Ben B

Do Hornby have access to any TT track or similar (or even chassis and locomotives) through any of their foreign model companies? I know they own the likes of Arnold etc, and with TT being more popular in Europe I just wondered. I suppose the old Hornby/Triang TT molds went to the scrappers many years ago, which would be a shame, though I don't suppose aside from the nostalgia angle the modern modeller would be interested much in what are basically toys by todays standards.

Thanks for the kind comment- I've also only once seen a Yellow Peril on the line, it was when the line was shut for ages a few years ago after storm damage, and I chanced on one unexpectedly parked-up at Porthmadog Station after it had made a test run. Found some more pics... a visit to Embsay last year, just before the summer, to see the very impressive NER unit...

This makes for interesting reading... I've been wading through from the start, over the last hour or two, and it's clear there are a lot of issues at play, as well as concerns for the future of the railways. Apologies in advance if this goes on a bit and turns into a bit of an essay! What I've been thinking about, reading all this is; what exact function do preserved railways fulfil nowadays? What function will they be forced to fulfil in a changing world? When the likes of the Bluebell or the Tallylyn or SVR were first preserved, they were just that; preservation schemes. I might ruffle feathers here, because I wasn't there in the 60's (I'm in my mid-30's) and so apologise if I've got this wrong, but I get the impression that these were schemes set up to preserve something that was being lost, done so by people who were afraid that something they knew and loved was at risk of disappearing forever. In many ways and attitudes, I think it's human nature to be something of a backwards-looking people, and struggle with accepting and implementing change a lot of the time... so in an age of rocket ships, atomic power stations, fast diesel trains, delta-winged supersonic aircraft and 6-lane motorways, the steam tank locomotive and four-wheeled wooden carriage was an anachronism, and would vanish withoutout the love and support of a dedicated preservationist- but for the right people in the right place at the right time, there was something comforting about it, and they felt it needed saving for a wider society who'd come around to appreciating it when the novelty of the flash new technology had worn off. I also think it's why every local council still has museums chocked-full of old paintings, boxes, bits of machinery, and so on- it's important to realise how we got to now, acknowledging the things from then that got us here, if that makes sense. I suppose there's also an element of 'future shock', of clinging to old certainties in a rapidly-changing and disorientating world. But a railway isn't like all that other stuff, you can't just leave it all in a cabinet in a big old gothic building in the town square, and pay someone to dust it twice a year. What do you do when you've preserved a railway? It can't just sit there static, it has a function, and it's worth in being preserved means it needs to fulfill that function, else we just as well make do with "Rocket" or "Mallard" stuffed and mounted in a museum, and damn the rest. So it needs passengers to fulfil that function, and needs lots of them to pay the bills. The further on in time things get though from those early days, the fewer people remember them 'in service'. So the railway becomes a tourist attraction rather than a historic recreation- this is the sort of thing I grew up with, the Severn Valley and Ffestiniog of the 80's-90's. Thomas-branded everything in the gift shops, GWR panniers or maroon diesels on LNER teaks- not really accurate heritage preservation perhaps, but a business trying to provide a fun day out for the changing demographic of visitors, and not a bad thing either- the bills have to be paid, and that means it keeps existing. You need to shift hundreds of people per train, and can't do it with a clapped-out Edwardian tank loco with two carriages twice a day on overgrown track, even if that is more accurate to the history of the place. Now? I'm a foster-father of three whose kids are at least young enough to not automatically rebel at the idea of a trip to a museum or a railway, and a trip to a railway is thus a big day out. And much as I love railways, I find I don't really want a perfect historical recreation of the 1930's; the most important things to consider (beyond the considerable cost factor, and making sure you can sit down together as a family) are; a) are there enough trains to make a day out practical? It's not fun finding a three-hour gap at a terminus in a field, near a village with no shops. b) is it short enough a ride to not bore the kids c) are there decent lavatories (you've not experienced hell until you've a squirming toddler with a full nappy, and are trying to find a gents loo with a changing table. Seems to have taken a while for the heritage sector in general to work out that men and not just women might need to deal with that sort of thing) d) is there a café for at least a brew break, e) is there a gift shop, because all kids want to buy something, and f) is there a playground, because there's only so long you can keep an energetic 8-year old penned