Covkid

J rather thought it might. Thanks Paul

Does anyone know which parcel company is being used please ? I have received a dodgy looking text message from Evri saying my address is incomplete and my parcel is being held at the depot. Can't believe it would be from Rapido

Hell yeah Swindon Cross Country (class 120) and Derby long frame suburban (class 116) Then Met Camm (class 101) for starters

Interesting piccie. Large buffers

No trouble at all with that Michael !! Potentially actually have the best of both worlds. By all means run your railway owned trains, but absolutely no reason not to have a couple of exchange sidings to an industrial facility. This is where one of Rapido's themes is taking us. Who is going to be able to resist a Caledonia fireless shuffling a handful of wagons around a little industry adjacent to the mainline ? More importantly for me though, some Rapido internal user NCBs in the sidings adjacent to the mainline give the NCB locos a change from company mineral wagons. In my case I will have the choice of NCB flats loaded with coal boxes (essentially 1907 underframes), NCB internal users, internal user spoil dump cars and mineral traffic to interchange. I have found an image online of an NCB Janus with a few spoil tippers on the Holly bank system - inspiration for Rapido if needed

As has been said 56006 was an Old Oak Common special, but IIRC 56004 was also a late blue. This is odd because 56004 had new "Doncaster" cabs to replace the Romanian ones it was built with. EDIT Or maybe one Doncaster cab 56004 Doncaster Works 1.4.84 | Following major collision dam… | Flickr

I am always fascinated by the large amount of second hand stuff which Topp Trains acquire to recirculate into the hobby. This week there was quite a collection of 16 tonners and other wagons, for people who are into such things.

Interesting to read the comments in this thread and I really do wish Phil every success with his Sulzers. But... I think Phil needs to come out from his cottage industry frontage and accept that he has a pretty serious retail operation on the go, and needs to respect the customers who are buying from SLW. The BR/Sulzer type 2s is reproduced authentically will undoubtedly sell to discerning modellers and collectors and Phil knows that. Unfortunately, those sales are mostly to people who want to see the products they have invested in produced to a reasonable timescale. So where are the class 25 models ? Are they still in a container on a ship, or are they at a warehouse with the boxes being emptied for packing ? I wonder if Phil and Jamie are actually fully employed in their day jobs, and SLW is a sideshow ? If that is the case and they only have a limited amount of time to dedicate to the SLW business, then maybe take on some additional temporary labour, or seeks some industry help. There is nothing to be gained by claiming their products are the best / most authentic etc, along with all the sold out signs in the display cases, if the customers are having to sit on their hands and wait the call. Phil is a shrewd guy, knows the market. He knows that the Scottish "car headlight" 24s will be popular, but Bachmann are sweeping the class 24 orders up, partly because us modellers with disposable cash / credit cards will find it difficult to resist, and not so many are loyal to a product these days, being happy to buy the first to the market. I personally feel that Phil has missed a trick, and perhaps shouldn't have taken the stand at York - instead using the weekend to get a lot of packing done and models into the back of parcels and delivery vans pronto. Obviously the stands for the York show and others need to book many many months prior, so maybe whatever the issue is didn't manifest itself at that time, but delaying in getting the product out to customers can damage reputation and repeat orders.

Sad news, but good luck and best wishes to his family

The significant point though is - AWC and the DfT are expecting staff to give up their days off to go into work for that six hundred quid day extra. Soe people don't doing extra work, but some do. I haven't worked any overtime or rest days for over seven years - mostly because I don't want to, but neither do i need to. My work life balance is OK at the moment, but i will jobshare in September, so will be doing half of what I do now, and will earn half of what I do now - after 46 years of full time shift work. I am not seeing any mention of this part of the scenario in any comments about the dispute, noting that the extra Hitachi training requirements have been known about by AWC and DfT since before the order was placed

Everyday is a school day !! Thanks "Wombat" I didn't know that. It is all relevant though and once Accurascale had the CADs on file they can be copied and amended as necessary.

Hahaha. I will be revisiting this thread regularly to see if that happens !! As Accurascale now have the 64 foot Mk2 bodyshell in CAD that makes a lot of sense. On the other hand all the doors and windows would need redrawing, as well as the underframe and gangways etc . In a strange kind of way and from a commercial point of view, perhaps Accurascale would market and sell the XP64 coaches more successfully. Were there only two bodyshell variants with two different versions of the doors - original and modified. Perhaps Brian MacDermott could give us an idea how often the XP64 vehicles have appeared in the polls, and maybe what kind of rating ? Also, are there any XP64 vehicles left in 1:1 scale ? From what I can make out there are three. Two at the Wensleydale railway, ex NYMR, and one remaining at the Dean Forest railway at Lydney.

