w124bob

Nice to see the C424 with the air filter mods.

3612 Now runs on the York Durham RR two more ex CV RS11 still exist, 3600/04 are with the GVT as 1800 and 1804 lettered for one of GVT's other roads. 3605 went to the Winchester and Western but as to it's current status? 3608 had a low nose, finally 3609 was written off and then the number used again for an ex NW RS11. 3614 was issued to a GP18 and then an RS11. So for such a small class of MLW built RS11's they've carried several interesting liveries under the CN/CV/DWP flag and covered alot of the midwest and 3 are still running at 60 years old!

There is an episode of Police Camera Action which features a donor organ run, the Met do a swap somewhere off the M11 to central London in an SD1. Pretty sure the car and one of the outriders retire(expire!) on reaching the hospital.

I have the non sound version, fitted with a Zimo decoder it runs very well but has limited haulage capability.

And now for something different

And the children so ugly they have to have bags on their heads.

As that Pug is RHD plates look origanal to me.

Black Prince may still exist, all be it with a different V8. Was on Ebay according to the last post here http://retro-motoring.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/vauxhall-black-prince.html

Notice the Citroen CX Estate 3rd along, as for the Mercs well "best car in the world" and very high on my list of what to blow next years pension pot on!

Perana was the Ford offshoot which did various SA engine conversions http://www.perana.org/granada.asp https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ford+granada+mk1+perana&safe=strict&client=tablet-android-hms-vf-gb&prmd=ivsn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjv56OA3azPAhXlDsAKHeHXBBIQ_AUIBygB&biw=962&bih=601#imgrc=evmZeYBkZdcHMM%3A

At totally the other end of the scale https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EwVi03htl4A

It's been a good spotting week, Brown Avenger with very orange Minalit wheels outside Stoke on Trent station . It was turning to the Royal Mail depot, then passing under the bridge at Oxford was a nice late model Citroen DS. For Routemaster fans there was an original RM complete with proper rear wheel trims and CUV number plate, another was seen at Birmingham International downside near the monorail stop in some blue promotional livery. Also seen recently on the old eastern side approach at Manchester Piccadilly was a Morris Oxford (overgrown moggie shape), l've posted before about an Allegro parked in the same spot so probably the same guy.

I sadly threw away nearly all my early 1970's car brochures many years ago, seem to remember the Chrysler 180 being available with a particularly furry interior. I did keep a set of Jaguar/Daimler brochures for the series 2 including the gorgeous Double Six Vanden Plas the 2door and the DS420 limousine, the brochures are not worth much even now and XJ's are still not that expensive to pick up. Buy a good XJ308 for under £5k, the V8 suffered problems because a coating on the cylinder wall got washed off by low sulphur petrol. That cost Jag £1000s in warranty claims. Any V8 should have the problem sorted by now Jag comfort for Micra money, what could possibly go wrong. Here is a nice one, best colour, in my humble opinion,

The W123 was indeed slow.Thankfully the slug of the range, 200D was not sold here (I would buy one) . Biggest mileage I've seen was 1.3million km on a taxi spec 240D which was recently on the market for €9000! Rarest option was column shift for the autobox. They do self destruct but at about the same pace as the acceleration, the achiles heel is the bulkhead. Many UK cars came with sunroofs which had drain channels down the screen pillars and bulkhead,these get blocked over the years causing rot in the bottom of the bulkhead and footwells. The autobox and central locking use vacuum to regulate gear changes, this can develope leaks. Then this get miss diagnosed as a gearbox problem.

Why do old Mercs feature so much in advertising at the moment, ESSO have billboard and TV campaign going at the moment featuring several different W123 saloons. The irritating Mr Corden can been seen driving around in a rather tasty W108 saloon and a simlar white model is briefly seen in the Lynz ad. ESSO have sent me a 4ft x 3ft poster free! I only emailed on the off chance they might do a postcard or 2.

Ah the Hillman Avenger, my first car. It was brown and I discovered the first time I drove in the rain, had a hole the size of a tennis ball in the passenger footwell. Bought from my uncle Pete, he traded from a show room in a backstreet, drove a serious dodgey Jags and had a sheepskin coat.

I remember Ian Futers early 70's diesel depot layout and all the MTK type2's. Another small layout which appeared around the sametime was an American N scale one by David Jenkinson's son,Seattle and Carlisle? The colour art work Roy Link used also inspired me , I remember one N gauge plan in an urban setting, Passing Trains I think.

I'm looking at this https://www.roco.cc/en/product/230044-0-0-0-0-0-0-001001/products.html only because the loco, in this livery is not listed separatley. Having read through this entire thread it would seem the z21 is very good value for money. I currently run a MERG system with 2 handsets and an Ipod touch, all my US ho loco's run Lenz or Zimo decoders. I'm relient on a good friend (MERG founder member) for tech support . The new SNCF layout will be small, but the intention is to push some of my modelling boundaries, including the techy stuff. Z21(or z21) seem to be very popular in France as many clubs seem to run the system, since a BB63000(different livery) is currently around the £90 mark plus Lenz decoder at £25 the whole package seems incredible value, particulary if I sell on the 2 bogie wagons!

I assume you are not working in HO, guesstimate the length based on the hood doors and depth is about the same as the blank space on a standard GP9 for the shallower part. Non standard cab as well which makes the conversion more interesting, the origin of 8311 is UP according to http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locolist.aspx?id=CLNA so it's had a serious rebuild at some point.

Anyone coming into Manchester Piccadilly keep your eyes peeled for an Allegro, must belong to someone on the NR as it's usually parked up on the access road just near the eastern spur.

That Triumph looks vaguley familiar, I'm sure that I've seen that one or a similar car around south Manchester.

I notice the two RS3's have different marker lights, 1542 looks slightly easier to do using CalScale markers mounted vertically into angular brackets made from micro strip. But look at all those retro fit body side air filters. Not sure about the markers on 1552 http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=69576.

Correct tail lights only, headcode panel lights will not be bright they where only 40w bulbs! So really only the headlight would appear bright in daylight.

BN went one better with a cabless GP9 which had a sort of home shed affair on the engineers side! Edit heres a link http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1145318

Don't forget the small fleet of MLW M420B units that BCOL ran.