Neil

Well that depends on how much space is left under the bonnet after I put the portly Piko on a diet. I have a spare Limby motor bogie, spot on for wheelbase but if that won't fit then I'll probably cobble something up myself.

Being in the mood for a bit of butchery and in possession of a drawing and a suitable victim; I aim to turn one of these ..... .... into one of these. I particularly like the opportunity to add a star to the front. Here's what I've done so far. The rubber band drive Piko chassis has been stripped of its almost functional parts, and a rough assesment made of the body's potential. Though far too long I think that I'll be able to use the cab and the bonnet sides, but obviously some serious cutting will be involved. Similarly the chassis frame will be for the chop. Too late to go back now. Intriguingly the buffers are made of rubber, and have a wonderfully surreal quality to them when twanged. I may reuse them just for the hell of it. It's not all destruction; the reconstructive work has already started on the chassis frames.

Thanks Eddie, I should have been a bit more specific; I'm looking in general at the post WW2 period, perhaps more specifically the sixties and seventies roughly the same period that holds my interest in the British Rail scene.

I have recently become interested in the railways of Belgium. To continue my education can anyone point me in the direction of a good site for Belgian wagon photographs? I suspect it would be too much to hope that there's a comparable resource to Paul Bartlett's magnificent resource; after largely fruitless googling I'd be very happy with a lesser site. Many thanks.

Though cold and often grey, winter on the east coast sometimes brings a clear day. A surprise visitor to take advantage of the low sun at Little Point is this Jung, recently shopped by industrial plant and machinery supplier R.R. Engineering Ltd. Differing from the Little Point Tramway's own Jung in still retaining its original exhaust it also retains more of its paint as it hasn't been exposed to the lash of salt spray or the neglect endemic to the Tramway. Hot on the heals of the departing diesel is the departing sun, leaving the sand spit of Little Point to the gulls and the lap of the tide.

Not model railways, but the cost of 'Economy Delivery' is worth checking out.

As autumn comes to its close, and winter starts to knock on the door of the east coast, the Little Point Tramway begins it's hibernation. Passenger trains have ceased running with shed doors being shut and bolted against the cutting winds. In previous years much would be repainted when safely indoors for a few months rest, but of late the thought has been that it'll do another season. Repeat something often enough and it becomes the norm. It'll be many years before the term deferred maintenance is the accepted euphemism of choice for penny pinching neglect, but that's what's going on here. However, like it or not, the management do have some necessary maintenance to tackle out of season, and here we see the lines Jung diesel returning through the dunes to Great Tedium after some spot ballasting at a washout just short of Little Point.

That's very neat work indeed; I like it lots.

Ah but then the ideal time to find out about a new rtr model would be before the kit arrives in the Nutkin store and the Kernow purse has become less bulgy. Taking such economy of effort and fiscal prudence to it's logical extreme would dictate either advance knowledge of the major manufacturers rolling programme for the next twenty five years or stocking the Nutkin store on a 'just in time' basis. I'd advocate the latter as it's easier to control the personal procurement programme than to send out the Swagonian Stasi to infiltrate boardrooms and Chinese production facilities. Regards, helpful of Aberllefenni

I'll be interested to see how long before it appears in the shops. While I can see the logic behind making an announcement, posting CAD renderings, and the updates on progress from China, part of me would quite gladly do without the protracted build up. I'd far rather hear that loco X is our next release, and it will be in your model shop in a fortnight. I'm not sure that knowing what's going on in the background for the couple of years gestation period adds any to my modelling pleasure, and I'm not sure how helpful it is to the manufacturers business of selling trains. For every 'over the moon' there seems to be an equal and opposite 'if only they'd done a .....' and a whole chorus line of 'is it going to be the right livery', 'is it going to be the right variant','is it going to be the right number','will it have dcc sound as standard','will it have ....'. It might be a bit optimistic to hope that Oxford can get a complex, high spec, working model out as quickly as they can a new die cast model, but I'll be intrigued to see if they can.

More overpriced euro-tat. Does Gostude have a German cousin, is Berlin twinned with Cartmel?

Just spotted this wagon turntable on another site; one for the Barron I think.

Thank you; I too look forward to seeing how this layout turns out.

There's no need to shout, I grasped that the layout was unfinished when I made my initial post.

My apologies that my comments have caused such obvious irritation and over such a span of time; that wasn't my intention. However I still stand by what I said even though it may seem like arty farty pretentious claptrap. I believe that there's a truth about randomness and imperfection in there too, a randomness and imperfection which shines out of your own prototype photos in post 22. It's not just in art where the random happy accident is seized upon, here's a clip that simply demonstrates how it relates to a naturalistic (realistic) representation of what nature does.

Whilst sorting through a huge pile of magazines I came across this piece from Model Railways. I believe that it's this carriage that the Hornby model is based on and that it's no coincidence that it first came out in S&D livery. Whether it's an acceptable resemblance I leave for each and everyone to judge for themselves. Though it's no finescale replica in the sense we would understand it today, this close to but not an accurate copy of, perhaps lends more credibility for the freelance light railway than something that's instantly recognisable.

Any chance of a few photos please Martin; stock that is, not the checked shirts.

My commiserations that it no longer does.

It's often the tone of the criticism rather than the factual content which grates. Even a simple, non-judgemental list can give an impression of pedantic point scoring if there isn't some attempt to put the 'errors and omissions' into perspective. A good review takes into account the sensibilities of its intended audience. Here on RMweb that'll be a pretty broad sweep of interests, abilities and tastes.

Au contraire; as I keep mentioning in these threads it does bear resemblance to a Somerset and Dorset three compartment four wheeler. There were plans published many years ago in MRC (afraid I can't put my hands on the copy) and whilst the beading is a representation (presumably to aid the lining process) the body isn't too far off though the underframe isn't very good.

Would Zobshire be the bit of the UK that comes after Yorkshire?

Thank you, strident dogmatism isn't an attractive read. I would be interested to know (perhaps Chris K could offer an insight) just how close to the finished product the first engineering prototype is likely to be and what scope there is for change before a commitment to set the machines rolling to produce a batch is undertaken?

Daybreak greets the first train.

So far it seems as though much of the debate has been about the practicalities (standards) of a British modular system. Whilst normally being of a 'just get on and do it' frame of mind, I wonder if the success of the euro and yank versions isn't founded on robust organisation that the participants buy into with enthusiasm. Whatever standards are set it should be possible to make a module of whatever takes your fancy, the important thing being that sufficient numbers adopt the standard.