Nedrahn

Regarding buying from stalls at shows, I sometimes help a trader. His policy is to check if locos run. If they don't, they tend to go in the spares or repairs box - always look in such a box, because if you're prepared to service a loco yourself you can get a real bargain. This trader has long experience of servicing locos, so he knows what's he's doing. However, he just doesn't have time to dismantle every defective loco to see what's wrong. Traders often buy collections of locos and stock, and so can't go into detail with every one. With this trader locos that have been sold as tested work at the time of testing, but sometimes they can be stored for a period and subsequently develop problems. He gives out his card with locos, so that any problem can be resolved. It would seem sensible to me to buy secondhand items from a trader who is relatively local to you, or at the very least is happy to give you his contact details. As said in another post, a good trader would also trust you to test the loco in the show, although I think only within reason. For example, at one show I was in charge of a stall near a 'loco doctor'. I was happy for customers to take locos to him for testing, as I could see them. I wouldn't have been so happy if someone had wanted to disappear with the loco! I suppose in this situation buying the loco and then testing it in the show would be the best solution. I know some traders who just don't care as long as the money rolls in, but most do and can be trusted. However, things can be missed, and models do have a finite lifespan - a loco might go another ten years without trouble, or it might fail a few weeks after purchase. For example, a shop I do the the repairs for had a Hornby Dublo loco in recently. It had been sold six months ago, and had just stopped working. The armature had failed. The shop owner didn't consider it acceptable to give a refund on an item that had been running for six months after purchase, but we did feel the need for some form of compromise. So I sourced a replacement armature, fitted it and serviced the loco. The owner was charged only for the armature, which was the cheapest I could find. A good trader will be understanding if something goes wrong, but a buyer must accept that a loco can fail at any time, and it's no-one's fault. There's good advice on this thread about buying secondhand, although I would add that many Mainline locos can be saved if you're prepared to cut or purchase new driving axles (the most common failure). You also take a chance with the motor. Some are excellent, most are okay, and some couldn't do damage to a rice pudding. Most things can be replaced on older locos. It's just a question of time and cost. When servicing certain locos, though, a third hand would be desirable!

GMRC is what it is - like an exhibition, not everyone will love the format or the layouts. Personally, I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and it can only benefit the hobby. How many model railway programmes do we get on TV? Now how many model railway programmes do we get where the producers show respect for the subject and take railway modelling seriously (but not too seriously, thankfully)? This could have been one giant piss-take, along the lines of here comes Thomas, toot toot, and let's make fun of the grown men (no women, of course) playing with their little trains. Instead we get an attempt to take the appeal and pleasure of our hobby and package it for a wider audience. It doesn't work completely, but it's still better than anything we've seen before. Just compare it with rubbish like "The Biggest Little Railway in the World". If I could change anything, I would say that each team must be made up of railway modellers. It was a bad reflection on Laurie Calvert, which is a shame because at exhibitions he comes across as a very nice guy, who throws himself into his subject. His science fiction layout is excellent. I must also say that Kathy Millatt is wonderful! Kudos to her for coming on to this forum to talk about the show. It again reflects well on the programme that a bone fide modeller like Kathy Millatt is in a prominent position, as is the editor of what is still Britain's best railway modelling magazine. Sorry ModelHornbyBrum-Brum, even producing three issues a month doesn't equal the Modeller. Or at least that's my opinion, and as some seem to forget, an opinion is only that, not the whole of the law. That's reserved for Judge Dredd. EDIT: despite what Andy Y seems to believe, this did NOT contain a personal insult.

