ParkeNd

Thanks for the confirmation about the signal box. The enhancement of Whitecroft station to something like its original format will make a great photographic project for me. I have heard that it's going to take about three years which will make me approaching 72 years old so I hope to stay the course (69 is the current record for males in our family). Speech House Road in 2025 even if on time would need me to reach 78 so I made sure I visited the site by car this year.

Yesterday we followed a large white Transit type van along a country road near Gloucester. We were following several car lengths behind him and were able to see in front of him, outside a cottage advertising eggs for sale and about 50 yards from a pond, a line of ducks (two adults and a load of ducklings) trotting along in the puddles in the gutter. The white van swerved sharply about five feet to his left into the gutter and splattered the whole line of them under his wheels - the bodies of the larger ones flew out the back and up in the air. It's 2015 so what does that make the driver of the van ? 1. An accurate driver - he didn't miss any. 2. A modern hero with a sense of humour who has spared the world having to look at those particular ducks again. 3. Or something else.

If I listened properly to Peter a couple of weeks back I believe it was originally from Pirton Lane Sidings near Ashchurch and was indeed located for a while at Tufts Junction.

Being N Gauge and thus measuring just 70mm high to the top of the roof apex this has to work a lot harder than 00 or 0 photos - but here goes. Scratch built.

I keep telling myself that I should have at least one Union Mills loco because of the fantastic running qualities. But every time I think of doing it the low detail puts me off. The astonishingly high detail levels of the latest N gauge loco from Farish and Dapol are now dating the UM range in my view. Maybe the Dean Goods will have a few more details because I could really do with one for my layout.

Went to the DFR this morning for a couple of hours. Very quiet with a three coach Class 108 DMU running instead of the normal Saturday Steam. Plenty of room in the car park. The Whitecroft signal box now has some temporary bracing in it for strength and overall I am told the work is expected to take 3 years. Anyway some photos below of the 11.27 am train from Norchard arriving and leaving for Parkend.

A lady dog breeder had a fantastic chihuahua who won every local show, then the county shows, and so she entered it for Crufts. But a top judge warned her that despite being magnificent in most respects it had one tiny fault that would stop it winning Crufts - it had one hair too long that stood out on its face like an extra whisker and this would be its downfall. She said she would snip it off right away but the wise judge warned that a scissor cut would notice and the dog would surely be disqualified. He said it would be safer if she used a depiliatory from the chemist. So off she trotted to the local chemist to buy some. The Pharmacist himself served her, and to make sure she used the product properly advised her to smooth some of it onto her armpits, wait two minutes, and then apply friction by rotating her arms in a windmilling action. The poor woman was quite phased by this and stammered that it wasn't for her underarms - it was for her chihuahua. The Pharmacist thought about this for a few moments, and then he saw the answer. He advised her to smooth the cream on, wait two minutes, and then borrow a bike and go for a ride on a cobbled road.

The amount of labour that has gone into a steel car body is considerable - a plastic train body sells at train shows for about £10 on the Dapol or Bachmann stand. I can't argue that you would expect £60 for a loco that would sell for £85 secondhand. If you say that your expectation is to get 70% of the shops selling price for it then that must be what you think. As a private sale you would be in the ballpark I expect - but as a sale to a shop without being a part exchange you would need to put it to the test.

No I wouldn't be surprised because I see all the complaints from disappointed folk. But I don't understand the logic of how people get to the point of expecting more for what in reality is a chassis with some value - but a plastic body whose value considered in real terms is no more than a few pence. Especially in a credit card driven environment where a brand new one is obtainable for a mere £100.

I don't intend to sell any of my locos but I suspect that Hattons are no more hard nosed about secondhand prices than the camera industry - where the products have more perceived value anyway. A typical mid priced camera body retailing at £1000 new would be about £750 selling secondhand from a shop - who would have paid 1/3 of that to the owner - say £250. Thus, although selling mint discontinued used locos for virtually new prices, then for Hattons to pay even £30 for a used loco doesn't seem out of line. Not offering to buy a re-numbered or amateur weathered loco at all would even seem realistic. Who really would honestly expect Hattons to give them £75 or £80 for a loco that was £100 new?

Emasculation?

It will be whatever low grade criminals and drug dealers are driving in TV programmes. If they get cheap enough secondhand Porsche Boxters?

Are you sure you understood? Oh well.

I think that makes it perfectly clear where you are coming from. No need for further comment.

How about a test. 1. Hands up anyone with a 2014/2015 car who wants brakes with a longer stopping distance, 1980 standards headlights, wipers that lift off the screen above 50 mph, or slower acceleration when overtaking. 2. Hands up anyone with a 51 reg people carrier who would like it serviced free every year, the tyres and brake pads/linings replaced now, the steering ball joints and steering rack replacing free now. Which one of these two options will worsen your safety - and which one might improve it?

I suppose I ought to confess that driving a modern car has lost me my hand signal skills - I doubt for one minute if I could lower the window in the rain and give a left turn hand signal at 70 mph when intending to leave at the next motorway junction - nor I suppose when slowing down to join a traffic queue at some motorway roadworks.

