wasabi

Years ago I was brought up on layouts built from 2 x 1 timber and Sundeala tops but have now come round to foamboard (which I assumw is pretty much what you are using) reinforced with thinner wood. I also use trestles for support rather than being reliant on my abillity (or lack thereof) to cut legs of the same length. I've decided that the current layout will be my last but aim to built diorame type displays which I can have in the house rather than the shed and I think a lightweight foamboard structure would be ideal for this, so it's interesting to see what you are doing I am coming to prefer 'Railways in the Landscape' to seeing how much track will fit in a given space, so again can go with lighter structures. Where I worked in the 80s we had shares in various Statutory Water Companies including the Tendring Hundred concern. You could perhaps add an intteresting cameo with one of their vans parked up whilst the crew investigate a leak, which would give more local context.

I see what you mean and I have also found a picture of Wolfsburg which hopefully is below and shows it as a little more interesting than I remembered, albeit that it is about 30 years ago. I had completely forgotten the lake

It seems a bit bizzare to see people directing you to Berlin or the Harz. For Hamburg I would endorse the Ibis which seems to be about equidistant between Hautbahnhof and MW. On the city side of the Hbf there is a reasonable range of eating and drinking establishments. Wuppertal also has an Ibis. The difficulty is probably Wolfsburg - I changed trains there once but can't remember seeing anything from the platform except modern anodyne factory blocks. If you have to go there then I would suggest staying in Hannover and having a trip by train. I usually use Ibis or Mercure hotels but note that some booking sites don't list them, presumably since they don't pay the commission. Inter-City is also a good option, as already noted.

Seat61.com shows services still running to Kyiv from Warszawa, Krakow and Wien, but not Berlin - Moskva which latterly included TALGO services. Conventional trains change bogies at the border in a large shed where the coaches are jacked up and the arriving bogies pulled through on a cable - from memory I think the cable is attached to the rear bogie which then pushes the rest through. The new bogies are placed under the coaches in a reverse process when the train returns. Note that when the train leaves, it receives the same bogies back as when it arrived at the border - they are all marked with the relevant coach number. Although not relevant to Ukraine, TALGO trains have wheels which could be unlocked on the axles and then moved to the new gauge by being run though special sections of track which widen or narrow the wheels. There are a lot of these in Spain where trains change to/from the standard gauge AVE lines to the 'conventional' broad gauge system. Apart from the locking or unlocking, this is done on the move. I'm not sure whether any other Spanish trains can change gauge in the same way. Hope this is of interest. [IPW]

Dividends had a slight mention above (unless I've missed something) but I haven't been able to find anything about share prices - or the total return to shareholders. Is there a source anywhere? I'd assume that nothing was paid out in the war years but is this right, given that railway shares were historically very solid and many pensioners might have relied on these as part of their portfolio. Railways were originally set up to make money for investors so this should be a factor. In any case, the 'Big 4' only spent about seven years operating under 'normal' conditions and most of the rest was depression or wartime (under government control). Passenger experience might be the best way of ranking them but how much source material is available? Personally I like railways for travel so factors like comfort and convenience come into play, rather than a focus on the locomotives.

My layout is Japanese N and Hornby TT is an interesting development but I won't be changing now. However, what strikes me is that whilst I think a possible future HST and 66 were mentioned, most stock due to appear soon is from approaching 100 years ago. and I just wonder how relevant that is to today's market. My uncle had a few models in the 30s but they were trains that he could see running at the time. Of course, more people now have never been on a 'real' train, although if they visit a museum line or go on a rail-tour then a model might make a good souvenir. It's only one opinion, but it would be nice to see a new venture featuring more models of trains that can actually be experienced today. [IPW]

Some years ago I lived in a house in Bow backing onto the GE main line to Norwich. We soon got used to the regular rains but not when there were track machines out, which luckily was not very often. The other noise problem was at Christmas when there were no trains and we would wake up in the middle of the night wondering what was wrong.

£5.60 a pint ? Admittedly I live in East London (UK) but the local Wetherspoons was selling beer at £1.99 a pint two days ago. You do have to drink the proper stuff that tastes of something though, not this fancy gassed-up lager.

Sorry about all the white space in the last post - I have never been able to post photos properly.

