locoholic

That is true, of course. I'm simply aware that in the past I've spent a lot on Bachmann products, but now I don't. I am to all intents and purposes a former customer.

I can't think of a single Bachmann product that I'm planning to buy, except perhaps a handful of Palvans, if they're not ludicrously expensive. I don't suppose I'm unique, and would therefore have doubts about Kader's return to profitability.

Am I correct in thinking that for a Palvan to be evenly loaded, it required access from both sides? There must have been plenty of locations where this wasn't possible.

Why do I find it worrying that wagons notorious for derailing were used to carry munitions???

Work on the new facility at Onllwyn has started. There's a report in the Daily Mirror, but I can't paste the link on here for some reason.

I'll be blowed if I'll be running any Palvans on my layout - I have enough derailments already! Seriously; given the promised variations and the implications for tooling costs, I'll to interested to see how much Bachmann try to charge for these vans. The Vanwides were bad enough.

Has there been any date given for the streamlined B17s to appear?

I saw a couple of Heljan Class 47s in a cabinet at Hereford Models today - to me, the front looks a bit weird. I'll stick with my (old) Bachmann ones.

https://www.midlandsconnect.uk/about-us/projects/midlands-engine-rail/midlands-rail-hub/ Looks like the north and south curves into Birmingham Moor Street from the Camp Hill line might actually be built...

Daventry to Cardiff via Crewe is very far from being an exception - there are some extremely eccentric routings of freight trains these days.

Picked my BR Departmental No. 84 up from Derails today - very impressed by the smooth, slow running, including over points. My eyesight can't see the backwards crest, so that's not an issue for me!

Their "expertise" is what has led to the monumental cost increases and general impression that the HS2 project is totally out of control and shockingly poor value for money!

The freight from Daventry to Cardiff goes via Crewe at the moment. Skipton would be no more ridiculous.

GWR 517 and Metro tanks, to pull all the lovely GWR coaches that are/will soon be available.

Requirements of different stock? What about the requirements of the rail network, and the passengers? Seems that the tail is well and truly wagging the dog these days!

Is this a Bachmann or Accurascale model, please?

All that's needed are trains that have compatible couplings - something else that today's rail network can't deliver.

Isn't that effectively what Network Rail did at Nuneham Viaduct for years, until the weight of it all got too much?

Your comment merely highlights the fact that the fragmented structure of the rail industry has resulted in a complete lack of resilience. Alternative arrangements are rarely made, even when there are planned engineering works. As I said earlier, rail is now regarded as expensive and unreliable - the transport choice of last resort.

No, the worst case scenario didn't happen. This is a small slope failure in an area of flat terrain - talk of Glen Ogle etc is ludicrous. By your logic the whole rail network should be closed down whilst every cutting and embankment is inspected not for actual slippage, but for the potential for slippage. Rail formations have had 150 years of weathering, so the potential for slope failure is significant. Just as bad as the over-reaction to this minor event is the failure to divert trains via Nuneaton, as would have happened thirty years ago. Now such measures, designed to minimise disruption to passengers, are judged too difficult and expensive, and the passengers can just get lost. Not a great incentive for people to use rail.

As with so many other things these days, those in charge aren't reacting to what's actually happened, but are instead over-reacting because of some hypothetical worst-case scenario. Rail travel in the UK is getting so unreliable that it's now the last resort, only to be attempted if going by road isn't an option.

So that's what a "blocked railway" looks like, is it? A broom was all that was required to clear the rail head! Mind you, it's the same on the roads. The eastbound A40 near Monmouth has been closed for days by about eight barrowloads of soil and a couple of rocks, which impinged upon the carriageway by at least a metre. Meanwhile in Iceland they have excavator drivers who will work within a few metres of molten lava...

Andy Burnham has, quite understandably, been complaining that the HS2 Manchester trains will now have fewer seats than the current WCML service and be slower, because the HS2 trains won't be able to tilt north of Handsacre Junction. Is there any reason why tilting HS2 trains can't be ordered for destinations north of Handsacre, perhaps running on HS2 itself with the tilt mechanism switched off?

Bachmann are clearly incapable of resisting the urge to slap small yellow panels on the cabs of every single green Class 44 they produce! Bizarre.

Looks like some market research has indicated that Classes 31, 37 and 47 are the "centre ground" of British railway modelling, and no manufacturer will achieve supremacy unless they win that ground. That approach is working well in other spheres, after all!