Gordon Connell

Hornby directors defend chairman Roger Canhamhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39702623

Thank you and thanks to Oldddudders as well.

Would you be able to tell me when they started service on the Redhill to Reading line?

News on work in the Severn Tunnel. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-36837623

News report arguing that HS2 is needed but that the current plans need rethinking. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36376837

The Paisley Canal line was re-opened and has subsequently been electrified.

I'm not sure if there's a misunderstanding here. The line to Alloa and on to Longannet power station was rebuilt to allow for coal to the power station to avoid using the Forth Bridge and also for passenger services to Alloa from Glasgow. The passenger service runs I think once an hour and has exceeded the original estimates for passenger numbers. There may well be a case to be made for extending passenger services on to Clackmannan, Kincardine and even beyond using the old freight route. Gordon

Baling will happen at various times in the year depending on what is being baled. It's only silage that is wrapped in black plastic, to help retain moisture, and there can be a couple of cuts in the year depending on conditions. Hay and straw would normally be baled when they are as dry as possible and without any wrapping.

The other way of looking at this is that the nostalgic link will keep moving and be focused on the diesel/electric traction of later years and that if people model steam then it will take the form of a heritage line. Of course, if this were true then I should want to model the BR blue/grey period but I have no nostaligic feel for that, though I am sure there are some that do. As it is I do want to model a pre-grouping railway, in my case the G&SWR, but I suspect that is because I have always loved history in the broadest sense and have taken that same interest in the historical into my love of railways. Although there are more pre-grouping models I suspect that we are not on the verge of a golden age of pre-grouping though because to do it properly will (almost certainly) always require kit- or scratch-building which puts most people off. I know how they feel because I am approaching the whole idea of kit building with great fear and trepidation. My children keep on asking why I haven't started building the stock yet and I am running out of excuses, so who knows.

Ian, What an absolute beauty! Did you make this yourself? Gordon