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Good luck with the move. Make sure they mix the colours right Pixie! If anyone is qualified for this, it’s you. Guy

I think you need to chill out. People can be forgiven for thinking they look printed on from the pics Heljan shared. The moulding line is very fine and the difference isn’t all that obvious. The clarification only came a few posts ago from Ben. I don’t think anything malicious is intended and your response is over the top. Guy

Thanks all for the comments! The intro music is called Sporting Chance by Zach Laurence. Thanks to this thread for the reference: I managed to find a copy online and added it as the sound track. I think they get royalties through YouTube for using it as the YouTube software seemed to identify it as a copyright 'hit'. After being busy with work, thing are finally quieting down and I have some time to focus on the layout this summer.... phew! Guy

Here's a short video that I made for Lydd Rail this year. Hope you like it!

To be fair, there have been contradictory messages about the 5/7 car sets if you read back a couple of pages. Keeping an open mind for now and fingers crossed for July fulfilment (at least for those orders placed direct with the Hornby website which is still showing a July delivery). Guy

Melted wagons arriving soon then Eamon? Seriously though.... that's good news indeed. I really do hope that they are still in good condition and that my pre-order can be fulfilled. Guy

No, but have you considered sky blue paint? I used emulsion tester pot from Wickes.

21st June was 2 days ago... or is that 2022?

So they still haven't signed off the livery samples.... oh dear, could still be quite a while then.

I can see a few of these getting a home on Whatley. 56001 with 80s yellow axle boxes and white wheels (the train equivalent of leg warmers and shoulder pads!). Guy

Where did you see this please? EDIT: The Hornby website is showing the 5 and 7 car packs as 'Summer' with everything else (intermediate trailers, NDM) showing 'Autumn'.

Great to see this project hit the tracks (so to speak). Well done Mark, Colin, Ben and Mike(s)! Should be very suitable for Oldshaw Mike H? Edit: here's what we are aiming for on Oldshaw perhaps (if only someone did the vans to go with it.... oh wait!): https://flickr.com/photos/142805908@N08/28859568153/in/photolist-jbkasE-2kzAHQo-KYdQag Guy

As a resident of Hanwell, it's a station I know very well. The station has been fairly sympathetically upgraded (I love the new waiting room on the Westbound platform) but there are a number of elements of the restoration that are just a total eyesore. 1) The equipment boxes for the lifts have totally ruined the once elegant entrance on Station Approach. These should have been buried somewhere within the fabric of the embankment or housed in a separate building on the north side of the station on the enormous new apron. 2) TFL's 'heavy metal' galvanised platform fittings - they stick out like a sore thumb. There was a missed opportunity to make these blend in by e.g. painting them to match the Victorian fixtures and fittings such as the lamps. 3) The enormously over-engineered brackets for CCTV and speakers all the way along the platform. Was it not possible to mount the cameras to existing posts or at least install brackets that are more visually in keeping with the rest of the station? It may have come off the 'at risk' register, but the character has been irreversibly changed by TfL's alterations. Guy

Based upon the current government guidance to continue social distancing restrictions until June 21st, the Showcase organising team have taken the reluctant decision to cancel this year’s show. As you will notice from the timing of this announcement, we tried to leave making a decision until the last possible moment to provide the maximum chance for a show to go ahead. At the start of the year we had high hopes of the show going ahead but it looks like unfortunately we have missed the unlock date by a matter of weeks. Rather than reschedule the show until later in the summer, we have decided to postpone until next year when we can be more confident of running a well attended show. With other exhibitions postponing their shows until later in the summer, the competition for exhibitors is high and the probability of a date clash is almost inevitable. We will confirm the 2022 date soon, but provisionally, we expect this to be the first weekend of June (4/5th). To mitigate for the absence of Showcase for a second year, we hope to continue to run the popular DEMU online social events. Please see the social calendar on the DEMU website for more details. Guy (& the Showcase Organising Team)

Don't tempt me Fran! Having a difficult Monday here... everything seems like a challenge in the world of low earth orbit satellite internet at the moment. The grass must be greener at Accurascale, right? Just by virtue of being located in the emerald isle for a start! Guy

Now or never on that job at Accurascale Ed?

I’d argue that a good engineer makes up for deficiencies or ambiguities in specifications. In software engineering there is no point in waiting for the requirements to be perfect... it’s unlikely they ever will be. Having a vision of what good looks like is far more important. Guy

A potential solution?

Maybe they can lend us some XPTs?

Bloomin’ iPhone...

For all the people who don’t think there is much of a problem. This is Paddington right now. Only one hitachi set and that didn’t look like it was in service. The depot at North Pole was stuffed full of them on the way past. Draw your own conclusions. I’m not sure blaming civil servants is constructive either. A cracked part... much more likely to be the fault of the engineering team. Engineers don’t like to be wrong (or told what to do). It’s just lazy to blame ‘faceless’ civil servants. Guy

They regularly ran into Whatley quarry didn't they?

Just been looking at prototype photos prompted by your post. Yes, what a minefield! Lots of peaks in preservation with a mixture of the two. Still, the Timken SKF boxes are quite distinctive with their bolt pattern. The bolts seem to be missing from the Heljan moulding. Guy

Reading the headlines today about festivals not being able to get insurance due to COVID, I was wondering what the current situation is for shows. Given DEMU Showcase is going to be cancelled again this year we haven’t had the need to take out insurance yet. Thanks, Guy