GoingUnderground

Time - Pink Floyd

Let's Go to San Francisco - The Flower Pot Men

Devil Woman - Cliff Richard

In The Year 2525 - Zager & Evans

Dance On - The Shadows or Kathy Kirby

Ah, now we have the nub of the objections, there's nothing in it for me, especially if the only benefit is to a few well off people. May we take it that you'd be perfectly happy if there was a benefit for the communities through which the line will pass? What benefit or change in HS2 projected ridership would you need to persuade you that it was worth building HS2? Do you use the A41, the M1, the A5, The M40, the WCML into Euston, the Metropolitan or Chiltern Lines services into London, or any of the roads in the area? If you do, don't you think you're being just a little hypocritical in using forms of transport which if they were built today would invoke exactly the same response in the communities through which they pass as HS2 produces? Every generation has to make sacrifices for the benefit of future generations, a point that seems to be lost on the HS2 objectors. I love the Chilterns, I used to be taken there for pic-nics when I was a child, and take my girlfriends out for drinks in the pubs when I was able to drive. So I have very fond memories of the area, but I utterly refuse to believe that building HS2 will "destroy" it. Change some areas yes, but destroy, never. I had lunch in a pub in the Chilterns a few weeks ago and asked the barman what he thought of HS2. He said that he couldn't understand the fuss, as the line was nardly near to the village. Likewise the route through West Ruislip. When I was young it was used by Paddington trains as well as the GC route trains from the East Midlands. Putting HS2 through there will make it no worse than if those routes had remained in operation. I don't want to live in a country that's preserved in aspic, unable to grow and evolve and take advantage of modern technology which is what the HS2 objectors seem to want. Equally I don't want progress to destroy the planet. I can't see HS2 destroying the planet, and it might just make a very small contribution to saving it if it helps get some cars off the road.

The Days of Pearly Spencer - David McWilliams

You're Lost Little Girl - The Doors

Hey Little Girl - Syndicate of Sound

Give Peace A Chance - Plastic Ono Band

I remain resolutely in favour of HS2 and its extensions beyond Birmingham to Scotland no matter what the price. The railways need modernising to make then fit for the 21st century and beyond just like we did with motorways. We cannot build our way out of traffic congestion, and I do not believe that a "road train" of computer controlled cars all travelling within feet of each other is a viable alternative. There is a damn sight less room in a car than there is in a train, and it is unlikely that the "road train" would achieve much beyond 100 mph/160 kph. Railways are a damn sight less intrusive than motorways.

They will appeal, I have no doubt. Because the longer they delay it, and the more inflation will increase the cost, and the more they'll cost us all in lawyers fees to take it to the Supreme Court. Delay and increase the cost and the polticos will, as I've said before, get cold feet and cancel it. Sadly in an overcrowded island like ours, development, be it rail, road or air, will always upset someone.

Just out of interest, what value/Manufacturer code do you get when you read CV8?

And by increasing the cost they further weaken the business case. A case of the opponents having their cake and eating it. If they cannot get it stopped directly, meeting their demands for the extra groundworks will make it so expensive that the politicos will pull the plug on escalating cost grounds.

In that case an original spec £200 505 with the 611 upgrade looks to be much better value than a 511 which had the extra routes memory module fitted previously. If you're throwing away the original circuit board from a 505 or 511 then it might as well be the cheaper original 505 that you use as the donor housing. Good news for 505 owners.

Not sure that I understand how you arrive at a new 611 costing £250. If you are saying what I think you are, then £250 (£449 - £199) is very expensive for an empty metal box and a small monochrome LCD display, the only common components between a 511 and 611.. If you don't have a 505 or 511 to upgrade, the price of a new 611 is shown as £449. The web site is not explicit, but it looks like a first time 611 owner will also need a PSU, and the ZTC 560 PSU web list price is £49, assuming that's what you will need additionally, making a total outlay of £498. Also there is no mention that I can see of owners of the original spec 505 being offered the upgrade. Very frustrating when replcing the innards of a 505 with the 511 upgrade turns your 505 to a 611, unless ZTC expect you to stump up the old upgrade a 505 to 511 spec fee of £200 as well before they'll do the work.

So it's not really an upgrade to the 511 then, more a question of removing the innards, binning them and replacing them with brand new. The only parts being retained are the case, the display, and the PSU. For someone with an original spec true 505 it looks like a reasonable deal always assuming that the upgrade price is the same. Upgrading a 511 looks like an awful lot of expense, especially if you bought it in the last 2-3 years, but if you've already had it for 5+ years then I'd be inclined to look on it as the equivalent buying a new more modern DCC controller.

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More - The Righteous Brothers

I'm pleased for you that your experience has been favourable. I'm afraid that was not the case with me and my 505. I cut my losses and ran. Any idea on the length of the delay?

The World Became the World - PFM (a.k.a. Premiata Forneria Marconi)

It's All Over Now - The Rolling Stones

Hey You - Pink Floyd

She's Leaving Home - The Beatles

Crying In The Rain - Everly Brothers

It Might As Well Rain Until September - Carole King