Liam

Yes, somehow I can’t see our current Prime Minister jumping out of a car to hop on the tube and ask what the passengers think of COVID-19...

Thought I’d add to this, despite 18 months passing without a post. On BBC One on Sunday night they showed Yesterday, a film set in the present day which follows a songwriter who as a result of a coma is the only person who has heard of the Beatles. While it was the present day and not a lot of effort was required, trains passing in the background included DRS class 57s and Greater Anglia 153s. I guess the advantage of being given permission to make a present day film at a location on or close to the railway is that any trains that pass will be prototypical.

As Jason said, within the current guidelines. It is important to note the difference between a restriction and a precaution. A restriction would prevent you from doing something, so the lockdown restricted you from going to the pub, whereas a precaution allows you to do something but in a certain way, so now you are allowed to go to the pub but when you’re there you’re told to wear a face mask unless seated and not gather in groups of more than six people.

But it says ‘observe no restrictions on my activities’. Which presumably means that while they go out and about and do activities they still follow the ‘hands, face, space’ rule.

Thought I would add my views on the matter. I’m 19 and the week before last received my first vaccine - the Pfizer one. No side effects beyond a slightly sore upper arm. Considering the nature of exhibitions, in that they’re often attract crowds to venues such as sports halls and exhibition centres and sometimes the experience can be hot and stuffy, for me personally I would avoid a show that wanted everyone to wear face masks. Not that I would actively avoid wearing one having been asked to - I always wear my mask whenever I am in a setting which requires it - but if you’re at an indoor show for four hours and the only time you took your mask off was when having lunch then I personally don’t think that would be a very pleasant experience. But if you were to ensure there was lots of air conditioning and ventilation then wearing a mask wouldn’t be such a problem - if that was the case then I probably would go to a show which required me to wear a mask. If I was organising a show beyond the 19th July then I would limit the number of attendees, get everyone to do a temperature check before they enter and ensure their details are taken down for NHS Test and Trace. I would probably make it clear on the show’s website that taking down your contact details for Test and Trace is a condition of entry - no details, no entry. Yesterday I visited the Devon County Show, the first large scale event I’ve been to since the Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC in February 2020. As an outdoor event which forms part of the farming calendar I was much happier to attend it than I would be for an indoor event, like a rock concert, where social distancing is impossible. I used public transport to get to the show - everyone seemed to comply with wearing face masks on the shuttle bus and some punters trying to get on midway through the journey were denied entry because the bus had reached its capacity for social distancing requirements. Once at the show, it was a great experience; there were a few occasions where individuals were standing in the middle of the aisles and led to a bit of congestion, which is not beneficial to social distancing, but it was still fairly easy to get past. What did sort of annoy me was at one of the bars the staff had their masks around their chins, which wasn’t a good look since as things stand hospitality staff who face the public generally have to wear face coverings unless exempt. But all in all it was a very good show and I would happily go again, although I completely understand others may be less willing to do so.

Must be an old bottle that - the current labelling is a bit different.

Out of interest, do you know where they were before being ‘called up’? I’m guessing Ely?

Wasn’t aware of that, but thanks for the heads up - will try and incorporate a ride on a set during my planned All Line Rover in the summer.

LNER have temporarily reintroduced a class 91 and Mk4 diagram. Also a significant 91 to bring back.

Legend has it that upon his retirement Sir Humphrey was offered the title of Lord Appleby of Haverfordwest.

I believe that I may have spotted the first swallow of the year. Saw it from a distance out of an upstairs window, and it certainly had the right colours and style of flying to be a swallow.

I don’t think you would manage Amazon next day delivery via rail, but as for myself I haven’t got Amazon Prime and just selected ‘standard delivery’, and it so happened to arrive 48 hours after I had placed the order.

Possibly, although there are no shortage of warehouses and distribution hubs in the Birmingham/Redditch areas, so I would be surprised if Banbury was declared to be my nearest. As you say it was probably down to which lorry was travelling in roughly my direction during the wee hours and which distribution centre it was travelling to. Here’s the train I thought my book was put on - as there were almost four hours between it leaving Gourock and the train departing Shieldmuir that would have given it time to skirt around Glasgow on the M8 then be processed at the mail depot. https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C06021/2021-03-25/detailed I’ve seen photos of the EMUs which ROG have acquired; let’s hope they bring lots of parcels onto rail traffic and away from roads.

On Wednesday I ordered a book from Amazon about the Midland & South Western Junction Railway. Early afternoon yesterday I received a notification on the ‘track your order’ page on the Amazon website saying that my package had been despatched from a distribution centre in Gourock. The next time the tracker was updated was 03:18 this morning when it arrived at a distribution centre in Milton Keynes. I live in Worcestershire so it seemed an odd detour to take, but then it progressed to another centre in Banbury, which it left mid morning. The fact that the package went via Milton Keynes made me wonder if it hitched a ride on a mail train going south from Shieldmuir Mail Terminal. I checked Realtime Trains and it could have been put on a train to Warrington but there didn’t seem to be any trains going further south that stopped anywhere before Willesden, so would have gone from Warrington to Milton Keynes by road. Regardless of the journey my own package made, it got me wondering if parcels from Amazon/DPD etc are ever transported by rail? While the only mail trains that exist today belong to Royal Mail, if there weren’t many non-RM parcels that needed taking south and the train was paved to go that way you could easily send them by rail (albeit for only part of the way), reduce the number of lorries needed and cut carbon emissions.

The other week we had a call on our landline that I suspected to be phishing. The caller said they were doing a survey on what UK residents were thinking about the current situation. I smelled a rat very quickly, as the caller asked me for the month and year of my birthday - I pointed out that few surveys ask you even for the year of your birth, never mind your month too. Hung up not long afterwards.

Love it! That would be some exhibition with 300,34,974,000 layouts!

Good luck with the project Rob. My favourite East Anglian layout is probably Bawdsey, which appeared in a World of Railways video the other day. You might have to purchase some blood and custard Gresley stock to go with the green diesels though!

It is indeed, and the same thing is also happening at Lichfield Cathedral. An excellent example of service to the community.

In our garden we have recently been witnessing a dispute over our nestbox between a pair of blue tits and a pair of great tits. This confrontation has seen two of them engage in aerial combat. Unfortunately there’s very little that we can do, as there is only one nestbox in our garden (which they’re disputing over) but if we were to put another one up then that would lead to further disputes.

Thanks Phil! Though I think I’ll go for a mineral wagon, either 21T or 24.5T, for my next kit - those straight sides should make construction a bit easier...

Starting to take shape - have been rather busy recently but hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze some time in over the lockdown. The hopper body isn’t attached to the chassis and was only put on loosely for this photo. I’ve still got the last part to add to the hopper body but gradually the chassis will become more detailed.

Made a start on the 21T hopper last night and almost completed the body.

The buffer stop is complete.