The Black Hat

Gone and done a quick bit of research and its about getting a bike in Leeds to get to work after getting the train in. Clever idea. Must just mean a standard livery which a badge then....

Id have a 3 set one too... but would like it in the WYPTE red and cream stripe livery for the Whitby job they used to do. Whats the new 2011 Northern Rail Albeio livery?

Shame as Id love to have seen the fleet transfered over to Regional on Transpennine work after finishing down south.... or to Intercity for Cross Country routes. An Intercity Swallow class 50 anyone?

Heres something that Ive managed to dig out and have on test tonight to check it for the forthcoming Bishop Auckland Exhibition (see the Exhibition section). 50040 Victim Support (which I think is going to be renamed Royal British Legion) In Regional Railways house colours!

Im trying very hard to get the balance right on my model of a station which has a preserved line. On the preserved side of things Ive figured out what the timetable could be on any given day - a little extreme I know, but for those interested check out the thread im about to do on modelling it like a real railway - Im writing it after this post here. Then all the engines can be figured out - how many needed, which ones come back and when, or if theres a bigger event, shuttles to run when, or which locomotives would be swapped. How many moves there are for empty stock and the path the dining train would take. Yeah the stock is a bit of a mix, with some mk 1s and gresley coaches, with a pullman set of both mk1s and traditional coaches, but its what the 'preserved railway' looks like. I cant model just Eastern region even if I wanted to, so the Black 5 thats a staple engine for most railways has been bought and purchased. Ive said it before here, modelling a preserved line can be done as its just modelling the railway with an opperation that is a new form of running for a line. It has become a frequent service designed for taking people for a ride and as such offers an addition to the operations of railways that were there to form a service. Yes a lot of model preserved railway layouts are a combination of everything chucked in that you could want to run.... but some of us that model the scene accurately might surprise you with our results and whats more, equal attention to detail.

Nevermind Severn Beach.... Glaisdale to Grosmont normally sees you bounced around a bit, but the best is to come with about 2 mins of wheel flange on the enterance to Whitby. Not as sharp as the bend away from Darlington as you curve away on the Bishop Auckland line round to North Road. Always thought it sounds great! Have to have it as a function on DCC sound....

Put me down for..... 1 Northern 2 car. 1 WYPTE red and cream 2 car 1 WYPTE red and cream 3 car 1 or 2 TYPTE 143 2 car..... and would you do provincial blue. 1 or 2 of that too! Does the next one bounce too!

Shame about the lighting set up but its completly understandable. It would be quite tricky to get it all to work, even more so, when if you keep going down the DCC sound and light route, theres orange lights that come on with the door sounds and off with the closing doors and beep! Going to be costly getting these excellent new models and then getting them refitted further, but sure to be worth it in the end. So, without wanting to enquire too much, are you making another annoucement for a DMU, later this year, or are you waiting for a while first, now that the 143 is going to happen too?

I know the model is looking fantastic and that theres a lot of hard work gone into it - but can I ask one question about the lighting for the unit. Can the unit have independant tail lights. Often these units are seen standing in a station with both ends displaying a red set of tail lights at the same time, denoting that they are not going anywhere. It would mean that these would need to be seperate from the Headlights used on the units but in model form this would be invaluable, especially when running two units fixed together, as when coupled the inner lights dont run. It would mean the leading unit has its headlights working, tail lights disabled and the rear unit would just have its own tail lights running at the rear. This I feel would give the unit that extra sense of realism, especially for opperation, while personally Id love to have the unit sitting there with sound too, just idelling away with both reds on, and the carriage lights on too. I think the model is brilliant, but wonder if this extra detail could be included.

While many wont be surprised with the fact that Im very pro-Raven, with the idea that although Gresley was great, the ideas that could have been pushed could have meant that the Railway system would have been much different by the time of any kind of Beeching style review post-war. However, my attentions were turned in this threat to the ideas of projects that were designed, but never built, or concieved, but not acted upon. BR was thinking of re-engineing the class 37s in the mid 1980s which could have meant a new class 38 or 39 bringing about body-snatcher locomotives some 20 years earlier. What about units too... a lot is made of locomotives but I think adapting the class 151 unit could have been interesting. Other ideas for a unit could be a single car 158 unit rather than rip apart the 155 to make a 153 which is underpowered and has the squat cab on one end. Hardly brilliant for the traincrew. Early sprinters such as the class 150 still have a working hand lever for the crew to enter a compartment for the cab, rather than the service doors. Imagine if that was a specification and more train still had a guard compartment, akin to first generation units. Plenty of ideas to come im sure....

Bachmann projects like this I find are always worth the wait.

