Ian Hargrave

Wot sun,guv? Grey blanket here.News that son & grandson flu'-bound on Tyneside & visit by grandson to include trip to RSC production of "Peter Pan and Wendy" is up the creek.Heigh ho...his first solo visit to grandma & grandpa too.Disappointing....but g&g will probably revisit childhood on their own & keep our seats at least.Getting a 'phone line through for possible resale is proving to be its usual nightmare and Elizabeth only needs half an excuse for a trip to Stratford,anyway.So....make the best of a bad job.

Just enjoy....Bergen looks to be a lovely town to spend some time.Not been there,but is photogenic. Could always visit Griegs house ?Hope your umbrellas won't see too much action.

Is that the Hurtigruten route ? Nice... the Lofoten Islands are lovely,if bleak.You are doing the trip in part darkness,then. One advantage is that you avoid the midges of an overland journey in midsummer. Give my regards to the Lapps & their reindeer..and to Hammerfest,if the ship calls there.A fabulous coastline,as I recall.

Did you see Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Channel4 "Scandimania" programme on Norway on Sunday evening ? It featured Bergen,Hardanger Fjord and the rail journey from Bergen to Oslo.This has been the subject of a so-called "slow TV" documentary In Norway.Hope one of our channels buys it or we can get it on DVD.It quite whet my appetite for paying a return visit to Norway.As students in 1962,we drove all the way up the spine of Norway from south to north.....Oslo,Tromso,Bodo to Hammerfest in a VW camper van....8 of us.From a rail fan point of view,the one memory I have is of camping near the Arctic railway and hearing the sound of a whistle and then seeing an NSB loco,with spark arrester chimney appear at the head of a single coach train. Like a scene from Doctor Zhivago.( which of course had not then been made ) Hope you will make that rail journey....or at least an alternative.The Scandinavian countries are breathtakingly beautiful....and eye wateringly expensive,I'm afraid.We had a few days in Stockholm in August of 2011. Treated ourselves to a meal out in a cellar restaurant in the Gammlastan...the old part of town.It's owned by the committee that awards the Nobel Literature prize. Very nice,great cuisine.....3 courses,pint of beer and bottle of Cote du Rhone ...bill comes to approx £220.Anyway....enjoy Norway .Going soon ?

Wholeheartedly agree...especially considering the premium price paid for it. I had my own Hornby nemesis over this weekend .For that,see the Duke of Gloucester thread. Too much to expect not to be affected in some way by the fallout of c##p from Margate.I should have known better. The only way of dealing with this is to suspend disbelief with a sardonic chuckle.

Bachmann are themselves acutely aware of the issues with this release.Judging from past performance when similar difficulties arose.....the problems with fitting a DCC chip in the ROD,for instance....they won't release D369 until they are satisfied the bugs have been dealt with.I have a high regard for their customer relations on past experience,going back to 2001/2 when my A1 'Aberdonian' was returned by Barwell to China for remotoring

Easier to try the wailing wall of Jerusalem,Bob.

Not just the Stars. Tune in to the latest DoG postings.....in glorious technicolor.'Quality C......? '

Singing in a choir..when all is going well...is the nearest I can imagine to flying without wings,especially JSB.Our next work for performance is Handel's 'Samson',famous for an aria forever linked with THAT 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana and sung then by the wonderful Kiri te Kanawa,'Let The Bright Seraphim'.Handel casts her as 'An Israelitish Woman'.....only a walk-on part,apparently.Sight reading is wonderful for the grey cells as one ages and gives you a feelgood sensation all round.Almost as involving as trains,really......

and now.....for something completely different,here in E.Staffs / S.Derbys,it's...... snowing.Plague of locusts next up.

The backscene gives it a depth and dimension that lends an immediacy to an arresting end to ender that was a highlight for me at Doncaster this weekend.100% effective....and in no way does it take your eye off the board__rather it focuses them on it.I speak as one who viewed the Dudley Hill more times than he cares to remember during his working life.A layout of artistic merit,I think.

