5944

Others are doing OK. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4354534771271408&id=162410517150542 Aln Valley Railway set up an appeal for £100,000 for a viaduct in April 2021, and have pretty much reached that target already. WSR have raised a fraction of that, and that's with the use of some creative accounting.

Oh, and on an unrelated note, I ordered a book last week from an Italian website. Order placed at 23.59 Wednesday night, €14.10 postage, delivered at 14.30 on Friday. Can't complain about that! https://www.edizionipegasofirenze.com/2021/06/14/locomotive-di-guerra-vol-ii-austroungariche-ex-kkstb-mav-sudbahn-ex-drb-wd-e-usa-tc/ This is the book, by the way. I haven't opened it yet (birthday present for next week), but there's a section on WD locos in Italy; Dean Goods, 8Fs and LMS shunters, for example.

Quite a few it seems; I've seen a few websites that say "no courier available to your chosen country", or simply not including UK in the drop down list of countries. Or make the shipping cost so high it's not worth bothering with (€70 is the highest I've seen!).

The railings are the same size as the ones we have round our staircase at home.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-SPECTRUM-On30-KIT-BUILT-0-6-0-BLUE-DIESEL-SHUNTER-LOCOMOTIVE-nz-/114930136004?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 Another stonker from Antique Toys.

That was listed by Rails a few months back, and sold surprisingly quickly. I gave it a damn good ignoring then as well!

The ones from the Italian seller? There's a few that I'd like, but they're all two or three times what I'd be willing to pay sadly.

Another day, another delivery from Germany... Order placed last week with Modellbahn-Center am Markt Hünerbein for a couple of wagons. Paid Thursday evening, refund of German VAT issued Friday morning, dispatched by DHL Friday afternoon, arrived Tuesday afternoon. No extra charges or VAT added on either.

I'm planning to insulate my shed later this year. It's 20' x 8', and will be 50mm Celotex on walls and ceiling, and 25mm on the floor. Walls will be covered with MDF, floor with ply. Last time I got a quote it was just under £1000 for the materials. Probably more like £1200 now though, the way the prices of all building materials seem to be rising.

So income was £1.5m, despite hardly running any services (a few at Christmas?). To me, that sounds like a lot of money to spend with very little to show for it at the end. Regarding red route availability, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the current PLC chairman owns two red route locos. Same as I'm sure it's a coincidence that he also owns a lot of vintage buses and has recently set up yet another company, handy if you can't run the full length of the line to your main destination.

Yes it is a vacuum toilet. I believe there is a small generator fitted to the vehicles to power it, though I can't find where I saw the reference to it. 317s were initially fitted with CET tanks, but were made of steel. Not the best material to use! Hence their rapid removal. They have been fitted with aluminium tanks in recent years though. I have to agree, as someone who works with vacuum toilets as part of my day job, they do seem an unnecessary complication.

Not going to happen. If a company as massive as DB can't get approval to run through the tunnel, a little start up have no chance.

To arr is pirate.

Not a sign, just an advert for a relatively local curry house. I'd definitely be visiting if they had a big, German 2-10-0 parked in the car park!

Nätschen by Nigel Pitt, on Flickr Switzerland View From The Top by Nigel Pitt, on Flickr Germany Devil's Gate by Nigel Pitt, on Flickr Cloudy valley by Nigel Pitt, on Flickr Eritrea

I can't think of another preserved line where the chairman of the operating company is a director of nearly a dozen other companies. Spreading himself too thinly to be able to do the job sufficiently? He also has history with regards paperwork and engineering, so to me it seems he was an odd choice to be heralded as someone to "save the railway". https://www.route-one.net/legal/tc_revokes_crosville_s_o_licence/

This photo was posted on the Locomotive a Vapore Facebook group the other day. https://m.facebook.com/groups/185042144914515/permalink/4025676640851027/?sfnsn=scwspmo Never mind the pair of Italian 835 0-6-0Ts and tender - on the left is former East Kent AEC Regent V MFN948F! Currently located in Barbisano, north of Venice. The locos are visible on Streetview, but the bus hadn't arrived. https://goo.gl/maps/wmBBCA7sePbftHwS9

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Roads-and-pavements-for-model-train-Scale-N-/324642425456?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286 Not so much the product itself, though it seems a lot of money for what it is. But it's the best part of $50,000 postage to the UK!

https://www.archiviofondazionefs.it/en/Archivio-Servizio-Materiale-e-Trazione/rs/dc645a1f203c2dd8b95ad43be5177b1c1ebf93a0/rsDataSource Another source of drawings - the official ones from FS.

Thanks Ian. Just wanted confirmation from someone who has a lot more experience than I have!

This it a bit of an odd one, but hopefully it'll make sense by the time I've finished waffling! Is there any reason why a motor cannot be mounted away from the centre line of a loco? Obviously it'll mean the loco will be slightly unbalanced so will need some weight adding to the opposite side, but will having an offset motor cause any problems, create performance issues, etc? I've been slowly working on a DJLC layout, based on a small Italian tramway. Goods traffic was operated by a pair of 4-wheeled steeple cab electric locos. As can be seen, the cab was a lot wider than the bonnets, which are quite low. I'll start a thread when there's some visible progress, hopefully in a couple of weeks. Obviously low speed control will be necessary, and I've been through various combinations of gear arrangements, motor gearboxes, belt and pulley drives, all the usual, but none seemed to be satisfactory (too bulky, above window level, too high a gear ratio, etc). In the end I've worked out that if I put a 6mm x 12mm motor to one side of the cab, by using a couple of spur gears driving a shaft with worms either end, I can get a ratio of about 60:1. It also leaves the cab and underframe see through, and there's space in the bonnets for about 15-20g of lead as well.

The originals are quite something! FS E333. One is preserved at Pietrarsa Railway Museum near Napoli.

https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/company/13258921-transport-publishing-network-limited Tony Streeter, former editor of Steam Railway. Paul Appleton, publicity officer for 6880 Betton Grange.

LNER have 31 units available for 48 diagrams, plus the Mk 4 set that's out today. Only four 5-car bimode units though, hence why they're not running anything away from the wires.