S.A.C Martin

You have my sympathies chap - life long Addick here, felt the same way after Millwall thumped us 4-0 a few weeks ago...! The race for the league one 2nd spot is hotting up though - any one of 6 teams could still get it mathematically...!

You never know...give it a few weeks and you might change your mind about that

I just wonder - with some resignation - is he going to be one of the top English strikers in a world cup AGAIN and get left behind in favour of Defoe (lazy)? He's scored a big tally again, and is outgunning Defoe on so many levels. Spurs fans don't know what they're missing, frankly. Redknapp was wrong to sell him on, though I feel he'd have been better served going from Charlton to a club that knows what they're doing - Arsenal maybe On a serious note, Sunderland has been great for him - a very hard working team around him that aren't complete pre-madonnas like some football teams I could mention! In other news - Charlton won 1-0 today against Carlisle - a very end to end game that should have had a least a dozen goals in at one end, and half a dozen the other...!

Off to Charlton VS Carlisle...wish us luck. Just paid my £17 - Come on you reds, up the addicks, and all that! Good luck to all the other teams playing day, have a great bank holiday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8unNDFvBx8 Here's an update I forgot to put up earlier! I have spent some time over the last few months trying to find the original cuts for Episode 1 - sadly the original episode as scripted by myself could not be restored, but I have made for your viewing pleasure, the original Youtube episode as it was intended to be seen - an 11 minute video with no gap in between. Consider this a bit of nostalgia for me and you - the series turns 3 years old on Youtube this year, but in fact, to date of creation, turns 6 years old in September. The difference between the quality of A Great Problem Goes West! and Fowler's Ghost is startling!

What a set of results today!!! Leeds beaten 3-0 by Swindon! Charlton beat MK Dons 1-0 Man Uted beaten by Chelsea 1-2 (Drogba, offside, old story now!) And perhaps the best result of the day - Chris Kamara confusing himself on Sky Sports again with smiles and laughs all round

I'll second that - from a charlton fan. Make England proud!

Thank you TRANMERE ROVERS!!! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM???!!! And thank you too Brentford for holding Millwall at bay... Charlton still in with a chance of winning league one

Can we please have rooney wrapped in some cotton wool before the world cup? And how did that 2-1 by Munich just happen like that? Crazy match...

It had to happen eventually! The British Railway Series: Episode 1 has just registered 100,000 views. It is the first of my videos to hit the six figure numbers, and after three long years, I'm delighted it's got there eventually. Here's to the next 100,000 on Youtube! Thanks to everyone on RMweb and elsewhere for their continued support and encouragement. Simon

Totally agree with that last sentence. The fact so many of the early pioneer diesels slipped the net horrifies me today (although at 22 - hindsight with history being a wonderful thing? I wonder if I'd feel the same way about the class 59s and 66s...) They can't all be saved, although I have always wondered how the LMS twins were never considered for preservation...

I trust you will have to be somewhat more of a luddite if a new Baby Deltic is made then? Jokes aside, the punter will see the steam and be more taken in by the atmosphere of a steam engine than a diesel. I'm not saying its right, or fair - that's simply a fact of preservation. Steam sells while diesels keep things ticking over.

In so much regular timetabled services for preserved railway are concerned - then most likely yes. However - they will not pull in the crowds like Flying Scotsman, City of Truro, Tornado or any of the other high profile steam locomotives. Deltics exempted - their following I think is, unlike the majority of the diesels, not just limited to the enthusiasts in some ways. The general punter is always going to want to see a steam engine over a diesel - it's the visible difference in the steam and diesel engines, the smell of smoke and clouds of furious steam catching the punter's eye than the history behind the thing necessarily. Of course, where narrow gauge steam-outline diesels sit, is another thing entirely...!