I don't claim in any way to be an expert on Who, but surely the series has always had a slightly moralising element, hasn't it? Think of Tom Baker famously NOT preventing the genesis of the Daleks. If it had been gung ho, rather than pushing a message, he would have blown the future pepper pots to bits, and on with the next adventure. I've registered my disapproval of the sex change and JW's acting, and won't bore by adding much to the subject. However are 'complainers' really objecting to a Time traveller with a whatever (see above)? What about Susan? Did she not have something of the Time Lord about her? Perhaps more to point, what about Romanadvoratrelundar (yes, I did look it up)? Personally, I would object just as much to a male Romana as a female Doctor. It's not about sexism or wanting women to be marginalised. I just believe that an established character should be respected, not twisted this way and that to suit a particular writer or trend. We are told that it's about time a woman had the role, because now girls can identify with the character. But what about boys? Why is it acceptable to say to boys that your gender is irrelevant? As I've said already, strong female roles should created anew. To take an established character and change the sex or race to suit the political correctness of the hour is just lazy writing, a form of thoughtless pandering rather than truly addressing the issues of sexism and racism. For what it's worth, which probably isn't much, if it had been me I would have brought back David Tennant, it being a twist with great writing potential to have the Doctor return to one of his old bodies. I would also have had Romana, portrayed as a Time Lord who is every bit the equal of the Doctor, if not better. There would have been no regular companions (or is that friends or gang now?), just characters who come and go and perhaps come back. The focus would have been on the interplay between the two Time Lords against a solid backdrop of a cohesive plot that hammered each story to its conclusion. There would have been less running and quipping to make up the minutes, and the Doctor would remember that he owns a ship that can travel in Time and Space, so less getting stuck in corridors, buildings, spaceships or whatever as the threat of the week approaches. I would also have the Doctor lose once in a while. Perhaps one of the greatest moments in modern Who was when he had to accept saying goodbye to Rose. More of that, less saving the day with a screwdriver.

WELL SAID! It's about time the myth of dreadful Lima diesel chassis was debunked. They aren't even close to state of the art, require some work with a soldering iron if you want DCC, but if maintained properly they can and do run well. Lima chassis are like K's kits - very vocal, self-appointed experts tell us they're rubbish, whilst the rest of us just get on with using them.

I thought that it became The Clara Show (featuring The Doctor), and suffered because of it. I liked Clara, but (given good scripts) the appeal of the show should come from seeing life through the eyes of an ancient traveller in time and space. The whole Clara thing was like making General Tagge the focus of a story when Darth Vader is in the room. I'm afraid I'm not impressed by the new series. Although it might make me unpopular, I don't approve of gender washing - if you want strong characters of a particular sex then create them, and use imagination rather than lazily piggybacking on an existing character. However, I could be wrong about this, so I gave Jodie Whittaker a shot last week. Afterwards I couldn't see what all the praise was about. I tried again this week, because I could have missed something, and thought that the episode was utter twaddle. The story was poor, the acting was third rate, and characters had no appeal or charisma whatsoever. Bradley Walsh was the only one to show some spark, and even then he disappointed. I won't be bothering next week. I know many will disagree with what is only my personal opinion, and I hope they continue to watch and love Doctor Who, but I'm done until the next regeneration. I can't help but be sad that, given the gender swap was clearly going to happen, they didn't get Olivia Colman or Tilda Swinton. Imagine what an actress of Tilda Swinton's ability would have brought to the role.

I was running a sales stand at a show last weekend, and I can assure you that men haggle too! I had a ten percent discretion, but even then I had to use creative mathematics to secure some sales. I think my original point is still valid. If offers are invited and the starting price is high, it is not unreasonable to make a sensible lower offer. The seller doesn't have to accept it. What's wrong is if eBay adds Make an Offer without the seller wanting it.

Surely it depends on the starting price? If a potential buyer wants the item, but feels the seller has started it way too high, it's not unreasonable to offer the best price he or she is prepared to pay, even if that is below the starting price. There are plenty of chancers selling on eBay, trying their luck to see if some fool bites (in which case the sale will probably appear in the eBay Madness thread). As for the market, I feel this is severely distorted by both auction madness and fraudulent shill bidding. The former is a fact of life in any auction - some items you win, some items you watch go beyond their reasonable value as two bidders butt heads. Shill bidding is a crime, but it appears that neither eBay nor the authorities take it seriously. That won't change until eBay is made directly accountable for fraudulent activity by sellers. At the very least Private Listings should be banned. Before any sellers start pounding the keys in outrage, yes there are plenty of good and honest sellers, and yes there are plenty of dodgy and crooked buyers. It's always the few who spoil it for the many.

