Tim H

At one point the Wick portion of the Inverness-Thurso/Wick was made up of a BCK+RMB, not only a two-coach train, but a two-coach train with a catering vehicle. There still is a 3-chach workiing on Summer Saturdays from Penzance to Exeter and back, using the locomotive and seating portion of the Sleeper.

Freight, it's got to be the afternoon Speedlink from St.Blazey to Gloucester in the late 80s, usually double-headed, with a real mix of wagon types. Passenger, the Summer Saturday Bristol to Weymouth. Nothing quite like that climb out of Weymouth on the return jouney with six Mk2s.

The Gentle Storm - The Diary (While writing a review of the superb gig at The Garage on Thursday). Anneke van Giersbergen is a quite remarkable singer.. Eschaton - Sentinel Apocalypse. "Technical Death Metal" which is absolutely bloody awful. Only listening for review purposes. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. Because sometimes we neglect the classic albums and never play them Karnataka - Secrets of Angels. Their best album to date? Jacco Gardner - Hypnophobia. Another review album; interesting indie/prog/pop/pschedelic hybrid.

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Steve Wilson - Hand Cannot Erase. This one's going to take a few listens to really get in to, I think. Spock's Beard - Octane The Reasoning - Awakening & Dark Angel. Their first two (and best two) albums. Sadly the band have just announced they're calling it a day. I wrote a few words on mby blog about them: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog/music/music-opinion/farewell-to-the-reasoning/

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I have always assumed the IEA are made up of people who never got over not getting a train set for Christmas. Or used to get beated up by trainspotters while at school....

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Two scary thoughts First, the Voyagers have now been in traffic for longer than the average life of the Westerns Second, at least some of the preserved 50s have been preserved for longer than they were in traffic.

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Visogoth - The Revenant King Bigelf - Hex Sabaton - Heroes

It was the Wychway in 1988, at least.

Napalm Death: Apex Predator - Easy Meat "Uncompromising" is probably the word here. They do not appear to have mellowed with age.

Be interesting to look at the models that appeared in 2014 from both Dapol and Farish and compare them with the original due dates when first announced. Though when it comes to the biggest time gap, I think the Peco HAA is the clear winner.

From my visits to Cornwall in the late 80s/early 90s. it was common to see two or three Polybulks in the afternoon Speedlink and associated trip workings to/from St Blazey, mixed up with Tiger 55s, PAAs and assorted vans and tanks. No need for a full block train of the things if you don't want to shell out £££s. They weren't just used for the block train to Switzerland; there was another smaller wagonload flow to Mossend in Scotland. In later years they also turned up on the Cliffe Vale flow mixed in with Tiger 55s until the newer Imeris hoppers replaced both types.

Lots of Black Sabbath, for reasons which will become apparent in a few days. Also some of this year's best releases Behemoth, The Satanist Morpheus Rising, Eximus Humanus Cloud Atlas, Beyond the Vale Polar Bear, In Each And Every One Crippled Black Phoenix, White Light Generator Gazpacho, Demon Luna Rossa, Secrets & Lies Knfeworld, The Unravelling Panic Room, Incarnate

Do one in N and I might order all five

A question about the reality of the so-called "Shrink Ray". How much easier is it (in terms of time and cost) to produce an N-gauge model once you've already done the CAD work for the 00-gauge version? Judging by the way models tend to appear in multiple scales from the same manufacturers, I assume it's cheaper to produce an N-gauge version of something you've already done in 00 than do something brand new from scratch. But by how much?

Pink Floyd - The Endless River and before that: Steve Rothery - The Ghosts of Pripyat. If you haven't heard this, but like the Pink Floyd album, it's a record you ought to hear. Opeth - Deliverance. Back in the days when they went "Grrrrrrrrrrr!" a lot.

Don't think it was ever common. But I did see a 45/1 on a full rake of Mk3s in Inter-City livery at Dawlish in 1988, two weeks before the last Peaks were switched off. I think it was substituting for a booked pair of 31/4s. Can't remember the exact working, except it was a Summer Saturday to Paignton. Since they were officially banned west of Bristol by that point, it was almost certainly the last Peak on a service train in Devon.

Luna Rossa, Secrets and Lies They were excellent last night at The Borderline. Anyone going to see them in Bilston next Sunday?

I remember a Paddington-Manchester in 2000 with a Eurostar 37/6 substituting for a failed 47/8

Alestorm - Sunset of the Golden Age Which is obviously followed by Saw them live last week. There were swords, keytars and monkeys!

Robert Plant - Lullaby and The Ceasless Roar The Pineapple Thief - Magnolia The Pineapple Thief - Someone Here Is Missing The Pineapple Thief - All The Wars Threshold - For the Journey