Re6/6

Excellent and very useful stuff there. Thanks. I particularly like the weathered wagons shot at the top. I always think that it's a shame that preserved railways always seem to brightly paint all their old goods stock.

Yes indeed. A miscalculation on their part I think. On the other hand, I have dealt successfully with them on several occasions when purchasing various adhesives, some of the types which were hard to find.

Yes there will be many Charlie, I'm sure, when/if you do a Wessex 'Visit Bristol'! (apologies if this has been covered before) It looks altogether an excellent product.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GAIETY-MODELS-GWR-0-6-0-PT-PANNIER-BODY-RARE-VN-MIB-/271209406822?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3f25572166 Must be over eight years now. Listing fees must surely have overtaken the price by now! I am reliably informed by a regular live auction attendee who sometimes comes up against him and Mr 'tude who outbid ordinary mortals, sometimes with very high bids and consequently sell on at their ludicrous prices. Obviously this business model must work, but why,oh why do folks pay such daft prices before shopping around? Occasionally they do offer some 'gems' in mint condition.....but.......

The N.I.M.B.Ys & B.A.N.A.N.As have lost their case in the Court of Appeal: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23433902 One would hope that this is the end of all the appeals. They can of course, finally go to the 'Supreme Court', but it would seem that the longer it goes on the less chance that they have for any success. Still the BBC disappointingly report only the speed advantages and not the capacity issue, and of course the protest groups still drone on about further upgrading of the WCML. I'm sure that regular users of the line would relish a further 10 years of disruption.

Just had a super weekend of excellent food and wine with my best man and his wife in the best eateries/pubs of Dartmouth. Although having kept in touch I haven't seen them for 40 years! Made my weekend when he had a play of my 80s Tele and declared that it had a better action than his vintage 60s one. He ought to know, earning his living playing, but I always thought that it was a load of cr+p but hey, what do I know being an (ex) bass player! No more food for a week now.....!

What piece of line is that Neil? A super shot. Now if I could get my static grass to have that 'leaning' look....!

The usual uninformed journalistic drivel which will always get into print for the naysayers. The sort of article with sound reasoned arguments by the likes of of Alan Marshall (see #797) will never get to a wider audience seemingly because the press (gutter and otherwise) have already made up their minds. Quite why we should ever believe all the politically biased editors and owners I shall never know. I am just not interested in reading their slanted claptrap.

Could be CCW or Ratio. I had a small collection of wooden coaches by both for that 'retro' layout that never got built!

Offered by a junk dealer so we wouldn't expect too much accuracy. They were first used experimentally in 1964 on BR(Sc)

A stupid and tiresome habit by some. I generally look away when I see such feeble attempts to get one's attention.

Some sensible comment here from Alan Marshall, who has a regular 'Long View' column in Railnews entitled . http://blog.railnews.co.uk/?p=161#more-161 One would hope that those at HS2 will take note, but I sincerely doubt it. Another 'Ivory Tower' in the making. lmsforever's post is profoundly depressing. Marshall argues very eloquently in his latest piece in July RN entiltled "Old railways are not the answer" He comments on yet another ‘think tank’ standing with the NIMBYS And BANANAS called ‘the National Economics Foundation’ were very critical. Here is a précis of some parts of his very well informed Railnews column. “NEF says that its aims are ‘to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions’. But it’s innovative thinking for HS2 alternatives appear to regurgitate the proposals already made by HS2 opponents. And like many other critics seem not to understand the limitations imposed by Britains railway network.……..Key factors are: *Passenger demand is rising inexorably…twice that 20 years ago… higher than Europe…Some people claim that this is not surprising, given that the population in 1923 was only 44m. But those same commentators overlook (conveniently?) that the rail network is now only half the size it was back then when the population was ¾ of what it is now. *Other countries have also reduced their rail networks in the past half century before realising the need to increase capacity. Unlike GB they did not generally sell off land surplus and were able to bring it back into use for high speed lines….. *Another significant (but often overlooked) feature is the structure gauge…double deck trains aren’t possible on the current network. Platforms are generally shorter than in other countries…lengthening is often not easy. *Speeds above 200kph on conventional tracks are largely out of the question…because of the speed differentials on mixed traffic lines thus reducing capacity…..” “So in my view, the NEF’s worst error was to return to the same old arguments for upgrading the EC &WCML – completely overlooking the major lesson learnt from the last route modernisation (which is still going on). WCML has already taken over 10 years and cost more than £10B, causing huge disruption, coach journeys, yet it seems tha NEF proposes years more of that whilst further upgrades take place.. In reality WCRM did virtually nothing to improve services; indeed, it reduced it because in order to to squeeze in VT’s Pendolinos, it was necessary to constrain other lower speed services, including causing the closure of three Staffordshire stations.” Many other common sense and technical points/arguments from Alan can be read in the full column in July’s Railnews. Well worth getting a copy. One would only hope that the HS2 ‘suits’ will take note, but I’m not holding my breath. It would seem that you can’t get civil servants to listen to common sense and reasoned argument.

I've never sold at BIN price. I've always let the market decide, except a few that I listed with a reserve price. All auctions were a good to moderate success.

I wouldn't call that 'fair' condition, as they do,...... more like poor/ a wreck.

All it would take would be for Heljan to re-issue it! I can't recall the RRP back then..maybe £200+? I'd love one to play with, but not at £2K!

It never ceases to amaze me that these so-called 'dealers/traders' are too lazy to check their wording before listing. Also the questionable practice of listing multiple manufacturers on one item just to get attention. Note the anti-Payapl(!) sentiments, which it is believed are against eBay policy.

Very many thanks Jim. An excellent photo. Always on the lookout for good images. This is one of the clearest so far. Most of mine that I've accumulated are all a bit grainy!

Strangely there's some pretty damning feedback in the positive list!

This railway company does exist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_American_Railway_Services in the guise of DCR (Devon and Cornwall Railways). They took over the Dartmoor Railway at Okehampton recently and do, I believe, operate spot hire locos. I'm not sure about the livery (but it looks a bit familiar), the DCR logo looks right but I'm not sure whether they use 31s, mind you there are a fair few (or were) stored at Meldon Quarry. Others with better modern traction knowledge will put us right on the matter, I'm sure. BTW why do people put the pathetic 'LOOK' or 'L@@K' in their item title? Makes me look away!