Cox's "Locomotive Panorama Vol 1" has a diagram of a proposed 0-6-2T, which eventually morphed into the Fowler 2-6-2T. I don't if it's the same one, as it certainly wasn't intended as a replacement for the 0-6-0Ts. The same book has an austerity version of the 0-6-0, repeated in Haresnape's "Ivatt and Riddles Locomotives" along with the Stanier-esque 0-6-0. The Cox book has lots of goodies for anyone who likes proposed (or very speculative) locos, including the genesis of the Crab and an Ivatt style Lanky 2-4-2.

I rather like your various flights of fancy, but then I do already have a big soft spot for 'locomotives that never were'. In this case it's somewhat ironic that Drummond in fact killed a LSWR mogul in favour of his 700 Class. Adams designed a 2-6-0 for main line freight services, using many details from his 4-4-0s. The plans went to the Locomotive Committee in 1894, but orders for other locos prevented any progress before Adams gave way to Drummond. And that was that. The fearsome Dugald didn't build other people's designs, notwithstanding his earlier cribs from Stroudley. All courtesy of Bradley's master work on LSWR locos. A black Southern or BR Adams Mogul would look good. In fact one could go further and imagine that Adams' earlier mogul for the Great Eastern was a success, and lasted into LNER and BR days.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on which pits were productive. Coal was won in significant quantity at Tilmanstone, producing an eventual return. The same cannot be said for Wingham, Guilford and Woodnesborough (Hammill), where nearly all effort was spent digging down, rather than bringing coal up. Of the others not mentioned, only Dover Colliery and Stonehall progressed beyond a test bore, and they were also failures and not served by the EKR anyway! The EKR planned to serve Stonehall though, with two possible routes and some interesting gradients. Richborough was largely disused as a port after Pearson, Dorman Long took over. They made use of the workshops for maintenance of mining equipment. It seems from the records that they weren't particularly well disposed towards the EKR anyway, and only allowed the EKR access to Stonar Wharf under pressure from the Southern Railway. According the aforementioned books, for a short period some PDL coal from Snowdown traversed the EKR to Richborough (having come down the ex-LCDR line first), and in the opposite direction came pit props for Tilmanstone. It would have taken a brave man to drive a heavy train over that bridge, or even a loco for that matter. I can imagine the driver you mention listening for every creak and bang. An uncharitable soul might say that was just the sound of the loco. The port as it was at the end of WW1 and in the immediate aftermath would make an interesting subject for a shunting layout. Equally, if all the plans of the various Concessions, Syndicates and the colourful Mr Burr had come to pass, East Kent would have been heavily industrialised - a subject for 'what if' surely? What if the EKR had grown into a major heavy rail system linking the collieries and steelworks and the proposed port near Minnis Bay? Perhaps it could even have gained an independent route to London? A freelance layout based on this premise would be fun. By the way, please, FolkEstone. People are always losing an E. We've lost so much, including our port and branch line. We need that E.

The East Kent owned a fair number of mostly ex-mainline wagons, lettered EKR. Full details are given in the excellent two part Oakwood Press history of the line by M. Lawson Finch and S.R. Garrett (Part 2 deals with stock). The only productive pit served was Tilmanstone. The others on the line were failures, and generated little traffic, although Hammill Colliery did become productive as a brickworks. The successful pits at Chislet, Snowdown and Bettteshanger weren't served by the railway (although not for want of trying - see the numerous proposed extensions). The Richborough extension was a bust, the bridge over the Stour being too weak, and the civilian port was never a success. I couldn't say for sure without looking, but I doubt if any coal traffic went that way via the EKR. Tilmanstone traffic went via the mainline connection at Shepherdswell, and also straight to a bunker in Dover Harbour via a ropeway. Some of it was used by the Southern Railway / Region. My late next door neighbour remembered having to fire with 'Tilmo'. Sorry if this duplicates other posts. It will be delayed by the moderators. For at least a couple of years I have been on the moderator queue, without even being allowed the basic courtesy of knowing what I am supposed to have done wrong.

