Tony Wright

I'm told it's scheduled to be renumbered. Perhaps I should take cr@p pictures, with nothing legible. Just a thought.............................

Thanks Andrew, Both the A4s you mention are built from Pro-Scale kits, and I think they're the best of the lot, too. I actually can't count, because I've got another A4 I've built, a Wills body on a scratch-built chassis, which, with Ian Rathbone's painting, doesn't look too bad. Why I keep the Golden Age one, I don't know, except that it's MERLIN. I've also found two Hornby ones (which never get used). I'll take pictures of those tomorrow. I'm with you with regard to liking the Peppercorn Pacifics (particularly the A1s), but, as a trainspotter, nothing beat the shrieks of 'Streak! Streak!' as an A4 came into view. Happy days.

But you were never a steam-age trainspotter, Tim. To understand the mentality (not that you need to, necessarily) of the breed, it was the collecting of numbers which was vital (could this be some sort of condition?). I've related this tale before, but my brother and I were standing for half an hour or so on Babworth Bridge, just north of Retford, after a family day out by car in the summer holidays of 1958. A filthy dirty WD was simmering away on the Down loop, waiting for a path. What must have been four or five Pacific-hauled expresses went by (none of them cops - that is a loco never seen before) before the clanking 'Aussie' set off, revealing itself to be the sole namer in the class, 90732 VULCAN. Forget that the Pacifics were clean, and on prestige duties, VULCAN was a cop, and the subject of great jubilation. It had a number on the front, a number on each cabside (and a wee name on each cabside). Once seen, it was hoped that an individual loco would never be seen again, with cries of 'Scrap it!' if it did reappear at some future date, no matter how important it might be. Which numbers would one take on a Blue Pullman? The power cars? Hardly, because although they provided motive power, they weren't locomotives, so not worthy of noting. Perhaps the hobby should really be called loco-spotting, for nobody I knew collected carriage numbers, and certainly not DMU numbers, which, strictly-speaking, the Blue Pullmans were (though I did write down the Pullman car names/numbers in the ECML loco-hauled sets). Despite their perceived 'elegance', they were hardly the greatest of successes. Those rich enough to have travelled in traditional, loco-hauled Pullman cars must have been very disappointed with the dreadful ride experienced in the new Pullman units. Indeed, I've read that posh passengers travelling between Birmingham and London rather preferred the service if the BP had broken down and a Western plus old-fashioned Pullman cars was substituted. Though I don't know whether David Jenkinson ever travelled in a Blue Pullman, he once told me that returning to Leeds from London via the 'Yorkshire Pullman' he insisted he be seated in one of the brake cars (the old-fashioned, slab-sided type, running on 10' HD bogies) because he thought that the ride in the Mk.1 cars was poor in comparison. It would seem to me that, in the case of the Blue Pullmans, it's handsome doesn't.

What an interesting creation, Al; thanks for showing it. Unlike you, I remember the prototypes (the MR ones, at least). I saw the sets (in the original livery) at the likes of Manchester Central, through the Peaks and at Derby. I must admit, I paid them not the slightest attention, treating them (dare I say it?) in the way I treated DMUs; with disdain, despite their 'Pullman' status. No, real Pullmans were proper cars, hauled by proper locos (and I include the likes of the Deltics in this). Speaking of Deltics (or the line they ran on); I remember reading in the contemporary press of the trialing of a Blue Pullman on the ECML (from Kings Cross to the West Riding?). Those that know far more of these things than I do might comment, but I believe it wasn't followed up because the units weren't fast enough (90 mph maximum?). This was at a time when stretches of the ECML were being upgraded for 100 mph running (thanks to those great EE Type 5s) and, if a signal check were encountered, they couldn't recover enough. Great modelling, though.

