dmustu

The blue lights on Turbostars are not for signallers or track workers. If they are illuminated, they show that a safety system on the train has been isolated. I can only assume it's the same on an Electrostar.

The extra cost will depend on how it's done, if EMT have a small depot in Birmingham, they will need to set up their own accommodation, or pay another operator to use theirs, something which isn't an issue at the moment. XC will remain in the Lamp Block, regardless of where the work may end up. Which Drivers would TUPE across at Birmingham? Given that there is only 1 link of 40 Drivers that don't sign 170's, the work is very much integrated into the depot, and also bear in mind that seniority is not a sign of link progression, there are Drivers in Link AB that are junior to some link D drivers. And if EMT don't need a Birmingham depot, pulling the work out could potentially mean redundancies. If EMT decided not to have any Birmingham based staff, I'd imagine that Leicester would have to learn Stanstead. Route learning norm for Birmingham Drivers is 35 days IIRC, so I'd guess a Leicester Driver would need somewhere between 25 to 30 days route learning, that also means 25 to 30 days of that Drivers Diagram covering. And no doubt other existing EMT depot's will be chasing some of the work. Such a move will generate 100's of training days, and hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs. And of course, moves from EMT reps to get a harmonisation deal, especially as XC salary is higher than EMT's. 170's are very much a 'standard' traction for XC, there are 29 170's, only 5 less than the 34 220's XC have. The 170 work was very much part of the 2007 XC franchise, also the New St - Hereford work was supposed to go to XC, but got dropped at the 11th hour, supposedly in part due to issues with the cost of XC having a small Worcester Depot.

I would disagree on moving the Leicester and Stanstead's to EMT. To do so would require the TUPE of Leicester and Cambridge depots, plus possible TUPE of some Birmingham based staff, all on their own pay and conditions, would EMT want a small Birmingham depot? Probably not. Do EMT get a small fleet of 170's, non standard to their franchise, and where does the heavy maintenance for them get done, would it stay at Tyseley, or get transferred to a depot in EMT territory? If the units and staff are all kept at depot's in the East Midlands, how much will that increase ECS moves to start the first trains out of Birmingham in the mornings? Non of the above is impossible to solve, but any messing about with the service will increase the cost of providing it. This proposal is nothing more than a political one, made by people with no grasp of the realities of running the service. Coming round to staff matters, I do wonder how the West Midlands Franchise will manage to run the proposed Saturday services on a Sunday? Given that Sundays are outside of the working week for LM, I can't see them being able to do such a big increase without a change to the working conditions to ensure enough staff are available on a Sunday. I also wonder if such an increase is really necessary?

There was a plan at the start of the XC franchise to do just that with the Stanstead's, with the Leicester terminators running through all stops to Cambridge, but it required extra units and extra funding, which coinciding with the financial crash of 2008 wasn't forthcoming, so it got put right to the very back of the burner.

