Rob F

Steady, if unspectacular start to the season for the mighty Reds so far. Still unbeaten at least. Not enjoying Derby’s start at all, I’m sure young Frank really is a football genius.......

This is a tricky one for me. I generally get much more irritated by people trying to dictate what shouldn’t be posted than I do by those who post what may be considered irrelevant material. A particular bugbear of mine is people who regularly opine that a particular thread should be locked, usually for no other reason than that they disagree with many of the points being made. This has got me in trouble with the moderators in the past but I am difficult to offend and I think the most interesting discussions are those where people hold different views and are prepared to defend them, rather than those where there is an easy consensus and everybody agrees with everybody else! But I digress, I think Rob has good photo editing skills and clearly enjoys what he does. Is it always relevant to the thread? Probably not. Do some people enjoy seeing them? Yes. Does it do any harm? Absolutely not. If you don’t want to look at Rob’s work that is absolutely fine but I don’t see the point in trying to make a big issue of it.

Down here again and noticed that the St Ives branch is now CWR from St Erth as far as the curve out onto the dunes above Porth Kidney Sands. I have been coming down here all my life and though it is smoother and quieter it just doesn’t seem right! Anyone know if there are any immediate plans to do the remainder of the line?

My dad worked for BR in Furlong House in Nottingham and when I was growing up in the early 70s a 47 was a “Brush” and a 45 was a “Sulzer”. Strange isn’t it?!

If only Nottingham trains still turned right instead of going straight on...… Rob

It certainly did in the 1980s and 90s from certain ‘specialist’ video shops!

I hope the pantograph head position is just an issue with this example. It would be a real shame if they all look like this as otherwise it looks to be a really good model. Rob

I agree, it does look excellent. Maybe it was just the lighting in the video but there are some quite heavy prismatic effects going on with the windscreen. I assume in normal lighting conditions these will not be so noticeable? Rob

Looks like a 20 to me. Rob

When was the bridge seen in C3768, from the high level lines to the down side yard taken out of use? Rob

Nottingham Midland has to be one of the best examples of a large building on a bridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottingham_station#/media/File:Nottingham_Midland_Station,_Nottingham_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1578413.jpg Rob

The driving cars are trailers and carry the transformer and associated gubbins for 25kV operation. The intermediate cars on a 5 coach set have diesel engines and are motored on all axles. When running on 25kV, this supplies the power to the traction motors on the centre cars. 9 coach sets also have 2 intermediate trailers, without traction motors or diesel engines. Rob

This seems to be the case with many tunnels, particularly shallower ones. If you look on the NLS maps site, there is often a delineated strip of land directly above the tunnel. Examples are: Catesby tunnel on the GCR: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=52.2150&lon=-1.2208&layers=168&b=1 Clayton tunnel on the GNR Queensbury lines: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=53.7772&lon=-1.8265&layers=168&b=1 Peascliffe Tunnel on the ECML: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=52.9461&lon=-0.6466&layers=168&b=1 Rob

C3390, the famed 'Deltic + 8' which Roger Ford still uses as the yardstick for train performance in his Modern Railways column. Rob

Centurion will always be 50011 to me. Rob

Even tilting is problematic if we are after fidelity to the prototype. On the real train, the tilt is speed related. If you are bumbling through a crossover at 20mph the real APT would not tilt. On a model, the degree of tilt is (I believe but stand prepared to be corrected) purely linked to the amount of rotation of the bogies so the train will tilt to the same degree regardless of speed, which does look slightly odd at shunting speeds. It is a compromise that has be accepted I think. Either the train behaves prototypically at high speed or at low speed (tilt or no tilt), but it is very difficult to have both. Rob Rob

The front unit appears to be running on diesel (pan down) and the rear on electric (pan up). Is this common? Rob

I am not sure this is entirely fair on Gerald. A high spec, expensive model will have lots of separately applied parts and maybe intricate livery applications to attempt to justify the price, but the basic standard that any model must strive to attain is that it LOOKS right. Aside from the intricacies, a mark 3 coach is basically a slab sided box with 8 big holes in the side, therefore those holes should look like the ones on the real thing. I agree wholeheartedly that apart from this, the rest of the model looks fine, particularly at the price point it is being offered at, but it is such a shame that such a major part of the visuals of the coach seem to be amiss. It is even sadder that the flaw is through adding something that is not there, rather than missing something that is. Rob

Sadly, I think you are correct. The window surrounds look far too pronounced on the Oxford model and painting them silver may serve to make them look worse. I expect it is too late to do anything about this now? Rob

C6149 was the bridge where I did a lot of my spotting 'in my youth' and it brings back lots of happy memories. My nephew and I would cycle over there from West Bridgford for the day during the summer holidays. I have a few pictures taken from there in my own, now moribund, photo thread at: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/76319-photographs-from-the-80s-and-maybe-slightly-later/?p=1163589 I have lots more pictures I could add, but due to my forum status I am unable to reply to queries and questions in a timely manner so to avoid appearing rude I think it is best to let it lie. Love your photos and the next update is always a high point in the day. Keep it up and thanks! Rob

Even with a 100% record, I still managed to miss it! Was staying in St Ives and had a trip planned to Calstock on August 5th using the loco hauled train to get from St Erth to Plymouth. Sadly the St Ives train sat down somewhere near Lelant, I'm told, and by the time it arrived in St Ives the VegEx had already left St Erth. Much muttering and a day on the beach instead. EMT, whose website we bought the tickets through, provided a full refund without any quibble. Rob

The power to weight ratio would be worse though as the 73 will weigh considerably more. Rob

Heavy freight is interesting, though. There was talk a while ago about some of the output from the Mountsorrel quarries coming out this way to avoid having to cross the MML fast lines. I wonder if the bridge is designed with this in mind? Rob

I would definitely buy one of those. Rob

But not an unsolvable problem, I would have thought. Rob