Tim, You are indeed allowed (sorry for the corrective pedantry, though, please, say it aloud) to state that things need to be understood. There is a great deal of differences between your use of the phrase and the 'you need to understand', approach, which, in my opinion, was patronising and even rude (though, because I'm so thick-skinned, I don't really mind what folk suggest I do - in jest, in the main, I hope). I think your post sums up the current situation perfectly. In a way, what we have now is a kind of 'cause and effect'. Only last weekend I was talking with folk about how good the RTR models are these days, in all scales and gauges. If the sort of RTR stuff prevalent in my formative years (toy-like, though very robust) were offered for sale today, it would be hooted out of court. Stuff, the like of which was sold to parents for their children or used as no more than starting-points by determined modellers - how many D16s were created from the original Tri-ang B12 I wonder, or even B12s themselves? My observations, based at attending shows over the last twelve months seem to be.......... A drop off in overall numbers attending. An increasing age-profile (generally, though more-so at the 'specialist' events). An increase in enquiries from what a good friend calls the 'gentleman modeller'. Enquiries asking would I build this or that, and how much would it cost? Though not via a show, I've just been asked about building a pair of A2/2s in early BR condition from a chap who saw them at that time. These 'modellers' are (almost without exception) late middle-aged, 'cash and time rich', but skill poor. I'm not being critical of them in this respect (I earned a crust from them in the past), but, because of the 'laws of time', they're not going to be in a 'majority' for further decades. It would seem that they're taking advantage of what's available RTR now, and why not? I'm sure the RTR manufacturers know their current market very well - in the past it was to the parents/relatives of kids, now it's mainly to adults (who might be parents, but they're buying it for themselves). Where they struggle is obtaining the likes of the A2/2 I've just mentioned; then they have to ask the kit-builder. Some even ask others to alter their RTR items for them, and there seems to be a growing market (and growing prices) for this sort of service, if the ads or stands at exhibitions are to be believed. If this keeps the hobby growing, then good (though, I admit, it's not for me). An increase (and this is great) in the number of younger modellers (in their teens and twenties) asking me to show them how to do things - soldering and kit-construction; that sort of thing. One young man (16 I think) asked all about building plastic wagon kits (hardly my speciality) at the Glasgow Show last year. I took him to the Parkside Dundas stand, he was offered advice (great proprietors), bought what was suggested and away he went. How refreshing; somebody, not an old git like me, who wanted to make things for themselves. An increase in the number of younger blokes (never younger women!) showing me examples of the new technologies. Fantastic stuff, though they might just as well explain the principles of physics to anthropoid apes for all the understanding they get back from me. But that doesn't matter - I can photograph it and put it before editors' eyes, and some of the results will be seen soon in BRM. This really is exciting and positive for the future. An increase (and it's increasing) in the number of items I'm asked to find new homes for on behalf of bereaved families. Is this happening with greater regularity than I recall in the past? Much of it is kit-built or scratch-built (though I wouldn't know what to do with vintage tinplate/toy stuff, anyway). Regards, Tony.