up on a train. The above probably makes me typical of many visitors to preserved railways, or more accurately 'heritage railways' today. So is that what the railway is now? A day-out venue rather along the lines of a theme-park or other attraction? I know that was a discussion causing much debate even fifteen years ago, and seems especially relevant now. So given that, does the heritage railway still serve a purpose in educating people about the past, and from the education standpoint, what is the future there? This is something I've seen and heard talked about a lot in recent years, considered important as generations move further and further on from the industrialised society that birthed all this technology and which still existed when the majority of railways were saved in the 60's-70's. But I speak here from experience of the drastic cuts in school budgets, and the target-driven culture existing in most schools now. How many schools can afford a trip out to the local preserved railway for a ride? Is that trip the easiest, quickest way of getting a class-full of kids to hit their target grade? Will it be cheaper to just tell them to google 'steam trains in Britain' than go out to the nearest railway for a day? And other people on this thread have already mentioned about kids not coming out of school with technical abilities and skills... God knows I sympathise, but it isn't generally the fault of the schools or for lack of enthusiasm by the kids- I was a school DT technician; our department was 'downsized' and classes cut, seemingly because it's harder to quantify a grade, and thus hit a target, for something practical like woodwork compared to a right/wrong answer on a maths question paper. On top of which you have to fund an inconveniently large suite of classrooms full of machinery and materials, and a load of staff who need specialist training to operate it all. Hell, the school my wife works at can barely afford an art department, with no machinery or specialised equipment, nor can the one my eldest is at, so it isn't a rare phenomenon. It all adds up in a time of chopped budgets. So as the practical sort of subject fades from prominence, does it become more important to preserve and explain those skills on a railway, or will the lack of education in that field mean there just isn't the demand to learn about it? If a 16-year old doesn't get to learn about welding at school, will they give a damn seeing it demonstrated by some middle-aged bloke in a cold engine shed? Or just consider it some fossilised skill which belonged to their Grandparents' generation. So what of the future? A lot of people are discussing about the reduction in coal, and the effect it will have on the heritage sector. If you believe in climate change or not (that's not a debate for here), regardless Government policy is now to reduce coal and fossil fuel consumption, and frankly a comparative handful of railway enthusiasts aren't going to force a return to coal mining as national policy, even on a tiny scale. In what direction will the railways adapt? If there isn't the coal to run steam trains anymore, what will they do? Will the day-tripping public indulging in some loose sense of 'nostalgia' be content to pay £50 to ride behind an ex-Northern DMU? To end (finally!) on a more positive thought... If less people are driving because petrol supplies fall and the majority of the general public cannot afford electric cars with decent range (which looks to me like the most likely case in a decade), might more people be forced onto railways? And assuming (it's depressingly a big assumption) that the Government of the time consequently decides to throw more money at public transport, how many of the current preserved lines might find themselves re-absorbed into the national network, or subsidised to run a proper public service? I wonder how many heritage societies will be seen as valued, temporary custodians of these routes- it was a working railway for a hundred years, then the KWVR or SVR kept the infrastructure safe from 1960-2040, so there was something left to reopen when Britain really needed it in the future?

Found some more unit shots whilst hunting through my archives, so as the rain lashes the windows outside, here's some summer seaside pics from West Wales. Bloody ERTMS... some of the most beautiful scenery on the Cambrian Coast, with some of the blandest DMU's on the network I miss the days of the steam specials, and I never seem to be visiting when the yellow 37's trundle up from Shrewsbury... Criccieth, 2015. I gather this bit is buried under shingle at the moment. Barmouth, last April. Weird lighting on the day, but I liked how it came out. The bridge didn't half wobble as the train rolled past. Criccieth again, evening of the same day; the height of excitement on the Cambrian Coast these days, spotting a slightly unusual livery amongst the Arriva colour scheme. Probably swapped around this year, I'll be excited to see Arriva amongst all the bland TFW white/black/red... And last summer at Harlech... ...an angle I always wanted to try. Would have loved a shot off the battlements, but it was extremely windy up there and it wasn't safe with the foster kids hanging desperately onto the railings. Hopefully on one of our regular visits this year I can get the holy trio of Yellow 37, sun, and blue sky...

