HillsideDepot

I've had a look for any other photos of my doors, but couldn't find anything. But i did find a photo of a real door which shows the sort of arrangement I had inside the building I remember that the top section of door was slightly taller, (but the extra height was above the door opening so it didn't show) and the horizontal track was designed so the top section came off the end and hung vertically when the door was open. Being taller it was just a little bit heavier than the bottom section which stayed vertical at the top of the door opening to keep the whole thing in the vertical tracks ready for closing. The sellotape probably would have dried up eventually, but I don't recall any problems and I think I had that layout for about 10 years.

I'm trying to remember the detail of a raising doors I made many years ago. It was strips of plasticard, stuck to Sellotape and running in brass U shaped channels at the sides. I'm struggling to recall how the door stayed in the open position, but I think it simply rested on two horizontal rails. As the inside of the warehouse was accessible from the fiddle yard, operation was purely manual from behind the scenes. This harsh, flash-lit, photo is all I can find at the moment, and probably not quite what you want, but it might start a few ideas flowing.

I've recently had some correspondence with the Editor of Railway Modeller recently and his email ends @peco.co so the above would appear to be correct.

I remember the Radio Rentals Ford Escort estates with the green panels over the windows. Was there perhaps a tax advantage in using estate cars rather than vans? Did the big companies have a regional bias? I only really recall Radio Rentals here in southern England, is that just my memory, or did, say DER, have more of a presence in other regions? As mentioned above there were also local TV repair businesses, often selling and installing them (and aerials) as well as repairing. My local example, Mr Mainstone, had his shop a few doors along from my grandparents' house, and his workshop on the opposite side of an alleyway from my grandfather's bakery, behind the same row of houses/shops. Plenty of modelling opportunities there! Mainstone had a plain grey Ford Escort Mk1 van, later partially replaced by a sign written white Bedford Rascal (the Escort was retained for aerial installation work) which seemed to spend half its life partially blocking the main road outside the shop. Perhaps I've gone off a bit of a tangent, but its a by-gone era and a world away from where we are now where one can by a TV in a supermarket along with your baked beans and breakfast cereal...

Well done Rob, I remembered a Flickr photo too, but couldn't find it when I searched last night. I suspect the photo in the current magazine article is the one in the Bristol VR book as both are authored by Martin S Curtis, and that shows a different pair of chassis, further along the yard and not showing as much of modelling interest as Stephen Dowle's photo linked above. Looking again at the linked photo, what a wonderful private yard leading off the BR yard! A lean-to built up against the road retaining wall, advertising hording and neighbouring buildings. A sloping, rutted, ground surface, and a degree of decrepitude. Does the lorry have a version of the Motor Panel LAD cab? That little area has most of the characteristics I find hard to include in my models: an odd shape and uneven, gradually sloping ground. I think I can probably model it reasonably well, but when designing my mind struggles to go beyond "flat" and "square" (although my modelling usually removes the precision of both terms!). A great photo.

The excellent Cornwall Railway Society website has an interesting feature on the working of the dairy at St Erth. It is to be found here at the section "More About Milk" part way down the page (but plenty of milk tank pictures to look at as you scroll). It includes information about shunting, loading and cleaning the tanks.

I've done something along those lines with Westonmouth Central, and can confirm shunting NPCCS of all shapes and sizes, but only one colour is most enjoyable. The layout is crying out for a Bachmann 117 DMU (well, a 118 ideally) in boring blue, but 3 coaches and a Hymek/25/33 fit nicely (or with 3 x 57' vehicles a 47 etc fits too) so get used more often than originally planned. Add a Sleeper portion working which loads in the platform, and side loading Motorail flats there is a lot of operation available in a small space. I really must get the layout out of storage and set up again!

Me neither, but I have filed this section away in my "plans and ideas" folder: Two sidings, both going into the building, which also provides the back-scene, a run-round and a line continuing under a scenic break. The exit to the mainline could become a headshunt on a layout, or if kept as an exit would need a bit of thought to disguise. Possibilities, possibilities.... thanks Porky.

For those that "do" Facebook a new group, "British Railways. The lost Motorail Services" started today. No connection except as a group member, but it looks like it might produce some interesting posts.

I haven't used them, but I came across Model Transport Graphics on eBay the other day. They have quite a range of blinds available, and a five star rating. Might be worth a look.

Those with easy access to the trains (i.e. train crew and staff at terminal stations) would probably read whatever was left on the train by passengers! Publications left on trains could include regional dailies like the Western Morning News from Plymouth, or the Western Daily Press from the Bristol area etc. Drivers especially would move around to gain promotions, so the opportunity to read the local news from "down 'ome" would be welcome. I know from my bus experience, a higher proportion of drivers than you might think would read the broadsheets, a habit formed in more leisurely times when duties allowed 10 minutes or so at an outer terminus, and there was often also an unofficial pause for a few minutes at an intermediate town, so plenty of reading material was important as was a good crossword. The railway equivalent would perhaps be a Guard with time between his station duties, especially when working a route with ticket barriers at stations.

Thank you for your reply and the photos, which are very helpful. A scratch built body looks like the way to go, I'll have to dig out my Dinky Toys version and use that as my 3-d working drawing.

I like that; relatively simple, but hugely effective. My eye is drawn to the Ford D series road sweeper, and not just because of its colour! I've been pondering on how to make one for a while, even getting a spare Base Toys D series and a Atlas Editions sweeper, but the two don't really seem to marry together well. What is the origin of yours. please?

