Bill and Jason's Excellent UK Adventure - 2015

[PaulRhB]

For me, the word implies a lack of plastic...

food . . .

[jaym481]

I know Victoria very well - my sister lives up island from there. I usually go in summer via Toronto (to visit a friend) and can't imagine that I'm likely to be there in the depths of winter. (CJL)

I don't have to imagine it. I'm living in London and it's much the same. Winter vacation in Italy this year?

[rapidotrains]

At Inverness we stayed at a lovely B&B called Oakvilla. Hosts Margo and Alistair Russell are very nice and generous, and Bill and I experienced this unique British phenomenon called "talking about the weather." 

 

Now back in North America, as I am sure the world over, talking about the weather is a general fall-back discussion topic. It usually lasts two or three minutes. FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES we chatted about whether Scotland or Canada is colder (Canada won), whether Scotland or Connecticut feels colder (Scotland won), whether my house or Bill's house got more snow (Bill won), etc. etc. Getting quite excited about the conversation, Bill and I were all set to discuss the relative dewpoints of Toronto, Inverness and Hartford on alternate Tuesdays in April, when suddenly we were alone in the lounge.

 

Brits are generally quite shy about leaving a conversation. Next time you are on a train, just listen to people trying to get off the phone. "Right. That's lovely, I - Oh, me too - Right - Ah-ha - Okay - Right - Yes, of course - OK, Bye - Mmm, hmm - Right, Bye, Byeeeeeeee!"

 

Not this time. It's like our hosts suddenly realized how boring Bill and I are and just spontaneously combusted. 

 

 

The morning started far too early as we made our way to the Highland Chieftain HST at Inverness station and found the doors locked. Apparently you don't need to arrive four hours early for your train. So we took some pictures.

 

 

Once they let us on board, the ride was very pleasant. I have to say, the service from the on-board crew was probably the best we've had since Dan and I first rode the DOR East Coast in 2013. They were always coming round with food and drink, and when disaster struck the guard (as he called himself) was giving us regular updates.

 

 

Not something you see all that often - two up Virgin East Coast trains running parallel north of Berwick.

 

Well, the best-laid plans... Our intention was to spend the afternoon in Carlisle but someone jumped in front of the train ahead of us south of Berwick, causing all sorts of mayhem on the ECML. I'm going to put two hats on now. As a father of three and a caring individual, I will say that mental illness and depression are demons that affect many of us and should be understood and treated rather than derided. 

 

As a train rider and friend to many railway employees I'll say: "If you are going to bump yourself off, stay away from train tracks and motorways, you inconsiderate b*****d." I know several engineers who have had their lives ruined because some putz decides to go out in a blaze of glory. They can't sleep. They can't work. They develop serious PTSD - just because some messed-up schmuck wanted to end his life with style. And that's to say nothing of the thousands of people inconvenienced by that selfish decision. How many people missed job interviews, exams, hospital visits and other important events? 

 

But on the bright side, this photo is cool:

 

 

HST and DVT drivers share a laugh or two from their respective cabs at Berwick.

 

We finally did start moving, and Bill and I switched over to the IC225 set as it left Berwick first. The customer service on that train was appalling. There were no updates at all on the train while sitting in Berwick, compared to regular updates on the HST. It lacked the chatty and convivial atmosphere encouraged by the crew, and not once were we offered any refreshments. It's amazing how one's experience on board a train is largely determined by the on-board staff.

 

In Newcastle we changed trains to a dumpy 156. And we were overtaken by our HST...

 

 

From then on we were in 156 country. My there are a lot of them about in the North.

 

 

Speaking of 156s, in Carlisle - three hours after originally planned - we met with Mike Parsons from C&M Models. He's done a custom run of ScotRail N gauge 156s with Dapol. You can order yours on Mike's web site.

 

We had a lovely drink with Mike at the Moo Bar on Devonshire Street. Mike knows the British model train business better than most people and Bill and I found our discussion most enlightening. He's become a well-respected name in the hobby and a succesful businessman, even though his shop's street presence is just a door and a tiny sign, as shown by Mr. Google:

 

 

His achievements are to be commended. Of course, we forgot to take a picture of us with Mike so we'll have to get back to Carlisle on a future trip so we can spend some more time with him. Our late arrival in Carlisle meant there was no time to tour around, so we took a (TWENTY POUND) taxi ride to our 17th-century hotel which was not nearly as close to Carlisle as I originally thought when booking it.

 

 

Carlisle is a beautiful place, probably, but every time I try to go there the train is so late that I miss it. This was attempt number three. We did drive past Hadrian's Wall. Didn't see it, but we definitely saw the nice sign at the side of the road. I shall try again before too long...

