BMacdermott

Hello everyone This is how Ivor has fared in The Quirky Poll: 2019 - 2nd 2020 - 5th 2021 - 2nd The Poll now runs every two years alternating with The 00 Wishlist Poll. The next Quirky Poll is planned for December this year. Brian (on behalf of The Poll Team)

Hello everyone Along the same lines as 'good written description' but in visual form. Well done Railex! Brian

Hello MKMRS Well done on this excellent detail! I have mentioned the show on the thread: A plea for organisers - please fully describe the layouts ! Brian (unsure of how to directly link to the thread!)

Hello everyone My local area is served partly by the Milton Keynes Model Railway Society Show. Earlier in the year, the club published outline details of the forthcoming show in the 'usual' fashion of layout name and scale. I wrote to them on the thread and mentioned that we here had been requesting 'more detail' about shows and perhaps they could consider our request in the hope it would bring in more 'out-of-area' visitors. I am pleased to say that the club has just published some excellent detail - so, full marks to MKMRS!🙂 Have a look at their thread (but I'm not sure how to make a direct link!): Milton Keynes Model Railway exhibition 2023 - Exhibitions - RMweb Brian

What!? Your standards are so high that you even model dust!😀 Brian

Hello everyone I would like to know that, too. I always (where possible) take bodies off coaches and wagons to remove ballast weights. It's surprising how much weight can be removed without affecting running quality. Brian

Hello PMP Having re-read the notes on Big Jet, it does seem that that was his 'opinion'. I thought he had been 'informed' by someone with direct knowledge. Agreed that the line-up was not good airmanship! Brian

Thanks PMP My understanding would be that - once the BA plane had actually started rolling - clearance would be given: "Behind the departing BA (type), line and wait Runway Two Seven Right behind". According to Big Jet TV, there was no ATC 'fault'. But I do wonder if it was 'sensible' for the Malaysian to take the action he did. Brian

Hello everyone What do you make of this? Brian

Hello everyone May I join everyone in wishing Simon all the best for a well-earned retirement? I have known Simon for more years than I can recall and have had many happy 'chatting sessions' with him at shows. I know it is now fairly commonplace for model companies to actually speak face-to-face to customers but - as far as I am aware - Simon may well have been 'the prototype'. I have often stood close to him waiting to speak while he had someone 'rabbiting on' about some obscure loco that Hornby ought to make. Always polite to the end! And how did he manage to remember so many names in a sea of faces? Well done Simon! All the very best! Brian

Hello everyone A small clarification of one of my earlier postings... I was under the impression that some GN Quad Arts were transferred to the NER. In fact - according to Railway Observer March 1958 - it was actually some GE Quad Arts. Brian

Hello 31A Copy of my yesterday posting below. Brian ________ Hello NXEA I'm fairly certain that Railway Observer gives details of sets that had been transferred north subsequent to the introduction of DMUs in London - but I can't find it at present! However, whilst looking, I found the item below in the September 1958 issue: At about 7.30pm on Tuesday 5 August, a 9F 2-10-0 was noted passing over Welwyn Viaduct with a 24-coach empty stock train - three 8-car Quad Art sets being returned to London after being used on Nottingham-Skegness day excursions during the August Bank Holiday weekend. Brian

Hello Rob My 47xx is in a similar state! Brian

Hello again to Garethp8873 I have just heard that LNER drawings appear in an LNER Society Journal that prove that the couplers between two sets could not be used independently for 'service trains'. So, they only ran as 8-coach trains in service to the best of my knowledge, research and understanding. (Noting that the NNR set has had its inner end adapted.) Brian

Hello again Chris I don't wish to appear to doubt your word, but I always try to get to 'the facts' when questions such as this arise. And I do fully appreciate that 'local practices' did abound. However, I have been informed as below (with grateful thanks to Stephen Pearce of Robert Carrolls' BRCS Group): There is a reproduction of the LNER drawing of the close coupling arrangement between the two half sets in the LNER Society Journal 79 (Autumn 2019) in an article about articulated coaches on the LNER. The drawing shows that the drawbar of each coach had a forked end with holes through the forked pieces - there was no conventional draw hook on either coach. Pins passed though the holes in each of the forked end pieces and through the single link which coupled the two coaches together. The drawing gives the distance between the headstocks of the adjacent coaches as 1ft 6.5inches. The article also includes good side on photographs of each vehicle in the set, including showing the coupling between each half, in which the very short buffers can be seen. I am not a member of the LNER Society so do not have a copy. I am pretty convinced that the HMRS article author assumed that a Quad Art was four coaches. If we had the relevant Guard's Journal, it would help. Brian