A most-interesting post, Chris. My thanks for putting it on this thread. It's probably true that the hobby is not as dead/doomed as many are predicting (including me, I suppose), though I think it's safe to say that there are some facts which (like all facts) are irrefutable. These include....... The increasing age of participants in the hobby. Of course, we all age, but, as a way of providing empirical evidence, just see how many shows now offer a concessionary (lower) entrance fee for OAPs? Time was when this was automatic. I've mentioned this before, but 'on the door' at the York Show three or so years ago (the first time concessions based on age were dropped?), judging by the number of (older) folk who enquired about a lower price, age-related concessions would have been far the largest number of tickets. Though hardly empirical, have a look around at shows and see which age-profile appears to be the largest; not just visitors, but exhibitors, demonstrators and traders. Granted, there are always those who return to the hobby after 'life' got in the way - career, marriage, mortgage, children, divorce(?), poverty and so on and so, but are there as many as there once were? The hobby is certainly not as popular among the young as it was in my day. All my mates as kids had train sets, and every birthday/Christmas the request would be something for the railway. When I asked the son of our local pub's owner (he'd be about 12 at the time, the son, not the owner!) what would he think if his dad bought him a train set for Christmas, he looked at me with incredulity. Yet, he lives adjacent to the ECML, and hasn't the slightest interest in railways - not one bit. Not surprisingly(?) all the blokes of my age in the village I know, who grew up here in the '50s-early'60s were trainspotters (what a place to grow up then!). One even showed me is crumbling Ian Allan abc from the period. Yes, there's Thomas, which is popular with the very young, but it's cool to like Thomas when you're in single figures, but how many graduate to more realistic railway modelling as they get older? This discussion keeps on reoccurring, and it's happened before with regard to 'doom & gloom' (wasn't Scalextric the 'killer' at one time?). What cannot be denied are the exciting developments with regard to the new technologies (which, I admit, I'll never understand). It's been my privilege to have been shown some and to be invited to photograph some brilliant 2mm examples of 3D printing. What's also encouraging is that these new methods are not just the work of the young. As for me, and I've said this before; I have more (traditional) kits to make than I have years left to make them, and as long as I have electricity and raw materials, I'm all right Jack! This great hobby still has plenty of life left in it!

Though scheduled to appear at the Show as a demonstrator/loco doctor over the weekend, may I please apologise for my absence? As related on Wright Writes, my wife has not been well this week and it would be unwise, and certainly not right, to leave her. I hope the show is the great success it deserves to be. Regards, Tony Wright

Andy, Many thanks for your analysis and plottings (not plotting against me, I hasten to add!) Most of my thoughts have been contradicted (with good reason) and since, being rather dim at hard sums (I taught art), I struggle to understand anything mathematically-complex. As (I hope) I mentioned, I have little empirical evidence for my 'findings', only anecdotal evidence. The major RTR manufacturers still tell me that their best sellers are BR steam/green diesel transition period. In helping Heljan with the development of the firm's O2s, I mentioned that it was likely that the BR versions with either the earlier BR totem or the later BR crest would be the best sellers (which, I think, they were). The most 'left-on-the-shelf' seemed to be the final LNER ones or those with 'British Railways' in full on the tender (though, I admit, my evidence is only anecdotal - I don't have access to the figures). It's interesting that when (some) new RTR carriages are brought out, what one might assume to be the most-popular livery for them (BR maroon?) is often the last to be supplied. Bachmann's 'Porthole' stock (now to be available in maroon) and the latest Thompsons spring to mind (introduced in carmine/cream and soon to be available in ersatz teak, but not yet in maroon). I know when the highly-successful BR Mk.1s were introduced by Bachmann (what a Godsend to us trainspotter modellers), they came out first (if I recall correctly) in maroon, then carmine/cream then blue/grey - the opposite of more recent times. I wonder what the proportion of those cars sold was in maroon (I believe that sales overall have been in excess of 90,000 pieces!). Probably the highest of the three? By the way, I hope I didn't appear hostile to Bachmann's proprietary couplings in earlier posts. I'm sure they work fine on their own stock, in trains formed exclusively of their own carriages (for which they're designed) but as part of train including heavy, kit-built cars they're less successful in my experience - at the front being towed and being propelled. To finish, in my writings of bookazines for Irwell, though most of the diesel/electric pictures in them are mine, I'm reliant for earlier pictures on the work of others (some, sadly, now deceased). There is a personal reason for this - for instance, most of the pictures I took of green diesels were in black & white (the bookazines are almost all colour) and when I did first use colour film (in my late-teens), I employed it mainly for taking pictures of the remaining (and usually shabby) steam. What's more interesting, though, is the apparent dearth of pictures from the end of steam to the start of TOPS. It's almost as if photographers put their cameras away after 1968 (I was one), only to pick up the hobby later (I was also one). For instance, though not rare, finding 'hundreds' of pictures of the Class 50s in their D4XX days from which to choose from was far more difficult than after they received TOPS branding and, especially, after they went into large logo livery. I admit, the stuff above is only anecdotal, but it does suggest a drop off in interest in railways in the late-'60s, only for it be rekindled a few years later. Because it's only anecdotal, I'd never suggest it be used as 'hard' evidence, but could there be many others like me? Those who grew up with steam and saw the arrival of the diesels/electrics, grew out of trainspotting and then gave up interest in railways? In my own case, the late-60s coincided with much more important things (by way of having to learn how to earn a living) but, once that was established (having trained as a teacher), I became aware of how little (generally) the railways had really changed, particularly the infrastructures, and I resolved to capture as much as I could of this on film. Though now all-blue, the variety of classes still remained and they still ran over an 'interesting' railway. The results of my pictures? Now in the bookazines. Are there many of my generation who model the period when their interest was rekindled? In a way, there should be, especially as one could use the very pictures one took for reference. What's also of interest is (astonishingly), my bookazines have sold very well (with two more scheduled for this year). Perhaps sold to my generation, but much more likely to the next - who grew up as trainspotters a couple of decades later. Who knows? Apologies for the ramblings. Also apologies for my not attending the Stafford Show. Though Mo is much brighter, it would not be right, nor fair to leave her.

