corneliuslundie

Lovely examples of weathering and dirt on those NCB wagons. Jonathan

I am very surprised this one has not been reported before https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cumbria-train-derailment-sinkhole-lancaster-barrow-northern-b2517101.html My sister who lives in Grange over Sands tells me that the line is theoretically due to reopen soon but in un likely to because the embankment in the area ids reported to be made of sand. Sounds unlikely but one never knows. Jonathan

One you probably didn't take when you were there: Zweisimmen from the cablecar up the adjacent mountain. When I got to the top the restaurant was so full of Germans I couldn't get served. Jonathan

Or reinstate the car parking. Much more important!!! J

"just a free bag of snacks." No doubt factored into the contractor's price and therefore paid for by NR, ie by you. Jonathan

So will the HS2 drivers need it? Hat, coat . . . . J

Just to state that HMRS Methfix and Pressfix transfers in 4 mm/ft and 7 mm/ft are currently available from the Society website and at exhibitions where we have a stand. Apparently rumours have been going the rounds that we have stopped selling them. What was have stopped is supplying them to the trade. And of course there was a period when many of them were out of stock while we searched for a new printer after the two we had been using ceased trading. It is rather a specialist process and not many printers can produce the transfers. But now we have a new printer and plenty of stock of most sheets. But we are definitely continuing to supply and are just in the process of taking delivery of a large supply of the special paper needed. Jonathan David For the Historical Model Railway Society

Sorry, I mean the train on the left, or is it just wagons in the4 siding? There seems to be a loco emitting smoke at the far end. Jonathan

In JVol1194 is that a down train on the ex-LNWR line? Jonathan

In view of the apparent damage being caused by social media perhaps they shouldn't install cables. Remember life before the internet and mobile phones? But you remind me of my commuting days on Thameslink. Night after night commuters would join the train at Farringdon and KX and immediately phone home - to be cut off as soon as the train entered the tunnel after KX. And I am sure it was the same commuters each time but the never learned. Jonathan

Yes, to me it looks as if the unit has split and we are seeing the end of one of the centre vehicles. Jonathan

Ah, but are they passing their tests? J

"duel carriageway" - sorry, couldn't resist it, so apt. Jonathan

Bring back those green diesel loco liveries. Nothing has ever looked so good since. Jonathan

"Depending on type, each wagon could be up to 51 tons gross." Yes, you are right. That is my pregrouping mind at work! I'd better shut up. Jonathan

You are right. And I have recently had new glasses. So max 175 tons. Jonathan

C6101. Superpower for just six wagons, perhaps 150 tons. But very modellable, Jonathan

Is it an election ploy? J

I was certainly told at the time that the LHR livery was because of BR opposition. Perhaps it was local rather than national. Certainly, as stated, the SVR had locos and carriages in BR livery. But of course my informant may have been wrong. Jonathan

The 805 testing seems to be cancelled quite often. Odd if they want to get them into service. Or are there problems? (if you are allowed to say) Jonathan

Interesting to see D2117. I assume that this was at the time when BR was objecting to the preserved railways using BR livery. There was at least one steam loco also in L&H livery, I seem to remember, presumably a BR standard tank, though it was a very long time ago and all I can remember is being disappointed. Jonathan

I am sure that John Lewis has answered your question in his forthcoming book from Wild Swan on GWR Siphons, now due out in May or June I understand. Jonathan

Well, nearly three months. I haven't been idle, honest. First an interesting experiment. At last year's Scalefour Crewe I met an acquaintance and we started talking about private owner wagon liveries, especially South Wales ones which were usually black with white lettering. He told me that he does his by painting the wagon side white and then using decal film for the black. I decided to try this and bought some film. I had used decal film before for black lettering on some BCR vans for the club layout but couldn't find the brand I had used, so I bought some on-line. It was much cheaper but when it came the instructions said that after the decal had been applied the object should be baked in an oven at 150 C for 15 minutes. Well, a test with some spare kit parts showed that they sagged a great deal so heating the wagon was out of the question. Anyway, I thought it was worth a try. The first two were failures as I didn't manage to get the decal flat and correctly positioned, but I then managed reasonably successfully to apply decals to both sides of a wagon. I used Microscale Microset to bed the decal down and get it to wrap around the various projections on the wagon side. Then I used matt varnish. This is the result: Seen on the partially ballasted track of the layout's "scenic" board. Reasonably successful. I have three more wagons to do but shall need to reprint the decals for the one which didn't work. And the other thing I have been doing is adding the magnetic coupling links to the vehicles which had never had them - over 100. In doing so I opened a stock box and discovered a whole batch of wagons for the local colliery including five which had never been completely lettered. These have now been lettered and here are some of them: You will notice that the three are for the same colliery but with different lettering styles. Also they are brown - they already were. The different styles are supposed to represent a small colliery which buys wagons a few at a time, sometimes second-hand, and has them lettered differently at the whim of the owner. There is even one with Nantcwmdu spelt with a double d as though it is mutated. The real reason is that I soon run out of the relevant letters on any transfer sheet. Incidentally, the load and tare lettering is from an old PC transfer sheet of Southern Railway wagon lettering. The colliery has also acquired a brakevan second hand from the Midland Railway, probably via a dealer. As usual, the photo shows up imperfections in the painting, which will have to be rectified. And apologies for the angle. The colliery branch is on a gradient bit is not that steep! Anyway, now to finish the ballasting so I can start the scenic work, and another 30 or so wagons needing their coupling links. Jonathan

That J50 in JVol4278 is making a lot of smoke. Trying to pretend it is working hard? Jonathan

Thanks both. I'll investigate. Jonathan