hours back and a click on Load More Activity will suddenly step me back about three or four months or even more, I've had up to a year step back one one occasion Eric.