johnlambert

I wouldn't want a red one but the Ferrari 400/400i and its related models is a favourite of mine.

Claverdon and (probably) Bearley in Warwickshire. The stations were operated by London Midland but the only stopping trains were operated by Chiltern Railways (and then I think there were only a couple of trains per day that actually stopped).

Me too, Clive, although I'm now so intrigued that I'm probably going to end up watching the program. At least I've found a bit of motivation to do a few jobs on my layout. There's ballast to re-lay and today I plucked up the courage to weather some more of my rolling stock. A 'before' photo of two relatively modern Graham Farish wagons. And the 'after' picture. I know I've 'ruined' them as far as resale value goes (probably) but they look much less like plastic mouldings at least as far as I'm concerned. I also had a go at some fitted stock. No before pictures this time. Departmental stock also received some attention. As has some parcels stock (which might not be dirty enough).

I had to remove a wheelset to fit a Dapol magnetic coupling and I can confirm that the wheels are a tight fit, especially trying to get them back between the bogie frames.

I'd forgotten that it was turbocharged as well.

That's a Panther Six, with a rear-mounted Cadillac V8.

That's right! Described as a 'high-end' model, with a planned arrival of 2020.

It's probably because the Polski version seemed more numerous (no-doubt helped by staying in production long after the original FIAT had been replaced).

Is it a Lada or is it a Polski Fiat? Looks more like the latter to me.

Maybe it's because, until recently, things in Ian Allen were priced at or near manufacturer's RRP? Even though the prices now seem more competitive I still perceive Ian Allen as an expensive place to shop (plus I don't go into Birmingham that often). But it does mean that IA often has stuff that's sold out elsewhere. And, for those in the know, there are bargains to be had.

I would guess Touring of Milan, but it's just a guess.

Interesting discussions on power delivery characteristics and transmission types. As I see it, the engine side of things boils down to the fact that you can use gearing to multiply torque but there's nothing you can do to multiply power. There might be times when a car with a torquey engine might feel more punchy but ultimately an identical model with more power will be faster. You might enjoy the former type of engine more than the latter, you might prefer the improved fuel economy and reduced need to change gear; that's fair enough. I can enjoy a good automatic as much as a good manual, and you can get good results out of either if you know what you're doing. Some of my most memorable drives were in cars with powerful, high-revving cars with delightful, close-ratio manual gearboxes. But I also have fond memories of my 4.0-litre Jaguar XJ6 automatic, not only did that have plenty of low-down torque for lazy driving but it had a power delivery that just seemed to keep on coming, there was no disapointing tailing off of performance as the revs rise. Thanks to the "J-gate" control for the automatic you could almost treat it like a manual if you wanted. When it comes to slippery conditions some automatics have a winter mode that starts in a high gear, I've never tried one so I don't know if they work. I know the Ford C4 automatic would start in second if you put the lever in the "2" position, although that behaviour was a feature of that particular transmission. I fell foul of that when I owned a Ford Granada Ghia Coupe with that transmission; I'd held second gear for some reason, come to a halt and then discovered that the car was unusually sluggish when pulling away. An object lesson in reading the manual before driving the car.

In terms of livery choice, I have to admit the Bachmann ruse worked on me. I do transition era N gauge; when Graham Farish released the Hawksworth coaches in crimson/cream I bought one or two, to flesh out a mixed rake of maroon Mk1s reflecting similar rakes of mkxed liveries and coach types seen in photos. Later, I decided to get some of the GWR chocolate/cream Hawksworth coaches, because you did get trains of mixed stock with pre and post nationalisation liveries. Ultimately I think I bought one of each type of coach in each livery from the production run (SK, CK and BSK plus the BG that is only available in crimson/cream). If the maroon coaches had come out first I'd have bought a set of four maroon coaches and might not have bought as many of the other liveries. So Bachmann has sold me eleven coaches rather than five or six, effectively doubling the number of units sold. Repeat my behaviour across a few hundred, or a thousand modellers and it must add up to a worthwhile business strategy.

Lovely photos, it looks like a wonderful layout with lots of operating potential and tons of detail.

Now it comes to the crunch I'm agonising over whether to have one in British Railways blue or lined green. I'd like a G *crest* W one as well but honestly can't push the budget to three kings.

There were livery samples (very nice they were too) but I didn't take any photos. I think there were LSWR (?) brown, Southern Railway green and British Railways crimson.

I fully agree, Jol. Generally speaking, originality is to be commended in old cars but not where tyres were concerned. The original covers probably weren't great when new and certainly won't have improved with age, even if the tread depth is still technically legal. I think a lot of old car owners fall foul of tyre age as they don't do enough miles to wear out a set of tyres. Given that the tyres are what keep you on the road it seems foolish to compromise or take any chances.

Following the same pattern as the Hawksworth coaches, which suggests maroon will come a year or two later. As a sales strategy I'm afraid it does work, I've bought GWR and crimson/cream Hawksworth coaches that I probably wouldn't own if the maroon ones had arrived first.

Agreed, I have seen a photo of 55003 in blue with small yellow warning panels on the Honeybourne line past Cheltenham. I'm pretty sure it carried the M prefix in the photo (dated 10 July 1967), given the likely dates of repainting and the regional boundary change I can't see that it would have been given a W prefix.

In my case it was to help determine what I've got so I could plan future purchases to fill gaps and to try and build a sensible ratio of locos to other stock. It also means I can plan carriage and wagon working diagrams without having to get everything out. I've got a few working timetables for the area where my layout is based and I can then arrange suitable stock for each of the day's trains if I want to replicate a day's typical operation. Pointless really, as it's just me messing about at home and I could run whatever I like, but it helps provide some structure for playing trains.

I've tried to catalogue my stock, although the list generally lags behind what I've got and it can be difficult to keep track of wagons. According to the catalogue my collection (N gauge) totals 60 locomotives (excluding multiple units) and 240 items of rolling stock split between 113 passenger carriages, 31 non-passenger coaching stock and 96 wagons of various types including brake vans. That gives 4 coaches or wagons for each loco to pull. Not everything in my collection fits the same era but the bulk of what I own represents the Bachmann 'Era 5' period of 1957-66 where 33 locos have 116 items of stock to haul, giving a ratio of roughly 3.5 coaches per loco. I suppose it's a bit loco-centric but it serves my purposes as the rolling stock can be re-formed to represent different workings since I don't have the space to keep a large number of fixed (or semi-fixed) rakes of stock on my layout; maybe one day? I definitely 'need' more wagons for Era 5 as the coaching stock slightly outnumbers wagons; although I'll usually run wagons from earlier eras since that's what happend on the real railway, in which case I can call on roughly 80 wagons versus 50 coaches. In reality I should probably have 800 wagons but even in N gauge I'd struggle to find the space.

I believe that pinching the wires together also turned on the tunnel lighting, which would also assist if you had to evacuate the train.

I was there a couple of weeks ago with my family and we had a lovely day out, including a great meal at the restaurant at High Rocks.

That rear windscreen pillar is distinctive feature of the 1958 General Motors saloon car range. Everything from Chevrolet to Cadillac used the same basic styling but with different twiddly bits to distinguish the different marques. It was also the first year that GM used quad headlamps, federal law having been changed the previous year to allow cars to carry more than two headlamps.

The Jaguar XJS and derivatives (Aston Martin DB7 and first generation XK8) have a right-hand brake. Even more confusingly, this is a 'fly-off' handbrake that returns to the down position once applied.