 

But gosh, is Carlisle ever full of 156s!

 

 

Oooh look!  A 156!

 

 

And another - no, hang on. That's not a 156.

 

 

Due to a shortage of DMUs (Diesel Multiple Units), several of the Cumbrian coast services are handled by sets of Mark II coaches, a DBSO (Driving Brake Standard Open) and a Class 37 diesel built in the 1960s. Three more DBSOs will soon be entering service (9710 will be ready any day now) so there will be even more loco-hauled sets in the North. 

 

Everyone gets so excited about a loco-hauled (or loco-pushed) train, and I found myself catching the fever. Every time one of these trains pulls into or out of a major station you can find a bunch of spotters and photographers going agog.

 

But I had to stop myself and think for a bit. Where I'm from that's not all that unusual.

 

My train to Vancouver this summer: loco hauled.

 

 

The "Ride the Rapido" tour last month: loco hauled.

 

 

Every train I've ever taken from my local station: loco hauled.

 

 

But here, loco-hauled is a novelty. I have to admit, the thrashing of that Class 37 was music to my ears. However, what I found even more delightful was Direct Rail Services' Mark II coaches, especially the DBSO.

 

 

We gricers tend to foam at the mouth when we see a locomotive. But how often do you actually ride in a locomotive? And given the choice of riding in the locomotive to Fort William or riding in the sleeper, wouldn't you rather be in the sleeper? I know I would. While the hardcore bashers can enjoy sitting in the jump seat in a loud and bouncy diesel, I'd just relax in my Mark III bedroom sipping a dram of Bunnahabhain.... The same goes for coaches. I much prefer relaxing in a spacious Mark II than sitting up in a diesel. Driving a diesel for a bit, that's another story. But for more than about half an hour? I'll take the comfy seats.

 

 

Walking into the Mark IIs on the Carlisle-Barrow train was like walking into a timewarp. I was suddenly a student again, boarding a morning train from New Street to Euston with an 86 on the end.

 

What the photos can't convey is the smell. The DBSO, especially, has that unique OBRCS - "Old British Rail Coach Smell." It's wonderful. I just stood there, breathing in the history of this 41-year-old coach. What a moment...

 

And then I proceeded to spend the next two hours with my hands stuck out the window freezing my fingers off. Of course, the sun only came out for the 50 MPH straight(ish) bits.

 

 

The Cumbrian coast is absolutely stunning. If you've only gone to Barrow, Preston or Carlisle to photograph the loco-hauled train but you've not actually taken it, get off your tush and go buy a ticket. It's not like they are expensive! The views are superb and the train is a timewarp.

 

 

Sometimes you get a nice shot of the 37 pushing. 

 

 

By purest happenstance, the hillside behind the train in this photo was a natural green screen. Having been trained never to pass up an opportunity to use a green screen, we've decided to present some hypothetical but entirely plausible situations in which a Class 37 and Mark II coach set could be used. 

 

 

 

 

We were amply stocked with cameras, just in case one wasn't quite the one we wanted to use. Man we're such foamers.

 

 

This Network Rail wrestler was clearly not impressed with my arms and cameras hanging out the window. If the look on his face could talk, it would be saying: "I eat gricers like you for breakfast." I believe that if you are trackside with your camera and notebook and you encounter a giant such as this, the correct trainspotters' procedure is to RUN LIKE A RABBIT.

 

 

On board, Bill and I were amazed by the ratio of employees to passengers. It seems everyone in the DBSO worked for DRS or Northern. The DRS guys got on in Carlisle, rang a restaurant near one of the stations further down the line, ordered their breakfast and told them when to bring it to the station. (It was ham and egg, ham and sausage, and ham egg and sausage - I was waiting for him to ask for the "spam egg sausage and spam" but he disappointed me.) The crew seemed a jolly bunch, and you get the feeling that this really is a community railway. (Not my words - I stole those from Ben.)

 

Speaking of whom... We pulled into Barrow and there was the usual flurry of spotters on both platforms. One of those spotters was Ben Jones, editor of BRM. What an amazing coincidence that he should be in Barrow on the same day that we were there. Sometimes the stars just align, don't they?

 

 

Photo by Ben Jones.

 

 

Photo by Ben Jones.

 

I've always wanted to go to Barrow. My understanding of the UK as a child was formed by Doctor Who, hence the tendency for us to end up in Doctor Who locations such as Tibet (north Wales). However, my understanding of the UK during my teenage years was coloured by Monty Python. And that meant I've always wanted to visit Barrow.