Good news. I suppose now I'll have to make a third attempt at having a ride behind Foxcote. I got hopeful of at least seeing her late Saturday afternoon, when I was coming back from the Bluebell toy fair. Cranbrook Road gates shut, something coming up the bank without effort, and it was tick ticking. However, it was the pannier running light. Not that there was anything wrong with that, although the day's star loco for me was City of Wells.

At the risk of repeating what other people have posted, as far as I know the main services were provided by Maidstone and District. Some independents might have buzzed around at various times (the grey buses of Smiths were prominent in nearby Sittingbourne at one point), although M&D were always dominant. Services would include island links to Minster and Leysdown, most likely via Sheerness, and off-island services to Sittingbourne at the very least. I don't know, but I'd imagine you could find services to Maidstone or the Medway Towns. As well as the little depot on the island, there were local(ish) garages at Sittingbourne, Gillingham and Luton (Chatham). Liveries in your period would have been NBC green with small white stripe and standard NBC fleetname, followed by what always appeared to be the same green but with a slightly yellowish cream stripe in place of the white stripe, and a new very 1980s typeface for the fleetname. If memory serves the area of cream eventually grew to encompass the lower windows (on double deckers, I mean). Latterly this gave way to a superb cream and darker green livery based on the old M&D colours, with a fleetname that also drew inspiration from the past. Sadly, this was only just becoming established when British Bus decided to revamp itself as the insipid Arriva, doing away with silly notions such as local, long-established bus companies. Double deckers of the period featured large fleetnumbers on the top front dome, for recognition purposes in the bus station at Chatham Pentagon Centre. As for the buses themselves, you probably couldn't go wrong with a standard ECW Bristol VRT, although M&D did have some early Atlanteans seeing out their days in your initial period, and had been used by the NBC to test the next generation of double deckers (such as Volvo Ailsa and Willowbrook bodied Dennis Dominator). Some of the VRTs were unusual highbridge models. MCW Metrobuses came along later, but the main latter day double deckers were Olympians. I guess with single deckers a Leyland National would fit, followed by the Leyland `Lynx, plus Mercedes minibuses and downgraded coaches. M&D always seemed to be more of a double decker fleet away from the Wealden services. Ex-London Fleetlines were also used in the Medway Towns at some point in the 1980s, I think, but I don't know if any made it as far as Sheerness.

Excellent stuff, railroadbill. And yes, it looks uncannily like mine - but then it would! My first one will be Southern black with Bulleid lettering. I tend to paint locos all black if I can get away with it. This is a man who was seriously considering a wartime black King, and never mind little trifles like the fact that the GWR didn't paint one black. I think it's worth repeating the part about GBL plastic. It's not the best. If anyone is using a craft knife or similar, be extra careful. SECR locos were never blood red.

With respect, I do think that's an overreaction. I can see your point of view, and I can certainly appreciate that it's easy to make a snap decision or comment - I have a quick temper! However, plenty of contributors to this thread have said that they like your posts and find them informative. Doesn't that at least give you the satisfaction to continue? I do hope so. Regarding KingPin, it could be that he's out to make mischief, but equally it could be he's what he appears to be, a new member who believes he has something worthwhile to contribute. An argument isn't the best welcome. When I joined, I made an innocent comment and was attacked by two arrogant, old members, neither of whom ever had the decency to apologise or, at the very least, try to work things through. It was not pleasant, and it was a poor welcome. As a result I've never posted photos of my work, and probably never will. I don't need to be ridiculed by cowards who hide behind a computer screen. I'm NOT suggesting that you're anything like that, TheWeatheringMan, not at all. It's just that someone of your experience could perhaps give a new member the benefit of the doubt. If you have a fair grievance, take it to the administrator. If it's just a difference of opinion, or a slanging match, surely you could rise above it? Your posts are valued. To lose them because of an argument would be a shame, especially in such an interesting thread. [Edit: I suppose that should be topic, not thread.]