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Locomotivfuhrer - Could you describe the procedure for forming Up Motorail trains, especially when the 87 was sandwiched mid train (if you were there then....). Was there also a time when the vans were detatched from down trains at Carstairs, and did the side unloading wagon ever travel there...? Thanks in advance.

I very much doubt it, the only AC at Thornaby I can think of was a failed Res 90 in for wheelset attention. Not very common off the WCML at all really, there was an 85 hauled Railfreight exhibition train on the ECML in the late 80's, but thats about it.

They really shouldn't take it so personally, if it wasn't "near" their house, it's be close to somebody else's and they'd be the ones hunted out by the media to express their sorrow at the decision that they'd be ignorant to regard as anything but inevitable. I only hope that someone points out to them that any money spent on expensive lawyers fighting a judicial review will come out of the enviromental budget for the line. As for WCML upgrades, I'd like to see how any more can be done without additional serious disruption to the existing railway, as there aren't any more "easy wins" such as the Milton Keynes Down Fast platform avoider, and converting just the 18 mile Coventry-Proof House line to 4 tracks will disrupt more private property than the entire HS2 route.

There are already enough complaints that it is too "London-centric", building straight to the north won't make high speed journeys from Birmingham to Manchester possible. And as for Scotland finding the cash for such a project, they can't even complete a city tram line....

The problem is the Nimby's are trying to sell some kind of misplaced social responsibility to discredit the business case, when in reality I'd give them a bit (bit not too much) respect for saying "Look, I'm a NIMBY and the presence of HS2 would devalue my quality of life". At my local level, I'm wondering if the NIMBY's in villages along the northern section of the route really understand that one of the higher profile Anti HS2 voices- a Coventry City councillor, is really another arch enemy in calling for WCML upgrades as this will lead to a major increase in noise and a large land grab as the section from there to Birmingham is four tracked, instead of a noise barriered HS route that'll avoid many of these pretty little villages. The same councillor has also commented that Coventry will miss out as HS2 won't stop there, well the last time I looked we have an International station which is easier for us to access than most of the people who live in the city it's named after 22 miles up the road, so surely a HS2 station would offer an equal benefit instead of trying to advertise the fact he thinks we're somehow missing out...? It's true there will probably be a reduced service to London, which will actually be of benefit in the long run as a higher percentage of seats will end up being used by Coventry passengers and quite franky we're spoilt by the current service frequency provided by Virgin and LM. Less trains will also ease the bottleneck at Coventry, which would be of benefit on a local level as routing the proposed "Nuckle" Nuneaton-Leamington trains would currently be a nightmare to the timetable. And as for saying Coventry will become a backwater, how come the 13th most populated is only rated 71st for shopping...?

Nigh on impossible to tell, considering the light on the model and the camera used, then there's your individual monitor settings and even individuals eye stigmaitisms. And I can guarantee whatever colour it is, I can find a prototype image to match....

Shame they couldn't follow the 86 up with an 87, 89, 90 or 91...

I've previously heard "next summer".

Yeah, that Lima 92 took some beating.... That might be possible, 85101 (006) can be made a runner, given enough of a cash injection. Queue jokes about it also having a smoke unit and authentic fire flicker. I just wanted to be the first to say that....

I think we should be offered a good deal on a trade in, old 85's for new....

From photos elsewhere, it seems Bachmann have the late model 85 painted in BR blue on their stand at the Warley Club's show. Any more photos...?

I suppose it would depend to what standard you're working to and which bits on the 85 you want to keep, assuming they're the right size for an EU06. I've converted a Hornby 86 body into an 84 and the only "shape" bits that remained were the cab doors and windows, although it helped to have other areas such as the fronts and cab roofs to a roughly similar profile to work with. It would be better to save £80 and hack an 86 body or just start from scratch.

That's kind of what I was thinking, although my dilemma is I have unfinished projects and too many AC's finished for a layout that I doubt will ever be exhibited again, and they're all of the same modelling style - it's hard to explain, but most people in a club could identify who built which loco from the modellers individual style. Then along come the boys from Barwell with something of such fidelity that I can hardly turn one down, but decide to get one from an earlier period just in case it outshines all of my own withering efforts. I'm sure I can find eight vacuum and unfitted wagons to produce the most unlikeliest of inglenooks....

Ssshh, these manufacturers might realise there's more variation in these boring Roarers than demand for a simple model with a couple of variations could fill. I'd have thought there would be more demand for a single pan in BR blue with E numbers, air tanks and modified chokes than a pre-rebuilt one, but all the variations are easy to model and I'm sure will be covered in the future. Photos of locos with a single pan but no airtanks are rare, as I'm sure are the modellers who want locos in this specific condition.

I'm not quite sure what you mean, 'Chard....?

Damn it, I've just ordered one. I did fancy something a little different from the current fleet, so I've gone for the Electric Blue livery.

As they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity (plus the threat that anyone else who tries it will be slapped with a minimum £3k fine).

I'd want mine to sound like a Stuka Dive-Bomber.... ....or just it's natural quiet noise. If the motor car had been silent from the start, would it have been engineered to be audible, or just made do with a simple horn...? Perhaps some need to be reminded who the infallable one is in a person-car intereaction.

I've only just found Jim's comment. I've done an 81, two 85's, and the class 84 loadbank. I've enough bits to fill in the missing gaps but not enough time or inclination to do so. For the record, I'd use: 81- Triang body on Hornby 86 bogies 82- Triang body & bogies 83- Triang body on a Roco DB110 chassis 84- Hornby 86 body on Bachmann Commonwealth coach bogies 85- Hornby 86. Obviously these are from a time when a good diesel was regarded as a pancake powered RTR model with a Craftsman detailing kit, so I'd like to think in the decade since there are more advanced bits to use such as a Heljan Hymek or Bachmann Warship chassis.

They could be early DC kits, I'm sure they did a brass and whitemetal 83. Another alternative is to use Roco DB110 or 140 bogies & chassis, I have one tucked away for an 83 that I've yet to start....

Having checked with the Missus (who isn't a Jedward fan), the full comment was "they make Dappy look like Stephen Fry".

Is that the NMTB episode when the host points out that they might not be on the same intellectual level as Stephen Fry. "Who is Stephen Fry...?" they ask....

I was about to give a clue (the location was discussed at length on RMWeb recently), but it is indeed Cathiron.

OK then...:

Is it Norton Fitzwarren...?