corneliuslundie

Yes, it was, well fractures anyway but I think in the mountings rather than the bogies. J

Re reversing trains, it gets real fun on the Cambrian. Trains from Birmingham International reverse at Shrewsbury so the front unit becomes the rear unit and vice versa. Then quite a few trains split at Machynlleth with the front (ex rear) set going to Aberystwyth and the rear Iex front) set going up the coast. Really confusing for passengers not used to the service and boarding before Shrewsbury, especially as the platform indicators are not infrequently wrong at Birmingham NS. Fortunately the on-board staff are normally really good at checking everyone's destination and making sure they are in the right half of the train by Machynlleth. Though some passengers have a job understanding what is happening and wnhy they need to move to the other set. Jonathan

"The parish is first mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086, by its original name of Segenhoe, which was approximately 500 yards (metres) south east from where the village now lies. In 1227 the name Rugemund was first recorded, taken from the French 'rouge mont' which means red hill.[2]" From Wikipedia. So take your choice J

Anyone fancy modelling that knitting? Probably not. J

57.14285714285714% J

On the topic of overspending on projects: https://www.foxnews.com/world/former-kosovo-infrastructure-minister-gets-44-months-overspending-road-project My comment to my wife was that if the same applied in the UK we would have no politicians left. Her response was that, no, we would have no capital projects. So who shall we jail first? Jonathan

That 1F really looks its age. Definitely an earlier generation of locos. A great photo. Jonathan

I think we are up the (Barking) Creek. J

Anyone fancy modelling the GNR viaduct at Awsworth? Z gauge might be a bit too big. Jonathan

I haven't been idle, honest. Well, not completely I have actually ballasted the track on the station board, and am completing the track on the "country" board - hundreds of those little bits of strip to re[present spike heads. About five eighths of the way there. Not much progress with Gwalia Stores while I think about how to represent the windows and their displays. But I decided that there was one job I really ought to do - adding the magnetic links to wagon couplings, something I tend not to do when I build a wagon with the (very weak) excuse that they sometimes drop off. So over the last month I have had about 30 wagons at a time on the workbench. The best part of 100 now done, also making sure that the couplings can actually drop when pulled by a magnet. Even making the wheels go round on some wagons. The culprit is usually a brake shoe (doing its job) but on one scratch built GWR Loriot the wheels were rubbing against the insides of the frames. I eventually realised that they were a bit over gauge, mainly because I was using inside bearings and the wheels needed thinning down on the insides so they could be set to gauge. Done. But the exercise also reminded me of just how many of my Rhymney wagons either had lettering on only one side or did not have the small "To carry" etc lettering. To say nothing of those where the lettering had partly rubbed off through handling because I had not added the small lettering and therefore not varnished the vehicle to protect the transfers. So now all have their R R lettering thanks to a very old PC Models sheet of SR wagon transfers - not exactly matching but pretty good and in the right sizes. The problem about the very small lettering is that the Rhymney used a distinctive style of script, not really like that used by the GWR. And I have not discovered another company which used a similar style. And finally, I managed to damage the lower running board of one of the brake vans and realised when I looked that both the 8 ton brake vans need their lower footboards replaced as they have distorted badly over time and the plastic supports have become very brittle. One now done in brass, three to go. However, I used my tin of Rhymney wagon grey paint (bought after it was discontinued by Precision) on the footboard only to discover that it is considerably darker than the GWR grey I had used previously. Bu there is really nothing worth photographing at this stage. And there are at least 100 other wagons and a good many carriages which need those little magnetic links. Hopefully some photos next time. Jonathan

43019 is not a beautiful engine, is it? Or am I biased through too much studying Sharp, Stewart's products? Jonathan

Presumably "bring your own umbrella" J

Some dogs are not exactly small. Huskies and the like seem very popular these days. Much the same effect as hitting a sheep I would think. Jonathan

Dangerous birds, pheasants. At least two bus windscreens smashed by them last year in mid Wales. Jonathan

I seem to remember that a criticism of the Golborne spur was that the junction was to be with the slow lines. Or am I imagining? Jonathan Correction. I was remembering the wrong junction. See below that it was to be a flying junction to the fast lines.

"if people are really picky about names" Perhaps one starts a new project with a new name without the words "high speed" and then does exactly what would have been done for HS2A - but the politicians get off the hook and those who are convinced that HS2 is all about speed are bypassed. Jonathan

"A study revealed the red lights had been jumped a staggering 3,000 times during one 10-day period." From that report of the buggy in the barrier. There must be more stupid people than I ever imagined. Jonathan

" there should be no element of “risk”, or risk taking" Sorry, but that is nonsense. There is no such thing as zero risk. One can as was said reduce risk to a practicable minimum. After that you pout more and more resources in for less and less effect, often virtually none, and can easily create other risks which you have not thought about. The classic example in our field is "safety" requirements pushing up the cost of train travel so that people travel by much more dangerous roads. That does not mean that one should intentionally take known risks. Jonathan

It does make it a bit difficult to run the trains, too. Jonathan

Come on Deltic s[potters. Don't let David beat you. Jonathan

Didcot now but how long will there be a power station there? Jonathan

Did the sleeper get to its destinations? I thought Scotrand's railways closed down. Jonathan

Of course, in any country with a sane government ANY new railway line would be electrified from the start. Jonathan

That is often because of existing property boundaries centuries old, usually based on field boundaries, whereas in the USA they were starting with a clean sheet and the developer 9usually the railway) owned all the land. Jonathan

Having seen that I make no apologies for causing a deviation. A wonderful film to see. Jonathan