SOLIHULL MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION Saturday 11th November 2017 OPENING TIMES: 10:00am-4:30pm ADMISSION: Adults £2.50 Concessions £2.00 Children £1.00 Family £6.00 Annual model railway exhibition presented by the Solihull Model Railway Circle St Mary's Church Hall and 3rd Solihull St Mary Scout Hall (B92 8PN) - 15 minutes from J6, M42. 11 Working layouts are invited plus trade and society support. Light refreshments and free parking available. Busses to Hobs Moat Road: 71, 72. Busses that stop at Wheatsheaf, A45, Coventry Road: X1, X2. Bus information available from Network West Midlands: 0871 200 22 33 1. Binton Junction 2mm Scale, N Gauge Graham Price “Changing times at Binton junction”. Goods yard closed, electrification of the mainline just started, newly constructed flats built by the local council. A classic mainline, branch line junction: Station set in the 1960’s when a lot of social and railway changes were going on. The main theme of “Binton junction” I have tried to achieve the changing times of the period, steam to diesel and electric traction, closure of local railway facility’s, new flats replacing terraced housing, gas to electric street lighting and with some of the traditional industry hanging on still in there. 2. Bourton Yard 3.5mm Scale, HO Gauge Paul Challenor The layout is based on a USA, industrial rail yard around the early 1980’s. The locos are all DCC with the addition of sound from MRC sound decoders. All the work is done by the owner including weathering on the locos and rolling stock. Locos are a mixture of Atlas and Athearn Gennisis. 3. Charlton (The Strand) 4mm Scale, OO Gauge David Boot Charlton the Strand is what I call a “what if” layout. What if the railway, in particular the GWR, had arrived in Charlton Village rather than passing straight through Fladbury to Worcester from Evesham. Although it is not an accurate landscape of the area it is in theory sighted on the village green were a Brook runs through to the River Avon. For this exercise the Brook has been culverted. There is nothing unusual about the layout, being similar to many GWR branch line termini seen in or around exhibitions. The need to produce a smaller layout that I can handle in my advancing years, spurred me on to this idea, and has proved to have been the correct decision having attended two exhibitions recently. The layout has code 75 track throughout, Peco points, Seep Point motors, a mixture of plastic constructed building and laser cut structures. The latter is my first venture into this medium. The signals are from the Dapol range, but as I inadvertently burnt out the some of the motors whilst installing them I have had to revert to more simplistic methods. Some of the buildings are from a previous layout, and the trees I’m afraid are ready made, my enthusiasm does not run to trying to replicate Beeches, Cedars and Oaks these days, although I have “dug up” and replanted some from my house bound layout. My favourite period for modelling is the 50/60s for which I have plenty of appropriate stock to run, but occasionally you may see the odd stranger from another region appear. I still use screw link or three link couplings for authenticity's sake as my hand is still steady enough to handle them. The layout is 14ft long including the fiddle yard by 2’ wide and is built in such a way that it can be extended in either direction, as and when the mood takes me, but I am ever mindful that as time goes by I cannot handle big layouts, but you never know. Finally the layout is built in such a way that I could possibly convert it to a LMS branch by replacing the station building the signal box and signals. If you have any questions please ask. I or any colleagues assisting me will be willing to answer any questions or queries. 4. Whitecross Street 4mm Scale, OO Gauge John Baggaley Set in the late 1960s/early 1970s (British Rail’s ‘Blue Period’) the layout represents a fictitious station and small parcels depot located near the real Moorgate Station. There was once a SECR service running from Snow Hill to Moorgate via an east facing junction from the Snow Hill/Farringdon line to the Widened Lines (which ran from Kings Cross & St Pancras to Moorgate). Although this SECR service ceased in 1916 and the connection lifted some years later, I have assumed that for my purposes it remained open and the line was later electrified on the 3rd rail system. The station is pure imagination and supposes that the independently minded SECR decided to build their own station rather than share the existing station with the Met, GN and LMS. It is supposedly located on the site of the Midland Railways (LMS) Whitecross Goods Depot, the area is now all vanished under the modern Barbican development. The passenger service is by the Southern Region and sees a variety of EMUs. The small parcels depot is also accessible from the widened lines and in addition to SR trains sees Midland and Eastern Region diesel hauled parcels trains with locos and parcels stock typical of those regions. That is as far as a real life justification goes. The aim has been to produce a small and interesting layout to use a collection of EMUs and parcels stock. Constructed on purpose built plywood baseboards with Peco OO trackwork (Code 100), the scenic is inevitably a bit limited and utilise a variety of sources for the structures, mostly modified Metcalfe and Walthers kits. Rolling stock is from most of the major manufacturers supplemented with kit built models mainly from DC Kits and Kirk. It is DCC controlled with analogue switched tortoise point motors. The operational side uses 2BIL, 2HAL, 2EPB, 4CEP and other multiple unit stock, Class 33s and 73s, with short van trains, Class 419 Motor Luggage Vans hauling a parcels van or two. Classes 15/16/24/25 from the LMR and ER may also appear. It is usually operated with stock in a mix of liveries from the late '60s/early '70s. However if required can also be operated as predominately green or blue period. See: - http://www.mmdmrc.org.uk/members-layouts.html and http://wealden.weebly.com/ 5. Kinlet Road 4mm Scale, OO Gauge John Williams (Wyre Forest Model Railway Club) For several years in a row, as a club we attend the Warley Show with our club information stand. About 8 years ago we decided as a club that a small layout would be ideal to display the information stand and give us members a bit more something do and be more interesting to visitors. Kinlet Road was designed with ease of transport in mine. We want it to have DCC sound and with no point motors – points operate with wire in a tube. The layout is split in the middle and the one end of the layout becomes the top of a box for transportation. We use “The Gauge Master Prodigy DCC Controller”. The first couple of years the layout attended Warley Show without any scenery, as we did not think it was a requirement at the time. However, we did eventually add scenery. All the buildings are scratch built, with some modified