Not Jeremy

Wonderful and inspiring stuff Neil, just think what could be achieved in a bigger scale (ahem!) Simon

Hmmm All very well Mike, but on your Tavistock observation, I think the lack of progress in reconnecting that town by rail to Plymouth over thirty odd years is easily trumped by the lack of a service to Portishead over an even longer period - and that line has most of the track in place. And there are plenty of other stupidities about - there always will be. You are a widely experienced operator par excellence, but there is more to whether something will happen or not than "operational considerations", important as they are. More generally speaking , one simply can't take the politics out of the equation, and it is the politics (on top of the basic utility of the idea itself) that makes this idea of a "Northern Route" look slightly less dead than the extremely dead parrot that some here repeatedly make it out to be. The "green agenda" also favours rail as a mode of transport, less so air travel, which may be significant in this case as I have heard it said that it was the development and presence of Newquay airport that has up to now given Cornish politicians an extreme attack of ennui when considering rail connectivity to the rest of the UK. Also there are hopes and aspirations floating around here, some folk are busy promoting "Connect Bude", Okehampton "Parkway" is happening and there are a significant number of people lobbying and cheerfully getting stuck in and clearing Barnstaple's other platform in the hope that trains may yet return to Bideford. And of course, this has to a large degree been galvanised in the last couple of years by the highly successful reopening of the railway to Okehampton. Or is someone here going to tell me that the re-opening to Okehampton is in fact some sort of disaster that my "rose tinted" spectacles cloud from my view? As regards money, well yes, quite. But let none of us be in any doubt that whatever vicissitudes and financial challenges face this country, politicians of all persuasions will always be able to find large amounts of money to spend on projects or ideas that were very clearly better not pursued. And then add in the percentage of anything that will inevitably be "trousered" by all the clever people in sharp suits. As Harry Enfield said all those years ago - "loadsa money"..... So, something that excites people, offers a better future, shows a bit of vision, uses a bit of imagination, doesn't start off with an analysis that is any more bogged down with insane minutiae than it really needs to be, and which might even interest our politicians (who really cannot all be as black hearted as some here would have us believe) still, might, just, be a possibility. Or at the very least something worth discussing and promoting. As I have said previously, I agree that it is not "likely" but equally cannot understand the necessity that some folk here appear to have to endlessly rubbish the idea.

All good points Rick, but somewhat spoiled by your last paragraph I feel. Leaving aside your by now well rehearsed and clear antipathy to the whole notion of re using the old Southern main line, the "Northern Route" - if it were ever to happen, (which I agree does not look likely) would be "in addition" to the Dawlish route and NOT "instead of" it. Only a complete plank would suggest otherwise. Well possibly Poseidon might, but he'd have to be much grumpier than he is at the moment! Simon

Just to let everyone know that "Small Layout Design Handbook" has been reprinted and is in stock, and is available for direct purchase here, at the bottom of the page. Stocks will shortly be going out to other stockists too. Priced at £17.50, it has had various minor corrections and edits from the first edition, but remains just as inspirational as when it first came out. It was delivered this morning together with James' new book, which came very close to defeating the local logistics.... Simon

James' new book arrived into stock today and is available for direct purchase here. We are very pleased with the way the book has come out and hope that people enjoy reading it. Supplies will shortly going out to other retailers and James will receive his own copies on Thursday. I believe he is going to then give us one of his nice descriptive book opening videos, as well as promoting the book through various media. I genuinely believe James offers us all a refreshingly different perspective with this book and think it may well spark off new ideas for lots of us. And readers may well not agree with everything James says, which will hopefully spark off new conversations and thoughts across our wonderful hobby. Thank you James for having the ideas and writing the book - it has been a great pleasure to have helped you get it into print! Simon

And of course it wouldn't have served or serve Tavistock, North Cornwall or Okehampton, all available right now for a much cheaper price on the route that shall not be named....(!)

MRJ 299 arrived in Bath today, my take on it is here Edited by Paul Karau himself, it has a pleasingly varied content, which includes two superb articles that encompass the railway scene from mid 19th Century London, Chris Cox's "Greyhound Place" through to glorious "Banger Blue" - Dave Roome's "Underhill Yard". And all still for the same bargain price of £6.20! Simon

So what happens (to HS2) if/when the same party are re-elected I wonder? Just askin'.... Not Rishi

A terrific programme, just great in every way. Loved the modelling and biographical references from Jools and Pete’s brilliant matter of fact bluntness about his love of trains- just great!