 

 

When I lived here I made it a goal to visit places mentioned in Monty Python, like Prestatyn...

 

"Dead? Ring Arthur Sodgen of Prestatyn, the fastest funeral service in North Wales. We will get the deceased out of the house and down the chute within the hour. Free wine glasses with every certified stiff."

 

Gillingham...

 

"But where is the ambiguity? It's over there in a box. Shunt is saying the 8:15 from Gillingham when in reality he means the 8:13 from Gillingham. The train is the same only the time is altered. Ecce ho mo, ergo elk."

 

and Bolton... 

 

"I understand this is Bolton.You told me it was Ipswitch!"

"It was a pun."

"A pun?" 

"No, no...not a pun...What's that thing that spells the same backwards as forwards?" 

"A palindrome?" 

"Yeah, that's it!" 

"It's not a palindrome! The palindrome of "Bolton" would be "Notlob"!"

 

Barrow-in-Furness has always been near the top of my list because, according to Monty Python's Election Night Special:

 

"A little pink pu$$ycat has taken Barrow-in-Furness - that's a gain from the Liberals there."

 

We didn't see the little pink pu$$ycat but we did get a good look at our locomotive, 37425. (Somebody really has to teach the RMWeb software something called CONTEXT. There is nothing wrong with the word pu$$ycat.)

 

 

 

A few of the spotters converged on the 37 but unfortunately the crew were being most discourteous by having a chat. One of the spotters, some old guy from Connecticut, appeared most upset at the intrusion of people into his photo. Come on, nobody actually wants PEOPLE in their train photos, do they? I mean, trains weren't made to carry PEOPLE they were made to be photographed and written down in little books! Get the people out of shot. Hiss.

 

 

Bill and Ben and I walked into town and went to The Furness Railway pub on Abbey Road. We were met by one of Barrow's best and brightest, a young man of 103 who has probably been at the pub since 1957 and not bathed since 1956.

 

Barrow Guy: "Cough. Ack. Hick. Where you from?"

 

Ben: "Yorkshire, originally."

 

Barrow Guy: "Ack. Cough. Not you, smartass, 'im."

 

Ben: "Oh, well he's from Canada."

 

Barrow Guy: stunned silence.

 

Ben: "Bill, Jason, shall we sit down?"

 

Barrow Guy: stunned silence.

 

You might think this was awkward, but it wasn't at all. We soon got used to Barrow Guy standing at our table. After about twenty minutes he fell over so getting to the loo was a bit of a challenge. 

 

Here's a photo of Bill and Ben at the pub in Barrow.

 

 

We were soon on another train, and guess what - it was ANOTHER class 156. This was a Northern 156 pretending to be a Trans-Pennine Express something-or-other. The ride was absolutely lovely - I'd say it was even more impressive than the ride from Carlisle to Barrow. Ben was an excellent tour guide, pointing out big things like "there used to be a river here" in Grange-Over-Sands or little things like "note the Furness Railway initials" in Ulverston station.

 

 

We made our way to Lancaster with plenty of time before our Pendolino was scheduled to depart for Crewe, so I bought my third pot of tea in two hours in order to get us into Costa. I may appear to be quite satisfied in the photo below, in my old-man cardigan from Edinburgh Woollen Mill and my fancy cup of Earl Grey, but I'm actually in the throes of bladder-compressing agony.

 

 

The Pendolino was empty in first class, so we sat ourselves down even though Ben only had a standard class ticket. The train manager only bothered to check our tickets five minutes out of Crewe. She looked at Ben's ticket and said, "Alright." Obviously she hadn't actually looked at it. Unfortunately I stupidly asked if she wouldn't mind if he sat with us in first class. 

 

She then felt so embarassed at not even looking properly at his ticket that she told us he would have to pay £39.50. For the five minutes to Crewe. We politely said "Farg Off" and Ben and I went to sit in the half-empty standard class coach twenty feet away.

 

We were greeted at Crewe by one of my best friends, Terry Wynne, who kindly took this photo of us in front of the poorly-staffed Pendolino. 

 

 

We were trying not to snigger, but really.

 

We've had a full day since then so I hope to be able to upload one more update before the show. Bill and I were racing Routemasters around Nantwich! I hope you can come join us at our booth at Warley this weekend. It's C12 and it's the one with the N gauge Pendolino, the APT-E, and a whole lot of other stuff.

 

As a final word, here are a bunch of nice photos taken on the Mark II set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9707... got it. 5971... got it. Hang on - I don't have 5971. Crumbs! I've missed the next coach! 

