RJS1977

I got the clue, but couldn't get the OS site to work properly last night! Never mind.... :-(

When I made the comment I'd been thinking that Chiltern were nearing the end of a 20 or 25 year franchise, when of course in fact they're 10 years into a 20-year deal. But in many ways that makes my suggestion more likely. By the end of a second 20-year deal in 2042, the Turbos would be nearly 50 years old, so a 2022-2042 franchise would have to include replacing them. Since oil is likely to be even more scarce by then, the likelihood is that it would not be with a fresh batch of DMUs. The Marylebone-Oxford route would probably be electrified fairly early on, as Oxford-Bicester is already slated for electrification and electrifying Bicester - Marylebone with infill to OOC would not only complete the service but provide an electrified diversion for FGW services between Paddington and Didcot. That would then only leave another 30 miles to complete the route to Birmingham.

Good to see an "old friend" in some of your photos - ALD966B (along with most of the rest of the Blackpool Routemasters) was transferred to Reading in 1994 and ran here until shortly before RM operation ended in Reading in 2000. I believe it still belongs to an enthusiast somewhere near here, who was planning to return it to Blackpool colours.

Is this one on Caversham Lock island? I think there's another at the boatyard quarter of a mile or so downstream. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Caversham,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&ll=51.460669,-0.965501&spn=0.000358,0.000955&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.854268,62.578125&oq=Cavers&t=h&hnear=Caversham,+Reading,+United+Kingdom&z=20

The GWS railmotor was also based at Southall in its first life. If you haven't seen it, the Cuneo painting "Storm on the shed, Southall" might also be worth a look.

If Chiltern were to get their franchise renewed for a similar period to the current one, I wouldn't be surprised to see electrification of Marylebone-SH in there somewhere!

...but was it rebuilt specifically for OHLE, or was it rebuilt for some other reason (e.g. structural), and given 25kV clearance "just in case"? If youre building a new bridge anyway, most of the time it doesn't make much difference to the cost to give the greater clearance.

If the MML is electrified as far as Leeds, then with Leeds-York already authorised, this will only leave Birmingham-Derby, Oxford-Coventry/Bham and Southcote Jn-Basingtoke of the Reading half of the cross-country network without some form of "juice" (and I can see a good case for electrifying the latter two for the Soton-Bham freightliner traffic). Any plans to fit any Voyagers with collector shoes?

Reflections at Cholsey:

Castle My Wickham trolley is a card model (with removable roof for access to the mechanism), also on a Bachmann chassis - and I don't think I was the first either! At the time I built it I wasn't involved with the CWR so now I'm faced with the dilemma of whether to repaint it yellow (as per "Willy Skunk") or build another! My model CWR fleet is mostly locos that have been on the line in the time I've been involved; namely the four resident diesels (Lion, Unicorn, George Mason and Carpenter - though Unicorn is a Kitmaster dummy!), generic 45XX (before my time, but I had it already), 14XX and auto coach (ditto), "Cumbria" (94XX) - awaiting lining (ugh!), Ivor (under construction), 56XX pannier (currently a GWR-liveried one from my main layout though should really be BR green), plus the three Mk1s, Siphon, salt van, toad, Fruit D, tank wagon (all in somewhat better condition than their prototypes, largely because several of them also see service on my 1930s GWR layout). Plus the vintage JCB used for heavy work! In fact, the collection was started somewhat accidentally due to a miscommunication with the CWR shop manager over the 2011 Kenavon show! The result was that I had only a few weeks to put together a CWR display stand for the show, and the number of CWR-related models I owned, plus the opportunity to pick up two 08s and two Mk1s relatively cheaply during the same period made the course of action somewhat obvious!

And just down the road I'm modelling the Cholsey & Wallingford stock (including locos that have been "hired in" over the years)! The layout in my father's loft also features a fictional preserved branch, though still plenty of work needed to get the correct atmosphere (most of our efforts of late have been under the boards), though it does include a working Wickham trolley.

I think Peco do some bearings that may work, though I haven't tried them. The big problem with rewheeling Triang wagons is that the chassis are solid metal so difficult to spring the axle boxes apart to get the new wheelsets in - though on the non-bogie stock you could saw the chassis in half and glue it back together around the new w/s. Alternatively - and I haven't tried this either - it may be possible to turn the old wheels down, either on a lathe or in a drill chuck.

I believe MERG could provide something (to members of course!) - they can supply parts to build a turntable stepper circuit (which could probabaly be adapted to work a traverser) as well as the CBUS and RPC systems to connect to a PC.

The reason the 12V gave 16V is probably because there was no load on it.

But would it look good on a 70? Can anything look good on a 70?

Yes, the Pendolino colours should be on a "Coronation".....

Not mine, but saw these at the Basingstoke show in March:

Carrington Power Station has an unusual railway connection in that my father and his colleagues were involved in some experiments there late one night to ascertain how pure the water used for insulator washing needed to be to avoid shorting. Although they thought they were disconnected from the Grid, they still managed to short out all the signalling between Manchester and Crewe!