Oldddudders

Real railwaymen + proper understanding = safe method of working.

The sale was legitimate, the buyer knew what he was (or wasn't!) getting. Have a happier Xmas on him!

I'm sure I saw a loaded pasenger coach being fly-shunted - i.e. without any loco attached - through a middle road in Bern station 40 years ago. No doubt a shunter (chap) was on board with an ability to operate some sort of braking device. No doubt it was done every day. No doubt it seldom went wrong - if ever.

My visit to Liv St, as befitted a skoolboy, was on a Saturday. Indeed, I ran into a boy from the year above mine, David, who admitted to being colour-blind and asked if the loco was blue! How cruel is that? The existence of another pilot elsewhere on the station cannot be contested. On a slightly later visit to Liv St, another friend and I found ourselves being given a conducted tour through D5545, an upgraded Brush Type 2. Walking through the loco, past the prime mover on tickover seemed quite daunting!

On my first visit to Liverpool St in 1960 or '61, the station pilot was a diminutive 0-6-0 tank, possibly a J69, painted in GER blue. It rather stood out against the new EE Type 4s and Brush Type 2s which actually ran the services. Station pilots typically spent a great deal of time stooging about, awaiting the next call to shunt here or detach there.

And, after all, how DO you get rid of a level crossing with gates one side and an AHB the other? I fear there are refuse disposal operatives who might draw the line (sorry) at that!

Indeed, so stretching things a bit is kind-of ok. In reality, the steep gradients as described by Old Gringo would have made them fairly useless on anything at all heavy, I suspect, whereas Padstow-Bodmin North is famously flat - even I've managed to cycle it in recent years! Similarly M7s, which occasionally got as far as Launceston, I think, would have struggled a bit, although they were regulars on the Bude branch.

I think O2s and 700s are the two classes most plausible as "might have been" power. Kernow's forthcoming model of the former will probably help others to the same conclusion. The 700 remains my choice for a common-or-garden Southern 0-6-0 - please, someone! I always say that few men my age (gah! 62!) know less about the workings of a steam loco than I do, but even I can see that an extra 6" of driver diameter (that's the big wheels, not the chap on the footplate!) added to a change in cylinder from 2 @ 19x28 to 3 @ 16x28, might matter on long hills. [Anent tubby drivers : Many years ago, a particular colleague was one of those people who repeats out loud what the person on the other end of the phone has just said. He was in conversation with the Motive Power Foreman at Brighton, about some extra job or another, and had enquired about a driver. Pause, then "He's a fat man?" says Billy. Pause "Oh - he's a Fratton man!" Giggles all round Control!]

Definitely a collector's item, that one. Tyco were fine in the days when not much plastic RTR was about, but Bachmann and others have stolen that market with highly detailed models that run as well as they look - and don't have tender drive! And these days, for only twice as much, you might even pick up a Broadway Limited loco with sound. Even the brass market is a bit challenged now due to the quality available in plastic.

There is also era to consider. Today, BLTs often consist of a plain line and a buffer stop! The steam era was much more lush in its provision, but the steam/diesel transition had all the advantages of the generous infrastructure of steam days plus a greater variety of motive power. Steam freight with passenger DMUs etc. Tell us more!

Yes, I understand the need and in that case the price may be worth paying - but why does he make such a mess of advertising his items? This is not the first time his Hornby spares have been advertised under Bachmann (the last ones were Cl 50 motors or something) - and I seriously resent my searches being clogged up with items that are just plain wrong, and will also limit their seller's sales potential by missing the target market!

This individual has come under my notice before - he seems to have trouble with his categories. Why else would you advertise this under Bachmann? And is it really worth this much to any person, livid or deaf? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hornby-CLASS-31-D5512-BR-GREEN-BODYSHELL-BOX-B-N-/110615560805?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item19c1338265

Of London termini, Fenchurch Street, Broad Street, Cannon Street, Waterloo - & no doubt others - all have their platforms above street level, while Liverpool Street and Euston, among others, have them below street level. If Aldersgate (as per its namesake) has platforms below street level, then a first floor ticket office makes a great deal of sense. Of the four stations I listed at the start, Fen St and Cannon have their ticket offices at street level, while Waterloo and Broad St have/had theirs at platform level. There is a prototype to suit whatever you decide, surely!