 

[PaulRhB]

Nice to see the comments on what makes a trip memorable and comparing the good and bad, I wish most journalists could put that so eloquently.

Just one question on the locations on the visit list, is it Gillingham Dorset or Kent? We get a surprising amount of tourists ending up in Dorset The only consolation is a nice City like Salisbury with its semi famous disused roundhouse is close by as an alternative day out.

[Wherry Lines]

There's a Gillingham on the Norfolk-Suffolk border too.

[eastwestdivide]

 that unique OBRCS - "Old British Rail Coach Smell"

 

 

- at last, a name for it! 

In fact there's a Mk1 and Mk2 version of OBRCS - the aircon Mk2s had a smell all of their own.

For us coming from commuterland in the deep south, and stepping onto a northbound train at Euston in 1980, it was the smell of anticipation of trips to far-off exotic places like Birmingham, Crewe and Warrington.

[Mike at C&M]

Thank you for the kind words. It was great to meet up with you on Tuesday and share lots of light-hearted banter in amongst some more serious discussion.

 

You are more than welcome to come back to Carlisle, and you can go and see the lady at Edinburgh Woollen Mill, and ask her again how her husband would look in the clothes that you chosen!

 

All the best from C&M,

 

Mike

[it's-er]

Hey, I thought you guys were passing through Edinburgh? And not a mention! Oh dear! There are definitely trains to see other than 156s, and the delightful Harburn Hobbies is not far from the station.

 

You could have had a wonderful soliloquy about the name of Edinburgh's main station. It isn't Edinburgh Station or Edinburgh Central, or even Edinburgh Princes' Street. It is simply Waverley Station. But is it in Waverley Town/City? Well, that doesn't exist! Do tourists know what Waverley Sation is? of course not! So why do you call your main railway station in your main city by a name that isn't relevant to its purpose or function? Goodness knows! Indeed, come to think of it, nobody knows!

 

Oh, I've done the soliloquy thing for you! And I hope you enjoy Warley.

 

John

[roundhouse]

Thank you for the kind words. It was great to meet up with you on Tuesday and share lots of light-hearted banter in amongst some more serious discussion.

 

You are more than welcome to come back to Carlisle, and you can go and see the lady at Edinburgh Woollen Mill, and ask her again how her husband would look in the clothes that you chosen!

 

All the best from C&M,

 

Mike

Nice to see that you took Bill and Jason to the Moo bar. Excellent range of ales.

 

We stumbled across this relatively new bar on the way to your shop back in July. Very handy for the station aswell.

[The Stationmaster]

There's an awful lot of 156s in those pics (and none of the Cumbrian coast's excellent crop of semaphore distant signals  )

[ColinK]

You passed my house yesterday. Had I known you were coming I would have made a spam and egg toastie and passed it out to the train. Now it will have to be spam curry tonight.

 

ColinK

[rapidotrains]

Hi all,

 

It looks like I won't have time to do a new blog post before the show, so everyone please come to visit us at stall C12. 

 

We've been setting up most of the day, but it seems that we've spent more time hiking between car parks than actually setting up... Anyone who has exhibited at Warley knows exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Yesterday was an amazing day in Crewe with our friends Terry Wynne, Mike Lenz, Peter Crichton and everyone at the Crewe Railway Heritage Centre. I'll post a blog about it, and Warley, early next week. If anyone would like to post photos from your encounters with the Rapido team at Warley, please do so in this thread - we would love to see them!

 

In the meantime, here's a photo from yesterday. Peter let Bill and me loose with his Routemaster. Having driven numerous trains in my life, I will gladly pass them all up for another chance to drive that Routemaster through roundabouts in Nantwich..... I'm smitten. 

 

See you tomorrow!

 

-Jason, the Bus Foamer

 

[JSpencer]

Hi all,

 

It looks like I won't have time to do a new blog post before the show, so everyone please come to visit us at stall C12. 

 

We've been setting up most of the day, but it seems that we've spent more time hiking between car parks than actually setting up... Anyone who has exhibited at Warley knows exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Yesterday was an amazing day in Crewe with our friends Terry Wynne, Mike Lenz, Peter Crichton and everyone at the Crewe Railway Heritage Centre. I'll post a blog about it, and Warley, early next week. If anyone would like to post photos from your encounters with the Rapido team at Warley, please do so in this thread - we would love to see them!

 

In the meantime, here's a photo from yesterday. Peter let Bill and me loose with his Routemaster. Having driven numerous trains in my life, I will gladly pass them all up for another chance to drive that Routemaster through roundabouts in Nantwich..... I'm smitten. 

 

See you tomorrow!

