ColinK

A couple more of my pics from 8th August 1985. Unnamed 47715 waits to leave with the 1100 pull push to Edinburgh. 47608 on the 1130 to Stranraer, not van and Sealink coaches.

A couple more of my pics this time taken on 27th July 1978. 27201 on the rear of the 1600 push pull to Edinburgh.

A couple pics I took on 30th April 1974 27210 and 27110 on Glasgow - Edinburgh push pull services. 40041 arriving with a train from Aberdeen. 40124 waiting to depart with the 1535 to Aberdeen.

Probably too late for your period, but I took the video below in 1983 and if you forward to 30 minutes there are a few shots at Queen Street.

I used the Elizabeth line for the first time to go to the Ally Pally show. What surprised me was just how far it was to walk when changing between it and the Underground, nearly had to stop for butties and a brew.

I wonder if anyone has considered having a show guide available a day or two before an exhibition as a ebook or pdf that can be downloaded or printed at home?

Home last night from the show - we arranged a holiday round it. Although I had 5 hours at Ally Pally I didn’t get to have a proper look at all the layouts due to the size of the crowds round them. No complaints though, I enjoyed it and had some good conversations with several traders and manufacturers. Programme was fine and yes there was a shortage of seats Saturday lunchtime, but a chap appeared with more and set them out for punters to use. Enjoyed a couple of very tasty pints from the bar. Very impressed with the TMC weathered KR torpedo wagon. Spent ages enjoying Wolfstatt. Good to see Proxxon Tools there and got lots of helpful advice from the chap manning it - several items now on Christmas present list. I had a problem recently with static grass on the (indoor) G scale layout I’m building and very helpful guy from WWS advised what the problem could be. Would like to gave seen Peco there as I was after some advice from them. Spent a reasonable amount on various bits and pieces, would have bought a Mamod diesel from Malcs Models but too heavy to carry round for the rest of the day and evening - the wife had booked us on a ‘Jack the Ripper’ walk in the evening. Finished the day having walked over 12 miles.

The weathered torpedo wagon on display at Ally Pally was superb, tempted me to place an order.

We switched to NFU three years ago when the Co-op hiked their price. I’ve just renewed the NFU policy which had increased in price only by a few £. I was expecting it to increase a lot more as we had a claim last year when our house was broken into. Have to say that NFU were brilliant when we had the break-in, despite it being Sunday afternoon they got somebody round within a few hours to board up the broken window and arranged a new window without us having to do anything.

As a Northerner staying in Abbey Wood for the weekend to attend the Ally Pally exhibition, I’ve now made four journeys on the Elizabeth line; from my perspective it is great, fast and frequent. I don’t like the seats facing into the coach as I like to see out, but nothing to see as our journeys were mainly in tunnel. Our journeys into London mid morning had lightly loaded trains, but surprisingly busy coming back at 2130 on Saturday and packed at 1730 today, indeed some people couldn’t get on, makes you wonder what they did before the line openned. What did surprise us was how deep the line was in Central London and just how far you have to walk from station entrance to train. Manchester needs something similar linking Piccadilly and Victoria, never building the Pic Vic tunnel was a huge mistake.

Looks superb, especially the roof. I though it was the real thing until I spotted the Peco point.

Had a walk at Heysham earlier today.

The Elizabeth Line is supposed to be running on the Saturday, so at least I can get into London.

Today I was planning to go over the Pennines to visit the exhibition in Harrogate, sadly not possible due to the snow and ice. Instead I visited my nearest model shop, the one in Carnforth station with the aim of purchasing some Wills Corrugated iron sheets so I could get on with making some buildings. They didn’t have any, but I found lots of other things I need for one of my layouts. Ended up spending £60 instead of the planned £4.90. Likewise, I visited Arcadia Models in Shaw on Wednesday, they also didn’t have any Wills corrugated iron sheets, but after a good look round I came home with £80 less in my pocket. This illustrates why model shops are so important to me - a good look round often results in plenty of ideas and useful purchases.

Frustrating, bad weather has made it impossible for me to get there.

I disagree, I use two small model shops regularly and purchase all my modelling items from them. One is just 4 miles up the road, the other is a 90 minute drive away. I make a point of calling in at any model shops I pass on my travels, you never know what you might find. Plenty of reasons to use them instead of the internet or ‘box shifters’. - I can browse to see what is available and meets my needs, especially for scenic items. - I can try before I buy, especially important for locos to make sure they run properly. - Customer service, I can chat with the owners and get their advice. - I can rummage through their second hand items. - many items are difficult or expensive to post, eg track pins, paint, scenic scatter. both shops. - when you add on postage, some items bought online actually work out more expensive than from a model shop, try ordering one sheet of plasticard, one jar of paint, one tube of glue. While the model shops do try and match online prices as best they can, I’m quite happy to pay a bit more in order to support the model shops so they stay in business, because they are such a valuable resource.

I’m already booked up for that weekend this year, but might be interested in bringing a layout (or two) next year.

I’ve also seem German buses parked up with ‘I’m having a break’ (in German of course) on the destination screen.

Hi, I’n building a micro layout using Kato N gauge unitrack. Just one point which is electrically switched. I’ve bought a proper Kato switch to work the point as it uses 12v DC. The difficult bit is getting the 12v to the point switch as it uses non-standard connectors which are apparently designed to clip onto the side of the Kato controller. I wasn’t going to use the Kato controller, so how do I get the 12v to the point lever - can I buy the right connector? Can I solder wires onto it? PS if anyone has a Kato controller, please can you measure the height of it, just in case I have to get one. Thanks

Nice layout. Brings back happy memories of a trip there.

Excellent day at the show yesterday, plenty of good layouts to see, including one very unusual one. Do come along today and enjoy yourselves.

Layout all set up and working fine. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Thanks for the info. It would make an interesting model.

Winwick Junction in 1996 (my photo). Some kind of test train?

Tested my OO blue diesel Layout ‘Linden Grove’ yesterday, relieved that everything worked after 3 years stored in my railway room. Wheel cleaning today. 90 mile trip to Chapel-en-le-Frith tomorrow. Very much looking forward to the exhibition over the weekend, although it will be the last apperance for Linden Grove; after the show it will either be sold or scrapped.