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Time moves on, its 40 years old since Triang collapsed. If only we still had the model shops we had then with the huge range of bits and pieces that they all seemed to stock.

Something I don't understand is why were most of the layouts from this era so crap, when materials were so plentiful...?

I have been watching an original Model Rail Baccy RTC Class 24 and was amazed to see that it went for £211 plus postage. I guess that news about the new Modelzone version which will sell for £71.99 hasn't filtered far and wide yet!

 

Chris

Modelrail, or Rail Express...? I sold one of the latter for a bit of a profit when the magazine were still selling the last few for £50 (i did intend to repaint a normal 24 but never got round to it).

Rails have also managed to get over 200 quid for the Modelrail Virgin class 90, now they seem to go really cheaply.

A typo for £1.95, which is about all they're worth?

 

Aren't they O gauge...? After the Heljan dissapointment, these still seem to be highly sought after.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150591064282&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_2509wt_1141

 

Nicely done, I admit, but £60 odd for a Bill/Ben?! Might have to do a few of them myself!

Isn't it a bit big for a small standard gauge dock shunter....? Then again, how's about a 5mm/foot ironstone line based on a 3' - 3' 6" system....

Lonely Train - Black Stone Cherry

Can I make a new selection based on just what was at the Nottingham Show...?

1) Netherwood Sidings - A good example of what happens when someone wants to do something, rather than sitting back and moaning that they can't buy a XX or whatever class from their local model shop.

2) New Hey - Didn't really have time to view it as much as i'd liked, but again it's proper prototype modelling, rather than a totally ficticious concept.

3) Peter North's Virginian layout section - Not my favourite electrified US road, but I can't wait to see the finished project.

The last time I was on a Dash-8 Q400 from Edinburgh to Birmingham, we didn't seem to reach cruising height until passing Crewe.

The distance from the Interchange station to the NEC/Airport seems to be attracting attention, but here's on reason for the conspiracy theorists to mull over: Ignoring the fact that you can't get it any closer, it does allow space for both facilities to expand towards it, especially considering the latter may rapidly grow and need a second runway. Building the station on the proposed site allows for this and means it doesn't have to be rebuilt if HS2 was closer and more parallel to the M42...

Searched on that site using the term "railway" and sorted by date, and there are no relevant recent articles? Are you sure they haven't printed an early April edition a little early?

 

An open-acces Okehampton service is on the cards AFAIK although dependant on a number of things, and Tavistock is certainly an aspiration from the Plymouth end I know - both of those should be easily do-able although "easily do-able" and "financially viable" aren't neccesarily the same thing.

 

Linking between those two I suspect may also be aspirational but it's not as simple or even neccesary at the moment.

 

But i've heard no serious talk of reinstating lines into North Devon at the moment? If Launceston was to become a serious suggestion then that might be a good opportunity to punch the Southern route back through the middle of Tavistock and then use the ex GW route north of there - Launceston-Plymouth at least isn't competing with a fast road.

 

 

 

Nice to have a grin on a Thursday...

Probably some students out on surveying practice, and when asked what they were doing by a local busybody, replied by saying they were reopening the railway line. And a few days later, the story gets printed. Monmouth still hasn't got the A40 upgrade to motorway standards that I promised the locals 16 years ago....

Is there a need for the development of overhead catenary and panagraphs on aircraft!

 

David

I suppose there would be operational difficulties, but other forms of propulsion are being looked at...

I agree with Jim S-W comment about being inspired by a prototype, it happened to me after reading a 1985 US magazine and generally becoming obsessed by it. The odd thing is tho, although i've been inspired by certain American layouts (particuarly Peter North's), I've never seen a rateable Interurban layout in the flesh that I could say inspired me to have a go.

Anyway, I couldn't list a top three so narrowed my selection down to specific modelling periods I've been interested in:

Teenage GWR branchline phase:

Breedon, Ashburton, and a funny sounding Welsh plan that was in RM in the 1980's and someone will have the name to withing the hour.

Trying something different, Narrow Gauge:

Charlie Insley's Welsh 009, Gordon Gravett's first O-16.5 layout.

Coming of age dabble in N/2mm:

Nether Stowey, Rhosteigne, and generally anything small in 2mm.

Bit more disposable income and modern image:

Boldon Jn, Carstairs (certainly inspired me to build quite a bit of stock for it).

Current American phase:

Any Peter North layout, Rock Springs, and a nice D&RGW layout with superb presentation and sound effects.

Does the Express models speed camera now come with an Orange "out of use" bag over it?

Yes, but you can't expect the farmer to agree with you. I spent a bit of time looking at the NIMBY aspect around Wendover. While I fully support the need for HS2, I wouldn't if I owned one of the houses that's going to be bulldozed. Especially as, in some cases, moving the railway a few yards one way or another might make it unneccessary to demolish property. However, I don't have much sympathy for the 'spoiling the countryside/view' brigade. They already have a motorway and a pylon line which do far more harm to the 'view'.

