Keith J

Good news but shame it's just the Class 122. I understand that the Class 121, which I have on pre order, is going to be a month or two behind this.

Certainly shows the benefit of having cameras at level crossings as it will hopefully bring more of these idiots to justice. I passed through Stowmarket the other week and noticed they were installing cameras there.

The latest Uswitch advert on TV has a number of suggestions as what you can do with the money you save after switching your energy supplier, one of which is starting your niche hobby which shows a couple with a model railway running around their living room. Looks like they have the Hornby Flying Scotsman set running as it shows the loco with 3 teak coaches.

I saw this same loco at Lytham a few times last week on the Kirkham to Blackpool South line. Very unusual to see a loco on this line. I cant remember the last time I saw anything other than Sprinters or Pacers.

I was flicking through an old edition of Railway Modeller recently (June 1992 to be precise) and came across an article on improving the Minitrix 9F to make it look more like a 9F. Still not 100% accurate and quite crude by modern standards but a definite improvement over what came out of the box.

Suffolk does seem to get it's fair share of these. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/bramford-road-ipswich-car-transporter-hits-bridge-1-6732897

Didn't Status Quo once write a song about this?

I spoke to the guy at Tower Models about these a couple of months ago and he was predicting it will be quite late in the year before they arrive - possibly October or November. Interestingly I received an email from Hattons a few weeks ago with an update on the Heljan version and the release date for these is slated as Q3 2020. I would have thought that Dapol would want to get in there first.

Interesting thread. My uncle used to work at Marchon, the works at the top of the incline, and one of his mates was a loco driver on the site. He used to take me on cab rides around the site on those Hunslet shunters. I was pretty young at the time so don’t remember too much about it except that it was great fun!

Plans for the Unifrog Settrack points are available on the Tower Models website.

Don't know if anyone remembers this but around 3 or 4 years there was a series on Channel 4 called Electric Dreams which was based on stories by Philip K. Dick. One episode, called The Commuter, starred Timothy Spall who worked at Woking Station. He noticed people buying tickets to a non-existent station and decided to follow them. The train slowed down when it reached the location of the non-existent station and everyone jumped off the train into a field and walked to a nearby town. The strange thing was he boarded what looked like a South West Trains Class 450 EMU however when he reached his destination the train was some odd looking loco hauled stock being propelled by a Class 50. He boarded the same train for the return journey which was this time hauled by the Class 50. The coaches looked like they had the EMU sliding doors painted on the side in an attempt to make them look like a Class 450 EMU. Below is a not very good screenshot of the coach.

Is it just me or does that picture look like the members of the band have been added by something like photoshop? Just look around Mike Campbell's (the guy in the yellow jacket) hat. Doesn't look quite right somehow.

Looking at that picture I am trying to decide if your neighbours either side are both into trampolining or you have strategically placed a couple of nets to safely catch any models thrown as a result of a temper tantrum when things aren't going to plan.

Not actually a song so a bit ot and rather obscure, but there was a band called Gravy Train who produced an album of the same name, the cover photo of which was taken at Glemsford station in Suffolk a few years after its closure.

Mostly Autumn also have a song called Passengers on the same album. and there's Slow Train by Status Quo from the album Quo

I don't know if this counts but it always amuses me that Wickham Market railway station in Suffolk is not actually in Wickham Market but is in the nearby village of Campsea Ashe. Also, just to confuse things further, Campsea Ashe is sometimes spelt Campsey Ash.

On the subject of the South Fylde route here's an interesting little project for anyone with old photographs of the stations. https://www.lythamstannesexpress.co.uk/news/people/can-you-help-track-history-fylde-line-railway-stations-2860843

Another one at Manningtree! https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/van-stuck-manningtree-railway-bridge-1-6670320

Someone quoted only about 3 weeks ago over in the 'Prototype for everything corner' thread that this is one loco that is sadly missing in RTR form!

Thanks bgman and Gareth for your suggestions, it shows there is quite a good choice out there. I now need to decide which one to go for!

And there was me admiring your painting skills! Does look very effective though and makes the corners look better which I think is a downside to lasercut brickwork.

Yes, thanks, I think I will probably go for one of their kits as they do both left and right versions. I have actually built a couple of their kits in the past, a goods shed and bridge and was quite impressed with the ease of construction and finished result. I must say though I am very impressed with the finish on your signal box. Love the brickwork.

Thanks for your reply and I agree it would have been good if it was reversible. Just realised, I probably should have posted this topic under Peco in the Products and Trades area - sorry!

Hi all, has anyone built the Peco O gauge signal box with the lasercut brick base? All the photo's I've seen show it with the door and steps on the right hand side and I’m trying to find out if it is possible to assemble it the other way round with the door and stairs on the left. I’ve had a look on the Peco website to see if the assembly instructions are available to download but couldn’t find anything. Thanks.

It's interesting seeing the bodyside 'steps' just behind the cab doors on the earlier pictures, I've not noticed these before. I assume these were plated over for safety reasons at some point as they aren't visible on later pictures.