APOLLO

Northern info here

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/temporary-timetables

Brit15

My two Peugeot 405 diesels were fine cars. First was a base 1.9 non turbo ex showroom demonstrator. Traded in my bl**dy awful Audi 90. I sold it on for virtually what I paid for it a couple of years later to a Taxi firm in Warrington with 60,000 on the clock. The next one was my first company car, a flying diesel, 405 GTDT with a turbo and all the bells and whistles. Lovely car though the MPG was down on the non turbo version - driving style perhaps ?

405's were as common as muck not long ago. Not many to be seen these days - a "modern classic" - yes I think so.

Brit15

Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) of a large rail depot and area of sidings in Wigan 

http://www.whitcher-wildlife.co.uk/projects/wigan-springs-branch/

Great crested newts and roosting bats - wonder what other delightful (or not) creatures they have found !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brit15

Great shot Michael.

The shot is taken from the road entrance embankment to Springs branch shed, looking across Brewery Sidings. The wall I mentioned is visible in the background, sloping from Cemetary Lane bridge (just out of shot to the right) down to track level. The WCML is just in front of the wall.

I remember these old ex LMS shunters, Springs Branch had a few of them back in the 60's. Late 60's I think when they all went.

Brit15

It's behind a pay firewall (which I don't suscribe to) but the headline and first couple of sentences give you the gist

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/06/03/rail-firms-line-1bn-losses-feared/

Brit15

I've had 5 Citroens, consecutively from 1998 to 2003, all were company cars.

1 Xantia diesel - lovely car to drive. not one fault

2. Synergy diesel, twin sunroof, one electric - again lovely car to drive. not one fault

3. Synergy diesel, single electric sunroof - again lovely car to drive, not one fault

4. Synergy HD diesel, single electric sunroof - again lovely car to drive. one fault, blown instrument bulb (there was only one) - a new cluster was fitted as bulb not replaceable, £200, done under warranty.

5. Picasso 1.6 petrol. Not a bad car but missed the Synergys !!. Had this for 2 years, again not one fault.

Was I lucky ?. I enjoyed all my company Citroens back then.

Two Peugeot 405's preceded them, both diesels, first was a GL non turbo did 50mpg, second was a Turbo GXLGT but only did 30 odd MPG. The Synergy HD turbo was quite good at around 45mpg.

I wouldn't touch a frog (or any) diesel car with my own money these days - too many horror stories re electronics, DPF's, EGR's etc.

Brit15

Having read these posts I have just checked mine, which arrived last Friday. (Next weeks birthday pres from Mrs !!).

On opening the box the rear tender handrail was loose, touch fiddly but soon back on. I've fitted both tension lock couplings, again fiddly to remove existing screw link ones. It runs superb, hauling 20 odd wagons with no sign of slip on my high level goods lines (where it will live) however it shows a tendency to derail (front driver) on a particular peco 100 LH curved point. I have had trouble with this particular point before, so I don't suspect the loco. It also runs / hauls superb tender first over all points so it will be on the layout this way round till I find time to replace the point (thankfully easy to get at).

Overall pleased, a nice looker / runner but somehow it looks / feels a little "flimsy" when alongside similar Bachman / Hornby 2-8-0 locos.- though it hauls better than most of them (Baccy 9F excepted). Certainly not worth full RRP at £185 - a bargain though at £89.

Points score - 9/10

Brit15

Poor old Lancia

Brit15

Why not call it -------- wait for it -----

B R M

The British Railway Museum !!!

Sounds like a familiar magazine !!!!!

Brit15

CRUMBling Britain !!

Brit15

Interesting place is Deshler. Live webcam, look at the second camera for loops mentioned above. I like to watch the trains bounce over the diamonds (soon to be replaced) on camera 1

Both railroads here are ex B&O, now CSX who are currently in a re-organisational ultra mess.

Brit15

I use Magnet insurance.

http://www.modelrailwayinsurance.co.uk/

Brit15

Agree it's a pain ordering from the USA on ebay, and the Global Shipping / customs duties etc charges are high - but it was a one (well, two !!) off job for me - the locos were cheap, just what I wanted and won't probably come again - so I took the hit.

Looking at other items from the USA - freight cars (O scale) at around £20 have similar shipping / duty costs as to the locos, makes them really expensive, so buying from the USA probably never again for me.

Brit15

Long tale - good ending

Three months ago I saw two Weaver O scale U25B locomotives for sale on ebay from a model shop in Los Angeles (mp38toytrain). One was a Santa Fe and the other a US Army repaint. One $100 and the repaint $80. On top of this was the Pitney Bowes Global Shipping charge and import duty, along with bank exchange rate / costs etc. This nearly put me off, but it worked out at approx £230 for both locos delivered, so I pressed the buy it now buttons. I bought them seperately with a week in between (indecision !!)

 I duly received a message said the first loco (US Army) was on it's way. I tracked it across the USA to Pitney Bowes tranship centre near Cincinnatti where they check / repack / air freight to UK - Then I received an urgent email from mp38toy train they had sent the wrong loco - however they managed to intercept it before repacking and got it sent back, meanwhile I had ordered the Santa Fe loco.

Anyway the tracking provided by ebay worked well (even for the one being returned !!). Took approx 3 weeks but both locomotives arrived a day apart  - well packed in their original boxes.

