Ben B

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!

What I rather liked about the Railway Series books , and it's demonstrated in practise by the models you are doing here, is the logic applied to the choices of motive power. Branch line? Couple of tank locomotives. Tramway restrictions for operating? The ex-Wisbech and Upwell designs, Toby and Mavis. Light passenger duties? 0-6-0 and 2-6-0 types. 08 for shunting, single-carriage DMU for off-peak passenger services... A couple of mainline-sized express passenger locomotives for working through-traffic with the mainland. Where the Rev wanted to introduce locomotives he'd seen and was personally fond of (Toby, Bill and Ben) he created logical reasons to have them on the island, or they were fitting to the area like choosing the relatively obscure BoCo as a character, fitting as most of the class were dumped on Barrow in Furness shed to keep them out of the way. The last time I tried to watch the TV series, with the son of a mate from Uni days, it occurred to me that Sodor now probably has a bigger fleet of locomotives than most real-world freight TOC's, and of individual types no less, and either so specialised for the traffic they couldn't do anything else, or vastly unsuitable for anything other than their assigned roles. Sodor must have a lot of stock sat around idle as traffic fluctuates, which rather undermines Sir Topham Hatt's reputation as a canny businessman. Mindyou, a line which has so many accidents and deaths of sentient rolling stock would probably have had Health and Safety and the ORR down on them like a ton of bricks by now anyway

I would be utterly amazed if any work starts on any of these projects... The traditional way of things- ideas are free, then 'consultants' can make a ton of money writing endless reports saying how good an idea it will be, but then no practical work takes place unless there is no possible alternative option, and then if it does start, it will cost 8x as much as initially promised and take 8x as long as initially promised, and be built to such a restrictive scale that if it proves popular and busy, it will cost as much again to upgrade the infrastructure for anything more than a single track with an occasional class 158. And the whole process is stopped as soon as some nimby who bought a house backing onto the trackbed a few years ago, and who's extended their garden onto it and walks their dogs along it every night, makes out the proposed 4-sprinters-a-day branch line is going to be Clapham Junction and complains to their local paper, and writes to their MP... Sorry, that was a tad bitter and cynical.

Not to mention the stone work in the adjacent field; two bridge abutments which never had the embankments either side built up, let alone the bridge arch, and just stand as rather pristine tall walls.

Very interesting, and a canny bit of legal work! Shame the same provision for costs doesn't apply to the line to Wrexham, which I've gathered cannot be doubled because a single-track tunnel under the road was built when they did the road? I got told a (possible conspiracy) theory last year by a photographer in the Borders, when we were discussing the Waverley Route, that the M6 north of Carlisle was specifically built flat over the trackbed of the route -with no provision for a bridge- on Department for Transport instructions, to block any possible 'easy' reopening.