WE'VE reached the end of the line with the Bluebell Railway, so far as P. Wisdom from Brighton is concerned. Only we don't seem to know exactly where the buffers are, he complains.

In recent reports we have said the railway runs from Lewes to Horsted Keynes; Sheffield Park to Kingscote; and Sheffield Park to East Grinstead. Only the second is correct so I have to say it's a good job it's not down to us to make sure the trains run on time.

And while we are talking about trains on the Bluebell Railway, Mr Wisdom queries our choice of picture to go with a story last week about the restoration of two Metropolitan Railway carriages. Why did we choose a side-on portrait of project manager Martin Lock leaning out of one of them with a tank engine in soft focus in the background?

After all the years of elbow grease and raising funds, Mr Wisdom thinks a full view of the coaches, which have won awards for the renovation efforts, would have been more appropriate.

Well, Mr Wisdom, that's exactly what we did have earlier this year. I'm chuffed to tell you that on February 1 we reported the newly-restored carriages had been out for a run on the Bluebell Line and there was a picture of one of the 100-year-old coaches in all its glory to prove it.

Ihave to say it looked terrific - all that varnished teak panelling with skilful coach lining, and chunky, deeply-shaded numbers on the doors so the third-class passengers wouldn't jump in the wrong compartment and frighten first-class ladies of a nervous disposition.

And, of course, there was a magnificent coat of arms on the side - a boastful reminder of those days when railways were run by Fat Controllers like the one in Thomas the Tank Engine. You know, those portly men who wore top hats all the time and put on a morning coat and striped trousers to eat their breakfast.

It just goes to show you can't afford to miss your Argus, and that's why our photographer took a different kind of picture for last week's story.

We were too quick again, I'm afraid, with the blue pencil when editing a reader's letter the week before last. Edwin Slade, of Shoreham, wrote to share his happy memories of the Brighton Dome in the Thirties and the stars who performed there.

In his letter Mr Slade went on to say those were great days and Brighton was a great place, unlike now when it has become, in his view, so run down that it is for him a no-go area. Because of our clumsy cutting we took out the reference to the town as a whole and ended up with Mr Slade saying in print that the Dome was run down and a no-go area.

As he complained to me this week, that was not what he intended. My apologies. Indeed, he says, the Dome and the next door Royal Pavilion are probably the only two surviving jewels in Brighton's otherwise tatty crown - a sad state of affairs.

Finally, apologies to Bill Lovell, assistant treasurer at Wealden Council. Despite what was printed in a letter published in the Argus on Tuesday, he says he is not and never has been employed as a consultant by Academy Information Systems, a division of Capita.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.