ruggedpeak

The bridge is amazing piece of work. Must be scope to sell a kit or the design!

Came across this on Linkedin, may be of interest...I can't comment on the accuracy etc but believe it is the current standards and there are previous iterations so will be different on older containers. Link to original post (requires LI login) below (author offers hi res PDF version if you send him your email, do so at your own risk!!) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/r-serzo-onesphore_what-do-the-numbers-and-codes-on-a-container-activity-7190281094372446208-28pE

Giant modular layout!

Something to discuss with Guinness World Records, they adjudicated it.

OK, thank you for responding but doesn't really answer the question. But do understand that is not necessarily everyone's experience, and I still don't get how telling people you had a good experience helps those who don't.

What is the point of this post and how do you think it helps? I am genuinely interested in how you think it helps, especially given much of it is demonstrably untrue.

I note that the seller states "Receipt provided for life time warranty." As long as the name and address matches all fine!!!🤪

It appears from earlier posts that they provided both the toilets and power for the set. Getting some form of ETHEL will not solve the toilet issue however!

"Making Tracks has to meet a number of criteria to qualify as a Guinness World Record including being measured to within 0.001m, being a single scale model, prove that it is portable, be built to a professional standard as well including details of the number of trains, loops, track length, concurrent locomotive movements and all tracks being used. All of this will be judged and adjudicated at Model World LIVE." https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/making-tracks-attempts-official-world-record Modular layouts are unlikely to be considered a "single scale model" under the GWR rules as they are multiple separate layouts joined together. The fact they can be joined together in numerous different number of ways due to the use of a standard for inter-connectivity as well as multiple ownership probably precludes them being a single layout.

Hornby have 15% off in stock items with code SAVE15 for the BH weekend. TT:120 Scotsman trainset is £212.49 with the code....just a shame the HST ones aren't in stock ☹️

John new beat me to it - if they keep trying to run it in the current "sub-optimal" way it is now, and things keep going wrong (stalled loco, cancelling certain services etc) eventually there will be a tipping point where the perception is that the Jacobite is hit and miss as to whether it will run even if people book it. The negative reviews and bad feeling will mount up. But as you say, they want/need the money. They've taken the stock up there, they can't use it for anything else so just have to keep going or write off all the costs of getting the stock up there plus related contracts and commitments. If they bail out now not only do they eat a huge slice of humble pie, but they will p1ss off even more people locally, and we've already seen a lot of local businesses and politicians hold WCRC responsible for the problems, not the ORR or anyone else. And that may be enough for the locals to say "you're not welcome up here any more, we want someone else to run this service" - presumably why LSL decided to do a trial run to show the locals, ORR and NR that there are others who can run this sort of train. I can, but we are into the psychology of individuals running the business and the associated culture. Whilst I am relaxed about commenting on that, it may fall foul of forum rules and given WCRC's proclivity for legal action, whether well advised or not, it is not appropriate to put Warners at risk of a libel case! However it is a well trodden path and a recurring storyline. I see nothing new or unusual about what WCRC are doing, even if it appears odd from the outside.

I think that is a very good point with the generally British OO centric view, the warehouse may be full of non-British models and Pocher Lambo's! A single Pocher is nearly £800 retail.

I did say to her I wanted a kids version of the Land Rover socks!

I had a chat with the young lady on the stand and bought 2 pairs of socks for my daughter who was very pleased with them. I really liked the Class 37 entering the station Xmas card, will get some of those later in the year.

Not being funny, can you get assistance at NEC? There were plenty of wheelchair users who got to see it, even during the record attempt. Be a shame to miss it as PW didn't seem inclined to replicate setting the whole thing up again.

Yes, and I overheard PW saying (if I heard correctly) they left one board behind! There are a lot of board joints in the layout and some trains were stopping on points at one end as well. The sensitivity of DCC to shorts in a layout full of joins etc is not ideal. I seem to recall the WiFi issues being discussed after Warley due to similar issues. However irrespective of this it remains a very impressive layout to see and excellent work by the team. It certainly attracted a crowd and the scenic work is fab. Pleased to see the whole thing.

Usual NEC catering plus pulled pork stand and pie and pasty stand. You can leave and re enter if you want a Subway etc

Wunderland works, but is not a portable display layout like Making Tracks. I spent quite a bit of time watching it today and trains kept stopping. Glad they got the record though.

