SwissRailPassion

One!

The weekly shop is on the way out. Buy fresh every few days to avoid waste. I abandoned weekly shopping three years ago and cut my bills in half. I go to the grocer who sells at almost half the price of a supermarket and use the local butcher who is also much cheaper and far better in quality, the rest comes from Aldi. As a result, I hardly throw anything edible away and save huge amounts. Above all, the taste is what counts and with fresh ingredients everything tastes so much better. I learnt to cook, it's easy, and after a couple of years I prefer eating at home with friends as the food is better than dining out. If I can do it anyone can.

The new regional Stadler units should provide a much better environment and much better acceleration than the mixed fleet of 156 and 170 units. The 170s are slow off the mark but will provide a useful improvement in standards at Northern or EMT. Northern have a shortfall of ex Scotrail 170s in the coming change around, perhaps this will be made good by Anglian cascades.

The Stadler units use a power pack design rather than underfloor mounted engines.

321s to Cardiff Valleys etc perhaps?

The exteriors always looked nicer than the interiors. I travelled on so many in my youth and they were dreadful. No wonder passenger numbers were declining. Recently I went on a 101 at the NYMR and was transported back to a time of awful seats, filthy interiors and absolutely choking diesel fumes. The only positive was being able to see through the cab windows. Today sitting in a 170 with wide windows, comfortable seats and a generally clean environment it seems a world away from the rubbishy DMUs we put up with for so many years.

Excellent news for East Anglia, the Stadler units will be quite a step change. The Wherry line signalling (bonkers) project will have just equipped the present stock by 2019 just in time to see it phased out and fitted to the new stock in 2020.

They need an 8% or 9% return to make things balance and currently it's 5.2%. There is serious concern that things will end badly as before.

Things are very tight on the East Coast as revenue is not as high as hoped.

We must all pull together when the shock subsides. We must try and make the very best of it, it will not be easy. I see it as a self-inflicted wound to the economy and rough times lie ahead. The vote is akin to a Revolution and the forces released may develop into chaos. We now have a lame duck PM and a lame duck leader of the opposition, nothing before has been like this.

Vegex - love it. Camborne railway garden coming on nicely.

My mistake. I should have been clearer. The L and Y is a double line to Hensall and at Drax Branch junction the old H and B route is used to gain access to Drax. The L and Y continues as a line single to Goole.

The line via Carlton is the Knottingley to Goole section of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway from Manchester etc. The divergence to Drax uses the H and B as far as the power station where the loop crosses the Selby and Goole line formation and part of the loop uses the trackbed. The Selby and Goole branch is extant at Brayton as a long Pway depot and siding running almost to the missing overbridge on the Camblesforth Rd.

I meant to say Driving Trailer, some kind of DBSO or DBFO. Austrian Railjet style.

Only one Driving Trailer per set !

I imagine a Driving First and four seconds. The CAF solution may be cheaper for Scotland than the 125 option. Basically a UK version of the Austrian Railjet.

I like your engine shed. Did you make the doors or do they come as part of a kit? I'm just about to make a shed and I'm wondering where to get a pair of hinged doors and posts.

And as the new class 68s will be working with a Driving Van at the other end there'll be no need for coupling up. The beauty of the plan is that it allows for progressive electrification and rolling stock enhancement. The 68s will be replaced with electrics, perhaps 91s or modified 88s as wiring is completed. The AT300s will be in service before then and the new CAF EMUs will be working on the West Coast. I think the plan for the North is fairly robust and it's so good to have a rolling stock plan after so many years of indecision. Rail travel is going to get a lot better for northerners, particularly when the new expanded timetables come in 2017 and 2018.

Thanks for the link I got "Slavic girls are so bored here"

I have been lurking for some time and enjoying the build updates. Great to see a Swiss layout in Yorkshire it really looks the business. You're clearly a very thorough builder, there seems to be hardly any mess too.

Wonderful photos - it looks like a complete world.

As a classical musician myself I've had lots of favourites but some endure in the heart. Walton's first symphony opening movement, Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, Brahms' Alto Rhapsody and Tchaikovsky's Fifth. Things come in and out of focus in my ears and as I draw close I begin to love them but I am always aware that I must eventually move on to the next and the anticipation is to be savoured. A lot of music which I absolutely adored in my twenties seems to be trivial now. I'm also aware of how much I dismissed or overlooked when I was younger.

It is and a mixture of two and three would be nice

Sorry to hear you're not planning a 3 car version, I'd certainly buy one. It's ideal for smaller layouts.

Just off to the library to see what they have on Aspergers.