Mo would like to thank everyone for their well-wishes. I would, too. She is much brighter, thank you. Since I won't be at Stafford (Mo's recovery permitting) until tomorrow morning, I spent an hour or two taking some more pictures of LB this evening (regularly checking Mo's health). There was a post some little time back (doesn't this thread steam along?) about how, if OO track is well made and well laid/ballasted, from less than head-on angles, it could well appear to be EM (even P4?). To test this premise, I took the following pictures (though you can hardly see a rail in one shot)............. Obviously, the over-scale flanges immediately rule out P4. Since 'streaks' were always valued most by us trainspotters, they're the motive power, and this little lot constitutes my fleet of the ones I've built for myself (from three different sources, none Hornby). The differences might be noticed. Apart from 60017 (beautifully-painted by Geoff Haynes) all these have been painted by Ian Rathbone (also beautifully). I suppose consistency in a class of model locomotives (ostensibly the same) should be the target, but it's more important that I've made these (over a period of time), so I live with the differences. I think the Pro-Scale ones are the best. Can you tell the track is 'only' OO? You can certainly tell that one of the cattle wagons is branded in a far-too-late condition (I didn't notice as I weathered it) and the following van I made has rather 'freelance' numbers/lettering (still, if that method were good enough for Peter Denny, it's certainly good enough for me). Finally, a picture of my home-brewed coupling, if anyone is interested - the one which seemed to cause a bit of a fuss recently, and was deemed 'superfluous'. All I can say is it suits me, is 100% reliable and is really cheap to make. All being well, I'll see some of you at Stafford over the weekend.

I see no reason to apologise, Neil, I hope you soon recover. Regards, Tony.

Keep on persevering, Jonathan, Remember, Mr Watson is in a class apart. But, with the benefit of a painter of the same status (Mr Rathbone) on top of it, the work of us mere mortals might even look reasonable in comparison. From what I've seen (and photographed) of your work, it is very well worth your bothering. Regards, Tony.

The church on your layout is very convincing, Archie. By the end of the month you'll have an A7 going by. I take it Scottish kirks (out of necessity?) are more 'robust' than some from further south? Regards, Tony.

Thanks Denbridge, Interestingly, both scenic-side track-makers on both Little Bytham and Peterborough North are called Norman, Solomon and Saunders respectively. It is both their professions. Norman Solomon's work on LB. Norman Saunders' work on PN. From these low angles, I think it's fair to say that it's evident they're both OO. The ballasting on PN turned quite Saharan in colour over time, because of penetrating sunlight. It's since been toned down to a more realistic colouring.