Took a last minute decision to fly in from Switzerland for the show, direct flights into Brum International early morning so ideal. Had to queue for a ticket as I didnt buy in advance but was near the front of the day ticket queue and in at 10am. Queues were not a problem, everyone got in. Very enjoyable show, got busy late morning and lots to see. Good selection of layouts and the non-railway modelling was excellent. A good mixture and planes, trucks and other models probably helped with families and general punters. Good support from the trade, managed to resist only due to cheap easyJet flights with hand baggage only! Good fun to watch PW and the Railnuts get their record. However anyone else attempting a world record, go analogue! DCC is [may] not [always be] suited to huge [portable] layouts [with lots of joins] at a show. Some deals that I couldn't take advantage of but plenty of opportunity to talk to the trade. The more I see of TT120 the more I think it works. Just a shame I have a huge OO collection. Having the 37 and 2 armoured vehicles was good. Also fab to see Models4heroes - please donate as they do great work. I sent them a collection of unopened Airfix kits when I emigrated. Definitely an addition to the show calendar.

Oh, that would have been funny to do one of those really annoying Youtube "Auditor" videos!

I doubt the ORR will be forced into anything. How is WCRC running the train going to force anything? Are the HSE forced into allowing things simply because someone persists in law breaking? Certainly be a new angle on UK safety law - safety law is not planning law, doing something unlawful for 4+ years does not automatically give you the right to keep doing it. Nor does ORR not taking action constitute tacit acceptance, again safety regulation does not work that way. If a regulator fails to act without good reason that may make them subject of separate action, but it does not in any way absolve the person/organisation in respect of their liabilities. It is not the ORR's job to follow operators around wiping their snotty noses. They have better things to do, and will have some form of enforcement/inspection plan across the network to follow. That may or may not include keeping tabs on WCRC. Doubtless they will take an interest in what WCRC are doing but IIRC WCRC have submitted an exemption request that is likely to take some weeks/months to process. If WCRC have done their own RA's etc and come up with this as a temporary solution it may or may not be compliant, but it is WCRC's legal responsibility to ensure it is legal and compliant, not ORR's. If there is no decision from ORR that does not give any consent AFAIK to operate under any form of temporary permission/exemption. WCRC running a train doesn't set a precedent, although I have a suspicision WCRC will think it will. If the train is not immediately or obviously dangerous then ORR does not have to intervene. It will get around to looking at the detail of the operation and the regs if and when it decides to. In the meantime, if there is an incident involving the Jacobite then they will get involved. If someone gets hurt it will be for WCRC to explain how it was safe and compliant to operate to ORR, NR and/or the courts, who will then decide whether it was compliant or not. ORR won't be criticised for not taking action in the absence of clear danger or a credible report of serious risk as it has limited resources and has already spent too much time on this one service and small time operator. It still has the rest of the network and millions of other journeys to keep an eye on. Running the Jacobite non-compliantly (and I am not saying it is currently non-compliant) is no different to driving an uninsured car with no MOT on the road - not the Police's responsibility for the consequences of that, they are the drivers. If the Police catch them great, but they can't catch every dodgy driver. Same with the ORR. For me the more interesting question is NR's role in this since they are facilitating the train operating. The key thing is that there are signed documents from WCRC with named individuals responsible for the WCRC safety case and operation. I have seen from bitter experience the inability to prosecute following two fatalities, after a public body had not signed key documents and refused to identify the people who approved the lethal road layout contrary to expert advice.

Great photos, thanks. Glad you have good weather, how as it in the coaches? Mk1's are not locked out of use as people can pass through them, and the toilets are available for use by passengers. I zoomed in to see what the sign on the bulkhead says, "Please keep your dog off the seats, thank you".

This! The cheapest option is for the Government to buy something using a loan, the interest rates it pays are far lower than you get from any finance house. The problem is that loan appears on the Government finance stats, and if you are spraying money around the total number looks bad. So you hide it through privatisation, PFI and other stunts. Much of this was started by the Tories but dear old Gordon Brown exploded it (having basically given it steriods and got it addicted to crack!) because he thought he was being clever (same genius who allowed our gold reserves to be sold at record low prices) [not a political comment BTW but definitely an anti-Gordon Brown comment]. Since then every Government has just continued the same idiocy. Politically you can announce new hospitals, trains, schools and things whilst knowing that the taxpayer will be paying 10x as much for the investment as they needed to. But you don't care as it will be someone else's problem as you will have gone.

I agree. Which raises interesting questions about retailers stocks, turnover of those stocks, cashflow etc that we won't get answers to, but comes back to my earlier point about retail premises. If the bulk of sales and margin/profit is from pre-order or rapid sellout items, what is the point of a retail store full of stock on shelves which only moves very, very slowly as you describe and what are the economics of that? In theory it is a financial drain on the business, Hornby have a financial drain on the business from excess/wrong stock and pass some of it onto retailers who end up with some of that excess/wrong stock costing them retail space and cash. Hence retailers moving into the secondhand market etc en masse and finding other ways to generate profitable revenue streams. Could be worse though, could be trying to sell EV's 🤣