I do like that vintage model, very good.
Sugar beet, oh peeewwwww... I live in East Anglia, where we still have a sugar beet industry and the smell during the campaign is foul.
A propos the Thomas caboose, the Rev Awdry’s parish was hereabouts, and Thomas’ distinctive blue and red livery, and number #1 were derived from the Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T which worked at the local sugar plant (operated by British Sugar Co in those days).
One of these survives to this day in preservation locally, still operational, bearing the name “Thomas” which was bestowed by the Rev Awdry himself in the early 1970s.
