Horsetan

Would be interesting from a statistics point of view to see what percentage of initial sales of new releases actually go to eBay traders / price gougers.

Being cynical, I'd say the panic is more to do with missing out at the chance of turning a quick buck on eBay...

Incidentally the old Sharman "B" profile was little different from his original "Mike's Models" wheels, which had a "universal" profile and flange thickness supposedly suitable for use in both EM and P4. Having samples of the Mike's "universal" wheel and comparing them to a proper P4 profile reveals that the only real difference is the thickness of the flange - it should be possible to skim off just the back of the "universal" flange to end up with a wheel that will work for P4 clearances, being about 2mm wide overall. The tyre tread doesn't need touching at all unless you're really fussy and fancy skimming a bit off the front face.

Nothing like a bit of greed, is there?

On the J15 I have now ended up with two types of driving wheels, one being an old set of Sharman 5'2" 16-spoke pin between, and a currently available set of AGW wheels which are marked as 5'0 16spk, but pin inline. The Sharmans are very slightly too big in overall diameter. The tyre wear allowance that was commonly adopted in steam days was to permit up to 2" in wear before new tyres were needed, so the AGW wheel is suitable. BUT...and there's always a but....the crankpin is inline with the spoke. The available photos of no.186 as she is now clearly show crankpins set between the spokes. When a model is moving, nobody's going to see that kind of detail, but when at rest it's something you can't unsee once you've noticed it.

There's a few parts of Google Maps for Ireland that don't seem to have been updated since the early 2000s as the overhead view is very low-res

Who knows....?

The Woolwich 3500 gallon tenders kept the same body width as the ones coupled to many "N" class moguls on the Southern Railway/BR Southern Region, so will likely be 8'3" wide. However, the overall footplate width was widened by around 6 inches to allow for 5'3" gauge, so the Woolwich tender footplate would be 9'6" wide.

This is probably not true of France, where the government long ago lost control of the Paris suburbs, and hasn't had much sway over much of Marseilles for decades.

What did it cost? Is it big enough to park bicycles?

I'm not sure that widening the cab and tender would have produced a useful improvement in power output....

....and I'm reminded that there were Church homes for "troubled" people, miserable though these were.

No, but the Church probably made sure of that back then

To be fair, like Britain, Ireland also has a proud tradition of vandalism and arson. It's kind of ingrained, and any target is fair game, whether it's a heritage railway or migrants.

...and articulating them. If I recall correctly, the Anbrico arrangement between cab and passenger section was fixed, so the cab did not swing.

I'm not sure any excuse is needed.

Some may not have been lit at all.....

Feralism is one of few consistent growth areas at the moment.

Minnesota, by chance?

Those days are gone. Ireland is in sovereign wealth fund territory now, assuming they don't spend the tax surpluses on bicycle shelters. EU needs to reserve money for those hoping to join the EU, like Serbia (good luck with that), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania (major cannabis source) etc.

Britain has nicked loads of Filipinos over the decades for the NHS and care home staff. Luxury cruise lines such as Cunard are substantially crewed by Filipinos, who have a lengthy maritime tradition

Might it be possible to swap roofs and correct the ends accordingly?

There might be some Russian ones available

There must be some way of measuring up the doors, panelling, etc. to see if those bits could be adapted into actual designs. I'm thinking cut 'n shut...

I reckon that call centre is in the Philippines - native Tagalog speakers sound very much like that when they switch to English.