SM42

Have you tried contacting Network Rail? They may have some plans of the bridges in their archives. Andy

I'm not sure where you keep your layout and therefore this may sound odd but can you open a window, preferably once each side of where the layout is. Here at SM42 towers we open the windows at front and back and let the breeze blow through. This makes a good 5 or 6 degrees difference, very useful when trying to sleep at night (but still too warm for modelling as the Liquid Poly sounds like a bottle of fizzy pop when I open it). . If you have windows in the railway room, cover them to keep the worst of the sun out i.e , close the blinds or whatever covering you choose. Good luck. Andy

HTH, although all I can offer is personal observations made from my visits as I have trouble keeping up with all the news. It's in Polish you see, a language of which I, unfortunately, don't know enough. You can probably guess whereabouts in Wielkopolska I spend most of my time. Yep, the cake shop. If you are there long enough (Poznan that is, not the cake shop) Fezza we may just bump into each other. Andy

Narrow gauge railways can be found in Gniesno and also between Znin and Gasowa, neither of which are too far from Poznan. I haven't been to the former but the latter has a little railway museum at Wenecia and is a very pleasant trip in the open sided carriages in good weather. There is also a reconstructed Iron Age settlement at Biskupin. There is not much to see at Gasawa. Diesel loco haulage is being replaced by DMUs on most routes and those listed above by GD are quite a trek from Poznan in most cases. Electric loco haulage is far more common at present but EMUs areas creeping in more and more. Don't expect trains to get anywhere quick either. Things are getting better but what we in the UK would expect to take 2 hours may take 4 in Poland. Wolsztyn is around an hour by train from Poznan. To go around the shed will cost 10zl (£2) In Poznan city centre using buses and trams may be better than the car. Buy tickets in advance and validate in the little yellow machines on board. They are time limited. 15, 30, 45, 60 mins and 24hrs are available and can be used on both buses and trams till the time runs out. Poznan has two model shops. Lokomtyw at 17 Polwiejska (No 18 tram to stop of same name near the Stary Browar shopping centre) or a No 2 tram to Plac Wiosny Ludow which is at the other end of the street. The shop moved into a little arcade that is opposite the Lech Poznan supporters shop a few months ago. Not been there since but used to have a small but good range. A little further out is Dataland in the Solacz district. No 9 tram from city towards Piatkowo and get off at Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy. (takes around 15 mins) The shop is on the right about a 100yds up the road in the direction the tram went towards Piatkowo. A small but very well stocked shop. (3 is a crowd in there) It is under the owner's house so look out for the Faller and Piko adverts on the balcony railings of the house. There is a lot of work going on around Poznan city centre so some of the trams may be diverted in the central area. Oh and don't forget to partake of coffee and cake at a Kawiarnia. Heaven. Travelling around by train and public transport is quite cheap. Have fun. Andy

Aldi were still selling plastic shafted cotton buds last time I was in. 35p for 200 I think. I only throw the cotton wool bit out. The plastic tube makes a nice pipe wagon load or can be used for all sorts of scenic shenanigins. Andy

I avoid our local Tesco now. About two years ago they changed their parking regime because the car park was too full ( can't say I ever noticed except at Christmas) and I cannot be bothered to faff about searching for my car in a list of those that have arrived in the last 24 hrs. Oh and I don't like that they insist I spend £5 per visit if I am there (there being between the entrance to the car park and me finding my car on the list) more than 30 minutes. I do sometimes have orders to price check "luxury" items against other stores when I pop in for a couple of items. 30 minutes can easily be lost whilst spending £2 It seems to have worked though. I was dragged there by Mrs SM42 a few months after they started this and the car park had plenty of spaces. Mind you the staff outnumbered the customers that Friday afternoon. Morrison's tried a similar thing about 5 years before and lost 30% in trade .Their scheme lasted 2 weeks. Tesco are persisting. Perhaps it makes customer relations easier when you have less customers. you could cut out the customer service desk to save money. Life's too short to worry about shopping, but I avoid our main Tesco store on principal now. Mrs SM42 however quite likes the car search game (I think) , but she is a fickle beast and will shop wherever the fancy takes her and sometimes even several supermarkets on the same day. Andy

I seem to recall there was one in Stoke On Trent in the late 80s. City road it may have been. Andy

Not only is this going to be a fantastic year, I predict an expensive one too. Piko's plans are hitting quite a few sweet spots at SM42 towers this year. Green ET22 anyone? . Andy

