keefer

well done kingfisher - for all the self-mentioned shortcuts etc. i bet most folk would be hard pushed to notice the 'faults'. to get something so close for not much outlay, (esp. if the prototype isn't available RTR) is always a bonus, with the added satisfaction of you did it yourself!

noticed another article in 'the courier' http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/perth-kinross/campaigner-backs-new-perth-rail-link-but-concerned-about-impact-on-fife-1.99467 to be honest, doesn't inspire much confidence in the STARLink if this is what she comes out with..... the glenfarg line would indeed avoid the speed restrictions through b'island/kinghorn but only for trains to perth/further north "would reduce traffic across the tay bridge" - perth trains don't go over the tay bridge anyway concern about rerouting the ECML away from fife, NE fife in particular - Ms. Liston would seem to be under the impression that the glenfarg route would replace the present fife route to dundee and beyond!

it's all a bit unrealistic really one of the biggest nails in the coffin for the railway was that using the actual trackbed through the 'difficult' bit for the motorway saved a humungous amount of money for the project. the railway being closed added significantly to the feasibility of the motorway as the time/money/effort to engineer a route through the glen wasn't required. now, if there wasn't really the will then to plough a new path through there for the road, i can't see there being much will now to do it for the railway

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-22705610

the mention of 325 in the list above seems to be confused with 2906 as mike said, 325 was a BR mk1 RF (dia. 17) - there's mention of it in parkin's mk1 book in that it ran in lined maroon but was never painted/renumbered into the full train 1979 P5 book states that it (along with the mk1 special build 2900/2901/2902) was converted in 1977 from vac brake/steam heat to air brake/ETH and B5 bogies W14112 ex-2b BFK became 2906 staff sleeper

i think with 1977 being the jubilee year, there was a programme of updating the train. hence some (much) older vehicles were replaced by newer ones e.g. the mk3s for his'n'hers saloons and the mk2b BFKs for the power/sleeper brakes

no problem CME - it's also worth noting one guitar string can go a long way as they're about 36" long. have also heard of them being used for cable/conduit runs that need to be straight between support points - their springy nature means they won't kink unless you put a deliberate bend in them

'9-42' refers to the thicknesses in thou as well, from the thinnest to thickest in a set of strings the set could be something like 9, 11, 16, 24, 32, 42 ie 9thou or 0.009" etc. you can usually get up to a 20 or 22thou plain string (i.e. single wire), but anything above is usually a wound string (i.e. wire wrapped around a central core - looks like a vacuum pipe!) if you go into a music shop, you can usually buy strings individually, just ask for a plain '17' or a '20'

sorry to go slightly OT, but this answers a question from the 'scottish region photos' prototype thread - someone posted a pic of a trailing DBSO with one built-in tail light lit and a separate tail lamp on the other side. (must've been a faulty tail light) EDIT: was in the 'waverley west' layout thread: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2978-waverley-west/page-32&do=findComment&comment=964539

'rolling stock recognition 3: DMUs' (marsden/ ian allan, 1st. ed. 1981) has a pic on p.68 of blue/grey DTS W56286 leading the white/blue DMBS a pic on p.70 has blue/grey DMBS W55022 with a white/blue cl.117 TCL and DMS if you want to go overboard, there was a pic in the morrison DMU book of 4 cl.121 DMBS with a cl.117 TCL in the middle - all in NSE! (can't find the book to check the details)

obviously not a fan of weathering - i can handle the clean stock, but those rails, completely unrealistic! :-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/d9006/8105163075/in/photostream/

i don't often look in on this thread but i'm glad i did today! scrolling through this page, i noticed the first image and something made me think again - i recognised it straight away as brechin station front i only know it from preservation times - my dad was from brechin and in the '80s used to go up now and again to visit relatives - the station then looked very forlorn and the fledgling BRPS had not long started. (must look through stuff still at my mum's, as i joined the BRPS and i still have some of the 'basic' photocopied newsletters) it's always nice to see how far the (now) caledonian railway have got, as at the time i was 'involved' it was very much a small core of individuals trying to make the best of what small resources they had. i also just thought on how fortunate it was that the station buildings were kept - i'm sure there were many places, reduced to a small freight-only service, where the buildings would've been pulled down without a thought

good luck with your new job jim! changes of job can be rather fraught especially in these uncertain times, but you seem to be handling the changes well! the modern scene isn't really my thing, but your posts from 'behind the scenes' are very interesting and informative onwards and upwards!

