woodenhead

I can agree with that, at least before 1981 if you were crawling behind a lorry you might see a train go by. But in the dark with rain it can only be likened to that scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles where he falls asleep and the two HGVs are coming towards them and they go though the middle.

What's Sheffield got that Manchester hasn't - apart from a lot of model shops Re-opening Woodhead for a marginal time saving so the people of Manchester can visit Meadowhall, yep I can buy that as it means less cars to the Trafford Centre and more parking spaces for me.

Opening to St Marylebone would also be a non starter - too slow and duplicating other routes and not even thinking about the Great Central Railways a lot of the route will have been lost - they are wiping it off the map in Leicester. There was a plan to use bits of the GC route including Woodhead for a freight line from Europe to Liverpool but it never got off the ground, probably too early to have caught the new railway optimism, suffering the high access charges to the Chunnel and too much pressure from NIMBYs/road lobbyists/road freight companies to get any support. High Speed 2 will put paid to any more routes into London from the North and it would not be able to compete with ECML, MML or WCML services and it would need to take custom off all three to have any chance. When the WCML was being rebuilt for the Pendolinos there was a service between Manchester Piccadilly and St Pancras, it was a slow pondering service, unless it was built as a high speed line any new line taking the old GC route out of Sheffield to London would be similar and not popular.

The actual line serves nothing in terms of population, I don't see it happening, it will be cheaper to add to the existing route than re-build something that didn't go to Sheffield Midland which means new chords not to mention renovating the old tunnels so that the National Grid can put the cabling back there and out of the 1954 tunnel. Maybe it shouldn't have closed but re-opening just because some of the trains between Manchester and Sheffield get full is not a good enough reason. Once Standedge gets wired reopening will become even more remote.

Can see where you get your inspiration from - another simple but very effective railway modeller. Doesn't he want to join RMWeb.

That's why I was asking, I didn't think you'd scoped another WCML type layout - still 6 coaches is a cross country type rake which would be right for the Oxford Road corridor - perhaps you could swap traction in the station electric to diesel.

How many coaches can you manage on the Virgin MK2s in the fiddleyard? The layout certainly looks a lot bigger than it actually is, how do you manage that? I remember the layout before Ring Road which was a similar feat of making a small layout look big.

Nah, it's Terry Nutkins

Is this chap also the wrong side of the fence?

Actually I've discovered the truth about this, it's actually a Heljan O gauge Class 22, it's still at pre-production hence the missing doors (which will open not be open on the model). Unfortunately it has the Tubby Duff syndrome but the guys at Bressingham are hopeful that Heljan will listen to reason and re-work the CADs

Looks like they have also used the secret shrinking ray to be able to store them in car garages. No wonder it was so difficult to find the reserve, we were looking in old railway tunnels when the MOD had shrunk them and put them into lockups.

And my plan is to get some really cheap coal and fire her up at the MHR by the side of the side of that guy's house in Alresford who's been complaining about all the smoke.

Kak by name........

Manned aircraft still make up the majority but armed drones have been around since the Balkans and are becoming ever more useful, look up the MQ9 Reaper - it drops all sorts and is also armed with air to air missiles. The US and British Airforces operate armed Reapers as do the CIA - hours of loiter to wait for that elusive terrorist and no worry about captured pilots should an airframe fail or get shot down.

Current UAVs are nothing special, we don't/won't know what else has been developed in America for some time as they will be black projects, but here is a taster of what the British are looking at: http://www.baesystems.com/Taranis/ Some American words on the topic: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/20071026.aspx http://www.slashgear.com/the-air-force-is-aiming-for-pilot-less-next-generation-fighter-planes-08112911/ The pilotless drones are developing fast, I can see why Europe wouldn't want the expense of developing a proper 5th generation fighter because by the time it took to the skies it would be out of date. As an example of why we wouldn't know about technologies being developed - the F117 Stealth Fighter was conceived in 1975, first flew in 1981, went operational in 1983 but only became public knowledge in 1988 - 13 years after the project was conceived, there could be weapons being tested in Afghanistan that we won't see for years.

