HillsideDepot

Yesterday, at Paddington's platform 1, GWR honoured the Great Western Railway employees who gave their lives in WW1 by launching 800306 carrying all their names. Two thousand, five hundred and forty five names. There are some photos and a video on GWR's Facebook page and GWRHelp twitter feed. GBRf has placed a poppy wreath around the AAR MU connection on 66715 "Valour" which was reported as being at Doncaster earlier.

A quick "fag-packet" schedule of the current London - Penzance timetable suggests it can be done with 9 units. Sticking with just those 9 units, and only Penance services, gives some long layovers in Paddington, but of course in reality things do go elsewhere. However, if the service can be operated with 9 units and GWR have 14 9-car 802s on order it looks like they should achieve 9-cars on all Penzances when everything is delivered. Of course add in Newquay, heavier maintenance (which will be due at some point), and maybe a serious (long term) failure and its getting tight, but GWR can't afford the luxury of shelves full of spare stock as most of us have.

As an Explorer Scout Leader your comment means a huge amount to me. Yes, our young people are inspiring in how the conduct themselves at Remembrance Parades. The ones who are forever chattering and fidgeting stand still, commands which form part of our weekly ceremonies and become rather rough are suddenly sharp and precise. It does mean much to them, especially so as they reach their teenage years. On a number of occasions we've formed up outside after the church service in pouring rain, and stood through the silence and the wreath laying getting soaked. Never a word of complaint from them but, no doubt, a silent thought for those who suffered so much more than a half hour soaking. And what always brings a lump to my throat; many of those we are remembering were the same age as the older Explorer Scouts. Young people that now have ambitions and plans, just like those a hundred years ago had ambitions and plans, only to have them cut short. We do remember them!

I'll have to see what I have on file; I was a Senior Management Trainee with Badgerline Group and posted to Western National. On the day of the "flag" livery launch I collected one of the new Mercedes 811s from St Austell where they had been prepared down to Penzance for the ribbon cutting and festivities. I'm pretty sure we borrowed one for Plymouth, but I brought a displaced Carlyle example back up to its new home at Laira Bridge. I'd left Plymouth by the time the flags become widespread, returning in another role in First days when any remains of the livery could be described as scruffy (and that's putting it politely!).

Thanks for persevering with the photos, Pete, that looks good. What size is the layout?

That all sounds very good, Dave. On a similar note, would it be possible to include the registration number for road vehicles (where manufactures print it on) in the description, please? I pretty much know my buses, but dates for car and lorry models are less well known, so the registration would be a quick date check for compatibility with my modelling era. Sometimes it is visible in your stock photos, sometimes not, largely depending on the plate's position on the model.

I was at Bristol Temple Meads the other day, there were lots of passengers on the train, and 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time no one left on the platform wanting to board, so I said "'ere Drive' we're all on, how about we go now, a few minutes sharp?" More seriously, I agree completely with Clive, for an exhibitor those last 10 minutes before the show opens can be very busy ones. I have done a show where the opening time queue was getting to dangerous size (down the stairs for several levels at a sports centre, compromising general access) so the exhibition manager sent representatives around explaining the situation and asking fi we were happy to open early. I'm not sure it was the same show, or just another at the same venue, when a lady turned up on the Sunday afternoon with a minibus full of children asking if where the train show was, "it went up that road in 6 vans, 15 cars and 3 trailers about 10 minutes ago..." came the reply. Maybe they should all have been called back to set-up again for someone who mis-judged/read/understood (delete as applicable) the opening times. As a show visitor I prefer to get there after the opening rush has dispersed, and by that I don't mean when the queue has gone, but when the initial mass has filtered into every corner of the show, and spread out. OK, that risks the car park being full, if I drive, but then again maybe going a bit later still, will make a relaxed day of it and I could stop off somewhere on the way. But maybe I'm in a minority of one!

Someone at Swindon yesterday reported 800318 and 802012 as being "the new kids on the block". 802012 seems to have been on Bristol/S Wales work rather than one of the "Great Way Round" West Country services as it someone else noted it there in the evening too. Meanwhile the 1742 Penzance - Bristol - Paddington was a pair of 800s yesterday.

Beyer Peacock Hymek, no. D7042 is allocated to this morning's "Tripper" making a tour of the local yards hustling wagons to and fro. Whilst a variety of freight was left for sorting and delivering by one of the local Pilot engines there were thin pickings to collect: just 2 empty 16 tonners from Mortimore's back to the collieries via East Usk Yard. With it's Maybach engine chattering away the Hymek waits for the Guard to do his checks and put up the appropriate lamps on his van as departure time approaches.

GWR's IET leaflet says Red the seat is currently reserved Yellow the seat is reserved later on in the journey Green the seat is not reserved Edit: to complete message as it posted before I'd finished typing!

End of the line... There is still some work to do here - a bit of "weathering" including some rubbish. Not too much, a suggestion of a yard that is "lived in" rather than one which is a run down dump.