You mean this one? Taken in 1993 - taken in 1993 from the IP, when it was (at least notionally) run as a train service rather than a 'tourist experience'. I remember the train stopping at a little place called Cook in the Nullabor to cross a freight service. Amazingly, the shop there resolutely closed 15 minutes after the train arrived. We passed a golf course near there - I wonder if that survives? I think the golfers were Japanese for the most part, no doubt 'tickers' of rare courses. He refers to an airstrip in the outback as if surprised, but how else would the Flying Doctor get there? [IPW}

Through Shapeways I have an N gauge model of the body but haven't come up with a suitable chassis - has anyone any ideas, or motorised one themselves? [IPW]

Thanks - there is a railtour advertised in February which includes it but I assume that normally anything 'going right' at the junction would have stopped at Peterborough and thus be on the eastern side of the formation anyway.

Apologies if this has been covered before, but are any passenger trains using the diveunder?

Contikits is good and I've never had a problem with anything bought from there. The couple running it seem to do so in their spare time so I wouldn't expect instant responses. They used to sell British stock through exhibitions and other by web site but currently everything is on the website.

It is based on a business' turnover so if sales are over £85,000 (I think this is the current figure) then tax is charged on 'value added' which is basically the difference between cost and sale value. The VAT paid on the purchase of the goods is deducted when paying the tax. A retailer buying from a small supplier (aka cottage industry) may well not be charged VAT on the purchase, but if that retailer's own turnover is above the £85k then they will have to charge VAT on their own sales (I know there are exempted items to complicate matters). The principle is actually quite straightforward but the application makes it very complex. I have been involved with two VAT registered concerns in the past including a local CAMRA beer festival - the Inspector went through the books on my kitchen table! I did learn enough to get that one deregistered before the next event.

Other publications have what seems to be the same story, including that RENFE would, as a second phase, want to extend to other European cities. Not mentioned (as far as I can see) is how more passengers can be fitted into the existing termini - especially Gare du Nord, which used to have rather long queues at times, or where RENFE plans to keep its trains at night. Would a Stratford International to Charles de Gaulle service make sense? It would to me, because I live in East London, but then so do a lot of other people as well as those who work here. For Paris, CdG has good links and an express service into the centre is proposed - it would also be better for through services to other cities. Overall, there could be something in RENFE's ideas, as long as they don't just want to copy what is already there.

Some years ago, I remember being told by an acquaintance who worked in a garage that they could offer a choice from 36 shades of black.

Only read this through today but I would buy (at least) one 313 simply because when I moved to London in 1980 I initially ended up in Finsbury Park and used the 313s down to Moorgate to get to work. Someone who could do the electrical gear could perhaps replicate the change to/from third rail at Drayton Park, but it would be more of a cameo. However, I do remember the odd day with snow which could make for an interesting scene set in suburbia.

A further type is mentioned in Colin Marsden's 'Coaching Stock Recognition' published in 1987 by Ian Allan, namely the SLB bullion van classed as NW under TOPS. Two remained (on the LMR) at the time of publication and it looks like they were supplemented by container flats with the coaches carrying an escort. They had "sophisticated...communications equipment" - presumably doing what mobile phones do now, although I wonder what masts they used? Colin also includes the Leyland coach, trialled as a replacement for the Mk 1s. [IPW]

This may be anecdotal but I'm sure I read somewhere that sleepers were popular with Scottish MPs returning from London to their constituencies. [IPW]

My last posting was actually a draft which was posted automatically when the site shut down for maintenance. I should have said 'important' rather than 'significant' - at least it would be important to a shareholder. Going back to Rapido, I would think about a Class 13 but more for the novelty value given that I have about twice as much stock already than I need to run my layout. I've certainly seen a picture of one on a railtour but can't recall any details at the moment.

Note 1(a) to Hornby's 2020 Annual Report indicates that they hedge 70% to 100% of forward USD purchases so what might be characterised as 'international money speculation' is actually a significant part of their business.

You can 'manage' currency risk with the most obvious way of doing it being to build up funds in USD, although with very low interest rates keeping a pile of cash is not a good way of using capital. Futures contracts can also be used but would probably be expensive at two years out, although they can be traded if there is some in-house expertise. It would be interesting, to put this more in context, to have an idea of how much of the actual retail price is represented by costs in USD.

In hospital in East London for a few days last year, I found there were a good number of Philippine nurses plus others from Iberia. I think the cleaners were more local though.

There's quite a lot on Shapeways - you have to go to Marketplace on their site and then follow options (including for scale). The quality is usually high (I buy things from their site sometimes) but forget about finding something for free. I understand that the items are usually designed by other modellers - their is a minimum batch size but Shapeways will put those that you don't need on the site. In theory you can get the cost back so the you would get something for free.