Jim Martin

4 hours ago, grahame said:

The Saxons were cleaned up (there was very, very little flash to be removed), the five wheels superglued on to each, then given a scrubbing with cream cleaner, rinsed in warm water, dried and given a dusting of grey primer:

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good, Grahame! Do you use a rattle can for the primer? I've used Halford,s grey primer for various purposes, but I'm hesitant about using it on n-gauge models in case it clogs the detail.

Jim

2 hours ago, t-b-g said:

I can't lay my hands on my copy but I recall seeing a good drawing in "Modeller's Backtrack".

 

A quick internet search found this, which might be a handy reference. You need the Oct 1992 edition.

 

A resin kit was produced in O gauge but I am not aware of any kits in 4mm.

 

http://www.brmna.org/xref/GOODLNER.HTM

It's in Vol 2 No. 4 (October/November 1992), and it's of the type in the photo, which is Diagram 1T5 (built 1905, nos. 558, 981-990, 992). The drawing and accompanying text were both by Peter Bunce, who as I recall (I was a member at the time) was a prominent member of the GCRS and a regular contributor to the society journal, "Forward"

Jim

It looks like some sort of Automatic Equipment Identification tag. 

Gosh! There seems to be a rare degree of consensus about the virtues of this series. I think that I will invest in a couple (probably starting with the Northern Scotland volume). Many thanks to everyone who replied.

Jim

The title says it all, really. These books seem to have been around forever (a check on Amazon suggests that they date from the 60s and 70s); but I'm interested in whether they're actually any good. Are they reliable as works of history?

I've never read one, so I really don't know (although I note that the volume on North-Eastern England was by Ken Hoole, which is a good sign). I've been reading some books on the earliest years of the rail network recently, and I was wondering about getting one or two of these volumes.

Thanks

Jim

Rail Express number 127 (December 2006) had a big article on military trains and formations. I imagine it's also in the "Train Formations" book they published a couple of years ago. I'm not certain if it lines up with your period though: the earliest train recorded is from 1980 and the earliest ones with any Warwells/flats in them are from 1984 (Class 33 with 8x Warwell carrying Saxon APCs) and 1985 (2xClass 20, OCA, VDA, VEA, 5x Warwell carrying Saracen APCs).

Jim

57 minutes ago, grahame said:

there is some slow progress on the Warwell

 

What's happening in that photograph is not "slow progress". That's what I'd call "forging ahead at an astonishing pace". Looking good, too, although I think you need some different loads for your timeframe.

Jim

2 hours ago, grahame said:

 

Yes, although there does seem to be an anomaly.

 

Apparently the Warwell kits used to include decals. In fact the instructions mention that, have a diagram as to where they should be fitted, and explain how to apply them; "cut the transfer from the sheet . . ."

 

The price appears not to have been adjusted when the decals stopped being packed with them. Now they are available again the Warwell plus decals (which have to be ordered separately) costs £18.05 whereas the Warflat is £12.10 and that includes decals (as well as being a higher spec kit with more parts and details).

 

 

Honestly, given what happened with the society shop a couple of years back, I'm just happy that it's functioning at all and has some desirable items in it. I take your point about the pricing, but I can think of numerous "anomalies" in the pricing of N-gauge items (why is the Farish class 158 still cost a fortune when it's so poor? Why is eBay full of second-hand stock that costs more than the same thing bought new from a retailer?) and I'm not stressing over this one. Since I switched my attention to the WCML in the North-West I'll be looking at several of both the Warwell and Warflat, because MoD traffic en route to and from Carlisle is a really big deal. To my mind, the surprising thing isn't how expensive the Warwell is, so much as how inexpensive the Warflat is.

Jim

On 01/10/2020 at 11:06, grahame said:

I've now opened and inspected the Warwell (with Gloucester bogies) kit I ordered and have received (see pic several posts above).

 

It's a lot more basic than the Warflat kit and doesn't include decals (unlike the Warflat).

 

NGS shop ref NGST0501 covers the post-1976 Warwells for decals

Jim

Are those etched retaining straps and chocks? If so, that's a really good idea.

I have a selection of Scimitar-family vehicles that I got from PG Models just before he closed down (no actual Scimitars yet: they're on my "to buy" list from the NGS) and not having to make these bits would be a great help!

Jim

2 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

I don't think either term has any more intrinsic merit than the other. It's just a matter of what you're used to.

If you could just convince the membership of RMWeb of this, you'd have made a lasting contribution to World peace.

On 31/08/2020 at 09:20, grahame said:

Damn, damn, damn. I forgot that today is a bank holiday. The model shop is going to be closed. I'm not going to be able to get super glue. The cinema will have to wait. 

 

I'll have to consider what I can do. Perhaps I could make the ABC letters sign from styrene. Here's a pic of how it looked in 1963 and the sign:

 

 

 

This might have been taken in 1964. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow was released in 1964 and won the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film" in 1965. Marcelo Mastroianni won the "Best Foreign Actor" Bafta in 1965 for his performance.

Jim

On 29/08/2020 at 16:24, grahame said:

In fact I take my glasses off and use a Mk1 eyeball. But I do have myopia so can close focus. Some people do use optivisor magnifiers but I don't.

It's not just me then! I think my wife gets alarmed at the sight of me wielding a scalpel a couple of inches from my eye, but I've worked this way for as long as I can remember.

Jim

I was about to put Packlink in as a delivery option for one of my sales until I read the T&C's and found that items had to be able to survive a 1.5m free drop (sorting is automated, a "fragile" label will not necessarily be seen or acted on). That means packaging a lot more tailored to the item than you generally need for toy trains. In this case, the item was a record turntable which would have cost over £25 to ship via Royal Mail, which is why it's currently on eBay as "collection only".

