PatB

Oil lit too, or, rather, unlit, as the line's management were concerned about the fire risk. Must have been super inviting on a Northumberland winter evening/morning.

Sometimes it's worth looking at the dodgy paint jobs more closely. Although not railway, I'm expecting to receive, tomorrow, a horrifically painted Scalextric BRM P160 that cost a minimal amount because they're so commonplace in the usual green or white. However, from a careful inspection of the photos, I think it's the much less common (I won't say R@RE) red version under the paint. Not that it's actually valuable, as it's also a bit battered but, if I'm right and can get the paint off, it might be an interesting piece.

Those bogies look an awful lot like the inside of the tender drive as well. As for where the wheels came from, I wondered about a small, rod drive diesel, if such a thing existed, from their European range.

Well, too difficult to make go round 14" radius curves anyway. Although a Mainline Peak from 20 years later will just about do it, albeit not happily.

I'm not sure about the Deltic bogie, but I've looked at a couple of King tender drives, which are, essentially, a 6 wheeled motor bogie. I was surprised to find that the outer wheelsets (the driven ones) had crank throws moulded in, and so were clearly common with something else, as, obviously, a tender drive wouldn't need them. Unless someone was planning to release a Sturrock steam tender, anyway.

In itself something of an achievement for a racing driver of the era.

I wonder if Triang's better provision of intermediate sized tender locos (3F, B12, L1 etc) was a small factor in their success. Perhaps not so much in the pure toy market, but for those building a 6x4 main line, as depicted in 60 Plans, they'd fit the space (and, probably, the budget) rather better than a Pacific.

Back in about 85 or 86 I watched a heavily laden, then 10ish year old Mini Clubman reverse vigorously out of a parking space and collide, equally vigorously, with a bollard. Once the driver had inspected the large, V-shaped indentation in the back of his car, and sworn a bit, he drove off, leaving a humorously Mini shaped deposit consisting of an astonishingly large quantity of filler and crumbly rust, which had been dislodged by the impact. Honestly, you could have filled a dustbin with it. I'm amazed there was any car left to hold the subframes together.

But they did. It's not Meccano Ltd's fault that BR insisted on building their replicas with too many doors and window bays.

When I first came to WA in 1996, from the perpetually soggy UK, I found myself staggered by how profligate Perth was with water, considering its situation on the edge of a continent that is, effectively, a huge desert. Things have changed a bit in the intervening years, but there are still plenty who whinge about the slightest restriction on their "right" to dispose of 10s of thousands of litres to no real benefit to anyone.

The Australian rollout has definitely been hampered by clots, and not all of them from the AZ vaccine.

Not to mention unfortunate gangsters. Or was that a purely north-eastern thing .

Which rather suggests that Elizondo has a bit of a vested interest in keeping the whole gravy train rolling.

I used to have a not dissimilar shot of my maternal grandparents. I'm pretty sure I've still got it, but it's "somewhere". Probably next to the photos I know I have of my paternal grandparents, father and aunt aboard the much more imposing outfit that my grandfather had c1950. A V-twin Matchless Model X with almost double adult sidecar (it was built to contain my grandmother and aunt, neither of whom were large), the body of which was built in the front bedroom of No 2 High Jobs Hill, Crook, and extracted via the window. More prosaically, stuff like this would have been common in those pre-Mini days. I know the Busmar ad is 1960s, but I'm pretty sure that egg shaped design had been around for a decade by then, though possibly with larger, spoked wheel.

ISTR finding that the few remaining ones are listed structures.

Many things were done in Queensland in the 70s that probably should be left there .

Not to mention a set of sidings apparently divulging straight onto a running line. Totally unrealistic.

Well his rather frequent visits seemed quite well received, to the extent that I started to wonder if we'd be continuing the Australian tradition of being a convenient hiding place for members of the British aristocracy too embarrassing to keep at home.

On 50s Road vehicles in general, something often neglected on layouts (presumably due to a dearth of rtp models, is the utilitarian sidecar outfit. I'm aware it's possible to get AA/RAC combos, but the window cleaner's "float" or the massive, double adult saloon used as family transport, both attached to some wheezy sidevalve workhorse would have been relatively common. Given that the aforementioned AA outfits will provide a ready made BSA M21 "tug", and a sidecar chassis, much of the modelling work is already done. 1950s sidecar bodies, being made largely of plywood (oh yes they were; contrary to what the classic bike world would have us believe, elegant torpedo shaped Steibs were a rarity) , would not be a challenging scratchbuild in styrene sheet.

Ah, but you'd need to open it up to everyone with the British monarch as head of state, and the Aussies seem to rather like him, which might even things up a bit.

Nothing that can't be sorted out by traditional means. Or, in this day and age, perhaps by reality TV show, if we really want to give all that messy fratricide business a miss.

Speaking of which, has anyone noticed that we have an ageing monarch, a rather unpopular heir to the throne, followed in line by two estranged brothers, one of whom is living in exile and attempting to build a following? And we've not had a decent war of succession for centuries. If the media play it right it'll be a licence to print money for decades.

I'd guess because it covers models as well.

Finding out that an actress, who you considered an attractive older woman when you were 17, died 3 years ago at the age of 78.

Given that dining trains operate successfully and profitably elsewhere, I think we can safely assume that difficulties with the WSR operation are WSR specific rather than due to the inherent challenges and limitations of operating dining trains.