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801 went there, but it sounds like it is now at Ferry Meadows. I believe both it and 804 have been started. I wonder if the bloke who owns Mangapps Farm could be persuaded to take one on to go with his Caboose and other CP memorabilia...?

Although I would broadly agree with concerns raised so far, for a day out I dragged my family members along to Quorn on Sunday and observing the Children's reactions (7 & nearly 3 from me and my Brother's who were 10, 4 & 2), they naturally want to touch things to feel textures- 10 yr old particularly liked the Greenscene static grass demo and taking photos, and really didn't understand why anyone who looked busy still had to be asked for permission to do so. I have a simple answer to anyone aged 3 to 93 who touches- I make them operate. They either make their excuses and leave, or have a memorable time whilst lightening the drudgery of driving trains in front of the masses of silent critics or slack-jawed yokels (and just to clarify, it isn't a Superquik buildings and 1970's RTR layout either).

I'm watching the repeat now, and noticed the AM Vulcan in the studio is sporting a couple of extra blue go faster stripes on the front bumper. It was scratched whilst being loaded onto its trailer at Coventry Motofest, and they obviously haven't had the time/money to repaint it properly...

I now have a mental picture of a "fly by night cowboy exhibition manager" riding off into the sunset with the day's takings and exhibitors left out of pocket....! But since that hasn't happened, let's just stick to the facts. A low number of traders might actually be beneficial as you won't get numerous duplicates where three stands are trying to sell you the basics that are widely available at any basic hobby shop, or worse still overpriced second-hand rubbish that nobody wanted ten years ago and won't want now. As for where the money goes, does that mean a fan of one of the big four shouldn't go to a show if the organizing club only build layouts based on a rival or worse still waste materials on poor quality layouts...? I've overheard comments to that effect when viewing exhibits at shows so why not go one stage further and boycott the event completely? And nobody ever became rich from running model railway shows... The exhibition calendar might be crowded at the moment but in an ageing hobby there is sure to be a downturn in years to come, and to be honest some poor quality events that appear stagnant in their approach to marketing themselves probably don't deserve to survive.

Somewhere in the top 10 of 298's "Layouts that I'll build one day" is something small on ironing board legs that can be raised up and down to suit different viewing heights. I've actually got SWMBO's ironing board lined up, I taped a fiver into it about three years ago, and its still there now. We once had someone use the front of a layout to lean on, with her arms folded. The long suffering Peco fence finally succumbed but I wasn't going to ask her to move -she looked like she could quite easily flatten anyone in a pub fight...

There is always the Lindberg Tug, problem is it is a full hull model and can easily be converted to R/C and taken down to the local duckpond. I never quite got round to building a carfloat for it, but probably have enough stock to model a Pacific Northwest carfloat operation. Nice layout BTW, I saw it on Saturday before opening but was otherwise engaged throughout the show.

And the third programme...? Evans was annoying, LeBlanc and Schmidt were ok but the latter was too scripted, but I thought the new guys were actually quite good. If the BBC made the decision to promote the series worldwide with a predictable format and famous but expensive and to some unwatchable host Vs trusting the screentests of a few unknowns in a complete relaunch, the short term gain will only deliver long term pain...

I quite liked it, once I'd accepted it was basically a tribute show to the old programme with new presenters. And I found Eddie Jordan to be not that annoying either. I had been drinking tho....

The move to Dunsfold was even before James May joined, but the problem with looking back at the first few series was you only end up comparing them to the later ones, and they invariably appear to have not faired very well. But they knew they were onto something, unlike the new series which is trying and failing to replicate the heyday era. A drastically different TG (more than just changing to a Rallycross circuit) is beginning to sound like a better idea...

It could have been worse I suppose, the BBC could have brought out their big guns in the form of Bruce Forsyth, Camila Batmanghelidjh, and that unfunny bloke from Citizen Khan.

If you want to be pedantic, some of the NASA/USAF rocket sleds are on rails and have reached some fantastic speeds.