If you feel like a bit of trek (especially if you start at Gdansk) you could go to Zagan. Here you will find the remains of, and a museum about, Stalag Luft III. It's about a 20 - 25 minute walk out of town As you may know this is the camp of Great Escape fame. The museum has a mock up of the tunnels that were dug and a recreation of a barrack room. When we went it was a Monday, I think, and it was free. (Some museums do have free entry days, normally Mondays to Tuesdays) Not far away in the forest are the remains of the camp building brick bases etc and markers for the tunnel entrances and exits. Very interesting if you like WW2 history. The 50 escapers who were murdered are buried in the British cemetery in Poznan on the edge of Citadela Park which can be found next to Poznan Garbary station. There are also a couple of military museums in the park, (Poznan was a fortress city and one of those Hitler decreed should not be surrendered) one with a collection of assorted Soviet era warplanes slowly rusting away. Out near Ogrody tram terminus (About 15 mins on the tram, Nos 2, 17 or 18 from the city centre, guess where I change from tram to bus a lot) is Fort VII. There is a small museum here as this was used as a prison by the Germans during the war. If you are near Krakow then there is of course Auschwitz ( a lasting monument to man's inhumanity to man) and also nearby is Wieliczka salt mine with its intricately carved artworks in the salt walls. Within Krakow itself there is the Schindler museum which is worth a visit but is a bit strange to find as you seem to be in the middle of a business estate. Poland has an often violent and bloody history and there are many museums and monuments commemorating these events in almost every large city and town, however you may find the English language a rare commodity in some of the smaller museums but hospitality is often in abundant supply. Andy

Eddie has summed it up quite nicely but if you end up in Poznan the freight traffic bypasses the main station through the Franowo area of town where there is also a depot and freight yard. Despite it being near a large retail park, once away from the shops the area can be a little intimidating. You could get a tram out to Poznan Starolenka. The tram terminus here is around 200yds from the station. (please buy a ticket first and don't forget to validate in the tram. there are on the spot fines for not doing so. This applies to across the country.) You should be able to pick up freight traffic on the bypass there. Alternatively you could go out to Szamotuly on the main line towards Szczecin which sees its fair share of freight. Like most railways though there are long periods on nothing happening followed by a burst of activity, so being somewhere near a café is good. I can't recommend highly enough coffee and cake. (Look for a Kawiarnia) A trip out to Wolsztyn will take around an hour from Poznan, cost around £6 - £8 return There you will find the remains of several steam locos and some working examples in the shed. I think they now run one service a day to Leszno steam hauled. It will cost 10zl (£2) to go round the depot but you do have an almost free reign to go where you want. A s Eddie said, Gdansk is an interesting area and there is plenty to see (not all railway related) along with neighbouring port of Gdinia and the beach resort of Sopot. (Mind you the Baltic may be a bit chilly in April) Oh and despite some significant investment, Polish trains are not necessarily the fastest, and information is sometimes lacking but there is a fair chance of loco haulage (either EU / EP 07 (developed from the EU06 from English Electric) or EP09) and proper compartments. Have fun. I might even see you there. Andy

Buying RTR stock is probably how most of us started in this hobby and by and large have developed skills by education or trial and error along the way. perhaps today's seemingly omnipresent culture of opening boxes rather than making something stems from the other side of the box as it were. All those boxes and their contents are made by companies who want to make money. Now the big boys out there have effectively told us what we want and maybe along the way have seen what is popular in the kit world and have played on the basic human need to own something and the fact that in today's world time is precious and opening a box saves a lot of it. Should we look down on people who open boxes, place contents on track and turn controller? I don't think so. I used to do it and even now still do it, but I have also learnt a lot along the way and eventually most out of the box items get some form of treatment to make them unique if not exactly rare in terms of the base model. . One also has to consider the march of technology in all this too I think. After all we can now with a few clicks have the objects of our desire delivered to our door. Has this created a culture of I want it now and someone will sell it to me, why should I buy a time consuming kit or make my own? After all if we can't buy it RTR now, it is surely only a matter of time before we can. From my own perspective the stuff I have been modelling for a long time has all been a mixture of RTR, fiddling with RTR and making and adapting kits. My latest interest has, by necessity, been a case of opening the box and adding a few details / weathering as there is very little alternative that I know that will match my skill sets and allow me to produce something to standard I am happy with. I know the box opening requires a degree of compromise which sometimes grates with me but what choice do I have given my personal abilities? So yes the culture is changing perhaps a little towards RTR which I put down to good marketing and research and the resulting abundance of available models (Maybe this abundance has created the anything is possible if we ask enough world of the wish list) and also a perceived lack of spare time in the modern world, brought about by technology making it seem we are on the go all the time. For instance I have just used /wasted (delete as required) 50 minutes in front of this PC doing nothing of any major importance. I know there are other things to do that will take up hobby time and now there is less time to do it all in. What price do you put on time? Maybe the price of a wagon, coach or loco in a box Andy ( who really should have gone to bed by now) Andy

