Gwiwer

The Reading stop could have been serviced via Winnersh and Bramley between Waterloo and Salisbury but as you say crewing poses a problem over the LSWR route east of Yeovil. Booked stops on the NR have varied over the years. It once included Swindon, Bath and Bristol before losing the first two then the last. It still runs via Bristol as required by overnight works but without a booked stop, without a need to change men and with no guarantee of it being on a platform road let alone actually stopping the chance of nipping on or off unchallenged has gone. That and central locking fouling what was o ce considered part of the art of railrovermanship.

During various works I have made scheduled trips between Glasgow Queen St LL and HL (West Highland train arriving via Springburn) and Glasgow Queen St LL to Central HL (WHL again but when Queen St HL was closed).

The current timetable includes booked Sunday services between Waterloo - Hounslow and Kingston reversing at Twickenham. When the route via Richmond is closed for engineering the Readings and Windsors operate via Wimbledon and Twickenham reversing at the latter. Rare diversion or planned / booked for route knowledge purposes? Some weird things happen late at night to retain knowledge over unusual routings.

A few contenders B'ham New St - Bescot - Adderley Park - Coventry - Nuneaton - Leicester due to engineering work on the direct route and a signal failure preventing exit at the south end of New Street as booked direct to Coventry. Kings Cross - Hertford North - Peterborough - Spalding - Doncaster - York - Durham - Leamside - Gateshead - Kin Edward Bridge - Newcastle. Talk about round the houses but all booked due to electrification works. Worthing - Brighton - Littlehampton (through but not stopping at Worthing!) - Crawley - Quarry Line - Victoria. Because the Balcombr derailment prevented the train I connected onto at Brighton taking the main line. Waterloo - Ashford - Reading - Swindon - Melksham - Frome Avoiding Line - Yeovil Pen Mill & Junction - Exeter - Penzance. Waterloo was the booked Night Riviera London terminal for a short time but why did we not go via Salusbury?

One of those Green Line SMA-class Swifts was based at Crawley nominally for route 479 to Broadfields which, when it began, was a single-vehicle standalone duty. That left the 725 allocation short of a maintenance spare which in turn often required the use of an RF or the cancellation of one of the peak-hour Dartford - Croydon extras. The 725 was the original southern orbital route which did not serve the obvious destination of Heathrow Airport. When London Country woke up (perhaps too late) to the possibility of routing the service this way every other journey on the half-hourly service became a 726 via the airport instead of via Staines. The western half of the route is one of very few recognisable vestiges of the Green Line network today. LCBS withdrew the Gravesend - Croydon section, all journeys via Staines and the Heathrow - Windsor leg. West Croydon - Heathrow continues today as TfL (red bus) route X26. It still runs every half hour and has just gained double-deckers for the first time. The fare is TfL's standard £1.50 anywhere which is somewhat cheaper than would have been the case when Green Line finished.

I am reliably informed that a Tornado has swept through Cornwall today. Funny thing, this internet. I've had dozens of messages from the good folk of Hayle (who know, or who know of, my interests) asking for times. A simple post of the RTT link wasn't quite enough so this London-based Cornishman has been idly refreshing the page and messaging the progress to folks down west. It seems the kettle performed rather well. Time regained ovef the big Devon banks after a delay at Exeter but that cost the path and she was stuck behind the HST she should have been ahead of. Video from Treverrin shows her storming up in fine style.

Yes. I must have had my twenty-something head on when I applied for a place in the 2018 London Marathon. In October I shall know the result and whether I get to prove my long-held assertion that I could still run one. I've done three London's as a rather younger chap.

Good morning Debs and John. Good to hear from you. Good morning to all other ERs. Welcome to Ban Collar Day. Sleep must have been adequate as I don't seem to require more. Now what is a chap to to with a day which has dawned grey and damper than the average piece of seaweed? Breakast! That's what. Everyone should celebrate breakfast at least once a day.

Morning all from a warm, humid and currently damp Hill of Strawberries. Not aware of any thunderstorms here but there has been thundery rain at times. Warm nights not conducive to sleep mean that the Good Lady has been on eyelid inspection duty practically all day so far. Visited mother yesterday. Went through the first of father's things. Returned with two good shirts and three jackets which if any has been worn it could only have been once. Also inherited a modest collection of alcohol. Father always had bottles of Famous Grouse and Remy Martin "in case". We found several of each unopened and stashed in dark corners he had probably forgotten about. Avoided the egg-chasing hordes up the road yesterday and today. Arrived back around midnight last night and learned that our noisy-f****r neighbours were also home. All movements of the The Love Symphony were being performed quite audibly once more. Thoughts with Baz and Andy in particular. And any I've missed scanning email replies on the phone.

Finchley Central opens the New Vaudeville Gambit for three turns only I claim bonus points for a terminal-shuffle to MILL HILL EAST

As some will know I currently lack any means of running or testing anything. However with the questions regarding tbe 71 speed in mind an opportunity arose yesterday to both give it a test run and discuss with my nephew who is far wiser in the electronics aspect than I am ever likely to be. So E5010 travelled aboard South Western and Southern trains to meet nephew in Worthing. He had come over from the Isle of Ancient Tube Trains with enough track and some basic testing kit and tools First let me stress this has not been done under "factory conditions" and was a DC table-top test. Comments may not apply to DCC users. The loco was placed on straight track with no load coupled, was powered by a Gaugemaster Combi and achieved a shade under 60mph (scaled as per posts above) after some running in. A little slow as others have found. Nephew then probed and tested the innards for quite some time and suggested I could make a easy change on the DCC dummy board bypassing six diodes as shown below . But the motor and LEDs would not start up at the same time. Something to do with the way everything works in together. It appeared that to short out these two points on R10 would bypass six diodes and the loco should run at normal speed. Not something I was terribly comfortable about but trusting nephew's skill and understanding we proceeded and found that the loco then achieved a scale speed closer to 72mph Very much a case of I don't know how but it works. And offered here as a thought for anyone troubled by low top speeds.

