RANGERS

As the less than enthusiastic driver of a 1.8 petrol engined '75 for six months about ten years ago, it came as no great surprise when the company folded a year or so later. Mine was not only the thirstiest car I'd had in many years, it was also the most unreliable with various bits falling off - exterior trim, switches, indicator stalk, wiper, rear passenger door window, - the list was almost endless considering I only had it six months. Ironically the only time it was actually disabled was when it's thirst caught me out and it ran out of petrol! Handling was strange, certainly not for enthusiastic drivers, but given the sedate pace possible with the 1.8, it was of little significance. A couple of colleagues had earlier diesel engined models built in the immediate post - BMW days and were extremely enthusiastic about them, perhaps the cost cutting which was apparent with mine had yet to take effect.

Going by Boxinfo's post above, the latest versions are already fitted with head codes to avoid the difficult task of dismantling to fit these.

Three things stand out to me - the lack of traffic; the chaotic manner in which it's being drive, especially around Trafalgar Sq; the variety and general age of the vehicles. Considering modern vehicles are generally reckoned to be much longer lived than their predecessors, there's a lot of old vehicles in that film, even excluding the 20 plus year old RTs. part from the age of the buses, nothing much has changed really.

The yard lamps still survive at Kettering although I think this one has gone. The former sidings to the West of the box, the ones which were the final resting place of countless steam engines and early diesels on their way to Cohens scrapyard, have long since been disconnected from the network but the lamps still stand.

The 114s were as iconic as the 20s as far as Skegness was concerned, and even more frequent visitors over a 30+ year period.

I spent half an hour or so in fronts of the layout yesterday and despite one or two running problems, it really does capture the rugged and lonely atmosphere of the Skye road. It took me back over 30 years to the Spring of 1982 and my first visit to the line, re-enacting Michael Palins first Great Railway Journey from Kings Cross to the Kyle.

Pretty stunning stuff there! Good to see the humble DMU attracting such attention as is required to produce a model of this standard.

A pal of mine once had a P reg 3.0 V6 former ambulance with a manual box, a five speed if I remember rightly, he was stopped for speeding on the M6 but got away with a severe rocket from the wily traffic copper who finished his mauling with the line "...and you only got away without a ticket it because no court would never believe me that you were doing 102mph in a transit van...!"

The London pics take me back to numerous trips in the 70s and 80s. Not sure about the date of some though, IIRC 56 036 was the first loco out shopped in large logo livery in 1979. The 50s came a little after that.

I'd thought the Pullman was used as a training room. It sat around Tinsley for quite a while, I never saw it go anywhere off site.

P&H Models in Louth had the Esso an NCB ones in stock a week or so back at around £46 ea although they dont have loco stock on the website.

This shows the train as being routed on the slow line at Glendon Nth but the photo shows it on the main line. I don't remember too much about the track layouts on the mainline but I think the next point it could be turned on to the goods would be Finedon Rd, about 20mins South for a freight train. In those days there were only two an hour at that time of day (the WTT would confirm) either it was tailing a passenger or someone would be in bother for letting it continue on the fast lines!

Neither of these trains would have run through Corby, ones heading North about to leave the down goods on to the double track section towards Mkt Harborough, the other on the up mainline with the goods lines/ Corby and Manton road behind it. I can't recall much in the way of oil being delivered to Corby although there were tank trains appeared in the BSC yard adjacent to what is now the BR line to the slitting plant. I'd guess these were delivering fuel oil for the loco fleet. The furnaces were all powered by gas from the coke ovens which was plentiful and essentially free as it had to go somewhere. The works had been built to be self sufficient in gas as well as supplying the surrounding area. When the area was converted to natural gas for its domestic supply in 1973, BSC was left with a huge amount of gas which needed to be flared off.

6E49 is on the up main, most unusual at this point, as it would have been routed down the mainline from Leicester, most freight coming that way would have been turned on to the slow lines in the background at Glendon Nth. Assuming the head code is correct, it would suggest its a return to Ripple Lane, not a Langley. Heavily loaded freight rarely went via the mainline and even less common behind 45s/46s which had lower maximum loads than 47s. MGRs were virtually unknown loaded on the mainline, the Manton road allowing another three or four wagons for a 45/46 or about seven for a 47. Similar restrictions would have applied to tanks.

