Mol_PMB

The contrast between the two down fitted freights is remarkable. The 31's train has about 30 near-identical containers on conflats (though I think there are some vans behind them), while the 40's train is much more varied. Both look like heavy trains for the rostered motive power!

The yard just north of Stoke seems to have a changing variety of old and not-so-old rolling stock dumped there, and I think most of it is destined for scrapping or component recovery, but some may just be stored on behalf of its owners. I suspect the steam loco is one of the broad gauge ones imported from Finland a couple of decades ago, but I'm not certain. More modern stock present recently has included several crash-damaged DMU and EMU vehicles. There were also some old tube stock cars and a few industrial diesels. It seems to be a different selection every time.

And once upon a time on the Fairbourne…

A few photos of progress at the forest end of the layout. There's still a lot more to do including all the finer details, but it's starting to look the part. Left to right around the end of the room: Here's a closeup of the trees where they're closest to the track. More undergrowth is needed here, but I'm quite pleased with how the layers of trees have worked out: All these photos are from the small stepladder, i.e. a higher viewing position than normal. Next steps include: - paint the track red-brown and glue it down - create the level crossing for the lane into the forest - ballasting - more fences and fence details - more trees - more grass - meadow flowers and weeds - forest undergrowth - make and fit overhead catenary masts and wires That's quite a few weeks work, before I can start on the road and the fields in the foreground. In parallel I've finished the drawings for the big viaduct and am hoping to get the parts laser-cut from stainless steel next week. Once I've fettled them to fit together nicely, they can go to Boston Lodge for TIG welding by a friendly Bob. There will be more to do on the bridge span including track, walkways, handrails, catenary in due course. Mol

Very true, and thanks for the explanation. My regular journey by TfW is Manchester to Porthmadog, for which by far the quickest route is by train to Bangor and then Trawscambria T2 to Porthmadog. This is despite there being two alternative all-rail routes (via Machynlleth or via Blaenau Ffestiniog), but they are long, slow, infrequently-served journeys. The T2 timetable and routing has been changed this year, and although it is now more regular it is slower, and in my experience the connections with the trains at Bangor are less well-timed. I'm not sure I'd call it a 'coach' - it's definitely a 'bus' in my eyes, both in the type of vehicle used and the fact that it stops at every lamp-post. The £3 single fare is a good deal though.

There were two types of Lartigue monorail 'turntable' on the L&B. The ones intended for turning locos were straight, were turned under load, and were called 'turntables'. They had wheels at the ends that ran on a circular rail for support. The curved ones were called 'points' and were used as turnouts, they only needed to be turned unloaded but had to bear the weight of the train passing over them. The one pictured is definitely a 'point'. Note that there are wheels at the ends which are only fully supported when it aligns with another track, so it would be very difficult to use this as a turntable. However, I'm not sure it qualifies as a 5-way point. After all, a 4-way point has 5 tracks connected to it. And this one doesn't appear to have 5 different routes across it - top left to top right is the wrong angle to be connected by the arc of the turntable.

It's a matter of some embarrassment that the only part of the TfW rail network that comes close to making an operating profit is the bit in England.

If it's 'spot the difference' then here's 8 for starters: - Tender cab - Different shape boxes at the back of the coal space - Device on the side of the smokebox - possibly a vac ejector? - Dampers / covers? - Type of air pump - Step in main footplate - Lamp irons - Box in front of cab

When the NMT was new (about 20 years ago) it ran for a year or so with two Mk2 coaches in the formation - HSTRC and Lab 5. The desire was for it to run in service at 125mph. Of course HSTRC had run in HST formations before but not so regularly, and the proportion of Mk2s in the formation was higher than had been run previously. So there was a need to prove the safety of this combination at higher speeds, both for dynamic stability (ride safety) and for braking. I did the dynamics simulations and demonstrated that if the Mk2s had P11 profiles and the wheel profile was monitored regularly and reprofiled more frequently than usual, then they would be fine at the higher speeds. Meeting the braking requirements was more difficult as the test cars didn't have all wheelsets braked, and the simulation results were a bit marginal. So a series of high-speed tests were carried out on the ECML, to check both dynamic stability and braking. A 10% overspeed was specified for the tests (137.5mph). I was on board with the dynamics instrumentation. We certainly did a good distance of running at the desired speed, both sustained sections to monitor the dynamics, and stopping distance tests for the braking. There were various speedometers on board in 2 power cars and 2 Mk2 test cars (there were also 3 Mk3 coaches). The speedometers didn't exactly agree with each other (ranging from 136 to 140 mph), but there didn't seem to be too much difficulty achieving and maintaining the nominal 137.5mph with a 2+5 formation. I'm pleased to say that the dynamics test results matched my simulations, but unfortunately the braking distances in that formation were a bit too long, and the NMT was initially speed-limited to 110mph until the new Mk3 test cars were completed and replaced the Mk2s. What I can't remember is which two of the three initial NMT power cars were used. Mol

From Geoff Dowling on Flickr, a dog food train begging to be modelled… … though there are plenty of other prototypes to consider. I’m no expert on dog breeds but Ernie looks a bit like an Eastfield.

Oh, don't all start speculating, they're just teasing us. There's an obvious reference to a Class 58 on the whiteboard too!

Well a Terrier's wheelbase is a foot longer than an Austerity, despite the latter being generally much heavier and more powerful.

I keep being tempted by the price but I have been strong so far. I looked at options for an industrial loco conversion but the wheelbase and wheel diameter of a Terrier are both too big for most industrials I’m interested in.