I'd better sign up then!!! EDIT: Thanks Garry for the heads up! :icon_thumbsup2:

As one of the many convenators to Tornado, I find this whole debate about details on the model to be bearing on the absolutely ridiculous. If we really are going to be pedantic, the Bachmann model is the wrong height in any event - scaled down the Tornado model is 13ft 2in above the rails when it should be 13ft. The roof profile is incorrect as are the placings of the safety valves, the chimney is too tall, as is the banjo dome, and the list goes on... When this was first announced, Bachmann stated that there would be discrepancies as the real locomotive does have a lot of detail differences to the originals. This was a compromise on the fact that before Tornado's completion, no one was really sure of whether or not she'd be as popular as she has proved to be. In order to retool the components of the model you are suggesting, Bachmann would have almost had to tool up an entirely new set of A1 moulds. The only things that would have been able to have been reused, in all likelihood, for a 100% accurate Tornado model would be the deflectors, driving wheels, valve gear, cylinders and sprung buffers. Bear in mind that means everything else requires a new tooling - chassis (as the cartazzi would need new sides), boiler (mountings different, chimney too tall), cab (roof profile wrong), tender frames (no roller bearings), running plate (as mentioned, the centre cylinder cover is slightly different on Tornado), and a new tender top (which Bachmann have made rather beautifully). Considering all of that, you effectively have an entirely new model tooled up, and understandably Bachmann do not want to spend the money on a first release of Tornado that could or could not have sold well, dependent on how the engine was received to the general public (thankfully, rather wonderfully!). I don't think it's fair to openly berate a manufacturer for wanting to give us a decent model of a locomotive many of us have supported with our own time and money over the years. If the covenators and Trust members that run Tornado are happy with it, I feel you really should be yourself! The model has had its livery applied beautifully and had certain small pieces like the whistle tooled up to make the standard Bachmann model closer to being a depiction of Tornado. It does that job tremendously - here's a pic of my much loved model: And here's Tornado: Okay, so the front end doesn't have all the pipes - but again, that would mean tooling up an entirely new running plate! So really, is all of this vitriol as to the accuracy of the model really needed? Why can't we be grateful that Bachmann have made the model and that a certain proportion of the money from the sale of each model goes to the upkeep of an engine we all seem to feel rather passionately about? I will stick my neck out and say - thank you Bachmann - you did a sterling job with minor modifications of making a model of my favourite locomotive. Thank You. EDIT: PS, if you could do one in its original grey, I'd be most grateful. Can't afford the TMC one, you see - most of my money goes to the real thing after all!

It is not a crime to be a dreamer, surely? People seem to be rather scathing of the idea that people are allowed to buy engines in the first place with the hope of preserving/restoring them! Isn't this what preservation was all about, in the early days? Buying it before its gone, and then you'd definitely regret the missed opportunity? Wasn't enough lost like Ben Alder to the scrap man? I just feel, unrealistic or not, who are we to judge the dreamer whose dream it is?

I've noticed quite a few people advocating for the scrapping of some of the ex-Barry engines. Call me a sentimentalist, but they aren't making anymore of them... Are they really causing such a problem to people that they offend? There are countless engines in preservation today that were in various states of decay and somewhat worse than 34073 (249 Squadron), and are now in steam. I don't buy that we have to write off any of them - if they are privately owned and the ultimate dream is to steam them again one day, good luck to them. If we'd all been this cynical in the 1980s, engines like 71000 might not be with us today in steam. Jeremy Hosking has gone on the record saying he will buy 34073 if no one else will or can restore it - at least give him the chance to add it to his stable before we all cry out for the poor engine to be cut up...

So it dawned on me a few weeks ago that with the dissertation writing, any projects I have on the go at present are not going to be finished - or in a few cases started! - until the summer. Then I started to count up the number of projects I have on the go...oh dear. 1. K1 Kitbash - Not Started 2. Stirling Single Kitbash - Not Finished 3. J11 Restoration - Awaiting Chassis 4. D11 Restoration - Not Started 5. 5MT repaint/renumber - Not Finished 6. 2010 Layout Challenge - Not Started ...and to cap it all off, I have the pieces for a V3 that are going to form a seventh project in due course! Overambition is perhaps getting the best of me. However...the Stirling Single is nearing completion. I have drilled out one splasher (photos in due course) and have one more to do, followed by final painting. The J11 simply needs its chassis, boiler backhead, and transfers to arrive and it is finished. The 5MT just requires a tender crest and weathering. The K1...I have all the pieces and am confident this will be my summer project (and my apologies to everyone waiting for some updates there) to be started proper in due course. Then there is a project I have been working on since the old RMweb and have not finished as yet...that makes eight. So many projects, so little time... Until next time!

