john new

Not seen one of those Rail Painters before (just looked them up). Interesting cross between a felt tip pen and a Bingo card blobber.

From practical experience recently I am finding the modern small t/ls don’t like Settrack curves. The older large ones are better.

The LSWR used double slips in goods yards. The main line station I grew up near, Shawford, had one as an example. I also know that there was one in one of the yards at Barlby, near Selby, as it got recycled onto the NYMR back in the ‘70s. IIRC York Area group got that one shifted; someone on here will no doubt have a plan showing if it was ex-mainline or from always private sidings. (BOCM?)

Any particular reason for doing it that way round? I think I would have done the rail painting first so with your greater experience than mine on producing quality scenic work I am genuinely curious.

The very deadly one after WW1 spread very rapidly. IIRC it got into and then spread in a camp where they were mustering people for transport home, was inadequately dealt with and was therefore shipped home with the returning troops. Despite knowledge in the USA they still held mass victory parades spreading it faster and further into the resident population. It got labelled Spanish Flu but I seem to also recall that was a political/news media publicity thing and not a direct connection to Spain as the origin. I guess the reverse applies today, the west doesn’t want to upset relations with China, so Chinese (Flu?) is not the media headline name but instead the less contentious COVID-19 is being used.

My past management experience suggests it is exactly what it says. The PLC had within their remit the necessary rights to directly operate the railway; therefore an asset of the PLC. This was a logical situation separating business operating risks from the historical side, and all hunky-dory until something goes wrong and the PLC fails financially. (Not commenting on that issue). If the Trust want to continue to run they had to buy those railway running rights from the Administrator who's job it is to try and get money for the disposable assets in order to try to satisfy the creditors. Edit - however @phil-b259 in his reply typed whilst I was typing this suggests the statutory rights were not with the PLC; therefore perhaps it was some other form of operating agreement. Whatever it was though the implication is it had to be bought by the Trust in order to secure running rights, or to cancel/buy out a contract that some other entity might also have bought. All in all though it appears good news so we don't need to know the exact why and wherefore, just be pleased it has been achieved.

I agree Hattons cancelled, so not the same as just a delay, but it was already 7 months from my placing the order and Hornby are still quoting a minimum of another 3 months on their own website. If it does ever turn up I will get one if possible but I’m not hopeful.

At the risk of going off topic it is not just the model trade that are delaying items. An e-book I have on Kindle pre-order was, IIRC, initially due out in March, two delay dates given and not met during April (the 2nd one was for today) and it is now again delayed for a release on 5th May. Turbulent times and not only physical products getting delayed although with e-books it is possible the e-releases are being delayed so as to marry up with physical copies being available. [printed overseas - container stuck in transit on a ship?]

I have mentioned my father before in this thread, exactly that situation. Weakened for life by teenage illness (TB), caught influenza, had a fatal heart attack whilst in hospital due to the flu.

Like the 2 blue and 1 green unit formation.

The idea of an international pan-border super league has merits, think Welsh clubs in the Uk playing in the English league and Berwick Rangers in the Scottish as an example. What was wrong with this proposal was/is in the detail, a closed shop for greed, taking the worst aspect of the English PL’s £ grab principle adding in the worst of the US Grid iron franchises and expecting fans to like it. They didn’t learn from Kerry Packer’s cricket experiment. A personal view is it will happen one day, hopefully sensibly run by UEFA, but only when someone buys out the nationalistic Blazer types. Unfortunately money talks, so the closed shop idea will keep getting revived. Even in the UK blazers, cash worries and jingoism prevails, it is why the Scottish league is not integrated into a UK wide soccer pyramid despite at times Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen having teams good enough to have been successful in it.

An issue made worse by modern small tension lock couplings, buffer locking replaced by hook swing creating derailments due to the small loops.

At least three lines, have been mentioned. My cancellation was one of the small Rustons, DVTs and the new Thompson Pacific’s W1 also mentioned in posts above. Are there more types cancelled?

Don't forget the orange lichen. Not sure about Tophill but on many a roof down here in Underhill, also the ubiquitous white splatting.

It would take me ages to find the requisite slides, however, from memory they were at one time four wheelers, cream with red, and the bogie tankers were a later update. Capstan haulage at the Furzebroke end. LPG not oil, IIRC the oil became a piped flow. (Edit - in fact oil first then LPG - see a later post). update - see links - 4 wheelers - from Flickr not my photo And website with the bogie versions. http://www.malcolm-smith.com/railways/working/sector/bulk/oil/furzebrook.html

Whilst that makes sense didn’t many trains stop and dither about with adding pilot locomotives over the Devon banks anyway. Not a great knowledge of the ex-GWR but IIRC also complicated by always adding the pilot locomotive inside between the train engine and the train. if you are stopping anyway to do things with the traction one off/one on and away would be as quick or quicker even if the traction type was dissimilar. Given new express passenger locos were built roughly in a timeline parallel to the electrification proposal (Castles and Counties) did the report cover the cost of not building as many of them as electrics would be doing the job.

