Gwiwer

Correct for the items as released but remember that the luggage compartment between driver and first class also seated 12 second class in the Berkshire units (1127-1133) which never had the seating stripped out and was also reinstated in some units in Connex days to help with overcrowding on the Uckfield line. From memories I would prefer to not have those units could also accommodate as many standing as seated when used on Portsmouth - Bristol duties. I have even seen people in the luggage racks on those trips for want of anywhere else to go. Quite woeful when you think that the journey could be several hours long and most passengers didn't have access to a toilet never mind any other sort of seat.

I have discussed exactly this scenario with Kernow MRC as it potentially affected me prior to returning home. The way you can avoid all those bank fees and a phone call / email is to mark "Take full payment now" in the "Comments" box as you check out of the online store. They will do so and you pay exactly the same price as you otherwise would. The difference is that you pay one bank fee not three and you know that it's already paid for when it eventually turns up. I reckon that's a win-win situation. This is also information readily available on their web site.

Yes. It is the way their system works. For items not expected in stock within 28 days they then return the funds to you and ask for payment when the item arrives. For items expected within 28 days you have already paid and it simply arrives on your doorstep when it gets there. This is fully explained on their web site. Some savvy announcements from the Camborne Crew. More recent liveries seem to be in demand as BR blue fades into our memories as steam did a generation back. And as ever for Kernow MRC there is a significant geographical connection with all these items having run in Cornwall. A "shove-duff" might make it to my display stock and I have a rake of toothpaste Mk1s and a NSE 50 so this would be a suitable addition though the rest are too recent for me. I wish them well with what should be popular additions to their stock. Who ever thought we might one day be offered a pack of three sleeping cars representing around 1/3 of the total fleet in that livery?

Evening all. Nothing to POE from these days but I do have to speak with the nice people at South Western Railway next Friday about the possibility of wearing one of their uniforms in the future. Took a wander around in the sun today and reacquainted myself with the Chessington branch. Haven't been down for over 30 years and that was on a branch-bashing railtour. Quite a tidy little station at the "temporary" terminus which still has track laid and apparently in useable condition for some distance to the south along what should have been the way to Leatherhead. It never got farther than about a mile beyond Chessington South station. Apart from the very modest settlement of Malden Rushett there is still nothing in between which would have generated traffic. The local oiks from Copt Gilders Estate are as bad as ever though. Leaving the station we (about eight of us) were accosted by three lads of no more than 8 or 9 years of age but behaving in a most threatening manner and demanding money while spitting in our general direction. Exiting that little slice of life the hourly bus to Epsom was a very under-used double-decker with just four people aboard. One of those was the driver. The route followed the former London Country 468 though TfL have assigned the number 467 next door. And just as with the 468, which was often worked by AN-class Atlanteans when I knew it, the 'decker is needed for school loadings twice a day but is otherwise nothing more than an air-mover. Return was by way of the now-red bus 406 which still plies the Epsom - Kingston section of the old LT/LCBS 406 that once originated in Redhill. The southern section is run by Metrobus as their 460 which goes through to Crawley over the southern part of the old 405. The current 405 (also now red buses ex-green) is a TfL route from West Croydon to Redhill only. I used to ride through Epsom on green RT buses on the 406, avoiding the 408 which had just been converted to one-man ANs. It's all a bit different now. Severe traffic congestion on the 65 between Kingston and Richmond meant I was only just in time to collect SWMBO's shoes from the cobbler (yes - he still trades as a cobbler) and a brisk stroll along Richmond Green avoiding the busy main streets saw me aboard the 4.59 train for the Hill just as the door alarm was sounding. One last coffee and a wander through the nether regions of RMW before bed and a busy day tomorrow which unfortunately precludes attendance at the Old Oak Common open day. Given that Mr. Chris from that nice shop in Camborne is announcing four new commissions I should have liked to go. I'll see him in three weeks time down in Sunny Worthing for their MRC exhibition instead. Sleep well if you can. All the best.

Of the various sites and enthusiast's body records I checked I cannot find any trace of a survivor. Similar bodies survive but with the more common Bristol MW or LH chassis beneath them. The WN batch were to be found working out of Kingsbridge and Newquay depots and have been described as "noisy little beasts" with the engine right next to the driver. Given the hills found in those areas that is hardly surprising.

Penge? Are we playing Extended Rules?

WN took this batch of Bedfords as an emergency stop-gap, I believe, as their preferred SU and MW types were obsolete, there was a hiatus in the supply of small lightweight saloons until the LH was ready but the bodies were already in-build when Bristol cried off. WN accepted the Bedford as an alternative to an uncertain delay in LH production and to urgently replace the last L-type saloons some of which survived until the late 1960s. NBC Ford and Bedford chassis came rather later.

Heljan tension lock couplers are notoriously droopy. Those on the 33 are nowhere near as bad as on the 35. A suitable Kadee would not only work but look the part as well though I wonder to what extent the droop on the loco socket might affect performance.

