E3109

No idea, my only memories of it was the fact that it was a gap in my Ian Allan and Platform 5 books!

08679 was one, and an unusually high numbered one at that. https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/32485115232/in/photolist-bcJfnZ-o5E4yC-RuAGZE-ShRAG7-pznb3p-59srHi-4j9cwp-bC13M-nZhS5r-23CeZRG-gXEiZr-oXKLGT-epnsa7-deAj1o-JHauxM-8iP8RD-qhrVct-nktDCB-NMAjBb-Dp75vk-25R92yB-5EbJok-qnev8m-7ouvVV-vrKMc-DGvVDX-qcE7eE-25QiSLy-j9swfu-aef4Bb-a6UEwt-4rc5Ky-eDXe7e-BEkEJj-P4Gzcq-ryFmzo-cNCCwS-7sDmXW-nonGsW-cNCArS-GHmu6a-zDr2FY-5GvKdE-grt1Xn-WRDkv7-ZoARRn-21MegxL-9XwkPH-T4zDXf

Aye, No2 End is the pantograph end on classes 81-87.

I suspect that wouldn't be an ecumenical matter...

I realise this is slightly out of your timescale, and it was indeed a drag, but after returning from London on a spotting trip we were dragged Crewe-Chester-Warrington BQ by 40194 in early 1984. Wires were down at Weaver. Dead loco was an 87 or 86, on mk3 stock. Blue/grey though, obviously. As I recall, various drags continued throughout the summer and beyond and IIRC, supposedly withdrawn 40060 was hastily commandeered and dragged something round the NW I think early 1985. Carlisle rings a bell. So it's certainly possible. There is a website called 'Class 40 Motherlist' or similar, maybe some info on there? I don't recall ever seeing a 40 on a mk3 rake without a dead leccy inside, but you never know. Maybe the odd ECS? Makes you wonder why Jouef produced a 40 and mk3 stock though! Still, not as preposterous as a Hymek on a Liner...

When I was out in the sticks for a while in Cambodia, I made the mistake more than once of asking for fried eggs. They made me violently ill, I couldn't work out why as I like them. They were of course fried in this stuff. I can tolerate it when it's just an ingredient in, say, a snack bar but never again would I order any fried food in the Cambodian countryside: the nausea and pain, not to mention the 'coming out both ends' factor means I wouldn't chance it for a gold watch. My mate who's lived there for years was later telling me that Westerners often react in this way, the locals are virtually weaned on it and so they attain asbestos guts. I accept that it has its uses, apparently it was used as lubricant during the Industrial Revolution among other things. Probably why it tasted of Castrol GTX. The deforestation issue is appalling, so a hat tip to Iceland for their stance.

Mr Stubbs I don't wish to commence a sh**fest here, but I stand by everything I said. Title to your funds does indeed transfer to the bank itself, this isn't something from the David Icke website or similar, it's a fact. I'm not after point scoring, this forum is basically about model railways as it should be. But feel free to send me a PM if you wish. And yes, there are accounts elsewhere which pay 8% APR, admittedly this is in places I'm familiar with, you appear to be viewing this from a UK-based position (understandable TBH) but that wasn't my point. I appreciate your concerns regarding that and thank you, but it really isn't an issue. Incidentally, I have no desire to 'get rich quick' as generally speaking such opportunities don't exist. Also, I attempted to open an account with a UK building society fairly recently and was declined for spurious reasons, despite a current driving licence and a council tax invoice they claimed that wasn't enough to prove my address! Also the oft-mentioned 'money laundering' nonsense was cited by them, ER I'm UK PAYE! What planet are these people on? I opened an account elsewhere in 20 minutes, outside UK jurisdiction, all I had to do was produce my passport. The name of my guest house was sufficient for an address. Don't get me wrong, there's booger all in that account and there probably never will be apart from holiday money but it was well noted that it was much easier to open a bank account many miles away in a foreign land, than it was in my home town.

Just to add, and I know the pivot centres are wrong on the Tri-ang derived coaches but if you can live with that discrepancy an adjustment to the ride height is easy enough, simply file out the plastic on the bogie around the pivot, if you take out too much then shimming should be easy enough. I haven't actually done this by the way, but worth considering maybe. I'm more concerned with side bearers really, nowt worse than a rocking coach!

