Tim H

Longer than that - they were there in 1988! Aren't they used for fuel storage?

The derailed well wagon written off in the 1987 collision at Tavistock Junction is still there according to Google Earth https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Plymouth,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&ll=50.38935,-4.069794&spn=0.000239,0.00066&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.826758,86.572266&oq=plymouth&t=h&hnear=Plymouth,+United+Kingdom&z=21

Opeth - Watershed. The Pineapple Thief - All The Wars Vangelis - Beaubourg Drive - Anneke von Geirsbergen Queen - Queen II

In Iain Rice's "Mainlines in Modest Spaces", he suggests that the survival of OO is because it's the least bad compromise for getting models of typical British outline steam locomotives around the sorts of curves people are forced to use to fit layouts in typical domestic spaces. In contrast an accurate HO model of a typical German loco with high running boards and cylinders further out because of the loading gauge can be persuaded to go round far tigher curves than an equivalent HO or Scalefour British-outline model would.

The Marillion Christmas single

Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans Richard Thompson - Mock Tudor Closterkeller - Cyan

Also Eden - Redacted Now written up the second part of my albums of the year: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog/music/record-reviews/2013-albums-of-the-year-part-two/

Cosmograf - The Man Left In Space And for anyone interested, I've written up the first part of my albums of 2013 list: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog/music/record-reviews/2013-albums-of-the-year-part-one/

I've just about got a top ten out of that list, three of which are candidates for album of the year.

A long and scary list of all the 2013 releases I've got this year, which I've listed to in alphabetical order in an attempt to come up with an albums of the year list. Also Eden – [REDACTED] Anneke van Giersbergen – Drive Avenged Sevenfold – Hail to the King Big Big Train – English Electric Part Two Black Sabbath – 13 Blood Ceremony – The Eldrich Dark Cosmograf – The Man Left In Space Deborah Bonham – Spirit Deep Purple – Now What?! Dream Theater – Dream Theater Fish – Feast of Consequences Goldfrapp – Tales of Us Haken – The Mountain Iain Jennings – My Dark Surprise Ihsahn – Das Seelenbrechen King Bathmat – Overcoming the Monster Luna Rossa – Sleeping Pills and Lullabies Magenta – The Twenty-Seven Club Maschine – Rubidium Mr So and So - Truth & Half Lies Noterminus - Haselupker's Ink Riverside - Shrine of the New Generation Slaves Rob Cottingham – Captain Blue Sanguine Hum – The Weight of the World Schemata Theory – Dry Lung Rhetoric Shineback – Rise Up Forgotten, Returned Destroyed Spocks Beard - Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep Steve Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing Tarja – Colours in the Dark The Computers – Love Triangles, Hate Squares The Fierce and The Dead – Spooky Action The Graveltones – Don't Wait Down The Inner Road – Ascension The Temperance Movement – s/t Thea Gilmore - Regardless Touchstone – Oceans of Time A few of those are promo review copies rather than records I've paid for, but that's still a few locos worth....

It's a sobering thought how many first-generation diesels have been preserved for far longer than they were in service; Even the class 50s have reached that point now.

I can'r see any more recent "dividing line" than the end of steam. The *entire* motive power fleet of British Railways changed in the space of ten years. Ptivatisation has seen a lot of new trains replacing older ones, but there is still a lot of BR built stock from the 70s and 80s on the network; even some Modernisation Plan locomotives survive in niche usages.

"Modern Image" was a phrase that made perfect sense in 1970s, but makes no sense at all in 2013. But older modellers whose interests are firmly fixed in the steam age are going to keep using out of force of habit regardless of what the rest of us think. Its continued use in magazines or exhibition programmes ought to be discouraged, though.

Magenta - The Twenty-Seven Club One of the best old-school prog albums of the year.

If the Kernow D600 is still going ahead under the DJM banner, can we shrink it down to N as well? Ditto both types of bogie china clay hopper (The present-day Imerys and the 1982 Tiger 55s)

Ihsahn, Das Seelebrechen Starts out as prog-metal, then gets steadily weirder as at does on. Sounds like bits of Opeth, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree and Nightwish put in a blender.

Number of times I've read pathetically weak music pieces on the Guardian website that turn out to be from the Observer, and it's always amusing to watch The Guardian's own writers disown them.

Two new releases: Also Eden - [REDACTED]. Very inpressive new album. The Fierce And The Dead - Spooky Action. Instrumental post-rock/prog/post-punk/metal hybrid

And speaking of Anne-Marie Helder

Also Eden - [REDACTED] Sound a bit like Marillion might have sounded like today had Fish never left the band (and not lost his upper register)

There were some date clashes between Panic Room and Mostly Autumn gigs earlier in the year which couldn't be worked around, but Anne-Marie made it clear that she hadn't necessarily left the band for good. She did return for a couple of dates at the beginning of October (no idea why just those two dates), so I'm optimistic that she'll be back with the band next year.

Quite how this lot failed to qualify as Estonia's Eurovision entry I'll never know.

Anathema - Universal It's a mystery to me why the "mainstream" continue to ignore Anathema.

Deep Purple, Now What?! Deep Purple, Come Taste The Band Deep Purple, s/t Marks 6,4 and 1. Three different lead singers and three different lead guitarists.