Invicta Informant

The three 'World Series' events 'down under' were won by Michael van Gerwen (Queensland Darts Masters), Jonny Clayton (New South Wales Darts Masters), and Gerwyn Price (New Zealand Darts Masters). These tournaments, plus the three previous 'World Series' events (US Darts Masters, Nordic Darts Masters, and Dutch Darts Masters) determined the seeding for the World Series of Darts Finals, a 24-player tournament due to take place in Amsterdam between 16th and 18th September. This non-ranking tournament will be broadcast on ITV4. September will also see three European Tour events take place, Hungarian Darts Trophy (2nd-4th), German Darts Open (9th-11th), and Belgian Darts Open (23rd-25th). The next major is the World Grand Prix (the double-in in Dublin) at the Morningside Arena, Leicester, running between 3rd and 9th October, broadcast on Sky Sports. The usual venue before Covid, the Citywest in Dublin, is still not available.

According to both UK Model Shop Directory and the organising club's (the Folkestone, Hythe & District MRC) own website, the exhibition is still going ahead. The last update on their 2022 show page was on 12th August: https://folkestonemrc.wordpress.com/our-exhibition/2022-exhibition/

I and my brother thoroughly enjoyed this event, and was the first time we have managed to visit the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway in 12 years. Good selection of layouts and a pleasant atmosphere all round.

Absolutely. But considering some of the stories I read in Private Eye, I am also not surprised at the same time.

A word of warning for those planning to arrive from the direction of Sittingbourne and the M2, that Primrose Lane (the main road north of Bredgar village) is closed due to gas main replacement works, according to the one.network website, which is very handy for checking out road works.

I can definitely recommend HITC Sevens' content. He certainly does his research and digs deeper into the problems with certain clubs more than other YouTubers and indeed journalists.

The 24 Hours of Spa is on this weekend and will feature a 66 car field, all in GT3-spec machinery. The race is being streamed on YouTube. British Touring Cars are back from their Summer break this weekend at Knockhill. The coverage is split (for some reason) between ITV1 and ITV4. Plus, there is IndyCar action from the Indianapolis Road Course, which can be viewed on Sky Sports. The situation between the reigning champion (and championship contender) Alex Palou and his team Chip Ganassi Racing is bizarre to say the least.

The World Matchplay concluded last Sunday (24th) with Michael van Gerwen beating Gerwyn Price 18-14 in the final. Van Gerwen is now 3rd in the world rankings and Price returning to 1st in the world rankings. There was also a women's tournament for the first time, consisting of 8 players, which saw Fallon Sherrock defeating Aileen de Graaf in the final 6-3. The upcoming tournaments in August are three 'behind closed doors' Players Championship events in Barnsley next week, and three fly-away 'World Series' events in Townsville, Queensland, Wollongong, New South Wales, and Hamilton, New Zealand. The World Series events, which will be shown on ITV4, are due to feature Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, James Wade, Jonny Clayton, Joe Cullen, Dimitri van den Bergh (replacing Peter Wright who is having treatment for gallstones), Fallon Sherrock, Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock, and local qualifiers from the PDC's Australian and New Zealand affiliate tours.

Yes, Axford was built by Dave & Shirley Rowe. A Lineside Look At Model Railways is available to view on YouTube, but split into three parts. Axford is in this part between 6:26 and 10:51.

To me, 'Older Inspirational Layouts' that come to mind are the ones that featured in the programmes A Lineside Look At Model Railways and Another Lineside Look At Model Railways both presented and narrated by Bob Symes. Bearing in mind the layouts featured were filmed in the 1980s, I am still impressed at what was achieved considering the modelling resources that were available back then. Often than not, they had to try and make something out of nothing and from materials outside the modelling genre. The layouts featured in the two programmes were Bigston, the Daventry Garden Railway, Chiltern Green, Chesil Bay, Wyndlesham Cove, Axford, Rye Harbour, Borchester Market, Bevleys, Bromford & High Peak, Petherick, Ashdon & Midport, Combe Mellin, Wheal Louise, Filisur, and Port Sandford Harbour, with the credits mentioning the modellers Geoff Bigmore, Bryan Burchell, Tim Watson, Mike Hayward, Barry Norman, Dave & Shirley Rowe, Martin Brent, Frank Dyer, Dave Lowery, Ken Ashberry, David Simmonite, Robert Tivendale, Barry Kelsall, Colin Monk and Geoff Drew.