There was more than one, I'd take a guess at three or four but not many more. There was a thread on RMweb a while ago about this, boogered if I can find it though! Shame really, IMHO the domino boxes looked pretty good, certainly suited class 81s to a tee.

Sir Topham Hatt (ace name BTW!) yes, I see that for the first time in history 2018 was the tipping point when electronic transactions outranked physical cash transactions, is it any wonder with the way it's been pushed. You suggest that my cash is not safe under my bed. Not that I keep it there, but even if I did it would be much safer under the mattress than in a bank. Nobody gets in here without an appointment and even if they illegally gained entry, they would still face a plethora of locked doors and keypads. I like to operate my own security system, not willing to entrust this to a third party. You do realise, that once your money goes into a bank account, they own it, right? Yes, in most situations they wouldn't enforce this when you come to withdraw it but the point is, THEY CAN. This is perfectly legal and is the default. Not that this makes it right, but it is a fact. You ever tried to withdraw more than, say, £5k, and then not been subjected to an interrogation? If you compare the pitiful interest on saving accounts against inflation then anyone could be forgiven for stashing it 'under the mattress' so to speak, UK saving accounts produce a net loss in real terms. Meanwhile, the 'backward third world' have banks that pay as much as 8% APR in real terms, guess what I'm minded towards.

Also to add, two or three 86/2s got domino boxes, this was a rarity within the class as the majority went from OOOO to plated over marker lights, and I'm pretty sure they were all named at the time these few received the dominoes.

This electronic money thing still seems to be a recipe for disaster, as far as I'm concerned. If it were up to me I'd select being paid via proper wage packets, as it was when I started my career. Can't recall ever being skint back then. You spent much of what you earned, if you didn't put a bit to one side each month for emergencies then it was your own fault. That's why I continue to draw my wage out in cash every payday. So much easier to handle. I'm not opposed to electronic money, it certainly has its uses (can't pay in cash online!) but I am absolutely opposed to it becoming the norm. But hey what would I know, I'm a Luddite, etc etc

Imagine if you will, some dude who has alcohol issues, and buys a large bottle of whisky every single night from Tesco. Now this guy has paid into the system for 40 years prior to his dependency, thus full stamp/NI contributions to the state. His purchases are made by card, and/or cash but using a club card when making cash payments. Roll forward another few years, the fella's health has, not surprisingly given the way he's abused his body, taken a turn for the worst. He ends up in A&E, which turns out to be his final resting place due to a big 'DNR' on his case notes. In red marker pen. And all because Tesco sold his buying habit details to the NHS. Think this can't happen? Well think again, the DVLA are already making decent profits by selling on people's details to third parties. For clarity, I have no sympathy for the bloke putting himself into an early grave via his extreme drinking habits. But that isn't my point. Point is, this sort of info is being farmed to death and all because a select few financially gain from it, irrespective of whether it's in the interests of the individual these records refer to. I stand by my original point, cash is king, pretty much all I need off the government is a passport, driving licence and NHS care as and when needed. 30+ years of paying tax and NI via PAYE, and VAT via the normal channels, well I don't think I'm asking for too much. Those who wish to give the government all their details and spending habits have, in my view, no recourse to whinge about it when their pockets get dipped by officialdom, or worse still.

Do you reckon he can take me back to April 1981, and instead of making dens like 12 year old kids do, buy me a ticket for the Easter Tommy rail tour instead? I'll pay you well!

Bingo! Yeah, never knew that Jim so thanks for the info.Link below, they're referred to as 'Hybox' here but they're identical to Athermos so I'd guess it's a licence-built variation, or a generic BR term perhaps. Paul says on his photo page that these are a form of roller bearing, that's incorrect. https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/grampuszbv

It was mentioned above that cash is bulky. I disagree. Several years ago I got £10k from the bank for some building works, sealed bags of £1000 in twenties. I was surprised at how small the whole lot was. Would've been even smaller if I'd got fifties although TBH I find using them a bit pretentious... For those who ask why I needed cash, well all I will say is I was not willing to be the taxman's gofer and be charged for the privilege.

Wow, agreed about that oval bug. Halifax registration too. Perhaps thinking outside the box here, regarding rising/falling river levels. Would it be possible to depict the water surface on a flat plate, and have it motorised somehow so that it can rise or fall an inch or so? That's something I've never seen modelled, although I bet someone has done it. Maybe you could use compressed air as an alternative, using inflatable bags similar to how the devices they use for blood pressure work. Or would in raise your blood pressure while trying to get the thing to work?! Just an idea, looking forward to seeing this develop. So far you've got it spot on.

