john new

I think this view is true for many of us, an expectation that before things were implemented they would be trialled and any bugs found at "the doings end of things" would be fixed. That is not the same as resisting change/cut backs, just expecting the changes to be done/managed in a way that works. The paradigm shift occurred during the 1990s. One classic here in rural West Dorset was London thinking at its worst - a new system rolled out where, IIRC, our out-workers had to use mobile phones/Husky* data-loggers to enter in data on-site, it was never going to work as no-one up the line had appreciated coverage was so patchy you had to log stuff on paper and transcribe later. There are still areas local to here were there is no signal. * May not have been mobile phones/Husky's but it was something similar that needed access to a data signal to work.

A bit scathing I feel. I put a pair on a layout for my grandsons last year and they work ok even with 5 and 7 year olds running the trains. Maybe laid loose they are problematic, fixed down they seem to be fine.

At least one survived with legible lettering later than 1952 as I can recall being with my Dad as he was jotting down details in Chandlersford Yard. As I wasn't born until 1952 that would make it late 50s. Dad's sketch books exist but I haven't currently got access to check dates.

Logically if it broke at loading point it wouldn't have left the loading yard as the load would have a potential for falling out through the breakage gap(s). If it broke during unloading surely, pre-WW2, that yard would simply make it safe to run empty and send it back as the repair problem was the owner's not the recipient yard/company. Not something I've looked into although I do remember seeing a few in the 50s with patched in planks. Are there extant photos of empties going back to the home yard with missing/snapped planks or an obvious external bodge fix? EDIT - see Fat Controller's informative answer to this below.

Release day An October morning like any other but that's not actually true alarm gone off as usual tea and coffee made dressing for work today though the bus probably off to the pub later. What will it be like? Will it be stressful? Is this how a prisoner feels? Normality for a while longer who am I kidding. Get through it, keep going No tears, relief, yes feeling that Don't plant the boss whatever you feel Management may be callous Thumping them though not really the answer. The sort of B' word you want to say welling in you, but stifled. It's over, twenty six years gone You can walk away The big door opens You are free! Free to begin again Do what you've always wanted to do Stress free at last, a last look at the door over your shoulder Then back to your mates Off to the pub, a celebration No regrets, just relief So glad, unlike them I can get a bus No walk back to the shackles of a hell hole office Yes, I do feel like a released prisoner The scars may be easier to work off but they're there going deep Management bullying no more Release, freedom, retirement, Thank god I've survived and, unlike my father I'm still healthy enough to enjoy it. - - - - - Re the above. A take on what a supposed good job does for you! Thankfully I've now been retired 10 years and that mojo from 2008 no longer applies. I still work almost full time but as a volunteer, if the stress mounts I can walk away without the fear of getting the sack. NB The above is copyright to me and IS NOT public domain but can be shared/reproduced if not for profit and with me credited as the author.

It had been done, IIRC one reason why what became the S&DJR had the line to Burnham. But that was in the early days and better railways killed off the the cross-Severn trade. After that no decent ports for modern ships on the N Coast and add in the transshipment hassles.

The GWR were looking into electrification for the S West route and there are a few published articles out there covering it. Whether it was done just as a costing exercise to disprove its practicality/cost effectiveness relative to retaining steam, or as a serious intention to build proposal WW2 killed off, I can't remember. If we are talking innovation they introduced the diesel rail cars so were not totally wedded to the concepts of steam. The GWR is not my specialism so regrettably I can't add more on their non-steam endeavours. Was the Swiss gas-turbine a late GWR order or early BR(W)?

As I see it as a retired manager, the GWR's most innovatory piece of thinking was in managing development efficiently. They were well ahead of the BR standards in having a range of properly tested, design interchangeable, standard boilers etc. IIRC they also had new ideas for build techniques, like frame alignment, before other companies copied and adopted the same techniques. Business efficiency when so many of the other companies were making one offs or ploughing on with weak designs. That may not have appeared as innovatory but was for the time..

P2 style BR standard 2-8-2 follow up to the Duke of Gloucester

Agreed re the troughing in the foreground. Summer '66 would have made sense, I got the camera given to me in '62 (2nd hand from my grandfather), by '66 I was 14 so probably being allowed out to train spot by myself. However, given bike2steam's post above, late summer 65 perhaps? Leaves on the trees and the foreground grass gone over to pale stalks appear to rule out the 64/5 winter & spring. There was a regular Saturday morning down Hall turn through Shawford with a syphon on the back. When the trains went over to the Swindon cross-country DMUs the tail load was retained initially. The only regular DMU turn I can recall seeing anywhere with a tail load/swinger. I have no idea what the return balancing turn was, however, as we didn't go down regularly to see it as we did with the morning one.

Not only off the DN&S. Regular ex-GWR locos passing through when I was a kid on inter-regionals. Up to and including Halls IIRC, as with this one I photographed back in the day. Sorry about the quality - Box Brownie - mid-60s. Date and loco number not recorded. Location south of Shawford near The Malms bridge/end of the Allbrook loop. Best ex-GWR cop back in the day - City of Truro. (Facebook Album link was not working earlier, now reloaded on own website)

About half a mile (may be more) round the curve at the north end. Pretty much underneath where the M3 now crosses the line.