I have probably posted this before, quick and simple distancers (are they barriers?) can be made from dowel, rope and the cone shaped springs that go behind doors. Springy, and not going to injure anyone, but DO make sure the public end has a bigger blob on it so that it is unlikely to damage a child’s eye. Upright post and rope distancers are available commercially too like you see in banks etc., , possibly look more professional, but take up more space in the car/van. I got the idea from a layout the Gravetts were showing back in the 1980s so don’t claim the idea. They take up very little space to pack and if you get to an exhibition without barriers you have then ready to fit. The obvious proviso is when you submit your layout depth you quote two figures, (1) total depth required if show does not have barriers and (2) if hall is barriered.

Poltergeists. I have (somewhere) a blue 0-4-0 Hornby Barclay shunter. Has not resurfaced in several recent searches through the stock boxes when seeking other items. Other stuff (mine and SWMBOs) goes missing/reappears regularly.

The above is exactly why feasibility studies get commissioned and also highlights why consultants sometimes get criticised because the delivered report is not acted upon, therefore seen as a waste of money. It is all about who really wants an answer and how they frame the question to get the answer they want. It was why I phrased a post earlier the way I did. When the spec' was written who decided that building in every possible route mile was what they wanted a price for? That brings in questions like (1) was whoever wrote the details deliberately attempting to show retaining steam was cheaper overall (Say a CME team wedded in steam), (2) was it the Board being naively simplistic because they didn't truly understand what they were asking of the consultant or (3) they did know what they were asking for and genuinely wanted to see if it was financially possible. On the ECML a decision was made that comfort and speed (The steam flyers) were a better investment than the German high speed diesel units but someone had to do that assessment.

Curious. Was that the full train i.e. as it arrived/left KX or only the Bradford portion after splitting or pre-attachment? (IIRC at Wakefield?)

The principle of a manufacturer only selling direct is not the issue, it appeared initially that either the retailer has knowingly oversold their allocations (statements from DToS kill that idea) or the manufacture has shifted the goalposts and raised their end of the pitch! The snag with ordering direct from Hornby is they don't do value added extras like fitting a DCC chip. Yes, I could do it myself, but easier to buy in.

Yesterday a bit of a walk down part of the Easton & Church Hope's route down the Island's east side. My photo from roughly where this one (See Pinterest) was taken from. The original bridge over the cutting long ago demolished and part of the cutting filled in. Today's, 2nd image, shows the levels and inclines on the Merchant's Railway. I am on the upper level from the 1870s, which runs in a U shape and goes over the the middle bridge over the incline in the centre of the picture (the other two are roads). It then had a shorter incline running under the right hand of the skyline bridges. The original line is below me, also U shaped and the red car is on its' alignment. (also part walked today).

In general I am feeling Ok and the sun and walks are helping. Unfortunately not so as far as my railway activities are concerned, sadly my motivation has gone and I feel rather as a football manager must feel with their team bottom of the league by umpteen points, only two or three matches left in the season and the sack looming.

Back in the 1970s I worked in Tadcaster, there was (still is?) a public lane running through the Sam Smith’s brewery and they always had skips down there. Their workers would be about. A colleague and I occasionally walked down from our office in our lunch breaks (we were nothing to do with the Brewery) with a clip board and stood by the skip pointing and making notes to alleviate a bit of boredom; wound the Brewery workers up a treat. Looking back I guess we shouldn’t have pranked them but what the heck.

Not just the W1 & DVT, my cancelled order was for the DVLR Jim, a 2020 announcement already months late, now cancelled by the retailer but still on Hornby's site as available. Desirable, but not essential, so I will save cash and not bother re-ordering - outcome both manufacturer and retailer are losing out. I might still buy one later in the year when they actually arrive but not on a pre-order. My experiences of pre-orders so far:- Hattons - 4 orders one delivered but months late (their Class 66), the second (Jim) now cancelled, the third (Oxford P3) months overdue and still waiting. The fourth is Hornby's announced Rowntrees livery shunter - who knows when if ever that will arrive! TMC - Their G5, way overdue, still not under construction, but at least project progress news gets released occasionally. Rails - Hardwicke and KOYLI - awaiting news on whether they will/won't be issued roughly on time. You can see why, as I posted earlier in the thread, I have lost faith in the whole current system for getting newly announced items by pre-order, it lacks credibility.