Pictures from Stevenage, Tim, Apologies for not as yet sending you the disc.

Thanks Clive, I couldn't agree more, though I hardly used my 'nuclear' flash gun at all. The layout's own lighting created the shadows. Regards, Tony

Thanks Paul, Though it must be remembered that my scenic-side trackwork was made and laid by the finest track-maker in the realm, Mr Solomon. As far as I know 71000 is doing it all himself, which is very laudable in my view. I think it's best that this correspondence (with regard to Basingstoke) comes to an end on this thread, if you (and others) don't mind please. Though, as you all know, I can be very argumentative, I hope I never (and never will) come across as pompous and very self-opinionated (though many might disagree with that statement). As Anglian has eloquently pointed out, whether we differ in our various approaches to creating model railways is largely irrelevant (except it probably isn't if we want to learn something new). I'd be entirely happy if this thread carried on................ Encouraging others to have a go for themselves. Showing a very wide variety of skills, methods and techniques from a very broad spectrum of contributors (whom I thank). Never dictating to others the 'right' way and never being so patronising as to inform folk that they must understand or know something. They'll find that out for themselves. Always offering encouragement but never being afraid to give constructive criticism Never descending into personal enmity and, particularly 'sniping'. Any other aims or ideals? It's because of the number of posters on here who do what's on the list I've just presented that I'm encouraged and helped in my own modelling projects. Regards, Tony.

Many thanks for all the well-wishes. Mo appreciates your thoughts (though the 'thanks' button doesn't always seem to work). Thanks, too, for giving us the link to the Basingstoke thread. Without doubt, the whole model, when completed, will be very impressive.

Many thanks for all the positive comments, and the illustrations/notes of what you're building. It is so much more positive than boasting (which, I'm delighted to say, is extremely rare here) and sniping (which is equally rare). My reason for the late (or very early) recent post was after spending the night at A&E in Peterborough's main hospital. Not for me, but for my wife, who is now fine, after a very nasty nosebleed. As we were sitting waiting, it occurred to me how, in the great scheme of things, mucking about with 'toy' trains and 'getting into arguments' about them is really low down on a list of priorities. Among some folk who were in great pain, perhaps seriously-injured and the elderly in need of care, I thought 'Does it really matter who won anything, who judged the winner, who's got a bigger trainset than whom and so on?' It does, of course, but there has to be (at least to me), a sense of proportion. My apologies for getting all 'self-righteous', and I do enjoy reasoned debate, but if folk cannot post in positive (though constructively-critical) ways (and I include myself here), then best not to at all. Phrases like 'you need to understand/know' have no place here. Except; you all need to know how fantastic the members of the A&E Department at Peterborough Hospital are! Finally, I'm due as a demonstrator/loco doctor at the superlative Stafford Show over the weekend. Mo won't be with me as she recovers (she's OK, but not for a busy weekend). If she's all right tomorrow, I'll be there, but I apologise now if it's more important that I stay with her. I'll inform the organisers. Regards, Tony.

Thanks John, The voice of common sense...................

Clive, It's very kind of you to 'leap to my defence', but I should point out (if only for the record) that I was the Assistant Editor/Photographer at BRM, not the Editor. Speaking of editorships, it's been my privilege today to be invited to be the new editor of the LNER Society Journal, to which I'm definitely going to give some serious consideration. It is, indeed, an honour to be asked. I also don't mind robust discussion (in fact, I encourage it) and I'm sure 71000 has plenty to offer to any debate (though I do wish I knew who he was). I'd also like to see his Basingstoke when it comes to fruition, though I'm sure he'll eventually find, as Roy Jackson and I have done (and others) that RTR bogies, running on large layouts, very soon wear out their bearings. In closing, may I correct an error on my part, please? I erroneously called the award at the Southampton Show the Chairman's Cup. It should be the Founder's Cup. My apologies, though it doesn't alter the excellence of the layouts which were automatically entered for it. Regards, Tony.

