Poggy1165

Interesting, an LNWR signal in the top photo, and the blue and grey already looks like it's fading. Also note how neat and tidy the track and surrounding are compared to 2012. Would be quite something to model this convincingly.

I am sick of poor refereeing. Some people believe there's corruption in the system, and I suppose there may be, but I think a lot more is down to simple human error. I suppose the difference now is that everything is recorded and can be played back from half a dozen different angles. Years ago, watching at a ground, you might have thought a ref. made a bad call, and your mate might have agreed with you, but there was no way of analysing the decision. Now such analysis is simple and everyone does it. Maybe the refs. are actually no worse than they were, it just seems so. Given that there are errors, we also have a real problem with consistency. In particular you get some players picked on and punished retrospectively, while others get away scot free for similar or worse offences. This is very hard to explain if one believes the authorities are trying to do an honest job. My admittedly subjective impression is that England internationals seem to get away with almost anything, and also that if the press/media make a meal of an incident the offender is more likely to get retrospective suspension. I'm happy for any rule/interpretation to be introduced about tackling, for example, but then it needs to be applied across the piece, no matter who is doing the fouling.

Incredibly impressive!

Thanks very much for the advice, Ken. I have to say I can't blame my wife for lack of progress, it's sheer laziness on my part mixed with a scattergun approach to my various interests. I left self-discipline behind in the office when I left for the last time, and I fear it shows in what I achieve. Brian

Ken, I love your comment back there, you only build two a month! I'm delighted if I manage to build two wagon kits in a month - in fact I then vote myself a holiday for exceptional productivity. If I may ask, how far do you go to prepare models for professional painting? Is it a matter of putting on a coat of primer, or do you paint the frames and so on? Reason for asking, I may actually try building a loco for myself if a certain kit emerges in 2013, but it's going to be pro-painted, as I shall never be able to do a pre-group lined livery while have a hole in a certain place.

Towards the end of the film Billy Liar is a very evocative late-night scene at a terminal station. Whenever I see it I think - ah, that's just how it used to be. Hard to explain to anyone who wasn't there, but big stations had a special atmosphere at night in steam days, something that just doesn't exist any more. Any road, I googled the film and found the location used was Marylebone. Which surprised me, as I would have put money on Bradford (Exchange) - that is, the old version, not the modern interchange.

1. Because the best articles in there generally whack the best articles in any other magazine of my acquaintance. IMHO. There may be exceptions, of course. 2. I suppose it could be a coach, a wagon, or even a building. I said 'loco' after seeing a 00 commercial model of an ex LNWR 0-8-0, which made me think 'If I could build something as good as that from scratch, or even from a kit, I'd be very pleased with myself.' I'd suggest a loco is (maybe) the biggest test as you have to get the thing to pull other vehicles in a realistic manner - with rolling stock (however beautiful) you just have to be sure the wheels turn freely and that the thing runs along the track as it should. No disrespect intended to any craftsman who produces non-locos - I'm principally a wagon man myself after all. (And I am confident of exceeding the quality of current RTR O Gauge wagons, with the possible exception of Lionheart.) 3. My subjective opinion is that some (few) have reached this stage, while others think they have. I can't see into other people's heads, but this criterion would be a personal one for the individual concerned.

I have three suggestions: 1. When you have a substantial article published in MRJ, and it's not just describing the layout you paid others £££££££ to build. 2. When you can build a loco to the same or better standards than current day 00 RTR. 3. When you personally are genuinely satisfied with your modelling and feel you have reached the point where you cannot improve any further. BTW, I don't qualify under any one of these headings.

There was an element of truth in perceived attitude of the railway officials. I remember a journey in the front compartment of a DMU down the Central Wales Line not that long after steam finished, when I was joined by a railway officer not much older than myself. He made a point of asking me whether I had been told to travel that way to Swansea (I had a Railrover ticket and could go where I pleased) and spent much of the journey telling me how uneconomic the CWL was, how it would be cheaper to buy every passenger their own car, and so on and so forth. His negative and damn-near anti-railway attitude made me glad I had not joined BR as a career, as I had at one time thought of doing.

My kind of railway - quite steeply graded in parts isn't it? IIRC it was on this line a GCR double-framed engine lost control of its coal train on a descent and the whole lot landed in a big pile somewhere near Stairfoot. (Mind you, in those days with feeble brakes on small engines and only one brake on many of the wagons, it's a wonder there weren't more runaways. Those drivers really knew their job.)

