D1059

A comparison at Compton Beauchamp. Apologies if I've posted the first one before. Shows the continuing haphazard progress of mast and arm installation May 7th Evening Electrification Progress by Stephen Dance, on Flickr June 3rd Champions League Special by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Been there - woke up one Monday morning with a tummy ache and was on the operating table that evening. They had to open me right up as well - no keyhole surgery - took me over a month to get back to work Get well soon and enjoy the modelling once you are strong enough again

Don't forget Sugar Loaf I have alighted from a train there while walking - got a picture somewhere

Indeed, it would be the easiest solution, and that is exactly what happened at Wantage Road (but only after the District and County Councils raised a stink - NR wanted to close a major (non trunk) A Road for over 6 months. Unfortunately that is not possible at Steventon without demolishing surrounding property. I know that NR proposed surfacing the byway that runs down from the bridge on the south side to Stocks Lane LC with one way lights on it - but with 10000 traffic movements a day that really wouldn't work, especially with the frequency of the LC barriers being down as well Traffic flow at busy times in this area is on a knife edge. The slightest interruption to normality (as little as a single broken down vehicle on the A34) can cause massive delays throughout much of South Oxfordshire

I agree the bridge itself is nothing special despite the listing - but closing it for a year with no adequate diversionary routes is going to cause mayhem in the area - I have been told a traffic survey revealed 10000+ movements over the bridge daily - major disruption, even on good days in places as far afield as Wantage because many people on the 'wrong' side of town will have to cross the congested centre in order to access the alternative route. I also predict a MAJOR ratrun developing through Milton village as more and more Milton Park and (especially) Harwell employees try and get to and from Abingdon When the A34 is blocked due to an accident (which is frequently) I can see Wantage, Abingdon and Didcot going into gridlock far more often than at present (and that's bad enough) A 3 month closure could just about be tolerated over the summer, but a year is simply unacceptable because of the disruption it will cause

Just been sent this by a contact who has said it is OK to post here. The letter has been sent to several local/national newspapers and rail magazines

My turn Appleford, while it still had Pagodas Double Headed, Double Pagodas by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Maybe the glue for the brick chads on the platform facing wasn't strong enough

Sorry for more pics - but.............. Remaining wayside stations with original buildings would likely be rundown as per the pic of Wellingborough from 1982 below - glassless canopy, rotting fixtures and fittings etc Midland Mainline Before HSTs by Stephen Dance, on Flickr As to paint colour - BR's favourite colour by the early 80s was grey. Photo below is Exeter St Davids, also 1982 (same weekend in fact) - peeling grey awnings (rotting and with bits missing), grey canopy columns, and the decorative frieze above the main platform buildings, boarded over and painted...............grey Spotters Day Out by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

You can potentially run a Class 33 as well 1E22 the 12:46 Portsmouth Harbour - Leeds (FO) - this was diagrammed for a 33 as far as New Street in the early 80s. With the GC still open it might get even further north ! Crompton to Birmingham by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Thanks Ben - very nice but please can you show us the pic of the N Gauge version

Just thinking - a whole layout populated with Jims - shades of the Red Dwarf episode - Rimmerworld

Absolutely. I look forward to seeing this refurbishment develop

Be careful with the overgrowth - Yes, by the 80s there was more undergrowth, trees etc, but BR hadn't completley resigned responsibility for anything beyond the cess the way that Railtrack and Network Rail have done and continue to do. Compare this 1985 view of Bourton http://www.hondawanderer.com/47033_Bourton_1985.htm with this one from 2015 GWML Intermodal by Stephen Dance, on Flickr The grass is is a bit long and there are a few very small bushes/saplings here and there, but overall it looks pretty much the same as your new layout. The 2015 view shows the jungle that has grown up mainly since the mid 1990s

Add onto the comments above the fact that the picture has been scanned into a digital format. Since that's a digital conversion of an analog (ie chemical) process it introduces another layer of complexity. Getting the colour balance right on a scanned image can be very difficult, in fact nigh on impossible in some cases. Trust me, I've been doing enough of it for the last nearly 20 years and I'm still learning new techniques and tricks

Step change in passenger experience................................but in which direction ??

Which logically is the wrong way round as it will inconvenience the majority of Bedwyns regular travellers (assuming most of them travel all the way to/from Paddington in the peak hours)

Convoy by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Thanks to all who are ordering. Can't wait to get mine and start weathering them

Agreed - absolutely top notch. The texture on those bogies is amazing

Not got many decent 70s pics as all I had back then was a Kodak Instamatic but here are a few Park Royal DMU at Crewe August 1978 Park Royal at Crewe by Stephen Dance, on Flickr Class 302 at Shoeburyness July 1979 Shoeburyness by Stephen Dance, on Flickr 08 744 at Preston August 1978 Preston Pilot by Stephen Dance, on Flickr 55 003 Meld at Peterborough 13-07-79 Racehorse by Stephen Dance, on Flickr Stratford Open Day 14-07-79 Stratford Open Day 1979 by Stephen Dance, on Flickr 40 130 at Preston 23-07-79 Traditional Coal by Stephen Dance, on Flickr 40 197 at Peterborough 28-08-79 Ballast For Hitchin by Stephen Dance, on Flickr 55 009 Alycidon at Doncaster 31-08-79 Alycidon at Doncaster by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Indeed there was - they would have looked like mini Westerns, but slightly more rounded in places where the Westerns are angular. However, the proposal was rejected and it was decreed that the Warships would be scaled down versions of the V200s from which they were originally developed. Unfortunately, the V200 design did not shrink down to the British loading gauge without taking away their imposing nature, and when full yellow ends came into being, while other hydraulic classes, especially the Hymeks wore them well, the Warships, out of all BRs locos were perhaps the class treated most unkindly with their application, emphasising the bulbous nose and not blending in with the body at all

Especially since the announcement of the closure of Vauxhall Barrckas in Didcot, Dalton Barracks in Abingdon (ex RAF Abingdon) and another in Bicester by the end of the 2020s. Intention is apparently to release the areas for housing...........50000 of them !!! That's a small city in terms of extra population in an area already notorious for being one of the worst traffic blackspots outside of the major connurbations

Except all of those things STILL apply to HSTs and have NEVER changed over the years

I think the penny dropped some time ago for most, but these things tend to gather a momentum all their own and altering things now could be a bit like trying to alter course in a supertanker, even though you can see the iceberg dead ahead. The time to tackle this issue was over 10 years ago, but the Blair regime studiously avoided taking ANY decisions, despite having committed us to the climate change treaties