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Indeed, Britain's railways have always been quite backwards. Vacuum brakes, unfitted freights, tiny wagons, restricted loading gauge, lack of electrification. With regards people saying why is CDL needed on charter trains, the only other use of slam doors on the network now is the Night Riviera. People aren't used to hinged doors on trains any more - 20 years ago there were thousands of vehicles, now it's a few sleepers and a charter sets. Chances are the vast majority of passengers on the Jacobite won't have seen a train door that doesn't open by pressing a button. As others have said, it's a struggle to feel any sympathy for WCRC in this situation. They've had decades to come up with a solution. Railway Touring Company however have potentially seen their whole programme for the year wiped out. Riviera have a set of Mk2 air cons available, but there's a lack of air braked steam locos available at the moment that aren't tied to LSL.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196164035307?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=7NGT9XstTyC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=dltlllrnrym&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY 😳 It's like a half-built Hatchette kit.

Very impressive. I need to get mine built at some point. It's the H0 version though, and at least Italian wasp stripes are easier to replicate than BR ones! From https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/unaltra-locomotiva-di-guerra-la-ne-700/

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325893798113?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=V7ZQmSnyR9a&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=dltlllrnrym&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY 😳

Not necessarily. Going backwards uphill, if you keep the water just visible in the gauge glass, you know the crown will covered when you get to the top and the boiler levels out. Not so much of a problem on the Lickey where the gradient merely eases at the the top of the incline, but can be an issue if there's a summit. The Bluebell has that problem at Holden summit near East Grinstead - the line goes from 1/55 up to 1/60 down in a very short distance.

Tecnomodel in Livorno often sell them. Looks like they have some in stock at the moment. I believe it's free postage over €100 as well, though obviously there's the VAT issue to consider as well. https://www.tecnomodel.it/b/scala-h0/rotabili-in-kit/7 Alternatively, I believe someone in the Italian Railway Society coordinates orders from Duegi Editrice, so a few members spilt the €50/€70 postage between them to make it a bit more acceptable.

If you eat the beans cold straight from the tin, you'll save even more money - not just for the cooker, your central heating won't be required either!

https://actu.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/poligny_39434/poligny-la-societe-jura-modelisme-victime-dun-incendie-dimanche-29-octobre-2023_60271085.html https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/jura/des-milliers-de-trains-electriques-reduits-en-cendres-un-incendie-ravage-l-entreprise-jura-modelisme-2864690.html I think that sadly answers your question @Oldddudders Nothing left at all, estimated 30,000 models on site.

https://www.leprogres.fr/faits-divers-justice/2023/10/29/un-violent-incendie-frappe-l-entreprise-jura-modelisme-a-poligny Dear railway enthusiasts, Our logistics warehouse suffered a serious fire today. We will keep you informed in the coming days of developments in the situation. We would like to thank our community and our colleagues for their support. See you soon, the Jura Modelisme team.

Correct. I went on the Saturday and it was heaving! Good show but not a great venue. I have a feeling I did it after a night shift too! Couple of hours at the show, an hour looking round the cars downstairs, then another hour at Wellesbourne looking round Vulcan XM655.

It seems it was a combination of the load (12 Mk1s), the route (on a curve and a gradient) and the presence of a flange lubricator that caused the slip and the inability to restart the train. There's a few flange lubricators on the network that cause problems for steam that don't affect other traction.

A rare bird at Shuttleworth last month! DH104 Dove G-OPLC (formerly Devon VP962) taking off for the journey back to Ireland after the de Havilland fly-in event at Old Warden.

Despite how CAHC have been portraying themselves, it was a business, not a charity. They had a short lease on the hangar that the council decided not to renew. Yes, the council aren't entirely innocent in all this and ideally they would've renewed the lease but they didn't, and the tenants had to go. It's a pity the VC10 is being scrapped and the front section of the BAC 1-11 is going to Solent Air Museum, but it could've been avoided years ago if the lease had been extended.

With or without the wife?!

We still get some post occasionally for the previous owners of our house. We've lived here for 6 years, and they rented it out for about 6 years before that after they moved to Australia. The two items we regularly receive are for the wife's car insurance (so she must still be renewing it automatically despite emigrating 12 years ago), and the statements from the husband's Swiss bank account!

No, DMUs only had marker lights initially. Tail lights didn't appear until much later, a tail lamp was used until then. Though I believe red discs could be slotted in over the marker lights but weren't widely used.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166376684255?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=pnL59Ii6Qjq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=dltlllrnrym&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Tested how exactly?!

Unipart Rail have a reputation for charging a lot of money to the various TOCs for supplying parts and spares, far in excess of what you could buy the equivalent for on the high street. A few years ago a simple toggle switch like that for a class 319 headlight was £180! The joys of needing the suppliers to be fully accredited and all the testing that was required to make sure components are fit for railway use. A pretty much identical switch was available in Maplins for less than a quid at the time.

The rather delightful Comet at Shuttleworth last month.

One for the Joy Division fans...

Bit late now, they've been in Letchworth for over a hundred years. Greys are relatively rare around here.

Couple of photos taken this afternoon of the black squirrel that has been feasting on the seeds from the sunflowers in our garden.

This landed in the school field opposite the house a few weeks ago. Luckily the casualty wasn't seriously injured and the air ambulance wasn't required. The helicopter has landed there once before in the time we've been in this house, but we were out for the day. This time it woke me up as I was trying to get a nap before nights! That was on the Friday, and on the following Monday it had to land again to collect someone else.