Flittersnoop

Is this the place? I suspect there was a loop on the colliery branch out of sight to the right, as I travelled on the branch a couple of years after the photo on a railtour.

At first glance I thought this unusual wagon load seen at Buckfastleigh was some kind of mold... A rather fiddly and time-consuming project for the modeller of the preservation scene.

Going via London is never easier.

Undergoing a full restoration... again. I recall it was restored in the 1980s and used for a while by (I might be wrong) The Princes Trust. I wonder how long the current restoration will last, and whether they'll ever find a proper use for the building. Does it have any function for HS2, other than lending its name to the new station?

It's probably on KR Models to-do list.

On Facebook Lionheart trains have announced they are to produce the Manning Wardle 2-6-2Ts and some coaches in 7mm scale.

I have been waiting for the same thing, as it gives the excuse of running a loco in Apple Green livery alongside BR standards and diesels - given the vast number of models of 4472 that Hornby churns out, you would have thought that they'd have done that version. I even bought a tender-drive loco body with a view to butchering it to fit on the new Railroad chassis, but so far haven't plucked up the courage.

The lower picture of 65817 is simply superb - almost has a 3D quality to it, and captures the power and movement completely. Thank you for posting it.

Have any hints been given about future releases in this range? I'd love to get a die-cast Stanier 8F.

That's how controversial government decisions seem to be announced these days, though - leaked in order to dilute the backlash, whilst retaining the option to U-turn and deny.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/hs2-birmingham-leeds-extension-through-5817506?fbclid=IwAR0VBQxqFwX5qArDxP5o0OyjhmIIKoV3D5-Lv5I8KEqukueKA82ZsrcHtlM Not entirely surprising.

I think it was on the fast lines - I recall it was going pretty quickly, too. They must have chosen a good loco.

Double-headed 47s, I think on the climb from Stroud to Sapperton. I think this train was from Longbridge to Swindon. I was a supply teacher at this time (the early 1990s?), teaching music at a school in Stroud in an old building right next to the railway line. The whole place shook for ages when this long train went past every morning. I wish I had got a photo of it on a decent day, instead of in the mist.

A pair of 20s on a ballast train in the late 1980s one evening at Flitwick.

Late 1980s, southbound oil tankers between Sharnbrook and Bedford. What does this location look like now - overhead wires, four tracks again?

I was at Flitwick station one evening in the late 1980s when this 47 came speeding through with a neat matching rake of coaches. The headboard says "The Orcadian". It looks far too posh to be a rail enthusiasts special - does anyone know what the train was, please?

And 37702 at the other end of the Glamorgan Growler tour at the end of the line at Maesteg, when the line was still freight-only.

Glamorgan Growler railtour at Tower Colliery, 6 May 1989, 37355.

Found an envelope of my prints from the late 1980s. I think this is Bromford Bridge, at the eastern end of Washwood Heath yard. The loco is 08 89?... No idea what date, I'm afraid.

One of Chale's coupling rods was rattling around in the box when I opened it. I reattached it and it seems to run OK, but (given the ease with which it went back) I have little confidence that it won't fall off again in the future. I would have been much happier if the chassis had been improved post-DJ Models. Also, I know this marks me out as being not a proper modeller, but I find it really annoying when, after I've fitted the tension-lock couplings, I have to take a scalpel to the packaging in order to get the loco back in the box. However, all said, it is a lovely looking loco, and the livery that I had hoped would be produced.

Easy and cheap because the taxpayer has already paid for 99% of the infrastructure.

I wonder if there will also be a step change in the price charged for a single loco? Over £200 for a DCC-ready diesel, perhaps? But Bachmann obviously know their market. I don't know if the Class 47 is everyone's favourite loco (I used to hope to see anything but a Class 47!), either, but it certainly doesn't require much of an excuse to have one on almost any layout from the early 1960s onwards. Whether I can be bothered to replace the small fleet of 47s that I have is another matter...

Is that actually true, though?

But plenty of evidence of a moulding seam along the top of the boiler!

The roof looks like it's make of Lego bricks!