kits. The layout depicts a very small depot in British Rail Blue days -We think these sound better than the modern ones. 6. The Wallows- Earl of Dudley Pensnett Railway 7mm Scale, O Gauge Mike Bragg The Wallows is a portable layout set in the Black Country an area once described as “red by night and black by day” where furnaces lit the night sky and smoke hid the sun during the daylight hours. In certain corners of the Black Country, behind forbidding wastelands, or at the bottom of unkempt lanes far from the beaten track that generally end up in a no-man's-land of former industrial occupations, you might still come across a relic or two created in the great age, the age that witnessed the profile of the Dark Region being raised to an unprecedented level as it became the beating heart of Britain’s Industrial manufacturers. The area just to the north of the Dudley-Brierley Hill road is known as The Wallows, and was very much the centre of the Pensnett Railway. The model has been designed to include some of the features of the area such as the Harts Hill Iron Works and of course the inevitable pub a feature that has become the signature building of all my previous Earl of Dudley based layouts. The Baseboards are commercial products from Grainge and Hodder, track work is scratch built as are the structures whilst the electrics and controls are analogue as DCC on a layout this size would be wasted. 7. Tanybwlch and Penrhyn 009 Narrow Gauge Nigel and William Smith The original model based on tanybwlch station, marks the half way point on the Ffestiniog railway, its sylvan setting ever popular with visitors, the quiet surroundings occasionally broken by the hustle and bustle caused by trains passing each other. In contrast, the new extension based on Penrhyn Station sees trains either stopping for a few solitary passengers or pass through onto the next stations. The layout is set towards the end of the high season (summer/early autumn), from the late 1990’s onward. Allowing vintage and modern coaching stock to be run, hauled by locos associated with the line, such as double & single Fairlies, George England saddle tanks, Ex Penrhyn Hunslets and the funky diesel. All of the buildings, locos and rolling stock are either scratch built or from kits. Approximately 300 trees provide the Sylvan setting; more are to be planted in due course. Watch out for the demonstration slate train, as there are rumours that this will return back to Porthmadog by gravity. Modellers licence has been required due to the space available, therefore the layout is not to scale. However, it is hoped that the layout provides those familiar with the Ffestiniog railway with a few memories. The railway, featured in the February 2014 edition of the railway modeller, appears at exhibitions in support of the Ffestiniog railway society, and the team who maintain the real Tanybwlch Station. 8. Nancledre 16.5 Narrow Gauge Warley MRC Nancledre is a small Cornish village midway between St Ives and Penzance. The harbour came into being when the local landowner joined the rush to extract tin from the moorland above the village and realised the best way to get the raw material out of the Duchy was by sea. The original cart track was converted and a narrow gauge line was put in place, known affectionately as O&DLR (Oneslip & Downe Light Railway). This eventually fell into disuse until the upsurge in holidays and railway preservation brought about its re-opening, when the opportunity was taken to extend the line along the coast to the local beach and on towards Penzance. 9. Cherwell 4mm Scale, OO Gauge Solihull Model Railway Circle A scenic OO gauge, 26 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 6 inches, four-track mainline with an integral branch line. It features working automatic signals and has largely scratch built buildings with a local theme, e.g.: The Manor House, The Mason’s Arms, The George Hotel and the Fat Cat Café from Solihull; King’s Heath library; Tyseley Station; and Water Orton Station. The layout was built mainly to display scale length mainline trains, those being run reflecting the varying interests of the membership. Trains run are usually British outline, but can come from any part of the UK mainland and from any date between about 1900 and the present day. If you look carefully you can see pigeons roosting under the station bridge, foxes using the track bed as a shortcut and one fox eyeing lambs, gulls eggs and the shepherd on the upper pasture, cats watching building work in the arch from the platform and gulls above the sea and on the cliffs with a lonely cormorant. 10. Avonbridge 7mm Scale, O Gauge Solihull Model Railway Circle This layout is a 30 feet by 13 feet, three-track, continuous run with station and storage loops. Early in 2013, we widened two of the front boards to provide some space to allow for shunting. The boards are made from 9mm exterior plywood with some aluminium box-section bracing and steel box-section legs with rubber door-stops as feet. PECO code 124 bullhead track is laid to a minimum radius of 6 feet. Points are operated from the main panel using Hammant and Morgan motors. The buildings are based on local Midland Railway prototypes and therefore the layout represents a busy MR branch line somewhere in the midlands, although the stock run is from a variety of companies and eras to suit our varying interests. Most buildings are scratch-built from a combination of Plastikard and wood. The main station building is a model of Northfield and the small shelter on the opposite platform is from Moseley. The signal box is modelled on Luffenham, with Marton Junction’s coal bunker. A scratch-built scale model of the goods shed at Eckington on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway is at one end of the station and future developments will probably include a footbridge between the platforms, back scenes and possibly a small engine shed. At one end is the road-over-rail bridge at Ripple, near Tewkesbury and at the other end a section of the 1816 Edstone canal viaduct from Bearley, near Stratford upon Avon. People and accessories are from various manufacturers, including PECO and Preiser. 11. A Scottish Branch 4mm scale, OO Gauge Solihull Model Railway Circle A new end-to-end branch line club layout based on Scottish practice, displayed here partly built to give an insight into layout construction. It is 16 feet long and just over 2 feet wide and we are using SMP code 75 bullhead plain track and handmade Marcway points. It has been constructed to run with either DCC or traditional control. There is a terminus station at one end and a hidden 'fiddle' yard with a traverser at the other, with a scenic section in between. A major part of the concept is the use of very deep baseboards, with the railway running through the middle, allowing greater depths and heights of scenery for a more interesting appearance. The major architectural feature is the curved viaduct based on Killiecrankie.

