john new

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.

You raised a perfectly valid debating point in the OP, no need to apologise.

Make it a contemporary, heritage line, add a few rusty/tarp covered wrecks in the "long siding" (which every preserved line seems to have) and go back to enjoying your modelling life. That way you can even run something modern on a gala day weekend if the mood takes your fancy or a mate brings something round for an exchange visit.

IIRC Walkers had stopped that before I left York in 1986, however, although I can't remember exactly my memory of when is that it wasn't that long before I left. Their barge was the Reklaw. They worked the Ouse and lower part of the Foss.

Using J K Rowling inspired ideology (as opposed to conspiracy theory) the Confundus charm cast on the film crew made them use a location shown variously in North Yorkshire and the West of Scotland so that the muggle railway fraternity would have no true idea of where Hogwarts is. Similar Confundus charm activity would/did account for the Highland River Class debacle too.

I am fairly sure I have read somewhere a comment (But now can't remember where, or even if it was from A1SLT official/accidental info' leak or mere speculation) that alignment of a bore was a discovered issue. If that is the case, as I alluded to in my earlier post, there will be behind the scenes issues that could be prejudiced by open forum discussions. Only a personal view but I can't understand the fuss over this, there have been fatal railway accidents since before the Battle of Waterloo (the boiler explosion of 1815 at Newbottle IIRC); lessons get learned and life moves on, but incrementally more safely. At some point in the future we may find out more than has been already released and this is already quite a lot more than I expected. However, surely it won't be the end of the world if we, as mere enthusiasts, don't ever find out who was to blame (if it is down to human error) provided those responsible for safety know the full what and why and there are appropriate safeguards put in place.

Cloak and dagger or prudence given in due course there may be commercial compensation negotiations, or worse, litigation? As with the aeroplane bolt mentioned above - you say it did (it didn't) they take you to court, if it did then you, at the very least, seek compensation. All that is best done in private, personally I'm happy with having been told what broke, and the news on progress. If it turned out that It was simply fitter X put the wrong ring in/misread a micrometer, or designer Y miscalculated, internal procedures will change to prevent a repeat; do we really need those individuals publically vilified? The crucial bit after any error by any team/individual doing anything is that those involved learn so repeats are mitigated and if sharing findings with others will avoid it happening again it gets spread. That is valid for something simple like getting a cup of tea made the way you like it (leaf or bag, bag or milk first : sugar/sweetener/neither) and increases in validity the more important or risky the process.

Although this image will still be in the next SLS Journal with a request for info' there is a clue in the top enlargement of the two - is the round blob some form of local DIY tender light, perhaps for aiding coaling in some extra murky corner of a shed somewhere? if yes the conduit could be power running up from a battery or DIY dynamo slung underneath the tender.

it meets the ooomegoolie bird, a species in which the males, due to the absence of legs, rarely land!

Following on from my earlier post in this thread I now have a Hornby Hogwarts Castle but it is currently in the works for attention having failed its FTR exam. (Tender drawbar fault see this thread). Given my current workload it is unlikely to be fixed in time to work the school special extra Kings X-Hogsmead working on 2nd September (Hogwart's students arrive on the first Sunday in September). The current stand-by, and favourite to work the train is getting a repaint back to LMS maroon for disguise purposes - 5690 Leander. (In reality the only other red liveried engine in my collection)

Thank you all. Now have a good idea of where to start with fettling it.

Back to the main topic, as I am not going to get drawn into an argument on quality and standards - we will have to agree to differ it has all been debated many times by many people as you can see from the digital v paper BRM thread! This is the tender link in question and thanks for your tip Rob The spade connectors shove into slot A and you can clearly see from the box polystyrene it isn't that the Y end should have been a closed O and a permanently coupled pair. Not yet had time to dismantle anything to see if the copper spade actually carries power from some form of wheel pick-ups but there appear to be brass or copper connectors for it to connect to inside that tender slot. (If no current carried as built I may add tender pickups anyway). There are obvious fixes, some simple, some more complicated, for example the simplest is a home made drawbar with loop on each end, then remove that centre upright and glue a block of wood painted black in where the spaces are behind A - that then gives several options using a screw or vertical rod to fix both the drawbar issue and hold the tender top on. A wired connection to the tender would look like the water and other connections so no real issue there either. I just wondered if anyone had any ideas on using it as is without the wheelbarrowing tender problem. For example would a white-metal fireman on the tender (or even just a lead fishing weight glued inside behind the tender front) weight the front down and fix the issue by compressing the springing effect or will that just raise the rear wheels instead? Why I asked the question is - someone will already have overcome this issue.

Interesting observations above. I love the skill that's gone into Pendon and would love to emulate that quality, if not that setting. However, I know if it was my layout I was building to those standards I would be bored with it as a concept, and wanting to move on to something new, long before it was finished. I would far rather have some thing to operate, even with minimalist scenery, than their accuracy. Mind you from looking at theatre sets regularly (my wife is a Stage Manager) it is clear that attempting a style of very simplistic/minimalist scenery that will work in a model railway context, is not the same thing as just having crude/badly done full scenics. The first done well will look right with the brain filling in all the right gaps, the second will never look anything other than crap scenery. Your 100_4991a.jpg a case in point, a bit of dull matt in the right colour for road paint, possibly some ballast, and maybe some minimal greenery and you have a yard. It is pretty convincing as it is with just the buffers. For a station (which that is) not much more than adding platforms is needed to set a scene.

Was just about to look at the copy of that photo' you sent me and which is going into our next SLS Journal Trevor as when I page set it this afternoon I didn't notice the bent cab . Saved me one job but given me a heads up for a caption addition! PS (An update) This question is now being asked of SLS Members via our Journal 913 which will reach members in mid-September. Any answers received via J913 will be posted here and the converse (if RMWebbers solve it first) will be added as snippet in our subsequent J914. Still an analogue print magazine so there will be some delay.

Interesting update. Having searched on YouTube to see of anyone had recorded a quick fix for this problem the servicing video I found for a Hogwarts Castle shows a (presumably) later version with its drawbar fixed in at both ends. However, the one I have looks like it must have come supplied as a separated loco & tender - reason I say that is because it is in an original Hornby Hogwarts set box and had the two items been supplied connected the linked combo' could not have fitted into the formed styrene inner! I don't know enough though to categorically state it isn't a box recycled with appropriate replacement contents added by someone to make it look as though everything inside was from the original set with only the track mat missing!