dibber25

Yes, it is in production at the moment and is still expected to arrive during Q4 this year, however, it should be noted that this is a Model Rail project direct with Rapido in Canada and the USA and does not involve the Rapido UK operation. (CJL)

Not surprising, really, as the Southern was being used to test the other main line diesels at the time, its own and the LMS ones. 10800 also ran through to Brighton from the ER on at least one occasion. (CJL)

A number of 122s which were based at Tyseley became M prefix when that depot was transferred from the Western to the LM but it was by no means all of the class, several of which stayed in the West Country. However 122s were generally quicker to get the chop from front-line service than 121s and 122s became parcels cars in Scotland, and route learners and sandite cars elsewhere. (CJL)

There are two shades of BR green. Ben asked me to look over the livery artwork and there was a dark green one. I suggested that Heljan should do the light green version, too. Glad to see it's been done. Dark green would have been a very late repaint and a short time in traffic before withdrawal. (CJL)

Speaking as a one-time - actually two times (1963-68 and 1977-92) Ian Allan employee (as a magazine editor) IA's sons were not that much younger than me, so they'll both be reaching retirement age about now (if they haven't already). There may well be a third generation with no interest in running the business which was already past its heyday when I left nearly 30 years ago. Railway publishing - as far as books go - is dead on its feet. There simply are not enough customers left of the generation that read railway books or studied railway history and practice. In my time 3,000 copies was a good print run (my Western Before Beeching printed 3,500 copies. Any more and they would have had to pay me a royalty, so they never printed any more). Before that, GWR Country Stations was kept in print for around 20 years and must have sold many thousands of copies. (I got a flat fee for that). Today you would struggle to muster a 1,000 print run and for books printed in the UK that just isn't viable for a company, rather than a one-man operation. (CJL)

I said they were brake vans. I didn't say they were LSWR road vans, though one clearly is. Mac took various pictures of vehicles which were modified at Ryde. There's a very nice brake third four-wheeler which he describes as "modified for the the Night Mail train." (CJL)

The Isle of Wight brake vans photographed by A B MacLeod during his time in charge in the 1930s. (CJL)

I think we've only got GWR No. 18 to do and every single-unit diesel railcar that operated for BR has been done in ready-to-run 'OO'. Two- and three-car sets are much less well covered because they are not 'dead certs' for good sales in the same way that single cars are. With the DTS, there are choices which further complicate matters. The single car has standard tension-locks both ends, so immediately you have a question mark over how you provide directional lighting in the trailer car or DCC with one decoder. If you re-make the DMBS with the multi-pin plug coupling, those who only run it as a single car will have an ugly redundant coupling at one end and you've got tooling and assembly revisions to the single car. We can, of course, do as BR often did and run two single cars coupled together if we really want a two-car set. I also wonder just how accurate the TC chassis would be for the DTS, bearing in mind that one has a toilet and the other doesn't - were there other differences aside from the toilet pipework? (CJL)

Regardless of how easy it might be to make a DTS from different bits of the 117, that's not how production works. Each model has its own suite of tools, a complete set to make that model, otherwise you get two problems. First, you have to communicate to the factory which bits from which models they need to use. We've seen examples where that's gone wrong with wrong interiors in coaches, for instance. Secondly, and more importantly, you introduce differential amounts of wear on the tools, so for instance, your trailer composite chassis tools would see far more wear than your trailer composite body tool causing problems and potential retooling when you come to make another batch of the original model. So, a DTS would be great but it needs to stand on its own financial feet as project. (CJL)

Oh, I've got an artificial one - all plastic and pretty coloured flowers - but what I visualised really needs a 'proper' tree. Still I've a week to complete another project before I start that one.(CJL)

Yes, it's early to be looking at Christmas movies but I had an idea for a magazine feature for the Christmas issue and that means it has to be done now. The idea has a serious flaw, though. Where the heck do I find a Christmas tree now?!! (CJL)

The Hornby-Dublo coupling was OK in the early days when it was the blackened, pressed metal style but when they moved to that super-thick and heavy plastic version it was ugly and unreliable, being impossible to bend back into shape when it inevitably drooped. The only thing worse than that was the tension-lock. However, neither of them looks remotely like a British three-link or screw coupling and if you fit something that looks right, it won't work on train set curves. (CJL)

I subsequently found a slightly better sequence of the moving train and paused it. It certainly does look like that Shell-liveried R1 except that some 'artwork' a red spot and a blue/green patch have been pasted over the Shell logo. I wonder what coupling it has to attach it to American freight cars? The Hornby-Dublo R1has those distinctive 'oval' front spectacle windows, so that would seem to confirm it. What a strange choice, though. I suspect the film company enlisted the help of a local British modeller or model club and that's what they were given. (CJL)

