'CHARD

Interesting Google Earth style fly-through. Great way of checking out some lesser-known stretches of the line around Minto Kames, then south of Penton, Arthuret and the like. Actually very therapeutic, put some of your favourite music on low, make a brew, sit back and relax with the very best scenery these islands have to offer. The counterpart Edinburgh - Newtown St Boswells video is also available from the same source.

Mine have problems with hair getting wrapped round the axles. (Should stop using them on carpet, Sam's Trains Ed.)

Really? I don't recall the Baldwin 4-6-0 or Gandy Dancer being BE products?

I bet plenty of brought off of that seller. 😏

I thought that, raises the question of will it be designed down to a price, it's hardly as simple as the Pilchard.

Yeah, same here with vinyl from the same or multiple artists. It's a good tactic as you say.

You could invent the TOPS code BAH and mount the aforesaid sweet(s) on it! That's one for the too-clever by half ******* like yours truly perhaps!

What's a Christmas Train Jet? Sounds fascinating (scroll through photos).

Happily, NR has said it plans to continue using the Grade 2 listed building for training and the accommodation of other teams including track workers.

That's brilliant!

466035 does look fantastic, great work. But which 465 has it borrowed its centre cars from? 😏

I don't think they have, TBH. The trainset/ Dynamis version is no longer available. This recent announcement wasn't a further production run, just a repackaging of the three year old slow-moving stock as train-packs.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/19/terry-hall-lead-singer-of-the-specials-dies-aged-63

Two well-trodden paths here, unsurprisingly, but possibly linked by Hornby's new model criteria/ philosophy and business case. Dealing with the D49 first - it's something of a Cinderella type, secondary in profile and significance, and even in a Scottish context shaded by other pre-grouping classes. Yes it's been in the Hornby range, but akin to the Class 29 rather than Flying Scotsman. High priority for reworking? - somehow I doubt it. Electrostars - the sheer diversity poses the question 'where would you start,' and would it be pitched at Design Clever levels of fidelity and detail, risking the usual catcalls, just to keep it affordable? Hornby has chosen the Azuma and Flirt to take this category forward, so I wonder if the hunger for the previous generation Electrostar fits their criteria.

Award of the year for the best unpublished FALL lyric goes to....

Edited versions of classic songs, like Fairytale of New York, by The Pogues. Leave it alone, no-one's getting offended.

Conventions with which I am quite conversant 😏 Aye!

I may have missed this if someone has already raised it, so please forgive me if indeed this is the case, but on page 2 of the latest Hornby TT:120 magazine, is this claim: 'Introducing Hornby TT:120, a Table Top model railway format that uses an internationally recognised scale of 1:120 or in simple terms, 1" to 1'... Is it just me, or is that a howler? It certainly does't sound 'perfect for those of all ages who maybe limited for space.'

During the bidding process for the (present) Northern franchise, I hosted the new trains presentation on behalf of Abellio, which Adrian Shooter led for Vivarail, with their D78 stock proposed as Pacer replacements. This was precisely during the short phase where the Secretary of State was being lobbied, successfully as it turned out, to disqualify refurbished trains from the fleet strategies of bidders. Despite surely knowing that the odds were stacked against 78-stock in such a fashion (AS was always very well informed and well-connected), the Vivarail pitch was that of a consummate professional, delivered with surefooted engineering pragmatism and reassurance. The entire life cost was explained in detail, with a full range of commercial options and alternatives. I'd seen him at work before, but never in his element in this way, truly invested in the proposition, with the infectious enthusiasm of a visionary engineer. Looking back now, he would have been past conventional retirement age at that point, but you'd not have known it! In later years I supplied a number of engineers who were embedded in the Vivarail operation at Long Marston; feedback off these guys was always glowing, AS was 100% personally invested in his team, always willing to listen, challenge and be challenged. He was never too busy to spend sufficient effort getting the detail right, down at shop floor level. Big Jim's observations above ring very true. It feels like a substantial chunk of the 'old' railway's can-do values have passed with him.

Bit of a tough one to write, this. Adrian Shooter, former MD of Chiltern Railways, and credited with that route's sensational turn-round and renaissance, amongst other great achievements in a long and illustrious career spanning over 50 years since 1970, died peacefully yesterday at a Swiss Clinic, aged 74. He had been suffering from motor neurone disease. One of the greats. Rest in peace.

I recall the early Triang open-axlebox version also appeared as Iron Duke (70014) with a smoke generator; a friend had one second-hand in the late-70s, in the distant days long before I knew the class had been 55-strong!!!

AFAIK the 171s will be re-modified (back) to standard Class 170 operational/ coupling spec. The units transferred are/ were the ex-ScotRail Class 170s. Southern retains 171s, it has residual 4-car sets on its books too, can't recall the precise quantities off-hand.

I have voted, really hope that the Flying Scotsman and a Class 37 finally see the light of day.

Did you ever build this? I've got an Arkitex stash that's itching for construction.

Yes, they've never had that in their range.... 😏