Claude_Dreyfus

We did think about trying the model shop in Wuppertal, but the weather was pretty rubbish so we went back to Cologne to visit a couple of shops there.

Sadly the large second-hand shop of Lindenberg had gone and the remaining main shop, whilst with a reasonable range, did not really fire the enthusiasm. Far more to our taste was Donnerbüchse, which had moved a couple of streets from its previous location in the north of the city and now specialises in second-hand. A few Euros were parted with there...

As mentioned in my main post, the exhibition was rather light on layouts, which was a shame. That said our trips involve more than just the exhibition, and the ability to get there by rail definitely adds to the appeal (flying is a necessary evil, not something I would be keen on for one of these shorter trips). It is our intention to make the journey again, either in 2026 or 2027.

A couple of pictures taken at Dollands Moor back on 20th April.

66002 waits its next duties.

66143 outside of the maintenance shed.

A class 92 (not sure which one, but suspect it is 92011) joins an unidentified 66 (I cannot zoom in enough to see the number!).

A number have been sent off for scrapping, 90030 and 90033 being the first with 90025 and 90031 expected to follow on.

Here is 90025 back in happier days (when it was 90125) at Carlisle back in 1994.

On 13/04/2024 at 23:10, John M Upton said:

Thameslink is such a dull operation that an eight car 700 going to Brighton is almost a "interesting" variation.

Maybe so, but the interesting variation that turned up at Three Bridges from Brighton at about 7:00am last week was not appreciated! Got a little cosy by East Croydon...

49 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

someday, people will appreciate the class 156.

They will be preserved.

They will run railtours.

They are the future of Heritage on the mainline

someday.

 

😀

You jest, but that sort of thing happens a lot in Japan. A large percentage of tourist trains are rebuilt examples of JNR DMUs and EMUs (KiHa40/48 being probably the most common), which are known by the fantastic term 'Joyful Trains'.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyful_Train

Many are adapted for specific routes (big windows in scenic areas, local craftsmanship in the interiors), and prove popular. Rebuilding a couple of 156s when the time comes to run specific WHL tourist services may not he such a mad idea.

3 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

For me, a return visit to Knysna, South Africa has been postponed a decade now, i thought one day steam may return there, but alas it hasn’t returned and neither have I.

Sadly I suspect you will have a long wait. The line closed following a landslide and there is, so far, neither the money nor the appetite (at least from Transnet) is there to reinstate it. Private operators have been approached, but the view of the local guide when I visited in 2019 was that a potent blend of corruption and incompetence meant he did not expect to see trains running along the route again. I'd love for him to be wrong...but suspect he isn't...

This one was quite amusing...

There has been a further announcement from WCR regarding the Jacobite bookings...

https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/news/important-announcement-the-jacobite

An interesting take on the matter, and one I suspect the ORR may not fully agree with! 

Great to see a new overseas focussed exhibition planned, I wish it well. Annoyingly I'm not around that weekend, or I would certainly have visited. Here's hoping it is a success; I certainly like the idea of the various overseas groups getting together to help with the organisation and running. 

7 hours ago, Night Train said:

Some good footage of the aftermath from the NTSB.

 

 

I expect various figures within the insurance industry will be stocking up on industrial grade vaseline in preparation for the financial rogering they are about to receive.

The suggestion (from an Actuary I was talking to yesterday) is this could be a bigger total loss than the Costa Concordia. If so it could be the largest marine-linked loss on record.

16 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

I wonder if it’s related to a desire to have something really obvious and clichéd, so that those unfamiliar with the prototype can immediately tell which country it is, much in the way that Hollywood films feature a shot of a red bus driving past Big Ben/a yellow taxi/the Eiffel Tower to show that the characters have arrived in London/New York/Paris. One alternative that I have seen is to have a big flag at the front of the layout.

Quite possibly, it often leads to 'where is this set' type questions.

14 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

One alternative that I have seen is to have a big flag at the front of the layout.

That was my way of getting around it. Didn't stop all of the questions, some still didn't see the full-sized Japanese flag at the front. More frightening were those who did not recognise the flag itself!

I have loved railways for as long as I can recall, influenced by holidays (mainly Cornwall), my father's model railways (German, Swiss and Austrian) and an enthusiastic head teacher from my primary school who encouraged my interest. 

My interest really took hold for watching real railways in 1989 when I started senior school. The Coastway West ran along the end of our school fields, with the Lavant branch running along side the science and art blocks. There was a surprising variety along the main line then, with regular engineers trains (33 or 73, usually the latter), plus the Portfield oils (37 or 47), Ardingly aggregates (always a 56), and of course the Lavant gravel shuttle (always a 73 when I saw it).

Regular visits to London from about 1990 (into Waterloo) properly introduced me to the class 50, and I have happy memories of a day trip to a number of termini that year. Oh, to have had a camera back then!!

That got me properly started, and although I didn't travel regularly I managed to get a reasonable haul of numbers in the early to mid 90s, mainly residents and visitors to the south-east. 

Although I have not collected numbers for many years, I still like to take a few pictures...