I think that's fair comment, except that it ignores the role that politics can play in these instances. A well worked through and considered Tavistock proposal from DCC is currently with the Government, and reconnecting Tavistock is/was on the list of "what we are going to do to make up for canning part of HS2" that the Government hurriedly put out. I know it can (quite rightly) be criticised on many fronts, but there it is. Business cases apart, a restored Northern Route would be useful when issues arise around the coast, for whatever reason including "short circuited Hitachis" or whatever the recent malaise proves to have been. I agree it is not "likely" but it is possible, the fact is that vast amounts of money can be blown on all sorts of projects by Government when the mood takes it. In terms of "bang for buck" restoring the Northern route is a bloody cheap project. And politically it would be a big "plus" that could be flagged up in the face of the relentless criticism (which I agree is largely deserved) that the Government currently gets. None of which, I agree, makes it "likely". In the meantime I have been down to Okehampton on the new service several times and thoroughly enjoyed the trip every time. I will be travelling down there again soon, as it seems are many other people. Which positive result was not what was predicted by various naysayers before the line was reconnected, as evidenced by various old threads on here. Mind you, you'd have to be out of your mind to want to go to Plymouth, unless you really had to. Sorry, my little joke, and trains are available from North Road to all points west....

Not quite answering the point, but it seems to me that a lot of the "nice" venues from the past may well have been more "green", as in being more accessible by public transport and better supported ar complemented by surrounding businesses, cafes, pubs etc. Bu they were trickier to get in and out of, which is one reason, I suspect, that we have seen the growth of the "out of town show". Perhaps another way to look at/think about this, is to try to put on a show that is "in town" and which is an attractive venue that it is enjoyable to be in? In other words, change things by enticing people into jollier circumstances that might be "you know what" - just don't give your name, Pike. My own (and now with Jerry Clifford) little effort in this regard is "Larkrail", which sort of does offer this combination, but to be fair wouldn't support a large show. We do have to contend with steps or a long slope to get in and out and parking is a bit of a pain, bur with goodwill and a bit of creative thought we get by. There must be other (nice) venues in the UK that would be do-able and "different"? None of which is to detract from any existing show, of course. Simon

I find Freecycle very good myself, for both giving and receiving - amen(!) Of course, they don't do train shows...

I'd like to add my appreciation of what both David and Paul have done for our hobby. It was David's wonderful Bradford Barton wagon books that quite probably really "turned me on" to wagons as a fascinating subject to both study and model, and I think that must be forty odd years ago. Even today they remain great works of reference that I find myself going back to and enjoying time and again. David has both contributed to, and had published, numerous books in the intervening years, possibly culminating in the current series under discussion. I agree with Paul about the editing, but speaking as a publisher editing and checking is a vastly time consuming process, and as I was told by a printer of quality years ago; "Simon, no one has ever produced the perfect book". The new WS book on siphons is pretty much ready to go to print, but despite extensive checking and editing, I remain very nervous of the mistakes that will pretty much inevitable make it into the finished book. I will have to bite the bullet and go to print soon though. Far better to have a book to criticise than no book on the subject, I suppose(!) Which is why, I think, that questions or apparent criticisms (of books) can end up being a bit divisive, as in this thread. I can quite believe that questioners do not intend to cause upset, but do quite often find myself falling in to the "trap" of feeling a bit irritated by them. Also, quite a lot of us can be very "literal" and tend to miss out on subtlety, nuance and even humour, in which category I would include sarcasm, which is allegedly the lowest form of wit. I recently got myself into trouble on the new Peaks book thread on this count, and I am afraid I remain unrepentant regarding what I wrote. I also think the Internet and the easy availability of so much information (often for nothing) has made this "problem", if such it be, worse. Paul Bartlett has furnished us all with a truly mind blowing quantity of fascinating and high quality images of rolling stock. All viewable without charge and available in more detail for incredibly reasonable prices. I also happen to know (from direct experience) just how helpful and accommodating Paul is when the question of publication using his collection of images comes up. He also produced, or helped produce, the utterly wonderful "Datafile" articles in the Model Railway Constructor all those years ago, and "the book" of course. I could go on (I do apparently) but I'll stop now, by saying again how very grateful and appreciative I am of all of the efforts and endeavours of both David Larkin and Paul Bartlett. Thank you both very much. Simon

Apologies, that was a general exhortation to all of us, not aimed at you! what Jeremy has done for you looks really nice from the scalefour forum. however one looks at it, “Bamburgh” is a very appealing prototype. Simon

