SM42

Quite, especially if your preferred destination is served by the budget end of the market. There seems to be a race to the bottom to really..... annoy.. their passengers. Being reasonably generous at a budgety price you would think would make good marketing. Unfortunately I don't think the budget boys would get you out of Christmas whilst airbourne. probably want to sell you Christmas from the trolley. Andy

Hornby HST was my first set. Baseboards made and track laid (held down with drawing pins with yellow plastic covers of all things) in the spare bedroom by my dad and brother whilst I was downstairs completely unware. The cover story was they had gone to the pub, which is probably what they would have preferred to do. Still got it 40 odd years later The box is a bit tatty though Andy

I have no problem with letting a bus pull out, It just seems to be increasingly common practice now to ignore what might be passing as they pull out of the layby. Be prepared yes, but at some point the decision becomes keep going cos it ain't moving. If it is within my stopping distance it will have to wait. It seems though some drivers think I can stop in 2 yards from 20mph. (Highway Code says 40ft is the stopping distance at 20mph) Of course my stopping distance can be reduced to on a sixpence by the bus driver putting their hand out of the window as well as indicating. On the other side of the coin I was impressed with the bus driver last night who pulled from lane three into the bus layby and continued along it to get the whole bus in. (lanes 1&2 were closed till just before the bus stop) Anyway, Birmingham was fun today. Me and the car went a paddling. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-46551835 I'm glad the frost we were promised didn't materialise otherwise it would have been Tokyo Drift on Five Ways roundabout. Andy

Granted but many bus drivers forget the Highway Code also says (or at least used to say in my copy) "Do not force others to brake or swerve to avoid you". Some of our PSV drivers should remember that putting the right indicator on is not a guarantee the car just off your back bumper is going give way. The frustrations of city driving, I also fail to be amused by those who potter along and are suddenly surprised that there is a stationary bus blocking the lane 30ft ahead of them and then the indicator comes on. Meanwhile the rest of us have seen the bus, are expecting it to stop (buses do that sort of thing) noted the left indicator and pulled into the outside lane in plenty of time to proceed unimpeded. These are, I suspect, the same drivers who when proceeding along a two lane (2 each way) road in the left lane whilst the right hand one is empty, bury the brake pedal when they see blue flashing lights, rather than carry on serenely and monitor the situation whilst the emergency services use the empty lane. The worst are those who do it when they are travelling in the opposite direction to the ambulance etc Andy

Ah yes, but the bus lane is wider than the parking bays, so an uphill bus stopping creates a queue where there was plenty of space to get by before and the spread to two lanes is now further down. I have no idea why they couldn't just make Wheeleys Lane two way. Would have saved a fortune and served the same purpose as the new works Paradise Circus is and will be a mess when it's finished. I remain convinced it's all a plot to justify the CAZ next year. Still the wild west out there. get yourself out towards the East side and it's far worse than the centre Andy

All I know is that its takes me a lot longer since the first set went in yonks ago and even more now the second set have been installed (earlier this year. ) The flow has improved coming down Holloway Head but then they put a bus lane in and undid all the good work. Don't even get me started on the monstrosity that has been created at the top of Holloway Head where it meets Bath Row. Totally unnecessary and just increases the frustration which in turn leads people to do crazy things to get ahead a bit. The most outrageous piece of Brum driving was at the junction of Cardigan St and Jennens Rd. Sat patiently waiting 3 back at the red light in the marked right lane to go straight across, a car proceeds up the empty left lane, crosses the stop line and pulls into the front of the queue. Unbelievable Not driven round Leeds. Sounds fun. Somewhere on roads.org.uk there is a video of Coventry ring road. Careful you could lose hours on this site. Who thought roads could be so much fun? Andy

Hobby Here are couple of examples of Brum that I see everyday. Same location for both. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4753209,-1.9005829,3a,75y,141.23h,78.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEozphYgYEMiNoC-b2xxc6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 If the above link has worked, note the road markings where the Google car enters the roundabout. Note the Megabus on the roundabout. That bus is doing a right at the roundabout. Go back a bit to see how it approached the roundabout. The full 360 on the same line is a regular Megabus occurrence too Also note the camera car is going for it on the amber. Now proceed forward as if going straight across the roundabout. We go into a Google timewarp here. Look behind the camera car and note the dark Audi rag top coming from the straight ahead lane and follow its path around the roundabout. Another 360 move. This is also the location of a new set of lights that just clog up the roundabout which backs up onto the A38. No need for them. Traffic moved freely enough without them. This is the kind of roundabout Russian Roulette that is common around the city Andy

The often forgotten problem with DRLs is that the most vulnerable road users (cyclist and motorcyclists) can get lost in the sea of lights but this is not for this thread. CYRUS Andy

Thanks for that FC I had spotted the parasol so it would end up white with an orange band regardless. I wonder if there is an easy way to remove it (as it's moulded on.) Only thing then is some Piko spare bogies I have already perused Anton Kendall's website which I found by accident doing some pre RM Web research. What an excellent resource it is. No joy yet but some possibles and I've only really looked at my country of interest. Must look at some other nearby countries. The search goes on. Andy

WOW! Only yesterday I was looking at one of these and wondering what on earth can I do with it, preferably in HO. I was considering starting a thread on here (search didn't find this thread) and now I don't have to. Yayy! Thanks Wummyock (only 7 years late) But my question to throw in the mix, are they of any particular European prototype or just freelance? If so what's the nearest thing to them? Andy