 

-Jason, the Bus Foamer

 

1-Bus.jpg

That route master for Peckham brings back memories. I lived there briefly (fortunately very briefly).

[Savoyard]

Jason and Bill did an excellent job driving RM1152 especially as they drive on the wrong side of the road at home!

[RedBarn9021]

Did the white BMW driver agree with that?

[Mr_Tilt]

An excellent blog guys. 

 

Mrs_Tilt and I did the Caledonian Sleeper thing to Fort Bill (I Iike that....) in Nov 2012, then took the bus to Kyle of Localsh, a 158 to Inverness and then HST back to Kings Cross. Had a great trip spoiled only by the fact that I'd just come out of an 8 week spell in hospital with pneumonia! But we'd booked the tickets by then and it was a chance not to be missed.

 

En route toward Fort Bill we had a helicopter escort for about 20-30 miles, no idea what it was doing, maybe filming the train as it seems to have a camera pod on the port skid?

 

See you tomorrow. 

 

[rapidobill]

Hi all,

 

It looks like I won't have time to do a new blog post before the show, so everyone please come to visit us at stall C12. 

 

We've been setting up most of the day, but it seems that we've spent more time hiking between car parks than actually setting up... Anyone who has exhibited at Warley knows exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Yesterday was an amazing day in Crewe with our friends Terry Wynne, Mike Lenz, Peter Crichton and everyone at the Crewe Railway Heritage Centre. I'll post a blog about it, and Warley, early next week. If anyone would like to post photos from your encounters with the Rapido team at Warley, please do so in this thread - we would love to see them!

 

In the meantime, here's a photo from yesterday. Peter let Bill and me loose with his Routemaster. Having driven numerous trains in my life, I will gladly pass them all up for another chance to drive that Routemaster through roundabouts in Nantwich..... I'm smitten. 

 

See you tomorrow!

 

-Jason, the Bus Foamer

 

1-Bus.jpg

 

I'd like to thank Peter for being so brave in letting us loose in the Big Red Bus. As somebody used to... slightly smaller and more nimble cars it was... enlightening(?) Only AFTER I went around the roundabout at a slightly higher rate of speed than planned did Jason point out that they they have a fairly high safe roll rate - I think that he mentioned tonight 40 degrees. I must have had almost a 10 degree margin of safety! 

 

Jason pointed out that it didn't handle quite as well as my toy. In fact, it doesn't handle much differently - it just doesn't accelerate quite as quickly!    

 

 

Hope to see many of you tomorrow!

 

Bill

[Adrian Wintle]

 

En route toward Fort Bill we had a helicopter escort for about 20-30 miles, no idea what it was doing, maybe filming the train as it seems to have a camera pod on the port skid?

 

 

 

Almost certainly a stabilized sensor pod. Likely contains optical (camera) and thermal (FLIR) sensors.

 

Adrian

[Savoyard]

"Jason pointed out that it didn't handle quite as well as my toy. In fact, it doesn't handle much differently - it just doesn't accelerate quite as quickly! "

 

That's because I didn't tell you about the warp drive button!

[rapidotrains]

OK, (mostly) gents. This is the final instalment of the tour blog. I'm writing this from my kitchen table in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada - trying desperately to stay conscious. Next time you plan to leave your time zone for any reason, might I suggest that you change your plans and have a nap instead?

 

 

The story starts last Thursday morning at Rookery Hall. I was stuck in my room working on a blog entry (boy they take a long time to write) while Bill was off gallivanting around the Crewe Heritage Centre with Terry Wynne and Mike Lenz. Now I have to say, if you are going to be stuck somewhere for a morning it might as well be a gorgeous hotel in the beautiful English countryside.

 

 

If you haven't been to Crewe, don't wait for HS2. Go now. They have a lovely museum just down from the train station which features not one, not two, but three large restored signal boxes. 

 

The photo above shows the Crewe North Junction signal box. This box dates from 1939 and the building was designed to withstand an air attack. Luckily Bill did not go out for a curry the night before. The views of the mainline from the Crewe North Junction box are amazing and intimidating.

 

 

The photo above was taken from the Calder Northern Group layout on the ground floor. The trains really do seem to be about to run you over. You just keep hoping that they swerve at the last minute.

 

 

Speaking of the Calder Northern, they are a member of the NMRA - National Model Railroad Association - and you can visit them here. They have a large club layout permanently set up in the Crewe North Junction box and of course the photo I chose to include is one of a Rapido model caboose in action.

 

 

Here Bill is trying his hand at the Exeter West signal box. Unbeknownst to him, Bill has accidently directed a Great Western Up Express into the South Devon Sidings. The passengers on that HST are very confused.