Over the years, I have studied the GWR WW1 Rolls of Honour which are, thankfully, still on display at various stations around the network, most recently this one at Newton Abbott whilst changing trains. So it is good to see that GWR are currently sharing short biographies of some of the staff who gave their lives in WW1 on their Twitter @GWRHelp and on their Facebook page.

Pleasure to have been of service, Chris. I've no idea whether the TKs were petrol or diesel, but I'm sure they would have had those distinctively Bedford polite little whistles when the hand brake was applied rather than the harsh hiss of air everything else had. Here's a real one. Repainting mine from the livery I guessed/ incorrectly remembered to the actual livery is a job on my list. I only really remember their later TL, which was plain white and driven (would you believe) by Mr Coleman, father of a girl in my class at Primary School. It seems he had a short temper as we once saw him arrive home by jumping out of the lorry at low speed and vaulting the garden fence. The truck came gently to rest against the opposite kerb whilst raised voices could be heard from inside the house. We decided it best to cycle away and play elsewhere!

In the cool of an early mid-summer morning

Looking great there, Rob. It's coming together really well.

I very much agree, and even in our bubble there are plenty who have oval layouts with ready-to-plant/card kit buildings, albeit their oval might fill the loft. Look in the background of some of the photos here when a new RTR loco is released. Quite a few will happily mix regions or eras, some happily mix both. These people probably won't ever have a layout thread, so perhaps the numerical balance is hard to judge, but you can bet they enjoy their model railway just as much as those spending years making a finescale replica of Hogg's Bottom East Junction at 14.53 on July 12th 1928. Each to their own, and every point in between! Isn't there though scope for the trainset oval to have two sidings, wagon specific playing cards for the Inglenook puzzle and what we'd call the "limit of Shunt" markers being a tunnel mouth and the end of the platform (say). Obviously there would need to be an instruction sheet, explaining how it all works, and perhaps suggesting adding a crane and a goods shed (both with relevant catalogue numbers) as specific locations for wagons.Does that then make a zoom-it-round-and-round trainset also a game too, extending its interest? But not a computer/screen game, a real, 3D game. But maybe I'm sitting at the side of my region and era specific end-to-end and falling into the trap of thinking I know what the majority want from their model railway, trainset or whatever they which to call it.

But in better news, I just seen a set of photos captioned

A timely reminder, E3109, that its the staff and not the trains (be they new or old) that make the railway tick, and a good opportunity to share three examples from my travels on GWR last Wednesday where staff did that "extra bit". The Train Manager on a West Country bound IET is checking tickets and there is a teenager siting a few seats away from me. It transpires that this person is off to Exeter, and somehow (maybe he had the prospectus on the table) the TM works out that he is looking at possible university places. So a brief conversation ensues "off to Exeter to look at the university?" "Yes" "It's a nice city, and the university has a good reputation. Enjoy your visit, and I hope you get whatever grades you need." All very pleasant, and off she goes checking tickets. About two rows on, she stops and returns to our prospective student. "You really ought to get a Young Person's Railcard you know, especially if you'll be travelling to and from university. Look for the leaflet at the station" and away she goes again ticket checking. A little later, a Driver stands at Bristol Parkway waiting to go "home" and finish having been relieved on his Cardiff bound IET. A member of platform staff, getting news of a change of platform for the Exeter train makes a PA announcement in advance of automatic Annie catching up with things and making her own announcement. This announcement causes two ladies sitting near to where the Driver is to discuss where "St Davids" actually is, and some confusion arises. The Driver, hearing this, advises that they are correct St Davids shopping centre is in Cardiff, but St Davids station is in Exeter. A few minutes later, the Exeter train rolls in and as the Driver walks to catch it he double checks that they are sure they want the Cardiff train and not this one to Exeter. That evening, and for whatever reason the catering trolley has run out of hot water. Not a problem for our jovial Steward who whilst entering into the party mood of a group of six passengers in the middle of the coach was more than happy to head to a catering point up the train and fill the requested cups. It was after 10 at night, a time when in days of yore the buffet counter would have been closed, yet here was a staff member no doubt coming towards the end of his shift, displaying an attitude towards his customers which really shone. Just three little examples which, while not keeping the wheels turning, show staff willing to do that little bit extra. Go that little bit beyond the job spec. To me that is "The State of UK Rail" far more than an aged HST, or squealing Pacer.

Another good episode, and not so easy to pick the winner this time. One thought, now we know that this was actually the first show recorded, would the judges have gone for the "model railway as we expect it to be" shed layout had they seen some of those that we've now seen? There have been comments about difficult it was to judge last night's three as they were so different; i agree, and we've had the benefit of seeing the 3 previous shows, unlike the judges when they reached last night's decision. The other interesting thing is that the "interested, but not yet involved" public were shown a layout probably more typical of many seen at exhibitions, with presenter and judge comments about "accuracy" and so on, along side they Dynamos who built what we might come to know as a GMRC-style layout and the Railway Children which came over as "we've never done this before" but still ended up with a working layout. A great spread to show the diversity of our hobby, and almost a timeline from post-Christmas "so what shall we do with this train-set" to a couple of years down the line with sound, lights, and Faller roads, but still with the "lets get really serious, study the prototype and replicate it" option ahead - if they're not having too much fun with the lights and sounds etc to want to stay there. And the theme, "Fire and Ice"? Hmmm, heat buckled track and frozen points might have been a pair Cakebox Challenge entries, but I'd have struggled to make a layout on the theme. However I raise the Cakebox Challenge for a reason. My tablet was slow to load this morning so the colourful page top Cakebox banner was before me for longer than usual, which made me think. If there are potential modellers visiting RMWeb to see what its all about that bright banner has hopefully been a very tempting "click" which opens up a whole new world. OK, not a lot of movement in a cakebox compared to a GNRC size layout, but a much more manageable size to build and store, and a great starting point. Whether planned, or a coincidence, it's great timing. Edit for typos

