Ben B

Picked mine up yesterday, it had a run on the Frizinghall Models test track. Glad I didn't cancel my pre-order, it's a lovely little model :) I really don't need another project at the moment, but a little shunting plank is a-calling...

That'd be nice, but would need some infrastructure upgrades I'd have thought. I remember chatting way back with a retired signalman (whilst waiting for an excursion to pass) who'd worked out you'd need to restore some passing loops on the coast section; I recall he mentioned Talsarnau and Criccieth, and I think Aberdovey. It meant moving the passing places anyway, to up the frequency. But the weak links are the long cross-country section, and the congested West Mids leg on services starting and ending in Brum, at least that's what he said. These days you've also got the log train to fit in (which they seem to be struggling with a bit for paths), and it's already so tight that on the rare occasions a charter runs, it has to be a weekday, and needs a scheduled passenger turn subbing with a bus to clear a path on the coast. I can't see TfW shelling out the millions it would cost to relay a couple of passing loops, and the millions more needed for re-instating second platforms. They're probably just happy to show off a shiny new train or two, as they have with the Conwy Valley line.

That pylon looks like it'll be a bit out-of-gauge :)

Just found this thread, and really like this trackplan and concept, I might have to try my own version of it. Have to say, watching the DMU's snake in and out in that vid is quite hypnotic :)

Knowing how your luck holds on days off, judging by this thread, I expect you'll get a "can you just... join the chorus to be 2nd tennor for the finale?" ;)

As you say, don't feed the trolls. Have you thought about contacting Ian Holmes, of this parish, and offering something for the Micro Model Railway Despatch? It's such a nice, compact, achievable project- I'm sure it'd be a good source of inspiration for other modellers :)

Cheers- the pizza layout is done, I'm ready to upload a pic and a vid when the form goes up on Friday :)

Something for the 60th :) Back in 2021 I did a shoot with a custom-rebuilt and repainted R/C Dalek, in an improvised scifi corridor... it wasn't quite what I wanted (there were still lockdown restrictions which stopped me going to the shops to buy props), so with a wish to do a Dr.Who themed shoot for the anniversary, I dug it all out of store in the loft. The original corridor was our laundry basket, and any modifications had to be loose or cable-tied in place... so this time I bought my own basket to rebuild, and glue stuff to. As before, the floor of the corridor was scalextric track. It's all glamour here... I cut the end out of the basket, and left the lid as an openable airlock-type door, modified with bits of LED light, yoghurt pot lids, and a broken plastic bird feeder. The corridor was lined with pipes salvaged from a dead washing machine, some plastic cannula ports (spares from the day job) and some LED strip lights. Humidifiers for steam generators, and bicycle and LED inspection lights; I wanted to do all the special effects in-camera. All in all, very low budget, in the best traditions of the classic-era. My beloved original R/C Dalek, which was a Christmas pressie when I was 20. Who doesn't like toys for Christmas? Playing with the different lenses on my phone. The gun-firing effect was done using a micro LED torch, and a blue plastic drinking straw. Again, done in-camera... 1/12th scale skeleton, sprayed black and wrapped in clingfilm, and backlit. Very happy with the shoot :)

Just found this thread, it's a lovely layout you're building there :) There's something very appealing about tinplate trains, that somehow modern stuff doesn't quite capture for me.

When our foster-daughters were small, we went by train as we only had one car- if one of us was at work, train was the only option. So our 3 are used to rail travel. However, none of their (now teenage) circle of friends even know how to get on the right platform. They've just never used trains. Last week a few of them went into Bradford to the cinema, I assumed they'd be getting the train, but no, one of the groups' moms drove them all in and out. That said, it's hard to blame them... in the summer we went Bingley-Leeds, to cycle back along towpath, on a Saturday, on the electrified secondary mainline with a very frequent service (more so with a change at Shipley). We ended up waiting an hour and a half. "Traincrew shortage", "Driver Shortage" (didn't stop them whizzing through ECS in their booked paths), "Mechanical Issues", "Earlier delays". Going the other way, a Settle Carlisle train was already standing-only. A class 158 two-car Morecambe train -on a day when Bradford City were playing away at Preston- was full on arrival, the conductor begging local passengers to wait for the following service... with no luck, as they'd also been delayed and cancelled. We had to abort the cycle ride back from Leeds when Eldest got ill, and all the afternoon trains were also late or cancelled. What was surprising was how few people did more than sigh. A hen party travelling on to York got angry as they missed their connection, and a young couple near us said they wished they'd driven, but that was it. Everyone else just put up with it. After years of declining service, rising costs, and strikes, it does feel as if it's self selecting. Anyone who's stuck by train travel out of requirement or personal desire will put up with the problems. Anyone else will try it once and leave it. From a cynical and simplified point of view, to me it seems that trains cost the Government and owners money. The subsidy gets paid whatever, if the companies do the bare minimum or not. Cars essentially make the Government money, through taxes, duty, fines, etc. It feels to me that the rail companies and DfT don't really have an incentive to chase new recreational users, if they're succesful enough just plodding along as they are now. What's the worst that will happen? The DfT will take over the contract for a bit...

I'll freely admit to not being an expert on US locomotives, but the more I look at the nearest loco, the more it looks like a kitbash. Low-bonnet switcher mated with the cab off a mainline diesel, with a home-made short/cut down bonnet? Don't think I've come across a pic of a loco like that before.

