corneliuslundie

In C7122 it looks as though the layout was being operated as two single liners, judging by the rust on the rails. Though the right-hand turnout is for the left hand route. Jonathan

I suspect that by the 1930s the GWR Appendix was much the same as those for the other companies on such matters, having been co-ordinated by the RCH. Jonathan

If the GWR is anything to go by (withdrawn wagon register) it could be anything up to six months between the event and it being recorded in a register. Jonathan

Really wonderful black and white photos. Jonathan

Except that the BBC is saying that our Prime Minister is refusing to say one way or the other about HS2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-66980550 Apollo beat me to it. Re the Second World War, there were two senior ministers who were not politicians, for Food and "Propaganda". They were both businessmen. Woolton (food) has been immortalised by the Woolton Pie. There is a biography which is well worth reading. The Civil Servants and Churchill didn't like him (though his civil servants came around when they saw that what he was doing worked) because he didn't follow the "rules". The other of course was Beaverbrook. Back to HS2, that and other railway (and many other) projects will never be successful while Whitehall calls all the shots and micromanages - and the same applies to the rest of the railway system. Jonathan

They probably just walked along the line to Bala - half a mile. Jonathan

"HS2 should go private imo." But that still leaves all the logistics of dealing with bureaucracy, bats, utilities etc. Though hopefully those specifying the project might actually know what they are doing and only need to do it once. That still probably means a lead time of several years before you need any shovels though. The bats will always win. Jonathan

I need to admit that I was expecting howls of laughter at my previous post. What I find worrying it that contractors evidently are not trusted to obey the terms of their contract, so everything has to be checked, double checked ad nauseum. Interesting, getting back to the costs quoted above, am I right in thinking that the figures in the June 2023 report are considerably lower than the figures touted by the media? Jonathan

Surely, re H&S, environmental protection, discrimination etc, al any contract needs to say is "must comply with all relevant current legislation". No need for consultants, reams of paperwork etc. That after all is how real life works. But that would destroy lots of highly paid jobs. Jonathan

I used to think that Dovey Junction had to passenger exit, but it appears that there is now a footpath to the road via a foot crossing of the Aberystwyth line on the level a little way west of the station. So not even supervised by the train crew. Mind you there are foot crossings over the line near Machynlleth, one of which we used and simply has gates to open/close with no notices about contacting anyone, as far as I can remember. Jonathan

Two in the same livery! A long time before we thought of painting every loco a different colour. Jonathan

Sorry, but I am unrepentant. If one makes the railways too expensive to run by "safety" measures with hardly any impact on safety you drive people to other more dangerous modes of transport. Anyway, there will always be idiots who ignore any rules etc - as cited about people cutting fences. And I was asking a question. I do not know but hoped someone more knowledgeable than me might have the answer. If the answer is 1000 a year in 1950 but none now, then it is a measure worth taking . If it is 1 in 20 years in the 1950s and 1960s then there are better ways of spending the money to reduce danger. Jonathan

Is one problem that we are now spending so much on absolutely marginal improvements in safety that we are simply making railways unaffordable - even though they are far safer than roads? There is no such thing as absolute safety so one can always spend more trying to improve is a fraction of a fraction of a percent. For years many stations on quite busy lines managed with foot crossings. How many deaths were there per crossing per century? Or are we having to factor in that people are now more stupid than 100 years ago? So this project becomes unaffordable because of spending that is not worth doing in terms of any benefit. Jonathan

Because of our politicians and political system which can only look up to 6 months ahead - like the City. Jonathan

Not true any more, apparently. There is a proposal for a new footbridge with lifts at Newtown by NR and the station is unstaffed. But I think it is a very bad idea, and not needed anyway here. Jonathan Sorry, someone beat me to it.

