Arun Sharma

Anyone got any pics of the griddle cars in the class 309 units? - The four car unit in the six car set that went to Clacton had a griddle car in it.

I assume that the driver for all this process is to so simplyfy the fare/ticketing system that a simple machine in the station selling a very small range of ticketing types will enable the displacement of all ticket office staff into redundancy or reallocation to new duties.

As some will know, the majority of my modelling and kit design work is done in 7mm scale. However, living in a bungalow, that doesn't really allow me to have anything other than a very short test track. I have decided to take the plunge and build myself a small layout in N gauge [with a probable migration to Hornby TT120 one day]. With 4mm and 7mm turnouts it is often recommended that PECO electrofrog points have the stock and closure rails electrically bonded with a piece of wire soldered between them. Additionally, the two small pieces of wire that bridge the gap between the closure rails and the frog are removed - see attached screen shot so as not to confuse terminology. I gather this is done as the electrical connection between the stock and its adjacent switch rail is otherwise normally entirely dependent on physical contact between the point blade of the switch rail and the stock rail and this can be readily compromised by dirt. My question is therefore, is this same procedure required in Electrofrog points in N gauge? The reason I ask is that the N gauge Electrofrog points seem not to have the same small pieces of wire that bond the closure rails and the frog - unless I need to get a larger/better magnifying glass of course! Any advice appreciated. The image comes from a DCCwiki.com YouTube video for which many thanks.

Hmm... I wonder. I would normally watch Yesterday on Sky. The Sky box would normally allow me to record a [one-off] programme that was being broadcast no more than 167hours ahead as that is the maximum length of time that the in-box timetable allows. Last week, the Yesterday channel was not displaying any programmes further than 72 hours in advance. Thus I couldn't set the box to record the Hornby programme any earlier than Saturday evening.

Years ago - back around 1975 perhaps, I recall a visit to Steamtown at Carnforth where a Black 5 had been painted in LNER apple green. I only saw it the once and presumably it has long been repainted black. I suspect I took a photograph of it but haven't found it yet.

....... and of course the L&Y was incorporated into the LNWR a year prior to the Grouping

It's an interesting point Edwin - Putting a tram or some form of railway [perhaps solely for freight?] on the lateral side of a carriageway might present greater problems as it likely interferes with traffic leaving and joining the motorway whereas if it is in the centre then junctions could be much more like they are now. Perhaps the major use for such a central railway would be for freight - effectively an extension of the 'electric spine' so there would be no need for the railway to have an equivalent rail turnout at every motorway road junction. Basically I would be thinking of a railway linking DIRFT-like places.- to keep container traffic off the motorways.

You might argue that right from the outset, when designing any new motorway, that the central reservation should have a bi-directional tram track and cycle lane added. Far cheaper to do at the design stage than once [junctions et al] built.

It's an odd thing that on returning from the first Gulf War to UK that the locals never complained about noise made by our desert pink painted low flying Tornados but voiciferously complained about their identical green painted brethren who hadn't gone to the Gulf. Similarly, our yellow search & rescue Sea King helicopters never had noise complaints made against them but the identical green ones often did......

However it does exist in 7mm.............

Or of course residents of Buckingham could just get Stagecoach's X5 bus to take them to MK, Bedford, Bicester North, Bicester Village or Oxford.

There was a short RHTT MPV pair working with clouds of spray through Weybridge on the down slow line which then crossed the main up and down lines to travel onto the branch towards Addlestone this evening at 1605 but regrettably too dark to take any useful pics.

Interestingly, whilst the road is gratifyingly free of traffic, Norton Canes services always seem to be jam packed at any time of day! Very strange!

Not entirely correct - viz., the Yellow Pages C stock train and the United Airlines 1973 Stock Piccadilly Line train. For some reason RMWeb doesn't seem to want me to add a pic of the YP train.