Firstly, thank you chaps for your suggestions. I think Pommern is the front runner currently Very very thick paint job...doesn't do the model justice. As I have a green model of 60163 Tornado in any event (and it will be only a matter of time before Bachmann release a blue one), I feel this model could be better utilised as another member of its class, in any event. It was my first attempt at airbrushing, and mixing up my own paint - and while it wasn't great, it was a nice first attempt in terms of overall look to the model.

Okay, so in essence I have planned a lot of updates (see last post) but very little has been done. In fact I am still making my way through fixing the posts in this blog which were damaged in the site move (typing has gone wacko in some posts). That said, I am hugely grateful the majority of it is still in one piece, so kudos to Andy and the Mods for a job well done - if the least I have to do is re-type a few words in each article, I am a happy bunny indeed! I have a dissertation due at the end of April, so updates of the pictorial kind may not be forthcoming until after then. I am planning on updating the box of contents to the right, mind, to make it all a little more readable and up to date - I still have the halloween episode as the main pic, for crying out loud! Until next time!

The above model was my first airbrushing attempt, way back in the November of 2008, on the old RMweb. A few comments were made from an Equine member regarding the thickness and I made no attempt to disguise the fact it was a little...thick. Okay, a LOT thick. However that being said, I had done a lot of modifications to the model, and mixed the paint colour myself. Transfers were applied, and I even detailed the cab interior and the tender. It was my first real conversion, first air brushing attempt, first bash in many ways...therefore it was never going to be perfect. I will defend my right to - ah - "ruin" my models as I see fit - and will post up the results for the collective amusement at every given opportunity Suffice to say the people who matter are those who encourage the interest to grow, and the skills to develop regardless of how poor the initial attempts are. I therefore do my modelling, not just for myself, but for people like Max Stafford, The Penguin of Doom, and many others who have helped with their kind and thoughtful comments over the last few years. To those who deride - pah! That said, I have decided that the time has come to strip this model and repaint it entirely. I have a "proper" one after all, and this A1 can of course be restored to another named example. I have not decided on the name/number combination yet, but it will be Brunswick green, and it will also be a Darlington variant (as I removed the rivets to make Tornado!), complete with a late BR crest. Any suggestions suitable for 56C welcome! Until next time - J11 on the finishing straight is the next post - good night!

Thanks atso, That's a pain - two tenders to make up now! Is there a GCR tender which could be fitted to both a D11 and a J11? I wouldn't mind making two kits up of the same tender if I could find the numbers to fit!

I must have got the best of the bunch then - mine's been a sterling performer the last few weeks, no hassles with performance at all. Normal mods as on the other Bachmann A1s would be my suggestion - adding some weight above the driving wheels with some liquid lead might be a good start. Not sure on the tender mind.

One from the old forum...

Totally on the side of Phil Dowd myself, however - and this is a big however... We have seen this given as a straight red card on several occasions this year by other referees. I can recall off the top of my head at least three league one sendings off where the player was hauled down, having already lost the ball, and the referee issued a straight red card. At the very least, Vidic should have received a yellow card for the foul. Pulling a player to the floor as the last defender on the attacker does warrant a card at the very least. I do wonder - if that had been Villa at the other end...the cynic in me says I know the answer already. The timing of the foul was irrelevant, as has been proven in every match except this one: Bristol 2 - 1 Charlton Now, my patience with League One referees is at an all time low. Charlton, who were the inferior team that evening, probably did deserve to lose. However Bristol's Blizzard after just 12 seconds made an absolutely horrendous challenge that should have seen a red card. It was badly timed, with studs up, and clearly with some intent, if not to injure, then to make its mark on the player for the game. Grant Basey was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg (thankfully now shown to be ligament damage, which while putting him out for longer, is more treatable). My question is - why was this challenge only given a yellow when other fouls (not as bad as any means) have seen a red issued? I can only conclude the same logic as Red Devil - you win some...!