Quite correct.Diagrammed for a Longsight (9A) Class 40....usually,so due to reliability issues the Jubilees referred to would have put in the odd appearance.Thus,On 29/04/1961,I record D222(9A) on the working at St.Pancras,working alongside Jubilees,Scots and newly constructed Peaks.

No,I don't live in the West Country,I live in the Midlands.The road network in Devon and Cornwall is ,as anyone will tell you,not of the best.I did not refer to holidaymakers using trains....my comments are based solely on travel for employment and commercial reasons.My statement referring to economic depression,I firmly stand by.For young people,especially in Cornwall,there is no work...ask any local. When local people maintain they are left out in rail infrastructure development,they have a sound case.Are you suggesting that we revert to the type of rail connection that serves remote areas of Wales and Scotland ? Force of public opinion simply will not allow anything other than restoration of through rail connections with the rest of the UK. Really,can the road network cope in the long term ? I thought this was the new age of the train.Simply that communities are less populated than others does not exclude them from the benefits of the rest of society. A functioning rail link means a healthy society..not one that withers on the vine.

What you and others singularly fail to grasp is that,despite the fact that this is a prime holiday destination,it is also an economically depressed one.....so,enough of the Marie Antoinette...'Let them drive a Rolls....'.For that,I suggest we substitute 'Let them find a job'.Many youngsters migrate in order to do just that....because there are no prospects for them there. Although it may be incomprehensible to you and others,there is,in fact,life outside the overweight Southeast.....and it needs its main line as a lifeline and,hopefully, for future regeneration.If their fares are cheaper than yours,then all well and good....you should be grateful that you are able to subsidise those a good deal worse off than you are....through no fault of their own.

If it is a joke,it is in the worst possible taste...and a gross insult to the many who are suffering homelessness and severe economic hardship as a result of this dreadful disaster.A 'little Englander' attitude,I'm afraid.....and no joking matter.Godspeed to a quick and safe restoration of the line. Devon and Cornwall are still part of the UK,are they not?

No pain........no gain.

Now that would be a thing of wonder....with a re-chassied A4,of course....zero chance of completely new tooling I would have thought.Still,one can dream...

Why non-corridor? It certainly does have LMS corridor stock,although it must be said not to current standards. Certainly good enough to pass muster in a 1920's express.Anyway,Bachmann's Midland Compound is a glorious model...a real head turner in any livery.A seductive package.

Smart marketing.....WW1 Ambulance train ...to complement Hornby's Star troop train,perhaps ? Hope they sell well on this theme,at least,and not go the way of the Olympic offerings.A cheery start to the weekend after a dismal,wet Friday. Bachmann do have a habit of springing surprises.Good news I think and a shot in the arm that's needed right now.

Have you had a good look at the Star and seen it run,Craig ? Despite all that has been said of it,it's not half a bad model...in fact if you fit etched plates,which are a must,it's very good indeed.It is priced in the same range as the Dukedog,which is a fine model,as we all agree.There is ,however,a significant difference in performance....and here,the Star is significantly better.Tweaking the Dukedog to improve is,of course,dealt with on this forum.What I am saying is....don't close your mind....have a look for yourself,if you haven't already done so.I speak as one who remembers the Stars in their twighlight years in the late 1940's and early 1950's

Hope it's a Hornby B1..a fabulous model.Whatever...enjoy!

Star R 3167/ 3167X arriving from the east....Hornby e-mail now.

Can't say for sure how.I seem to remember reports in 'Trains Illustrated' 's 'Motive Power Miscellany' (remember that?) about their travels at the time.They did have a history of working far into LMR territory....going back into the 1950's.There were regular summer Saturday workings along the North Wales coast line to Llandudno by them.....one from Leicester GC,I think...but others too.In the last years of steam locos wandered sometimes far off their usual haunts.I remember anotherB1 turning up at Bristol Temple Meads in late 1962 (failed Peak diesel,I think) on a working from Sheffield. Regards,Ian.

No....workings by March B1's into Crewe were not uncommon then...difficult as it might be to believe.Well and truly working.

You might just squeeze in with the next release...full on indicator- nosed D 369 (1B ),spotted by me at Crewe in September 1963 on the same day and same place as 61233 ( 31B ) ,73036 ( 89A ) and 45512 (12B )