Joseph_Pestell

I'm sure Wayne is right that any recently launched (last 5 years?) stock will be fine on the Code 40. There may still be a few items out there in the manufacturers catalogues and on shop shelves that were designed longer ago and still have oversize flanges. Even these may prove to be OK - BH is more forgiving than FB because the fixings/chairs don't get in the way so much.

One of the other criticisms of HS2 has been that it would take investment away from the traditional railway. Network Rail has just announced it's proposed spend under the various HLO schemes - £37bn (which I think will be over a shorter period).

One of the TV/press reports quoted a Leeds politician as saying that they should start building from there. This was derided but I think the guy has a point. The route is far less contentious than through the Chilterns and there will be a lot of economic regeneration created around the new stations at Toton and Meadowhall as well as in Leeds. In economic terms, it pretty much pays for itself. With add-on electrification to Bristol, there could be a step change improvement to Cross Country and MML services even continuing to use existing rolling stock over the new route for the time being.

And they are going to be spending it over so long that it will be less than 0.5% per annum. But just as importantly, so long as British firms get the contracts and use British workers, a huge part of that £32bn will come straight back in the form of various taxes. So it does not really cost anything like that much.

It takes a bit more than one railway line to cause the "destruction" of The Chilterns - or any other hilly area. It's this sort of exaggerated comment that gets the opponents a bad name when some of their points are in fact valid. Far less damage would be caused if we settled for a lower speed (186mph/300kph) which would have remarkably little impact on journey times.

This is not the place for this discussion. So I will just say that this is far from idle pedantry. It's key to the wholly non-democratic way that we are governed in this country and to much of the long-term failures of consistent policy on major projects such as HS2 (and indeed transport in general).

They are looking pretty clapped-out now. Would help if they cleaned them a bit more often. But otherwise, an idea that has legs.

I am aware of the difficulties - particularly platforms. But, as you say, Eurostar had to get past these difficulties as well and did so, even if it is at the cost of long "planks" between the train and the platform at St Pancras and GdN.

I don't think that I would want to suggest that a double-deck train to W10 is easy. But I am convinced that it is possible as it gives extra height where you most need it. Under the track-access charging regime, a single-deck train running over HS2 is surely at a huge cost disadvantage which would be reflected in higher fares?

No, we didn't. We don't vote for parties - although that is what most of us want to do and think we are doing. We vote for MPs. For anyone that is worried that they have put a tick on a ballot paper, yes, technically it is wrong. You should have put a cross. But I have never known a ballot paper to be rejected because a tick was used rather than a cross.

I do remember it being a fair old walk when I went to an exhibition at the Assembly Rooms. I think that trains coming up the MML to Nottingham and Derby may need to reverse at Toton to connect with the HS2 services. With Long Eaton and Beeston, you are right that it is already very built up. The reverse curves to the south of Toton look quite tight for High Speed.

Not using double-deck trains would be a ridiculous waste of capacity (less 30% approx) and energy. Any traditional routes that may be used by trains from HS2 should be upgraded so that they can take double-deck (not that difficult if already cleared for W10 container traffic).

On many recently designed trains (including Eurostar), luggage often gets a better view out of the window than some of the passengers. So booking in as a coffin could be a smart move.

I don't see either of these as stations built just to pacify local objections. Both will serve large catchments and should be very successful. Don't underestimate the traffic potential between Leeds and Nottingham with a much faster service than at present. The M1 is often hideous along that stretch.

Did you live in the middle of Derby, close to Midland station? If not, probably just as quick to get out to Toton and avoid city centre traffic. Likewise in London, for many it would be far easier to get to Heathrow (Iver) than to Euston. And many business meetings are not in city centres these days.

In this country, we don't vote for Govts (as for instance they do in the US), we vote for MPs. It's a basic weakness in our system.

I remember Bevleys. That was very small - so Brevett must have been tiny! Bit of a contrast from what he does these days!

The understandable desire to create a Parkway station to serve Ringway Airport and South Manchester has led to a route into the city itself which will be more difficult and expensive than necessary. An easier route exists from Warrington to Manchester Exchange. All the other stations look well-situated.

I'm with you there. 40 years ago, when my hand-eye co-ordination was rather better than it is now, I struggled to get SMP points to work properly. This is going to be much harder with components that have only 1/8th of the volume. Any soldering will have to be done in advance, well away from the very fine plastic sleppering and chairs. So in designing my jig for threading rail, I need to allow for having already soldered wire droppers from the rail (would p/b strip be a better option?) before attaching to the sleeperbase. And I think that the switches (blades) will probably need to be put in (with tiebar) before the stockrails - which is not the way that it is usually done. But I will probably just cop out and pay someone to do these for me. I do think it will be worth it for the massively improved appearance.

Received delivery of 30m of fiNetrax from Wayne yesterday. Very well packaged for the post. Had a bit of a play this morning. Rail threads well into the chairs which seem amazingly robust for their tiny size. I can't say that I found it easy though. After a lifetime of 4mm/3.5mm, code 40 BH rail is seriously small! I think that I will have to make up a jig to hold lengths of sleepering (up to 500mm length) in place while I thread the rail through, holding it with some sort of tweezers.

This gives me an idea. When I am making up 500mm lengths of track (fiNetrax) for Tamworth, I should solder droppers onto each length of rail before threading the sleeper bases on. Such a simple and obvious idea that I feel there has to be something wrong with it! Can anyone see a snag (apart from the boredom of 240 soldered joints in one go)? This gives me an idea. When I am making up 500mm lengths of track (fiNetrax) for Tamworth, I should solder droppers onto each length of rail before threading the sleeper bases on. Such a simple and obvious idea that I feel there has to be something wrong with it! Can anyone see a snag (apart from the boredom of 240 soldered joints in one go)?

I tried this way back in the 70s when SMP track first came out. Oddly, the track is more forgiving of old Triang flanges than most because the chairs don't get in the way. Points are more of an issue because of the back-to-back measurements.

That would be one for someone who is good at scratchbuilt buildings. Not much operational interest but I have a fondness for the place having worked the signalbox for a couple of happy hours in July 1974.

Perhaps we should have a Museum of British Railway Modelling? Should be enough interest out there and it would be a great draw as an extra attraction at a railway preservation site.

Bit mean - only getting a Silver!