 

Seriously, though - the Exeter West box was preserved, moved and now maintained by the Exeter West Group, a team of dedicated railway preservationists. We have no equivalent in Canada. Old railway heritage in Canada is lovingly preserved, moved and maintained by a large wrecking crane, excavator and dump trucks. First they smash the old station to bits - if it has already burned down this task is made much easier. Then, if the railway still serves that location, they erect a pre-fab shelter in its place. The pieces of the old station are usually maintained in excellent condition in the landfill. If we railway enthusiasts are really lucky the bits of old station are reused to make new concrete for a multi-storey car park where the torn-up railway used to be. 

 

 

The highlight of the Crewe collection for Bill and me is of course the APT-P. Well, I am putting words in Bill's mouth - you know he prefers all those black sooty things parked next door. But as I'm writing this blog I can say whatever I want. Bill has decided to give up modelling the Great Western in the 1930s and is now exclusively modelling Virgin Voyagers in the Five Ways Tunnel, Birmingham, in March 2004. He is offering to trade his Great Western layout in exchange for a full-size Dalek, delivered to Rapido's Canadian address.

 

We often get asked if we will produce a model of the APT-P. Obviously I would like to, but the economics of it are not inspiring. Not many people have catenary on their layouts, and those that do most likely don't have space for a 14-car train. Shane Wilton is the man you want to speak to if you are looking for a model of the P-train. He's on RMWeb and I am sure he would be open to building one for you!

 

If, however, you really, really want a ready-to-run Rapido APT-P and you are willing to donate the $150,000 USD tooling costs, by all means get in touch. 

 

 

Speaking of APT-P models, inside the real thing Bill stumbled across this stunning promotional model of a trailer second. Look at the interior detail! It is gorgeous! One day, if I live long enough, I want to build this sort of model of the Canadian TurboTrain... with working gas turbines at either end! I think that's a very big if. 

 

 

While Bill was taking all of these pretty photos I went to hire a car and have a quick lunch with Terry and Sue Wynne. (Terry is good at being in two places at once. Something to do with his relative dimensional stabilizer and dematerialization circuit.) Terry and Sue are my UK family and it's nice to have a home on your side of the pond where I can take my shoes off and "turn off" for a bit. As most of you know, when you are on a business trip you are usually "on" all the time and it's a lot more exhausting than a day at the office. Knowing I have such warm people like the Wynnes in my corner makes these trips a lot easier.

 

In fact, I have all my UK post sent to their house, and Sue was delighted the other day to get a parcel that wasn't addressed to me! Just before I arrived, a rather large box marked "fragile" was left on their mat and I was rather surprised to find out that the model I had ordered was of a slightly larger scale than I had anticipated. 

 

 

That's the trouble with ordering from the internet. I thought it said 1:100, not 1:1. Oh well, I'll just have to build the rest of the costume now. I am sure it will appear in a future Rapido video. 

 

 

Before picking up Bill and heading out to Nantwich to play with some buses, we stopped at the Heritage Centre to help out a bit. A Colas Rail Class 66 was named for David Maidment OBE because of his incredible charity work, and this name plate is on loan to the Heritage Centre. 

 

David is a local Nantwich man and was the London Midland Region Chief Operating Manager based in Crewe. He later became the British Railway Board’s Head of Safety Policy prior to privatisation and when he was on a visit to India he saw the desperate situation of some of the children living in train stations.

 

He formed the charity Railway Children, which has helped get almost 300,000 kids off the streets over the last 20 years. It's certainly a noble and worthy cause, and if you would like to donate to the Railway Children, please click here.

 

 

Our next stop was bus foamer heaven - Routemaster Buses in Nantwich. Wow! Just look at all those buses! It's amazing what these guys can do - they can resurrect almost any derelict Routemaster. And they are located in the Back of Beyond: Field. Field. Field. BUSES! Field. Field.

 

Rapido was planning to buy a Routemaster this year but instead we purchased an 85-foot-long, 65-ton hunk of steel called a sleeping car. (Read more about it here.) We have a strict policy here at Rapido of only owning one money pit at a time. Once the major costs have all been spent on the sleeping car we'd still like to get a Routemaster. We're thinking of using it to knock out low bridges all across Ontario.

 

 

Peter Chricton owns RM1152 and when he learned that Rapido had joined the Routemaster Association last year he graciously offered to take us for a ride in his bus. The first thing we needed to do was reconnect a fuel line. Bill got his hands dirty under the bonnet. He owns a Ford Mustang and apparently a Routemaster is NOTHING like a Ford Mustang. 

