Flying Pig

A weathered blue review sample is pictured on the Railway Modeller Facebook page.

Les, for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPcaK2wjUes

Run a model of 4470 Great Northern that rebuilds itself into an A1/1 under DCC control in full view of the punters. When they complain, replace it with Cock o' the North...

I must say I prefer the looks of Aspinall's engines in their round-top and saturated form. Whether superheating produced any real improvement in thermal efficiency or not, it did little for their (originally rather fine IMO) aesthetics. But then I don't really like a Urified T9 so what do I know.

I'd echo the positive comments from other posters, but a couple of negatives do strike me: - as Andy remarked, the lamp is very bright: actually far too bright and too blue-white in colour for an oil lamp. Would one of the warmer coloured versions be a possible replacement in later models? Presumably electronics could be used to dim it rather than the buyer trying to paint in such an inaccessible spot. The "green" glass could be the proper bluish colour too. - I wonder why the arms have been moulded rather than etched. Granted Andy's photos are the usual cruel enlargements, but the thickness of the arm is quite evident, especially given the commendable fineness of the ladder. The pre-coloured PE available to aero-modellers shows that it can be printed with great accuracy.

Unsurprisingly, that looks very dapper, as does his 'Deltic'. I'm a big fan of BTC black on 1950s diesels, but the EE type 3 looks good in production Deltic green too.

The deeper sections at both ends of the footplate valance have been shortened, which is probably why the lower steps don't align quite right (the front one in particular seems to have been pushed forward). I'd guess this is with the aim of providing sufficient clearance between the valance and the sandboxes, but it's possible they've overdone it somewhat. As the model is only an engineering sample these dimensions may not be set in stone yet.

I sincerely hope not - that one's going to cause enough excitement as it is. Now put a maroon porthole brake behind it...

Just to be pedantic, would that not be a Silvertown lubricator as widely fitted to Midland and LMS locos? It certainly looks like one in this photo from the previously linked page.

Vandal. I saw that unit - underlined the numbers and everything, probably rode on it too. They were sooo much more interesting than the 507szzzzzzz

You can use data validation in Excel to restrict entries to a specified list, which reduces the chances of that kind of multiple spelling.

Very nice, but isn't more your period?

Continuity is no guarantee, however - as far as I know Arkells has never been taken over by anybody

And guess who has photos of the real thing: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/p940006411

Err - I can't see how you'd explain it better without using maths

I've never heard anyone who lives there refer to it as other than Cirencester or Ciren for short.

What is this mythical object of which you speak?

I like that a lot (especially the lever frame ). Hoping not to put my foot in my mouth, but there looks like a lot of ongoing scratch-building around the station. Is some of it just unfinished or are you using placeholders on your evolving layout? Well done hiding it in the Kitbuilding and Scratchbuilding section, too. The Waverley Route pack hasn't found it yet, but I think I hear a slavering in the middle distance...

I love the shiny new "Southern electric" world depicted here and it's superbly executed. To be *really* picky the path is perhaps a little wide. Maybe a narrower worn path surrounded by lower intensity "trample" would be more the thing. I suspect rather few if any on what is clearly a recently reconstructed cutting in the era of traditional management. Beauties aren't they? They've got twenty years' happy motoring ahead of them - or have they?

Thanks. Unfortunately I was looking the wrong way and was alerted by the sound just in time to see a flash of blue and a lot of tankers.

Something pale blue rumbled past my southbound train between Bromsgrove and Ashchurch with a train of tankers at about 1.30pm today. Would that be 60074 heading for Lindsey?

More info about the loco in the picture posted by relaxinghobby here. It's actually a conventional early 20th Century loco apart from the forward cab and a bit of extra casing, so probably not like anything that would be built today. A later (and apparently not successful) German attempt at complete streamlining is shown here (for comparison, here's its prettier sister).

A plan based on Sir Madog's idea with a few small changes. First I've included the facing crossover. The extra length I've stolen for this and a more sweeping curve at the left has meant I've had to hide the right hand end of the station off-scene by putting the buildings on an overbridge. This does mean we don't need to worry about what type of crossovers are used There needs to be an additional crossover in the fiddle yard to allow trains to return to the bay platform on the correct line - I forgot to include this and have had to sketch it in afterwards. The bay road is wrong as I've drawn it and should be further from the main line to allow a decent width of platform between them (and it now needs to fit in a stairway from the station building). The loop is meant to be freight and locos only so the adjacent platform should have a fence or wall along the back. There should be a trailing crossover on the main line to allow trains to rejoin the clockwise circuit, but this isn't really feasible on the curve. In practice, the trains can run off "wrong line" and cross over in the fiddle yard.

We've discussed this more than once and the idea of concentrating them in the mining districts on MGR workings had some support. Slow speed control for loading and unloading would probably have been a non-starter so a separate shunting engine would have been required, but air braking to work with HopABs shouldn't have been a problem. I find the idea of 9Fs trundling around Nottinghamshire into the 1980s quite appealing, however improbable, and it would make an interesting layout.

Yes, but in nearly all cases using steam to make electricity on board (e.g. here and here) and not t'other way round.