I am intrigued by the suggestion of a tax on single use plastics. I wonder how a piece of rolling stock, track or model kit would be classed if this were to happen. Some of my locos are almost the same age as me and I don't see them being recycled soon. Single use they may be, but not a burden on the waste collection industry for some time to come I hope. Roco however, may need to change their packaging for wagons. Andy

I think that for the ultimate exhibition experience there has to be give and take on both sides of any conversation so that both exhibitor and viewer don't get frustrated, distracted or disheartened. There can be no excuse for rudeness on either side. I spent a very enjoyable week-end at Warley with our club's small demo layout which was designed to get people talking and it did exactly that. (We do like to talk and I do apologise if I forced you to talk to me. ) However you can get a poorly timed question on occasion and a polite request to "hold on a moment please " while you try not to ram a loco though the end of the layout has yet to be met with any sort of negative comeback. So yes, talking is great and great fun and I've learnt a lot over the years and I hope I have encouraged and enlightened too, but it can even more rewarding when both sides of the conversation can appreciate that occasionally other things are going on as well and make allowances so that full attention can be given as appropriate. What I do find extremely frustrating is when you are mid conversation and someone comes along who is obviously known to the exhibitor / visitor and suddenly the conversation shifts to how are the kids, the dog or whatever and suddenly you don't exist anymore. This happens a lot more than you would think. Perhaps I'm just boring .. Andy Andy

It always amazes me that every year the same old "look how expensive an annual season ticket is" story in the press. Yes the numbers look eye watering and are certainly a stretch to pay out in one go What doesn't get mentioned ( and I'm thinking of the BBC's £5000 commuter club story here) is that if you live in Milton Keynes and commute to London and work around 240 days a year the cost works out at around £20 per day. Add in that travel will probably be peak time in either direction, the chance to use it on your days off for social purposes and the actual cost compared to a walk up fare doesn't look too bad. So although the headline cost is horrendous and may explain the reduction in sales (after all who has £5k swilling around?) , the over all value is not so. What is more galling is that the increase in price is pegged to something so reliant on huge number of unpredictable factors as is RPI rather than something more stable and perhaps predictable or even just a flat rate allowable increase. Andy

Most of what we waste can have a practical modelling purpose. may I suggest the following: Plasticard off cuts, especially those this strips, fill a model skip. Sprue: use to brace the inside of kit built vans or as a packer under a wagon load. can even be used to strengthen and brace buildings Plastic cotton buds. Remove cotton wool ends and you have a section 9 inch diameter pipe for a wagon load or yard scene. Old knife blades: scrap loads and piles (be careful though) With a little thought most things can be re-purposed. Andy

It is interesting that if this is to be installed by 2020 on freight locos, then presumably the same will apply to passenger trains too, or at least not be too far behind. One then has to wonder why such a lot is being spent replacing lineside signals with err.. lineside signals that, if the logic follows, only have an intended life cycle of around 5 years. Andy (Still cynical)

Gordon In a simple terms this new system will do away with lineside signals and replace them with a display in the cab. This means that trains can run closer together as some technical magic occurs and the system knows where all the trains are, how far apart they are and what is a safe distance between them allowing for their different braking characteristics etc. and can advise on safe maximum speeds for each train given the location and speed of others around it. Andy

Interesting how it will make freight trains safer. Are freight trains falling off the rails on a daily basis due being signalled by coloured lights at the side of the track?. Whilst this looks good on paper, did no-one ask about all the passenger trains that use the railway? Are they going to have the same technology fitted? This has all the hallmarks of creating a political good news story when the reality, in terms of delivery timescales, will be a lot more disappointing. Andy (being cynical)

