E3109

Asda is still owned by Walmart I think, so I wonder if Walmart are selling/divesting Asda first, or is it really a merger/takeover between Walmart and Sainsbury's? Must admit, of all the big supermarkets Asda is my favourite.

Indeed. You could add to that, 10000/10001, 10201, An a multitude of steam locos as mentioned in another thread. Plenty of suitable candidates that were sadly lost. I suppose we have to make do with what we have and with ref to the JR car, I think I'm right in saying that it's one of the most popular exhibits in the NRM, with Joe Public at least and realistically, that's what matters. Us lot on here already love railways, so if the Shinkansen attracts yet more railway devotees then it has achieved its purpose.

Agreed with pretty much all of what you said there 4630, although I do think the Shinkansen is perhaps one of the best items in there. I know it's got nowt to do with our railway but I must admit that I tend to migrate towards it when I go to the NRM.

That quote you pasted is missing only pivotal key buzzwords such as 'blue sky thinking', has David Brent taken over the NRM these days? Ps fluorescent lamps fitted to my beloved 26020's marker lights. Just plain wrong.

Just to add, although these forms are somewhat archaic nowadays, it pleases me no end when I see compound words such as 'today' written as 'TO-DAY'. Ah. The Past.

Furthermore (and apologies for banging on about 76ers yet again) MOSI don't appear to be all that bothered about the remains of the beheaded HECTOR aka E26048/76039. My mate was there last week and reckoned the cab was filthy with dust. As I understand it, MOSI is part of the same organisation as the NRM, I acknowledge that I'm somewhat biased towards DC wire scrapers but it seems that some artefacts are more important than others. MOSI and the NRM are fantastic museums and I just hope the admin hasn't been taken over by people who neither know, nor particularly care about railways.

I was at the East Lancs for the Class 40 60th do the other week. Hats off to the NRM for sending D200 along. But maybe they should've let the CFPS look after the doyen UFN? I can't see that loco ever running again frankly, after all they seem to prioritise Flying Moneypits above all else. They should give custodianship to them (assuming they want that) then it's a win-win for everyone. Seems the NRM has been "Common Purposed" and if you don't know what I'm on about then maybe you should google it. At the very least, to my mind whoever is in charge these days don't appear to deem a passion for railways a prerequisite for an employment contract. That said, they helped me out immensely during some recent research for a layout project. So maybe all is not lost, just yet. Can I just say though, the EM1 in their care suffered bent pans recently. Due to a shunting miscalculation. Utter sacrilege in my book. If Flying Moneypit had as much as a scratched buffer beam there would've been mass outrage. But hey ho, 26020 is only some anonymous-looking box on wheels so it doesn't matter. I'm reaching the point where my last will and testament will NOT include a substantial donation towards the upkeep of 76020 because it seems the custodians don't give a sh1te about it in the first place.

When I'm in Bangkok I always pay a visit to Foodland (24hr supermarket chain) and bring an absolute shed load of Kom-Kom vegetable carving knives back. The long, curved one in the picture. They are razor sharp and ideal for carving styrene. They do lose their edge rather quickly, though they will take a couple of sharpening sessions. But at around £1 a go, I usually just chuck 'em away. They are available here via specialist Oriental shops, but are rather pricey.

Royal Oak, what was the reasoning behind the driver being medscreened? Never had that when I experienced a 'one under' and although there is no reason to decline, it seems a little inappropriate somehow.

Reg on train spotting. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/10556-reg-on-trainspotting/

Saw a couple of guys steam cleaning chewing gum off the pavement this morning, and it made me think of this thread. Maybe too harsh for carpet? Could be worth giving one of these firms a call.

I'm surprised to see class 156s on that list just yet. So far, the TOCs can't get enough of them. 507s and 508s are of course to be replaced by the Stadtler sets in the next couple of years. A Merseyrail colleague was telling me the other day, the rumour doing the rounds on the Liverpool Area DC Lines, is that they might be exported to China! As working sets, or bales of swarf, I wonder.

