Arun Sharma

Fortunately those points amongst many others [such as dropping things from aircraft] are covered in the Air Navigation Order which allows all sorts of [otherwise censured] things if done for the purposes of attracting assistance or saving life

That's nice Tony. As it happens, I've just received back from the casters the lost-wax castings for the 7mm versions of the C3 and its B2X tender. The 7mm etches for the tender footplate and internal chassis should also be back from PPD very soon. The tender tank and toolboxes are Hi-Res 3D prints but I might get them done by CMA-CSL in resin if I release it as a kit.

Mine was fine - wrapper intact and magazine intact.

Sadly I have the same effect on YHs as well

Standard stock was scrapped in a variety of places - The most obvious places in terms of being towed over BR lines being Kettering, Rotherwas Junction, Tapton Junction, Kingsbury [near Tamworth] and [Birds of] Morriston. Plenty of photographic evidence exist - For example in Volume 2 of Brian Hardy's Photographic History of Standard Tube Stock.

An interesting point. I don't pretend to understand the laws relating to who may claim under insurance, but if everybody in Cornwall waiting for, or on a train who had been delayed or inconvenienced by that truck driver put in a claim on that driver's [or his/her company's] insurance, I am sure there would be some movement either on the bridge rebuilding or the diversionary line. As an aside, it follows that the identity of the driver and the relevant insurance company should immediately be made public so that 'ambulance-chasing' lawyers can get involved as quickly as possible. Indeed, the same principle might even apply every time one gets stuck in a tailback because someone in front has had a 'road traffic incident/collision'.

Today's letters' page in the Daily Telegraph has a letter making the point that a single vehicle bridge strike cut all rail services to Cornwall. It makes [again] a case for a diversionary route and strongly suggests restitution of the Bere Alston to Tavistock to Okehampton line. It also makes the point that as much of the trackbed still exists it would be cheaper than a completely new line using a new route.

Phil plans to be at the Reading O gauge trade show at beginning of December but that's the only show I'm aware of this year. The website [as Clive says] is being overhauled and most business is conducted over the phone .

Was it the 304s that were loaned to the Eastern region and operated out of Ilford in 1963-4? The units were in green livery but with a thin cream waist line.

It has also been done to the ex-WCML platforms at Carnforth

Perhaps they will rebuild the Great Ouse Viaduct into the centre of Brackley?

Apropos of nothing whatsoever and slightly OT, I have occasional reason to travel along the M42/M6 through Brum as well as the M6 toll. Regarding the true cost of transporting 'stuff' by HGV as opposed to rail, there are various extrapolations on Wiki that suggest the damaging impact of a 30ton plus HGV on a concrete road surface [compared to a family car] is somewhere vastly in excess of a simple comparison of their axle loadings and/or weight. The M6[T] obviously records how many private cars and HGVs use the road. Accepting that the HGVs tend to stay in the inside line, it ought to be possible to compare the damage rates per mile of comparable lengths of M6 and M6 [T] over time [as well as comparing inside with centre lane damage] to work out any excess damage caused by HGVs using a road. Whether such could be used as a basis for taxing vehicles by weight/damage caused is something best left to the Treasury. If we are to claim that it makes more sense to transport goods by rail than by HGV, then we need to start thinking about using actual costs to prove it.

Phil's website is being rebuilt so there's a few new kits that don't appear yet. The DMSO is the 7mm one though I will start on a 4mm version soon.

The class 487 trailer test build is now complete - This is in post-1980 blue livery at which date the aluminium paint on doors and ends was being replaced by white paint. Should be available from Radley Models in a couple of weeks. Delay in release due to having to replace the too flimsy resin bogies by lost wax brass ones. Additionally, the WM ends have had to be replaced by resin ones as the WM ones were cast by Graham Jones at NMRS and are obviously no longer available

Companies like Heljan have tried that with their O gauge models but that hasn't helped in the slightest when dealing with an epidemic of defective split Delrin gears in their earlier locos. Pre-production samples seen by the commissioners might not always match what is actually produced as part of the main production batch and there isn't much you can do about it other than perhaps to use a different supplier next time as Graham_Muz says.

Quality Control only matters to the manufacturer if the purchaser has the possibility of applying some form of sanction to the manufacturer. On the basis that the manufacturer: is a state-sponsored supplier [many of these 'private' companies are part of some PLA generals pension plan] is the only supplier is 6000 miles away has received full payment in advance of shipping goods will probably be manufacturing 3-pin plugs this time next week will have a different labour force this time next week There isn't anything that the purchaser can do about it and the purchaser knows it. Why is anyone surprised?

Yes-the resin mixture doesn't stick to the plastic used in Lego blocks. Lego blocks also produce a pretty good seal between layers.

Being a simple shape with a slight chamfer on the sloping edges, it lends itself to home resin casting. Here is the master with a few of its resin clones and the mould.

Trig columns are a regular feature found in the UK countryside. Generally found on the tops of hills but can really be found almost anywhere that had [when erected in the 1930s] clear lines of sight to other exposed areas. These days their function has been supplanted by aerial photography and GPS mapping so the concrete columns can be a bit eroded and grubby. The most common sort is the tapering white concrete column about four foot tall which sits on a concrete box that is usually buried but may or may not be exposed - especially on eroded peat moors. They were used essentially as known positions from which theodolite sightings could be made to similar structures at some distance away. Each one contains a bronze bench mark and ID plate with a brass/bronze sighting arrangement on top. Most, but not all, are marked on OS maps by a small triangle with a dot in the centre. One that isn't marked is S2640 at grid SE 08013 00439 about a mile to the NE of Crowden. I measured this one [pictured below] and have produced a couple of 3D printed 4mm versions that now grace Churminster and Stowe Magna but 7mm cast resin versions will shortly be available from Radley Models. A picture of the 7mm master is attached.

The 7mm Bedford RL should be available from Radley Models sometime in the next 7-10 days. A couple of photos of the completed kit are attached. This is a largely resin bodied kit with white metal wheels and lost wax brass castings for small delicate pieces. However, it also contains some etched parts - such as for the jerrican cages and the rear mudguards so a knowledge of folding and soldering thin etches would be useful. Thus I'd say, it's slightly more difficult than the average kit that I've designed. But it does make a nice model when finished!

Given that the route Didcot-Oxford-Bletchley-Bedford-St Neots-Cambridge links the GWML with the OWW, WCML, MML and ECML as well as routes to Harwich, it seems pretty clear that freight traffic might multiply dramatically. The twelve or so LCs between Bletchley and Bedford coupled with the high water table along that route does suggest that some serious engineering will be required before it becomes viable as an orbital avoiding route from South Coast / West Coast to North or East Coast.

For a long time the road hauliers didn't need to train their own drivers because of the large numbers of servicemen leaving HM Forces with an HGV licence. This is less and less common now.

You are presumably unaware that the inquest on the victims of the Ufton Nervet HST derailment recorded that the driver of the car deliberately parked on the level crossing intending to commit suicide. In which case whatever sound the train made would have made no difference at all to the outcome. Thus, I fear that I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

As of today, DS75 is now available in both 4mm and 7mm scales from Radley Models.

Another factor in electrifying Didcot to Oxford presumably indicates an eventual electrification of Oxford to Milton Keynes/Bedford/Cambridge i.e., resurrecting the freight electric spine concept.