3 minutes ago, Mike 84C said:

The main interest comes from people who have visited Bantry and recognise some of the remaining railway features or did'nt  know there had ever been a railway to Bantry! I'm always surprised by how many have been to the area

We took our club 70s set DR layout 'Inspired by Friedrichstrasse' to a show recently only to find the owner of the layout next door lived in Berlin in the 70s! What is more, a few other visitors and other exhibitors had either done the same or visited the city during that time. I expected one or two would have known the layout during that period,  but there were more than i would have imagined! Fortunately the purpose of the layout was to capture the essence of the place, as opposed to being a slavish copy, and the comments were very positive. My Japanese layouts have been similar conversation starters with people who lived, or visited there.

In terms of overseas layouts at exhibitions, a good variety will attract me to a show, whereas I tend not to bother with shows that have no-overseas offerings. That is not to say I will ignore British models...far from it...I just like the variety a well-rounded show offers. 

I am less fond of excessively twee models, or those which chuck every cliché in the book at the layout. For example, none of my Japanese layouts had a pagoda or set of torii gates, or regular Bullet trains. They take the subject seriously. I would add, the addition of cliché and tweeness has appeared on a fair few UK layouts as well (although not the Bullet Trains!).

I have seen the proposed changes timetable, and there isnlt much there to 'improve' the service. There are a few things would immediately improve the service (at least from an Arun Valley perspective) however.

1. A later departure from VIC along the Arun valley (the current 22:30ish departure is not much use). People want to use the trains, but if the service isn't there (theatre, concerts etc, normally don't finish in time to get to VIC for the last train of the day), they're not much use. People drive to Horsham or even across to Haslemere to get the later services (good I suppose for car park revenues).
2. The proposed timetable changes make the Portsmouth service much slower, so renders the splits at Horsham rather pointless. There was a lot of anger when Southern introduced this from passengers along the Arun Valley, removing the direct Chichester service from the Arun Valley stations, as well as making the journey to London longer as there is an additional wait at Horsham for the 'fast' section to arrive/depart. It would be better for the passenger to return the Bognor split back to Barnham. Naïve I know, but the degradation in service was not reflected in the ticket prices from our local station...
3. Reinstate the well patronised London Bridge directs. The justification for their withdrawal was straight out of the Beaching sleight of hand play-book. Withdraw the later afternoon service and then say the service isn't used. Guess what, the 18:05 was withdrawn 'due to Covid' and the 17:05 was retained. A 17:05 departure from London Bridge may work for Southern managers and Civil Servants, but was pretty useless for those who actually do a day's work in the city. The trains to London Bridge are now very well patronised, with large numbers of passengers joining the Thameslink services to get to the city. There is certainly a case to reinstate this, and other LBG directs.

I know Southern have no intention of doing any of these things - they spent years trying to dump the London Bridge directs, so I don't expect them to return, and given the rather pathetic excuses given not to run a later train (engineering works was one (do they have engineering works every night on the Arun Valley? Of course they don't...)), that ain't going to happen either.

A couple of pictures from the 1990s featuring de-icing units. Picture quality is not great as these are scans from prints.

First up is 930017 at Eastleigh in about March 1994. It was quite early, and the winter sun was very bright, so not a great photo. That said, I'm glad I managed to get this picture, as it is another of those unrepeatable pictures...

A few years later, and in a newer livery, 930005 rests at Haslemere. 

I have a set of ADE centre entry bogie carriages in DB Green. Despite being around 40 years old, the level of detail is excellent and they hold their own against far more modern offerings. I did not, however, realise they produced locomotives. 

6 hours ago, brossard said:

Surprised no-one has thought of this:

 

John

The one that really came to mind was this one...

Not really the weather for taking photographs; dull and foggy, whilst running through a cutting!

155311 passes north from Pulborough forming the 2Q10 09:58 Barnham Up Sidings - Tonbridge West Yard via London Bridge. 29 January 2024.

They also produced the tamper in N. I have one. Lovely looking model, but the motor was absolute rubbish and the build quality suspect. I bought it from Hobby Search, and had to send back for repair/replacement. HS were excellent and the service they provided was first-rate. Had it repaired and returned at no extra cost. 

Nice to see the layout on here in more detail. I do like Austrian railways, and am currently at the top of that slippery slope having got hold of some OBB stock last year. 

I did not visit Ally Pally last year, but some club colleagues did and were of the view that this was the stand-out layout of the show. Would definitely like to see this 'in the flesh' one day.

They will be, and there will be no concession for overseas modellers! Manufacturers such as Green Max are very much for the domestic market. Keep an eye on some of the Japanese for (the English language JNS forum for example) as someone on there may tackle it. 

Agree, Hobby Search are very good. 

Note about the kit, it is not motorised, nor by the sounds of things will it be easy to fit a motor. Obviously someone will do it...will be interested to see how it will be done.

Interesting. Good to know, thanks. 

GBRf 66304 leads the 6G12 11:02 Eastleigh East Yard - Gatwick service through Pulborough on 20 January 2024.