At present all effort is on getting the '16XX' pannier tank into stock and out to our customers. I have no up-to-date information. I saw a picture of finished body shells a couple of weeks ago. I still hope we'll have models in stock within Q4 2020 but nothing is certain these days. The 'E1' will follow on after the '16XX' and will be to the same high standard set by Rapido with both the J70 and the 16XX. (CJL)

That sounds like a possibility , thanks. The movie is on Prime Video, not Netflix - a hazard of switching between the two while searching. (CJL)

I really didn't know where might be best to post this, so in the end I thought I'd trust it to the moderator. I've been researching those Christmas layouts that always appear in the kids' toy store in Christmas movies. You know, the Lionel F-unit with three freight cars on a circuit of track round a Christmas tree, with the whole lot covered in 'snow'. It's been the usual story - when you're looking for something, you can't find it but when you're not really looking.... Well, tonight I watched 'Hearts of Christmas' on Prime Video. It's a cheesy rom-com but there's a side story about a trainset. The box, I guess is a made-up studio prop, but there's one brief shot of the train....running round the Christmas tree in the shop. You'll need to hit pause at that moment. I've re-watched it several times and I'm pretty certain I'm seeing a Hornby-Dublo 'R1' 0-6-0T (in a strange grey livery) hauling three or four American freight cars. Am I correct? Was the 'R1' ever sold in a North American train set? It's two-rail track, with what looks to be brass-coloured rails. (Meccano did produce one or two products for sale in Commonwealth countries) and like so much of the Netflix catalogue, this movie was shot in British Columbia where there is a goodly amount of British-outline modelling among the ex-pats. It's only curiosity, really, but I'd love to know if I'm right and what the story is behind this unusual train set. (CJL)

How long have you got?!! (Says the guy from Staines! CJL)

Projects like this, which involve some minor tooling changes, are normally offered by a manufacturer. Heljan has offered the Class 48 as a possible exclusive. That's the project that's on offer, not 47901. (CJL)

I don't have any of the roof domes left in stock. I have just one pair of Derby (116-style) cab ends and a couple of DMU detailing kits. The cast parts really are not up to modern standards. They were OK on Lima conversions when there was little alternative, but if anyone wants them, I'll be happy to answer a PM. (CJL)

I believe that, in Canada, the locos would have to be on accommodation bogies to be moved on track after a derailment, in case of journal damage. (CJL)

I would expect that model images will be used when they become available but that can't be until after they are delivered and in stock as we don't have any models other than the livery samples. As far as I'm aware the only version of 1638 is the green one and I've seen pictures of the green body shells in production. I'm not aware of any intention to produce lined black. As the models are in production and being assembled, guises cannot change now. (CJL)

The 'Port turn', Nanaimo-Parksville-Port Alberni freight passes through Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park. This is the same train shown previously on the trestle at Cameron Lake. The route is presently 'moth-balled' with basic maintenance being carried out by a volunteer group which has installed a new spur at Coombs. It is hoped that at some stage the line can be re-opened, possibly for tourist trains connected with cruise ships calling at Port Alberni, but at present this seems as remote a possibility as ever. (CJL)

A pity, but not surprising. I have seen pictures of this unit on its trip to Canada - it was landed on the east coast (presumably Halifax NS) and shipped across on flatcars, so it had travelled pretty extensively, albeit not under its own power. I can no longer find the correspondence I had with the very friendly PR officer on BC Rail, but I believe it was also tested by BC Rail staff, though possibly not on their property. (CJL)

Thanks for the correction, it's prompted me to look out the original print, so I can also acknowledge the photographer, Michael Wilkie. His caption in full is: Passenger Extra RB-100 east crossing the Serpentine River at mileage 11.9 Fraser Valley Subdivision on BC Hydro Rail, at 9.45am June 28 1986. It would be interesting to know the current status of this particular unit as some are being preserved and others scrapped. (CJL)

I find this photograph dreadfully sad, not least because as a picture it is personal favourite. I pitched up at Woss Camp after operations on the Englewood logging railway between Woss and Beaver Cove had ended for the day. The 302 had just arrived back at Woss and was being refuelled ready for next day. I recognised the guy doing the fuelling as Engineer, Roland Gaudet, because he appears in a video 'The Last Logging Road' about the Englewood operation. Roland was one the five railwaymen killed in the accident which subsequently closed down the Englewood railway, when a cut of loaded log cars ran away and struck a work crew. A derail attached to a rotten sleeper had failed to stop the runaway. (CJL)