A quick inspection showed all was ok, just a quick wheel clean and light oiling and away they ran. Both locos had the newer "china drive" of a large vertical can motor over each bogie, and boy are they heavy - they are so powerful they would rip your arm off !! I was going to repaint the US Army one, but whoever did the repaint did an excellent job so I may keep her as is.

The communication / tracking etc from all concerned was good. There are many bad tales on the web about ebay's Pitney Bowes experiences - but my orders worked OK. I went for them as I didn't even know Weaver did U25B loco's - and I've never seen 2 rail DC versions for sale before or since. Weaver sadly closed a couple of years ago so ebay is perhaps the only place to find such models today.

A big thank you to the seller, mp38toytrain

http://www.milepost38modeltrains.com/

Brit15

I NEARLY worked on the big railway !!

Just before leaving Wigan Grammar School back in 1969 they held a jobs fair, a lot of local firms present and the big nationalised ones also. I spent an hour with British Rail, showing an interest in civil engineering / signalling side. Various other stands were visited, along with The North western Gas Board, which offered 5 year apprenticeships in gas engineering (4 or 5 O levels required) or gas fitting.

First off a couple of weeks later was an interview at St Helens with the Gas Board. The training officer was a superb guy, when he asked me about my hobbies I told him (amongst other things) "model railways" - and several questions were asked about its construction / wiring etc. I drew a diagram of the circuit for my Hornby Dubblo colourlight junction signals, switches made out of copper pipe clips and cut up pipe !!  Must have helped as I got the job and started 2 weeks later with an induction course stating what lied ahead. (ONC, HNC on the job training etc).

Couple of months later two letters arrived from British Rail complete with rail tickets to Manchester / Liverpool to attend interviews. What to do ?. I spoke to my father, and I'll never forget him saying "There is a future in Gas with north sea gas coming, and your gas apprenticeship is first class, There's little future in the Railways though - stay with the gas and keep railways as your hobby".  That's exactly what I did, I wrote to BR explaining my situation and thanked them. What followed was 40 interesting years in the Gas Industry working with many wonderful folks (some of which I'll meet in a couple of weeks for our bi-annual pi**up !!!).

Brit15

I must make a start soon. Too many mags (same as many) - trouble is I like to re-read the older ones so I'll keep those. Everything after say 2000 will have any interesting bits removed then thrown. As others I hardly buy mags these days, and am thinking of a digital subs to one or two - I'm waiting to see what Andy York is coming up with soon re this site & BRM etc.

I've far too much stock, all sorts of stuff, not just railways either - garage is full of Rover V8 & assorted tat !!!. A  job I keep putting off.

Most is not worth much, thinking of putting it in a box and going to Hattons - a few bob is better than chucking it. Selling on ebay seems a pain - never tried it though.

Brit15

Now what loco will we see on page 1000 ?

Congratulations and thanks to Tony and all contributors to this very interesting thread.

Brit15

I've just checked on Hattons Website. There are eight variations of the Heljan O2 for sale, all shown with over 10 in stock. That's at least 88, so lets say 100 models in stock (probably more), that's £8900 worth of stock, which WAS £18500 worth of stock at RRP. A markdown for Hattons on these locomotives of £9600. 

http://www.hattons.co.uk/NewsDetail.aspx?id=294

If you want / need one get it while you can. Pity the other retailers with stocks of these locos selling for list or a bit lower. Something somewhere seems to me not quite right.

Brit15

Two more at Ashland - are the Yanks totally crazy !!

And this is interesting

This is  - well, you judge !!

Drive safe folks !!!

Brit15

Lets face it there's hardly a passenger carrying railway on the planet that makes a profit (i.e. isn't subsidised one way or another).

The six remaining large class 1 railroads in the USA make profit today - some very well indeed. The Railroads (except a couple which soon gave up) got rid of their passenger operations in 1970 when Amtrak was formed. Commuter services mostly went to passenger transport authorities etc. Amtrak is currently under review of cuts under Trump - not looking good.

We in the UK NEED all our railways, and investment today is at levels not seen for many a year - BUT they will always need a government subsidy of some description. As such the subject is hugely political and fraught with arguments of all kinds from all directions. Complicated to say the least.

I'm not sure about nationalisation V privatisation, what we have just about works. Big fat profits (if there are such a thing) should NOT be taken out of running our railways. Perhaps this is the area that needs looking at - fixed profits based on performance ?.

Brit15

I wasn't going to buy a Heljan Tango mainly due to the hefty price. It's just the right loco for my layout, so this one from Hattons at £89 + £4 P/P is a very good deal for me.

The Rails site above has good deals on DJ J94's at £54.50. I'll stick to my Hornby ones though !!

Not the right thread for discussion but it makes you think twice about paying full whack or even slight discounts from full whack these days when most big locos are well north of the £ton. There are more than 10 of most items for sale currently at Hattons. It makes you wonder !!

Thanks for the heads up though. This thread is useful.

Brit15

I'm weak -- Tango for me !!

Brit15

Thanks njee20 for the info, but for me the damage is done and they can stick their offer where the sun don't shine !!

Brit15

Good to see Fred Dibnah's Land Rovers are in still around & in good nick Bob. I was (still am) a fan of Fred, his early programmes were superb, but his later ones were not quite as interesting (Producers fault - not Fred's). Were any of his steam traction engines there ?

Iv'e never been to Astley - well I did back in the late 60's when the NCB steam was running - a long way home to & from Wigan on a wonky old bike !! I must try to visit again sometime - not by bike though !!

Brit15.

Smartly dressed for a milkman !!

Brit15