rodent279

Guess if the Freightliner concept had arrived in say the mid 1930's, the 2-8-2 or 2-8-4 might have had it's uses.

So what would that be used for? Drilling foundations for piles?

I think it was reticence at the increased cost and complexity, and British footplate men were not (allegedly) trained as well as their Continental counterparts-they picked it up on the job, rather than being trained to understand the complexities. In short, I think over here we preferred the simplicity of single stage expansion.

Fraid I'll have to disagree there! I think the GW green livery is dull and unimaginative. I much preferred the green/cream of the original Great Western Trains, when launched back in the 1990's. I like the purple with wavy lines, but not sure it would suit an 800.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rebuilt/replica County on the mainline. Of all GWR classes, I think I like the Counties most. Hopefully it'll live up to the performance of its predecessors after they were modified with double chimneys.

I suppose the County 4-6-0 was intended to provide the boiler power of a Castle with the punch and hill climbing abilities of the Saints/Halls.

The red isn't right, the blue and white look ok though.

Does make me wonder what a Lord Nelson could have done with a similar rebuild.

The last point is a good one. Did the GWR have any turntables suitable for a Pacific?

Reading through all this, particularly about the seat reservations, makes me think that the reservation system is long overdue for complete overhaul, and a degree of commonality between operators. Maybe reservations should be compulsory on journeys over a certain length? Maybe they should all incur a charge? I'm not sure that the free for all approach has really worked. Regarding formations, as sets being the wrong way round-this seems to be more of a problem with the 5-car sets, AIUI. Why were the 5-car sets not built with 1st class split, half at each end?

Is it me, or are sheds getting a bit more attention these days? I suppose being a bit long in the tooth at 20-odd years, they are becoming something of a classic.

Ahh, the Telephone Rentals building. It was worldwide HQ, there were subsidiaries in South Africa, Hong Kong, various Carribbean countries, the US & Ireland at one point. The sculpture in your photo has been moved-it came from the quadrangle at the side of the main building, near the car park. I started work in that building in 1989, the one next to the WCML, which used to say Telephone Rentals plc on the side facing the railway. Used to see, hear and feel every WCML inter city train as it passed the office, at the time the R&D lab. If I was in early enough, I'd also see the stone, hauled by a 56, coming over the flyover. TR got taken over by Cable & Wireless in 1988, and merged into Mercury Communications Ltd in 1990. The buildings are still there, and until the early 2000's at least were still in use by C&W. Happy days, and I'm still in a company which can trace it's history from Mercury.

Ah, the joys of train travel eh?

That thought has crossed my mind, too.....

I like that. I used to have one of those. It could shift pretty well, many happy hours spent in my youth watching it flying round an oval with a couple of BR Mk1's!

Tonight's brew.

LNER red & white does seem to suit them. Is it me, or are they slightly reminiscent, from the sides, of the Blue Pullman's in reverse blue & grey?

Slightly OT, but I think this is the right thread-there were a few posts about coupling compatibility a while back, something to do with 67's with buckeye not being able to couple to 91's or similar. Out of interest, and apologies if this isn't the right thread, but I've just seen this on Faceache. A Dutch double deck emu rescuing a DB ICE. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1959101417494266&id=587433071327781

Was in the Ardennes last week, with the MMOC on their annual trip abroad. Belgian supermarket beer aisle:- This was about a third of the aisle.

They've got to be the best trains BR built, yet people hated them when they were introduced.

To be fair, the same goes for a lot of British cities & towns.

Certainly my experience of similar modern stock in Germany was that they are smooth, quiet and comfortable. Mk1's are noisy and full of charisma, but that's all. Not really something we want to be building 50yrs on. Every now and then, someone will come up to me when I'm working on my Morris Minor and waffle on about how they "don't make them like that anymore" and other meaningless bollox. I usually shut them up by saying no, they wouldn't dare build them like this anymore, and good thing too, because A) no one would want them, and B) I'd like to think we've learnt a thing or two about building things in general, cars in particular, over the last half century. Building trains like 309's would be like building a new Morris Minor and pretending it's as good as a modern supermini.

I suppose the beauty of the 2-6-4 tender wheel arrangement is it not only allows a large firebox, but also allows more room for large cylinders at the front end, particularly important on the restricted UK loading gauge.

Wish I'd kept my Nissan Bluebird. 1985 C reg, at 21yrs old and with 150K on the clock, it was still used every day for a 25 mile commute among the M4, still giving over 40mpg, and never once let me down. Clarkson panned it when it first came out, so it must have had something going for it.

Bet one of them is the Princess? May dad had one, lovely metallic blue. The paint peeled quite badly though. Nice car, built like a tank, very comfortable.