 

 

Once the Routemaster Buses guys had repaired the leak it was time to pull out Peter's bus.... and then spray off the fuel that was now covering the entire engine. Here Andrew from Routemaster Buses does the job.

 

 

Terry, Bill and I boarded RM1152 and were driven through the winding country lanes of rural Cheshire. That was quite fun, especially the parts where the trees smashed through the windows and took one of us out.

 

 

Here's Terry, before being knocked from the bus by an angry oak.

 

 

I'm telling you.... you stand around all day waiting and then two buses show up at once. Typical.

 

Peter drove us to a slightly wider A road near Crewe and set us loose. Here's Bill preparing to take us all for a drive:

 

 

And here's the talented Mr. Schneider driving a Routemaster. He really has to remember that a Routemaster is NOTHING like a Ford Mustang. 

 

 

Unfortunately for everyone, Peter let me have a go. I think the photos say it all.

 

 

 

 

 

We'd like to thank Peter for letting us have this tremendous experience and we'd like to apologize ("Who's we?" asks Bill) for destroying his bus. Thankfully the team at Routemaster Buses is so good at their jobs that they rebuilt his bus while we waited. Here are Peter and Terry pointing at the culprit.

 

 

I fell in love with Peter's bus. Now I am really convinced that Rapido needs to buy a Routemaster. I've driven several locomotives in my time but those don't compare with taking a Routemaster through roundabouts on an English country road.

 

At one roundabout, a guy in a white BMW saw me pulling out (he wasn't even in the roundabout yet) and he accelerated, only to have to slam on his brakes and honk. 

 

If he had actually hit us, I would have liked to record the interview with the police officer:

 

"Excuse me, sir. Did you not see the 27-foot long, 14-foot high, bus-shaped object in the roundabout when you decided to accelerate? Would you mind stepping out of your vehicle?"

 

Peter now owns a Leyland Titan PD2, which I promise to demolish next time I am in the UK. I've never driven a double clutch... Should I just start apologizing now?

 

Now the whole purpose of this trip was the Warley Show. And it's taken all these photos and blog entries to finally get there. Bill's wife was surprised to hear that we were actually doing a show on this trip. She thought we were just travelling around and drinking whisky.

 

We are so glad we did this show.

 

 

That's Kit Spackman, Mr. Tilt, behind the table. He was a hit, as always! Our booth was usually three to four people deep and many of you had to come back later to get a good look at the APT-E and its flashing lights. Let's be honest - those lights were the coolest thing at our booth. I think seeing the model in the flesh has given a lot of people confidence to order Rapido products in future. 

 

 

We shared the booth with Revolution Trains, who were showing off their first test shots of the N gauge Pendolino and their painted samples of the TEA tank wagon. Would you believe the Pendolino was just a drawing in September and now we actually have a sample? That's Ben Ando in the photo above talking about his N gauge samples. Shortly after the photo was taken he made everyone at Warley be quiet for three minutes while he did a news report on "historic orangutan colonies in Barking, Essex" for the BBC.

 

 

Around the corner from us were Legomanbiffo and RealTrack. We had a great time with Bif, Arran and Charlie. (That's Arran in the photo.) There was a lot of ridiculous banter going on in our little section of the NEC. We're using Legomanbiffo's awesome sounds in our APT-E and we're planning to announce a joint project with RealTrack in 2016.

 

It was a real pleasure meeting many of you in person, especially as we have spoken so much on RMWeb. We plan to be at Warley next year, as well as at some other shows in the UK. We're hoping they let us into York...

 

Warley had a good selection of layouts, as usual, and on Sunday Bill and I each ran away from the booth to have a look round. I have to say, the N gauge layouts in particular were very good this year.

 

 

Ollie Reading's excellent N gauge Sheaf Valley Railway. Nice police box!

 

 

The gorgeous N gauge Brixham Bay by Kevin & Judy Cartwright. The photo does not do it justice.

 

 

That's not a layout! Here Craig Tiley photographs the APT-E - without its windscreen wipers - for Railway Modeller. 

 

One of the benefits of the Warley show for me, personally, is the chance to go back to Birmingham. Arran and Charlie always give me a hard time for choosing a hotel so far from the NEC, but I like to stay in Edgbaston, my old neighbourhood. Sidura and I spent the early years of our marriage living just off the Bristol Road, and I have very fond memories of our time there. I stopped by my old flat over the weekend and tried to break in, but unfortunately was chased away and I narrowly avoided spending the weekend in a comfortable bed at the local police station.

 

Birmingham New Street station - that hub of the country that everyone in the railway press seems to ignore - has gone through an incredible transformation.

