John M Upton

Just out of curiosity (and the way my mind works with potential new projects!) how long does a four car set measure please. Run for the hills my wallet, I have had an idea.....

I am a subscriber to Classic Trains, absolutely fascinating read from cover to cover four times a year (a shame over the counter availability in the UK is so poor, hence my sub) and have managed to collect paper versions of most back issues with electronic ones filling the gaps right back to the first issue so I hope they don't mess about with it. Model Railroader is (usually) available from WHSmiths in the UK when my local hopeless branch bother to stick it on the shelf that is and I have to say, it's not great. I have a copy of the July 1974 MR on my desk at the moment, thick with pages, well written how to articles (I mainly bought it for a brilliant article on paint schemes on SP switchers) and larger pages, the current issue of MR (April 2024) is little more than a flimsy pamphlet. Trains used to be worth a read but has descended down the same rabbit hole that Rail Enthusiasrt/Rail did in the UK, becoming little more than a thin bottom kissing trade magazine and if it went I would not rate it as a loss, thing is I suspect as has already been mentioned that Trains was the one mag the new owners actually wanted. I do subscribe to Diesel Era and MRC though, different publisher and the difference in quality over MR is noticeable.

I read the new owners statement regarding the acquisition and it was typical PR indecipherable gibberish, fluff and with a generous sprinkling of entries on a male bovine excrement bingo card.

Just seen this: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/firecrown-media-grows-again-with-addition-of-trains-astronomy Kalmbach has sold off its railroad and astronomy publications to new owners. Having seen the utter mess sectors of the UK print and online media are in after countless takeovers, mergers and sales, I have got a bad feeling about this.

Looking around for old magazines and came across this for just fifty of your pounds: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175933990940 Ironically you can pick up the actual complete set of magazines from that same year in a binder for thirty quid less, which is still too much!!

Of course it is identical, they are both of the same prototype!!!

The blue Gulf one looks decidedly bent!!!

The N scale announcements were a bit light! So much so that no one has even bothered with a separate announcement in the Farish section! Maybe next time....

Sorry to say it, but I do miss Traction as a separate mag. Does the Traction section pull out as a separate part as I am more likely to keep the Traction part and recycle the rest down the line? I could try it in WHSmiths but I might get very odd looks...

I too would like a BSO(T) so the announcement of a OO scale BSO (apparently with BSO(T) option) is very interesting news indeed. For now my converted BCK masquerading as a BSO(T) will have to suffice.

That BSO (even better as a BSO(T)) would be nice if added to the N scale range too.

I'm sorry? A model wagon with a rotation counter is more accurate than a proper tape measure? What a load of utter nonsense!!!

To be honest, I have never seen a photo of a real UP car bearing the 'We can handle it' line yet it has appeared on numerous different box car models. I do wonder if it was applied to just one car for some sort of exhibition and the painting diagram with it on then got sent out by UP to all the model railroad manufacturers who have been pumping out countless models with it on ever since!

With regards to trying to trace a real box car by starting with a model, a lot of box car models are based on generic one size fits all toolings, the likes of Athearn Blue Box etc for example and whilst the livery and number they put out (by the tens of thousands I reckon) may have actually existed in the 12 inches to the foot world, any resemblance to the prototype design probably stopped at the wheels...

I can see the whole WFH thing being squeezed and reduced in the near future, there seems to be lots of people out on leisure pursuits whilst their bosses think they are working! The general consensus is that with a General Election iminent, all the public sector pay disputes, railways included will suddenly be magically resolved to try and make the current Government look good to Mr & Mrs Voter. Of course we all know (as do they) that the current Government are going to lose the General Election, it is just a question of how badly. That means they can harvest the forest of magic money trees, promise absolutely anything they like, throw tons of money around like confetti and then leave the actual paying for it all and sorting out the resultant mess on the ever growing 'Let Kier Stamer deal with it' pile...

Still think going all in on TT:120 was a big mistake....

Bit off topic here but for Railfreight red I have always used Humbrol 174 (which is also the paint I use for SP bloody nose red which gets it back on topic again!) Avoid whatever the strange concoction that Railmatch call Railfreight Red, for that matter avoid anything made by Railmatch as their paint is pretty universally crap...

There also seems to be lots of hairy grot between the bogies and the tumblehome. Definitely used and abused!!

Quite clean and tidy apparently!! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176343919066 It's been trashed!!! Numerous issues, missing cab glazing, some strange blue ooze around the nose end, damage to the paint work all over and I suspect the chassis may not be the original as the coupling area under the oozing end looks suspiciously bodged. Trouble is, it is a GF Large Logo 37 and people are paying daft money for them...

Another day, another shambles....

Just South of Epsom, 132 minutes late.

Last seen on the maps, the empties were passing through Earlsfield, well off route and over two hours late. Possibly points issue on the West London Line I think.

I don't go to bus rallys anymore (lack of time mostly) but have noticed that a lot, particularly here in London & The South East are becoming increasingly dominated by large swathes of comparatively modern low floor ex London vehicles and very little true vintage ones. Also bus rallys have this increasingly annoying habit of parking vehicles supermarket car park style, so close together that trying to get a photo of an individual vehicle is nigh on impossible.

As an example, GatEx Class 387's are scheduled to be used on the Coastway West from June, to Southampton and/or Portsmouth from Brighton. There was a route clearance test run a couple of weeks back.