Pendle Forest

The 12t kit has built into a really lovely model. Just needs a bit if weathering now. Easy to build with a bit of patience and effort.

Looks like the engineers have decided a cranes needed! Recently completed (apart from weathering), Make Your Mark Models, Plasser & Theurer 12t Rail Crane

Thank you :) I was playing around with the settings on my phone camera, so i think it's that more than anything else.

Night time at Pendle Forest

I've got the smaller 12t version on the way to me, as he has just done another run of the kits. As you've built the big brother of it... would the kit, as it builds, lend itself to a light in the cabin and maybe some lights down the side? Is there room to hide a simple light function decoder, or are each of the parts solid and would need hollowing out?

From the pics it does look like the lip below the front cab windows, looks more like a shelf. I'm not convinced it captures the front face correctly at all

My earliest 'odd place for a loco' was being taken by my parents to Burnley Central where, in the coal yard, BR in its wisdom had decided to name 86213 Lancashire Witch. It had been hauled over, dead of course, from Preston by a 25 that was lurking elsewhere in the yard. It was dark and they had floodlights up and someone had invited along a 'witch' with a big cauldron that was very enthusiastically belching out bright green smoke that made everyone choke.

Wales and the West Country too where all the semaphores suddenly moved in the not normal way 😅

I'd forgotten about the SPT orange 156s. You'd also get the occasional escaped Tyneside yellow/blue 143 too.

Absolutely love this.

We know who would benefit... everyone south of Brum. The whole area North of Brum would get nothing from HS2. Had the whole thing been built we could have got to London from Manc or Leeds slightly quicker but at greater cost than we can now. Wow! Weirdly not everyone in the north really wants to do that. In fact the majority couldn't careless. Three electrified transpennie routes would benefit the whole of the North Midlands and the North. How many more people would u like a scheme to benefit? Extra capacity on the southern end of the WCML could be created by better speed profile matching of existing services, removing bottle neck junctions and ensuring the post-covid traffic patterns are better reflected in the working timetables. I'd go as far to say that HS2 was only ever wanted by the metro mayor's because it was the only real chance of investment that was on offer ;)

Apologies... I may have made it seem like it was dissociated from the budget re-allocation. I was trying to compare both the cost of the runt of HS2 that will be built and the overall cost of the whole thing (had it been built) against the relatively modest costs, of a scheme that could have been completed very quickly, that has huge backing, and would unlock very real benefits withing 2 years if Network Rail and the procurement process got on with things. It could fundamentally transform East West travel between Lancashire, Merseyside and Gtr Manc on one side and the Ridings of Yorkshire and Tynside.

If we had a truly joined up system you could then carry the electrification from Bradford through to Burnley and achieve two fully electrified routes from North and West Yorkshire over in to Lancs. Further infill from Rochdale through to Todmorden and the curve, and the additionally Blackburn to Bolton, would allow a circular route to be created linking - Manc Vic, Tod thru Rochdale - Burnley (linking in with the Yorkshire services) - Blackburn - Bolton - Manc. With Blackburn or Burnley acting as interchanges for Blackpool, Liverpool and Crewe (swinging South at Lostock Junction). 13 miles of tracks and a wiring project most European countries would call laughingly simple as its not high speed.

Actually it would allow intermodal traffic to reach Trafford Park and the New Salford Port without using Castlefield corridor. With freight removed there is no need for the extra through platforms at Piccadilly. Drax has also made it very clear that routing it's biomass trains over the route would significantly cut costs and reduce traffic as the flow would be around rather than through Manchester. So for that link you can unlock the Castlefield Corridor... that would provide enormous benefit across the northwest. I'm fairly certain that it removes one of the most congested routes in the UK.

There are 13 miles between Skipton and Colne that could go back in for around 200m. That's double track and includes electrification from Skipton through to Preston. This would give a fully electrified, relatively gradient flat, none-congested Northern Pennine link. The track bed for the missing section is wholly owned by the local authorities and Network Rail. Major earthworks are still in place and apart from rerouting the ring road at Colne onto a bridge over the tracks the route is unbroken. Thr route would give direct access from the North East to East and West Lancs, Inc Liverpool, without going through Manchester. Connections at Burnley and Blackburn would make accessing both Manchester Stations a doddle. Yet.... nothing. Despite the scheme being shovel ready, everyone agreeing it's a stupid not to do it, and hoardes of government ministers promising it would progress on the pipeline.