Oh my. Yes please !!!!

The answer to the original question is - they weren't unduly unreliable, but there is an important point here. The BR system involved a number of TMDs across the country and if a loco needed a repair of a bit of treatment, it mostly went to the local depot. When EWS took over from BR there was a concerted effort to close TMDs and move towards just a few super depots like Toton and Crewe IEMD. So if a loco had a failure it was often needed to be moved back to the superdepot for repair, but via a circuitous route because EWS didn't like non essential light locomotive moves. This scenario continues and IIRC 66092 has spent many many months (nearly a year) trying to get from South Wales to Toton for wheelset fettling. In BR days the loco would have gone to Margam and been lifted for a replacement wheels or bogie. These days I think it was hauled from South Wales to Gloucester, then Gloucester - Didcot. From my memories they were fairly solid and reliable, if boring diesels. which just got on with the job in hand. The first issue involved the driver side windows, where the two piece windows were in the wrong place for the driver to see out of. Thus the drivers have new three piece screens whilst the secondman's side retained the as built windows. Operationally the biggest problem was the "culture shock" for drivers. Inside the engine room there is a matrix of LEDs for faulting and maintenance. If there was a steady light showing on the panel the fault had already been logged and in most cases the driver didn't need to take any action. It was only when those twinkly little LEDs were flashing that notice needed to be taken !!! One "benefit" was that traction motors could be isolated individually rather than in pairs as traditional diesel locos. We were told a 60 could (and did) run for days and even weeks with a motor isolated, and with no load reduction either.

Ooops - apologies !! ER pacifics are not my strong point as you can tell.

I believe so Andy. They chopped the upper half off - cab dome and chimney IIRC. Although the continuous journey sounds fun, I would prefer the break at Port. Whe nwe did it there was a special timetable in place for two weeks. We caught DMUs to Llandudno Jn, then up to Blaenau and connected into a train to down Portmadoc, where we had lunch in Spooners. An hour later we caught the train to Caernafon which was pulled out of the platform by the double ended Funkey diesel. Our journey was completed by bus to Bangor the DMUs to Chester and Crewe then an EMU back to Penkridge. Worked out really well, particularly the lunchbreak in Spooners

From one Covkid to another !! Born 1962 Eastern Green, left in 1971 for Wales

In case anyone thinks there isn't a CDL system for vacuum braked stock just look at the DMUs on the Swanage raiway. As 3 car class 117 DMU and a class 121 "bubble car" were fitted with magnetic CDL in order to operate over Network Rail metals from the Swanage Railway into Wareham. Technically I imagine you could hook a vacuum braked steam loco on the front of the three car class 117 and haul it, probably dependant on there being a competent driver in the cab of the DMU to allow engines to run for heating and lighting. Whether Network Rail / ORR would allow it is probably another matter, and I doubt the 117 has an accesible UAT (retention toilet) fitted. I am afraid that IMHO WCR kept stalling and stalling the ORR whilst their competitors decided to jump through the necessary hoops to retain their licences. That is all.

I am not totally sure but I think I read somewhere that the majority of seats on the two Jacobite rakes (hitherto) were in open stock, and just one coach of compartments was a premium charge. Opening picture windows are a clear advantage on scenic lines and behind steam locos, but when WCRC operated the Cambrian Coastline trains back in the oughties they used MK2 pressurevent stock, albeit probably vacuum braked. It is possible to have CDL on vacuum braked vehicles - obviously as that is what Vintage Trains are going to be doing at Tyseley, as I believe their business model retains vacuum brakes. Also the DMUs based at Swanage for operating o nthe mainline to Wareham are fitted with magnetic CDL. In my view WCR have taken a gamble (still) and it hasn't worked for them but.......... I am sure I have read somewhere that WCR regard the Jacobite as their most profitable operation . If it is there is a reason why it appears not to be their highest priority.