Yes, spot on. Had a parcel from them today. Kadee #18s plus some ballast & bits, quite a boxful, arrived in France in just over a week for a measly £4.92 postage. Some other ebay sellers should look closely at their postal charges. Not my first order from them, won't be my last.

Looking in the Irwell Press history of the line, there is very little evidence of other locos in the late years of the route - certainly post-WW2. M7s were apparently used on the Bude branch, and the E1Rs on the Torrington line, but these and the BR standard tanks didn't often get very far towards Padstow. 2manyspams of this parish made a major contribution to the writing of the second edition of the Irwell book. His (partly-owned, as he readily points out) layout Treneglos has an authentic stud consisting of the types you mention, Bulleids in original condition, Ns and T9s. Were there some other rare beasties known to have worked the line regularly he would know.

Your diffidence is not justified - these are fine pics of convincing models and scenes. You have an eye for detail not present on every layout, and are happy to acknowledge others' influences when appropriate - vide Ben Alder's fish vans. Some of your pics have a yellow cast to them - but that is trivial, you can fix it in a few keystrokes, and it's the only negative thing I can find. Keep doin' what you're doin'!

I have the original somewhere. I'm really glad that the new edition is being "reoriginated" - what the heck does that mean?

Similarly, this item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/R4299D-SR-Maunsell-Composite-Coach-5150-Weathered-/250721306662?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3a60278826 has a bizarre overall weathering - including the windows! Surely no-one thinks the windows are left that dirty? In a previous life I was involved with carriage cleaning, and even if nothing else could be done because the washer was frozen or zapped (polite version), the windows were the least you could do!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/0n30-DIESEL-SWITCHER-LOCO-NARROW-GAUGE-8-Wheel-drive_W0QQitemZ370452309670QQcategoryZ485QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m8QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DMW%26its%3DC%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4762061538896643311 Would seem to require a particular sort of purchaser?

Julian Templecombe originally contained 60 levers, so if your total count is anywhere near that - don't forget FPLs and distants - then it's fine. I don't know whether there were any sidings behind T'combe box, but it certainly has windows all round. I'd stick with that one because it is SR and could well have been built in your location. All the best Ian

Interesting, because I'd come across the word on a sign by a stream in the middle of Port Isaac village - about 100 yards from the beach, so a natural channel, surely. Quite prepared to believe it had once been the downstream side of a mill, though.

Gah! You're the fourth to comment! Yes, surgery conducted in my usual salon in the Midlands on my first visit to Blighty since May 2008, and it really didn't hurt. I actually had quite a pony-tail after all that time. As I've explained elsewhere, all down to Deb now being a bit more mobile indoors, able to look after herself to the extent of simple meals. Thus was I able to drop in to Port Isaac for a couple of pints in the Golden Lion - and see the Treneglos signpost on the way back!

You got a result! Getting wet matters half as much when you end up "having a good day at the office" I'm sure! By the way "leat" is a very Cornish word, probably being ditch or drain in other parts of the country, I think.

Another vote for the hydraulics here. Whatever the reality of their performance and availability, they had rather more charisma than the diesel-electrics, that's certain. As a 12-year old, standing on Plymouth North Road platform, the place awash with Warships - "Hey there's Zulu, the last one built!" - they captured my imagination rather more than Deltics at KX, or EE Type 4s at Euston. Impressions from an impressionable age!

I believe that TOCs have to sign up to financial support of BTP, but cannot imagine the private railways coming in for that requirement. Hopefully that sort of (non-safety) regulation of the private lines will not come in my lifetime! In this case the lorry driver was apparently making a point about an alleged unpaid bill, while the WHR & local police have declined to take the matter further, despite it affecting the WHR schedule on the day. We may draw our own conclusions on that. A newspaper report is here http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news//tm_headline=man-parks-lorry-across-track-to-hold-up-welsh-highland-railway-launch&method=full&objectid=27577323&siteid=55578-name_page.html