The lamps come off the brackets easily enough. The upright part of two of the brackets has a tiny hole in it which takes a spigot at the back of the lamp. Probably much harder to fit than to remove, not that I've tried fitting them back on.

Why does it need to be challenged? I like my local railway, in an era just before I can remember it. To be perfectly frank, I couldn't care less about railways in other countries, I have more than enough material in my chosen specialism to last me. Be it research, books, rolling stock or layout ideas. If you like something else, that's fine by me. Just don't expect everyone to like it too. So you keep saying, and I for one am not interested. Sorry, but that's that. What I have found locally is fascinating to me. If I lived to be 300 maybe I would be looking overseas, but I only have a limited amount of time, a limited budget and a limited amount of space. I have chosen to specialise, no different to what you suggest, except my chosen speciality doesn't concur with yours. And if the above proves that I'm small minded, I'll take your insult, but I'm small minded and happy; that's better than being broad minded and miserable in my book.

Never! This is very much the BR I remember. Always great to see more photos of Llanbourne, Peter.

That may be so, but I model what I like. And I like BR (W) in the early 1970s - which are no doubt dismissed as "blue boxes" by some, Do I care? Not in the least. Do I have plenty of great prototypes to choose from; you bet I do! More than enough to last me my lifetime - even if I live to be 100. Do I expect a mainstream TV show to include BR blue hydraulics? No. But neither do I repeat the claimed benefits of modelling 1970s Western Region in OO. It's just one small specialism within this vast hobby. Out of interest I watched a programme called Great British Bake Off - the Professionals. My interest in food is very much at the basic, home cooked, level, so many of the terms they used were unknown to me - just as "static grass" probably is to most GMRC viewers. The programme offered me no insights or explanation of these terms. But one thing that was noticeable was how one of the big displays (made of sugar) crashed to the floor before judging. Fair enough, it may have been much more ambitious than anything GBBO (the amateurs) would attempt, but it was a failure of much bigger proportions than we've [yet] seen on GMRC. And the judges were more critical of various rough edges and unfinished items on GBBO - Professionals than on GMRC. We all partake in this hobby in a way that suits us, even if that means abandoning Fn3 (never heard of it, tbh, but that's my ignorance) in favour of writing. Right, I'm back to my modified Airfix water tower, now on a brick base and to my eye making a fairly good replica of one which once stood in my local station yard where even the other BR Regions are a foreign land.

You have to consider the bigger picture, and how the stock works over several days, even weeks. Coaches need maintenance, which was done at Old Oak, so sets have to cycle around visits to the depot. The "Oxford" sets can't work from Oxford and back to Oxford day after day, at some point they will have to visit Old Oak for servicing, plus of course they are also working Newburys and a Westbury. Not only that but you want your fleet to do the same mileage over time, so again coaches will cycle around the workings. Day time ECS, which seems to appear to be an oddity to you could be sets being worked in the peaks and maintained in the off peak. An ECS might seem wasteful, but might mean a reduction in sets overall, and saves the depot standing idle all day - with the consequent additional pressure overnight servicing. Then of course the fuel capacity of the locos needs to be considered, running through to Banbury might mean the loco would run out before it can next visit a fuel point, and there is also the human element - crew duties, and route knowledge; there's no point running an Old Oak crew through to Banbury if they run out of hours before they get back to Paddington. Or, equally as disruptive they might get back to Paddington in time, but do they then have time to do anything useful before needing a break? Pointless them doing Banbury if they then need a break in the middle of the peak at Paddington, when an Oxford allows them to get to Paddington and back to Oxford or Newbury for their break (I don't know the details of the actual crew workings and relief points; just trying to show the various aspects which need to come together to make the railway work). And all of that is why I scheduled buses & drivers for a large part of my career, why I find railways so fascinating, and why my layouts need a purpose and supporting Working Time Tables and some cases even loco diagrams!

I can see what you're saying, but I suppose the precedent is that the steps were removed from the ends of Mk1 coaches decades ago, and that was primarily to stop staff using them. Likewise I've seen covers over steps on steam loco tenders when on the mainline. OK those were properly designed steps, with handrails, rather than step-like cables, but I can see the thought process. Of course the counter argument is that someone should have looked at the history of such things and not designed the Pendolinos like that; meaning the IEPs would also have been designed differently. As it is its now, no doubt, another variation order which Hitachi will add to the bill.