I'm sure I saw a behind-the-scenes clip somewhere on YouTube that it was filmed on the SVR, which would make sense given they have a large number of LNER teak carriages...

"Raising Steam" by Terry Pratchett has a pretty realistically done, Steampunk/Fantasy railway operation in the "Ankh-Morpork and Sto Plains Hygienic Railway Company", so-named because the wife of the head of the company thought it sounded better, and the air of cleanliness would attract more patronage

True... at least in Battlestar the props generally worked within the design aesthetic... where it fell apart was when they had scenes back home on the colonies, and particularly in the prequel series "Caprica" where they'd use normal cars and things. One scene in Caprica had (to fit the 30's-60's aesthetic) a Morris Minor as a background vehicle- driven by someone in a society which had mastered mile-long faster-than-light capable starships. Somehow stood-out more than the stuff on the ships itself did. Though speaking of 60's British vehicles, that's another "Firefly" thing, an Alvis Stalwart in the 'Battle of Serenity Valley' sequence. Honestly, where would Sci-Fi low-budget productions be without the futuristic leanings of the Alvis military design office? I'm sure that sort of lightweight construction for TV props was mentioned in a documentary about "Red Dwarf" where the definition of a Prop was "a thing which has taken weeks to build, and which Craig Charles breaks as soon as he picks it up" I'm sure Phil Parker, of this Parish, mentioned on one of his blog posts how ropey the "Space 1999" shooting miniatures are in real life; Mike Tucker, in an article about the "Dr Who" stuff the Model Unit worked on, said much the same; how when camera and television technology was more basic, you could get away with more basic, under-detailed miniatures and props. HD being pretty much standard now means the model-makers really have to raise their game. That said, to drag it back on topic, wasn't much of Star Trek done with models? I think I read somewhere it didn't really go CGI until the whole Dominion War era of DS9. I know the budgets would have been worlds apart, but 10-year-old me wasn't as aware I was looking at models on Trek as I was on, say, "Dr.Who", or "Red Dwarf".

It was by the makers of X-Files too I gather.. I'd heard (through a fan vid on YouTube looking back on the series) that a major part of the problem was the network didn't really know who they were aiming it at, and marketed it poorly. As for another X-Files connection, David Duchonvny (Mulder) guests in one episode as a killer artificial lifeform. That was something I admired with the Battlestar reboot; helped ground it in reality a bit by deliberately using 'conventional' technology. Saved them money on production costs by using suitably exotic 'real world' things like British SA-80 rifles (which would be less familiar to US Audiences- the likes of Firefly did the same) and conventional stuff like flat TV screens, and then more schizo-tech bits like phones with wires or 3D model spaceships on the planning tables (seriously, who in the post-apocalypse was busy churning out little model starships every time they came across a new design?!). But all gloriously excused by the 'Cylons can hack advanced technology, time to look backwards' reasoning, and Galactica itself being a half-century-old museum piece.

The really strange thing comes from when you see the character "Discord" in "My Little Pony" (I have three young foster-daughters so its pretty much on continuously somewhere in the house!). Voiced by the same actor who plays Q in very much the same style... the creators of MLP have said that Discord is basically Q, and assumed to be the same character appearing -with the same mannerisms and motivations- in the cartoon... Now there's an underrated series... I remember when I was younger being allowed to watch it on telly when it was first on in the 90's, and being quite interested in it. Then I picked it up on DVD last year and binge-watched it, and it appealed a whole lot more. Considering the age of it, the effects hold up pretty well, but what struck me was how it looks almost like a proto-version of the remade Battlestar Galactica, everything grounded in reality (solid-shot weapons instead of phasers, great hulking bricks-in-space starships instead of the Enterprise). The story is good, and considering it only got one series, there's some proper character development too.

