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Reorte

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Everything posted by Reorte

  1. There's a little bit of freight on the West Highland too, the aluminium trains to Fort William. Don't think there's any log traffic any more though (would love to be proved wrong).
  2. It's true that people do commonly refer to VED as road tax, so it makes sense for gov.uk to say that. It's not claiming it's accurate but it does mean that people who are reading it know which payment they've got to make it's talking about.
  3. Including those parts of the road network that don't pay for themselves and never could... On the railways Beeching's been mentioned, but I don't think it's all that controversial a view that, even if you put aside the erroneous assumptions made (e.g. not accounting for the feeder traffic from branch lines and assuming people wouldn't just stay in the car rather than driving further to a station) more lines should've stayed open than did, even if the economic case wasn't quite there. But it's also not a particularly controversial view that there were plenty of lines that couldn't and shouldn't, as unfortunate as that was. The right balance should've been, again (IMO) economic factors certainly having a big part to play, but not being the only one.
  4. And of course you can get cars where although there is a rate it's zero (mine is, and frankly I find that a bit absurd, although of course there's still all the tax paid on the petrol).
  5. edit: replying to two posts ago (another reply appeared whilst I was typing) And that's all well and good. I'm more than happy to pay taxes to contribute towards things I believe make the country a better place to live in even if they can't stand on their own two feet otherwise (which isn't solely just ones I personally benefit from). Obviously there have to be some limits there - the whole point about the economic considerations being limiting factors and a means to an end - but as a general concept, great. At the extreme it probably would make more economic sense just to let some people starve but who wants to live in a world where that would be seen as right and proper? And just because that's an extreme doesn't mean the same principle can't apply to less extreme scenarios. Now I'm not trying to argue that the particular proposal in this thread should therefore go ahead, just that the "it doesn't make economic sense" isn't an argument against it in its own right (although "it makes little economic sense to a very excessive degree" would).
  6. A bit one extreme or the other there don't you think? I.e. exactly what I was getting at. Do we only pay for schools because ultimately there's an economic return? Libraries? Parks? It should've also been very clear that I wasn't saying "economic considerations don't matter at all," since I pretty much spelled that out.
  7. There are more kinds of sense than economic sense. Indeed, just looking at the economics isn't sense at all IMO; economic factors and considerations are enabling and limiting factors, they're something you need to have a good grasp of when determining whether or not something's even viable, but they're a means to an end and shouldn't ever be the end itself. Sometimes we get a better world when economic considerations play second fiddle.
  8. Harry Potter is no doubt a very useful tool for bringing in business, they don't need to risk treading on any legal toes to make use of that perception of it (although you could certainly argue that their headbutting with the ORR shows that they're happy enough to do that even when they're on a hiding to nothing). Probably helps that the train's been running since before Harry Potter made it more popular.
  9. Considerably less characterless than what's followed. Travelling over 25 mph in them doesn't bother me in the slightest, although that assumes they're in decent condition and not rotting apart by now. In any case what's the line speed on the Mallaig extension? We're not exactly talking ECML. Obviously there's a limit on how much I'd be prepared to pay but other than that there's nothing offputting.
  10. The arch over the surviving lines seems to have been replaced with concrete too :(
  11. If it feels like some want to shut WCRC down it's only because WC keep treading on toes and dragging their heels and generally giving the impression of not being a responsible operator. I said it earlier it's the job of an operator to follow the rules (they can argue against them, just as long as they follow them), and WCRC don't appear to be all that keen to do so. And whilst I'd more than happily travel on a train without locked doors (indeed, I'd prefer to) I'd have serious doubts about travelling on one belonging to a company that seems unwilling to meet the requirements - if they can't be bothered on one I'm not concerned about what are the chances that they're not bothering on one that I very much would be? So it's no wonder some people appear to have it in for them.