To follow this up, I received my replacement Ballymoss last week and it has been running flawlessly. And no loose bits of detailing in the box either. Thank you very much Accurascale for your excellent customer and after care service. It is much appreciated.

I heard about BBC Rewind by chance and I thought, what model railway, or railways in general, content is there available? Two clips of interest are both from Nationwide, one from April 1974 which interviews Colonel Ronnie Hoare (though the description misspells his name as 'Hall') about his model railway collection, and the other one from March 1981 which looks 'behind the scenes' of the Keyser (or 'K's' as they are often known) factory. https://www.bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60785b47cb999e001fcb189e?q=model railway https://www.bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60bf3a5fc69ade0020ef37cd?q=model railway I also found part of an episode of Making Tracks from October 1993 which shows footage from various steam-hauled main line runs and a look at the Great Central Railway before the double track section was fully completed. https://www.bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/608293b63d5c93001f9d9578?q=making tracks

The World Matchplay (the PDC's second-most prestigious major) kicks-off this weekend on Saturday 16th July running through to Sunday 24th July. 32 players will be looking to get their name on the Phil Taylor Trophy and a share of £800,000 prize pool (£10,000 just for qualifying for the tournament and £200,000 to the winner). Here is the draw bracket: (1) Peter Wright (SCO) Vs Madars Razma (LAT) (16) Krzysztof Ratajski (POL) Vs Stephen Bunting (ENG) (8) Jonny Clayton (WAL) Vs Rowby-John Rodriguez (AUT) (9) Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) Vs Callan Rydz (ENG) (4) Michael van Gerwen (NED) Vs Adrian Lewis (ENG) (13) Joe Cullen (ENG) Vs Damon Heta (AUS) (5) James Wade (ENG) Vs Martin Lukeman (ENG) (12) Luke Humphries (ENG) Vs Nathan Aspinall (ENG) (2) Gerwyn Price (WAL) Vs Martin Schindler (GER) (15) Dave Chisnall (ENG) Vs Kim Huybrechts (BEL) (7) Jose de Sousa (POR) Vs Gabriel Clemens (GER) (10) Rob Cross (ENG) Vs Chris Dobey (ENG) (3) Michael Smith (ENG) Vs Andrew Gilding (ENG) (14) Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED) Vs Ryan Searle (ENG) (6) Gary Anderson (SCO) Vs Daryl Gurney (NIR) (11) Danny Noppert (NED) Vs Brendan Dolan (NIR) Sadly the sport saw the passing of the commentator and sports broadcaster John Gwynne on Saturday 9th July. He was a member of the PDC's Hall of Fame and was part of Sky Sports' commentary team (which also included Sid Waddell and Dave Lanning) for the first 20 World Championships and first 20 World Matchplays.

This weekend will see the racing debut of Peugeot's 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar at the 6 Hours of Monza. Brits Paul di Resta and James Rossiter are part of the team (in different cars), with Frenchmen Jean-Eric Vergne and Loic Duval, Dane Mikkel Jensen, and American Gustavo Menezes. From Autosport magazine and their website, images have been released of Porsche's LMDh contender (the 963), and of Ferrari's as yet unnamed Le Mans Hypercar. With the number of manufactures scheduled to join the top class in the WEC and/or the IMSA, sports car racing seems to be in healthier state compared to other racing series.

Hi John, thanks for taking an interest in the thread and in what I think is an underrated sport. There is a list on Wikipedia (so it may not be 100% accurate) that lists all the televised nine-dart finishes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dart_finish The more famous nine-dart legs to me are the ones achieved by: John Lowe in the 1984 MFI World Matchplay where he won £102,000 and then another £12,000 for winning the tournament (and that was on a board with staples and much thicker wires); Paul Lim in the 1990 BDO World Championship where he won £52,000 (more than the £24,000 that Phil Taylor got for winning the tournament); Phil Taylor in the 2002 World Matchplay where he won £100,000 and another £15,000 for winning the tournament; Phil Taylor, twice, in the 2010 Premier League Darts Final (Stephen Fry even presented him the winner's trophy); Brendan Dolan in the 2011 World Grand Prix, which is double-in, double-out (meaning that the leg has to start or finish with a 50/Bullseye); James Wade and Robert Thornton, against each other, in the 2014 World Grand Prix. The bonuses for throwing a nine-dart leg seems to have been discontinued in recent years as the standard of the game has come on leaps and bounds, making a nine-darter a more common occurrence. The more common nine-dart leg is Triple 20 x3, Triple 20 x3, Triple 20, Triple 19 and Double 12.

