Ron Ron Ron

....and Spur-zero zero

So rather an expensive option compared to even premium priced RTL?

I apologise for not going back over the 16 pages (so far) of this topic, but could someone post the cost of some typical Exactoscale 00 point kits, including what you get (parts etc,) for that price ? .

Oh no, not another new scale and gauge? As if it wasn't enough with the current discrepancies and choice of gauges and scales. When was this new OO announced? .

I don't know if this will be helpful, as it's slightly off at a tangent from the flow, but as Tillig Elite track has been mentioned during this discussion, I thought it might be worth posting some links to comparative photos between the Peco and Tillig offerings. Of course the Tillig track is European H0, but I believe there are some useful pointers that may help in defining the improvements we are seeking. Notably the pre-weathered appearance and hingeless switch rails. Note also the narrower width of the rail profile; something which seems to be forgotten when discussing the height of the rail (75, 82, 83, 100). The Peco rail is much thicker and "chunky looking". This is Code 100, but it's the same with the Code 75 version. Tillig left, Peco right. Tillig left, Peco right. Tillig left, Peco right. Tillig top, Peco bottom. Tillig right, Peco left. Peco top, Tillig bottom. There's a useful thread from this forum too..... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50424-tillig-not-for-beginners/ Exactoscale 16.5mm 00 FB track close up. .

You could add to the list, a pre-weathered finish as on the Tillig Elite range of track. It helps by taking away that all over shininess and although it can be used "as is", it does provide a good base for further weathering and painting. .

London's last railway line ?? No, far from it. They're still building new lines right up to the present day and there are more in the pipeline. In the last decade we have seen HS1 brought through east London into St.Pancras International; ....the complete re-building of the East London Line, which although mostly on existing trackbed and railway land, is a completely new railway with all-new infrastructure. There are new sections too. The re-routing of Thameslink to take through the new St. Pancras International Thameslink station. Then there's one of the biggest of them all, Crossrail, currently under construction through London. Next up will be HS2, if given the go ahead. .

(my Bold type Tony). As you've concluded, there's no right answer because, as we've already established, M..... I.... is a meaningless term. Without re-reading the whole thread over again, I can't recall if anyone considered that some (possibly older?) people who use this dreaded term, may actually consider the 1960's to the present day as all the same era and that the demise of steam was something that seems to have occurred just a couple of years ago? Personal perception can be a very curious thing. I was born in 1955 and I can barely remember steam trains (pre-68). I think I only ever went on three or four rail journeys as a small child before then anyway. To me the Blue era was in the very distant past. I missed the sectorisation period almost completely outside of NSE, as the only railway I ever went near was for local trips into London from the Thames Valley. Railways only came back onto my horizon around the period of privatisation in the mid 90's - almost 20 years ago. That seems like quite a long time ago too and to my mind is quite a different era to the railway I've observed and taken an interest in from the early 00's to today. So you see my perception may be a hundred miles away from that of others. Surely a description of what we model, era etc, would be stated as.... What .......(...we model) When .......(time period - wide or narrow) & Where ...... ...in some permutation or other. Strictly defined time periods don't always work. in some situations they may do and others they don't However, IMHO nebulous terms like M..... I.... or Steam era, don't say or mean anything meaningful at all. .

Wasn't it with the first diesel electric rail vehicles (trains) in 1903 ? (Electric powered rail vehicles even pre-date that.) 110 years is quite a spread of time !

I thought the whole point with commissions, is that there is almost no risk for the manufacturer? The commissioning party takes on all or most of the risk

Oops, I forgot his peerage !!! Do I get to keep my head? .

There are at least 3 speculative schemes going by this title, plus Norman Foster's Isle of Grain scheme which the newspapers and BBC erroneously use images of when mentioning Boris Island. None are official and are just private venture proposals. .