Well that's another week of driving in Birmingham finished. Just got to survive the week-end now. It truly is the wild west out there. Bus drivers seem to have forgotten what bus stops are for and just leave the back hanging out blocking the road (They'd probably never get out again otherwise and are just as fed up as the rest of us) Road markings are there to make the road look pretty, indicators are Christmas decorations, headlights optional and a new procedure of manouevre, signal, what's a mirror? has been introduced to the Highway Code The city council seem intent on stopping any moving traffic (I suspect an attempt to justify their clean air zone they set traffic lights to stop anything that is moving and cause unnecessary pollution so they can point to some really bad numbers) and are installing more traffic lights where none are necessary. It's so bad that people regularly ignore red lights. I encounter 48 sets in an 18 mile drive into the city. I get stopped every time by the majority. A measure of the problem now is that when you stop at a Pelican crossing the pedestrians put a hand up to say thank you. Any adrenaline junkies out there come to Brum by car. Scarier than a scary thing. Birmingham Grand Prix? See it every day. It truly is a look right, left, right and left before passing over a set of lights on green. Rant over. I feel better now. Andy (a nervous wreck)

I had a bit of a tidy up earlier this year. I counted 52 unfinished wagons on the workbench. I didn't count those already in storage. I can see the cutting mat now though, just about. 35 currently reside in various stages. Some of those are from the 52. In my defence I did finish one last Wednesday and completed three projects from start to finish last week. It's the brake gear you see. I needs to psych myself up for it I dread to think what's in the USO (un started object) pile. Andy

An old p/way man once said to me " Look out for the one that gets you" That is; don't cross behind a train until you can see there isn't another one hidden by it. This very wise advice stuck with me and is also useful for crossing the road as well. There have been too many people lost on both the railways and the roads for not having the benefit of hearing and heeding such advice. Andy

Ah! Now I was a little late on Saturday and arrived 1410. Didn't seem to be anyone around so just enjoyed watching the layout for a bit. Very nice, but it appears that due to a premature senior moment I was in front of the wrong one. I got the 01 bit right, not the letter. Still, Dobris was worth it. Andy

Wow just wow. Just spent 25 minutes sat watching this with my mouth open I would never have thought of weathering on the go. Thanks for posting this. I really need to work on my technique now. Andy

Well we are all set for tomorrow Early (well too early for a Saturday) kick off to pick up the crew and looking forward to meeting the masses. If you are near D39 stop off and say hello. I'll be near the SM42s most of the time, look there's a green one, over there, on the left of this post Have a good one everybody Andy

You're almost next door, well the next street actually. I'll do my best to get to one of them. Andy

Possibly the line between Round Oak and Pleck Jn (Walsall) There is certainly some track left and not so long ago there were the remains of a level crossing at Wednesbury (now gone) and at Eagle Crossing there was the burnt out remains if the box and the remains of the barriers and lights under the new(ish) road bridge. Whether they are still there I doubt. The Claydon L&NE Jn line to Bletchley also has a fair amount of stuff still about but is in the process of being revamped for East West. To be fair I suspect these two could be called mothballed rather than abandoned Finally, Google shows there are still odd bits and pieces to be found on the line to Louth (from Grimsby?) Andy

Looking forward to this as usual, (not looking forward to the sore feet though) but I suspect will not see half of the show so will be relying on some post show photos being posted to see what I missed. If anyone is near stand D39, stop off to say hello. I'll be the one trying to get people to talk to me (I don't bite, honest!) if I'm not playing trains or whizzing round the show. Have fun Andy

Glad I looked into the German forum out of idle curiosity a couple of weeks back and found this. A quick look at the map and I discovered it was just a short hop from Bielefeld and the A2 Autobahn to Brakel, so a plot was hatched to visit en route to Mrs SM42's homeland (via Model Bahn Shop Lippe at Detmold. Luckily Mrs SM42 was flying out later) All I can say it was well worth the diversion and I wish I could have spent more time there but I had to get to the in laws at a sensible time. Thanks Mallarddriver for highlighting this. Oh and the diversion via the Harz area due to closed Autobahn junctions to get back on the A2 near Helmstedt was worth the drive too. Nowhere near the steam trains though, shame. Andy

As a Palbrick conversion the steel sided BR version (medfit with extended sides and end clamps) lasted into the 70s. These appear to have been converted before 1960. It seems many Medfits were redundant before they were built. May have just found a wooden one though in 1964. (Western Steam Farewell by Darren page, Pg41) It is hard to make out but the markings on the wagon seem to indicate in departmental use but definitely a revenue train. Further possible wooden versions in revenue traffic June 1962 in Working Steam, Collett and Hawksworth Halls by Roy Hobbs, Pg 52 There are a few in the backgound of other photos I have found dated 1963 but look to be in departmental traffic, albeit surrounded by revenue wagons Andy

Best I can find is 1962 in a revenue train, but even then I'm not too convinced it is one. Andy

Till you get bored or find something else to do. How long that is depends on many things. The company, the time of day, one's general mood and of course the layout One of our club layouts it's probably about 10 minutes and by then you want to smash your brains out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a brick. Even the challenge of getting all the trains moving at once and acting like a demented juggler changing points to avoid collisions and shorts and making sure nothing hits the buffers can only relieve the boredom so long. Still it wasn't made for marathon operating sessions. It had a purpose and it meets it admirably. On the flip side a circle of track and one siding round the conservatory kept me going for a good hour. Simple pleasures Andy

I shall be at work again this year on 11 November As last year we will stand in silence for 2 minutes at 11am. Even the phones stopped ringing for 2 minutes last year, surely no coincidence It wasn't the best of environments to remember those who gave all, but it was very moving all the same. Andy

Are you back yet Fezza? How did it go? Any pictures? Andy