Clearwater

not confident on the playoffs then?

Come on. That's just take the p!

Agreed re a. End of 6/7. Took my sons there a couple of Saturdays ago. All seemed so empty. No locos stabled anywhere....

I only hope he didn't profess his ignorance.

@County of Yorkshire Yes - they quite liked the bow ended coaches. We'd got a seat in a compartment on the 1014 shuttle. I'd seen the prior train depart full so thought best to grab a seat almost straight away....

@County of Yorkshire were you there Saturday? If so, I was also on the 1015 shuttle ex-Kidderminster... Albeit we then went to Bridgnorth behind one of the standards. Shuttle back to Hampton Load behind 4555, picked up 4079 to Bridgnorth. 4930 to Highley and then Taw Valley back from Highley (1601 or so) to Kidderminster as small people with me were getting tired...

If I was being even more cynical, those type of punters are the ones who often offer unsolicited "advice" to what they perceive as less knowledgeable customers which latter customers may find offputting. Having a few times at model shows or rail events been "trainsplained" by doubtless well meaning people, I can assure you it's off putting! Sales staff / shop owners may also not appreciate an "expert" offering "advice" that is contrary to their business interests...

Took my sons yesterday and agree was busy but jovial. Weather was pleasant without being too cool or too hot. Quite GWR focused (a plus). Enjoyed seeing 4079 and nice to contrast the different exhaust beats and different sizes of the gwr classes on show. hopefully a successful day for the SVR financially and I look forward to seeing Pendennis stretching her legs on other lines too.

They also sell these ( which I actually think are quite good). I’m sure her late majesty thought nothing better to celebrate her 70 years on the throne than a plush soft toy in a better shade of purple than the loco it’s imitating. Despite statement to the contrary, on sale in Kiddi shop today.

Visited the SVR today. Very much enjoyed seeing 4930 and 4079 in steam. However, I saw this bike up against Hinton Manor’s tender: Isn’t it a bit much to have a bike labelled to belong to one of the chief scrappers of steam locos? Top trolling as the kidz would say!

I'm on the SVR tomorrow. If I can, I'll ride in one of the older sets of carriages. Will be intrigued to see how bright the lighting is in the tunnel section. I am aware older carriages are darker. Personally, I'm not bothered by lights on model train coaches. If I've paid £75 for a coach, I want to see it. I don't want to switch the lights off in the room and just see the carriage lights!

How does the lighting compare on heritage lines? For us u50s, that's the only way we can even get close to what steam era lighting would have been like.

Looks good Phil but I think you've breached Rule 2 of Railway modelling that buses should always be on bridges?

Hi Graham sure it’s been asked before but what are the dimensions of the layout both scenic and with the fiddle yard? thanks David

Without knowing all the details, it’s impossible to be completely objective however it does seem bizarre behaviour by the ELR to ‘ban’ a volunteer particularly a female one with a positive public profile. I too have seen her tweets and can’t see how she’s anything but a role model. It strikes me that there’s more than a touch of the green eyed monster from the chairman that he’s not got the profile, the nominations etc. ELR should be working closely with someone like Joanne Crampton to use the profile she’s created to benefit them. This does appear to be an own goal from the perspective of managing their own reputation. I’m not local to the ELR so to say I’m going to boycott them is virtue signalling. However, I wouldnt go out of my way to help them based on what I’ve read.

Hi Tony, I'm sure someone here will correct me but I thought that was due to the licence the LNER had to use the KylChap blast pipe system. I think I'd read that they'd only brought a certain number of licences so once they'd used them up that had to go back to building single chimney A4s David

Wasnt that about RTR TT120 ones? If so, you were probably safe...

Out of interest, I’d read that the Liz Line is achieving traffic targets. Has there been a measurable decline on the central line? Particularly Liverpool St to Stratford?

There are three castles in steam at present. Not sure about 5029 and whether it will steam again but if you’re GWS, surely you’d think it was less time and effort to steam 5051 again. The “best’ 7027 could hope for is a cosmetic restoration. Much as I like castles, I fear 7027 is in the same category at the merchant navies that remain pretty much in Barry condition. I doubt they’ll ever steam again either.

I am mere amateur (and on a work related break) at building things but the couple of chassis that I've put together, wired up, built a gearbox and seen them run up and down my little 1m test track under their own power however ungainly gave me a huge positive endorphin boost way superior to any rtr box I've opened (and I'll continue to buy rtr where it makes what I want). When I make something it won't make the display cabinet at Railex or trouble a best in class award but I've got a sense of achievement from what I've built. Interestingly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, when I talk to non-railway modellers, they're usually much more interested when you explain that you've made something from some sheets of brass than something you've purchased off the shelf. I agree with something said yesterday about 3D printing. That's the new frontier in the way CAD designed photo tools were a few years ago. Modellers will always take what new technology there is and see how they can adapt it to make something different. I find this thread endlessly fascinating. The pictures shown, particularly part assembled, the techniques described, they lodge away in my mind as one day I'll want to refer back to them. David

What i like on this shot is how the crop gives an illusion of another half dozen coaches behind the ones we can see. Also, if I was trainspotting, I'd be a bit annoyed by the frosted glass on the bridge preventing me seeing the locos numbers! David

John Looking at your pictures above, a couple of questions: Do you line with a pen or transfers When you paint, are you spraying with masking or using rattle cans? Looks great! David

A mate of mine, who worked in politics and at the time had ambitions to be an MP, said he hoped it'd be a sex scandal that would bring him down. His reasoning was that at least he'd have had some fun!

As I noted above, it was pretty clear that the best layouts at Ally Pally were not rtr dependent and in fact almost exclusivity kit built. Westcliffe, Plumpton Green, Blackfriars Bridge, most of the o gauge layouts, the narrow gauge were clearly not rtr. I think both westcliffe and Plumpton have been to Railex?

yes. The narrow gauge was good. I also liked the 1870s Blackfriars Bridge. A quality layout. The Brooklyn dock layout was unusual and good too.