The Evil Bus Driver

And every night, when the moon gives light, the ghost of the miller is seen As he walks the track with a sack on his back, down to the Black Borheen And the mill wheels turn though the night is still, and the elf lights flash from the ruined mill He haunts the station, he haunts the hill and the land that lies between!

I built a pair of Scalescenes test platforms, one out of corrugated card and one out of cereal packets. I found that I could layer the papers up and glue them straight onto the textures rather than backing them onto any templates. In 4mm scale it doesn't make all that much difference although maybe a guillotine might help to get the cuts straight. They were surprisingly solid. The short one is the cardboard one and is a lot chunkier, the other one is cereal packets layered together. Have a look.

I do remember her in An American Werewolf In London among other things.

That's the script for telling the household authorities, anyway.

Looks amazing. Much better than the Hornby front and it' looks even better painted up. I just can't believe Hornby made such a fundamental mis-step with it given that some parts were really good and some others were either the wrong size or the wrong way round. Not mentioning the axles either.

Ah that's a shame. When you did yours I saw you cut them at the bottom of the gangway door to make a buffer plate, did you use filler to build up the gap at the bottom? I have a set of these white metal ones and I was wondering how to do it. Also are the VEP cab ends moulded in or are they a separately applied piece?

I mean they're probably watching everyone who gets off a train so not getting their attention would be difficult. I do hope you lodged an official complaint with their superiors.

This makes me

How not to draw attention to yourself? Don't go to Blackpool North by train. Ever.

Didn't the Great Central drivers find that they made pretty good express passenger engines? Until it was officially frowned upon by the management (I do believe the GCR was under the Midland Region when the real rundown started) and speed was restricted.

class 419 MLV Replica Railways body moulding and motorised chassis

That'll be the accountancy rebuild then lol

Wow these are fantastic. I've just finished reading through the thread and am inspired to get hold of another VEP (Mine is an original one so I might keep it as it is and buy another to modify) I have some MJT ends and sides for a TC but I might well get some CIG sides and build something. Just need a new modelling desk now. Have you considered, using one of your gangways as a master and making a silicone mould or something, then you could turn out gangway units with less work involved.

You're probably right there. Most of the ones that are planning extensions already know how far they want to extend, I think the only significant extensions left are the L&B which will depend on a lot of land swaps courtesy of Exmoor Associates, the Churnet Valley with the Cauldon Lowe/Alton branches. The GCR with its northern extension, although that only involves a small length of new track and a bridge and embankment etc as well as a possible Leicester Abbey section. The Bluebell also own the trackbed of the Ardingly branch as a western extension. What was really behind my original post was that after speaking to a C&W volunteer at the Bluebell who I used to work with (I was 5 minutes late out of the bus garage as a result lol)

I like Marmite Would that make me a Satanist then? Actually that might not be all that far off.

1st gen DMUs, like 115s etc. Possibly a few remaining cascaded 127s (If we're talking 70s/early80s here). Most likely running a more or less skeleton service to Leicester or Nottingham. Closed stations along the route. Very poor connections too and long waits between trains if there are any branches remaining. Station buildings demolished and replaced with bus shelters, Pay train schemes. Definitely if not single track sections then it would have definitely been very basic, like Ravenser said just like the NNML and the Chiltern line up towards Banbury but with island platforms. I'd probably say also the West of England main line through Templecombe, as that had an odd service because of the way it was singled, or the Heart of Wales line in the 70s too now I think of it. Throw in a decaying terminus at Marylebone with a skeleton staff and an equally decaying, or possibly de-roofed station at Nottingham Victoria, the empty bay platforms at Leicester Central and an air of general neglect. Looks to me like the kind of service you ride on to bag the mileage rather than to actually get anywhere. That said for me now, to get to Leicester to see certain members of my family it would still be quicker to go from Rugby Central rather than via Nuneaton. Bit of a walk at the other end though lol

I do believe the Bluebell now has a couple of mk3 sleepers to be used as staff accommodation. Ex Caledonian Sleeper. They seemed to fit down the line but they'd have had to use one of the diesels to get them. That would have looked a bit odd...

Exactly. The work that is done is amazing and quite often to better-than-new condition. So if the crash pillars are standard replacements, what else is? There must be enough drawings somewhere in some dusty (Or oily) drawer somewhere, scattered around the preservation world for a complete mk1 coach, underframe and all.

The Pickering coach is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I started the thread. That and Bulleid 3-sets/Tavern cars. It's an attractive looking coach as well.

This is probably where a lot of the paper work and the big ball-aches come in. So really we'd be looking at 1. A lot of money to raise 2. More paperwork than is good for you 3. Use of accounting rebuilds 4. A lot more paperwork Then you can start the design work...

I always say that contrasting colours on doors is useless as people with limited eyesight need the contrast when they are open, otherwise they'd be just as likely to walk into the closed door. Try telling a committee that though, although if their sight is that bad they should have an assistant with them which means the reason behind contrasting colours would be redundant anyway...

It probably depends on what you're planning to use it for. If it's going onto the modern network it'd definitely need to be to modern standards, although crash worthiness at 25mph on a preserved line might be different, remember that most of the damage in the Clapham Junction crash happened at a 35 mph impact with the brakes fully on*. Cannon Street at 5mph so yes that would have to be a consideration. Herritage trains on a preserved line might be doing 10 or so in station limits and they work on token block generally so maybe the safety case would be different if they are not intended to venture onto BR metals. It also depends what it is you're building as if it's something specific then you'd want the doors in the correct place/s *AFAICR

Ah i wouldn't want to inflict that on innocent tourists. Besides. Wouldn't that wreck the track? What would we do with the coach bodies?

The kind of job you have to be very thorough with the paperwork. Also known as a jobbie