The question is why this is being developed at a time when the Americans (and British) are entering into 6th generation pilotless prototypes. It seems to me the only reason Russia is developing this is because India is pushing/paying for it and there will be an export market to those who the Americans cannot sell stealth aircraft to. Stealth aircraft are attack aircraft, you need them to penetrate high threat environments protected by missile sites, the ability to dogfight is nice I suppose but that is so WW2. If your enemy is able to get so close that you are in a dogfight then the Stealth cannot be that effective. India only perceives a threat from one country, it's neighbour Pakistan, why do they want 200 aircraft capable of penetrating highly protected airspace, do they sense a collapse in the political regime, do they feel a need to be able to take out certain assets and is there perhaps a secret paymaster somewhere circumventing it's own laws to ensure certain technologies stay out of the wrong hands.

VC is also a very accomplished Poker player -

There's a psychology to this, whilst the rioting is concentrated on property the police will likely stand back if they are not available in overwhelming numbers as the situation could turn violent against the person. What no-one wants is for people to begin to get hurt on either side as it will up the stakes and lead to recrimination. It's heartbreaking to see what is happening but it will end and peace will return, the police will get order back and if they can do it without anyone getting injured or worse then that has to be the best outcome. Property can be replaced, people cant.

It sends out a message if soldiers are deployed in riot situations - that civilians cannot control the situation. This is a new style of activity so the police need to learn tactics to deal, they might start behind the curve but eventually they will get on top of this and will learn for the future.

Meeting violence with greater violence only escalates a problem and causes longer term resentment. The police need to control the situation and they will eventually do so, bringing in the army, rubber bullets et al is not the answer.

The store is just a shop front with limited stock, the majority is held in a warehouse somewhere else in Liverpool. But like so many of the affected businesses, it will be the sole traders who suffer the most, Debenhams whilst great for putting on the TV can re-stock and re-open if they choose, but for sole traders it's their livelihoods going up in smoke and they might not be able (or want) to recover from this. Then there are the people who are losing their personal property as well, a lot wont have insurance and if they do it will rocket next year and you cannot replace some personal items. This no longer, if it ever had, anything to do with a police incident, personally I think there is a political element stirring this up with disaffected youths who want to see this 'anarchy' and watching Ken Livingstone use this as an opportunity to sell himself to the London electorate and link this with the riots in the 80s had me seething.

Spread to Liverpool - Smithdown Road. I wouldn't want to be living near any commercial districts in the main cities at the moment.

Set numbers stopped being shown on front ends in B/G livery. Here are a couple of shots from the 125 group and neither have set numbers on the front: http://www.125group....=display&pid=13 Some more here, showing power car numbers on the front: http://www.railfaneu...HST/BR/pix.html Don't understand the livery question either as it looks OK to me against prototype.

Down the pub, it's not really a drinking sport like Football or Rugby is it. "Come on Lewis, come on Lewis, YEESSSSSSSSSS Overtake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "The track marshall's a w****r" or "Who wore all his tyres, who wore all his tyres, you bad driver, you bad driver, who wore all his tyres" Just not the same.

I disagree, the BBC has to justify everything it does and strive for quality programming whereas the likes of Sky have to generate cash via advertising or subscription, don't confuse quality with glitz and flash - most of my TV viewing comes from BBC or Channel 4 both of whom have public service obligations being state owned. Sky is all about pzazz, the content is there because you pay for it and if it wants more the price goes up, no control over that price it's complete free market, throw in phones and broadband and the consumer is hooked in and will find it very difficult to get out despite the creeping cost and new toys they hadn't actually asked for but were told they really had to have to keep up with the Jones' next door. You tell me one thing about 3D television that wasn't driven by commercial strategies to get more cash out of us through buying new TVs, peripherals and paying more for content. Football would have found a way to survive without Sky, but once it took the dollar it will never be able to live without it.