Another ant- article in today's Grauniad..... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/11/hs2-domestic-afghan-war

The airport in question is Región de Murcia International Airport, at Corvera, Murcia. This new airport was built to replace the current Murcia San-Javier airport, but has remained unopened. Although subject to central government approval, this project was entirely a regional government affair, using various EU and government grants and mostly other private funding. Development was predicated on the building boom and rapid economic growth in the late 90's and early 00's, but the economic crash and collapse in the development bubble have left huge debts and political recriminations. IIRC, the airport is finally going to open next year, if all the legal wrangling's can be sorted out.

"......The government has also announced a feasibility study to look at creating a new national cycleway broadly following the route of the HS2 rail line from London to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester......" Presumably for those who can't afford the astronomical fares charged on HS2 ? Indeed. Any business case (...or what little that can be salvaged from the rather tenuous current HS2 business case) will be completely used up before any extension to Scotland is considered. There is absolutely no business case left for pushing on to Scotland; just very expensive negatives. Well there is no proposal for a "network" here. HS2 is primarily WCML capacity enhancement, that is being made to HS standards (a sensible course of action if you are building a new line IMHO). There's no guarantee that HS will be part of the national network either; apart from it naturally being segregated infrastructure. There is every possibility that it will be franchised off to a standalone infrastructure operator, just like HS1. .

Wow! That is an amazing model scene......unless you've posted in the wrong topic? .

Johnny Marr - The Messenger. A video of his full Glastonbury set (including a few Smiths favourites) is available on the BBC Glasto' web site.

There is absolutely no way that HS2 is some sort of substitute for additional runway capacity.

There have been no announcements or comments from either Chelsea or Manchester Utd on this story. Take it all with a pinch of salt. 90% of the transfer rumour stories doing the rounds at the moment are pure fabrication or mischief making.

Crikey, I didn't realise he was just a couple of years older than me ! Very sad. I remember that 1970's era team very well (the Doc's team), including Brian and his brother Jimmy (pictured here). .

Personally I'm convinced that any wishful thinking regarding the easing of customs, immigration and security checks is frankly just pie in the sky. If anything, with the terror threat expected to become much larger, the security checks will only have to be tightened and become more restrictive in the future. Also, if there is a vote to completely withdraw from the EU and it comes to fruition, what impact will that have on the current relaxed (even if outside the Schengen area) border arrangements?

"Taxi " "Taxi ....for Mancini !!!!!!?"

Jagielka is 31 yrs old in a few months time. Almost as old as Utd's 3 ageing back line stalwarts.... Evra - 32 yrs old next week (...and hopefully finished by the look of this seasons performances) Ferdinand - 35 yrs old this November (...and despite a brilliant season, surely can't have much gas left in the tank?) Vidic - 32 yrs old in October (...and beginning to suffer from the aches and pains of his no-prisoners, total commitment style) Baines (29 yrs old at the end of this year) has been in terrific form and may have a few more good seasons ahead of him. A suitable experienced replacement for Evra? ....or would young Buttner be given the responsibility? Everton will want top dollar for him if he goes. The only stand out candidate really. .

Apart from Fergie's retirement being a major story on last night's 10 o'clock news, the BBC followed it with a 40 minute special Football Focus programme dedicated to this news. During this I briefly switched to BBC 2's Newsnight to find that it was one of their main featured stories for the night. Over to CNN and there was a feature on the story running at the same time. Same on the Bloomberg business news channel, France 24, EuroNews and Al Jazeera, who were all running this story. Looking online, the New York Times have covered the story with several articles in the last 24 hours. Le Monde and Le Figaro in France, El pais and El Mundo in Spain as well as most of the leading international newspapers are prominently running news stories and articles. All this in addition to the story dominating yesterday's and today's sports news here at home. I struggle to think of any football manager to have ever attracted this amount of worldwide media attention. Even the antics of "the chosen one" don't come close on the global stage. .

Grimsby - first founded in the 9th century by Grim, a Danish fisherman. It remains grim to this day. .