cctransuk

Given the volume of traffic converging on Padstow / Rock / Polzeath in the summer, a Park & Ride service a la St. Ives would be a viable proposition, IMHO - but only as a 'preservation' operation. Running from Boscarne Junction - the current end of the line for the B&WR - to Padstow could command ridership figures to rival the Festiniog & Welsh Highland Railways. There is adequate land adjacent to Boscarne Junction for a P&R carpark - indeed, there is already a limited facility for the Camel Trail. Moreover, immediately adjacent, there is an excellent family pub - the 'Borough Arms'. The site of Padstow Station is a soulless car / coach park, which could readily be transformed back to its original purpose. HOWEVER - the fly-in-the-ointment is two-fold : - i] SUSTRANS had the Boscarne Junction to Padstow trackbed converted to the Camel Trail - and this is a deservedly popular walking and cycling trail. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no realistic possibility of the Camel Trail and a reinstated railway co-existing. ii] the trackbed through Wadebridge has been extensively repurposed - think housing, a Co-op supermarket, a now-vital link road, etc. (The station and goods shed buildings still exist, however). I'm afraid that it is a case of 'If only there had been a little foresight' - but, too late now! The Wenford Bridge Branch - again, a distinct possibility as a preserved railway - think Beattie Well Tanks or small ex-GWR 0-6-0PT / 0-4-2Ts, and converted brakevan chassis for passenger accommodation. But - once again - SUSTRANS got there first, and we are too late! A very great shame, and opportunities lost! CJI.

After this winter - rose-tinted? - blindfold, more like!! 🥺 CJI (Bodmin).

Sorry - but IMHO there is no need for a new WD 2-8-0. I judge my locos on performance, not on features (which may, or may not, be necessary). My WD runs superbly - once I had found the random short, generated by a trapped wire. It seems that, nowadays, models are judged on whether they have the latest innovations - be it cast bodies or whatever. If a model looks like the prototype, performs like the prototype - what more do you want? Ahh - sorry; a model with little inherent mass, so that a multitude of electrickery can be crammed in to give chuffing and smoke - hence the 'necessity' for a cast metal body. I know - grumpy old man! CJI.

Obviously - but, nonetheless, not a general purpose design. Rather, a specific design, for a specific purpose, requiring exceptional design criteria. CJI.

Weren't they originally intended for Chunnel trains to the Continent? CJI.

Blimey - that was a quick turnround! CJI.

I think that we've got the point that you don't like it - so don't buy it. It's not big and clever to use 'over the top' stuff like this! 🤔 CJI.

There was a time - not so bad nowadays - that, if you walked into a pub in, say, Blaenau Ffestiniog, the conversation instantly changed from English to Welsh. But that was in the time of 'Come home to a living fire - buy a cottage in Wales'! 😀 CJI.

My understanding is that it was a driver-training loco, pending the introduction of production AC locos. CJI.

I have, in the past, resorted to brass wire dowels, drilled through the aluminium sides into the whitemetal ends. Once filed flush they are invisible, but seem to help in preventing flexing / cracking of the corner joints. CJI.

Just as well they didn't know any better in those days! I suppose that such arrangements only started to give problems when someone twigged that they ought to! (Accident waiting to happen, and all that). 😀 CJI.

Here we go again - I thought that we'd both agreed to leave this alone! Identifying oneself has nothing whatsoever to do with proof - an alibi can be proof of innocence, but not the mere act of producing a document to identify oneself. It is impossible in the present world to exist without a means of identifying oneself - a variety of means of doing this currently being required. It is simply far more efficient for both citizen and authority if a single, universal document is used. Nothing to be frightened of! CJI.

Not being any kind of expert in such matters, I merely repeat what others, far more knowledgeable than me, have published. CJI.

Scepticism is fine - but I have yet to see a reasoned argument, or a quoted case, which shows the above pro-card argument to be a fallacy. Bring 'em on, I say! CJI.

Thanks to a fellow member, I can advise anyone interested in the factual background of the PALVAN saga, and subsequent efforts to remedy the problem, to read the article in the April 1966 edition of 'Modern Railways'. CJI.

This is all very well, but the accident report (above) seems clear to me in that the uneven wheel-load problem, which caused extreme ocsillation and rail-jumping, was the basic design error of having heavy doors on diagonally opposite corners. Poor loading could be a factor, but were the derailed wagons not empty? CJI.

Anything to do with the Snailbeach Railway or the Glyn Valley Tramway? CJI.

Nowadays, it would be kids for energy credits! I bet that most of us could nominate a few local candidates. CJI.

Thanks for that - it seems that my aging memory is not as poor as I thought! Sixty-three years after the event is not bad going! CJI.

Fine by me. CJI.

..... and beware of lagged tanks, such as the Berry Wiggins example above. The tank diameter was greater, the ends were often flat with overhanging sides, and the anchor mounting was recessed into the lagging. CJI.

That was all that Red Panda ever produced - to the best of my knowledge. CJI.

At the end of the day, most of the world seems to manage perfectly well with identity cards - as did the UK during and after WW2. CJI.

If you are stopped when driving at a police checkpoint, you have to produce your driving licence. You are not being treated like a criminal; simply being asked to eliminate yourself as a person of interest in the investigation being undertaken. I simply cannot understand the objection of an innocent person. CJI.

Depending upon which site is advertising them, they are usually described as being for toys, and rated at anything up to 6V - though such ratings are merely nominal. Whatever - they can easily be had for under £2.00 each, which offers a significant saving over the price at which DJH sold them! CJI.