Initially, I was only going to make the pit roads from Lego, rather than the entire base. A couple of reasons for this, first off three pits at over 4ft long, and another about 18" and that would be a lot of Peco pits on the shopping list! Secondly, the spacing of the Lego stud centres means that a 2-stud gap is 16mm, pretty much ideal for OO track/pits. I've left provision for lighting, you can see one of the apertures above. These are not currently cemented in, for obvious reasons. Anyway, when I was making the pits a thought occurred to me, why not make the entire base from Lego, a decision I'm glad I made because it ensures that the pits are equally spaced throughout. Also, it provides a defined position for the shed buildings to sit on, via the 'antistuds' along the underside of the structure. Once everything is 'nailed down' you won't be able to see the studs of course, although I'm still undecided whether to use plasticard or plain Lego-esque bases, cut to size. The ones they sell in Wilko, marked out as roadways. The height is a nice fit to the railhead. Regarding the track, I'm using Peco concrete sleeper code 75. All the sprues have been cut, and the sleepers spaced out to fit the studs, they are a tidy interference fit with the studs but please note, this doesn't work with wooden sleeper code 75 (or code 100 for that matter) as the sleepers are wider. All the rail within the shed was flat bottomed, so no issues there. As for outside, well the new Peco bullhead is looking tempting! That can wait for now...

Did I say I liked playing with Lego?

I get all that Phil and much obliged for what you've said, however my point still stands. If Mattel feel they can sue with impunity then why can't the Gresley family counterclaim in the case of the A4, what's left of the GWR (Duck, the 0-4-2) the BR Residual Body and/or Bombardier or whoever, bearing in mind that with diesels alone Mattel have profited by depicting a Co-Bo, a Peak, a Hymek, a 40, a 350 pilot, and even a Western and a rancid Ped in one picture (albeit in the original series)? Maybe the Port of Par should countersue them too for 'Bill and Ben' [sic]. It's not so much the fact that they run to their lawyers when let's be frank they're profiting from those designs, it's more the fact that double standards are being applied and they see no irony in that. This is what happens when you sell your soul to the devil. I'm sure the Great Reverend, being a God-fearing man never envisaged such a palaver.

To be fair, that was his actual name although Awdry rarely referred to him as such.

Ps Katwigan I walked past there today. For a moment I thought I was experiencing a deja vu!

Counting bricks on photos works wonders. That's assuming you have access to pics with a decent resolution. It's not foolproof, but it's pretty damned close.

Just thought too, wasn't 'Silver Link' and its sisters grey, or greyish at one time? Sod 'em, an A4 needs going into that livery, and renaming 'Silver FRO Mattel' hahaha

It's crap though innit, multinationals have (perhaps inadvertently) profited from, say Gresley's works of art with impunity, and certainly no royalties to the Gresley's Estate, due no doubt to an absolute lack of knowledge of the subject matter and yet when the tables are turned, they run to their lawyers at the drop of a hat. Right that's it. Decided I'm gonna buy the rusting hulk that is 45015, get a top paint job done on it and renumber it D199 just to piss them right off ...

There was a book (or series of books) entitled 'Sammy The Shunter' in the 1950s so possibly pre dating the Rev Awdry stuff. Sammy had a face on its smoke box. Thus I fail to see why the current gangste...er owners can cite copyright regarding trains with faces.

The fibreglass renditions always seem to be a bit spaced out, not a patch on the JT Kenney (?) renditions in Thomas books of yore. Send them all for drug tests!

Indeed Mark and I'd also like to add, that playing with Lego in recent weeks has made me feel about 30 years younger, it's all about enjoying yourself really and I don't think this project would be half as much fun if I'd used foam board or plywood.

Depends really Tricky, I mean don't get me wrong I enjoy nipping down the local as much as the next man during summer days, just to observe the blart knocking about if nowt else. But I've been absolutely RA on my current modelling project this year (Reddish TMD) and I can predict with some confidence that I'll be dismissing the pub environment to an extent, in order to get stuck in. As much as I love railway modelling, I've never really had such passion for a single project before. Why? Dunno. But I suspect the fact that 40s, 25s (hmmm) 47s and of course 76ers were a constant there, has gone some way towards me seeing this model through.

The paradox is, when the weather improves, the mojo tends to wane as there are other things that tend to be more appealing.