The good old Lima Deltic-I bought an exact model of this loco, the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, second-hand when I was about 10. I really wanted a class 37, but when I got to the till I spotted the 37 was damaged, and the shopkeeper said the Deltic looked enough like a 37 that it wouldn't matter

A few pictures which show some of the different character of the surroundings on the Worth Valley; W&M Railbus near Haworth, Spring 2017... And beside the River Worth itself on the relief timetable during the Santa Specials, 2019 (this spot was completely underwater to near the top of the gate, on the left-hand side, last weekend!) And the distinctly more urban end of the line at Keighley, with the 101.

Maybe the Garden Bridge exists, but it's like the Emperors New Clothes? Only his extra-special City Banker chums can see it crossing the Thames, but it seems invisible to the rest of us plebs

Agree totally about the variety- there cannot be many places you can get Z, G, American H0 and Scalextric in the same shop, and a good selection of second-hand too. You can follow the road from Baildon Station down to the main drag to get to the shop, but if you want a shortcut cross over the stone overbridge at the end of the platform, turn right at the bottom of the steps and work your way downhill on the footpaths past the council flats (down onto the approach road to the stately home that's used for weddings now) you can drop down to the main road almost opposite the turn onto the industrial estate where they're located. Though personally I like to get some exercise in, walk down the canal from Shipley Station after dropping the kids at school, you get to cross that lovely iron footbridge over the Aire near the portals of Thackley Tunnel.

Thanks for the information there; I don't get home to the West Midlands that much these days but it's good to know the shop from Brierly Hill has managed to keep going in some form; Kiddy is probably a better spot anyway with the SVR there. I ended up in the second-hand shop in Bridgenorth over Christmas (the one by the arch at the end of the high street), full of second-hand old Hornby. I could have spent a fortune in there! Limited myself to a Railfreight-liveried 08 I'd coveted since seeing it in the catalogue as a four year old... I'm lucky these days having Frizinghall Model Railways in the area where I live now; I worried they might disappear when the old owners retired a couple of years back and they moved out of Frizinghall itself, and whilst they're in a slightly soul-less tin shed on a retail park now, their proximity to Baildon Station makes it wallet-scaringly easy for me to drop in whislt out running errands... I think I've seen pictures of that layout in a book on railway modelling from the 70's, whilst in a second-hand book shop in Settle. Can't remember the title of the book, but it was a general introduction to modelling in the smaller scales. Was the layout N gauge?

I think I can just about remember the 08 at New Street in the late 80's. Long gone of course, but as something of a compensation out on the Stour Valley route the carriage sidings/depot just before Smethwick has a verrry nice Railfreight Red-Stripe livery example as yard pilot- it was certainly there on my last visit to Brum in November '19. Never seen it moving there either, it's always parked by the fuel tank on the end of the site.

