Davexoc

That would be about as popular as HS2 if you consider where it would have to cut through to really improve journey times. The current roads have been 'improved' over the last few years to very little effect. The A34 out of Oxford has been packed for years. The Wendlebury Interchange with the M40 has to be neogtiated and then you come to junction 10 where some years ago someone decided the two major traffic flows needed to cross each other. Needless to say the drawing board was revisted to partially correct the error. Buckingham is the next pinch point followed by Milton Keynes all the way to the M1 where the crossing point is improved but again much more could have been done. Great run then past Bedford to the A1 and then the reworked Black Cat roundabout, another missed opportunity that was recently improved. From the A1 its mostly two way then to Cambridge. Lots of money spent on improvements that have had little effect. The rail route is the more direct route, run an express way alongside that? I don't think so..... Dave

I was going to say no as you couldn't find a long enough trailer to road it, but then I found this http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brferryfreightliner/h365ee9d2#h365ee9d2 so yes it is.... Dave

Having worked in various disciplines of plastics for too long now, I don't believe storage temperature and frequency of operation has much bearing on this problem. The coefficients of expansion on something that small are hardly measurable. Now all plastics are not equal. I once worked on a container in South Africa which was more or less a copy of a French design. To achieve the same strength using the same testing methods the SA one required 33% more plastic, both using locally sourced 'equivalent grade' materials. So, if the source of the raw material changes, so could the ultimate strength, plasticity, etc. The other material problem could be due to the use of recycled material from rejects and start up waste. Secondly, small changes in machine settings can change the product quality and are not always apparent immediately. Similarly two supposedly identical machines may need different settings to achieve the same ends. A few degrees rise in the mould temperature, or a few of tenths of a second less cooling time will make the finished product smaller. Another problem is that the finished product straight off the machine will always be bigger as the material shrinks as it cools, so any QA checking should be done at least an hour after production. So, the current gears are more reliable than the Poole versions of old, but are we seeing failures due to the early part of the run being accepted before QA has passed them as OK? Or is there a dodgey impression within the tool, or one machine that runs hotter than others? There are alot of variables that this problem could be attributed to, nailing it to one in particular is another matter. But for what its worth, my recent locos have not been problem free, and although don't see use very often, are kept in the house. Dave

Definitely Bletchley, you can see the side of the flyover on the far right of 31468. Was due to poor DMU availabiltiy at the time as the service relied on the cast-offs from almost everywhere. Central Trains had a similar trial with a six coach train between Nottingham and Skegness for summer extras, came to nothing at the time, but later was covered by spare HSTs. Dave

I have to agree that I think if the 08 was in the train it would have had the rods removed. Not sure the cranks would still be any good when you arrived at the destination. Dave

It apparently only landed the other day and was being demonstrated with sound, having had a speaker fitted. Lights can all be controlled independently using the next18 chip, including the cab lights. They have already quite a long snagging list building up to fix the errors. Dave

The year (1974) appears to be wrong as the Mk3s were not built until 1975. The 86/0s seem to have been last in the queue for headcode box plating, some making it into the late 1970s. Did it coincide with conversion to 86/3? Dave

The first one is a little curious too. W80626 was a NAV and not NBV as shown in the photo. The NBV code didn't exist until 1985 and was then used on High Security Letter Mail vans. The yellow spot denotes 'BRUTE circuit only' so was presumably a Red Star vehicle in 1980, and had gone by 1986. Dave

Not certain, but some time during the mid 70s onwards? The corporate manual defined the brand as 'Rail Express Parcels' in 1969, and GUVs appear to have been branded 'Express Parcels' in the early 70s. I guess BGs were less likely to be branded due to thier use as luggage/guards vans rather than dedicated parcels carriers. May be it coincided with the introduction of HST, releasing BGs from front line services to replace 4-wheel NPCCS. Just a thought... Dave

I think the loco is 31019 in 'Church Lane Crossing Class 31 down freight July 79 C4603' 31005, the other white roof loco had its OHLE warning mounted slightly higher. Dave

The middle engine room window appears too near No.2 end. The cant rail grille next to it is wrong, too deep and possibly too short, its rain strip should end between battery box and fuel tank. But if you move that then there is something wrong with the roof panels?? Something that most locos had done to stop divert resistors burning out for the radiator fan at some time in their life, was two of the upper louvres were set partially open to ensure some airflow when the rest were shut. Worth recreating or not? Apart from that and the sloping route idicators and MW jumpers already noted, looking good. Dave