runs as required

I'm sure you are right about that; thanks for the link. Having a day of waiting around Outpatients etc. (fortunately as carer today), I've quite enjoyed flipping through web sites on those 'street' cars My stab at a rather ungainly looking 2 door '37 Austin 10 with a straight back turned out to be a 4 door '36 Austin Sherborne (here) with an 'Airline' back. I hadn't realised Austin were heavily revising their 10hp range virtually every year through the thirties. There was a Ten four 'sports car' called a 'Ripley'- would that be the Ripley on the A610 (DH Lawrence coal mining country) or after "The Talented Mr Ripley" ? 1937 saw the introduction of the familiar 'Cambridge', supplanting that 'lame duck' Sherborne (students friends had both: the Sherborne stumbled erraticaly about between watering holes, a post grad nuclear physicist ran a much more modern feeling 'Cambridge' . The interesting Austin 10 is this picture from Graces Guide here This looks to be the beginning of the classic WWII staff car, used by the the Eighth Army right through the Italian Campaign. Designed by an Italian ! dh

Another go at the cream and green car it looks a) English mid 1930s b) like a close coupled 4 door fixed head coupe with sunshine roof Might it be a Rover 10 similar to one mid way through these interesting blog pics ? dh

Yes of course old Zodiacs - and Crestas (the two color car with the three tone effect). They were transport for our young family during the 3 month UK long leave we got every 2 or 3 years, depending on the overseas contract's "hardship" status. Step-father-in-law would find them for us around Peak Forest where he was signalman, my dad resented me parking them in his driveway along side his smart white Triumph 2000 nr Sevenoaks - with for sale tippexed onto the windscreen just before we left for Heathrow. Never more than £40 we always made a small profit selling them in the SE, after we'd notched up big mileages around the UK and down to Spain and Italy. In the days before speed limits, I can't recall any breakdowns with those big 3 speed old bangers. dh

Sorry can't help with the cream and green car a rather ungainly looking 2 door '37 Austin 10 with a straight back But also what is the car on the left of the Laira Sulzer pic? Front looks like a Triumph 2000 my dad had, but the back of the glasshouse doesn't look right. dh

lovely photographs

Copied from Castle Aching thread

Wey Aye! Where exactly did his father send him to do his famous Glasgow Engineering Apprenticeship ? In ability to switch into the lingo, there seems little difference between him and (apprentice welder) Billy Connolly, though I imagine NP must have been a Premium Apprentice of the Churchward/Ivatts/Bulleid variety. dh Sorry, i've just returned to copy this enquiry across to a thread I subsequently noted was wholly dedicated to RIP NP

I think this must have happened in our (mainly residential) NW corner of Gateshead about 20 years ago. We started being bothered by threatening letters and callers stepping out of big Commer vans bristling with rotating aerial gizmos - we kept our licence receipt on the shelf near the front door. The hassle continued about 3 or years or so 2 Regarding the dismemberment of the Beeb: How many rmWebbers have needed to depend upon 'tuning in' to the World Service during their career ? Quite a few times I've been caught up in local political events while working abroad: Starting with: The Six Day War, then Coups d'etat (3 times); the Cold War campaigns in Southern Africa until the release of Nelson Mandela; short wars between adjoining States (also 3 times). Each time the Beeb was the only reliable source of info. in English My first employers gave me a small allowance for a list of overseas kit including a short wave receiver to take in my bag. I still enjoy following the WS news and commentary programmes targeted to Asian, Levantine, African and panAmerican longitudes over the 24 hour cycle. Guys like Fergel Keane I think are heroes. I once had to be a local Consul responsible for evacuating expat families (on the orders of the VC of the overseas Uni. I was contracted to) The British High Commission in the capital was useless during a violent army Coup - the BHC radio was u/s - we all had to cluster around the Beeb on short wave to help us come to a collective decision (to stay put). I wouldn't trust a half way competent Foreign Office - witness its advice to Brits trapped at present in Wuhan. dh

Mmm ... ... looks like HS2 decision time - all the rage yesterday - has been overtaken in No, 10’s 24 hr strategic decision cycle by Wuhan, Huawei (and scary Mike Pompeo). Just time for some last minute lobbying from rmweb to tip the balance ?