Hello NXEA Not that I am aware of. Brian

Hello NXEA I'm fairly certain that Railway Observer gives details of sets that had been transferred north subsequent to the introduction of DMUs in London - but I can't find it at present! However, whilst looking, I found the item below in the September 1958 issue: At about 7.30pm on Tuesday 5 August, a 9F 2-10-0 was noted passing over Welwyn Viaduct with a 24-coach empty stock train - three 8-car Quad Art sets being returned to London after being used on Nottingham-Skegness day excursions during the August Bank Holiday weekend. Brian

Hello Garethp8873 Not wishing to go 'off topic' from Rob's thread but - for the sake of 'completeness' - a chap on the Wright Writes thread (chris p bacon) is saying that he has knowledge of a set being split (into a 4-set) to work the 4.06pm Hitchin to Sandy and return. I am looking into that, but am sceptical. The sets were not designed to run in service singly and the big question is...why would a set be split for this journey even if it were 'operationally within the rules'? The CWN booked it for a 'full' 8-set. I have just spoken with a railwayman friend who worked at King's Cross and Dunstable with the Quads and he has no knowledge of them ever working 'split'. And he has asked many of his contemporaries. The truth is out there! (As they say on The X Files!🙂) Brian

Hello Chris Interesting - but I remain to be convinced. I have just spoken with a friend who was involved with the sets at Kings Cross and he knows of no splitting. As far as we know, the 'inner end' buffing gear wouldn't facilitate running 'a service train'. And, as far as we know, the NNR set has had to be specially adapted to run as a four. It would be good if someone knows who 'LA Smith' is (the article author). We could then request to see the actual Guard's Journal entry. Brian

Hello Michael They ran to Doncaster for servicing and were sometimes 'shipped out' of London on summer weekends for seaside excursion work. Although eight coaches sounds like 'a long train', it equates to about five long underframe Mk1 non-gangwayeds. Brian

Hello Bucoops The GE Quads were definitely designed to run as 'a single 4-set' (with strengtheners as needed). Brian

Hello Chris The 00 Poll Team did much research on the GN Quad Arts. We found no evidence of any being run as a 'half set' (ie four coaches). One eminent GN line historian believes that a 4-set did once run, but only as an emergency and not in a 'service train'. The sets were designed to run as 'pairs'. Brian

Hello everyone Many congratulations to Ellis Clark Trains on this bold and welcome venture. The GN Quad Arts have been right at the top of LNER Coaches in The 00 Wishlist Polls since 2013. They went into The Top 50 in 2018, staying there for 2019 also. The Poll didn't run in 2020 and 2021 but, in 2022, they missed The Top 50 by only a handful of votes (and, it has to be said, The Poll content had been radically amended possibly changing 'the dynamics'). The GN Quad Arts were designed to run as two slightly different sets together and Ellis Clark are to be applauded for their approach. (The GE Quad Arts were very different and were designed to run as a 4-set with additional coaches if needed). Taking my Poll Team hat off for a moment and speaking 'personally', I have just ordered the eight coaches that form Set No.85. The Quad Arts have been on my long-term plan for many years, and I am delighted that Ellis Clark will be producing them. I am intrigued with how these sets will 'look close-coupled' on the straight but still negotiate Radius 2 curves. The bogies are stated to be sprung and - looking at the 'upside down photo' above - it seems that Ellis Clark may have come up with an innovative solution. Perhaps Ellis Clark could comment or show some videos in due course? Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team and where stated from myself)

Hello Garethp8873 Be aware that GN Quad Arts were designed to run as two pairs of slightly different four coach sets. The 00 Poll Team found no evidence of any having run 'singly' (as a 4-set) other than on a non-service train in an emergency. The M&GN Society Quad Art at the North Norfolk Railway has been 'specially adapted'. The GE Quad Arts were designed as 4-car sets and ran as such. Brian

Agreed Rob. As I have noted on relevant threads, the GN Quads have been High Polling or Top 50 in The 00 Wishlist Polls for many years. There are plenty of 'deserving' GWR coach types so fingers crossed!. Brian