 

 

That awful Palisades shopping centre is now gone and Birmingham has the glorious station that a city of its importance deserves. The platforms are still a dungeon, mind you. Here's our train to York.

 

 

New Street is a spotter's paradise. It is certainly one of the most diverse in terms of equipment. Yet it rarely gets any attention. I've just bought a book by Richard Kirkman called Transforming Birmingham New Street. It's about time someone took notice...

 

 

I'm a bit of a catenary fan, and there are plenty of neat things to photograph in between trains...

 

 

On Monday we headed to York for some important meetings with LocomotionModels.com and the NRM. Everyone is asking if the HST prototype (pronounced Haitch Ess Dee Tee) will come with the prototype Mark III carriages and the meeting in York was largely to determine that.

 

As important as the York meeting would be, I had to make an executive decision to delay it for a stop in Sheffield.

 

 

Sheffield is a key part of the planned "Northern Powerhouse" - cities in the north of England that can emerge as a competitor to London in terms of commerce and industry once they are properly joined up with a 21st-century railway. And we went there to buy Doctor Who stuff...

 

 

Sheffield is also home to Galaxy 4, one of only four shops in all of the UK entirely devoted to Doctor Who. It's a Whovian's dream. I think I'm moving in.

 

 

It was certainly worth the trip - I bought a tonne of Big Finish CDs and a Doctor Who "Give-A-Show Projector." Remember those? These items are very important for model railway research and development. Bill was later asked what he thought of Sheffield. 

 

"Well, I saw the train station, the taxi, the Doctor Who store, the taxi, and the train station. So I don't really know what I thought of Sheffield."

 

Being in Sheffield gave us a chance to photograph the Voyager's younger cousins, the Meridians.

 

 

I think I am the only one on RMWeb who actually likes Voyagers. We rode four that day. We were supposed to ride three but our train from York had a faulty front power car. We decided to get off and wait for the next one in Leeds rather than give the train crew a chance to "see if turning the train around in Wakefield will fix it." I like the rumble under my bum as the Voyagers accelerate, and I find them far less cramped than Pendolinos, which are supposedly built to roughly the same loading gauge. Go Bombardier! It's a proud Canadian company, which like many proud Canadian companies has been baled out by the government countless times and is about to be bought out by non-Canadians. And you thought that only happened to proud British companies...

 

Bill and I tried to do some work on the train, but we were too exhausted to be very productive.

 

 

 

I'm guessing everyone on RMWeb has been to the National Railway Museum. If you are reading this from outside the UK and you haven't been there, then I want you to picture the best railway museum you have ever been to, notch it up to 11, and you can start to get an idea of what it's like at York.

 

We were quite surprised to find the Stirling Single at York, but there it was, hidden behind Sir Nigel Gresley.

 

 

The meeting was a good one and we have a fairly clear idea of what we're doing for the HSDT, but I'm not going to tell you what that idea is. Well not yet, anyway. But I can say this: we are very likely making the prototype Mark III coaches to go with your prototype HST locomotives. More information will be forthcoming in our UK newsletter. Click here to sign up.

 

On Tuesday we rode another Voyager to Reading to catch a train to Paddington. In addition to rumbly bums, Voyagers also provide some very realistic 4mm wave effects in tea. I think I'm on to something. Every Cross Country Voyager can have a 4mm scale portside layout at the rear of the first-class compartment, and it can have realistic-looking real water. It will be a hit!

 

 

Bill stopped for a moment to get a picture with Mr. Brunel. He is such a GWR nerd.

 

 

And with that our longest-ever trip to the UK has come to a close. Thanks to everyone who met with us on our journey and contributed to the discussion here on RMWeb. We had a wonderful time, even though our wives have kicked us both out for being away so long. Bill and I are now both living in the sleeping car.

 

Until next time...

 

-Jason

 

[davknigh]

Jason,

 

If you have nostalgic memories of New Street you might be able to re-live them here: http://www.p4newstreet.com/

 

Cheers,

 

David

[Fenman]

"... we are very likely making the prototype Mark III coaches to go with your prototype HST locomotives"

 

Hurrah!

 

Paul

[Ozexpatriate]

Jason, it is nice to see that you have at last been upgraded. Excellent!

[newbryford]

"... we are very likely making the prototype Mark III coaches to go with your prototype HST locomotives"

 

Hurrah!

 

Paul

and "a joint project with Realtrack in 2016".........................

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

[newbryford]

Loving the photographs in the blog, but I'm sure that one has been photoshopped.

 

It shows Arran behind the stand - AWAKE!

 

Cheers,

Mick