Trevellan

If I may comment as an IoW resident, I have recently heard from an SWR employee that 484 001 kept tripping out the traction supply, which is a tad unfortunate. On the point of the Brading "feathers", I am informed that the existing platform road is designed to be bi-directional. Whether both platforms will have this feature remains to be seen. Mike Storey's point about costs and overruns is a good one. An experienced and well-respected former manager in the bus industry has already offered the opinion that Southern Vectis could have done an awful lot more for public transport on the island with £26m or thereabouts. Personally, I am happy that the railway is being retained with the current investment. It has suffered too many years of attrition and neglect, yet still has a lot to offer.

Life.

Here on the Isle of Wight, people are voting with their feet, or rather, wheels. Traffic levels during this latest lockdown have quickly returned to near normal at certain times of day. It makes a mockery of the supposed lockdown. And before the keyboard warriors try to pick a fight, I drive buses on a part-time basis and I worked throughout Lockdown 1 last year (and since). Compliance was generally high during L1, with a few notable exceptions, and traffic was extremely light. As time has gone on, people appear to be taking a more liberal interpretation of essential journeys. More annoyingly for us, visitors have continued to travel to holiday homes from the mainland, including London when it was in Tier 4 and we were in Tier 1. Covid restrictions don't just have economic consequences. I know of several people whose mental health has suffered and who are desperate to return to some sense of normality. Therefore, while I understand the rational behind lockdown and the tier system, it's fast losing credibility with so many seemingly ignoring the restrictions with impunity.

These days I do a lot of work on tender submissions and there are many hurdles for bidders to overcome, health and safety being just one. We have increasingly become a process-driven society, not always for the best of reasons. I think Rick has summed it up well. A balance has to be drawn.

I worked for a highway authority at one time and all schemes went through a safety audit. In our case, the competent persons included former police traffic officers.

I have two of these sound-fitted Mainline Warships and would not recommend them for anything other than novelty/play value. One of them packed up after a short time, so it became mercifully quiet in operation. While mechanically challenged, I think the Mainline offering captured the look of the prototype and still bears comparison with newer offerings.

This is not my favourite prototype picture, but it is one that I think has bags of atmosphere. This is 26 027 after arrival at Thurso on Friday 7th August 1981. It is pictures like this that make me realise why people are drawn to building Scottish layouts. My friend and I had travelled on the service from Inverness. We then caught the bus to Wick and a mooch around the town before returning to Inverness by train. Class 26 haulage throughout.

I'm disappointed with some of the unnecessarily negative - and largely subjective - responses to the OP. I am a trustee of a registered charity (a transport museum) which has also benefited from these funds. We make a valuable contribution to local tourism (a substantial six-figure sum p.a.) and would ordinarily have been open over two weeks ago. While we do not charge for entry, visitors tend to spend money on refreshments and items from our shop. Over a normal season, that amount will be higher than the grant we have received, especially when income from our two major running weekends is taken into account. We are not a wealthy organisation and the grant will go some way to offsetting our annual costs. We own our building and its maintenance requirements don't cease because of lockdown.

Back in the 1960s, any attempt at bunking OOC by me and my mates started at Willesden Junction station, which tends to support Chris F's answer. As I recall, it wasn't far to walk.

As I recall, I joined RMweb back in 2009 and, as I've said before, it's the best club I've ever been a member of. I have tried to support the forum as much as my situation allows, contributing what I hope are sensible views on a variety of topics. The highlights for me were the Taunton open days in 2014/15 /16. Building two modules was just what I needed to get my modelling mojo back and the days themselves were incredibly good fun. Sadly, my circumstances have changed markedly in the last three years and my railway modelling activities have all but disappeared for the moment. However, I live in hope of further opportunities and continue to follow the various threads on RMweb. This optimism resulted in me signing up for Gold membership this year to cement my support. Congratulations to Andy and all involved. It's been a remarkable journey and I don't doubt there are many good things still to come.

Gareth Dennis, the young PW engineer in the YouTube video linked above, says that Wales will benefit, citing Aberystwyth as an example. The wider benefits of HS2 have been largely ignored by critics, but only time will prove them wrong.

This is a well-known and much debated topic which you can search for on RMweb. As an alloy, mazak is prone to problems with impurities, which in turn can cause the metal to expand and/or crumble. The Hornby 31 is by no means the only offender. I have a Heljan 47 with similar problems. Your crumbling chassis is only likely to be useful for yielding a few spares. As I said, the issue has been well-covered on RMweb and you would be well advised to spend a little time on research before making any decisions.

I run both Facebook and Twitter accounts. In short, FB is for keeping in touch with family, friends and certain colleagues, while Twitter I tend to use more for professional purposes. As Mr Chuffer says, be wary of what you share on Facebook. Not everyone is on there for innocent purposes.

There are a few proponents of the scheme who do their best to fight the misinformation from certain quarters, but it is difficult to communicate the benefits of HS2 to people who really don't understand the need to invest in national infrastructure. HS2 themselves were slow off the mark with a media campaign and are only now beginning to catch up. Their cause has not been helped by those who focus on potential time savings, rather than the benefits of additional capacity on the classic network. If HS2 is scrapped or severely cut back, the repercussions will be serious over the longer term.

