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RJS1977

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Everything posted by RJS1977

  1. Did he want to build a model of Salisbury station as well? Making a model of Television Centre out of Mr Curry's new carpet is one thing....
  2. 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!
  3. 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!
  4. 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!
  5. 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.
  6. 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
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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").
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. That signal looks nice! What make is it?
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. I now have somewhat Milliganesque visions of a jailer opening and closing the dungeon doors every time train goes through!
  17. Remember that the railway line in the tunnel is going straight through the foundations of that castle! ;-)
  18. Railway volunteers all have different interests, skills and abilities. Some like doing the operational work, others prefer maintenance/restoration, be it buildings, track, or locos/rolling stock. Still others prefer the "big projects" - creating new buildings, extending railways, etc and tend to move on when a particular project is complete. Perhaps the HRA should organise a "civil engineering pool" of people who enjoy and have the skills for the bigger projects, who can be called upon to assist any heritage railway that has a "big job" on, whether that be a planned extension/development or a sudden need for "boots on the ground" by unsuspected events such as a landslide.
  19. Genuinely gutted, especially coming so soon after the news from Hattons, however one of the organisers did say in RM about five years ago that they weren't getting any younger and that this point would come, so in that sense, no surprise. Indeed, I would not have been surprised had we not had any since Covid. So a big thanks to the Warley team for the 24 enjoyable shows I have attended since 1998 (and also for Coachman for giving me a lift to the strike-affected 2022 show). I think virtually every time I entered the Hall at 9:15 on Saturday and was there until the show closed at 18:00 (and usually missed things!), As the "National" show it really was an opportunity to see layouts and traders that don't normally make it this far south. Unlike Ally Pally, Doncaster and GETS which are all somewhat awkwardly placed for public transport, for much of the country, the NEC really was as accessible as it is possible to get. Whilst clearly putting on a show of this size is too much for one club, I think the National show is too important to lose.` I would like to suggest the formation of a "National Exhibition Organising Committee" comprising representatives from national societies (such as the 009 Society, GOG, etc), regional associations (CMRA, W&WE), manufacturers, traders and publishers to look at keeping the show going on a hopefully more stable footing. Hall 5 is made up of 18 "squares" formed by the roof supports. If we allow the three nearest the door to be taken up by the manufacturers and biggest traders, that leaves 15 squares. If a different society or association could be given a "square" and effectively organised a "sub-exhibition" (much as the 009 Society did at Warley 2023), with the "National Organising Committee" being responsible for the overarching items like dealing with the NEC, insurance, publicity etc, this would spread the workload much more thinly and make it more manageable. Finding a group of people in one club willing to put on a show big enough to take up most of Hall 5 is a very difficult task. Finding 15 groups of people spread across the country willing to organise smaller "sub shows" may be more managable.
  20. But the majority of cars, clothes, and food sold nationally aren't at the luxury end, even though they may be of a higher spec than years gone by.
  21. Even in Reading, the Oracle (built 1998) has lost its two biggest retailers (House of Fraser and Debenhams) and the multiplex cinema is struggling. It's on the cards that much of the site may be converted to flats.
  22. Again, genuinely shocked to hear of this and condolences to the staff, particularly those who have handled my orders in the past. It seems inconceivable that no part of the business was deemed to be viable. However Hattons "Bargains" are no longer the "Bargains" they once were and their secondhand side seemed to be massively overpriced and contained quite a lot of "tat". And managing to fall out with their two biggest suppliers must have had an impact on sales. We know how much model prices have risen in the last 15-20 years, even when wider inflation was relatively low, which will have impacted the number (if not volume) of sales. I have suggested for a while that the move towards more expensive models is not sustainable in the long term, and I wonder if this is the start of that particular bubble beginning to burst.
  23. I can! I mentioned one not long ago..... ;-)
  24. Not just an issue with railway books at preserved railways either. In my younger days, I collected Blue Peter annuals and amassed a pile of about 30 running from the days of Chris Trace and Val Singleton through to Konnie Huq and Zoe Salmon. As my parents are planning a clearout, I called in at the shop in Reading that specialises in TV memorabilia and asked what they might be worth these days. "Can't give 'em away" was the reply.
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