  12. A big thanks for stepping up to fill a gap, here's hoping it's a success for many years to come.
  13. Personally I find it depends on the grot (well, to look at, not really tried to model much). Dirty stone, mills, soot, yes, concrete, litter, graffiti, no.
  14. Spent a year living in Hunsonby. Well, on and off since I was at university at the time so I was just back there for the holidays. I took the train from Langwathby several times to get back. Always liked Hunsonby, felt it belonged to a different century what with the goat grazing on the green. Not far from Long Meg, for a bit more rail interest, not that there was much left to see of it by the time I was living there.
  15. IIRC they weren't particularly adequate (at least the ones I travelled on weren't) for the numbers when first introduced. This was on the Manchester - Scotland route. At least they were better than the 185s that followed (1/3 2/3 doors and three carriages after Preston wasn't ever a good quality regional service from the off). At least they actually seemed capable of running up the hills even when jammed full of people though.
  16. Never found the Voyagers to be too terrible (by modern train standards) if they weren't crowded, the problem with them is that they're frequently far too crowded. I do remember thinking of them as commuter trains with ideas above their station when they first appeared.
  17. Always said that 3D printing isn't a replacement for anything but an additional tool in the box.
  18. There's no such thing as a "proper" modeller. There are people who are much more skilled than others (I'm both envious of them and appreciate what they're capable of), but that doesn't make them more "proper." I'm also happy saying that some models and some layouts are better than others. There's a large degree of subjectivity in there of course, but that's always true of the word "better." The only fact is that my better may well not be someone else's. As for disparaging remarks about hobbies and interests they're never worthwhile. There are things I'm simply not interested in, but the only ones I'll sneer at are those that are deliberately damaging (i.e. someone who's idea of a good way of spending time involves leaving a heap of litter behind, or smashed windows or painted scrawls on someone else's wall).
  19. Any particular reason why it was removed now? Siding needed (whether as a siding, or pulled up and replaced with something else)?
  20. Arguably you're buying bits and putting them together regardless, whether it's bits of brass and plastic, or buildings and rolling stock. Do whatever you want to and don't let anyone sneer at you for it - Rule 1 applies!
  21. Indeed, we're nowhere near it being available as an affordable, off-the-shelf product, or even something a competent electronics and computer amateur could build themselves, but the way such technology advances today's difficult, complex, expensive wow often becomes tomorrow's mundane, so it's not at all implausible that at some point down the line it'll be available. All technology is next level at some point. With technology a lot of the effort and expense goes in to developing it in the first place, once developed it can often become quite cheap and easy to reproduce, although that'll probably depend on whether or not a wider commercial use can be found for it.
  22. Could've said the same sort of thing about the electronics in DCC once upon a time.
  23. I do like the way they move though, any techniques we could adapt for layouts? The movement looks rather more natural than most vehicles on layouts I've seen.
  24. I'll quite happily be labelled as "technophobic"! Nothing to be ashamed of there! The fact is though that there are some common traits that are different between different generations. There always have been and there always will be. Sure, there are also grey areas because you're putting somewhat artificial boundaries on a continuum, but that's the case with a great many things in life. IMO the complete rejection of the idea that some ideas or behaviours or issues are more common with one generation than another makes no more sense than saying it's a feature of everyone in it. Just don't assume they apply to any particular individual. The ability to make generalisations and to categorise is a basic component of intelligence. As you point out it's useful for things like statistical analysis, but it also means you're not working with a completely blank slate, but like any useful tool it can be misused, and it certainly can't be used as a cast iron guarantee that your assumptions are right. The only people I saw hanging around outside with bottles of beer during Covid when the pubs were shut were definitely not the younger generations...
  25. Just out of curiosity, since I don't know the area, I've been trying to match it up with Streetview. Has the road been skewed differently since the photo was taken? And whilst every other building might've changed from the angle of the OP's picture I'd have thought the signal box would be visible, although I might well be getting caught out by the exact direction we're looking in due to the change of road. edit: Looking at the old maps, no, just a trick of the camera angles.
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