Yes the Fallowfield Loop was sadly neglected. Photos of Hyde Road Station in particular are as rare as hen's teeth. And I'd love to see more of the GC line from Barnsley to Sheffield - the photos of the stations I have seen suggest it was a delight. Maybe I should amend my comment to say that railways away from 'glamorous' main lines, holiday lines (see GWR branches in Devon/Cornwall) and quirky light railways seem generally to have been neglected by photographers. This is a pity, because the lines I am most interested in tend to fall into this neglected category. It is a bit surprising though as you would think that railways in and around major cities would have got photographed more, given the sheer number of enthusiasts living locally. But they didn't. Probably at the key time (1950s/60s) most modellers were still focused on producing versions of Ashburton.

If it's the LNWR line I'm thinking of, photos of it and its stations are really rare. There's some info about Hooley Hill Station and an indifferent photo of the platform here. I have never seen any photo of Dukinfield and Ashton Station. Some more limited info here. The odd thing is it's not that long ago that the line closed. But it seems that unfashionable bits of railway in the Greater Manchester area were rarely photographed, and even more rarely has anyone published anything about them. (If only one could go back in time equipped with a digital camera (sigh).)

I'd love to see it re-opened. I'd love lots of things to happen that are not likely to happen, at least in my lifetime. I don't want to enter the realm of politics here, but we have to be realistic about the kind of country this is and the kind of future people have indicated (through their votes) that they want. No harm in campaigning, but I don't see much chance in of the sea change in attitudes that would be necessary to bring about such a drastic change in policy.

As I recall the original intention was to close Hope Valley and keep Woodhead and Chinley-Matlock. There was however a determined campaign to save Hope Valley, not least from Manchester ramblers, and when the decision was taken to retain it I think BR figured out they could lose the other two lines in its place. As a route from Manchester to Sheffield Hope Valley is and always has been inferior. But, much as I should love to see Woodhead reinstated, I think the chance of it happening is roughly the same as my hitting two Euromillions jackpots in succession and then being acclaimed as supreme ruler of the EU - that is to say zilch, zero, nada. We are in the presence of a very severe economic crisis, and providing a marginally better train service between Manchester and Sheffield is probably so low a priority that it doesn't even register. In Watkin's memorable phrase they prefer to 'plaster their existing lines'. Now, if I were in charge, HS2 would be making maximum use of the old GC trackbed, and we could take it on from there - but I ain't, and it's probably, on balance, a good thing.

Cracking layout and a very interesting thread. The signals do add a new dimension.

We get loads of birds, and we only live 5 miles out of Manchester. All kinds of tits, jays, starlings, collared doves, goldfinches in droves, sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes - you name it. My missus has deliberately designed the garden with wild life in mind. For example, we have lots of log piles, Insects breed in these and provide food for birds. There's lots of books about this kind of stuff, and the RSPB provide leaflets. There is an excess of local cats, but there's little one can do about this. Squirrels were in glut a few years ago, but now we only see the odd one. Our local sparrowhawks often take out a feral pigeon or two, but they would not be there if the food chain below them wasn't there.

To my mind the greatest cliche of all is a through station where the main lines curve sharply in the same direction at the platform ends. Unfortunately, most of us don't live in castles and stately homes, so this cliche is entirely understandable.

Surely it's down the the bidders in each particular auction. If Ebay items are going for big bucks, it suggests strong demand.

Very nice!

I am sorry, but I am having to give priority to the writing side at the moment - after all, it pays me! - and the model railway work has taken a back seat. I have actually made progress with the wagons and (I think) there are several that look quite respectable. I will try to get around to posting a pic. However they all, or nearly all, need proper brake gear adding, and at the moment I haven't the time or energy to fire up the soldering iron. The next phase will be to build one or two from the base kit with Exactoscale springing - this is quite a challenge and not really necessary for plebs like me who work in 7mm FS as opposed to S7. However, I fancy having a go. On another note, my life is in flux at the moment. The missus and I have been talking about downsizing and moving to a coastal town, and in the process getting rid of most or all of our mortgage. This will mean more cash, but less space. The fact is there may not be room for a model railway. This does not faze me half as much as it would have done even five years ago, but it does make me think twice about working on models until we decide what we are going to do. Fact is I don't have the energy I used to have, and even if the Lottery came up (big style) I'm not sure I'd actually want the kind of layout I used to dream about. Something very simple may do. Or even nothing. It's all in the air.

I remember travelling southwestwards in the car in 1963 when my father stopped to ask a guy if he was on the right road for Cirencester. 'You mean Sicester?' asked the old chap. That must be the old pronunciation - it even gets a mention in Shakespeare's Richard II:- Henry IV. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear Is that the rebels have consumed with fire Our town of Cicester in Gloucestershire; But whether they be ta'en or slain we hear not. (Act v Scene vi)