bmthtrains - David

Marvellous! Thanks for the contact details. David

The TfL archive is a good idea, thanks - and it could have been speculative, which would have been interesting as their resident architect would have had competition. David

Yes, I’m the custodian of the archive, it is where the photo is from but we have no more information on it. David

Indeed, it’s very odd. The line was proposed much earlier than that so designs might have been under development earlier, just concepts perhaps. It is just that this building is very unlike anything else being proposed for the underground at the time. David

He’s the modelmaker, it’s the building design itself I’m trying to learn more about. Whether this was an early Heap design or someone else’s. No other information is held in the modelmaker’s archive. David

For a book I’m writing I’m trying to find more information about a design for Hendon Central station that was made as an architectural model by John Thorp sometime around 1915-1920. It is a bit of mystery as it isn’t the Stanley Heaps design that was built but it also doesn’t resemble any of his other designs. If anyone with knowledge of the Edgware extension has any insights into the history of the station I’d be most grateful to hear them! David

I think the gap between the body and the chassis near the light clusters are more visible - in all the photos they seem to have been gone at with a rough file, presumably early mouldings that don’t fit? The detailing is very impressive except for those wing mirrors. If I buy one I must make sure I avoid the versions with them as to me the supports look badly overscale - no doubt necessarily though. David

A surprising move from Dapol. If this were to shrink to N it would be a definite purchase from me! David

This was inevitable given the 59, and I’ve already expressed a minor ‘eye-rolling’ over this as with Dapol already doing a new one and Farish inevitably about to do so as part of their digital sound upgrading, this is an unwelcome duplication. That said, there are so many 66s that there is probably room for 3 versions in the market and Revolution so far are due to get there first. I will be waiting for the 59 to arrive before I commit as I’ve been pretty disappointed by the 92 and 321. The price is competitive and in the end the buyer wins really - if the Revolution model is good I’ll get some, if not, there’s at least one other if not two manufacturers’ models to come… Edit: the annual releases is very welcome and gets big thumbs up from me as this overcomes the ‘pre order or you miss it’ madness of so many modern releases. David

A Virgin set without buffers would be nice… David

Very sad to hear. Condolences to the family. David

So if you switch off the lights and then pull the coaches to a halt in a station they will come back on again? That’s madness! What is the point of having them switchable if this happens? David

I can imagine this is very frustrating, especially people wanting to run them! I hope the TPE sets avoid the same issue as I had considered getting one. Not just a Revolution thing by any means, but another example of why I tend not to pre-order things where possible and wait for reviews/feedback. Too many models seem to have all the looks but issues when it comes to them actually moving these days. The complexity of high detail I guess. David

The 70 years rule is not quite right as it only came into force in 1988. Depending on when the footage was taken the copyright may be quite different. David

I’d be after a Colas one too. I guess this is a problem from the project going from a re-release in new liveries to being a newly tooled model, suddenly the livery choices people are after changes. David

Nice to see the body getting a tweak, the window always looked a little off to me. The 56s are a bit out of my time period for heavy use but a fast line one might get added to the fleet when they come out. David

I don’t think Bachmann’s N gauge release plans have anything much to do with TT as I get the impression the famine then feast situation has been entirely due to internal issues. Partly there has been so much to catch up on in terms of previously announced items, and possibly it’s taken a while to produce a business case to support booking such big production slots for rereleases such as the coaches. N is becoming a crowded market though, so I don’t expect Bachmann to have huge N plans for every quarter. A very healthy time to model in N overall, I currently have 18 new items on pre order from various manufacturers! David

Good to see more 158s announced but the new 90s are a little puzzling, repeating existing liveries instead of missing ones such as EWS and DB. Hopefully a sign that the first batch sold well though. David

The buildings alone are worthy of museum display so I will be looking forward to seeing your progress on the layout itself over the next few years. David

Great news! Although a little early for the period I operate a Virgin 87 will probably end up in my wish list to haul my very unused Mk3 set. David

A quick video:

Thanks Nigel! As it’s a rainy day off today I’ve been giving the 90 a run in using the growing GBRF container train. Really need C Rail to hurry up with those FSAs now. A few quick iPhone photos: David

Simple UHU contact adhesive is best. David

Thanks Phil, There are more articles to come… David

Giving my Freightliner 90 a good run in on the Kato test track. Lovely runner straight from the box. Very happy to have a new 90 at long last! David