*I respect you for that "massive geographic coverage / manpower / materials" suggests to me that this is a contract that can reasonably be subject to "variation". Which further supports those of us who anticipate that the political decision will be to go ahead but with lower speeds and pruning. dh

Our very terrifying Postie is always ready to reassure us that her bro. (in the SAS ?) taught her how to kill by simply poking hard with her finger - or with a well aimed knee for lesser offences. We all keep on the right side of her. dh

Shouldn't it have been the ghost of a Leyland National posed on the bridge in Jack Mc's post ? I'd ring all the bells along Tynedale once the last Pacer has gone to the cutters' torches; their shrieking has given me decades of migraines dh

A Realpolitik comment on the state of play. As is the news about the continued cutting of central grants to Local Authorities in deprived areas outside the South East in favour of 30% additions to longtime Conservative voting areas such as Wokingham, East~Sussex and Northants; Surrey a gain of £35M. Co Durham gets a £10M hit to services in Sedgefield, Bishop Auckland and Consett/Stanley the New Blue areas. Birmingham and West Bromwich get reductions too, despite the Conservative Mayor; this reinforces the Mayor's difficulty in trying to co-ordinate WM transport. The reason? The cutting of the cake was done before the December election ! dh

I found Northmoor's L&M quote very thought provoking particularly about the HS2 eastern extension on to Leeds (by 2040 !). The York & North Midland was of course where the Stephensons made their fortune and where George died in retirement as a country squire. And they made their money from the mines they happened upon and opened up in excavating the line past Ambergate - and by developing further the Butterley Company. That whole tract of land east of the Pennines through past Sheffield to Leeds will be unstable geologically and made more so due to mining history. The Midland was always hampered by speed restrictions and subsidence. Will such terrain present a huge engineering challenge in delivering High Speed track? Or can there be a realisation that actually such 'difficult' terrain will be the norm when threading new alignments right across the northern counties: Lancashire/Cheshire and Yorkshire - from Liverpool to the line of the A1M and north from Runcorn to Preston and Hellifield to Harrogate then up through County Durham and Cleveland to Tyne and Wear. I wonder whether it could not be possible (thinking Chat Moss) to devise some kind of pw that could be 'floated' across terrain that would also deliver noise control and protection against winter exposure - a sort of 3D skeletal Bailey Bridge sequence to support OHL and create a visual line through northern landscapes (which, bear in mind, will be heavily forested as well as more urbanised within 29 years). As a precedent: Italian construction technology has evolved very characteristic post-stressed concrete post and beam elevated systems that thread new railway lines many kilometres through some of their most treasured Tuscan and Umbrian landscapes. dh "Well folks, thats all - back to the Asylum" (Reginald Gardiner 1937)

I'm very sorry that my quoting you about Cancellation gave you that impression - I meant just the opposite! You have an elevated monitor status role as an rmweb Mod keeping an eye on us name-calling Standard class oiks. Also as editor of a rail periodical, you are indeed a "Journalist"- and despite a good many posters abusing mere "journalists" in the preceding 200 pages, I believe you must have 'a late night in the bar' sense for the current rail consensus on HST’s chances. I still think it interesting to see where the most prolific posters on this thread would put their money about rail’s future within the government’s policy for its new post-election Britain. Is Cancellation and Do Nothing really the majority view about the political outcome? dh

I thought Sarah Smith dealt very calmly with the undeniably disastrous trail of DAFT/HS2 Ltd project management decisions. Prof Tony Travers is the Generalist I have come to trust on macro infrastructural issues. Listen to his summation here on R4 Today at 2hrs.38 into the recording that it has now to be a political decision between HS2 and its extensions with its known faults and other yet to be projected infrastructural investment. ------ My bet is that BJ will opt for a fudge political Decision, rather than have another kick at the can . Might it be an 'Announcement' stressing how 'green' he is with: a go-ahead for a pruned down HS2 (satisfying the Victoria Prentis MPs) that slows down the first Bucks/Oxon stretch to Bhm International; substitutes Euston and Curzon St terminal stations with multi-use city centre Property developments that offset the cost of clearance and site works already carried out. (cutting back to cheapo portal frame sheddery at Old Oak Common ). strengthens West Midlands Conurbation transport linkages (London style from his mayor days) passes control of HS2a etc. to a renamed Northern Powerhouse regional governance - north from Bham to Manchester/Liverpool, Leeds - and the rest of us. What do others think will be the decision?