Building on Harlequin's post, I nearly went down the O gauge route when the Dapol 08 appeared. I would have been restricted to a very small layout, probably an Inglenook type shunting puzzle, but the extra size and presence of O was a real temptation. Something bigger, where each of the few items of rolling stock could be really detailed and weathered was a temptation. When the 08 appeared there were a few things about it I was less than keen on, and I dithered until prices went up (I think there was an initial offer from Dapol) and then the ones I was interested in sold out. Do I regret it? No. When it comes down to it, as much as the bigger size has its attraction, and does allow some extra detail, in essence I could take any one of my fleet of Hornby 08s and super-detail that, and take a small number of my numerous wagons and do likewise. For me a change of scale didn't actually offer anything different and, I suppose, I ultimately built Drew's Siding as my small shunting puzzle, a mini layout with a small rolling stock requirement that I enjoyed building and have fun operating from time to time. Likewise, a few years back there were some excellent deals on SR 2-car EMUs. I did some research, learning much more than I previously knew about HALs, BILs, EPBs and so on, scoured the shop websites for the best prices of the different variations and drew numerous layout plans. But I never actually bought the models, as attractive as they are. Why? Because I eventually realised that a pretty 2-car EMU offers nothing more, to me, than a utilitarian class 150 Sprinter, or rundown class 108 DMU, of which I have had several in stock, unused, for a number of years (and diesels save me modelling a 3rd rail, coward that I am). It is easy to be tempted by something new, and there is nothing wrong with following that route, but going back to basics is important. What do you want? What will satisfy you? Only you can answer that. For some it is having sounds, lights and as perfect as possible detail in each train, but they are quite happy to run a 2020's Hitachi Azuma alongside a pre-Grouping something or other, so long as each train is perfect in itself. Conversely, I've heard it said (long ago now) that some would be happy to use tennis balls as trains, so long as the layout was correctly signalled, fully interlocked and the tennis balls carried the correct lamps front and rear. Neither of those examples suits me, and if what does suit me suits no one but me, so what? It must be your layout, done your way. I wish you well in your deliberations, Gary, and don't forget there is no compulsion to have a working layout. I'm finding great enjoyment in mixing some Wills kits together with a few scratch built buildings to make several dioramas. Nothing to do with railways, although all could potentially be incorporated into a larger layout, but complete in themselves, and fun to build.

The lower edge of the grey stripe was different between hauled and HST Mk3s. On the HST version the white stripe between the blue and the grey is on the door handle line, whereas on the hauled version it is lower. Although only a small difference it makes the HST version look sleeker, whereas the hauled version had to match livery spacing on the Mk1s & 2s.

With another warm day in the offering, it looks like an opportunity to get the Wickham out for a run. Here it sits just outside the shed while fuel and water levels are checked.

Last week the BBC carried an item about a man with a railway in his back garden. OK, it was rather limited as a railway, but it got me thinking; could something similar be a quick weekend project? Motive power would be a Bachmann Wickham trolley and trailer, and everything would come from my left over bits and pieces boxes. Here is the result.

This old BTF film won't answer all of the questions, but will provide heaps of atmosphere as well as a few answers.

Things are happening. Part of my work on Wednesday was connected with providing details of known school movements to one of our two local rail franchises so that they can take account of them as they plan for things to begin to resume. Similarly, I am aware that, having had a couple of weeks relative calm after implementing several iterations of emergency timetable, one of our local bus companies has set its schedules team to work on various "what-if" scenarios to implement a staged return of service levels. They admit some, maybe most, of these schedules may never be operated, but work is under way.

Norman's latest photo is something else! The light and the shadow make it really special, but of course without models being "right" the scene wouldn't exist. Absolutely wonderful.

This is what our local GoAhead Group bus companies have been Tweeting for the last few days. But as anyone who has ever worked with the public knows, you can't please everyone. When some supermarkets started opening early for older people to do their shopping before the panic buyers arrived I suggested to my manager that we ease the 9:30 restriction on our ENCTS (bus passes). The number of passengers generally has dropped significantly so, as a local authority, we won't be spending all our ENCTS budget under the normal formula. We lifted the time restriction yesterday, and now people are saying we're being irresponsible as we are encouraging travel when older people should be staying at home! And that's despite each message, press release etc specifically stating that its to help people get the provisions they need. So, thoughts to all our drivers (bus, rail, taxi), guards, and others on the front line at this time. And a big thank you to all those Schedulers and Planners working tirelessly away to produce workable new timetables. Sadly, whatever schedule runs next week will probably be short lived, and no doubt there will be staff busy working on the next, even more reduced, set of schedules this weekend. Stay safe, if you have to go out there!

Home working is also my way of life in local government. No time to play trains during the day, but having a portable work surface on a nearby table can be quite useful. We get an hourly pop-up reminder to stretch and refocus our eyes so a quick glued joint made one hour can be nicely set by the next hour's break. If I'm prepared and its a small, easy area, I've been known to put a coat of paint on something in these mini-breaks. The lap top cameras one is interesting. We were all told to experiment with using them on Monday. By Wednesday IT were concerned about band width and video calls became "only when necessary".

Matt's cartoon in the Telegraph today, just referenced on Radio 4, seems appropriate. A Downing Street spokesman, in front of the assembled media, advises "...if you show the early signs of becoming an armchair expert, you must self-isolate until 2021..."

Maybe this experimental vehicle from 1980 would have found favour and been developed? photo by "Gillett's Crossing" on Flickr.

9494 was another BSO, and as John Turner's photo of 16/08/2001 on Flickr shows it had a sealed gangway at the brake end.