And how many times has the RTC stablemate 97201 "EXPERIMENT" been produced since Rail Express first did it...? And this was in an era when Lima limited editions of 500 often outnumbered the production totals of regular catalogue editions. I know some people don't like a pre-ordering system, but then again the era of walking into your local model shop and seeing a Model on display in a glass case (as I remember with the Hornby APT) are long departed too. If something is of interest and affordable at the time of purchase (certainly Vs the cost of scratchbuilding one to that standard or paying someone else to do so), then you buy it without worrying about future values. Unless you're one of those Collector type persons...

Made- No. Own?- Yes...

The issues I have with it (and by which I mean my own models from 20 years ago) is some of the inaccuracies from the donor model are retained, such as the Triang 81 or Hornby 86 windows, or the Lima class 50 radiator grilles. I had never thought to modify the short Hornby 86 bogies, they were just accepted "as is" although my Lima 87 did receive proper ones from a Hornby 90. Anything but a pancake motor was virtually unheard of (I did acquire a Roco DB110 chassis for an 83), but this included fitting Lima ones in Hornby 86 sideframes and scouraging swapmeets for ex-APT motors, two of these in a weighted 86 could probably make the Earth spin backwards. It was a funny time for modelling, Hornby and Lima were only doing new liveries on old tooling and MTK had finished after their 325 and DVT.

I built this 84 about 20 years ago when pancake motored chassis and hacking about existing RTR models seemed more acceptable...

The Japanese seem to manage with cross-arm pans at high speeds, but the UK seemed to be hung up with the wear of moving joints whilst in service, so having less of them is obviously an advantage. There is also the issue of the head wandering longitudinally (and laterally!) with worn out cross arm pans, as can be seen in this video: https://youtu.be/U7mk8kZOqf8

Our loading gauge- diamond frame pans require a lot of clearance space. Which is fine if the thing is stuck above the roofline, but if your loading gauge is tight, then you need a larger cutaway section. It also helps to have the pan head above the bogie pivot, with small BoBo designs this would result in a larger pan protruding into the cab roof area.

Standing on the roof with a tape measure...?

^^^what Clive said, I started doing them about 20 years ago along the lines of the Practical Model Railways articles (picked up more than one Triangle class 81 body for £1 a pop), and although they seemed ok at the time, the 84 and 85s still showed their class 86 parentage and when the Bachmann 85 came out, I realised that such conversions would need a lot more effort to put right to modern standards. I'm surprised by the protection over the Cross-Arm pan, the only ones known to be left in the UK are on the ACLG locos.

What about the soon to be released Peco system...? After modelling it since the mid-1990's, I soon realised that the whole subject is very much a "chicken & egg" situation- the average purchaser wasn't going to buy an AC Locomotive without specific wires & masts available, and nobody was going to release those without the demand there, which can only be generated through having numerous loco types available. I do agree that the market ought to be served by both, even if they were small steps such as upgrading older models or plastic masts that work as a scene setter before being replaced with something better, but I wish that Modellers have solved these percieved issues years ago.

I dunno, you wait years for a model to come out, then a difference of a few days between someone else getting one and yourself is a problem... (*) Perhaps they could have borrowed that Routemaster Bus that Jason and Bill drove in Crewe, and drive around the country delivering them by hand...? I'm sure I read somewhere that REx hired a couple of students and a Van to do that one summer. *I was the same way as track laying progress has been delayed whilst waiting for some RailCrew uncoupling magnets, they arrived last week and I've spent no more than five minutes checking they fit in the pre-drilled holes...

ISTR there were about 30,000 APT-P's made, roughly an even split with or without black windscreen surrounds.

And some double MZ action too....

I doubt you could create a market for those wishing to ditch their Hornby Power Cars for something better (apart from a few awkward livery mistakes), but the Hornby items are often perceived as being expensive and there might be a market for something to a ViTrains standard and at a price comparable to a 2-car DMU for a powered & dummy pair.