Arun Sharma

The L&Y also called their brake vans "Breaks"

Has to be Stratford in 1962-3 as the first 30 D67xx were based there and could be seen charging through Stratford station on [i assume] Norwich expresses

No I don't think so - Although the basic body shell appearance [but not the metal from which they were constructed] was the same between the Q38, CO/CP and R38/49/59 stocks, the all-aluminium R49 [and the small no. of R59] cars had only half the number of windows but the windows were twice as wide as those on their earlier brethren which made them very easily recognisable.

If the present extant conductor rail on SR and other UK systems doesn't have to be shrouded, why should any new rail have to be shrouded? It clearly can't be due to any form of Health and Safety consideration as otherwise retrospective shrouding would also have to occur.

I think that is an R49 car. Further evidence is the wedge-shaped glass cowlings over its windows. Interestingly in front of it there looks to be an upside down motor bogie with its shoebeam still in place. The colour of the car is intriguing - by the time of withdrawal, all were either repainted silvery-white or left in natural aluminium finish. As they would probably have contained asbestos, that would possibly explain why it has that scorched appearance. My copy of "Diesels & Electrics for Scrap" [Atlantic Press 1987] confirms that the same yard also bought the majority of the class 76xxx electrics. I imagine that pretty much confirms that it is Booths yard at Rotherham though I don't know its exact location in relation to the railway lines around the Sheffield-Rotherham area.

Interestingly on the extreme RHS of the picture, half way up there looks to be the front half of an LT R49 surface stock car [distinctive double-width windows compared to the earlier R38 stock]. I thought that these were all scrapped at Booth's yard at Rotherham so would 1E27 have taken a more scenic and roundabout route between Sheffield and Leeds on Sundays Saturdays than normal?

O gauge modellers might well want to go to Tower Models in Blackpool as it is one of the very few actual walk-in shops selling 1/43rd scale items left in the country.

The answer to your question is : 29/32 =0.906 = 90.6%

As a resident of Abingdon, the local word is that the reason this [otherwise not especially inspiring] bridge was listed was that IKB actually lived within a stone's throw when he was building the GWR.

For the last three years, Electryfying Trains [0208-440-5918] have produced, with assistance from the L&Y Soc, 1/43rd scale etched N-S RTR versions of this stock and have been asking around exhibitions whether there is interest in producing 00scale versions [kit and/or RTR]. They will be around at RAILEX and the Ogauge summer show at Doncaster.

Additionally, you might want to have a look at "Building London's Underground" by Antony Badsey-Ellis. Published by Capital transport ISBN 9-781854-143976 which was published Jan 2016 and is packed full of useful pics and information on both bored tunnel and cut & cover works and infrastructure.

Possibly both given that part of the delay in the Modernisation Plan would have been due to the deficit in Balance of Payments as at that time diesel fuel and/or FFO/Bunker C might have to be imported and the country didn't have the dosh to pay for it. It may be that as availability of dosh improved, the likelihood of using expensive imported foreign fuels also improved.

As per my post #22 Chris

In a previous existence, I regularly wandered on board the RN's "Through Deck Cruisers" which as most know, were powered by RR Olympus gas turbines. Because of the wear and tear caused to the combustion chambers by aviation kerosene, these engines [when used on board ships] were run on "marinised diesel" which burns at a lower temperature and thus markedly prolongs the life of the engine components. I would have thought that such a modification would have improved availability of the turbine on a rail vehicle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't heavy fuel oil need pre-heating to get it to flow through injectors? If so, it seems an unnecessary complication to add to an experimental installation.

Fascinating correspondence on this thread. Surely only one of post #44 or #45 can be correct [most of the time anyway]. Not being a company director or an out of work HGV Driver I don't know what I am expected to make of these conflicting comments.

Sounds like a job for the 3D printers!

There is an illuminating report of what happens when the mechanical stoker on a 9F breaks down and why trying to fire it using the specially broken up correct sort/size of coal for such a 9F is even more hard work in Terry Essery's second volume of "Saltley Firing Days".

Back to the subject of new stocks, I saw 707-003 coupled to 707-005 [indicating "not in public service"] pass eastbound through Virginia Water this afternoon [at 1600] coming from the direction of Reading.

Rather interestingly the increased incidence of type 2 Diabetes mellitus [compared to the incidence even 20 years ago] suggests that the chance of someone on a short journey being "caught short" is considerably higher than it was possibly even compared to when some of the current stocks were in their design stages. Increased travelling population desire/need to pass relatively small amounts of sudden onset irritant urine is an increasing phenomenon and one that designers/operators will have to take into account sooner or later. It would be interesting to know whether the urine found in the gangways of the afore-mentioned Brighton trains had begun to dry with the dissolved glucose in it crystallising out!

The original Siemens [and the later Oerlikon] stock were built as 3-rail, 3 car units with a corridor connection. This was removed from all these stocks in the late 1930s/early '40s - Hence the reason why the inner ends of the cars in the 3-car unit differ from the outer [driving] ends - although if you looked closely, the remains of the sealed up doorways were still present till the end - even after the conversion of the Siemens stock to 25kV OHLE.

Jamie et al - Very impressed by what I saw of Lancaster Green Ayre today at Alexandra Palace. Do you have plans to put some early EMUs on the Heysham shuttle?

From the 1957 film "Hell Drivers" comes the real star of the film in 1/43rd scale - The Dodge Parrot Nose tipper truck as driven by Stanley Baker. The film also starred Patrick McGoohan, Gordon Jackson, Alfie Bass, William Hartnell, Sean Connery, Jill Ireland, David McCallum and even Sid James and Herbert Lom. This is a photograph of the test build and has a slightly different version of the "Hawletts" paint scheme compared to those in the film for the purposes of clarity and definition. Now available from Radley Models.

Robertcwp - I believe the point Jim was making was that the actual physical contact systems i.e., conductor rail versus contact wires lasted for 80odd years on the SR [and its successors and forebears] before needing replacement unlike his statement that the equivalent systems coming out of Paddington would require replacement after ?15-20 years.

See the following from post 4601, " and the fleet has been joined by the large ocean going tug Nikolay Chiker." Perhaps they are just being prudent given their problems in the eastern med.

"Hear Hear" for Siberian Snooper's post at 1955