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RJS1977

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  1. That reminds me somewhat of the 009 Society area group that organised a "Car Boot Exhibition" at the time when outdoor events were allowed but indoor events were not!
  2. There was an article in the "Destructor" many years ago giving advice on purchasing either a redundant single decker bus or a large van such as a pantechnicon and converting it into a "railway room" that could be driven to shows. More recently someone was advertising trailers designed to look like railway carriages that could have a layout built in them, again with the intention that they could either be parked up as railway rooms at home or towed to one of the larger exhibitions. I heard nothing more of either idea. I suspect, apart from the expense, that building a railway room on wheels might just be too easy to steal!
  3. Back on the subject of IETs, I don't think the timing issues are just a simple matter of the units being underpowered when on diesel. Looking at today's entries on Realtime Trains for Up trains calling at Reading (deliberately chosen over Paddington to avoid any recovery time that may be in the schedule between Reading and Paddington), it appears that most trains (whether from the SW, Bristol, South Wales or Hereford/Worcester/Gloucester/Cheltenham were either on time or only a couple of minutes late. There's certainly no consistency of lateness to suggest that being underpowered is an issue. Neither did there seem to be any indication of a lack of power going over Dainton or Rattery. In fact of those trains from the SW that were significantly late, the most consistent stretch for losing time was on the downhill, electrified stretch between Newbury and Theale!
  4. Unfortunately the frequency on the Reading-Birmingham route hasn't yet got back to pre-Covid levels in that most of the Reading-Newcastle services (the ones that went direct between Leamington Spa and Birmingham) aren't running. I think the original decision to run half-hourly shorter trains between Reading and Birmingham came about because of the then requirement to turn cross-country services in platforms 3 and (the old) 7 at Reading to free up capacity on the through lines. This increase in frequency resulted in an unexpected 40% increase in passenger numbers! The downside of the half-hourly frequency with shorter trains was that only half of the trains called at Birmingham International (owing to lack of capacity between Leamington and Coventry) meaning that they could get very crowded if there were big events on at the NEC.
  5. Scott I've just noticed those rather nice-looking coaches in the background of your photos of the castle. They look too long to me to be the Hornby or Hattons generic coaches - so what are they? Richard
  6. I'm slightly late to the party here in replying - but this is marvellous news! And good to hear too that Warley are as delighted as everyone else that there will still be a National Show. Well done to Warley in putting it on for the last 30 years, and well done to Warners for picking up the baton. I know how much work is involved in putting on even a small village hall type show but that must pale into insignificance compared to that needed for the National Show.
  7. Though many of the traders and societies at Warley did use what the NEC provided in terms of the metal frameworks that surrounded their stands and had their names on (I'm not sure if these included tables/shelving or if the traders had to provide them themselves). I've seen the same frameworks used at the LAMMA agricultural show and doubtless they're used at every other event at the NEC as well.
  8. When I arrived at 10:00 on the Saturday, the queue to get in was about 100m long, and by the time I got to the front of it, it was 100m long behind me! I heard someone say they'd had 1000 visitors through the door by Saturday lunchtime! Encouragingly after the sad news of Hattons and Warley, there were a good number of children there - at one point I looked over the top of one layout ("Hayling Island" I think) to see 7 little faces looking at the layout behind it ("Portsea").
  9. Eastleigh Lakeside Miniature Railway (about 10 minutes' walk from the show) is well worth a visit too. But yes, plenty to see this year - I arrived at 10am on the Saturday and didn't leave until 3.
  10. Some of the reversed sets in recent weeks will have been due to the flooding affecting various parts of the network. Owing to flooding between Swindon and Bristol Parkway trains from South Wales were reversing at Bristol Parkway and running to London via Bath. This inevitably meant that sets were reversed for part of the journey, and depending on where trains were when the direct route was restored, might have led to trains being "permanently" reversed (a train leaving Swansea, reversing at BP, running to Paddington and then directly back to Swansea will arrive back in Swansea the opposite way round to how it set off). I'm not quite sure wnat the situation was on the Somerset Levels this time round, but on past occasions flooding there has led to sets reversing at Exeter St David's and running to Paddington via Yeovil Junction, which could have led to reversed units in the West Country.
  11. That signal looks nice! What make is it?
  12. From what I remember of my 40 years in the hobby, for a long time, bogie coaches were £10, bogie diesel/electric locos were a little over £20 and bif steam tender engines were £50-£60. At the time, I think wages were rising reasonably quickly (at least keeping up with inflation). In the 90s there were some issues with exchange rates etc that led to Lima prices going up a bit, but otherwise modelling prices were quite stable. The first of the post-China models like the retooled Bulleid Light Pacifics were IIRC about £75. Since then, we've seen prices continue to rise, partly because of other economic pressures like the fall in the pound, raw materials costs and Chinese wages, whilst UK wages have risen much more slowly, but also by the "arms race" between the manufacturers in pushing for ever more detailed models (whether the consumer wants them or not). I think a comparison of prices vs wages since 2000 or 2010 would tell a different story than since 1980. Of course there's also a psychological factor. One of the traders I see regularly told me some years ago that his sales dropped off when tender locos passed the £100 mark.
  13. Well said, Wombat! Whilst the modern railway may not capture the imagination to the same extent as it did in past years, there are certainly young people about who are just as fascinated by it as I was 30 years ago. There are two young lads in my club who seem to spend most of the time at the clubhouse discussing (and showing video of) what they saw last week and what they want to go out and see this week. A lot of it goes over the heads of some of the older members.... What the modern railway does lack though is the operational complexities of things like shunting, and turning locos.
  14. I was thinking earlier on - what if the hobby did collapse? From a purely selfish perspective: If Hornby collapsed, I'd be sad for nostalgic reasons (my first loco being a Hornby 101 tank), but I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. Nor would I be upset if Bachmann, Rapido, Accurascale disappeared. I've got more than enough locos and rolling stock. If Peco disappeared, a little bit more of a problem. No new track. However as I have a large layout of my own that is far from complete scenically, I'm not too likely to be building any new layouts for a while. On the other hand, as I (so far) haven't ballasted the track, if I did decide to rip it all up and build something new, I'd have plenty of track to re-use! Perhaps more of an issue would be the scenery suppliers. But I'm capable of making buildings from card and wood, and have been around long enough to remember techniques like dyed sawdust or making hedges out of pan scourers. I think what I would miss most is the exhibition circuit (five of my "regular" shows have now ceased since the pandemic). That's where I get chance to get out, meet people, see what other people have been building, and (occasionally) display my own. Arguably I spend more of my time going to shows than I actually do modelling! But what would sadden me most if the hobby disappeared is that future generations would not have the same opportunity to enjoy this wonderful hobby that I have for the last 40 years. Even now we hear of young people hanging around on street corners, anti social behaviour etc because "we're bored". I can honestly say that thanks to model railways I have never been "bored" in over 40 years, and it saddens me to think of the young people who are missing out.
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