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I should've put "where only half the houses have driveways, yet now most households have two cars". When I say half the houses have driveways, I mean one side of some of the streets have drives while the other side doesn't! Our road only has houses on one side, there's a school field on the opposite side, and the way the houses zigzag backwards and forwards means not all have drives, or even space for driveways.

There was a good couple of feet between the hedge and the side of the bus, the shadows and the angle hide it quite well. To be honest, it was one of the better bits of pavement parking round here! The joys of a 1950s council estate where only half the houses have driveways, yet most households have two cars. Lots of green spaces and grass verges but nowhere to park vehicles easily.

Not what you expect to find on a council estate in Hertfordshire! I was popping to the shops this afternoon and this was parked up round the corner from the house. I've no idea why it was there, as it appears to be owned by The London Bus Company based in Northfleet, Kent

Horizontally or vertically?

Very jealous! I saw that advertised the other day. Pretty cheap for what's included, and return flights are less than £100 at present. I don't think the wife would be happy if I disappeared to her favourite country for the weekend without her though!

Yet not screwed enough to try and buy a set of grotty Mk2 air cons though.

Rumours that the railway are getting a set of Mk2 air cons. Partly for the gala for air braked locos, and partly to cover the shortfall in stock with the withdrawal of the teaks. Though surely buying a few sets of tyres for the teaks will cost less than buying a set of grotty Mk2s that haven't turned a wheel for 5 years?

There are some fantastic albums on there for various things, a wonderful resource. Sadly Alessandro Albe passed away about 4 years ago, so his Flickr site is no longer updated. It also means there's a chance it could disappear at any time, so if you see anything that may be of use, download/screenshot whatever is required.

The tower was the water tower for the wash plant. I believe it came down in about 2007. It was certainly there when I started my apprenticeship there in 2005, but is missing from photos taken in 2008.

If anybody wants their own 141R, the partly overhauled remains of 1207 and 1332 are for sale in Switzerland. https://www.railpassion.fr/materiel-actualites-rp/des-mikado-francaises-en-suisse/ I believe there's enough for one complete loco there, plus a spare set of frames, driving wheels and other parts, the rest were sold for scrap when the previous owner went bankrupt. I don't believe they're cheap though!

Peter's final journey, King's Cross to Belle Isle before his ashes were put into the firebox of 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley on Saturday morning.

The 31 (and the 40) were moved from York to Shildon today - could it have been related to getting the loco prepped for that? It's been a long time since the 31 moved any distance, especially on the mainline.

The two vehicles that are going to be scrapped are at Cockshute.

My last trip to Poland was in December 2013. It was meant to be the last day of Wolsztyn - Poznan workings before the timetable change (I think they were swapping back to Leszno) but Ol49-59 failed and got dragged away for repairs, and 69 was broken, so the last day was a DMU! I went photting instead near Poznan. One ET22 hauled coal train overtaking another. EU07-096 approaching Poznan with a trainload of Fiat 500s. The same train a few hours later in slightly better conditions at Zbąszyń! The loco had run round though. The last one of any interest was TEM2-225 on an empty log train.

Could you solder them to a piece of scrap etch and then drill through them, before unsoldering them again?

https://youtube.com/@arnoldsiegrist1887?si=Fktjgr1kIYLT93Yi There are some fantastic videos on there. Not just Swiss, but German and Italian too. It's a shame he hasn't uploaded any for a year though.

At least one of the 03s still exists, or at least did 18 months ago - 03156 near Bari. It's just about visible on Google streetview, but the business where it's located has closed so it might have been scrapped. https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/inglesine-in-italia/ A good article here with plenty of photos of various shunters in Italy, though some are from the RTCS website.

Bounds Green had several rakes based there, owned by Rail Charter Services. If you're including a kitchen car, then they usually served a maximum of three FOs at a time. Any more required a second kitchen car. BN91 was the maroon or blood and custard set, mainly used on steam charters. TSO-TSO-TSO-RMB-BCK/BSK-FO-FO-FO-RBR-FO-FO would be a possible formation. The brake/genny was usually in the middle between standard class and first. If you search on Flickr for "50031 Shaldon Bridge" there's a good shot of almost the full set in a similar formation. BN93 was the Pride of the Nation set, either in LNWR black and white, or green and cream. BCK-FO-FO-RBR-FO-FO-RBR-FO-FO-BCK. Regarding the other sets, BN94 was the blue and grey set, and BN96 was the green set. Their formations varied greatly! BN92 was disbanded in the late 90s after a derailment. BN95 I believe was the exhibition train, and BN97 was a rake of vacuum braked, steam heated maroon liveried Mk1s.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/e7bLt8jfyWq11vJ7A 700.003 is stored at Arezzo Pescaiola station, just visible from on street view. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gWtm6HdsB2mV9RU26 700.001 is the yellow shunter at the South end of the site. http://www.museoferroviariopiemontese.it/locomotiva-diesel-da-manovra-pesante-ne-700-001/ The site is only open to the public occasionally, the last time was in November.

I can certainly see the advantages in being able to book your own accommodation, but likewise I wouldn't be keen on the personal financial outlay. Smaller clubs can book up a few rooms in a local hotel or B&B, but trying to arrange several hundred rooms for one of the big shows must be a nightmare for the organisers. My club took one of our layouts to a certain exhibition on top of a hill in North London a few years ago. It took me less time to get back home in Bedfordshire, via a 10 minute walk to the station, two trains, then another 15 minute walk, than it did for the other operators to get to their hotel in North East London! Road works, road closures, traffic jams and football traffic meant it took them about 90 minutes to get to the hotel 8 miles away. I was indoors in 75 minutes, 45 miles away. There's plenty of other accommodation locally, but whether it's available in the quantity required for a reasonable price for the organiser is another matter. It'll also be easier for them to block book one or two hotels than try and book a few rooms in several hotels.

Did you replace the wheels at all or just use the plastic ones that came with it? I fitted a batch of TTM kits I made with Alan Gibson 10.5mm lowmac wheels, but the holes had been drilled off-centre and the wagons wobbled horrendously. I'm not sure what I replaced them with, I have a feeling they're Lilliput ones.

Thanks for that. The wife didn't appreciate me squirting the cup of tea I was drinking out my nostrils after reading that comment!

Very impressive. It's not too bad for N gauge as sheets are the same size so go almost twice as far! I'm lucky that the station I'm modelling doesn't need Redutex sheets, the tiles are flat enough I can probably get away with strips of paper. The rest of the building will be awkward enough to construct though!

Come on, everyone knows it's really called Klodhopper! The rumour is that it is actually Carnforth bound, so Smithy can have yet another loco sitting in the shed waiting for him to fit CDL to his stock.

Four doors per coach per side have been fitted with electromagnetic door looks - you can make out the plates at the bottom and the lack of door handles on the sealed doors.