Hard to say if that's a down Langley working, certainly the routing is northbound on the mainline but the 47 was usually a give away for the Langley. I believe the reason was that it was an out and back working and the crews responsible for the WR leg weren't universally trained on 45s. Also, those tanks look like heavy oil or bitumen rather than kerosene which I think Langley received. There were irregular workings/ specials for ad-hoc flows to cover deliveries of fuel oil to some customers who needed standby supplies for instance.

This looks interesting : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131099442731?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

This was almost certainly a return Corby - Lackenby. In the early days (1980 onwards) it was booked a loco change at Toton, there was no dedicated pool as in later years so the stretch from there to Corby usually involved anything allocated there. At some point, around mid1983 I think it was, it changed and the same locos worked through. I'd have to say I don't know the full history but all manner of locos worked through, including NE allocated 20s, 31s, 37s (the norm), 40s and 46s. The last two were comparatively rare and I was never sure if the 20s had worked through in one go, fuel range would have been on the limit I'd have thought, but all were seen more than once at Corby. That's probably the most comprehensive collection of pics I've ever seen of Twywell, it was a bit far for us to cycle and trains too infrequent to make it worthwhile,The material was ironstone sand, basically very soft ironstone which was quarried and ferried to the railhead in trucks. It was mixed into the furnace charge as part of the sintering process I believe.The 31s weren't common so these pics add a bit more spice. I'd be interested to see any shots you might have of the tipper trucks used, it might settle a bit of a mystery which came up a year or two back.

Wonderful pics from my old haunts, many a Summer afternoon was spent leaning on the fence shown in the pic with the two cars, opposite Glendon Nth box, after biking from Corby. I'd BR pretty certain though that this pic is Glendon Sidings rather than Storefield. The picture was taken from The main A6003, just North of Storefield Cottages, the road in the foreground is Station Rd from Storefield to Rushton, the road sign being the giveway sign where it joins the main road. Glendon East box would be just off the shot to the right. 9T27 was the Glendon trip for ore from Glendon to Lloyd's Sidings from where BSC Minerals class 14s would trip them to the ore crushers. I seem to think the empties worked back from Corby Sidings. 9T26 also would have worked this way from the stump of the Kettering - Huntingdon line to Twywell but that was a type 2 turn, possibly type 4s were barred from the branch. Storefield closed in the late sixties and would have been of shot to the left of this picture, the remains of the level crossing there have only recently been removed by work on the new A43 link.

Picked one up yesterday on impulse, after convincing myself that I didn't need one, I had a close look at one in one of my chosen retailers and parted with a very reasonable sum for it. Now had a close look at it and bar for the the over scale MU jumper fittings on the bogies, it's a super model. Not been run to any great extent but a quick test run hasn't thrown up any problems, so far, so good.

John was still with us a year or so back and I've not heard anything to the contrary. He still writes/ edits a series of books published by Venture Publishing, the successor to TPC, as you say now run by his son from a shop in Glossop, always worth a visit if you're that way.

Nice shot, what year was it taken? Not sure about the 350yd rule applying here though, the box is on the end of the platform the DMUs standing at and from memory it's 11 coaches in length putting it around 750ft away.

Frank was a truly inspirational character to many of my generation and the succession of His layouts which featured in the old Model Railways showcased the best practice for just about everything in those days, hard to believe it but almost 40 years ago now. 'Market was the only one of Frank's layouts I ever saw in the flesh but having seen it a couple of times in its original state and again a couple of times in the new guise, it doesn't appear to be an old, dated and obsolete piece, such as much of the RTR stock of that era appears today against contemporary standards, but more of a masterpiece which has matured into a true classic and can still show the newcomers something of great value. In short, it's a glowing tribute to a true genius who contributed so much to the hobby.

Strange how things can turn up, I once sold a showmans lorry, built/ kit bashed from a plastic kit, at a swap meet. It turned up about four or five years later on a web forum where the poster described how he'd converted it himself! Curiously he wasn't far wide of the mark in his description of the work, only the origin of the wheels eluded him, he said they were unknown origin, in fact they were from another kit, turned down by hand to correct the tyre profile and hub shape.