RANGERS

Was about to ask the same question, it does look very much like its green

Word is that work will be curtailed until the project is reviewed, possibly delaying any further progress by up to a year, but that is speculation. As orders for the new trains for an all electric East Mids franchise will need to be placed by early 2017 to ensure availability for services to commence in 2019/ 20, the procurement process would need to be underway by the end of 2015, based on a 12 month timescale. The likelihood of that seems remote given today's announcement. Given the position with cost and time overruns has been known for more than six months, to throw this in now smacks of a Government under pressure to cut budgets which would have been impossible to sell pre-election. Best guess now is that with HS2 on the horizon, current MML plans for electrification North of Leicester will be in doubt and North of Nottingham/ Derby under serious threat. The protests from Sheffield etc will be offset with the promise of an even better connection to London via HS2, South Eastern style, but with the penalty of having to wait until HS2 is complete.

Interesting pic of the iron ore empties at Wyfordby. Presumably these would have been heading for Cottesmore/ Exton from Scunthorpe. Pics of workings to and from Exton seem pretty rare.

Your wish is granted....well almost. Announced today by Frank Waller as prt of his RTI kit range https://gallery.mailchimp.com/3565cf82fb0a658ec4a110c70/files/Summer_2015Update.doc

A very pleasant hour and a bit there there this morning. Venue was a little "cosy" but didn't detract from the show any way, it seemed to have all the ingredients of a good show - great layouts, good trade support, interesting and useful demos, fine catering, no 'Tailby layout....

Sad to hear of his passing. Not a place I was able to frequent that often but in my coach driving days we had half a dozen jobs a year to Trent College and I always like to pay a visit whilst waiting there. One of those places you take for granted really, doubtless it'll be another of the fast diminishing breed of 'old school' model shops to be lost to us. RIP Neil, our thoughts are with your family and friends.

The pace of work is starting to pick up. Piling works are well underway around Clapham and Oakley, just North of Bedford, and it looks as though a new junction has gone in allowing crossover from the down fast to slow lines. The total possession over the Bank Holiday weekend looks to have completed the bridge works and there's work to clear and surface the yard adjacent to the down sidings near Finedon Rd bridge underway. The yard on the old loco shed at Bedford is servicing the piling works judging by the stack of piles being delivered there last week. Interestingly it looks as though the existing overhead is being replaced at Radlett, there's a temporary access track been laid and several new masts have been installed adjacent to the existing. Hard to tell at 90mph mind so I could be wrong but there was talk that some of the existing was to be replaced and much of the electrical supply infrastructure is to be replaced to cope with the consumption of the increased number of trains on the line.

I had a good look at this in the LT Museum this afternoon and they do look pretty good models. I'm not certain how close the samples in their cabinet are to the finished articles but the aren't bad as they stand so it can only bode well for the future. The EFE sets retail at between £150 and £200 each in the museum shop and they seem to sell in reasonable numbers so I see no reason why a motorised set costing a fairly modest amount more won't sell in sizeable numbers and if they have exclusivity on them, they have a greater degree of control over the supply. I've seen some well heeled tourists spend substantial amounts in there on anything from models to furniture (the sofas trimmed in LT moquette are a real curio!) so the spend is there, whether it's enough to repay the guarantee they've put up remains to be seen but I reckon it won't be a problem.

Evidently so. We did question it but the EMT man insisted that although provision was made for lowering, the main station bridge would still require further work to provide adequate clearance. For some reason this couldn't be done during the previous works. Leicester has Victorian sewers beneath which need major reconstruction before any work to dig above them can start, there may be similar problems at Nottingham. The discussion also revealed that there was some disappointment that the Erewash Valley line was excluded, eliminating a useful diversionary and freight route. The spec for the new units is still under discussion but unless they're hybrid, unlikely given they're for a fully electrified route, it will mean any services diverted away from Derby or Nottingham will need to be routed via the other, adding to delays.

I notice all EMT services South of Kettering are suspended over the bank holiday weekend suggesting there's some extensive works imminent. The former station yard at Geddington has been cleared, made secure and surfaced with hardcore, presumably as a works yard and the same with the former shed yard at Bedford. EMT tell us there will be some limited disruption to late night/ early services during the works which they said would commence in earnest with the first masts in July. The foliage has been stripped right back between Kettering and Corby and ballast laying has commenced ahead of slewing the single track to make way for the second track. The platform and footbridge works At Corby are also due to start in the coming months. The indication was that Wellingborough is going to present the biggest challenge in the initial phase with realigning of all the lines at various points and ultimately a new station close to the former Irchester station site. The Southern section is fairly easy compared to the line North of Kettering. The track below both Leicester and Nottingham stations is to be lowered which will mean lengthy closures of two lines at a time.

Had a similar story with my Beetle which developed an uneven beat climbing the bank Southbound on the M6 where the M6 toll joins the "old" road. A brief stop at Corley services suggested something was amiss, pressure from the oil filler being a bit of a giveaway, but it was still running, wasn't throwing oil everywhere and didn't seem to be smoking, I carried on home. It never really struggled on the rest of the journey and as I was working away so in need of transport and short of time for a strip down, I used it for the 90 mile round trip for a further week or so before time allowed it to come off the road for a closer look. The resulting strip down revealed part of the exhaust valve embedded in the piston of no 3 cylinder, a common enough problem with the beetle leaving no compression at all. I went to a local VW specialist with a shopping list for the rebuild and told him the tale, he never batted an eyelid when I told him, evidently as long as the valve doesn't do too much damage to the piston and can still clear the head on the upward stroke, it'll keep on going although unburnt fuel can do some serious damage to the exhaust if it ignites inside it!