I notice theres a tension lock coupling on the model - is this interchangable with a dummy coupler for the unit. I'd expect so given it isnt hard to remove them, but then I can run two together! Means I need even more now!

Don't get me started on that.... and now a Southern and Dorset theme gala!! S&D is the Stockton and Darlington, but Andy knows Ive been there before, so won't wrattle the sabre too much bout that one. Very true, cheers mate! Why not model a preserved railway? The preserved railways that exist now and operations and allow a host of different classes of engine to be seen. Yes your going to get engines from different regions together, but thats the whole joy of the preservation movement. While it might have been true that some older members reacted like that years ago, its been a fore-runner to all the paint froth that exists today!! What does irk me about some railways, is that they run trains that are not period to the area and theme. Take the NYMR near me for example, there wasnt many Gresley A4's hauling 8 coach trains up the bank during BR days. Neither was a teak set rostered for the line, or a Pullmann. But thats preservation today and what the line needs to run and make money. Today we enjoy seeing those trains and modelling them just means you can run them all together. It can get out of hand when your collection boarders on 50+ locomotives that you bought because you liked them all and so your 'preserved line' features have a dozen types of engine long since scrapped, or suddenly appearing in a guise beacuse a stable mate is their true identity. Oddly these are mostly limited editions and yes, in elements Im slightly guilty of this sin of pleasure of wanting to run them (but no one preserved A1's or J39s when they should have!) and its too much when this preserved railway suddenly has everything it could ever want or need, but then some lines get close to it. Preservation is the evolution of how the heritage market has moved on to tap into the money that tourism and enthusiasts can bring, this is how the engines today earn their money and how they survive to be in steam or in traffic. If you choose to model the operation, the best tribute I think would be to model it fairly close to how it could run in life. Then you do both the railway and the interest credit.

My layout is boardering on a perserved layout. In fact its where the national network meets the preserved railway. I think a lot of people model an area where the two run side by side - Bridgenorth and Grosmont are two examples that show this in the real world. Also I think more preserved railways and branches exist so that people can run models out of an era that would suit the main theme of the layout. For my own part, my station sees preserved railway arrive at one end, with national network services arriving from the other. Based upon Bishop Auckland if planning and forethought was put into where the station should be today, it has room for both stations and a servicing area (complete with a turntable) instead of the Doctors that was built upon former railway property. Some freight services run through to serve industries in the valley, mirroring what is happening following an annoucement of coal to be brought out from Wolsingham. If you find areas that are there then the possibilities of modelling it all with some modellers licence is there for you to enjoy. However, modelling just a preserved station or railway could be interesting in its own right, if you managed to get the right location and models to suit. One of the biggest things that gets me is the way that people make a model and have their trackplans ill thought out, and then choose to operate them in a manner that doesnt seem right. This too might make modelling preservation that little bit complex or simple if it was done in its own right. As in all things its how far you go, and to what extent you do it. So build your line and let others have an opinion. At the end of all this, its your layout and if you want to model preservation, then do so.

that served Strongarm(!)

Good news everyone! With Bachmann and Hornby making no models I want Im free to buy even more Pacers! Lifes great isnt it!!!!

What I was wondering about a headboard was something akin to the different ones that are used on the main national network. Most manufactuers stick to the BR and former regions traditional headboards but offer little in the way of new boards made for excursions or newly named trains since. Things like the Scarborough Spa Express, or the one that Im interested in, "The Dalesman" would be brilliant, but also trains such as the Moorlander, Cathedrals Express, or Cumbrian Mountain Express I would have thought would be very popular amongst modellers wanting to run a special train on 00 gauge. The expansion into this area for your company I would have thought would be very beneficial. I would also not just want 2 of the Dalesman, but perhaps even 6, to give spares for the trains Im wanting to run. If it is possible then I can place an order for details, but I think others might be interested should the venture be taken forward on a broader basis.

I dont need many wagons as Im modelling Bishop Auckland.... but Pacers Im going to need dozens of!

Ice Cream.....?! Im very much one for some rasberry ripple or a magnum sometimes! Guess the closest thing you got to with a 142 was Tyne and Wear Regional Railways! Save a blue stripe instead of red monkey blood on your yellow and white vanilla! So if the 142 is considered and even due to go to production..... pray tell on other plans as it means I dont buy any others and instead just save for the models you'll make...... God help the wallet when they are realeased.... the recent pictures of the 144/143 look great..... cant wait for a 143 in provinical blue.... Brilliant work your on with...

Whats the chances that you'd branch out from this and expand to headboards...... although Ive some names that I'd like to consider too.... especially if you did some in a modern image style.... Would all be for 00 gauge too....

Life is for Living - Barcley James Harvest

of Consular Officials