I remember the Beatties at the Merry Hell shopping centre in Brierly Hill, West Midlands... I don't think I ever bought anything from there, but I used to go in on a matter of principal after being dragged all round clothes shops by my younger sister. There was another model shop in Brierly Hill itself which I'd occasionally call into for bits and pieces when I was at college in the early 2000's, my favourite being a blood n' custard Minitrix Mk.1 for a tenner from the seconds cabinet. No idea if the shop is still there, but the town looked a bit dead last time I went through so I can't imagine it's still going. My favourite shop growing up in the West Midlands though was Ace Models of the Fountain Arcade, Dudley. A big display window downstairs (which in hindsight must have been either another part of the same shop once, or a whole separate premise they'd bought later), and climbing the stairs up to what seemed to be a massive room. There was a (seemingly never working) big 00 layout behind glass in one corner, two sides of the space given over to model kits, and the counter in the centre of the shop had more exotic things like N gauge. Over the years I spent a fortune in pocket money and birthday money in there, everything from Hornby 00 gauge and Bachmann H0, to my first foray into N. I remember the excitement of looking down into the glass-topped cabinet in the counter, trying to work out what loco to buy! Grafar 94XX, three wagons and a brake van. Still got them too I was quite sad when the shop closed (like seemingly everything else in Dudley); its last couple of years it seemed to be struggling along, one of the regular staff (the owner I think) had retired. Hard to believe now that not only did Ace Models have a second outlet in Wolverhampton, but the town supported a smaller, second model shop in the 90's about two streets over, and the same arcade as Ace Models had a toy shop which also stocked trains and Scalextric. Last time I was home in the town the toy shop was just about still going, having closed and reopened, and they had a couple of bits of Hornby. I still slightly regret never buying the model kit of a Dalek which sat on a top shelf in the back corner at Ace Models... there were always more tempting trains to buy, and the kits go for a fortune now on eBay. At least A Oakes is still going, over in nearby Langley Green; a mad mish-mash of model trains and school uniforms! We went in to get some uniform bits for our kids last year, it was great to see that the shop hadn't changed since I used to go in there aged three! A proper old-fashioned shop.

That's a pity, but explains why we didn't get a re-issue as part of the Hornby 100 celebrations this year. Shame, I'd have liked to have seen a new Nellie, though I suppose the moulds were probably junked for the scrap value...

Being taken in my pushchair to Langley Green Station and level crossing by my gran in the mid 80's, to watch the "grey trains" (1st-gen DMU's, out of Tysely Depot I assume) as well as 150's in light blue going past the field near the house (as well as a special trip out to see a diverted swallow-livery HST, the height of excitement when all you usually see are units!). Weird how memories stick with you, getting bread and ham for sandwiches from a corner shop on the way, and being utterly terrified of the drop-hammers in a forge between the level crossing and the Zion where my playgroup was held (and where I used to get in trouble for spending all the time standing on the top of an old wooden climbing frame in the main hall, so I could stare out the window at the railway bridge!) Found this pic in an old family album, taken on the line at the time. Interesting transition livery on the 150... I can remember the old, brick-built station building at Langley prior to rebuilding, and I can also just remember being lifted up by my dad to look over the brick wall at the nearby Albrights and Wilsons chemical works to see a diesel shunting tanker wagons.

Carbon Neutral? Either the passengers power the trains like the cars in the Flintstones (meeting Govt targets on getting us all healthy at the same time, bonus), or drag the preserved Jinty tank locos out from the KWVR, MR(B)… they've got those big keyhole-openings in the sides, clockwork-power would be about as green as you could get

How would you go about cleaning up old Triang TT track? I want to dabble in the scale, I bought a box of odds and ends off eBay a couple of years ago, there's enough track to make up an oval, but it looks a bit grotty. Just to try it out, I'd rather not buy a load of new Peco or similar track, so can the rails be chemically treated in any way to clean them? They're not exactly rusty, but the rails are noticeably very dirty.

I love the expressions on the face of Mavis throughout that story, but it's a particular favourite, that one where she's pulling Toby out of the gorge. Her character is very much the stroppy teenage emo girl, thirty/forty years before the concept!

That book, and that section, is probably my favourite from the whole series! I've been wanting to model that bit of line, with the track between two walls and set in mud and grime, for years...

Reminds me of a more contemporary one I saw last week on the Airedale line at Bingley, Belmond 'Royal Scotsman' 66 on a quarry train of graffiti-covered loaded stone opens...

That's excellent news- K1 was the first steam loco I photographed on the WHR (back before they'd got all the way to Porthmadog I think), and I only saw it once more in steam at a Superpower, moving some goods stock. It will be good to see it back in steam!

I sympathise... I live in a smallish house with a wife and three young kids, don't have room for a permanent layout- then after coming into a little bit of money last year as a treat I made the mistake of buying a Dapol 08 from Hattons on a sale. Purely impulse purchase, and I think it's a brilliant model, but... I barely have space for 009, let alone 0, but I keep thinking I ought to do something Looking forward to how this progresses!