PLD

Paul Burkitt-Gray did start a scratchbuilt set on 00 here on RMWeb, and there was an etched brass kit produced for a B92 set also 00 but I've never seen one completed...

Photos of some pre-production samples of new castings are now available via the British Model Buses website News page. In 1:76 scale - the Bedford OWB in 3 different liveries. [Thursday 2nd Feb entry] In 1:148 (British N) the Burlingham Sunsaloon (3 liveries) and Plaxton Elite (2 liveries) [Wednesday 1st Feb entry] Note: despite comment on another group this is the 2009 onwards Plaxton 'Elite', not the early 1970s body style of the same name! Have to say that the window pillars (often a poor aspect of ODC castings) look finer than other recent models - the windscreens in particular of the OWB and Burlingham looking much closer to flush than others while the Elite clearly employs a very different production method, necessary for the large bonded glass panoramic windows and 'barrel' windscreen. Paint finish of these samples is a bit rough around the edges and I would hope will be tided up before release... Paul

Not forgetting the Lemon with the camera in some stupidly dangerous location...

I suspect that may be your issue: - I don't recall Dapol claiming them to be interoperable with Micro Trains couplings. I suspect that for maximum reliability it will be a case of use all one type or the other and not mix them. An issue that will only be worsened when Farish's version arrives leaving us with three visually similar but not fully compatable couplings to confuse the unwary... Paul

Broad generalisation, but there does seem to be a sliding scale of what degree of accuracy is demanded and what level of compromise/error is tolerated by the typical modeller. From the top where absolute fidelity is obligatory (otherwise the head of the company's MD is demanded) to the bottom where any old thing will do to fill a space (often not even the right scale/period etc) the order is roughly: Locomotives Passenger Rolling Stock Goods Stock Railway infrastructure (track work, signalling) Railway buildings Road vehicles Non-railway buildings Other transport (e.g. canals) Anything else outside the railway boundary (if you bother with it at all...)

That sounds like you have a wagon with steel axles that are being atracted to the magnet...

Chris et al, The Elro kits are designed by Robert Hendry: you will struggle to find anyone with greater knowledge of the MER rolling stock. They are indeed made up of sevaral laminations of thinner card and having built a few I can say that with patience and care a very good result can be produced but it does help of you have some knowlege of the vehicle in question to visualise the finished model during construction. Paul

Filmed at Hull Paragon station...

I also had to visit the page three times before actually voting. First twice I spent too long looking back at threads, and when I pressed submit it said 'session had expired'... A difficult thing to judge such different entries, but the three categories mean that one entry may score highly in one category but lower in others while another entry is the oposite way round... When I looked back at my scores at the end, at first I thought maybe I had been a bit hard on some - my combined scores range from 3 to 14 out of 15 (with two at each extreme) but my average was 3.4, 2.8, 3.2 so probably about right for using the full range available to differentiate between entries. Well done and best of luck to all the entrants. Paul

Of course, the cliche on any forum is that whatever the starting point for a thread, within no more than three pages it will become a 'P4' vs 'OO' or 'DCC' vs 'DC' argument

Paul doesn't 'do computers'... If you want to contact electronically, best way is an e-mail or PM to either me or PeterL Paul doesn't do ExpoNG these days (and very few other shows either) as there is only a finite number of locos he can build per month, and the extra work generated (that he has capacity to do) doesn't cover the cost of attending...

Ahem...

As we (NHS) are dealing with a lot of sensitive data, the filtering is as much about stopping that data getting out into the wrong hands as it is about stopping time-wasting. Therefore virtually all sites where data could potentially be uploaded to or sent insecurely (all 'social networking' sites, file sharing sites, 'cloud' storage sites, U-tube and similar, most Web-Mail sites and many photo sharing sites) are blocked. There are also cases of sites which we can access but certain functionality is restricted; such as most newspaper sites and bloging sites we can view/read but can't add comments or upload files, some forums we can read but not sign-in, and many shopping sites (including thetrainline.com and Hattons as I recently found ) we can browse but not purchase ... The capability does exist to grant individual users access to specified sites - prime example is our sexual health team having access to some sites that most reasonable people would not even dare visiting on company time for perfectly ligitimate research!

Yes Mark, and without me needing to mention his semi-biographical incarnation as Sir Handel Brown aka the 'Thin Controller!!' Sir Henry Haydn Jones - from 1909 owner of the Abergynolwyn Estate which included the Bryn Eglwys slate quarry and the Talyllyn Railway, and later lessee of Aberllefenni Quarry, the main customer of the Corris Railway. Today ex Corris Railway no 3 runs on the Talyllyn named 'Sir Haydn'.

Can't take much credit - never heared of him before but it was the only name that came up in a google search for "M&GN Superintendent" Lets try this hopefully easier one... A Liberal Party politician, Born in 1863. He was a long serving member of his home town council before being elected member of parliament for the same town at the 1910 general election. The railway connection came in 1911 when he purchased a local estate complete with a major industrial concern and associated railway. In 1935 the railway connection was expanded when he leased another local concern (in the same industry) which was the only significant customer of another railway which was by then owned by one of the big four. The industrial operation closed in 1946 but the railway continued to operate as a public service until his death in 1950. Later, the railway was the subject of a preservation scheme and continues to operate today. The motive power includes a Loco named after him which originated on the second line mentioned above.

Good grief - what have I started with one thow-away comment?? If you want to start getting pedantic, Excel is actually a spreadsheet (a tabular presentation of data) and more - graphical presentation etc, but all functions geared towards presentation... True - it is adequate for storing a a single table of a few hundred lines (including the job the OP is using it for...), but never will give the flexibility, control and volume handling capabilities of a propper Database (or MS Access...) Paul

It is possible to place an existing Excel Spreadsheet in a Powerpoint slide: In all versions of Powerpoint that have propper Menus (not that b****** ribbon thing) select [insert] then [Object] from the Menu. tick option for 'Create from file' Click on 'Browse' and locate the existing .xls file. click on OK Paul N.B. Excel is a presnetation package NOT a database and should not be used as such!! (first lesson of data admin.... )

I can come up with only one reference to a 'H R Gillingwater formerly of the LDECR' being the Superintendent / General Manager of the Middy, but no dates given so don't know if he is our man?? Paul

Highway Code: Appendix B, Section M, Clause W: "none of the rules in this booklet shall apply to cars of German Origin"

Has to be a balance between obscure and solvable, but all are easy if you know the answer Jamie, and I did leave out a few obvious clues!!

An English Barronet, best known for the railway he constructed around the grounds of his Derbyshire home. The railway was built to demonstrate his ideas for lightweight railways that would be quick and cheap to build to other land owners and in particular the military, though only one other line was ever built to his principles. His locomotives incorporated many novel features including a cylindrical launch type firebox, radiating axles, and his own design of valve gear. Shortly after his death his railway was dismantled with much of the rolling stock going to another line that was at the time in the process of changing gauge. Parts of 2 locos still exist on that line today but incorporated into other locos and totally unrecognisable.

Without much confidence, I'm thinking the M&GN works at Melton Constable, which leads me to the name William Marriott??

I had a run in with this outfit a couple of years ago. Three phone calls and two mail shots in a couple of months insisting I needed their cover when I don't even have (and never have had) Sky or any other Pay-TV service! A terse e-mail to their customer services cc'd to the local trading standards office resulted in a letter of appology and a cheque for £25!

Yep. I was hoping the Exeter connection might throw some off the scent...