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As it’s world book day today 7-3-24 and my grandchildren are going to school dressed as various characters, I was pondering who I would have gone dressed as. I’ll start the ball rolling with William Brown in Richmal Crompton’s Just William.

I noticed online that the Bluebell Railway have this yellow armband in their collection but want to know more about it and indeed if it’s from the old UK Southern Railway or from overseas. Knowledgeable information welcome!

This is a question I was pondering with a couple of enthusiast friends the other day. Not many years ago, depots and yards were full of locomotives and class 08s seemed to be found everywhere. Nowadays you’re lucky if you see a handful of locos even on a long mainline journey and yet the...

Mrs 32475 and I are looking at going on an escorted rail based tour early next year. Can anybody recommend any particular tour operators? We’re currently looking at Mercury Holidays, Great Rail Journeys and Rail Discoveries but would be interested to hear other people’s views. Thanks in...

This topic is exactly what it says on the tin or packet! I have this half kilo tin of curry powder I bought in Chinatown Manchester circa 1995 and I still use it on a semi regular basis. The quantity is in grams but it’s well pre-barcode. It’s quality stuff but there’s not much left in it so...

I love any photo location challenge which pops up on here every so often but can anyone help me to identify the location of this one. It features LB&SCR E4 no 475 ‘Partridge Green’. As far as I’m aware it was a Brighton and Newhaven based loco throughout its life and rarely ventured out of...

Like ‘Desert Island Discs’ the long running BBC radio programme, I’ve often thought about which 8 railway books I would pick out of my collection. Here is my choice and I’d be intrigued to know your choices too. Like the radio programme, you are also allowed to take a luxury item with you but in...

Can anyone recommend a good phone app for UK bus and rail travel planning? I sampled a couple last week but got rid of them straight away because I was bombarded with adverts and got no helpful travel information whatsoever.

I couldn’t help noticing that Talisman Railwayana Auction sold a BALLYMOSS nameplate for £32,400 on Saturday and that was just the hammer price never mind the commission. Apparently it’s set a new sales record and I can’t help wondering what the entire locomotive cost to build all those years...

This month, Rail-online included a remarkable photo from September 1946 of a prototype Bulleid sleeping car at Lancing Carriage Works (the photo shows it being shunted outside the works by a LBSCR Terrier). I can’t do a link to the website, however I never new that Oliver Bulleid had ever...

Today marks the centenary of the birth of the Big Four (GWR, LMS, LNER and SR) so I propose a raised glass to their memory! Meanwhile, I’m intrigued to know how the new companies made their various transitions especially in terms of publicity, graphic design (for posters, signage etc). I imagine...

Can anyone help me to identify this plate which I bought several years ago? There is an E in a triangle between the S and the R (presumably denoting Eastleigh). It measures 253mm x 152mm or 10”x6” Unlike many cast plates it has no text below the number where you would often expect to see the...

I walked past this multilingual sign in Deal, Kent this morning. It’s obviously been there for a while but I’m intrigued by the choice and variety of languages. For instance why isn’t Flemish included since the Flemish speaking world is only forty miles or so from here. Also what’s the...

I wondered if anyone has any news or updates about the One:One Collection at Margate? I tend to see news about whenever locomotives or rolling stock get delivered there but little or nothing about building progress or when it is likely to open as a visitor attraction.

Does anyone have any recollection or photos of a derailment at Hassocks station in July 1981? I cycled down to the station on July 24th after hearing that the Brighton Main Line was closed and went armed with my camera and blagged my way onto the down platform by showing my Priv Card. Sadly I...

Inspired by the the ‘Things you don’t see outside any more’ thread, clues about getting older seem to be many and various. Such things strike me more and more since I recently qualified for my first Senior Railcard. Anyway, I thought I’d start off with the following: -Sitting down in an armchair...

Living near the English Channel I use the Boat Watch app fairly regularly to look at local shipping movements. I couldn’t help noticing that over the last few days, Pride of Burgundy which has been tied up at Dunkirk for several months is noted as it’s most recent movement being Haywards Heath...

I went up to the festival at Ally Pally yesterday (Saturday) with a pal. It was a great event with a huge number of layouts of all scales and plenty of trade stalls with bargains to be had. It was totally inspiring, geared towards all ages from youngsters to seniors. Altogether the visitors were...

I’ve never really given much thought to the design or variety of station buffers until I was passing time at Glasgow Central yesterday and this mighty pair caught my eye on platforms 10 and 11. I presume they are hydraulic and certainly look fit for purpose, but it makes me wonder how much...

I see that the Belmond Pullman set is being hauled by both Clan Line and Tornado on Sunday 21st November. I presume this means a double header and would be wonderful to see. Looking at Realtime trains, there appear to be two alternative FRGT coded paths, one departing London Vic at 09.54 heading...