jonny777

I was thinking the same thing, of putting in a crafty bid, but I should be saving up for my Heljan O2s so I had better not allow myself to be tempted. I agree with you on the weathering principle, and am a bit sad that the person who tried it did not have the imagination, or make the effort, to look at a few colour photos of a loco in service (there are plenty on Flickr). With a bit of encouragement and a better choice of colours he/she could have probably made a decent job. Presumably, the old advice of using an old and inexpensive loco body, taking things as slow as possible, and building up the layers of grime a little at a time, went straight out the window and that was the result. I hope it has not put them off modelling; there are lots of 'how to' threads here and on other sites, as well as in books and magazines. It seems rather a shame if they really did feel the need to sell the loco rather than try and rectify the initial errors.

I may be stating the bleeding obvious here, but that simply looks like a rather over enthusiastic attempt with the wrong colour weathering powder. If so, and it is not easy to be that sure even with the zoom facility, then for £40 the loco could be a bargain.

Passenger numbers must have deteriorated since my first trip on the Kyle line, when the train was 8 Mk1s including a buffet car and was packed in both directions, and hauled by a class 26.

I like the idea of an HST to Kyle of Localsh. Far better than the current dog boxes. But I suspect that the curves would be too much for regular Mk3 services.

Apologies if this is an obvious question to those in the know, but what is (if anything) planned for all the units that will be displaced by the production of classes 800 and 801? Will the HSTs all be withdrawn? What happens to the 91s and Mk4 stock?

Now, my brain hurts after reading all that.

Yes, D18 used to look like this - https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/5641076417/in/photolist-8NXrE7-9kMS1U-nZJnWo-pnE4dE-9kMRYQ-pyTZfJ-pyR33G-9AtZue-hJKZCW-adSGR6-5MNb3r-brLZ8M-cpGTeq-pmv1fd-cpJpXG-7vpvzB-4QPGv5-9wyWQ7-hpmw9Y-5MNaQt-aGx8pT-8X3t76-oUrwYE-66fPhk-ijjjuj-mCYTPB-fiusiZ-fiuspV-fiJETs-fiJELL-fiusL4-8ZQbRN-fiuse2-fiJE85-fius9p-fiusz2-nRSLXr-cpKtV7-a1HFkM-cfMGro-nxAzUj-gBMnLu-nkqTPg-cANFe3-cANFab-cANFiG-8mqFNN-cpKtz5-jPur1d-cxA7wQ

Quite. But on the same principle, you could argue that use of the term "frothing" on a railway forum is grossly offensive to those who suffer from epilepsy or other temporary brain malfunctions.

This would appear to be a very popular photograph, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Diesel-Class-31-31294-Breakdown-Train-Bradford-Junction-Trowbridge-postcard-/390905666745?pt=UK_Collectables_Postcards_MJ&hash=item5b03cb1cb9 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/POSTCARD-Railfreight-Class-31-31294-/291336051113?pt=UK_Collectables_Postcards_MJ&hash=item43d4fb59a9 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/POSTCARD-Railfreight-Liveried-Class-31-31294-/291336050382?pt=UK_Collectables_Postcards_MJ&hash=item43d4fb56ce http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/POSTCARD-RAILFREIGHT-LIVERIED-CLASS-31-31294-HEADS-THE-OLD-OAK-COMMON-BREAKDOWN-/331207857059?pt=UK_Collectables_Postcards_MJ&hash=item4d1d86d3a3 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/31294-HEADS-AWAY-FROM-BRADFORD-JUNCTION-NR-TROWBRIDGE-POSTCARD-/370775670965?pt=UK_Collectables_Postcards_MJ&hash=item5653f3c0b5 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/POSTCARD-RP-RAIL-CLASS-31-LOCO-31294-THRO-BRADFORD-JUNCTION-/190728494545?pt=UK_Collectables_Postcards_MJ&hash=item2c684dddd1 And one that varies in price by about 50%.

Yes, I have a pole feeder with lots of hooks, and I paint Hot chilli sauce around the base of the pole. It certainly does deter squirrels and also the occasional brown rat that we get trying to climb it.

The website says this:- "Following the death of Peter Handford the master tapes of his recorded legacy were bequeathed for safe keeping to the National Railway Museum in York where they are now kept in a controlled and conditioned environment, but for a few weeks the tapes were packaged up and taken on a special excursion to the studios of Original Sound in Cornwall to be digitally remastered." I am not sure what they mean by "master tapes". Whether that refers to the tapes produced by Decca or their subsidiaries in the original recordings, or the actual original tapes that Handford recorded on, I don't know. Somewhere buried amongst mounds of dust and spiders I do have his autobiographical account - Sounds of trains and their recording, or something like that. Maybe that gives a clue as to how he worked? I must dig it out, and re-read it for the first time in nearly 40 years.