I have been pondering this question. Working in the opposite direction I started out my own car ownership in 1967 with a 1957 Austin A35 - which needed a full engine recondition, new shock absorbers, and rust repairs even with just 35,000 miles covered. True you didn't need to advance the spark, it had synchromesh on all gears - but not even a heater let alone a radio. It was replaced three years later by a pristine Wolseley 1500 with failed synchromesh on second gear - but double de-clutching was no pain and even a bit sporty. Since then I have progressed through a couple of Minis, several Renaults - and finally arrived at the company car phase with Sierras, Montego estates, Mondeo Ghias and finally three BMW's - and none of these had much in the way of gizmos - electric windows and a stereo. Only since I have been buying my own cars after the 55 years old redundancy phase started have the cars had any gizmos to speak of. The rear wheel drive BMW's cornered on rails after a few FWD cars - certainly no quantum leap for a driver going either way. The past three Golf's have increased rapidly in sophistication - so only over the last six years have the gizmos been more in evidence. Cruise Control, rear camera, and radar park assist (a vision device - doesn't park for you) have been the most welcome. The only item that took me a while to get used to was the Electronic Handbrake now fitted to current Mk 7 VW Golfs. Until you have found the two sections covering Electronic Handbrake and Auto Hold (being 78 pages apart in the handbook) life is tough - but great now. Going backwards in time? - probably only someone who had cut their teeth on an electronic handbrake equipped car (and no other) would have any difficulty going back to 1957 cars - even the Wolseley 1500 onwards had radial ply tyres. To find a real difference that affected peoples ability to drive then you would need to go back to cars with rod operated brakes, manual spark advance, three speed gearboxes, vacuum wipers etc. Certainly the last three Golfs have been the safest and most stress free to drive over long distances - front and rear disc brakes, drama free braking, quiet, fast turbo petrol engines, superb confident ride and handling, air conditioning, fantastic headlights etc etc.

Totally awesome Mirek. What incredible skill. Thanks for sharing.

I had never heard of the Mitsubishi Colt CZ2 you mentioned earlier so I had to look it up - as I did with the tyres too - so that I could answer with some acquired knowledge. But pleased to oblige. See para 5 of the Autocar Review below for reference to the bouncy ride. The comment on it's appearance and type of car that it appears to be is my opinion. http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/mitsubishi/colt/first-drives/mitsubishi-colt-1.3-cz2

Sporty roadster summer tyres on a Noddy car with a bouncy ride according to road tests ? No opinion. Unless later just one of them was replaced by a secondhand tyre of another brand. Many of the bad driving instances I see are performed at speed in UK cars with 51 to say 54/55 registrations. These cars are 10 to 15 years old and I fear for the state of maintenance on them. Several of the folk I used to work with routinely bought such cars for low amounts and "drove them into the ground" by their own admission. No service, visit to a scrap dealer for parts when something broke, cheapest possible single tyre after a puncture etc etc. It worries me how prevalent this philosophy is. When cars rusted they aged themselves off the road - but next time you drive (for UK drivers) just note the number of 14 and 15 year old cars (51/52 reg) overtaking you. Yes. Our attitudes to driving are poles apart. I do not believe that just because my last car collision was in 1972 that I can be more confident than most in arriving accident free. Responding when someone else does something daft is the key - and just once or twice in lifetime that needs a bit of luck. Mixing facts with opinion is just life - e.g. "That fence is 4 feet high, I may not be able to jump it."

Your perception that drivers of old bangers are skilled drivers with absolutely no risk of ever having an accident is flawed. Despite possibly having just drum brakes at the rear, no ABS, old and possibly mismatched tyre brands, and having been fixed with copy parts or secondhand parts only when they break down, it does not follow that the driver makes allowances for the severe limitations being imposed on him. As for the earlier suggestion that in an emergency the driver of a new car with superb brakes has to brake at less than full potential because the old heap behind him is unlikely to make it is really taking the defense of old cars too far.

This is a good thread but there is a world of difference between discussing people driving through red lights and using smartphones at the wheel, and decrying ABS and modern driving aids just because they drive old bangers that don't have them.

Thanks to Arthur for joining in to help defend the use of technology to improve car safety. Although the counter arguments are clearly based on surmise and not experience and shouldn't probably be considered seriously, I have found that the Front Assist component of ACC forces you to plan overtaking moves in advance. No longer can you sail up to a cars boot at 70mph when the car in front is doing just 60mph and pull out at the last moment. The radar detection (which is detecting how far the car is ahead rather than that there is just a car there) automatically reduces your speed to match it when it comes in range of the safe distance you have set. So you have to pull out in time rather than too late. Park Assist on a VW scans front, rear and both sides based on steering input and gives you a visual and sound picture of what is in all your blind spots. Surely a good thing - I find it so. Wether or not these tools will still work when the cars have 150,000 miles on the clock and don't get serviced any more is any ones guess.

Close. A 2014 Golf GTi.

I realise that. But you sound like someone who has never experienced adaptive cruise control. The speed with which the radar detects someone in your path and matches your speed to theirs - even full emergency braking - is much faster than human reactions. You might only get overtaken by someone who brakes hard in front of you and tries to get up a motorway slip road and doesn't make it once in your lifetime. Better to have all the tools to help and not have to big up the Y reg Sierra.