michael, i know you didn't mean it that way, but you might want to think how the last part of this may read!

as regards fish traffic, if there was a definite need for it, it would (need) to be kept at one end! a bit OT, but the MLVs in the GE units (305 or 308?) had a 'fish' end it's marked on the vehicle diagram at http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/BREMUDiagramsIssue.pdf (page 51 of 79) seems to be a full-width 3 or 4' long 'fish stowage area' with a drain in the corner (possibly just a hole in the floor for the fishy ice-melt)

an eBay special *MINT IN BOX* *PROFESSIONALLY WEATHERED* !!! obviously weathered in situ as they've got the wash all over the track too http://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/2613030942/in/set-72157624615195800

*I think* there were a few KX-edinburgh formations which were deltic+8 (with two catering vehicles), but you could easily lose a TSO for length's sake - would often be RU/RB or RU/RMB, but always with 1st class/RU at the london end as was the case with the HSTs. in place of the BG you could have a mk2d BFK i'm not sure of the period of these formations, maybe late 70s/ v. early 80s? longer trains could've had just an RKB (no RTR available though) or an RB anyhoo, much more interesting for the variety, as you say

great work and great photography as always dave do i spy some double-buffet action on the mk2d train? - i can see an RU with gresley bogies, what's the other one - an RB or RMB perhaps? just a small point - if the mk2d train is an ECML one it 'should' be the other way round - i.e. heading north you'd have loco, then TSOs/buffets/FOs/BG good luck with your progress, must feel good to get the trains running again

looking through the RAILSCOT site i came across something i only recognised because of this thread! http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=42671 (it's a fairly recent image, so i don't think it's been linked to already) the older 'image 21419' leads to a set of pics of the harton coal company at westoe: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Westoe (clicking on anything clickable will open a new window)

possibly a case of removing the most easily removable bits, to make sure the load is well within gauge? (also more convenient to have a load fit easily onto a flat, rather than have to drum up some sort of well wagon etc.?)

found what i think is the one i was thinking of....... http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5796902106/in/set-72157626883018698/ i take it 107 033 became 107 733 as it is defo the same DMS (going by various marks on the front end)

i'm sure if at least one of you were on a stretcher, then it was probably ok.....

st. monans or st. monance on the closed east of fife line not so much railway, more a general difference depending on era not really a spelling issue - on the leven line, cameron bridge would seem to be named after the distilleries etc. nearby, despite windygates being the village it served

the carriage standards committee minutes in the parkin mk1 supplement have frequent mention of the stretcher windows and their corrosion problems & lack of wind/watertightness BR were keen just to get rid, but were overruled by the Ministry of Health - presumably some sort of statutory provision for TB/polio/etc. cases who needed non-emergency transport. didn't manage to find an on-line pic of the window in use, but did find one showing the internal catches etc. http://www.flickr.com/photos/70023venus2009/5888641136

thank you to all contributors to this very interesting topic! not my area or era, but i love reading about lines/systems that were once busy and important, but of which there is little trace of now apologies if these have been linked to before, but i've yet to read through the first 10 pages! 26510 at ilford (artcile about the shenfield line with some good detail shots of the 306s in 1500V dc form) - scroll down to last pic: http://dewi.ca/trains/london/br_trains.html some pics of the NER locos at science and society (put 'electric locomotive and north eastern railway' into search box - couldn't get the results to link properly. i'm sure there are more pics of tyneside stock, but the search engine seems a bit hit or miss)