RJS1977

BV Rees by any chance?

Or,more up-to-date: http://www.fictitiousliveries.co.uk/photo.php?52074_fgw2.jpg

Remember they were a collaboration with Honda, and Japanese people (other than Sumo wrestlers) tend to be shorter than British people!

Does the "crossing length" there refer to the length of track going across the road,or the length of road going over (multiple) tracks? Either way, I'd have thought crossings longer than 15m (45 feet) would be extremely rare - Brabazon crossing is/was the only one I can think of that may have had a road width of more than 45 feet, whilst Cow Lane Exeter is the only one I can think of where the road would cross 45' of multiple tracks. (Just thought, Britannia Bridge at Portmadoc possibly falls into both categories!)

I wonder if the post-Dawlish issues getting HSTs to Laira for maintenance influenced that decision?

Wouldn't quite go that far, but I reckon if the seats, dash etc were removed from the interior of a MINI, a Mini would fit inside! Of course, how you actually get it in there is a different matter....

I don't know - from what I've heard of what cut of revenue HIT demand from preserved railways for Thomas days, that might not be too far off the mark...

One (rare) feature of Wallingford crossing is the central reservation that effectively prevents (or at least reduces the chances of) anyone weaving around the barriers - the gap in it to let the train through is little wider than the train so it would require a very sharp turn of the steering wheel for a car to switch sides on the crossing, plus quite a long run-in on the wrong side of the road. As far as I know the only "incident" on the crossing was when a group of vandals tried to steal the barriers and left them in the down position, where a car subsequently ran into them! This led to the occasion when some of my colleagues decided to run an 08 over the crossing late at night to check if it worked properly. Whilst they were waiting by the crossing for the NR engineer to join them (they maintain the crossing for us), a police panda car drew up . The cop walked over to my collagues and said "We've had reports of someone trying to steal an engine!" When my colleagues explained the situation, his reply was "That's a relief. I wondered how they expected me to chase it in a panda car!"

Doesn't really look like a FIAT - least not a Uno to me, from the little that's visible. Didn't really notice the last two cars when i first saw the picture - my first reaction was "When was the last time you saw a car park with just British cars in it?" (yes, I know Rover was BMW owned by the time the 75 came out and Jag have been foreign owned for years but somehow Jags and Rovers seem/seemed more "British" than Nissans built in Sunderland!)

Remember though that the price will include a (probably hefty) licensing fee to HIT. So I would expect - for example - a Devious Diesel based on the Railroad 08 to cost more than the Railroad 08 does. Not saying that it's necessarily "value for money", just that a Thomas item will cost Hornby more to produce/sell than a similar non-Thomas one. As regards how much the models look like the TV characters - the old Hornby Thomas model looks a lot more like Thomas than some of the full-sized Thomases on preserved lines do!

"I can't put you up here. Go down to the docks and sleep at the seaman's mission like you used to." "I can't. They've knocked it down. There's a marina there now." "Well, kip in the back of that then..." Del Boy & Uncle Albert, Only Fools & Horses.,

Mate of mine did that in his (semi-open plan) office once! His workload was so quiet he'd taken a wagon kit in to do (shielded from view by the desk partitions). Suddenly he realised the boss was coming so hid the kit and the bottle of solvent in a desk drawer. Unfortunately the lid wasn't on properly and as he shut the drawer, the bottle fell over. By now the boss was right at his desk so he couldn't open the drawer to take remedial action and just had to keep talking to his boss while the solvents melted their way through the bottom of the drawer and his colleagues on neighbouring desks wondered what the funny smell was...

I might well be interested in one if there was, as it's one of the CWR vehicles I'm yet to have a model of, dependent on price. And if our sales of Dapol Wallingford coal wagons go well, I might have a word with our shop guys to see if they wanted to stock any, though of course the family market who make up the majority of our visitors is precisely the one the manufacturers have decided to largely abandon...

You're a little behind the times... they split up and she married Brian Ferry.She now goes by the surnames of both husbands....

Isla St. Clair is still around - a mate of mine interviewed her a while back. http://www.xnmedia.co.uk/index.php/news/reading/item/2241-isla-st-clair-to-celebrate-scotland-with-reading-scottish-pipe-band She's on the cover of the latest issue of Xn magazine but I forgot to pick one up this morning.

I understand that when John Thaw took on the role of Inspector Morse he insisted on having a MkII Jag (rather than the Lancia as in Colin Dexter's books) because he'd always wanted to drive one when he was in The Sweeney but never got chance to!

The decision as to where to terminate services may have come down to how many units/drivers were required to work the service. Extending to Pewsey would probably have required at least one extra unit/crew given the additional length of the journey which may have made the difference. Where did local trains turn back in steam days?

Any delays to the MML work at least give the GCR more time for fundraising!

No, that would be Darlington - home of the "Locomotion"!

I can confrim that Thomas,Percy and Duck will all be loco drive....

That was quick!

I don't know about that, but there was an episode of "The Navy Lark" where the crew of HMS Troutbridge were sent into the Solent to apprehend and drag back to Porstmouth a suspected smuggling vessel. By the end of the episode they'd towed about everything else in the Solent back to Portsmouth - including Ryde Pier!

I seem to remember many years ago an article in Railway Modeller suggesting that layouts might have a tape deck underneath so that when (as happens) an operator runs the loco up the wrong siding by mistake a voice could be heard to say "You great gooby! Why didn't you change the points how I told you to?" Not sure if that's the sort of suggestion you're after but certainly possible on a sound chip!

I've just heard that the telephone cables at Cholsey got cut through last weekend, consequently telephones, credit cards internet and CIS at Cholsey are currently out. That could make life "interesting" for me in the CWR ticket office this Sunday if there's disruption!