Bletchinghurst (see image below) is actually a OO gauge layout. It and Scrapworth End are Erith MRS Club Members' layouts.

I went on Saturday. Got to Sheffield Park early enough to have breakfast in the Bessemer Arms (opens at 8:30am on the weekends). I personally found the model railway show somewhat underwhelming. Some very decent layouts, but nothing that really stood out for me I'm afraid. At least visitors over the weekend got see bits of the railway at Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes that are normally not open to the public. I and my brother, mum and aunt all had nice day out with two round trips on the railway. Seeing and riding behind a visiting engine, Modified Hall No. 6989 Wightwick Hall from the Buckingham Railway Centre, was a bit of a unexpected bonus. Resident Standard Class 5 No. 73082 Camelot was the other engine in service.

You mean this one?

Full details can be found here: https://www.bluebell-railway.com/model-railway-weekend/

The club recently celebrated our 60th Anniversary with a small 'do' at Shooters Hill Golf Club.

Ballymoss arrived on the 17th and on the 23rd I had to sent it back. It seemed fine at first after running in on a rolling road, but it started being non-responsive on my test track on the 21st and I tried it again on my club's test track and same thing happened. The power light on the controllers (I run on analogue) would get dimmer the more I turned the controllers dials, which indicates to me the model must be shorting out somewhere. The returns/exchange process was very painless I am glad to say, but it is a shame I had to do this. I am currently awaiting a repair or replacement. Nimbus arrived on the 21st and has been running faultlessly (thus far) but has a minor decoration issue (orange specks where there shouldn't be) on one side, but I think I can put up with it. This model I was able to run properly at the club test track and can haul 9 Bachmann MK1s and a Hornby Pullman Observation Car with ease. Overall the models are quality products and I feel Accurascale will only improve as time goes on.

To catch up on things, Australia (represented by Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta) won the World Cup of Darts defeating Wales (represented by Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton) in the final. This tournament was the first time that all eight seeds reached the quarter finals. England were knocked out by the eventual winners Australia in the semi finals. The Australians dedicated their victory to their compatriot Kyle Anderson (known for winning the 2017 Auckland Darts Masters, throwing a nine dart leg in the 2014 World Darts Championships, but still losing his match, and representing Australia four times in the World Cup of Darts) who passed away aged 33 in August 2021. The Dutch Darts Masters started yesterday (24th June) and concludes this evening (25th). This can be viewed on ITV4. Michael van Gerwen is back from surgery, which was more on his wrist than his arm. But he still lost to Danny Noppert. The next major tournament is the World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool between 16th and 24th July, on Sky Sports.

One thing that has been a good watch over the past few days on YouTube is the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Also on this weekend is British Touring Cars from Croft, MotoGP from Assen in the Netherlands, World Touring Car from Aragon in Spain, and the Safari Rally from Kenya is back on the World Rally Championship calendar.

This wagon was commissioned by my club, the Erith Model Railway Society, as part of the club's 50th Anniversary back in 2012 (we turn 60 this year). It is in fact the second such wagon the club had commissioned from Bachmann. The first one was a pristine 8 ton Shepherd Neame & Co. ventilated van, running No. 3, Product No. 38-375Z. 38-375U is the same model, but factory weathered and has the running No. 4. The only other Shepherd Neame wagons on the market (that I know of) were produced by Dapol.

I am surprised nobody has commented about build-up of and the race itself of the Le Mans 24 Hours race that took place this weekend just gone. Out of the 62 that started, 53 got a classified finish, which is a pretty good attrition rate by Le Mans standards. Next year's race is on the weekend of 10th & 11th June 2023, which will be the 91st running of the race and the 100th anniversary of the very first one. And there should be more manufacturers in the top class next year. Toyota and Glickenhaus should be joined by Peugeot and Ferrari with their Hypercars, and Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche with their LMDh cars, with Alpine and Lamborghini due to join in the fray in 2024.