Hi Peter and welcome. There are numerous ways to upload and display images. The site recently upgraded its own hosting to allow a single image up to 32mb (was just 1mb) so any image file can now be hosted directly here. In your layout topic you will need the full reply window (Reply with Attachments) open which has the button below to attach files. 1. Click "Choose file" then select one at a time from your image library (should also work straight from the camera) and upload. 2. Click "Attach this file" The completed upload then creates a clickable link labelled "Insert file" 3. Place the cursor on the reply pane where you want your image displayed and click "Insert file" The reply pane will display a short link. To check before posting click on Preview Post. That displays the image.

Ban Collar Day weekend has arrived. So have the weather warnings though today was breezy anda comfortably sunny 25C. Escorted Mrs G. to a dermatology appointment at Kingston-upon-Hospital. Can't fault the NHS as she was only seen by a GP here three weeks ago, was referred to the specialist who not only saw her far sooner than GP suggested but also right on time. Lovely chap. And it turns out all is well and the problem is age-related more than medical. An embuggerance of life. Off to the Costa Geriatrica tomorrow as the time has come to start sorting through father's things. Not entirely looking forward but bullet bitten as such things must be done. Down the road in Strawberry Vale the Thames has been spilt. Yesterday and today on the Spring tides the lower paths and gardens were just under water. It's normal. Up here upon Strawberry Hill it was Lebanese style dining tonight courtesy of Mr. Deliveroo. Thoughts with those specifically affected by recent events up north. The wash-up has seen armed police on the streets of small Cornish towns where even an unarmed officer is a rarity.

Prize for the first to board at Snerth? That's new.

Oh dear. The inverted image has been reported but I cannot get it to upload correctly on the phone which is the only device I currently have available.

One of those Peaks is definitely overscale! More great pics Peter and I'm having trouble telling which are real and which are model at times. Here's an interesting line-up which hints at my future plans

One of those Peaks is definitely overscale! More great pics Peter and I'm having trouble telling which are real and which are model at times. Here's an interesting line-up which hints at my future plans

Greetings all Just dropping in to record my return to Australia. 27C by 11am, parrots noisily playing among the trees, sun shining relentlessly from a near-clear blue sky and everyone is wearing their legs. Oh. And that's the Thames at the bottom of the road not the Ninety Mile Beach and the swans here are white ......... Still relying on the phone talking to the wifi hub. A few more bits and bobs arriving to make this place a home. Can't be Australia - I placed an Argos order online at 3pm and they promise delivery between 7-10pm. Same day. Within seven hours as well. Two parcels arrived from H@ttons this morning. All "as new" stuff which appears perfectly serviceable for when the new project gets going. And I have a camera card well filled with raw material for what should become a modest image-sales business in the medium-term future. Weekend shall be mostly in Sussex. It's time to bite the bullet and start going through father's things. If the weather holds I can see a late night swim at the beach also occurring.

Just in case any manufacturer is stumped for where to seek information then ask here. RMwebbers know everything. Pretty much. 55013 in blue is just a sloppy error from nil research.

Jane Bunn. She can deliver my weather forecast any time she likes because the outlook is always fine. See what I have to do without by coming home?

Long time Caroline fan here. The transistor radio under the bedclothes at night elightened me musically and socially. Cue the Four Seasons sig tune then .... They've been legal for some time as others have said but this is another step forward. No longer the sinking ship with new 45s ferried out weekly.

No - you definitely got a 71 . Sorry to hear this and of a very few other issues but realistically there is always likely to be a very small number of faulty items in a production run. Even when they are so closely monitored.

Popped into my "local" shop today and collected my 71 in person. From tissue to track it is magnificently presented and looks a real treat. I've had many items delivered with tissue on the box but none where it was neatly folded, sellotaped and looked to be more than cosmetic. Until now. The loco inside - in my case it's the green fye E5010 - is superb but first one has to read the various insert cards which have already been discussed. I shall add crew and a light weathering in due course. It seems almost offensive to consider dirtying her up but tve bogies, underframes and roof will be improved by it. Not being an expert I cannot pass judgement on the minutiae but it looks like a 71 to me and it looks like a precision model where the opposition looks rather less refined. Well done Dave and his Chinese partners for bringing us these and for using crowdfunding. And to Chris and his hard-working team who have one less to mail out (so yours have all moved a step closer ) and whose shop is filled with cartons of these. I'm sure there was smoke coming from the back room where they were being packed for mailing as fast as possible.

Diving off-topic briefly I can corroborate that. I have clocked single 33s at speeds well into the 90s on several occasions. On one memorable trip a pair of them (rostered as a loco-balancing move) with just six Mk1s in tow reached 97mph. Where and when will have to remain known only to me, the driver and perhaps a very few others for a while yet. He might still be driving.

I was looking for a link to the class 74 project to forward but couldn't find one. In addition to the retailer(s) the various enthusiast bodies may generate additional interest if they had a link to do so.