roythebus

Reminds me of a conversation with a friend from Finland; I asked him if he spoke German. Yes, achtung Spitfeuer arghh was his reply. I learn it from English war comics. Meanwhile, back on thread, Pete Waterman on BBC Breakfast this morning, absolutely brilliant. The other side, ranting loonies; the chap from Rail magazine was shot down by Waterman too! Achtung Waterman aarghh. Waterman for transport minister? As for the report from Ashford, the usual uninformed biased crap we've come to expect.BBC Kent no better either. HS1 "underused capacity". Have they not heard of DB's intention to run to St.Pancras or the other proposals to run commuter services Lille to Ashford? My reservations against HS2, not enough, not far enough, and too long time scale to build it. As for the loony who said the WCML can increase capacity by a third, what planet does he live on?

How does the Heljan compare with the Lima model?

Remember there's an SECR utility van fully restored on the KESR known as the Cavell Van.

If ever anyone removes the false walls from the Northern city line stations they'll find a treasure trove of LT signs and posters from 1976behind them. I wish I'd had a decent camera in those days!

Oh no he wasn't; oh yes he was... Don't forget the ECS DMUs from Bletchley to Aylersbury at about 0430 every morning in the mid-70's. The Bletchley brickliners ran via the WCML; One was a Rugby turn, empty from Crewe to Bletchley with 2x25s. a couple of times I worked Bletchley-Kings Cross goods with a Bletchley driver. In the early 70's there was no freight via the Met to Aylesbury that I know of. You might ask on the District Dave Underground site for more info, they're quite friendly on there.

Seeing that clerestory coach a few threads up, reminds me of a set of similar coaches I saw in a cupboard when I worked at the Kings Cross shop in about 1967; from memory there were 4 of them, but to HO scale. whether they were Exley or Kings Cross build I don't know.

Andy C says " Whilst the decision is to be applauded the cynic in me cant help feeling a tad suspicious about this. For a start funding is mainly dependant on getting pensions schemes to invest in Infrastructure rather than the quicker and often more lucrative wins of the bond market. Now would someone who has a stake in a private pension be happy about that? worth thinking about, they haven't invested in this sector before, why would they now?" ISTR a big Canadian pension company buying HS1 recently. No-one said anything about the investment being limited to UK pension companies! In my view, UK railways and probably most railways are a big market for growth and will probably provide a good return on investment over a period of time.

The KESR nearly lost a brake van the other week after a pway turn. luckily the guard on the evening pullman saw the glow from the brake van floor, stopped the pullman and put the smouldering floorboards out. The pway guard had used the stove during the day, put it out in the manner prescribed in the rule book,but the floor got rather hot during the day! Another one, when i was a 2nd man at rugby in 1974, there was a guard Brian B, had a big garden layout, very keen but a bit on the slow side. We put the train away in the down goods yard and he asked the driver how to put the fire out in the stove. the driver, a Brummie called Jackie Jones, said, (engage Brummie accent) "aar, use some of the water from the tail lamps"..which Brian did, and set fire to the 20T brake van!! Wipeout.

On my most recent working layout, I used a mix of Peco code 75 and Tillig. It worked after a fashion but in my eyes it wasn't satisfactory so the whole lot got ripped up and replaced with SMP/Exactoscale/C&L/Templot in 00 fine-scale; same track plan! Tillig looks good, yes the point sleepers are at an angle. According to Templot, a lot of UK points WERE built this way, it's just that we've been so used to seeing the train set track over the years that we know no different. I had a bit of trouble with the Tillig single and double slips, they are rather fine on the blade clearances and the curves on them are tight, but that may be down to my stock! Also, as others have said, the switch tie bars are a bit delicate. I replaced some of mine with pcb strip. but, with the choice, I'd go for Tillig. I might re-use my stock of Tillig if ever I build another German layout.

Hmm, I beg to differ. My tongue was not THAT firmly in my cheek when I made my original post..

I hate the Leyland Nationals and all derivatives of them. Horrible nasty things, made of corrugated iron, like those French vans that look like an Anderson shelter on wheels, designed to replace the wife to take goods to market. An interesting vehicle otherwise, and probably worthy of preservation if it doesn't rust away in the meantime! Modelling conversion using EFE buses and a Mk1 underframe anyone?

Looks good but the route number box doesn't look right. I don't remember them with an external frame; this may have been a later mod, but then driving them, I only usually saw the inside of the route number box! Also, not enough dead flies on the front...

According to the bus press (RouteOne) the busway is already open. I suspect towing a dead bus off there will probably take about an hour unless they have the recovery truck on standby at all the junctions. the hitching up is the easy bit. What happens if the bus has no air, is unable to build up air from an external source and therefore the parking brake won't release? Being a bus engineer these days I could carry on with a lot of other ifsanbuts. Flat tyre? wheel bearing failure? Suspension failure? Fire?