That is strange, you have no sleeve notes because I received jpeg files of both the front and back cover of the original vinyl release with my files.

Yes, it is an excellent project, and I will support it as much as I can. I have just downloaded the Great Central album and compared it with the MP3 copy I made of the original vinyl from the 1970s, and there is a noticeable increase in quality; although I can't vouch for the condition of the stylus when I recorded my original. As far as I am concerned, the star track of the Great Central album is the recording of 60831 on a late running newspaper train passing Princes Risborough in an August night in 1959. I have no idea what speed the V2 is doing, but even allowing for the fact that the train may consist of short wheelbase bogie vans and therefore appear to be going faster than it was, it is still racing along and the fact that it can still be heard when a mile or more away in the distance just adds to the wonderful atmosphere of that recording.

Thanks very much for that link Coronach. At £3.50 each, they appear to be excellent value. What I would like to hear are unedited recordings of some of the sessions, not just what appeared on the original albums. I would love to hear all the background noises and warts 'n all recordings that were not considered good enough for the original vinyl pressings. There could be some real gems hidden away there, or maybe I am just dreaming?

These Stafford photos bring back many memories. My father used to stop for lunch next to the WCML on our way to/from summer holidays, and although we only had an hour by the line somewhere, it was the frequency and variety of trains which amazed me, compared with the regulars on the GN&GE in Lincs. That 8F looks exactly as many steam locos did in those late days, and if we were not quick off the mark to see the smokebox number, it was almost impossible to know which engine we were looking at because the cabsides were dirty black. Heaven knows the amount of locos we could not underline, because the loco number was invisible. In August 1966, the 8F had about 4 weeks of activity left, as it was withdrawn during September and cut up by Christmas; no languishing in a scrapyard for that example I'm afraid. Edited: for typos

Greenfinches have declined massively in this area, presumably from disease. I do see one occasionally, but compared to ten years ago our numbers must have declined by almost 90%, which is very sad. A visitor which we always had from Christmas until late Feb in the 1990s was the Siskin. Now we don't see any at all in the garden . This will be my 20th year of completing weekly records for the BTO Garden Birdwatch, and a quick glance back through the history suggests the last time I saw Siskins here with any regularity was 2001.

As luck would have it, I have just purchased the Middleton Press book, Spalding to Grimsby. On the cover is a K1 (incorrectly captioned in the book as a B1) passing through Authorpe on what appears to be a local passenger working. This might be a Frodingham loco, although I cannot read the number on the image, and gives me renewed hope that K1s did wander away from their normal duties.

I revived this thread on 37 liveries, because I wondered if anyone had any info on green 37s with the BR double arrow symbol?

Here it is at Rainhill. Not the best photo I admit, and I probably have a front 3/4 one somewhere, but can't find it at the mo. It is difficult to believe that this was 35 years ago now.

Minus 4 overnight, so everything is frozen solid. These are the times when birds need our help. To lightengine; have you tried putting a variety of bird food in your feeders that the neighbours do not? You might attract a few birds that can't get a look in next door. Or maybe try fatballs? They are quite weather hardy and do not go 'off' quite as rapidly as uneaten seeds and nuts. It is all starlings here at the moment, which is often the case early in the morning - but they throw so much food on the ground that it will not be long before the chaffinches, blackbirds and wagtails arrive to clean up the mess.

Well, knock me down with a feather. I make that comment about no redwings in the garden so far, and 15 minutes later one has appeared in the holly consuming berries at a rate of knots. Maybe I have psychic powers?

Saw my first blackcap of the season yesterday, and probably the same bird again this morning - so I know winter is here. Another sign is the appearance of pied wagtails in the garden one of which arrived this morning. No redwings or fieldfares yet, which is surprising.

I have stumbled on this topic after searching for 'Clee hill', because I wondered if there was more info, and I seem to have found it. The reason for my search was watching a 1950s video clip of the incline in operation, which can be found on the DVD "Steam Byways Vol1" part of the Geoff Bannister video collection, and available from Railfilms. I received the four volume set as a Christmas present. The colour film clip shows wagons ascending the incline using the special adapter wagon, and the Clee Hill loco at the top of the hill (on this occasion ex-GWR No.1142). I was wondering how the loco moved up and down the 1in6 incline for occasional works visits?

Here is 73120 in April 1985, but I am not sure of the location.

Here is 73101 at Waterloo.