CHRIS LEIGH

Last december, the local BBC TV news made a big deal about the route going straight through a farmhouse, with the usual "it's a sucessful B&B" and it's 250 years old lines form the owners. It might be possible to move that part of the route to the building sits right next to the railways boundary, but why not just move the building to a different part of the farm and allow the business to continue, rather than let the NIMBY's bleat on without thinking of viable alternatives...?

Regarding 70012, I wonder how much of a coup it would be to the haulage bashers, to get it started up, and do a mile or so behind it.

 

One of the rarest loco's to get hauled by maybe?

There's bound to be another 70012. No point in leaving a gap in the number series when the missing loco hasn't even turned a wheel in anger in the UK.

Apparently those reports are now confirmed....it has left Newport docks on a low loader.

 

Unconfirmed reports are that it is on its way to either LNWR or MR for component recovery..????

 

Bob

I don't understand that, surely it'd be better for the manufacturing plant to rip it apart, and the easiest way to transport all of those components back would be in the actual loco, rather than having to individually package them up and put them in containers...?

How about tramways that have unfeasibly convoluted track layouts normally running round a block of houses, going nowhere from nowhere? Also that generally operate at mach 3 and stop with an abruptness that would have any passanger taken to casualty with broken bones, never mind a touch of whiplash. (I speak as a tramway modeller and I'm afraid those are amongst my favourite bete noires)

That'd be the same tramway layouts where the pubs and churches outnumber the houses. Obviously quite a thirsty sanctimonious population...

For me its that "Every layout must have one" feature regardless of how common the subject was in real life - the every US layout has a grain silo from the thread on the old forum being the classic...

 

Not strictly true, but alot do seem to have a stolen car wrapped around a telegraph pole with the necessary Police car in attendance....

Great stuff, thanks Andy. Where abouts is 'NIMBY central' in all this? There has been reported in Rail Magazine some strong opposition with some very silly and spurious objections. Bring it all on! This new line is just what the railways need.

There is alot of opposition in Coventry and around Warwickshire, either due to the nearest station being at the airport (which is better located for Coventry's residents than Brummies, and concerns of how the line would damage the fresh water table in Warwickshire. Then there are the inevitable Nimby's whose property will be directly affected, as it would if an airport, motorway or conventional line was being built. Although I can sympathise with them, we don't own this land and are merely custodians of it for future generations, which means serving them well. HS2 is more important in this respect than some farmer's B&B buiness.

AC Electric modellers have never had a RTR unit before. Everyday units like this are the staple diet of a suburban line & up until now not catered for at all.

Do the Hornby Javelin & Pendolino count...? Perhaps Bachmann figured out the tooling changes and manufacturing procedures required will dictate a 350 is produced before a 450, in the same way the 57 preceeded the 47. It's just a theory.

Sorry, but I think it looks boring in the present black frame livery and I'd love to see the real thing and the Bachmann model in the 1962 red.

CHRIS LEIGH

I prefer it in black, with a more simple livery it is easier to appreciate the elegance of it's design. The problem is tho, if i'd known they would model this variant I wouldn't have brought one of the first releases. The credit card is now looking worried....

I've just spent a couple of hours reading through this topic. And I'm in need of some clarification....

The version with red frames that the NRM have done, I understand that the model portrays the locomotive as it was until it's recent repaint. But would that version be the same as the post-1985 livery she carried?

Yes.

Also, the version with black frames is how the locomotive is painted now. But would that also be the same livery it was painted in 1962?

No, I think it was repainted with red frames when resurrected from York museum in the 1950's when it saw alot of use on the Didcot-Southampton route), and carried this livery until this year (apart from the quick BR black relivery in 1985 which doesn't count).

I'll admit to being tempted by this when it wsa in the £15-20 range, but £56 for an unpowered Lima loco?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190454534491&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

If all you need to do is stick a spare armature in and wire it up then yes, it's a reasonable price.

Looks like someone is planning some 1:1 scale kitbashing...:

http://www.preserved-diesels.co.uk/2010c/37372_1.htm

Good question! What has it actually absorbed???

It also says it looks good. To whom, exactly...?

No need to complain, just don't buy it...!!

I'm not that familiar with eBay anymore, and am wondering if the "no sale, no fee" listings have anything to do with someone taking chances like this...?

If it ever does get opened I hope it lasts better than the York Road one in Leeds, the Concrete is starting to spall badly in the upper edges and apparently the buses are always breaking guide wheels.

Which shows how the taxation system favours larger vehicles, since they are accountable for the damage caused to our roads yet hardly pay their way.

What was the point of this anyway...? Are Cambridge bus drivers generally lazy or so inept they are incapable of properly steering their vehicles...? If it was a guided trolleybus route then a dedicated RoW may be appropriate, otherwise it seems a waste of a good road or light rail alignment.