'CHARD

LOL - no, I was thinking of the often overlooked summer of '75. I cribbed this detail from a weather page.... 'There were 8 consecutive days over 30C from 2nd-9th August which was preceded by 4 days from 28th-31st July and then followed by another 4 from 11th-14th August. The highest temperature of the month was 34.2C at Heathrow on the 8th. A weak cold front moved east on the 14th; temperatures reached 30C that day in London.' So not as pronounced as '76 but incredible nonetheless!

Somewhere I read recently that this loco had received FYE over its tired early XP64 blue, and before its standard blue repaint. The photo at Oxley in 1967 would have coincided with the mass applications of FYE over green, and to that extent the picture is inconclusive. Personally I very much doubt that D1733 wore XP64 blue, unbranded, with FYE, and in the absence of photographic evidence I will assume it ran in its 1967 condition throughout 1968 too. It went standard blue in December 1969. Unless anyone else has found more pics we've not seen.....

19th August 1975 it's reported as having gone blue, presumably a works release date back to traffic, so it probably lasted in service in green into the hot summer!

Of course they were! How could I forget the MetroVicks?

Yes please, I love a Class 31, me.

Sorry, it made my eyes hurt.

A brakeman would definitely attain celebrity status if he had sat at the end of a siding for decades! He'd probably attain piles as well.

All of the howlers ARE...

The great thing about 45 and 46 detail permutations is the late Russ Saxton's easy to use reference list, meaning a novice can body swap with relative impunity! The available combinations also act to self-limit the possible RTR fleet size, which is useful!

Battery-box covers are my only stipulation transitioning between the two types.

My Speke to Bathgate cartrain has a payload of Minix FCs, given that it's running in 1967-68. The FAs will be on-street!

One vehicle I've not seen referred-to on this thread (I may well have missed it) is the Lesney Vauxhall Victor FA (No.45) which I'd long harboured and finally got round to measuring yesterday. It scales at 1:76 pretty much exactly. Note Husky Citroën Safari at the back!

The post eighth above yours would indicate so.

I can't quite make out the name on my phone's little screen, is it Western Consort?

This is sure to be a very welcome addition to the RTR armoury; I openly declare a fondness for this family of York-built trains, the Class 321 new build being the first project that I worked on upon joining the Railway in 1988.

Subtle acronym there!

Seems to be a collosal waste of taxpayers' money to me. When there are other parts of TfL haemorrhaging cash and the tube is being propped up by ULEZ taxation this must feel like a slap in the face to locals.

D25 was one of two Class 45s to receive FYE whilst in green (D26 being the other). It ran with FYE in economy green from some time in late '67 or early '68; a photo of it in this condition on the S&C working 1S64 providing the evidence.

....soul.

The 2024 Locoshed book (Ian Alien) shows 37418 and certain other engines as livery code AH, because like opinions, everyone has got one.

No idea how I had missed the latter posts from 2020, but I've now read and absorbed them. This is fascinating in many ways, and in terms of the types of Upperby-allocated DMU that worked into Edinburgh. Notably Derby lightweight units, as 12B didn't have any units in common with Leith Central (Gloucester, Metro-Cammell and occasional Crivvens).

How many Hatton's 'carts' were filled in the past 25 years by members of this forum alone? How many hours in dead of night spent searching and scrolling after coming home from the pub? How many mornings awaiting the postie's knock, and - on his seeing the sender's details - hearing him say 'been buying more trains then?' with a knowing grin as he handed me another string-wrapped parcel. Hatton's was more than a bricks and mortar model and toy shop, although anyone who visited the original Penny Lane/ Smithdown Road premises will have its unique atmosphere seared on their senses. It was a phenomenon, my 1998 visit (piggybacked off work at nearby Edge Hill TMD) was memorable for me having the time and temerity to rummage in the deepest recesses of the historic shop, unearthing fabulous forgotten jewels. Moreover, as my parents had both grown up a matter of streets away (years before the local shop was founded, local that would ultimately go global) it felt like going back to my roots somehow. The past, it is said, is another country. Well, that visit was a quarter of a century ago, and today's retail and hobby landscapes are unrecognisable to those more down-to-earth days. Hatton's will never be forgotten; it was one of the Greats and this topic is evidence, if any were needed, that along with its people down the decades, it made a huge and lasting impression on all the overgrown little lads who returned time after time with pocket-money burning holes. Cheers old chum, you'll be missed as you leave behind something of a legend, and a ruddy great hole.

Yes, those novelty cola items are usually eye-watering, not to mention teeth-rotting. I never had you down as the typical buyer of the range, you were obviously as impressed by the Lowmac with the bottle aboard as Sam's Trains was!

I've assembled a sizeable fleet to fulfil a Working Timetable for a secondary mainline set in an 18 month window. This is around the end of steam and defined by the Transition Era. This requires many BR standard types, especially coaches and wagons. Hornby Railroad MkIs feature in approximately equal numbers to their Bachmann counterparts. Generally they stick to rakes comprising one or other manufacturer (more for the purposes of reliable running than anything else). As such there's little or no discernible clash or visual disjointedness. This is helped by the fact that mixed rakes of maroon and blue & grey are common. I also take the view that real MkIs were produced to common designs by both BR works and outside private builders. Thus there are subtle, generally imperceptible differences between batches of the same vehicle type. I'm not an LHCS rivet-counter, nor was I an active enthusiast in 1968, so this arrangement suits my appetite. Ventilated vans are mainly Bachmann, except where their attempt at a prototype falls short (undernourished 12T MR/ LMS van, I'm looking at you). For consistent running, to represent the types where Bachmann is absent, I marry another maker's body to spare Bachmann chassis. This includes Dapol LMS vans, and some Parkside kits likewise. This gives the best of both worlds - roughly accurate bodies and uniform underframes.

What's a US stock car racer's favorite cheese? Nascarpone