Divisions in this mainly technocrat thread seem to be between: those with contemporary technical expertise in rail engineering - with General Management (train running) predominating those with wider experience on a spectrum from engineering via urban management to economic policy; political viewpoints and on into the environmental sciences. The common ground between us all is that public policy must curtail high energy consuming private journeys that threaten existential sustainability. My position on this firmed up on Christmas Eve while a passenger in an all electric car travelling on the M40 in heavy traffic from junction 10 ( A34) down to Paddington to collect an aged friend. Nihilistic motorway driving during this trip was more blatant than I have ever witnessed before in Britain: highly expensive cars constantly weaving dangerously right across the lanes - often with young guys laughing as they cut people up We unanimously decided HS2 should be the M40 - totally converted to electric railway ... PROBLEM SOLVED dh

Bravo ... How many could actually claim that? Charles I, Mussolini on a lamp post ? Napoleon in St Helena ? Death where is thy mystery ? dh

That would be someone like me who spent twenty odd years regularly travelling Newcastle or York to Bristol along the classic old Midland mainline. It raises an aspect I haven't seen addressed so far: through journeys that may partly involve HST 2,3&4 new builds and existing (upgraded) lines . If they are going to be separately "branded" and ticketed entities, it is going to be a nightmare plotting journeys from anywhere north and west of say the new Oxbridge line to anywhere north and east of Brum. So travelling around the future carbon neutral "Northern Powerhouse" could still be spent wondering "Do I actually have the right ticket for this service?" Wife's long dead Uncle Loftus was able to "Let theTrain Take the Strain" with a 'Contract' for the 'club train': stumbling aboard at Manchester Vic. already half pickled, arriving home completely blotto! dh

But you pointed out earlier that Curzon St is convenient for Moor St, and the Snow Hill cut and fill tunnel. So the logic of a much cheaper through station at International (rather than Water Orton) makes sense because the conurbation can be accessed by WM Regional Transport from International to Snow Hill and onward at a much more localised network scale. 2 The Tory opposition to HS2 is led by Victoria Prentis MP for N Oxfordshire interviewed today on R4 World at One (30.40 - 34.40). As one might expect she expresses a “too much is already happening in our neck of the woods” argument (including the Varsity Line linear city) and is trying to recruit the new blue collar Tories into her lobbying. Her alternative is a National cycle network - and, you’ve guessed it - “shovel ready” rail connection projects up north. All agreed with Tony Travers's summation that the decision will be "Political" rather than "cost effective". Again I ask ... nominate three such schemes already “shovel ready “ ? I’d suggest that even a connecting chord is likely to have a 5 year lead time these days in UK. dh

That used to be true up to December - but the new blue collar Tory right of centre politicians are the ones likely to lever BJ into announcing the go-ahead. But all (of every political slant) want a proper rail upgrade inter-connecting Northern urban conurbations either side of the Pennines and on up to the NE - long overdue. I read frequently now of "shovel ready" infrastructure - presumably all capable of implementation by the next election. What rail projects best fit this description of appealing to the new blue collar voters? dh

What we seem to be learning is that Politics trumps Economics. I bet a lot of 'infrastructure' gets announced for new blue collar Tory locations - including HS2. dh

Some lovely images posted Annie, since i last visited. I agree about digital imaging facilitating striking snow scenes, but how satisfying also that you have such rich street views and haunting pier scenes hidden away in your virtual layouts. The four mast sailing ship standing off the pier and the figures reminded me of Caspar David Friedrich's melancholy paintings 2 GER carriages and lighting Those who know far more about rolling stock will put me right, but I seem to remember from riding steam suburban GER carriages in East London before Nationalisation that the lighting was gas - so less bright, and that partitions between compartments were only the height of the upholstered seats. As school kids we could stand on the seats and look over (through the string luggage rack) and annoy the other compartments. Might that be easier for you to model digitally? dh PS We have the first snow drops of spring outside now after an awful wet & windy winter, so cooler days may not be too far away for you'

And would "Brexit" have happened earlier without the European War? The US with Teddy Roosevelt and the like setting up its own 'colonial empire' was pretty "America First". Also many a British Mech. Eng. had been persuaded of the superiority of US engineering and train running. We might already be an offshore European US state ! dh

What an interesting thread. References to ‘definition of a Bailey Bridge’ made me realised I’d never properly delved back into BBs’ origins. Here is a Wiki link about its origins: not actually being mass produced until July 1941! And with a disputed provenance too! The wiki claims BBs featured in my childhood because one of our Scout assistant District Commissioners (a former member of the Troop himself) was the local blacksmith who’d become very wealthy during the war as a Bailey Bridge contractor. As such he was always rather shunned by the rest of our Pennine Mill village because he’d not had a “proper war”. I found him a kindly man who took our local Troop camping all over north Wales and the Lakes in his war-time long wheel-base Bedford open truck at his own expense. He really liked to stay with us 'wild camping' in his own little tent using his giant pair of Airedales as pillows. In the last years of Scotswood's vastly long Vickers tank factory, production seemed to be mainly of tracked bridge carrying veicles. Perhaps the Langwathby bridge (posted above) will be renewed in the promised post-election infrastructure handout for the north. dh