It depends on the period in question. A friend and myself decided to cover the 89 on it's diagrammed working at that time. The 17xx Kings Cross - Peterborough. We chose to drive over to Peterborough, caught a 317 to Huntingdon, then did the 89 back to Peterborough. It was a loco hauled set of stock which contained a Mk1 BG at one end. Can't recall if the coaches were Mk1s or Mk2s though. There were of course two periods of operation for the "badger" on the ECML, and this refers to the first period. IIRC the ECML became a "blue operation" during the "badger's" 2nd period of mainline operation, and I guess it was all Mk4 "push pull" sets by then

Some interesting youtube videos have been posted about the return to steam of 60532 "Blue Peter" and bubble car "Flora". 60532 has been under heavy overhaul and "straightening out" after a horrendous wheelslip at Durham over twenty years ago. The loco was visible under light steam shunting around the Locomotive Services depot at Crewe, but was then low loadered to Kidderminster ready for some running in and trials. Also sent to Kidderminster was the class 121 "bubble car 121020 "Flora" which has had an extensive bodywork rebuild with many of the doors removed and plush interior installed. The Chairman's train hauled by 47805 ran onto the SVR metals and was positioned in the station and 60532 was coupled to "Flora" for the run up to Highley. To achieve this the final drives from the mechanical transmissions were isolated. The train stopped at the home signal outside Highley, and "Blue Peter" was detached then run forward into the loop. The final drives were reinstated and the diesel railcar ran forward into the platform, where the final drives were again isolated, while "Blue Peter" shunted around onto the railcar to return tender first to Kidderminster. Personal opinion - "Blue Peter looks absolutely gorgeous in British Railways express blue with large "St Rollox" style 60532 on the cabsides. I am assuming she will get a topcoat of paint and varnish before receiving lining, crests etc. A fantastic rebuild of a now unique Thompson pacific. Well done LSL

Yes. Lets not forget that the huge majority of indigenous airbraked vehicles on British rails were two piped. AFAIK all the MGR hoppers HEA nee HBA, air braked vans VAx-VGA, steel carriers Bxxs and Sxxs, and of course all the passenger coaching stock anyway. Not forgetting the bogie ballast hoppers like Sealions and Seacows too. IT is only really from the late 1980s onwards that the reservoirs, pipework and yellow bufferbeam cocks were removed

I think it would make sense for any class 66 pre society to acquire 66048's shell and straighten it up, whilst giving it a good corrosion treatment. After a thorough repaint it could be put into a huge gazebo whilst they gather all the bitzanbobs to go in and under it.

I have several Bachmann Vanwides, and I think the body and chassis mouldings are as good as you will get, within the compromise of 16.5 mm gauge track. I have no reason to believe the Palvan will not be to a similar standard to the Vanwide. Just surprised Bachmann have not announced it at the Scottish or Ally Pally shows.

An interesting quest Dawn (pun intended !!) and good luck. I do feel though that it is mostly trying to sell snow to the eskimos. There will aways be a small minority of women in modeling just like there will always be a very small number of men in needlepoint or crochet. Don't get me wrong, I think the dextrosity displayed by some feminine fingers outweighs those of most men, as well as interpretation of colours and designs etc, but it is what it is. I am approaching my 46th year in the railway industry, and I became a Train Crew Supervisor in 1994 in a predominantly freight part of the industry. Back then we had one female driver ex guard and one female driver operator ex guard. It always struck me that a woman needs to have a certain will and constitution to book on duty at 2030 on a Saturday evening, prep a loco and work a train of twenty sealions and a crane out to a site in the middle of nowhere, then woerk as required until relieved at 0230 Sunday morning. The relief part would involving driving to the nearest location by road or lane, then adopting a practical approach to getting on to the right of way, and walking up the ballast in pitch dark and (sometimes (p1ss1ng) rain to clamber up onto the loco to dry out. Back then there were very few ballast sites with toilet facilities and even then would you want to use them !!!! So females who needed to maintain feminine levels of hygiene would be at a serious disadvantage to their male counterparts. At that time hygienic wipes were the only real answer to traincrew, and it often struck me that better should be provided. Fast forward nearly thirty years and I am now in the passenger role, and we are having as many girls as boys applying for footplate and guard roles these days - but this is the world of clean passenger trains with onboard toilets as well as facilities at many stations. I don't doubt things aren't too different on freight, but I imagine "portapotties" are provided for most engineering jobs these days. So what does this have to do with the thread ? Well it is probably all about whether you actually want to do whatever it is. How many women would want to spend 8-11 hours on a noisy and rattly 66 in the dark in the middle of nowhere ? Probably as many as want to go to a fairly male dominated world or model railways. Absolutely fine if you are happy to spend volumes of time in your own company and enjoy it. Creativity is a fantastic talent and can be very rewarding indeed. So on balance, yes, get involved ladies, but don't be too surprised if it is not a stampede !!! Keep up the great work Dawn, and keeping you grumpy cameraman in check !!