Based on my experience garages can be a big problem due to damp and then mould. I have lost all my modelling time this summer as I am finally getting around to attacking the garage so that everything in it (it is my only available storage area) is inside sealable containers. Six old baseboards are having to go to tip today as I forgot to pre-treat them against woodworm before I put them in long term store in the garage. Your call obviously but the time to decide is before you add too much scenery on solid baseboard tops. I do have that option on my drive and from time to time have done so with a test oval on a board set up temporarily on trestles. Perhaps your better approach is to use the that L shaped area for a storage cupboard you can shut to keep spiders etc., out, add a greenhouse heater for combating damp, and have a portable layout you can then get out for a running day, a personal DIY exhibition, then put back into storage. It is going to have to be my solution. I may get something worked out to put up in the spare bedroom BUT if I do it can't be permanent as it will have to be over the bed and be completely removable to external storage in the garage when the family come to stay.

Joining in for first time on this one. Mojo-wise a mixed bag. Inspired by Clive's Sheffield thread to pull stuff out of storage I have made another attack on the garage today, as predicted the old, very long-term stored, baseboards have died. I packed them well enough (they haven't warped) but the woodworm I found in something else has got into them quite severely and I am not going to take a gamble on treatment working. The one sadness, the frame of one of them (Marked A in image) had survived nearly 50 years from my very first proper attempt at a layout. I was hoping to re-use them for an oval OO test track. However, having humped them out onto the drive I don't think that would have been practical anyway, I'd forgotten just how heavy old style 2x1 and 1/2 inch chipboard topped baseboards were. On the positive the O9 layout I got burnt-out building to a show deadline back in 2011, and haven't touched since, looks OK. Will pull that out for a test run in next few days as today's garage tidy is getting the stock boxes for it accessible again. Given I am actively tidying to get down to useable stock and remind myself of what I actually have - on balance a positive modelling mojo currently. EDIT Update: All worthwhile points, and the two spring loaded hinged leg support brackets, now recovered' ready for run to the skips at the dump.

I am sure I have read somewhere the Salisbury smash also halted some of the rivalry. Regarding the post immediately above - One of the rare GW/SW joint lines was the Portland Branch. For a mainline option have a look at what is now just Upwey between Dorchester & Weymouth (Previously named as Upwey Junction later Upwey & Broadwey). Double track main line and the Abbotsbury Branch Junction and a nice set of level differences to challenge scenically and operationally. Also there are prototypical road over bridges and the Bincombe Bridge & Tunnel to give scenic breaks at all three places necessary. For a branch the simplest prototypical option would be Abbotsbury Gates or Rodwell and Easton makes a good layout (All on the Portland Branch). WMRA members did have models of both Rodwell & Easton a few years ago. Rodwell got scrapped when the owner sadly died many years ago now and I think Easton got scrapped a few years back too as I've not seen it recently at any of their open days.

August 1964 according to the caption. Bradford portion of a down train from Kings X to Leeds & Bradford. Waiting re-paint makes sense.

Maroon ends definitely on some of the Thompsons. The photo of the unlined one on p 38 I mentioned above has the maroon end clearly visible. The Thompson coach on the cover is also a possible variation oddity, from the window placement it appears to be a full first corridor. However, it has only one door with a 1 marking and the above window yellow line is only the standard thin one; it has not got the broad yellow line the first class section of a coach should have. Others more expert than me on ex-LNER coaches may have an answer. All a nightmare in the making.

Agree, should have proof read it! (now corrected)

Thanks for the link. Had not come across the site before, lots in there I will be checking out. Will also add a link from the combined links page I/we have for three websites. PS And your Sheffield thread is inspirational.

Looking through the new book Bradford Railways in Colour Vol 2 received for SLS Journal review I have noticed how random the maroon livery on the coaches appears. The cover photo for example has a 3 coach train, 2 x BR MK1s and an ex-LNER Thompson (TSO?), all are lined but only the Mk1 brake (BSK?) has the roundel. On p 38* another corridor Thompson is shown (A brake end) in maroon but appears to have neither lining nor crest, however, on p 24 almost the whole train is formed of maroon Mk1s (no crest) plus one blue/grey Mk1, yet the older ex-LMS brake nearest the camera is in lined maroon with a roundel crest. The majority of the maroon Mk1s visible throughout the book have no roundel crest. Is there a book with guidance on this livery policy issue as I have some old Triang/Hornby Thompsons I want to do some mods to (although I appreciate they still won't be accurate) and then spray maroon? This book confirmed my memory that some survived long enough to run in BR maroon but has raised other questions about the maroon era coach liveries generally. * edited correction to p 38.

Thanks Andrew. Also. having just looked at the World of Railways website, it appears the digital version is only available for annual block purchases not rolling quarterly Direct Debit. Sorry, that makes it a no/no for me as blocks of nearly £45 rather than smaller one's of just under £13 do not help budget planning. You forget all about it then get stung at renewal time and find, if you then want to cancel, it is too late as you've paid up front for another year. (Been hit by that before in other instances) Will possibly switch if the existing option for quarterly payments is introduced for digital too but for now I will be sticking with the paper edition.

Several of the points (double slip?) from BOCM et al were, IIRC, retrieved and reused on the NYMR. Sorry I can't be more specific but a very long time now since I was a York Area Group NYMR member (Moved out of area for work) so no one to check memories with.

And even when they leave to get married there is still stuff left behind.

Having seen the digital trial version I am considering a swap from my current auto-renewing paper copy subscription to digital - if yes would I be are classed as a new subscriber? I am assuming not, but the follow up question then is, presumably no minimum on-going commitment other than continuing to permit the quarterly direct debits.

Don't all Editors wish we could? (SLS Journal Editor) NB Edited to make the point about digital advantages.