Jim

58 minutes ago, dasatcopthorne said:

Boy oh boy.

 

Am I glad that I didn't subscribe when lockdown started otherwise I would be extrememly annoyed right now.

 

Except for the latest issue, all back issues are now available to download for 99p per mag.

 

What a con.

If you didn't subscribe, why do you seem so cross now? This is how it is with special offers. There's never been a single one anywhere, ever that someone hadn't paid full price just before the offer started. If you actually had paid for a subscription, I could understand you being a bit miffed (although I'd still assume that you'd thought the subscription was worth what you'd paid, even if the magazine subsequently became available at a lower price: after all, why else did you buy it?) but maybe you should ask someone who actually does subscribe to the electronic edition if they feel conned?

I've had several disagreements with Andy York over the years, most recently about access to electronic magazines, as it happens; but I think he's totally in the right on this one.

Jim

Surely this is the best use of a model train in film or TV? 

Jim

As well as various railroads turning A units into B units by removing/rebuilding/isolating the cab, the Chicago & North-Western bought some surplus E8 and E9 B units from Amtrak in the early 70s and converted them into A units for operation on their Chicago suburban service by adding a home-brewed cab. Google "Crandall cab" for links, pics and some modelling articles.

Jim

There are various contexts in which HMRC might contact you by text or email. They're listed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/genuine-hmrc-contact-and-recognising-phishing-emails

There's also an online list of scams and fraudulent contacts at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-fraudulent-emails. This can only ever be a list of examples, because you're up against the ingenuity of the scuzzy toerags who run these scams and they can always think of something new.

Jim

I didn't scroll that far down (I'm on my phone at the moment, and the museum website needs a ton of scrolling just to get to the image that's "the content"), but I think you might have led us to the answer, although I don't think it's the Boat Race.

If you click on the link to "other objects with this sub-theme" for "rowing", you get a load of posters for the Boat Race; but they suggest different stations. It seems to vary from year to year, but they're not the same ones as on the Taylor poster. In 1921 (the Taylor poster is from 1922) it was Hammersmith, Chiswick Park and Putney Bridge. In 1923 and 1924 it was the same three, and in 1933 it was the same again plus Ravenscourt Park and Turnham Green.

The same gallery, though, includes posters for something called "the Molesey Regatta" from 1925 and 1928; and both of them use exactly the same "By tram from Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush or Wimbledon" wording (interestingly, not the same order as the Taylor poster). Also, both of them depict something more leisurely than a race. The 1925 poster, in particular, shows a lot of punting, which matches with the Taylor poster (see the chap just beneath the balloons who seems to be standing up with a pole): https://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/posters/collections/molesey-regatta-small-10394. 

Jim

For my birthday, my daughter bought me a copy of "Vile Bodies" by Evelyn Waugh. For those who don't know, this is a classic of the 1920s (it was actually published in 1930) set among the so-called "bright young things" - the feckless offspring of the well-off.

The cover of the current paperback edition is based on a poster by Fred Taylor and is credited on the back as being from the London Transport Museum. It's on their website at https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/posters/item/1983-4-1382.

What's bugging me is that even the museum's own image doesn't carry any indication of what the poster is supposed to be advertising. The panel where I'd have expected the"London Underground" to be is blank and the only text is "by tram from Hammersmith, Wimbledon or Shepherds Bush". These locations bestride the Thames near Putney, which makes me think it might have been the Boat Race; but the general ambience looks a bit more laid back than that: perhaps just "boating on the river"?

Does anyone know what this poster was used for? Thanks

Jim

On 28/07/2020 at 18:35, Nearholmer said:

 

I’m utterly unconvinced that competition is currently doing anything useful for anybody on the national rail network, so I’m going to be hard to convince on that score.

There are definitely places where competition has created choices between different levels of service at different price, to the benefit of customers. I don't know how Chiltern and LNWR compare to Avanti on London-Birmingham, but LNWR's (previously London Midland) London-Liverpool tickets were much cheaper than Avanti's and were very popular among travellers for whom cost was more important than time (and who didn't mind 3+ hours on a Class 350 and a change at Stafford)

Jim

I chose five, since the survey let me, and they each have particular significance in my view of n-scale:

Class 47 (original 1981 version): much-derided now, but the first non-Lima locomotive I owned and thus the first one that looked much like the thing it was supposed to represent

Class 60: a good, solid representation of my favourite diesel locomotive class

Class 108: with Dapol's Class 122, the start of a (all too brief) flurry of quality first-generation DMUs

Class 350: an EMU!!! A lot of people criticised this as a poor choice of prototype, but it was exactly the type I was looking for. That said, the decision to do one of only two "namers" in the entire fleet as the only release in the early grey and blue livery is a pain.

Class 57 (2014 version): just a really nice model. One day I may buy one.

Jim

My daughter travelled from Liverpool to Glasgow two weeks ago and the gate line at Lime Street was operating and staffed.

Jim

Hi

Like most former users, I haven't visited the Yahoo Groups website for years and years. I was dimly aware that the service had been killed fairly recently, but that was about it.

I've now realised that I've missed out by not requesting copies of the archived posts, and I'm hoping that some RMWebber who had their act together more than I did might be able to help. Although I was a member of about a dozen groups altogether, the ones that I'm interested in are the "Liverpool-Rails" group and another one that covered North-West England, which was called "NorthWest-Rails" or something like that. If anyone has the archived posts from either of those two groups that they could copy to me, that would be great. I gather from what I've read that when people requested the archived posts, they were sent to them as a zip file. I'm not certain what the best way of transmitting them would be now, but I'd be happy to make all the arrangements (probably setting up a Dropbox account, if they do free ones, or seeing if my wife still has her account from when she was freelancing). Thanks

Jim

"Body condition (1-5, with 5 being the best): 2"

I want to see a 1.