As someone who edits and produces a quarterly magazine for a charity, I can identify with the comments from Phil and Chris. Interestingly, the critics and naysayers among my readership (a tiny minority, it should be noted) take up more of my time than satisfied readers. [Sigh]

Yes, the Rapido APT-E certainly seems to be holding its own, pricewise, but I'd be loathe to part with mine just to make a couple of hundred quid. Similarly, my Bachmann Blue Pullman. Both superb models that I enjoy owning. I have thinned out my collection considerably in the last few years and virtually everything has gone for around 50-60% of the original purchase price. So no, not worth it as an investment.

Not quite the same thing, but I was supposed to have received a Royal Mail Tracked item from Amazon yesterday. It wasn't put through my letterbox and none of my neighbours took it in. The Royal Mail website suggests I should tell the sender, while Amazon say I should contact the courier. A report has been submitted to Royal Mail, but I don't hold out much hope.

My very first model railway magazine purchase was the November 1967 Railway Modeller. In the years since there have been many layouts I regard as classics. P.D. Hancock's Craig & Mertonford was one; a freelance, but totally believable railway, David Jenkinson's Garsdale Road was another I kept going back to. I'm not an LMS fan as such, being born in BR days, but it was an excellent fine scale tailchaser. In more recent times the amazing Hursley showed just what realism was possible on a relatively modest layout. Others have mentioned Bredon, the impressive train-set sized layout that punched well above its weight. Sadly, I don't currently have the space or time to be inspired, but I thank those modellers who have entertained me down the years.

Another vote for Hattons from me. I have sold several batches of models to them, but before doing so I made a simple spreadsheet to set out what I felt were realistic valuations. The same document, minus prices, was used as a packing note. All of my models were genuinely mint, i.e. only opened and test run, with all paperwork and additional components present where appropriate. In most cases, Hattons' offers were fairly close to my valuations, some higher, some lower. Overall it balanced out, especially with the free collection and delivery service. I have sold through eBay, but I felt the extra hassle wasn't really worth it. A few bits through RMweb Buy & Sell were a tad easier.

The question of buses and their drivers tends to be rather divisive, so let me explain what I was taught by a London Transport instructor. The distinction is between "pulling out" and "moving off". If a bus stop is located in a layby, the bus will have left the flow of traffic and will need to observe the usual rules and etiquette in rejoining the traffic flow, i.e. pulling out. In other words, wait for a gap or a kind soul who knows the Highway Code and gives way. If the bus stop is located within a lane, the bus has not left the flow of traffic when it stops. Therefore, when the bus is ready to move off the driver should indicate to signal his/her intention and check the mirrors to assess the situation. My instructor's take on this was simple. If more than three vehicles ignore the indicator and attempt to pass, they're taking the p*** and the bus driver should begin to move off. I have known traffic officers who have agreed with this take, mainly because a stationary bus represents a potential hazard. I still drive buses on a part-time basis and find that motorists are increasingly reluctant to give way and will do almost anything to avoid doing so. Despite the pro-motoring stance of many politicians, the day is likely to come when buses will have statutory priorities on a far bigger scale than they currently do.

I'm not here to be an apologist for Southern Vectis, but as a former press officer in the bus industry I think some of your comments are wide of the mark. I am 99% certain that the majority of the island's bus network is commercial, i.e. not receiving subsidy. The exceptions are the community services, e.g. 24, 32, 39 etc, which are scheduled to use volunteer drivers (although paid staff fill in as necessary). Payments for concessionary permits do not reflect service levels and costs. I would repeat my earlier point, namely that the island has a much better bus network than some conurbations. One reason why SV has no competition on the island is that the costs of operating competing services would not be covered by revenue. And that's before we look at ownership and use of the bus stations in Ryde and Newport. And finally, Newbridge regained an hourly service in 2014, by diverting alternative route 7 journeys via Calbourne, Wellow and Thorley. Needless to say, usage from these villages is low, with longer distance customers making up the numbers.

I would be very interested to learn the background behind your comment. The current Southern Vectis network is now more than a decade old and very stable. It is also comprehensive, with frequencies that compare favourably with larger conurbations, let alone a small island. Certain routes do not pay their way and are cross-subsidised by the viable parts of the network, yet this is not always understood by critics. I am not aware of any "heavily used" routes being withdrawn in the last 10-12 years. Incidentally, the latest generation of electronic ticket machines do record concessionary passes and this is a significant figure.

Unfortunately, there have been numerous instances of vandalism on heritage lines and facilities over the years. While it absorbs both funds and volunteer time, the only solution is to improve security in all its forms. Any potential access by trespassers of any type needs to be identified and secured, plus CCTV. It's a real shame, but a reflection of our 21st century society.

I've just checked my images from 2016 and the building was largely and thankfully obscured by trees and hedging, which is why it wasn't so obvious!

That large warehouse was not at Bishops Lydeard the last time I was there in April 2016. I thought that was WSR land.