From what I remember when I looked through the ITT, although it was some time ago, there was a paragraph about looking at ways to alter operating practices to save on cost, which could include DCO or DOO. If I remember right, it didn't explicitly say introduce DOO, but didn't rule it out either!

There is that I suppose. Must admit i'm surprised to see the 323's being replaced, especially as they have some parts of the traction updated relatively recently. I'm not really keen on the new trains having wider doors, as I find that wider door ways seem to encourage people to push their way onto the train before everyone has got off, always seems to be more of a problem on the 170's than the 323's. 3 sets narrower doors doors would be better than 2 sets of wide ones, unless we're getting 3 sets of wide doors!?!

On top of this, there will be standing room for 50,000 passengers in Birmingham in metro-style carriages, similar to the ones used on the London Overground, for short cross-city journeys ​Not everyone's journey on the cross city is short, not looking forward to a 50 min journey standing up!

Brunellie McBrunel Face.....

A little bit of info from the Hornby Magazine site - http://www.hornbymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/06/DSC_3729_lr.jpg http://www.hornbymagazine.com/2017/06/08/video-Dapol-oo-gauge-class-122/

Cheer's Stationmaster, that seems to have done the trick.

No, just a normal windows computer.

Cant get that last pic to post the right way up, despite being the right way round on my computer!

Had a ride on the Chiltern bubble yesterday before its retirement.

Birmingham Drivers also signed 57's, but this only lasted around a year until Arriva won the XC franchise. I think Plymouth drivers learnt them earlier than Birmingham. It is pretty rare for a voyager to need assistance, and voyagers have a 'back up' braking system, as in they can be converted from an electric brake to a traditional 2 pipe air brake to rescue a failed voyager, 57's were hardly ever used, in the Midlands at least. Any type of loco can rescue a voyager using the adapter coupling carried on every set, but it is quite a laborious process to fit, and only fitters are competent to use it, so is very unlikely that it would be used. Pendolino's have the same ability to convert to a 2 pipe air brake, and can assist a voyager, and vice versa, but for a voyager to rescue a pendo it must have an equal number of vehicles, with the engines operating, i.e. a 4 car voyager can't rescue a 9 car pendo, but a 9 car voyager can.

That's very helpful, thanks. Will look at taking a trip down there soon.

Sounds like a good trip. What time was the first run with the dmu done in the afternoon?

Suppose you could renumber it if Dapol release it with the headlight - http://www.railcar.co.uk/images/326

Its a class 101.

No probs, just let me know.

Glad you like them. We didn't ride any trams on this trip, but have done on previous trips, and you still drop your fare in the box on your exit, and receive a a white gloved salute, but the fare is certainly more that 10 yen, and I doubt we'll ever see an exchange rate of 600 to the £!

It is the bar used for Japan Rail Journal. Its called Bar Ginza Panorama Trains, about a 10 minute walk from Shinjuku east exit. They also have another branch in Shibuya, but we have not been to that one. The Blue Train cocktail is very tasty!

Finally got round to adding the last batch, all from the Tokyo area.

Hello, been following with interest and think the layout looks great. I'd definitely add some lighting to the shop. Cheers.