Invicta Informant

Ian Hislop did once present a one-off documentary for the BBC called Ian Hislop Goes Off The Rails a few years ago, where he covers the state of Britain's railways in the run-up to the publication of Dr. Beeching's Reshaping Report, the Report itself and the fallout and aftermath from it. Hislop also briefly goes into the archives of Private Eye to see what his predecessors made of the Reshaping Report at the time. This documentary can be found, though incomplete, on YouTube.

Received my BR Lined Black one. All four of the buffers were off and so too was the cab roof (all of which can be secured by a spot of glue), but all the other details are there and not damaged. The right side tender emblem facing the wrong way is annoying, but it still does not detract that the model is pretty sound.

I am probably not the only one who can narrow it down to three, but I would have to go with: 1. Ally Pally - For the sheer scale of the event, quality and quantity of layouts, the huge number of traders (some of whom don't normally venture this far south) and you have the opportunity to talk to people from the manufactures and others involved in the industry. 2. Folkestone - Normally has a large number of quality layouts and (though the layout of the venue is not ideal for those who have mobility issues) you have a magnificent view across the English Channel (see image below), if the weather is good that is. 3. Tolworth - I am always been impressed by the quality of the layouts that are on show and they have one or two useful traders in attendance that I don't come across at other shows I visit. Others that I tend to visit are Chiltern Show at Stevenage, Tonbridge, Ilford & West Essex MRC's show in Romford, Fort Pitt in Chatham, Faversham, Wilmington and Beckenham & West Wickham MRC's show in Eden Park. I have not included my club's (Erith MRS) show (currently in Longfield not far away from Brands Hatch) because that would be bias, but many others have said it is very good show.

Steve was a familiar face at exhibitions in South London and North Kent for as long as I can remember. A skilled modeller and nice guy who will definitely be missed. Rest in Peace Steve.

Here are my pair. They have a nice weight to them and the wheels are definitely finer compared to mass produced RTR, but they do run okay most importantly. As with most technology, 3D printing is only going to get better. Who knows what it will be capable of in the next few years.

Dungeness on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway can either be pleasant or bleak, depending on the weather. The area feels like it belongs in another world, and yet London is not that far away when you really think about it. Here is a shot from the top of the Old Lighthouse from 2011.

My club's (Erith MRS) show at The Longfield Academy (not far away from Brands Hatch) on the weekend of 25th & 26th January 2020. I also attended the CMRA Show in Stevenage the fortnight before.

I did an article about the Great Train Robbery for my club's fanzine and also visited a temporary exhibition about the robbery at the London Postal Museum last year. The driver Jack Mills as a result of head injuries sustained during the assault was unable to return to work and suffered constant trauma headaches for the rest of his life. He died of unrelated leukaemia in 1970. The secondman David Whitby never recovered from his track-side assault and subsequent rough treatment. However he was able to resume his career but died of a heart attack in 1972 aged only 34. The Class 40 No. D326, later No. 40 126, and the carriages that were robbed were all cut in haste to stop any souvenir hunters (both railway and crime collectors) from pillaging them. One of the Post Office carriages that formed part of the train, though not part of the robbery, is preserved at the Nene Valley Railway. The locomotive was offered to the National Railway Museum because of its infamous history but they declined. A number of the gang evaded justice one way or another, including the inside man known only as 'The Ulsterman', who was not present at the robbery, received a share of the loot, was never captured and has not yet been positively identified.

The Committee of the Erith Model Railway Society have decided with regret to CANCEL our Longfield Exhibition scheduled to take place over the weekend of 30th & 31st January 2021. Given that the pandemic remains and the situations seems to be changing almost on a daily basis, we feel that we have little choice but to cancel now. Our intention is to hold our next show on the weekend of 29th & 30th January 2022.

I have a 28xx Class (catalogue number R2917) that has the Lion mark on the outer sleeve. It is also on the back of the outer sleeve of the London Olympics 1948 Train Pack.

W M Collectables has quite a number of interesting items from yesteryear from looking at his stand at exhibitions over the years and are a regular trader at my club's (Erith MRS) shows for many years. Andrew is a interesting person, as his father served in the Free Polish Legion in WWII and understandably did not want to return to Poland, which as we all know became a Soviet satellite state, after the war.

Francis Webb of the London & North Western Railway. He is listed in Stephen Pile's 1980 book The Book of Heroic Failures as 'The Worst Locomotive Designer'. Pile writes that a book (which he does not mention the title of) lists Webb in the index as: 'Webb, Francis - his incompetence'. Many people did not understand what he saw in the 2-(2-2)-0 designs such as the Experiment Class. D.E. Marsh of the LBSCR is also up there in my opinion, especially for designing the I1 Class which I believe had a pejorative nickname.

The Hornby Large Prairie thread can be found here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/140665-Hornby-new-tooling-large-prairie/ As far as I am aware it was never locked in the first place, but as this is a duplicate thread this one can.

Another favourite in my archive is this one taken in the queue to get into the last Open Day at Old Oak Common in September 2017.

And here is another comparison shot.