Ryde-on-time

My daughter was fascinated by what Hornby have done as she’s studying both Business studies and Law, always interested in examples such as today Her immediate opinion was that it’s a double whammy of stupidity on Hornbys part - Firstly being seen as the big bullies - bullying the small guys (Rapido), not a good look! Secondly they are actually taking on StudioCanal, part of a multi billion pound company with very deep pockets who have a history of defending their assets successfully in court, Hornby are very much the little guys

Although the invoice for my collectors model says RM 2nd class I received the model by Fedex. I received it a couple of days after the order changed from ‘in progesss’ to ‘complete’ in my account. It’s an exquisite models, mine runs beautifully, it’ll be worth the wait i’m sure

Whaddon Road between Newton Longville and the Buckingham Road is open again. A couple of photos below show the new barriers and fencing along the road either side, and the bridge walls are now higher

I have one on order and the gap isn’t going to bother me. Considering the models are going to be much smaller than the photos on this thread appear, and the angle at which i’ll be viewing it, I don’t think it will be too visible. If the track on my proposed model is flat enough then it would be a simple job to add a couple of bits of black plastic. The gap on the real Fairlies is a bit less - this is the best shot i can find, a still from a video

I am able to log in with my collectors club e-mail and password. I have not purchased anything but can put things in the basket and check out

Have you tried logging in with the collectors club login details, that works for me? (I seem to remember seeing photos of you purchases from the members day?)

In the video on the 3rd November when Bachmann announced the new Double Fairlie models, at approx. 24 minutes they say they should be in the shops 'in a couple of weeks' - so before the end of November hopefully

A couple more shots showing progress at the new Mursley bridge - the earth works either side are being built up where the realigned road will cross. Under the bridge they are working on the drainage. The 3rd photo is looking east where there was plant, vehicles and flashing lights as far as the eye could see!

Great news. The models in the photos above look superb so will have to decide which to order first Glad I managed to get one of the limited edition Snappers Bar coaches from the WHR station at Caernarfon a couple of weeks ago, don't think they have many left.

The units are timetabled to run a return trip every hour but they were losing a few minutes every trip. The reason was stated to be the doors but not sure why? To make up time, after lunch they terminated a service at Ryde Esplanade - but the people on the train and waiting on the platform who had luggage, and who wanted to go to the end of the pier to catch a ferry, were really not happy. The poor unfortunate driver was getting a lot of unnecessary abuse. A bit sad as it was great to see trains running again and there seemed to be plenty of passengers

I would recommend a 360 degree camera and have an Insta360 one I use when cycling It takes an all round picture and you can then edit the footage to show any angle, the quality is good enough to easily read a number plate. Jeremy Vine has an Insta360 and he has in the past put up several videos which show what you do such as this: I have even found a use for it for trains!

We had an Air source heat pump 3 years ago and it's been excellent. The oil boiler we had had reached the stage where it was unrepairable and the plastic oil tank was a lot older than it's advertised design life so we were looking at a new boiler and tank. (There is no piped gas in our village). We would have also had to have the oil tank relocated as it was too close to the boiler which we didn't want to do We had the heat pump fitted along with a new larger better insulated hot water tank and new larger radiators. The existing pipework was 15mm so did not need replacing (necessary if you have smaller pipes feeding the radiators.) The heat pump is were the old ugly oil tank was and is much smaller. We have also gained the space in the house previously taken up by the boiler. The cost of fitting the new system was £9K and over 7 years we will receive RHI payments from ofgen totally £7K so cost in the end, £2K ,will be in the same ball park as a new oil system & tank would have been. It important that a house is as well insulated as possible, but that is the case with any heating system our you're simply throwing money away! It is worth noting that the technology is well proven, air pump and similar air con units have been around in other countries for years. They work on the same principle as a freezer which extracts heat from the air in the freezer (even when it's -17) and blows hot air out the back Finally, such heating systems do require operating differently as they work best when set to maintain a steady temperature all the time, rather than heating perhaps twice a day. We have our heating on set to maintain a basic temperature but it is then boosted a couple of degrees on cheap rate electric before we get up. During autumn and spring it then doesn't usually have to kick in again to maintain the basic background temperature but would do so if necessary I think it has made sense for us, with similar total cost to a new oil system and cheaper running costs. I do wonder though about the new government announcement of £5K towards one, that is substantially less than we are getting in RHI payments?

Details on their catalogue page here http://www.Dapol.co.uk/Catalogue/16/index.html

Just had this video come up as a suggestion on Youtube - about the new station at Winslow

In the town I work in there has been fuel available every day: Monday - Tesco & Morrisons Tuesday - Morrisons and BP Wednesday - Tesco, BP and Morrisons Thursday - Tesco BP and Morrisons Today - Tesco, BP and Morrisons There are a couple of Shell garages, one with no fuel all week and the other I haven't been past On Monday the queues around Tesco caused gridlock but since then things have calmed down and I could have petrol any other day from a choice of garages with only perhaps 2 or 3 cars to queue behind. It seems that because fuel seems readily available less people are panic buying and there's enough to go around.

South Western Railways have officially confirmed on twitter

Hi. It’s unusual to see many trains on the Welsh Highland Railway, normally one or two passenger trains a day. It was nice therefore to see a more intensive and varied timetable run yesterday with both the K1 and NGG16 Garratts in actions on both passenger & freight trains. I have collated a couple of videos which may be of interest. Firstly filmed at Rhyd Ddu and Waunfawr And secondly (from a slightly different perspective !) footage take at Caernarfon and along the route towards Dinas Thoughts and feedback appreciated?

For anyone one who’s seen Clarkson’s Farm

This made me chuckle

A couple of shots a Mursley yesterday. Not much change with the bridge although the large pipe to the left has now been buried Looking into the distance, materials have now appeared to improve the drainage as has been mentioned before

A shot taken yesterday at Winslow at the site of the new station which is to be built

I agree. Dapol have put up a head on shot on twitter here:

Photos of the first EP are now on the Dapol website https://www.Dapol.co.uk/O-Gauge-Class-66-Engineering-Prototype-Under-Review

Interesting, looking forward to seeing progress. What I like especially is that the track isn't parallel with the board edges

Catching the train at Settle. Smart inside and out