I was talking geographically rather than administratively about the ends, but nonetheless, problems when they do occur can cause massive delays and all we can do is sit back and try and make the best of it. I have waited in the tunnel for 2 hours before whilst a problem was resolved ( I think this was due to a mass trespass in France) but that just meant more nap time disturbed only by the very angry Frenchman in the car in front who gave any passing member of staff an earful. The one thing that is really missing are some better facilities in the loading areas. Toilets OK, but if you are going to spend two or more hours waiting there when it all goes pear shaped, surely some access to food and drink would be a good idea. Even if it was just a mobile unit that could brought round when needed. Lord knows what you do if you have small children to entertain. All we were given as an option when we had to wait it out there was to return to the terminal and then have to go through security again (which was the cause of the delay in the first place) The fact that the whole thing works as well as it does 24 hours a day, not to mention the freight and Eurostar services that use the tunnel as well , is quite remarkable really. Andy

I've found in my experience that things go pretty well with Eurotunnel. Only had one really annoying experience when we were bumped off a 2320hrs and had to spend two hours at loading waiting for the 0120hrs even though we had got there whilst loading was in progress according to the screens despite the 40 minutes to get through security. Seems they had been bumping people all day because of delays due to heightened French security checks (after the terrorist attack in Brussells the day before ) that we had expected and allowed for but Eurotunnel had not by not calling people from the terminal earlier. An e mail to customer services resulted in a voucher towards our next crossing being offered. A very fair and reasonable response I thought Our latest trip back from Calais on Friday night was a bit chaotic and the gallic shrug was put to use a couple of times. We arrived 3 hours early for our crossing ( we had allowed some contingency time in the 720 mile trip to Calais which we didn't use entirely) and quite rightly we had to wait for a couple of hours as it was busy . Time for some shut eye. However we were called to loading surprisingly early and ended up with in a queue with people who had just been bumped apparently and eventually ended up on a coach / high vehicle carrier. Lots of headroom and nice wide driveways so no clipping curbs or dodging wing mirrors round toilets. I suspect something had broken down earlier and they were doing their best to shift the backlog. We always use the tunnel now as despite there being a price premium over the ferry, I can get some shut eye despite the air con and announcements, have a comfy seat and you don't generally get kids running round screaming like things possessed. Oh and they are a very reasonable to deal with if you need to change your travel plans. They get a thumbs up from me even if no-one on the ground and facing the public seems to know what's happening when things go wrong. The only thing that really annoys me is the rather bizarre set up at the English end when you leave the terminal and then go through security. The French end is much better organised with security first and then the departure lounge, like an airport. Andy

Jim It may be worth highlighting this if you haven't already so a pre-emptive strike can be arranged. PM me if you want Andy

I have all sorts of stuff from all over. I stopped pre nationalisation era spending many years ago and went all late 80s /early 90s BR. Then I started to take an interest in things a little earlier and so started the very pleasant pastime of recreating (as near as possible) trains seen in photographs. So now I have mid 60s stuff as well. Then just for the hell of it a modern coal train (class 66 and HTAs?) because I saw them out of the window every day. My recent adventure into European HO I have deliberately confined to post 2006 for very sound financial reasons, although the odd one gets through if it is SM42 shaped. (Can't think why). You could say I fall between two stools here. Yes I buy things that go together in a train, but not necessarily trains that go together and I also buy trains that go together too. Still it's fun Andy

Well I'm back home and fed and watered and now relaxing. Feet ache but at least standing all day Saturday seems to have made my bad back better. So yay!! I didn't see much of the show as usual, but what I did I thought was excellent and I only managed to spend £6 (Mrs SM42 says Yay!) I had a great time and met a lot of interesting people who stopped to gaze and were then accosted by some bloke in green who was loitering around our stand trying to get people to talk to him.. If you did stop and chat, all I can say it was a pleasure. Best comment was from someone who "just popped in to see if you people were real." Needless to say we are and he was quite astonished at how big the hobby is. A big thank you the Warley team. Andy

Can I just add to the positive feedback. I consider Wakefield to be one of the must see shows and have been a regular visitor for around 15 years now and thought the standard and mix of layouts this year was by far one of the best yet. We visited on Friday night and even the trek up the M1 went without a hitch. All in all a fine evening was had and the rest of the weekend was then free to indulge Mrs SM42's various wishlist items. ​Well done and thank you to the exhibition team. ​See you next year. ​Andy

Can I put a shortbread order in for stand B87 Phil? If anyone is passing do stop and say hello. (There may not be shortbread of any description though) Andy