Edwin_m

The BBC shots looked superb. Congrats to all concerned for showing that something like this can be done on one of the country's busiest sections of railway. I suspect it will be more difficult bordering on the impossible come the 200th, or even the 160th, when the new signalling is in use. So probably a case of "last chance to see".

There are more new stations than you might think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Railway_stations_opened_by_Network_Rail I guess it would be difficult for Keswick trains to go anywhere further than Penrith, which is unfortunate as the change would act as a bit of a disincentive.

A lot of people in the north see HS2 as extremely important for connecting them into the relative prosperity of the South East. When the proposed routes to Manchester and Leeds are announced next week, I wouldn't be too suprised if a lot of the objections are of the PIMBY (Please In My Back Yard) rather than NIMBY variety. There are likely to be places that lose of from HS2 due to lack of access to stations, and/or slower or less frequent classic service as the fastest services on the classic network are transferred onto HS2. I also think the accessibility of stations is important in another way. A site that is most easily accessible by car will mainly allow the more affluent local residents more easy access to London and therefore probably suck life out of local economies. However a station that has good links on the classic rail network to those places it doesn't serve directly ought to distribute the benefits more evenly by allowing Londoners and other visitors to access the regional centres more readily. When we see the routes there are likely to be examples of both.

That means they can just use the one from Crewe Heritage Centre, rather than dipping into the strategic reserve...

There's a website for the project here. If you believe that video they have some "interesting" ideas on what rolling stock they will use!

No Forth or Tay road bridges either, so the railway ought to have had a good edge over the road on this journey despite the speed restrictions through places like Kinghorn.

Possibly easier to start from new than try to modify an existing one - it's just a question of some wire, LEDs, resistors and fibre optics.

When thinking about making the black window surround as an insert, remember this is just a livery feature. Depending on the deliberations of m'lud they could be appearing in a totally different livery in six months time, and it would be a shame if this remained like the famous moulding line that separated the shades of green on the blue Hornby 47! How about painting the whole side to represent window as suggested by Jim, then applying a vinyl?

Looks like set 324 must have been driven into the siding with tail lights front, possibly even from the rear cab. Tut tut, wouldn't be allowed these days. My recollection is that the East Coast HST power cars were randomly assigned, with no reference to set number, almost from the start.

Definitely no bay by September 1978 when I moved there for three years, sorry no photos though. I also have many memories of sitting behind the driver on those 101s. Found something somewhere on the web about the Invertiel-Seafield link being part of a harbour project, presumably to take out the coal from the Cowdenbeath area, but the harbour was never completed due to storm damage.

Unless you count the Alstom special as a different livery, the second one depends on the deliberations of M'lud! The problem with a Hornby APT type tilt mechanism is that it was designed for trainset curves and I doubt it would tilt at all on "realistic" ones. I don't think you could use the same principle on gentle curves as the wedges would become so steep that they would stop the bogie turning instead of lifting the body.

Looks very impressive. Have you started from an official drawing or is it deduced from photos etc? As the Pendolino side is pretty smooth, I wonder if the clear plastic plus vinyl technique might be the best way of doing the windows. Being a total ignoramus on 3D printing I don't even know if it's possible in clear plastic...

Does this also mean you have to run both yellow wires back to the control panel? An alternative design would have allowed for commoning of the switches/buttons with one wire per signal plus a common.

At a guess, it's to help the signalman observe the crossing. Possibly when standing at the wheel the corner post of the box might have been blocking the view - notice the wooden column is replaced by a metal rod.

Either a largely-buried HS2 or no HS2 at all.

I don't think that's been mentioned on here before. According to the review in NGS Journal the mechanism would protrude slightly below a 2x1 frame (depending also on thickness of the top). This could also lead to damage if used with a non-permanent layout having similar frames.

That's another very good question to which we have no answer.

Hadn't thought of that one! I think they must have to comply, as the type of transmission used doesn't affect the emissions and I can't see the EU bending over backwards to derogate from their standard for the benefit of the Japanese... However it's a 25m vehicle (or has that changed as well?) so 2m longer than the 172 etc, which may give them the bit of underfloor space they need.

This is certainly a factor. I don't think any of the current DMU designs can be produced any more, presumably not even the class 172 which makes me wonder why Bombardier bothered developing it to sell such a small number! It is possible that someone will think of a new way of meeting the regulations without using so much space, otherwise we might be back to some of the equipment going above floor level. The other factor is that leasing companies have to be reasonably confident that a train will be used and paid for over its full lifetime before they shell out to have it built. With so much electrification in prospect there is a fear that DMUs will be made redundant - possibly a self-fulfilling prophecy if one of the reasons for electrification is the difficulty of getting more DMUs! Perhaps part of the answer is for new DMUs to be designed for easy conversion to EMUs?

The 20m per car restriction also applies to much of the Southern (enough that only the 442s and 444s are built longer) as well as places like Cardiff Valleys so I wouldn't say that is particularly restrictive. I agree the locomotive restriction is unusual as locos are usually go-anywhere in gauging terms.

I think Jonathan is right, the Drayton Park to Moorgate tunnels aren't particularly small. Confusion may arise from (1) the fact that they were electrified third rail in the 70s, which indicates they didn't have clearance for 25kV but doesn't say anything about the train size, and (2) the "Widened Lines" route to Moorgate having restricted clearances, which presumably no longer apply as standard 377 as well as 319 stock can use the surviving part.

Must be really annoying if you lose it...

As far as I know it is indeed a regulated monopoly as suggested by Brian. Rates for each train type and operator are published and are no doubt analysed and benchmarked to determine whether Network Rail is being efficient. The price charged to TOCs will be a lot higher than typical industry unit rates, because as well as buying power from the supplier it also has to pay the costs Network Rail incurs in operating and maintaining its own supply infrastructure and the OLE itself. As suggested by Mike a page or two back it will almost certainly also have to repay the capital cost of the electrification. The belief is that even with all these costs loaded onto the electricity charge, the cost of diesel fuel and the extra leasing and maintenance costs for diesels will still make it cheaper for the TOCs concerned to go electric.

That's an interesting thought. Chiltern have shown no interest in electrification thus far and Marylebone is of course the last non-electrified London terminus. They have got more things right than most other TOCs and it will be interesting to see if they jump on the electric bandwagon. If they stick with diesel then they have the option of accommodating growth by taking on some of the 165/166 fleet displaced from the Paddington services. They already run similar units and their operating routes have suitable clearances.

Cleethorpes is definitely excluded - it wouldn't be much use unless Hope Valley was done as well. I think Middlesbrough is being looked at along with Hull and Scarborough - if these branches aren't electrified then they could lose through services.