That's a really lovely bit of work Daddyman, I hope you continue with it. In the meantime, a quick Google search revealed a 2019 thread on RMweb from one Andrew Hardy, in which someone references an article by Don Townley (not known for being inaccurate) in MRJ number 8. I suspect this is more informative than the earlier article(s) in "Model Railways". As an aside, it was the loss of "Model Railways" (in its wonderful mid 1970s style and editorial direction) which led to MRJ later being set up in a post exhibition meeting between Paul Karau Bob Barlow and Gerry Beale. Parallax errors notwithstanding, this is from the MRJ article, which is itself 4 pages of loveliness. Get building! I am myself very enamoured of the MW 0-4-0 that was at Folkestone and other places, I have a very good article on it by the late great Colin Binnie (again in "Model Railways") and I'd like to make a model of it before I kick the bucket. Simon

Surely the answer to this conundrum is splashers? There was a very good constructional article on “Bambugh” in the old “Model Railways” magazine in the 1970s.

As mentioned up thread, I think, these locos were “modified” (bigger wheels for one thing) so slightly different to what Rapido will produce. I think folk are sweating the details here, if all of this bothers you that much then build a kit, modify what is made or scratch build - we surely can’t expect everything to be done for us can we?? Silly question…..

A really interesting scheme however you look at it. I don't think it's too eclectic for RMweb, it is at least in one of the smaller scales and there are clearly several people here interested in what you are doing. RMweb, although largely inhabited by fierce tribes of ready to runners, has lots and lots of little oases of individuality and creativity about the place. You are right about Paris of the Middle East, that rings a bell with what was said all those years ago. All more than a bit poignant given the way the World has since gone, but a fine and worthy subject for a model railway nonetheless. The Hedjaz Railway fascinates me too, which I appreciate is a different subject. Matt, it will be an absolute privilege to have it as part of next year's small show down the hill if you are able to join us, I do hope that you do!

Excellent! That has quite cheered me up Martin, it is this sort of innovative and enlightened thinking that we all need right now, let's hope that Rishi and Keir are reading and taking note. And also thank you so very much for Templot and all that it has given to so many of us. Without it and your and others' assistance I would never have built this back in 2010. I am just now reconditioning it for my new line in the garden, an homage to HS2, or possibly not...

Nah mate, it stopped at Doncaster to have original looking headlamp fittings fitted - fancy getting a basic fact like that wrong!! Let’s hope you don’t ever write a book eh??

That's a nuisance Chris, and I appreciate that public transport (of any kind) will never give us all an equally available service. I live on a bus route, which is great, but I'm not giving up my little wonderfully economical diesel car either, it can't be that polluting as the cost of taxing it is refreshingly low. That said, I have just taken advantage of Dan Norris's "birthday bus" scheme, designed to encourage use of buses and funded by Government, it allows you free bus travel in the region for the month of one's birthday, which is rather nice. Next birthday I qualify for the crumblies bus pass, about which I have mixed feelings....

Thank you C126 for that pointer and well said Mike. A succinct, fact based , calm and sensible addition to the programme I'm not defending anything, but I guess a reasonable hope is that the operators and sensible people on the ground will nonetheless "pick up the pieces" and cobble something together, with relatively minor "tweaks" and a modicum of finance, that is less cataclysmic than some on this thread are predicting. I'm not sure we can really predict or blame the end of Western Civilisation on bad HS2 decisions(!)

£2 bus fares and Tavy before you die - what an electioneering slogan! What could possibly go wrong, arf arf....

What a great layout idea - my late dad worked for Westinghouse and used to visit Beirut quite a lot for business before it all imploded. As I recall he said it had been his favourite place in the Middle East. I can think of a small high quality model railway show just down the road from you that would definitely give this top star billing! For myself I'm still fiddling with trains in my garden - the cat poo menace.... I look forward to watching your progress whatever you do next! Simon

Interesting points all, I have enjoyed reading so much informed comment. What I still like about the discussion/subject is that despite all the quite legitimate and logical points made "against" (I'm categorising very bluntly here, I appreciate there are all sorts of nuanced shades of thought raised here) it still has the whiff of possibility hanging over it. That said, given that the latest "move" is with the Government (I use the term loosely), I wonder just what (if any) effect the current, ahem, situation regarding HS2 might have on its prospects? Like others, I find pretty much all of the current HS2 "news" profoundly depressing, is it too much to hope that something positive may yet emerge from the current debacle, as regards both this and possibly other projects? I live in hope, foolish as that may be it's generally a better feeling than despair..... Simon