Andy, Many thanks. Is it fair to say that the largest interest in railway modelling right now is the steam/diesel transition era on BR? Say, 1956 (late crest) until the start of the BR blue era from 1964? I have no real empirical evidence for this, other than I'm told by the manufacturers and traders I speak with that their best sellers are (in OO) BR steam locos with late crest and BR green diesels. That said, a friend whose partner runs a model shop in the NW said they'd sold out almost straight away of a new, up-to-date model (by Dapol, I think) of some weird-looking new diesel finished in an even weirder livery. This has probably been mentioned before, but that most-popular of time periods coincides with the principal trainspotting boom of 50-60 years ago. It would also seem that the BR blue/grey era is becoming more popular because trainspotters of a later generation are now well into middle age and wish(?) to recreate their memories. I think what's also significant about the period 1956-'76 (and later in some parts of the country) is that (apart from the WCML electrification), in the main the surviving steam and the new-fangled diesels ran over a Victorian, steam-age infrastructure, complete with very complex track formations controlled by mechanical signalling. Returning to my Irwell bookazines, I have many pictures of all-blue diesels on the ECML, still beckoned-on by semaphores, as late as 1977 (even later north of Edinburgh). Indeed, I have pictures of Class 50s controlled by semaphores at least a decade later on the WR. Will we see more layouts (in all scales and gauges) showing the Sectorisation era (and later) in the near-future? From my own perspective, I gave up real-railway photography in the early-'90s because the variety of different classes was diminishing so rapidly, 'traditional' railway infrastructure was being swept away at a most-alarming rate and the myriad of different liveries was just too confusing. Is there a '90s/'00s equivalent of Stoke Summit out there, I wonder? Or a Tebay, Biggleswade, Retford, Peterborough North, Rugby, Yatton Junction, Alton or any other prototype depictions from the steam/diesel time? Food for thought? Regards, Tony.

Thanks Mike, point taken................

Thanks once again for all the comments; most enlightening and most entertaining. Picking up on one or two things, wasn't it Cyril Freezer who coined the phrase 'Modern Image', getting on for 60 years ago? I'm glad someone has noticed that I'm not averse to 'modern image', and it's not just my liking for the Deltics. Over the last three years I've written four bookazines for Irwell, and all of them feature non-steam subjects. I've been commissioned to write two more this year. It's mainly my (rambling) comments on my own pictures, but, amazingly, all have sold very well (despite the inevitable bloopers). The latest was on the Class 50s, any survivors now being in their 51st year! Hardly modern. Though I'd never claim to have built diesel/electric-outline locos, during the time when Stoke Summit was on the circuit, for running in diesel-mode, I must have detailed/altered/weathered dozens of RTR examples, along with blue/grey examples of rolling stock. Perhaps it might be better to have a more eclectic mix on a judging panel. 'Unbalanced' is certainly not a compliment to a team (any team), and, though I understand (I hope) the sentiments behind the comment, I still think it was unfair. As for exhibiting at shows and being part of a 'competition', I think most accept that it's really just a bit of fun (though having won several pots down the years with Stoke Summit, it would be very disingenuous of me to say that I, and the rest of the team, were not pleased). Certainly, there is often a great disparity between what wins the 'scale' prize and that which wins the most votes from the public. With regard to the latter, at one show I attended, the winner had just about everything going on on it - trains whizzing everywhere, windmills whirling, waterfalls (real water) falling, the aftermath of road accidents, weddings, funerals, buildings on fire, flashing lights, and so on and so on. I thought it was truly ghastly, yet it won by a country mile. Alongside, an exquisitely-modelled, accurate-to-prototype, pre-Grouping essay in EM never got a sniff (it wasn't Buckingham). Such is life. Please keep those comments coming.......................

