roythebus

I remember passing the ABC shop a couple of times but never went in there.

Eastbourne is another one. Trains from Ashford to Brighton go in, driver changes ends, then train goes back out the same way to take the opposite route a bit further along. Aldershot, some trains do Waterloo-Ascot-Aldershot then reverse to go to Guildford. "across the branch" it's known as.

when the Lima DMUs were first introduced in the early 1980w e ran several on the MRC's New Annington ;ayout. This used hand-built track using code 75 BH rail on PCB sleepers. We had a problem with running qualities on the Lima stuff. The problem was found to be not the motors but the pizza cutter flanges. They were riding on the sleepers and ballast and breaking contact. Mid-way through a show John Jesson took one home, turned the flanges down to BRMSB size and the running improved 500%. This could be why Lima stuff stutters on points, the flanges ride up on the plastic bits in the frogs and break contact. Give it a try.

Priority always had to be loco water. It would be bad practice to do station work then draw forward for water, it would be dangerous to people boarding and waste a lot of time.

The one from Butlitz came back off holiday and is now on holiday on the Isle of Wight. Some went to Scotland according to a Terrier thread on a railway staff page on FB, others went abroad during WW1, one is in Canada. I think there was 1 in stock on the SNCB after WW2.

The IWSR is currently building a replica Drewry tram and trailer using as many parts from what survived of the last tram as possible which , unfortunately, is not very much! Details on their website and in the current copy of their Newsletter.

Yes but not very often at the end of their lives. I only ever worked 1 into Broad Street during my short time at KX as a secondman. They did however go as far out as Cambridge. but from memory there were only 56 coaches allocated to the GN so that meant 9 6 car trains and a couple of spare coaches.

I use the national rail site to get an idea of the best fares, then go to the local booking office to buy the tickets, the clerk there usually knows the cheaper option. For instance Ashford (Kent) to the Isle of Wight, via HS2, Northern Line, Waterloo, Portsmouth then ferry, takes about 3hr 45, cost about £78. return Same journey but not via HS2 was about £68 return and was marginally quicker. Same journey, but via all stations to Hastings via the DMU Marsh Line to Brighton, change to the west coast line to Havant, then SWT to Portsmouth Harbour, then ferry was £56 and was quicker than going via HS1. However, when I asked the train conductor what the return fare was from Ashford to Ryde it was about £54. Ashford to Portsmouth Harbour, it was an amazing £22 return! I had an idea the ferry was £24 return, so I saved quite a bit on the £54 through ticket! The scenery was a bit more interesting round the coast as well. I reckon £22 for what was a 200 mile train journey was quite good value, and that was without using my senior railcard.

I had this problem on the BR standard tank. what i done was to carefully melt the tail of a no 19 coupler with a soldering iron and make it an S shape. I've found the Kadee plastic sticks far better with a soldering iron than any sort of glue I've tried. As for buying expensive Kadee pliers, ordinary round-nose pliers are just as good. I'd also suggest buying a coupler height gauge, that way you can check not only the couple for correct height but the tail as well. For magnets, the Folkestone club uses 2 small round magnets mounted diagonally between the rails for uncouplers, much cheaper than the Kadee magnets.

Try flight case fittings.

A lot of coaches and all buses used on rail replacement have to be wheelchair accessible, so that is no longer a valid reason. :)

Ships have funnels, locomotives have chimneys! to quote the late AG Thomas who used to run the model shop at Kings Cross in the late 1960's.

A related question, which way round do the three point gauges go? With the single centre bit inside or outside the curve?

Network Rail site says depart Ewell West to Clapham Junction, CJ to Woking, bus to Basingstoke, train to Salisbury, journey time 2hr 40 minutes. Single fare £24.60. I didn't bother looking up other fare options. The bus is allowed 1 hr Woking-Basingstoke including transfer times. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/details?outboundJourneyId=2&outboundFareId=10025&outboundResponseId=4&isOutboundJourneySelected=true

DO NOT use the trainline. I'm on a couple of FB railway staff closed groups and all I ever read about trainline is bad comments to put it mildly. Personally I prefer the Network Rail/National Rail website, it's far more useful and usually accurate. And they don't charge commission for fares booked online. It's not always as simple as just sending trains via "somewhere"; drivers need appropriate route knowledge as do guards/conductors. Paths may not be available via Havant especially with the Southern and various cross-country services sharing the railway from Havant. Extra mileage means extra stock, is stock available? Are staff available? In my experience passengers are NOT treated "like cattle". Modern coaches are usually better fitted out than the trains they replace. Gone are the days of any old school bus available will do for railway replacement. Such services are a good advertisement for the coach industry. Buses are used on TfL and LUL services because it's what TfL/LUL spcify, dual door buses, wheelchair accessible and to the latest Euro-whatever emissions spec. They are not always as comfortable as trains, but most are from what I've read on modern rolling stock! Having been a train driver in the past I can speak from experience. I now drive rail replacement buses usually on TfL services, but have done joint service with coaches covering the longer distance journeys outside the TfL area. I don't recall seeing many coaches that were more than 10 years old; any that were not up to spec were sent away by the duty controllers. Over the last year I've been involved with more than 6 months providing buses for the massive GE closure from Liverpool street to Shenfield and beyond. I didn't hear many passenger complaints at all either about the buses I was driving and controlling or the parallel coach services. We had 25 buses doing Newbury Park-Shenfield locals, there were up to 150 coaches on the services going as far as Colchester and Southend. The only problems were traffic delays.

When talking about what they may or may not collide with on the island, remember there's still a loco somewhere for engineers' trains and some fairly heavy hopper wagons around. Two units meeting at approaching speeds of 30mph still gives a collision speed of 60mph. On the District the only place D stock would be likely to meet a road vehicle is either in a depot or if something falls on the track somewhere. There's been mention on a FB group of an incident when a Bakerloo train was hit up the rear by a ballast train at Neasden back in the 1980s. the ballast driver was under instruction and the train was not fitted with continuous brake. The ballast driver sadly died. Fortunately collisions on the underground are fairly rare so crashworthiness is not tested that often.

I'd suggest you look at the Brinton Report, he seems to have covered all aspects of this.

Yes there is a need for the reinforced cab as they have to be tested and proved on the national network.

33/0 and 33/1 can work in multiple with each other using the low lever jumpers. 33/0 can only work in multiple with other locos having the blue star. 33/1 can work in multiple with post-SUB EMU/TC stock and can be driven from any position in the train or with any blue star loco using low level jumpers.

D stock is already passed to run on the national network if you think about it. East Putney-Wimbledon, Gunnersbury-Richmond.

It's not "new" stock if it was built in 1978.

If I may refer my learned friends back to the aforementioned Brinton Report, i'm sure Mark Brinton's later report discussed the use of D stock on the Island. Track realignment would be required at the Esplanade end of the tunnel and in the tunnel, but it was reckoned top clearances would be ok if I remember correctly. I can't see platforms being a problem width wise as they weren't altered when tube stock was introduced. There might be some track lowering through platforms to make wheelchair access easier. Track was raised in places to take this into account. and in case anyone missed the earlier news, the IWSR has pulled out of discussions with the TOC regarding steam into Ryde. https://www.iwsteamrailway.co.uk/news/ryde-st-johns-road-latest-news-363.aspx

Never say never, but not for a few years.

As above, but for additional security solder a bit of scrap brass shim or wire underneath to hold them securely in place.

Deltics don't do super slow speed. Except when coupling up. Just fast or faster. I speak from personal experience on them.