Others who knew Phil Radley better or for longer will be well placed to add to this note. Phil died suddenly at home on 11 November with his wife Pat next to him. He had been ill for only a short while and I had spoken with him only 2-3 days previously. Phil was the mould maker and white metal spinner at the Harrow Model Shop [in both of its incarnations] until its closure. He was left the mould tools and set up in business as Radley Models continuing to produce the range of London Transport [mainly underground rail vehicles] that the shop had been famous for. Later these would be cast in resin via CMA in Birmingham though the few white metal bodies that he continued to provide were rightly prized. Until around 2000 most of Phil's LT output was in 4mm but after seeing a trial 7mm etch that I had made of a 1934 Standard Stock tube car, we agreed that I would design a range of 7mm LT road and rail vehicles that could be reproduced in resin and that would be marketed by Radley Models - a business that he cheerfully ran from his home in Ringwood. He was an excellent modeller with a fine eye for detail and many of his kits were built for sale as RTR. As really the only producer of such underground models, many of his RTR battery locomotive models were used as plinthed presentation models for LT staff on retirement and that led in turn to occasional access to measure items of LT rolling stock for new designs in 4mm and 7mm. Under his overarching interest in matters LT, other kit/model designers joined his loose grouping of like-minded souls who were more interested in designing rather than marketing and new models and kits continued to came out regularly. Phil will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace.

Suggest also try Southern Nouveau published by Irwell Press which has drawings of masses of the SR's concrete lineside structures.

No, I don't personally have a website. Most of my kits are small runs and have been sold by Radley Models who do have a website though it can be a pain to negotiate at times. A few kits [mainly trams] are sold directly but they are very limited runs designed to specific orders in the main. The only notification that usually exists of a new kit coming out is via RMWeb [in the appropriate section], Western Thunder and the 7mm Finescale Society forum. The only hard copy print notifications would be in the journals of the Model Bus Federation or Tram and Light Railway Society.

I like that one - I'm guessing that's in the NW Road Transport Museum in St Helens. I think that might be quite a useful kit to design. I will see if there are any plans in the MBF catalogue.

80s and 90s buses are complex. Although they tend to have a pretty simple outline, they tend to have flush glazing and windscreens that curve in more than one plane. They are therefore easier to scratchbuild in clear styrene sheet and using vacforming for glazing. Once produced, they don't necessarily lend themselves to being duplicated via silicon moulding as: a. Transparent resins are difficult to handle sucessfully owing to their propensity to produce bubbles b. Removal of support pins in transparent resin casting will leave a mark that can be seen through the part [not a problem with opaque resins] c. Resin casting really requires a wall thickness of 1.5mm as a minimum and that makes scratchbuilding masters more difficult. However, there is a LT Merlin/Swift in the 'back catalogue' somewhere as we have an AEC SMS lurking at Brooklands.

Yes - with the exception of the 18 prototype streamlined DMs which were converted into trailers as these cars retained the three saloon windows at the old cab end. Other than the underframe bits, the trailers and NDMs are essentially the same as the driving cars except that they have a trailing end [less guard's controls] at both ends. Regarding the 1938 BLs and the 30T flat wagons, I have heard nothing back at all from the resin casters. I will chase them up.

This is the screen shot of the 3D CAD model. All this and more exists in solid form at present. I am currently working on the bogie design but with the aid of the LT Museum, I have all the information I need to complete the design of these although given the requirement for 31-32inch diameter wheels, motorisation might be challenging.

If I can find a decent set of drawings [or even a prototype in a museum] a Leyland PD3 with the St Helen's front would be a possibility as I have already designed that front end on some LT breakdown tenders viz: The difficult bit was the radiator area. Converting this into a bus half cab would be pretty straightforward. However, the next model in the list is almost completed and that is the LT 1938 Tube Stock Driving Motor.

Interesting Jon - I've been designing 7mm road [and rail] models for the last 18 years - I don't recall anyone approaching me at a show ever asking about motorising one of my buses or lorries. Certainly something to think about down the line but probably too late in the design sequence for this particular model.