Joseph_Pestell

Missed out on Portugal back in the 70s since they were having their revolution the week that I was due to be there. Wanted to go ever since even though the railway scene not so interesting as it was.

Agreed. They have done a lot in the last few days. Full of character.

I have some slides from that era stored away somewhere. If I can work out how to scan them, I'll put some of them on here.

Agreed. CrossCountry has always been a bit of a "Cinderella". That's partly because it has very varying flows of traffic with more emphasis on leisure travel. But 220s are not cheap to run. Locos plus push-pull sets could work out much better for XC even with the daft track access charges regime.

I think that CrossCountry might be very glad to be rid of the 220s in favour of something with a bit more capacity (even allowing for the extra pantograph coach).

I think that you can safely assume that it won't be 319s on Newcastle to Liverpool. A short IEP could be a candidate but I think that Govt is finally realising what a folly that project is. Class 395 Javelin (or a 23 metre derivative) would be a good call on that route. I also think that we will see something similar to Class 395 on the Great Western's shorter routes. Really need the extra speed over the 319 to maximise capacity on the fast lines east of Airport Jct. With extra platform capacity at Reading we might even see Oxford / Newbury services of 2 x 395 split at Reading. So, yes, probably more new trains in the South and cascaded (but refurbed) 319s in the North - but only for suburban services. 319s 3rd rail/overhead capacity could be useful in extending Merseyrail services.

Having been involved with "political stuff" in the Thames Valley, I am sure that you are right. Ultimately, Crossrail to Reading can even save money by comparison with Crossrail to Maidenhead as it potentially reduces need for depots and increases scarce capacity on the route. With Crossrail to Reading, it makes very little sense to use Class 319 in the Thames Valley at all, freeing them up for various northern projects.

In Britain, most installations were by Solari, a company based in Udine, Italy. Go to Italy and, oddly enough, many of the train timetable indicators there were made in the UK.

For me, it has to be the LNER W1 "Hush-hush" 4-6-4 in original form or the similar P2 2-8-2.

Wilton South is certainly well-documented. Don't know so much about North but I am sure there would be some info. Going back to the St Budeaux suggestions, the old Plymouth North Road was not that big a station either. But I can't remember offhand (the book is upstairs, I'm just being lazy!) which year it was rebuilt. No obvious scenic break at the west end though.

If you don't want anything GW larger than a Hall, options start to open up. Halls were used on Cardiff to Southampton trains (not sure if they ever reached Portsmouth). So quite a few Southern stations available there. Romsey (already modelled by Southampton MRC in 00 IIRC) is a lovely station with interesting features such as a two-level goods shed - still standing and used by an architectural salvage firm). I think that Halls were also used on some trains from Reading to Southampton. If you could make do with a Manor, Barnstaple Jct would be a good option (but single tracks). By the same token, if you do not need too much Southern and want the larger GW classes, West Country/BoB hauled the inter-regional trains from Bournemouth to Oxford so any of the GW mainline stations between Tilehurst and Didcot would be a possibility. I would need to check but I think that West Country also made it onto the DN&S (more usually the preserve of T9), so Newbury would also be an option. But going back to where you started (or nearly), do you really want a continuous run? Weymouth was a very interesting station and quite compact before it was rebuilt in the 60s/70s.

Looking really good. I think this will be a real crowd-puller at exhibitions.

Not much mention of trolleybus modelling! I can remember a layout that featured regularly at N&SLTC exhibitions in the 1970's. Very effective. Steering was done by an arm sticking out of the front nearside and rubbing against a ridge in the road surface or kerb as appropriate. These days one could do it more easily with Faller car system type arrangement.

Both Thame and Uxbridge were S Gauge Society projects - although I rather think they may have been housed at MRC HQ (Keen House). The "main man" at the time was a Mr Bevis IIRC.

I'm not too sure that it is a "useful" choice in the sense of being appropriate for layouts that are based on a specific location. But I still think that it will be very popular with many railway modellers as "something a bit different". Must be about 50 years ago now that the last r-t-r model of a USA tank was produced - the French version in HO by Hornby.

tiTTer

Reminds me of a trip to the KWVR many years ago. Made the mistake of going to the pub (Timothy Taylor's) first and never actually got on the train! Pub does overlook the line though.

I'm with those who think it's a pity to have another 101 when there are still so many classes not yet available.

Some great videos there. Show what a great prototype Czech railways are with very short trains. Weather was a bit foul. Coffee or hot chocolate might have been more suitable than that beer. (Only joking, nothing keeps me from Czech beers).

Just for the record guys, 3mm to the foot is a purely British type of TT giving (on 12mm track) a gauge of just 4' - even worse than the 4'1 1/2 of OO. Continental TT is approximately 2.5mm/1 ft.

Lovely layout and based on an interesting prototype by comparison with most TMD layouts. Even painted darker, I do think the Noch hedge lets things down. It does look like a moustache or perhaps a draught excluder. You could certainly do better with carpet underlay. Or if you really want to go for the "full monty" some brass etched tree bits.

So agree with you about Continental TT. 1:120 scale is just so much better than 1:148/1:160 when it comes to visible detail but allows massively more layout in an average space than 1:76/1:87. And 120 x 12mm = 1440mm, a proper track gauge. What's not to like? Huge shame that when Triang tried to launch British TT (1959?), the technology simply did not allow them to use 1:120. If they had held off for another ten years and gone for 1:120, I think that it could have been a massive success.

A bit different from Banbury! But very interesting. I was in the Czech Republic for a holiday about 10 years ago and found lots of interesting models available there in both HO and TT. Really good manufacturers who have somehow failed to build an international reputation.

I recall that David Jenkinson portrayed Eric Treacy on Garsdale Road as well. It is indeed wonderful what some (a very few!) modellers can do by way of carving figures like this, even in the smaller scales. But no matter how good the carving and subsequent moulding, they won't look right unless they are painted right. Military modellers seem to be still a step ahead of railway modellers in this field but that is partly because they are used to making static models and can paint in ways that are really a "trick of the light".

A lovely model of a very interesting station. I pass it regularly as my fiancee works close by. Never understand why everyone thinks of it as Green Park when it was Queen Square for so much longer.