Pandora

The pub on the station at Bridlington had railway memorabilia in abundance when I visited the town a few years ago. Sowerby Bridge station, the conversion of the old goods office to a pub is an enthusiasts haunt, the landlord is "one of us". The Corporation Taps in Doncaster, not far from the station, used to be a haunt of haulage bashers at the weekend, a good source of railway "gen", is this current or moved on elsewhere in the town?

If you entering 2mmFS, I would look at the locos and rolling stock which are available, and can be converted to 2mmFS, then I would choose a period and location setting to match my choice of stock, looking over the products of Farish and Dapol, the BR modernisation plan diesel era has a greater choice of stock over the steam era

I saw several of the Teddies in the Carriage Works sidings at Doncaster Station Plant during their transfer from the WR to Hull, one batch was delivered to 36A loco shed and stabled at the fuel point, one 36A driver only used to 08 shunters was very suspicious of these WR strangers, he had no previous knowledge of their existence, he asked lots of questions about them and duly satisfied by our answers which included Hull Dairycoates concluded they were "not a threat" to 36A, he then insisted on taking us into the cab where he tried to figure out how to start the loco for a run in the fuel point siding, His Master key did not fit so no joy for me or my friend.

The drawing showing the front view of the locomotive shows outside cylinders. A peculiar bird, the cylinders are offset to the smokebox saddle, I cannot see any paths for the steam circuit, for the entry or exit of steam to and from the cylinders from boiler or smokebox on the fore stroke

The trap point, for flank protection of the main line would be required in 12" : 1 foot, for the same cost of trackwork, you could have a headshunt leading to bufferstops as an alternative to a trap point "drop offs". If there is a headshunt the exit signal for the parcels depot could be a ground position signal in yellow and black (not red ) the yellow and black in the ON position permits permissive shunting movements confined to the headshunt and parcels depot sidings, when the movement for the points are set for is parcels depot exiting to the mainline, the yellow and back ground signal is pull to the OFF position

Sidcup Station, the siding on the down line has lighting, a walking route and access stairs for crews, the main use is for when the Dartford loop is under possession, a shuttle service to and from London operates, the siding and associated crossing permit the start and end of the working

Herne Hill station, there was the long siding as named in the sectional appendix, disused overgrown and rust, with the Blackfriars work around 10 to 15 years ago,the siding changed direction to face Loughborough Junction, a new crossover and signals installed on the Holborns, and the long siding became the turnback siding

My Crystal Ball was wrong again, it showed diesel shunters, the 08 reworked into class 13 Tinsley Master and Slave units , then an LMSR Jackshaft 350hp "08".

I'm thinking Hornby may offer a pre-grouping loco, but pre-grouping with a twist, in the early 1960's BR brought back several veterans, the Jones 4-6-0 and Caley 123, perhaps Hornby will bring back a retooled CR123 or launch a Jones Goods or a Gordon Highlander 4-4-0, they could mix with BR Mark 1 coaches from their work on specials, time for something a bit different!

"Wagonmaster" for Trix CKD wagons, I had a brake van and a 16T mineral wagon, with metal wheels and pin-point axles as standard and an underframe moulded from a soft PTFE-like plastic, they rolled effortlessly, better than anything made even today

A post referred to Hornby Twitter and the Railway Children film, is it on the cards for a Railway Children set? A set with the recent issues of period 4 and 6-wheel coaches and was the locomotive the children described as the "Green Dragon" was that the L&Y 0-6-0 Barton tender loco 52044?

A company Wagon Repairs Ltd was formed in 1918 to deal with maintenance and repairs of wagons , a logical solution for when wagons required attention when far from the main workshops or outstations of their owners. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Wagon_Repairs

Reference the Bachmann deLuxe class 47, i'm hearing reports of high resistance by buyers and retailers for the 47 for all three levels of price, first class model that it is, I think we have stumbled on the point of diminishing returns for price vs accuracy / quality of a model diesel-outline loco, Hornby watch out!

Oh dear!. Not aware of the Bachmann set, the Bachmann Elizabethan has the dated ex-Lillipiut/Trix A4 from 1969, and the Elizabethan in the BTF film used carmine and cream Thompson stock not all maroon, I made an error thinking Hornby had Thompson express stock, not realising it is actually Bachmann

Hornby may wish to honour the Queen in her Jubilee year. A special collectors set inspired by the BTF Elizabethan Express film of 1954, 60017 and stock, a DVD of the film, figures of people in period clothes inside the carriages, you'd find me in the queue for such a set.

There was the Defence of the Realm Act for WW2, PO wagons were taken over by the authorities for WW2 needs, the wagons changed from PO status to Pool status, is it correct that Pool wagons, still painted in their owners liveries could be seen far from their beaten track, anywhere within the wartime railway network?