What terrific stuff being posted here over the last 24 hours. Many, many thanks for all the comments. I wonder if there is a more lively (and controversial?) thread on here at the moment? May I try and bring a few strings together, please? Who would have thought by my just posting a few pictures and comments with regard to the judging at the Southampton Show there would have been such a fuss? As has been mentioned, judging is always going to be subjective, and another panel of judges might have come up with a different winner(s). Who knows? All I would say is that the quartet of us did deliberate at length. Anyway, judging competitions at shows needs to be seen as basically light-hearted. I've only come across one incident where a group took exception at not winning a pot at a show, and complained at the Saturday get-together. It was suggested they just suck their thumbs and be quiet! Thanks for your reply, Andrew, which I fully accept, though, interestingly, the (wonderful) layout you're involved with doesn't satisfy at least two of my own criteria for 'excellence' (subjective, of course). Mike, I think Peter has highlighted your suggestion (by implication) of a prejudice on the part of the judging panel. How else could it be interpreted? Of possible interest, the other award (judges not known to me), which was a bottle of whisky (far more useful than a shiny cup!) went to Kevin and Judy Cartwright's N Gauge Brixham. Modern image? Finally, a member of the nobility has posted something about carriages and couplings. A lot of what I'm doing would appear to be superfluous, but, with respect, he needs to understand that cast metal bogies, if properly erected (with springing/compensation in the finer gauges), using top-hat brass bearings and steel pin-point axles are actually freer-running than plastic RTR ones. Though I concede, getting a heavy, kit-built train going from a stand requires a fair bit of motive power, such a train running on heavy bogies actually has less drag on the move than a train carried on plastic bogies. There's also the wear-factor; though the pin-point bearings must inevitably wear (to be witnessed by my great, great grandchildren), the wear on RTR plastic bogies manifests itself much more quickly. Ask Roy Jackson of Retford fame. Along with Andrew Hartsthorne (Wizard/Comet/MSE) he's developing a brass 'inner' bogie for Bachmann Mk.1 bogies, such has been the rate of wear over just a few years of running. Granted, Retford is massive, though not any bigger than Basingstoke will be (which, I assume, isn't up and running as yet). I've never been a professional railwayman, but I do find it a bit of a puzzle why I need to understand a model coupling system which bears almost no relationship to the prototype. Unless I'm mistaken (and, I concede, I could be), I know of no (BR) full-sized coupling system which allows for adjacent vehicles to become further apart on negotiating tighter curves. Not only that, even if such a prototype system did exist, by just using the vacuum brake pipes and steam-heating pipes to couple trains, wouldn't they be ripped off the moment the train moved? As to too-prominent roof ribs being tolerated, it must be understood that the effect, as supplied, is as if the roof 'skeleton' were on the outside. I would (and do) find this intolerable, so I remove them. Stock roofs are usually the first thing we see on observing trains on layouts; long before we're aware of any coupling systems. Please, keep those comments coming!!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks, I'll be very brief if I may? I don't really use RTR locos (I build my own), so problems of haulage capacity don't arise. I've actually changed many of my RTR bogies and replaced them with cast-metal alternatives for two reasons. One, the bogie bearings don't wear and, two, it gets the centre of gravity on cars as low as possible, which aids stable running. I've had RTR plastic bogies with metal axles where the vertical wear over time has been so great as to have the flanges touch the floor pan. I've taken off all the roof ribs on over 90 Bachmann carriages and never had to change a ventilator, cowl or periscope - please see below. Leaving them on is far more obtrusive than a slightly wider gap between cars in my opinion. I (luckily) don't have any (many) problems to face. LB's baseboards are excellent (not my work), the track is well-made and well-laid (partly my work), the wiring is sound (substantially my work), almost all the locos have been made (mainly my work), as has a great deal of the rolling stock (mainly my work, at least with regard to the passenger stock). As I say, I know what works for me and if what you use works for you, then I'm delighted. Regards, Tony.