I saw what you did there. There can be only one move to counter that. An eternity on the loop with zone 1 in spoon CHIGWELL

The commission offers an opportunity to present something the manufacturers may feel is not likely to sell in sufficient numbers to be a catalogue item. Many are geographically related to the area the commissioner is based in such as the many WR items commissioned by Kernow MRC. The market might or might not be "awash with cheap items" but commissions are seldom priced at the same level and are considered collectable by many who will pay the price premium. Many others will pay the extra just to have an otherwise unobtainable item or a different livery / number to the mainstream production. Personally I am looking forward to hearing what KMRC has to say tomorrow. And we now know there are to be four, not just two, announcements.

I am stumped for a suitable reply there so it's off to the boundary for tea. AMERSHAM

Good morning. It appears to be Friday.

Kernow are becoming known for posting website / Facebook page teasers so a NSE 47/7 seems a fir bet for one. The gap in the 4TC product codes is suspicious. 32-645Z is missing without good reason. A "teak" version would ice the cake for the type and might be very close to the shelves given that the first tranche is already in stock. Owing to a diary clash I cannot get to Old Oak Common so will be watching for the announcements here and via the usual KMRC channels.

Is that like Cheesy Wotsits only rock cake flavoured? A stalactite sticks tight to the roof, A stalagmite might reach it.

A dispute over a threat? What are they disputing? Whether or not the threat exists? Sabre-rattling at this stage I'd suggest. They certainly have no grounds for balloting on action.

I suspect letterspider's moderated status has delayed the appearance of post 301. No matter. We know where we are. Let us resume from Chorley Wood and in honour of a maiden appearance I declare a Rushton's Reverse is in play and we are off to MAIDA VALE

Flat cleaned top to bottom. Rick cleaned top to ..... errrrr...... toes New neighbour met whilst he was moving in. Seems like a nice chap. Lunch enjoyed. Off to play in the sun now.

And all the pensioners waited until double sfamps day before shopping Then it went crazy with up to 24-fold stamps before The Gummint stepped in to stop it all. Green Shield Stamps morphed into Argos IIRC. Still offerring cheap tat at catalogue outlets though what you go for is never in stock. Some things never change!

Morning all. Bright, sunny and cool to bid August farewell. I guess that was summer then. Slowly surfaced again somewhat later than ideal having been alarmed at 6.30, 7.00 and 7.30 to hopefully prise SWMBO from beneath the duvet and point her in the direction of her office. You mnow it's a cool morning when that task requires three or more attempts. Excellent news from Steve. Somewhat over the Diana thing. Whatever your thoughts on the conspiracy theory she died a violent death that I wouldn't wish on anyone. However "convenient" it might have been for some of the Establishment at the time. She did a lot of good work. Let's remember her for that. Off to Richmond later. Coffee first. Maybe with a croissant as well if I'm lucky.

I'll not have my Bec tooted in public thank you. Such things can get one arrested. Off to court for you! Chancery Lane

These are unpowered units. The lights and headcodes work on track power under DC control and will do the same for DCC control. If you fit a chip you may be able to exercise greater control over them and if you add sound (again remembering there are no motors) you may find that only works on a chipped unit. The 4TC units were normally powered by 4Rep units. Off the live rail they were powered by class 33/1 diesels though could be powered by class 73/1, 73/2 and 74 electro-diesels all of which are available currently (though a good look might be required for current stock) or soon will be and can be chipped for DCC. The original blue ones are in stock and quite superb they are too. The wipers are a bit chunky but could be replaced though that is my only gripe of consequence. Moulded versus applied handrails has been discussed some pages back. Headcodes supplied are 91 (Waterloo - Bournemouth - Weymouth fast), 62 (Waterloo - Salisbury - Exeter semi-fast) and double white blank (when that end is coupled to a locomotive). The rest will not be very far behind.

Ooh prisms. Another reminder of my past as an alleged geologist. Optical mineralogy involved lots of pretty colours. The extinction angle (where your pretty colour turned black) was diagnostic and identified the mineral without fail. Like fingerprints every one is unique. Just don't ask me to remember any of it now without delving into my well-thumbed copy of "Rutley's Elements of Mineralogy". The bible for such things.

And when we do get the final report I hope to see an answer to the question why Panel 1 was not split at Wimbledon as planned into 1 and 1A to permit this work to go ahead without impinging on signals and points on the "live" side.

The Dennix Pax. Nowhere else had them bus-bodied.

It was in the late 70s that I was there, on the way to a mapping area, and having to change trains. We had, as a party, travelled overnight from Euston and for some reason were required to change for Oban at Crianlarich rather than Glasgow Queen Street. Perhaps it was one of those occasions when Queen Street was not served due to engineering works; I never knew as we were asleep at the time. By the by we were a dozen barely awake and slightly hung over geology students impressed to find the cafe was open at that hour. We were however admonished that "Nay packs and NAY HAMMERS" were to enter the building despite the lashing rain. After two soaking weeks in early September we had barely achieved half of the normally-required mapping but had already been advised the atrocious weather would be taken account of in assessing out efforts. On the return we were driven back from Ford (by Lochgilphead, not by Gaugemaster) to Taynuilt but ended up missing a corner and ending up with the bus having one wheel over the edge in the ditch and the front wing embedded in a wall. Geological hammers were pressed into use to panel-beat it back into a state where we could at least continue to the train. And the result of two weeks out and about in bogs and on mountain sides in torrential rain? A straight A. I still have the map I created, the cross-section and the explanatory text I submitted for that.