Tim H

And when do we get the 2mm version?

Neal Morse - Songs for November.  Wasn't impressed on first listen, but it gets better on repeated plays provided you skip the one "pass the sick bag" track,

Talking Heads - Fear of Music

The CDs from various merch stands at last weekend's Cambridge Rock Festival

Synphony of Pain - Hydeolgy.

The Tirith - The Daughter of the Water

The Windmill - The Continuation

Northsyde - The Storyteller's Daughter

All bands completely new to me

The Enid - Live at Birmingham Town Hall

Great seeing them live in Balham last weekend.

I must admit to sometimes being a bit tight (prudent) when it comes to parting with my cash, I know I am not alone, but have you noticed how many of us ignore the initial releases of products, and wait, and wait until retailers get twitchy and pick up models at the "desperation must clear stocks" prices you quite often see?

 

I categorise each new model that's appropriate for my era and region as "essential" or "nice to have". The essential ones I'll buy when they come out, the "nice to haves" I'll wait and pick them if and when I see them heavily discounted.

Unfortunately for my wallet the Polybulks fall into the "essential" category....

Ben's mention of the Polybulks is interesting. It makes them more costly than the newly tooled modern continental grain wagons from NME, which appear to be equivalent in detail and features and come with a Fleischmann pedigree. Rolf Fleischmann is NME.

 

http://www.data-space.eu/kramm/bilder/katalog/614/204600.jpg

 

http://www.data-space.eu/kramm/bilder/katalog/614/204601.jpg

Comparing those photos with Ben's photos of the Farish Polybulks, I'd say that the Farish Polybulks are the superior models in terms of detail and realism.

39 squid for the Polybulks? Yikes! And something I need a block train of too!

The RU (as modeled) only covers a limited number of vehicles and therefore it may be than none of the modeled versions were in Ch&C. However, this has not stoped them before in putting the wrong livery/numbers on thier Mk1s.

So, what diagram is the Farish model, and exactly how does it differ from other RU diagrams? 

(And has anybody found evidence that any RMBs carried C&C livery outside of preservation?)

Do you have any definite evidence of RUs in choc/cream? If so, I suggest you send to Bachmann.

"Steam on West of England Main Lines", page 29 - Torbay Express in 1960 with a full rake of chocolate & cream Mk1s, catering vehicle is clearly an RU.

There's also a photo (can't find the book at the moment) of the westbound Cornish Riviera coming off the Saltash bridge behind a Warship. again with full chocolate & cream Mk1 set including an RU

I don't think so. In NSE days, I think that it was more BFKs that were used rather than FKs. Either way, I'm very pleased to see NSE liveried models coming from the Farish stable.

 

David

It was pairs of BFKs on the Waterloo-Exeter trains, but I'm sure I remember FKs on the Paddington-Oxford/Newbury lines. The lack of any first class coach makes it impossible to make up an accurate prototypical formation.

Mastodon - Once More Around The Sun.

On two listens, rather better than their last one, The Hunter, which I thought sounded a bit too commercial.

Still no new tooling RU in WR chocolate and cream. Seems a very odd omission.

Landmarq - Origins: A Landmarq Anthology 1992-2014. One significant 90s/00s prog band that had passed me by.

Meanwhile, my review of Yes' album appeared in the print edition of The Guardian on Friday

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/17/yes-heaven-and-earth-review

Glad I went out and some fun this morning rather than waiting for that. 

Whilst I was not expecting much given the previous announcement of 3 new items (and certainly was not banking on their being anything that I wanted), I was expecting more than 3 coaches. This seems to me to be a way of saying that we have not quite given up on n gauge in the UK, but it's a long way down our list of priorities. 

I agree it's not a very exciting list, but I'm reading it more as "Let's focus on delivering the huge backlog of stuff we've announced over the last couple of years before announcing yet more new models that probably won't see the light of day for 3-4 years".

As far as I'm concerned, the most exciting stuff is progress on previously-announced models; most notably the Polybulks.

Note that they're doing the BSO and TSO in NSE, but no sign of the FK.  Did any Mk2a FKs carry NSE livery?

How about Mk2b or Mk2c coaches in N?

Touchstone - Live Inside Outside (DVD)

Knifeworld  - The Unravelling. Bonkers psychedelic rock with a brass section and a bassoon

Yes - Heaven and Earth, which I'm reviewing.

What's I'd love to see in Nm would be one of the standard design railcars as used on many smaller lines, suitable for a narrow-gauge feeder for a standard-gauge layout.  Although it's probably another case of "dream on"...

The Japanese model scene appears to have embraced multiple units in a big way.  In contrast, despite a prototype scene dominated by units, British-outline modellers have still focussed on locomotives.  Do you think this will ever change?

Going from memory here, the pattern in the late 80s and early 90s there was always a trip down to Burngullow & Parkindillick in the morning (used to follow the Sleeper from Par) that connected out of the overnight Speedlink from Exeter. which returned to St Blazey around lunchtime. The loco would often work a rake of CDAs to Lostwithiel and back mid-morning

There was a second trip that ran as required in the afternoon, leaving St Blazey at about 2pm and returning at around 4, and a final train to west Cornwall (Truro and Penzance) leaving in the evening coming back late at night.

Occasionally you'd see the odd wagon attached to a local CDA set to save an additional trip. In this case it would often run via Lostwithiel and back to save detaching it at Par.

Hi Julia,

Great question, and one that may not reach public knowledge for years, (or ever) unless I publish my memoirs. :-)

Not the answer your looking for, I'm sure, but it's the one I'm sticking too, sorry.

Cheers

Dave

Musical differences, obviously

In N Gauge do you see any potential growth in the market for the simpler and more "mundane" types of loco as opposed to the bigger mixed-traffic and express passenger types that we seem to see more of produced?

 

Second question, given in N most principal diesel types are "spoken for" by the main manufacturers could you see any market for some more of the more obscure modernisation plan locos beyond the planned Clatyon and Baby Deltic, for example something like the Metrovic Co-Bo?

Or put the two togather - the D&E era equivalent of the those smaller and more mundane steam classes is surely multiple units, which have always been the poor relation of locos. Yes, it's got better in recent years, and the late BR/Early privatisation period is better covered, but there are still plenty of gaps, from workhorses to iconic trains. Cross-country class 120 and 4-VEPs (at least in N) are two of the more obvious.

On the other hand, D600s in N. You know you want to....

The viaduct on the closed section of the Callendar and Oban high above Glen Ogle.

Not sure of the line, but the viaduct across the Don valley visible from the ex-GC Sheffield-Doncaster line.

The surviving bits of embankment around Swansea Victoria, just tantalising remains that give little clue as to where the railway went.

The bridge the now carries the A4 in Reading over the A33, built on the trackbed of the old Reading South freight branch.

The Leek and Manifold railway, especially the bit now used as minor road including a tunnel.

Curved Air - North Star

They seem to have picked up exactly where they left off in the 70s. Sonja Kristina has still got it.

Cloud Atlas - Beyond the Value