So there would need to be proper signalling for two trains on the route at once. Or make it "tram train" driving on sight? But who would get out to operate the ground frame for the junction ;points? Jonathan

I am surprised they didn't clean Cookham Manor a bit better for the Shildon event. And in the Thornaby pics interesting to see three completely different liveries in the same year. Jonathan

Re LA run bus services, does the Traws Cymru network count? Organised and subsidised by the Welsh Assembly but run under contract by local companies usually with buses in Traws Cymru livery (when the new ones bought to run the service don't break down - and then spare parts cannot be obtained). Newtown to Cardiff 3 hours 40 minutes but still counts as a "local bus" rather than a coach service so free to old fogeys like me. (not sure this isn't a little off topic for a railway forum but less depressing than discussing HS2) Jonathan

I am curious. Those of you who are quoting the cost of travelling by car as against train, are you quoting the fuel cost or the total cost - depreciation on the vehicle, oil, tyres, maintenance, road fund licence, MOT etc? When I was much younger I was told that the true cost of car travel is typically twice the cost of the fuel. That will depend partly on how much the car is used, and therefore how depreciation and road fund licence are spread, but other factors mentioned above will be related pretty directly to mileage. And whereas when I was young it was possible to do much basic maintenance oneself this is almost impossible these days. If one takes this "whole cost" approach, how does it affect your comparisons? I ask this as one who has never driven, and managed to have a pretty full life. Jonathan

And Gatwick now cancelling flights because of shortage of staff. J

Liverpool and Birmingham will be OK until Wales starts charging them for their water! Mind you, in the past the railways of Wales have got quite a bit of business in connection with Welsh reservoir building. (I had to get some railway connection into the post) Jonathan

"Well, they'll have little alternative choice if they want to make the journey.." Why? They probably have cars. Or as suggested above, they will fly. Jonathan

I am afraid that I think any discussion on the future of HS2 is a waste of time at the moment as the politicians are firmly in election mode and are saying whatever they think will garner them votes, the Tories probably having accepted already that the North is a lost cause. So let's leave some server space for other threads until sense returns (if ever). Jonathan

Very nice. And now you have the skills honed there is no excuse for not doing the window heads individually as at Newtown! But perhaps Traeth Mawr had them all the same anyway. Jonathan

Well, I survived the Bishops Castle show. As David said, there was a lot more than just the model railways. In fact in addition to the model of Bishops Castle, there were three in the small marquee. I was rather concerned when we had about two visitors in the first hour, but then it got quite busy - well as busy as you can have when there is room for about six people in the marquee at once. And a large number of traction engines and similar, vintage motor vehicles and a lot else which I didn't see because I was operating the layout. I did eventually get Sarn working, sort of. I found about two weeks before the show that there was a problem with the tiebar of the only motorised point. I ended up replacing the mechanism completely, but never got it adjusted properly so one siding was out of use - well, in fact it had two coal wagons awaiting unloading so no-one except the operators noticed. Another problem reared its head on the day. I had replaced both the microswitches for the three way point at the entrance to the yard with ones I can get at, but it appeared that one was a bit too close to the track as once I had hidden it with a modicum of scenery the footboard of the brake van fouled it. Fortunately it only happened when entering the back road, so again a bit of planning of moves avoided the problem. In fact I think the footboards are over width so I shall be taking a look at them as well as the microswitch. The other thing I did was to tart up some of the grass which was looking rather more brown than when I first created it. An easy job with suitable scatter and matt spray varnish. The loco I bought at Expo-EM North worked very well, though some of the track was not completely clean. The friend who was with me recommended once the track was clean using some graphite, and it seems to have helped quite a bit. At Expo-EM I bought a pack of three unmade second-hand Slaters Gloucester 7-plank wagon kits. I also met a friend who recommended a different way of adding white lettering. Of course one cannot print in white on decal sheet. So he paints the wagon side white and then makes up decals for the black. I am in the process of trying this on these three wagons - when I can find the decal sheet I have squirrelled away somewhere. I'll report on results but don't hold your breath. Jonathan