It might take some working out but I suspect Renault need Nissan more than Nissan need the 15% of Renault they own. More interesting would be who would suffer most if it fell apart and if it put a death sentence on either of them, although the French Govt would make sure Renault found a way through.

Mine was an 84 black MG, A344WNV, also my first new car collected one Friday afternoon in April 1984. The gearbox was replaced twice after suffering a mysterious vibration, the screen leaked which led to the red carpets being replaced, the seat belts frayed, the tailgate had to be realigned after delivery to allow it to shut properly, the speedo cable sheared off on the dash end, the lacquer peeled off the wheels, the window winder mech fell apart, and it had an an appetite for wiper fuses. There were probably other things as well but it was a long time ago. It was fun to drive up to a point, about 60mph as I recall, but was hopeless on the motorway and certainly lacked the finesse of the Novas, Polos and Mk 2 Fiestas it was up against by that stage. It was a big mistake, any of the others would have been a better bet and might have lasted longer than the ten months the Metro lasted with me.

After owning one, the Metro was never my favourite but it is a big part of the UK's motoring heritage and to lose any car in this manner is just tragic.

Be Bop Deluxe - Live In The Air Age. Must try and find this on CD, I don't have a turntable to play my vinyl any more and the good though the You Tube version is, it lacks the punch of a real album.

Congratulations to Corby Town who took the Southern League Premier Division title in a winner takes all season finale at Poole Town today. The winner came with just seven minutes of a scintillating second half remaining and switched the destination of the shield from Dorset back to Northants after Corby had frittered away a two goal lead. Thanks to the 1200+ Corby fans who made the trek and the very best of luck to Poole in the play offs.

My dad bought a 1964 FB Victor Super in 1971, 621 GYX, in Sahara Beige, not quite an eye catcher but in immaculate order and apart from batteries which it seemed to devour ever year, it was incredibly reliable. He always reckoned it was the best car he ever owned. It eventually went to a pal of his in 1977 who ran it for a further 3 years before the tin worm finally took its toll. It's replacement was a Corsair V4 which was a real camel of a thing, ate big ends faster than most cars go through a tank of petrol. As an aside, there's something odd about the VX 4/90 pictured above. It has a 1967 reg number, the FB ended production in 1965. There were a number in service as military staff cars, this could have been one of them perhaps?

I pass this location most days and I've been trying to locate the position of the depot in my own mind but with the redevelopment which has taken place, it's proving impossible. I can't remember the 31s at Cricklewood, given that four of them are the rare (at that point) ETH fitted versions, it seems a bit mysterios as to why they were there. CW wouldn't have had any workings requiring ETH power so to send four locos newly fitted with it, at great expense, seems a bit odd. 31s did have a regular turn on the MML in later years and IIRC, those were Tinsley based but I might be wrong. Any ideas what was behind this?

In 1985/6, BT installed an updated comms and early warning system across the country, The ROC posts were the central control points for this, the idea being that observers fed data to the regional control centres who issued instructions to the civil defence points scattered around the country in everything from council bunkers and police stations to post offices and pubs. The work cost tens, maybe hundreds of millions and was declared obsolete within five years.

The more obvious giveaway is the restyled dash, which was unique to 1303 variants and the McPherson strut front suspension, which these shared with the flat screen 1302

Lancs steel also used their own 27t tipplers based on the BR design for this trip. I don't know if steel production had finished at Irlam and they were being used by Corby but they were frequently to be seen in the two sidings adjacent to the head shunts at the South end of Lloyds Sidings, Corby in the mid-70s. Co-incidentally Hornby have just produced a model of one of these in Lancs Steel colours.

A good image of these currently available here : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Colour-slide-S-L-RSHN-0-6-0ST-banking-at-Corby-Sold-with-copyright-/171741187171?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27fc928c63

I think if I'd a yellow Dyane, I'd be trying my hardest to lose it as well...

IIRC the GE took the redundant AC mk2s from the MML when the HSTs arrived, which would have been '83. Some of the non-ac mk2s then went on to the Norwich -Birmingham replacing some pretty ancient ml 1 stock. There was still a fair amount of Mk1 stock kicking around long after that, some of the Cambridge, Harwich and Kings Lynn services saw them into NSE days, presumably only the dual heated ones by that time.

Can't see the burghers of Melton and Oakham taking the loss of a direct London service lying down somehow! Patronage on the route has grown and regularly sees 20-30 folks a good day, many of whom have moved North as a result of the easy commute, although it would be interesting to see if it can stand the cost of running it as a separate entity. There's also the long mooted prospect of direct services to the North via Corby, Oakham and Melton, the current one a day which extend beyond Melton is of little use unless you want to go to Melton or Derby from Corby for a day out. The Northbound connections at Kettering for Corby passengers are also dreadful, most involve a wait of 30mins+ made all the more galling by seeing Northbound trains depart as Corby trains arrive! An average journey time from Corby to Leicester is about 80 mins for 25 miles when the 80 miles to London is covered in just 75mins with four stops. The odd thing is EMT seem mystified as to why northbound revenues from Corby are so pitiful, it's almost as though they want to strangle growth by making it as unattractive as possible.