RJS1977

Ahh... 603.I remember being given a guided tour of her when I was doing work experience back in '94. In those days there was a group working on restoring her and she was in taxiable condition with at least 2 engines working. One of the guys showing me round said one time he'd been repainting the bomb bay when a colleague working in the cockpit pulled the wrong lever by mistake.... So it's sad to see her in such a neglected state now (though I gather plans are under way to clean her up and put her under cover). And of course she has been cannibalised to keep 558 going (sometimes I wonder what would have happened if VTTS had picked her instead as her airframe hours would have been much lower). All of which has nothing to do with steam railmotors....

If it's the building I think it is, it was still there last time I went past (early June) though the tracks were looking rather sorry for themselves. Didn't know Whitland had been a major diesel shed at one time, though of course it was a big depot in steam days.

Obviously a scam. Freshwater's in Pembrokeshire (burial place of Dobby the House Elf!).

The bridge also crops up in Jeffey Archer's novel "Kane and Abel" (spoiler alert!) - Abel, a hotelier by trade, signs up for the US Army and to his displeasure is assigned to the Catering Corps. His perceived arch-rival William Kane becomes an officer in the infantry. On delivering food to the US camp west of the river at Remagen, Abel and his men are commanded to leave the food and cross the bridge as stretcher bearers because a US battalion has crossed the bridge but been ambushed on the other side. Gradually the stretcher party diminishes as its members return carrying wounded soldiers until only Abel and one other man are left. They then come across the battalion's medical officer who has just finished bandaging an officer who has received severe facial injuries. Abel carries him back to camp, unwittingly saving the life of the man he'd sworn to destroy! Don't know if that could be worked in as a cameo?

What's the difference between the Australian cricket team and Eric Morecambe? Eric had LIttle Ern!

Clue's in the name....

Indeed I believe many of the lineside cable trunking routes also contain fibre optic internet cables installed at the request of telecomms companies who have hired the space for long-distance cabling rather than dig the roads up. All very well, but it complicates some works (such as bridge replacement) because although it's not so much of an issue to temporarily disconnect a signalling cable if there's no track there anyway, the internet cable is a different story! The other problem with FO cables in lineside cable runs is that if the copper fairies cut them by mistake, they're much harder to repair than the copper cables are.

MERG have a Thames Valley area group which meets at Grazeley Village Hall (just south of the M4) on the first Tuesday evening of each month (7:30 onwards). Ian Bishop, who organises the group, is a bit of a JMRI whiz and might be able to help you.

Is there anyone out here who's already scratchbuilt one? i.e. is there anyone who can say "Here's one I made earlier"?

Also because it was easier to wire that end of the depot before it opened (the west end of the depot was only completed at the last blockade).

There's fousands of 'em....

It's usually preferred to have people operating the machinery though....

There has been at least one occasion when Metrolink hired in a diesel shunter from the ELR for maintenance purposes!

I know on at least one occasion a 45XX(?) had to be despatched to rescue a 37 on an EWS stone train which had stuck on one of the gradients!

Hmm...I'm approaching my one-year anniversary of moving in and I'm nowhere near having trains running on my main layout! Though I did at least have something running on one of my portable layouts!

Germanifying the turntable's one thing - but what *have* you done to that Bachmann City of Truro? ;-)

Unfortunately the Hymek and the GWR tank aren't mainline certified. There have been at least two specials over the crossing - Cromwell brought one in to open it, and Tangmere brought one in for the Titfield Thunderbolt gala. The NNR have ambitions to run dining trains to Cromer at some stage in the future.

Cholsey & Wallingford and Spa Valley also have within-station passenger connections but no physical track connection. The shortest lines with physical main-line connections are probably the standard gauge demo lines at Didcot.

Glad you liked it, given the amount of "fun" I had commissioning them! :-)

Some of my trips home from Surrey Narrow Gauge Modellers meetings in Surbiton took me past Stirling Moss's old school and the Cooper Garage on my way to the bus stop!

Sorry, you're right - I think I had them confused with something else. It does sound Welsh though...

I've seen a post on Facebook with an old school friend of mine from Stockport in her dad's Riley which looks to be that sort of era. If he's interested I'll pass his details on.

Babs was originally constructed by Count Louis Zborowski of RHDR fame and was bought by JGPT after the Count was killed at Monza.

Reminds me of a sign outside a church hall one time - "Weightwatchers - please use the large double doors."

Hope he didn't drive it into a tunnel... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lqtNThufkk