Joseph_Pestell

Quick visit this afternoon to see the first train carrying fare-paying passengers. Took a couple of photos (phone) of the train joining the mainline at Worgret which is a difficult location these days with far more trees on the sides of the cutting than when the line closed to passengers in 1972. Then back to the station to see the WCR 37 haul the train back to Swanage. Will upload pics later and post.

Looks doable to me albeit possibly needing demolition of the existing footbridge.

There looks to be plenty of space there to put in an "off-the-peg" design of footbridge with ramps. Edit to add: Of course, that's an old photo. May be a bit different now. I will take a look later.

The people of Cardiff, like the people of Hull, thought that a bit of competition might mean they got a better deal. The Witney branch was, like many, an independent project, only taken over by the GW after some years. A new passenger station was built at Witney when the line was extended to Fairford. I don't remember whether that was an independent project or under the GW.

Just to throw another idea into the ring, have you considered Cardiff? The good folk of South Wales got pretty fed up with the GWR having a monopoly on their coal traffic to London and taking a "great way round" to get there, putting up the prices. They asked the LNW to build a line to Wales. This would have started from Oxford and run over the Witney/Fairford branch, not then under GW control, continuing to Wales via Gloucester (so far, all true history). The resulting passenger terminus in Cardiff would probably have been quite similar to Swansea Victoria but as this is a "Rule 1" suggestion, you can adapt the trackplan to suit the space that you have.

I looked at the station on old-maps.co.uk yesterday as well. The station itself is fairly compact but, as you say, there is a lot of other stuff going on around it. Perhaps you could turn it round the other way so the carriage shed is in the background and conceals the unmodelled goods yard. May also be worth constructing boards that are not rectangular. That way you can avoid modelling the high-level docks lines in front and it might make it easier to add the goods yard later on if you get the space. No obvious scenic break at the country end of the station. You may have to invent a roadbridge or a high building (warehouse probably) to conceal exit from scenic area.

It would depend what type. For solenoids (Peco PM10, SEEP, Hattons), 16v AC is the usual as supplied by the accessory outputs on various controllers.

Back in the day when I was involved in etched sheets, it was always my intention to do a sheet of rivetted angle plates which could be used to construct roofs of this type. If you made up a jig to hold things in place while soldering/glueing, it should not be very difficult. Plastic strip also an option as per Ron Heggs' Manchester Central.

Shinohara do two scissors crossovers; a #4 and a #6. IIRC the #4 has a 2'8" radius. You can find details on www.scalelink.co.uk. Any latching solenoid point motor will do or the Peco with the PM11 mounting base added. Any servo style motor will do the job.

But would they have run into the station?

Just been having a look at pics via Google. Roof does not look too complicated really and has the benefit of no glass (post-war) so that you get a proper look at the trains.

Talking of Metro-style services, the South Coast could be an option too. And they would not even need the diesel engines there.

Yes, but don't they need work to meet DDA compliance by 2020?

My late mother was involved in developing course materials for teaching French. But that was many years ago before the advent of DVDs and the like. Unfortunately, I don't still have any of the stuff that she did for Nuffield Foundation which would have been very suitable for updating. Without going down the exchange route yet, perhaps you could set up some sort of Skype arrangement with a French child who wants to learn English?

I think 7 is a bit young for foreign exchanges.

Perhaps easier just to put in a second bridge with ramps? But this really is NIMBYism to an extreme level. The area around Wareham station with a fairly hideous concrete road flyover is not particularly special.

The original CC72000 model is fairly crude. So you won't want to put any rolling stock with it that is to modern standards. So early Jouef Corail stock would indeed be suitable as would the UIC-Y coaches, or DEV Inox (once again the older Jouef model) or Lima DEV. I will have a look in my old shop spares box to see if there are any suitable buffers. EDIT: Looking again at OP, I see that you just say CC, not 72000. Given the age, you probably have the CC70000. That probably means that Corail stock is not suitable. I will do a bit more research.

Report on BBC Breakfast today about a Bedford OB which is being driven from Norwich to Shetland, where it operated for many years. Beautifully preserved. Hope the journey goes well for them.

Should have mentioned that this is a charity event in aid of STARS the Salisbury Hospital charity. I have also noticed that it is advertised as a vintage vehicle gathering, so not just for the car enthusiast.

I noticed yesterday that the Solstice event at Gillingham & Shaftesbury Showground on 21 June is now advertised as a Vintage Vehicle Gathering. So presumably buses and commercials as well as cars. It's a charity event in aid of STARS the Salisbury Hospital Charity with specific reference to cancer treatment.

June 21, there is the Solstice Collectors' Car Gathering, an evening event at the Shaftesbury & Gillingham Showground on the B3081 at Motcombe. Hope to get there this year.

My parents ended up with a Fiesta Yellow Mini Estate: KPE641C which was still my mum's car when I was learning to drive in 1974. They had wanted the Ivory White or Almond Green (as per the next back in that photo). But delivery delays were long so the dealer in Epsom finally rang up to offer them the Fiesta Yellow. "Oh, you mean Sickly Green", said my mother. You are right, it was not a popular colour.

Very few shops these days that stock useful bits like this. Branchlines may be able to help or, nearer to you, Roxey Mouldings.

SWMBO uses it when travelling from here to her friend in Hannover. Seems to work well. I think they are flexible about routing if there are major traffic problems on the M25.

I guess that with modern computer techniques it is a lot easier than it used to be to replicate these patterns.