To be honest I reckoned the day of the 'holiday train to the seaside' passed when most coastal termini became a 2-car platform and bus shelter at the end of a long siding, itself truncated to an industrial estate a mile or two inland to allow the original terminus site to be turned into parking. I suspect most train operators will pay lip service to the changing demands and muddle on as they are now, on the basis that change requires investment, will, and determination. Why bother, given the amount of 'no growth' planning, existing subsidies, or incredibly drawn-out process needed to effect change? Assuming Mummy, Daddy, and Little Suzy want to start using the train to go have a jolly day at the seaside, and GBR establishes it might be an idea to have more than 3 trains a day go there... It'll all have to go via various expensive consultancies to establish demand, then by the time the firm of Bodgett & Scarper PLC have completed their extensive report on passenger loadings, predicted new changes in demand, worked out it will cost £12 million to extend the platform by a single carriage length, and GBR have negotiated for the £30-billion new Japanese-designed, Spannish-built DMU to use it... Mummy and Daddy will be heading for retirement, and little Suzy will be grown up and working, the days of sandcastles and inflatable unicorns long behind her. Hell, maybe she can take her own kids on the train to the beach, by that time the 'new' trains might have stopped randomly cracking apart or bursting into flames...

Lovely modelling... I grew up in Langley Green, even into the 1980's you could still find areas with this atmosphere (mostly sans railway, sadly). It reminds me of the area near the old drop foundries by the crossing (now a massive housing estate).

My re-gauged "Hogwarts Castle" out in the garden; if you ignore the cylinders and the silly small pony truck, it's not too bad. Certainly a fun toy, the sounds and things are enjoyable (our three loved it at the time, when they were younger) and it's quite controllable, and surprisingly reliable. I also re-gauge the "Polar Express" (the other Lionel RTP set mainly available here in the UK) and bodged it into an S160, as a rough and ready representation of the KWVR's "Big Jim"

The larger sets are very odd; carriage door sizes put them about 1/32nd, but track is gauge 2 (when Lionel re-tooled the Ready to Play range, they did it to stop other manufacturers' trains being compatible). People like me figured how to re-gauge them to 45mm, and Lionel now design most sets so they can't be dismantled or re-gauged. I've been hoovering up sets cheap on ebay, as I plan to do a layout one day. The Hogwarts set is a bit of a cartoon representation of a gwr loco, but it has character.

I have one of these up in the loft- they seem to have had a re-issue, I've been trying to snap up the larger G2 sets and these are coming up on searches instead...

I thought it was a shame they couldn't have ressurected the clockwork tank loco in 00, the 'International' I think. In red, with Hornby on the tanksides in yellow, it would have been an interesting novelty for the centenary. It lasted into the catalogue into the early 1990's, alongside models like the Intercity 225, which is pretty mad for a starter clockwork loco. I guess the molds had been destroyed in the great purge in the 2000's though.

That last shot is particularly convincing- amazing what a bit of carefully placed cotton wool can do to enhance a pic

Given how the range is shaping up, I'd expect the first Southern prototype would be an air-smoothed Pacific, probably in Golden Arrow decor to haul the Pullmans. I'd like to see smaller, more 'everyday' prototypes, but I'd guess the trend will stay with the glamour express locomotives. ...that said, a tatty Spam Can with three coaches, somewhere along the withered arm in the early 60's, does appeal :)

I like the tender upgrades you've shown, they really do make a positive visual impression. I was tempted by the Hornby anniversary loco, but even now it's still far too expensive for me, especially when you can get cared-for vintage stuff for less money.

Have you got some more shots of the boxcab diesel please, showing the cab fronts? Very interesting conversion! And that lined-out clockwork tank looks mint, I really like it :)

Judging by how it looked last night, it was the typical Bradford Standard of put a car anywhere you liked, regardless of restrictions or if it would fit ;) Still, looked quite nice in the evening as we walked back.

I heard it was common in the north-east too, usually smaller cars of the sort driven by teens and newly-passed drivers. Apparently front-end parts stolen to repair/replace crash damage. According to BBC brum is a really bad spot for it, supposedly seccure private car parks where staff are being threatened or bribed into turning a blind eye to it. Local fuzz don't sound bothered, but then if they're overstretched, they probably count it as a minor crime.

For my project, I'm experimenting with converting a Goldenbear Thomas the Tank Engine "Daisy" into a clockwork Railbus, using Wells Brimtoy underpinnings... it's going to look a bit dinky compared to Hornby 0 stock, but it's looking ok at the moment alongside the Bing stock on my micro layout. I didn't realise the Lionel Diesel had no outside frames... again, I have a Bachmann G gauge diesel to convert into a 'kind of' 08 for my garden line. I'm laser-cutting bonnet doors and things for it in 1mm acrylic, but it's very much a slow burn project. A coarse 0 350hp shunter would be a seller surely, for a loco still going strong in it's 7th or 8th decade, especially as variants were sold overseas too. I suppose the problem is "train set= steam engine", something you still see with toy makers. And I've read how much hostility there was to the nasty new diesels in the 50's and 60's as the beloved steam locos were replaced, so maybe there wouldn't be a market for tinplate diesels at the time...

That layout looks amazing... I'd love something like that, filling the loft :) And particularly the innovative electric locomotives... there's always been something fascinating to me about non-steam prototypes in amongst all the clockwork tank engines and things. It's interesting to speculate on if Hornby might have done a clockwork, 4-wheeled 08 or 04 diesel shunter if they'd kept the range going a bit longer...