In my computing career which I abandoned in 1991, I worked with a rather brilliant MBA, his MBA studies included a secondment to a leading petrochemical company with a big fleet of PO tanker wagons, he described the office based computer wagon management system as far from ideal, wagons would be running around BR yet lost from the database sometimes for months on end, a big issue when inspections and servicing were due, there were a number of unofficial solutions for finding the orphans, ad hoc telephone calls with wagon numbers "spotted " by employees on their days off, sometimes the office staff would head off for a bit of lineside detective work, sounds like nice job for enthusiasts. BR would sometimes fiddle the books claiming excessive mileages when the wagons travelled off non-direct routes. The telephone calls and lineside observations were evidence used to beat down those excessive charges

Leeds City Station has a little-known public display of the works of well known railway photographers, some long-departed. The exhibition is not well publicised. it is located on the high-level concourse connecting the platforms 8 to 16, there you will find the display away from the main passenger flow in the shadows of the food kiosks . The display is comprised of around 40 images from the old to modern, mainly B&W, I'm not recommending making a special trip, but if you have time to lose at Leeds Station. The display includes portrait shots of the photographers, therefore an opportunity to match faces to names of principal railway photographers

The Wheel lathes I have seen turning, did not clamp axleboxes, the wheel to be turned was raised up, a moveable rail retracted and the wheel lowered onto a pair of small drive wheels, one ahead and one behind (think of a rolling road for model locos) , the drive wheel caused the wheel to rotate while a cutting tool milled the new profile, workrate including setting up was about 40 minutes to 60 minutes per axle. Steam locos were turned using axle centres, a Bulleid Pacific was turned at Wimbledon attracting considerable interest from the Depot shopfloor

Wheel lathes known to be present: Ashford Kent ( Hitachi Depot ) Wimbledon Slade Green. is there a lathe at Selhurst? The long trips may be a necessity of a finding a depot with a spare timeslot to do the work, lathes are very busy during leaf fall season, skimming out flats in the tyre caused by wheel lock ups when braking . Reasons for a temporary speed restrictions on a loco due to wheels require turning include wheel flats, poor profile, worn tyres develop a hollow in the taper or cone of the tyre profile, leads to violent side-to-side hunting of the axle as it rolls, the speed where severe hunting is induced by a tyre worn to a hollow seems to be around 45 mph

The date of the report for 29/03/74, just wondering why one of the class 37s is still identified as 6967, was it running as 6967, or with a 37XXX tops number

If there has to be a single metric it must be profit / loss of the HS2 operation. If more than one metric, treat the many forecasts and projections in the published business case as metrics, and compare the actualities of operation when HS2 is in operation with those business case metrics

Bachmann is manufacturer offering a spares supply service to the public. This may be a response to the new "Right to Repair" Act. The Act is initially for spares for goods such as home appliances, but it is forecast the Act will extend in scope, I think a model of a locomotive with a motor and moving parts with an typical ownership span of several decades should be included under a "Right to Repair" Act. https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/06/new-right-to-repair-laws-introduced-what-do-they-actually-mean-for-you/

One for the photographers on the forum, the technique for such evocative images, a telephoto lens of 135mm or 200mm, and better in B&W than colour. ps, note the rough and ready patch behind the horizontal strip on the body above the side cab window, did the 27s have problems with their cab structures?

I attended a local history talk, the speaker dealt with the Underground, post WW2 the population of London was steadily reducing in numbers, in the 1970s the Underground system was viewed as obsolete, a dinosaur, not worth developing, in the mid 1980s, the population trend bottomed and began to rise, today we have nearly 50% more people in London than 1985, somehow, the Underground has coped with passenger volumes far greater than the Edwardians or the planners of the 1970s ever envisaged. Read an account by Mayor Khan, TFL had several years of planning for efficiencies, efficiencies to TFL being on budget to go from subsidy to self-funding for operation in 2023/4, no subsidies other than big capital expenditures such as new rolling stock which are paid for by Govt, it went wrong with delays to Crossrail, and then the coup-de-grace of Covid lockdown. it seems to me to be unfair for Minister Shapps to shoot at TFL, TFL implemented Govt policy to Covid, TFL could not predict or swerve around Covid As a Londoner, I tend to agree with Nearholmer, we do get "London perks", my over 60s Oystercard, 6 years of London-wide free travel, I saved £1000s, elsewhere I would have wait until state pension age for a bus pass, looking to leave London, I note my community charge bill is about 2/3rds of the similar properties I have viewed outside London, and it is easier to earn the money to pay the bill in London than those areas. the news is quiet, but December 11th is the cutoff for funding. I await further developments!