jonhall

They were bought out by the British Pullman operators to become the 'Northern Belle' operation. Jon

Its NOT on. There seems to be two issues, the Stevenage leisure center has had/is having some sort of refit that reduced carparking to a level that made it unattractive, and there is nobody who wants to take on the role of exhibition organiser - I'm sure if you want to organise something they would listen to your proposal. jon

two versions, one had extra clearance, but that proved unnecessary.

When you have a laser cutter, it looks like a solution to every problem - I know I could have managed this perfectly well with a scalpel, but...

try changing your country to Belgium(english) on the home page Jon

Finally got around to trying the mesh windows against Bachman coaches, and the look OK to me. Jon

Embsay? Are you sure you don't mean Ingrow on the KWVR? Jon

Based on this year, there will be almost no allocation of Eurostar-for-interrail-holders tickets available. Obviously check which station your train from Lille runs from - the transfer between Lille Europe (Eurostar & most TGV) and Lille Flanders (domestic/local trains) is pretty straightforward. My experience of the opposite corner of France this summer was rather 'just because there is a train on the timetable doesn't mean there is anything at the platform'. Jon

If your stock is mostly NEM you probably also want one of these https://www.petersspares.com/103650-dcc-supplies-symoba-102-nem-362-height-gauge-pk1.ir The British outline manufacturers have played fast and loose with the term NEM pocket, a lot of models have a pocket with the same dimensions as an NEM pocket, but are not at the right height. The NEM-kadee 17/18/19/20 expect the pocket to be at the correct height, so there is no high/medium/low versions, which means if the poket is wrong, the coupler will be wrong, and it will need more work than just unplugging the old and replacing. I echo KevinLMS's recommendation of the Kadee height gauge - its essential. I would also say that I don't think the #5 should be ever used in British outline - I always use the longs (26/29 or 46/49) which put the coupler box closer behind the bufferbeam and the overset needs less packing from the floor - having a longer arm means more articulation around corners. Jon

this type under a milk tank at Didcot? Jon

I started populating a thread about this earlier in the year - not suure where you will find it Jon

Its sounds like the Third/Fourth/Fifth threads you have missed is the KR models communication style, KR's slightly chaotic shipping, and whether a pre-order counts for anything if it isn't supplied! Jon

There is a nice photo showing one of these vans at Bad Schandau on the East German/Czech border on this site https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/EKT543AXEECE3NVOWHHMFEG3YLZ7P6VH but I can only get a low res version which isn't very clear, I can't quite work out why I used to be able to get the better version. Jon

G&H will have seen a major influx of etch work from the closure of PEC, and as that is (as I understand) the bread and butter of the business, I suspect bespoke laser cutting will take a backseat for a while? Jon

Ferry van at scale length on top of a standard Airfix Jon

Do you fancy giving me a lift Guy? I don't fancy driving all the way back to Londinium in the dark. Jon

HCMRS for many years organised the railway hall at Sandown Model Symposium, for the Elmbridge Model Club ( who were mostly a remote-control aircraft/boat/car club). EMC sold the rights for the show to EMAP because the financial risk of something going wrong with the Sandown club was becoming eyewateringly large. We continued running the railway hall for a few years and the funds raised for the society provided the seed funds to hold our own show, although I believe EMAP eventually gave up (possibly as they had sold the hobby magazines? ). We also organised for EMAP a model railway show at Sandown, but the return wasn't sufficient for EMAP (who may have changed names by that point - it was a long time ago) to repeat it. When HCMRS were looking for a venue prior to choosing Tolworth we looked at Walton Leisure Center, but concluded the drawbacks were worse than TRC. We did take a layout to Walton (was it really 20 years ago) when the Twickenham club organised their show there, but as I recall it was rather poorly supported, and we rather felt if validated our choices. TRC has a number of problems that make organising a show difficult, but its the least-worst venue available to us. Jon

We pay someone to marshal the overflow carpark further down Red Lion Road (that we also pay rent to use) and we pay for someone to operate a free-to-the-end-user bus to shuttle to and from Surbiton station, which all contributes to the £9 entry that you think is too expensive. In pure economic terms the £9 represents a terrible return on investment for the club, even relying on the good will of our members and more importantly the layout owners and operators. We could probably increase the amount of parking available by hiring the sports fields/courts, and the gyms on site so that there were no other users on site at the weekend, I guess that would add a further £10 a head to the entry ticket, payable by everyone whether or not they come by car, bus or bike. Unfortunately the carpark marshal, was a little delayed in his own journey to site (by public transport) and did not start until about 10.20 on Saturday morning - this is one of those operational difficulties that happen from time to time. He has always previously been very reliable, and stood uncomplaining in the cold and rain most years. You have been paying too little for entry to all model railway shows for years. If there was a better venue available in the area with better parking, it would also cost a lot more to organise, and the entrance fee would have to go up accordingly. Its not coincidental that of the neighbouring clubs, Richmond and Twikenham (a much larger club) haven't held a show for a decade or more, and Epsom and Ewell (also a larger club) have decided that they can't run the show at Nescot next year. Jon

I don't want to speak too soon, but everything seems to be under control

Starting to come together

Off to start laying out the floors in a few minutes! Jon

Is that not a different kit? I was under the impression that @jim.snowdon of this parish had a hand in the design, but I might be wrong. Jon

Almost certainly derived from the FTG SPA, which is a shame because that was pretty awful, and the Sea Urchins derived from SPA's were the last built and therefore had the shortest lifespan. Using almost any of the other 20'9" airbrake van/open chassis would have given at least as many numbers, and a much longer prototype lifespan. Also worth noting that the ex-SPA Urchins have two different body designs, and Bachman has turned a blind eye to which numbers are suitable for the tool they are doing. I also wonder if Bachman realise that Paul Bartlett isn't the only person to have photographed wagons* Jon *which might be nearly true in the pre-digital era, but certainly isn't for the Late build Sea Urchin fleet.

I believe for the first time the club are doing their own tea/coffee and prepacked* from a stand in one of the smaller halls. Won't be full meals, but we have had a number of recommendations for the cafe round the corner if you want that. Jon *no idea what