Horsetan

Might as well have outside frames!

Will there be a newspaper kiosk on the station selling copies of Portadown News?

Wheels are always a touchy subject. Ultrascale now has a 12-month wait list and that actually increases the possibility of customers actually dying whilst waiting for their orders to progress up the queue. In many ways, they're a victim of their own success because, each time they manage to reduce the waiting time, word spreads, and more orders go in, causing the queues to lengthen back to what they were before. AGW have no intention of tooling up for new types of driving wheel - realistically that kind of development stopped when Alan Gibson sold his eponymous business all those years ago. Likewise I don't think there was any real intention of getting Sharman production going again - the production techniques and tooling were eccentric to say the least, and Steve & Angela Hodgson did well to keep it going in Wales for as long as they did before selling to Phoenix. The weakness of Sharman wheels is that the built-in crankpins are a fixed length; if you want to portray full thickness big ends on the driven axle, then they are not long enough. Since RTR wheels are now much better at representing the appearance of the real thing, some P4 modellers are buying RTR driving wheels as spares, turning off the OO tyres on a lathe, and pressing the RTR centres into new P4 tyres; it's a lot of work, but if you want an accurate wheel for something like a BR Britannia or a 9F, then this is the only credible route.

This all demonstrates that the colour shade changes depending on the ambient light available....

Just beware that ambition can get the better of you....

That change of paint might have been the reason for the scrapping. The story was that Dr. Cox had bought the engine (along with all the other stock he had bought) and all his purchases were marked with "USA" on them, pending the shipping which never came. Painting Erne in green might have tidied her up cosmetically, but it also removed any markings of Dr. Cox's ownership so there was nothing to warn off the scrapmen when they came by in 1967 or 1969 (depending on which source you read). Hammond Lane Metal Company of Dublin dealt with much of the scrapping of the CDR lines, but it's not known if they came back for Erne or whether a different contractor took the job.

I'm in the market if you ever decide to do it.

Very much along the lines of what Oscar Wilde reputedly said: "The only thing worse than being talked about....is not being talked about."

The Irish will presumably resent the English for subsidising them.....and also for not subsidising them when finances drop...

Des says there were three kits: composite, all-3rd, and brake. My guess, and it's just a guess, is he'd need between 6 and 10 firm orders - as a minimum - for each type to be viable.

The SSM Bredins were not the suburban variant.

I'm just after e-mailing @Weshty about the website problem. He reports he has fixed it. Now, here's the thing: the SSM Bredin coach kits have been discontinued due to lack of demand, but Des says he might bring them back if there is enough interest. I have put my name down for a kit to represent the RPSI's example, but I suspect I'm in for a very long wait.... I'm just after e-mailing you to put my name down for a Bredin 3rd.

Papal representative visits were probably VVIP ones. There should be some aftermarket Papal headboards and flags and things available. "That's what I like about Catholicism - it's so vague, and no-one really knows how it works...."

I have received one e-mail today about the Hunslet, including a confirmation of what I'm paying for it.

Sure ye might as well go the extra mile and paint the thing orange.

Yes. There's at least two other SSM Bredin kits, a First and a Third. Best alert @Weshty to the website problems.

Ninelines subsequently produced a small number of CDR and T&D wagon and van kits in both 009 and 00n3. They are supposedly still available. I've been looking, on and off, at something even smaller - the Guinness Geoghegan 0-4-0s. I have drawings. It looks like all kinds of madness for scratchbuilding.

Accurascale's first RTR steam engine - the GW Manor - isn't P4-compatible, so I wouldn't expect the IRM RTR steam approach to be any different as regards 21mm. That leaves the SSM kit. You know you want to.

I was on the Adavoyle operating team at the Chatham Show in 2000. This was the same year when part of the Chatham tent roof collapsed under the weight of rainwater, severely damaging a trade stand.

Best thing about Cultra is none of the exhibits run, so you can dispense with the need for motors and gears

That's an idea! A converter wagon etch as well!

As far as I understand it, it had been out of use from 1960 onwards. 802 had been cut up as early as 1957, since her tender was still in existence at that time and Bulleid had considered using it for his Turf Burner experiments.

I've seen the G3 version. I have a set of drawings!! I'm in, if you're in! 1'10" gauge in 4mm scale translates to about 7.9mm! For the sheer madness of replicating it, I think it should be designed for this - 2mmFS disc wheels could be used as being nearly correct width. Drivetrain: there's some terrifically small bevel and spur gears (MOD 0.2 and 0.3) available from Germany which are used in 1:87 DC/RC road vehicles. The track itself could be cut-down OO9 to start with - the paved-in track used for tram systems looks eminently suitable.

Send a sample to TRS Trains - if anyone can cram in a dynamic generator, he can. I'd suggest you stipulate in your Will that the model is to be buried with you. That way, you can take it with you when you go.....

Funny you should mention Guinness. I looked at the Geoghegan engines and wondered how it might be possible to cram in all that motion and a motor and drivetrain into something that small. Fancy drawing up a Geoghegan etch and see where it takes you?