Regarding the EM1 and EM2. These are the best RTR MSW locos we will ever see, this is because nobody will ever tackle those locos again. Olivia's have, in a way ruined it although I'm still glad they commissioned them. They run lovely (as you generally expect from Heljan). They are 90% there for accuracy. But there are some absolutely appalling errors on them and it is this fact alone, that makes me gag at the idea of paying £160 for them. Nonsensical cost cutting while researching the prototypes, has resulted in an 'also ran', although they can certainly be made into a good model with surgery. If they'd been near-perfect I would've paid that price all day. I've been mopping up examples of both lately from Hattons, pragmatic pricing numbs the pain of having to butcher them! I hope Hattons buy the rest of the Olivia's EM1s at some point soon, so they can be released at realistic prices. To quote Mr Creosote... "I'll 'ave the lot" !

Plain bearings are often looked down on these days, and while roller bearings are far superior there's nowt wrong with plain bearings per se. Their finest hour has to be the French Athermos design, I have a little bit of experience with these and they can certainly hold their own against roller bearings. They are much better than British designs with their wicks and so on, the axle box housing is massive as it's basically a great big sump, there is a paddle (or 'spoon' as my Cambodian railway friends call it) bolted to the axle end face which scoops oil from the base and drips vast amounts over the bearing surface with each rotation. As far as I know, their only use in GB was a small number fitted to class 24s from new, it would be interesting to know how well they fared on BR, and if anything else here was fitted with them. Americans would seem to prefer the term 'friction bearing', a loaded phrase in my opinion and an oxymoron. Not sure if this is just in the model railway world, or US general rail parlance. If anyone doubts the efficiency of Athermos bearings, then a quick view of SNCF's record breaking 300km/h plus runs with CC7107 and BB9002 (?) in the 1950s ought to blow that away. Apologies for the slight thread drift, however I've been trying to find out if anything was fitted with Athermos bearings here apart from the small numbers of Sulzer Type 2s.

Maybe they looked at the parted-out remnants of NSWGR in the mid 1990s when in their wisdom, the operators binned the 85 and 86 class for diesel haulage. And perhaps being a bit sentimental here, the good old MV 46 class which were known to be pretty much bulletproof. I still cannot understand why Victoria de-electrified the Traralgon line. Short term gains appear to trump everything in the last 30 years or so, do these people never think ahead? In fact I was reading a while ago that the 1950s/60s VR electrification should've spread much further than it did, but was sadly curtailed. Seems the Kiwis have thought about this properly, and after an investigation are not willing to repeat the policies of their Aussie neighbours. It wasn't so long ago that this could've happened here, there was a semi-serious proposal to de-electrify the WCML north of Preston. That was in the days of the real estate company ER ER I mean Railtrack, thankfully common sense prevailed (and Railtrack was wound up) but rumours at the time suggested it could've happened. IIRC Pendos may well have saved the day on that one (much as I dislike the things, credit where it's due?).

Hi Boxbrownie, Hatton's only have EM2s now, the last EM1s sold out the other week.

Interesting Jim, learned summat so cheers for that. Took me years to realise that M.O. stands for 'Middle Order', didn't have a clue on that and I'm based there!

Rockershovel regarding the VC-10 to which you were obviously referring, I think? There was a potential, large Chinese order 'waiting in the wings' so to speak, after the main production run for BOAC, the RAF and a handful of smaller operators. Vickers had already scrapped the jigs. Thus no more orders. British industry has often lacked belief in itself. This was covered in a magazine-style book on the aircraft which I have somewhere, it's quite recent. It was in WH Smith in the last 3 years or so, a cracking read too.

Don't forget pulling trailing points that are designed to be run through in the trailing direction, and the ever-present danger of seagulls dumping on you from the tower lights, thus necessitating the mandatory use of eye protection... (Tongue firmly in cheek).

If she had a card, she'd be dangerous (to herself).If only she'd brought the correct money, mind you if she'd had a card you wouldn't have been delayed, and she would've been charged £27 for going overdrawn by a penny. She might be a dunce, but maybe she's also a tad more streetwise than you give her credit for? ( no pun intended) The next time there is a card reader outage, I trust that you will simply leave the goods where they are and refuse to stoop to the level of having to use dirty cash instead?