Peter Parascandalo worked in SW control (emphasis on CONtrol). He's a signalman on the KESR. One of his sons was sadly killed in a motorbike accident in Hitchin a couple of years ago. He used to run the Croydon Tramlink website. I suspect we are talking about the same family here. Also, congrats on the superb layout. sorry to p in your fire, but we done it in 1980 with New Annington. With working 4 aspect colour lights which changed in sequence, were interlocked with the points; a working half barrier crossing with sound; overhead using mainly Sommerfeld and a load of home-made stuff,and hand-built track. Oh, and an entry/exit push button panel for the hidden loops. I just found the article on the original New Annington in a railway book from about 1988, pre-electrification. Things have progresses since then, even the stock, and the electrics. But seriously, well done.

I'd rather switch switches than keep pressing buttons to work something, it's far quicker. But that's going a bit off topice and was subject of another thread!!

I can vouch for the management of the L&B, a number of them have been in the preservation movement a long time at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. They seem to have migrated via the WHR, helping to lay track there as well! Glad you had a good day out.

There's usually an update of the Cambridge (mis)guided busway in RouteOne magazine, available online. I don't have a link to hand, but your search engine will find it. How about the Millenium Doom guided busway? Designed to pass the buses so close they knocked the mirrors off as they passed..more millions wasted on THAT project!

ISTR the DB hold the steam record for this century, being the first to break the 100mph/160km/h barrier quite a while ago.

I used to have a number of these sort of wagons back in the mid 1960's with the same underframe. I never did find out what make they were! i suppose for their time they were super detailed!

Remember steam hauled station stops were longer because the loco needed to take water. As for average speeds, wot Stationmaster says; my Range Rover has an average speed gizmo on the computer. I drive from Calais to Liege on cruise control at 90odd mph. Computer says average is 42mph. On the K&ESR, times are extended because the guard sometimes has to open and close crossing gates as well as a loco stop for water in each direction. The maximum a small tank loco can go without a water stop is about 15 miles.

Perhaps THE most unusual was reported by a pal who was a driver at Koeln Deutz. He was working an international train from Koeln to Hanover. just outside Hanover on the home signal the train engine failed, class 103 IIRC, and was dragged into the station by one of those tiny 4 wheeled KoF shunters! He was also a test driver at Bw Opladen for a few years testing the first series ICE. They were usually dragged in by a variety of locos when they failed on test runs.

Geoff Packham was the other chap who worked there building locos. The directors at the time were AG "Tommy" Thomas, he of private Owner wagon books fame, who used to run a model shop in Exeter and used to regale stories "when I was in Iceland" in WW2 and "you can't get anything out of K's, they're making plastic bingo cards"; Alan Beeston, an accountant, AMS Pickering who used to do the etched nameplates, and Viscount Garnock, then owner of Green Arrow. Loco painting was contracted out to Alan Brackenborough in Gloucestershire. There was never enough money to buy stock or pay the wages when I was there. It was only when EAMES bought the business that things looked up again. Sadly the business closed when Ted Morris died. Tony Dyer of Kemilway worked there with Ted for a while. The only product I have left of theirs is a 6 wheel LNER parcels van which I built using plasticard sides with their roof!

I worked at Kings Cross models in 1968-69 and the shop was still producing wooden bodied coach kits when I left. some were designed and hand built by a chap called Simon Kelly. his products usually carry a cast SMK plate underneath. The sides were stamped out on a fly press in the basement of the shop. the same fly press was used to produce the Kingsway scale track system chairs and fishplates, claimed to be the first scale track system produced. The rail was the forerunner of today's SMP etc bullhead rail. Other full time model makers there were Mike Shepard and a chap named Geoff whose surname I forget, both of whom produced some superb models. mike made the first patters for my GS Models bus range, and went on to work with Sutherland Models. The shop at the time was run by the late A.G.Thomas, of PO Wagon books fame, and formerly of Exeter Models. The shop was founded by Keith Dann who was tragically killed in a road accident near his home at Biggleswade in about 1967. The management of the shop when I was there left a lot to be desired and it was underfunded. It was taken over by Ted Morris of Eames of Reading in about 1971.

Being in the bus industry, the bus operators are even more sceptical of guided busways. The capital cost of the additional equipment is horrendous, and lowers the resale value of the vehicles once they're past their first sell-by date. It also lowers even further the fuel economy of such vehicles as all the equipment uses more electricity which it turn has to be generated by the bus' diesel engine.

Ah yes, the wonderful dome guided busway, another complete waste of taxpayers money. I worked, eventually, but it was designed that when the buses passed each other, they would knock their wing mirrors off, a very useful aid to driving buses! You can read a lot more about the Cambridge guided busway in RouteOne bus trade magazine available online too. Even the bus industry is sceptical about the idea and concept of them.