Simon Lee

Try www.modelbahnunion.de I was in a similar position, but they have just become Peco stockists and have had a big delivery. Order delivered to me near Bonn 24 hrs after ordering. HTH

Sounds like the quayside at Dover Marine, once the train arrived in the main station, the under bond vans were shunted onto the quayside roads, which incidently were referred to as platforms 1 and 2, hence the platforms under the train shed commencing at platform 3. There was, as you mention minimal cover, though in later years there was very little inside due to the state of the roof.

The outbound was sealed at Vic and undone at DWD and the inbound vice versa

The Arrow van would have been a GUV or 4 wheel CCT/PMV (S) or similar as once cleared Customs the van would be sealed and no access allowed until opened at Dover in the prescence of a member of HMCE

Yes, it was not a popular piece of kit

Always found the shop very well laid out and the staff very helpful and knowledgable. Unfortunately they are unable to off postage to Europe or I could put a few £ their way.

Donated from Germany, still have family and friends who use the NHS, and they saved my sons life 10 years ago.

Believe the chassis came from the Hoogovens steel works at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. Was used as an ingot carrier and originated from one of the NS owned Austerities. The body was built by apprentices at Corus Scunthorpe.

Yes Tantalus owned by Blue Funnel an OBO carrier laid up 1982 - 1984, sold then damaged in the Iran - Iraq war and broken up in China 1986.

Photo taken around 1984/85 by Nigel Turner a Dover driver. Ferry shown is the St Eloi, which was allocated TOPS number 99013. Worked in that yard from 1981, some of the best times of my railway career, a privilege to work on a unique operation and with some of the finest railwaymen l have known.

Four subscribers they have stated that they will extend subs to cover the missing issues. Handy as my TR Europe subs have just been taken.

When the Channel Tunnel first opened, one of the SNCF Calais drivers who worked through had started his career at Amiens around 1966, mainly on 141Rs. He was a great guy and a bit of a comedianand would sometimes appear with a pair of goggles usually over a beret or a baseball cap. One of the T&RS supervisors eventually arranged a suitable railwayana swop and became the owner of the goggles.

Sad to hear this, I was only an occasional customer, usually mail order or exhibitions, but always found them helpful and knowledgeable RIP

The DB man was Mark Wetherell. Owt down the Esk Valley seems to have his name on it.

Legs out of bed on a 60 are quite impressive and costly. The Deltics are the most famous for it, a former colleague of a portly build hated tending the boiler on 55s. It was a struggle for him to get past the PU to the boiler, one train he had to check the boiler, the driver shut off to give him a modicum of peace to pass the PU, Paul just got into the boiler area when his mate opened up again and out came a piston from the cylinders bank closest to him. 30 seconds earlier it would have taken him out. He positively hated 55s after that.

Thanks for taking the time to photo and then post on here.

If you draw a blank, Silver Fox do a conversion kit which might be worth a look.

Yes that's correct, there was a similar line on the road flask transporter, both had to line up with a painted line on the ground. CL is centre line, it was a struggle for some guards to get the wagon lined up, especially if the driver was using the straight air brake and there was some slack in the coupling. I used to deal with the flask traffic at Lydd / Dungeness along with Ernie Puddick "Bigbee Line" and the most anxious bit of the day was to see who the guard was and how long you would be waiting to get the flask off loaded or loaded.

I would be very interested as well.

A work colleague got a collection of books from an old heavy smoker, we found that opening the books up and laying them outside in the garden on a sunny day did the trick we used a garden umbrella to shade them. The pages obviously remained yellowed but the smell went after a few hours.

Pointless trivia New Years day did not become a public holiday in England until 1974.

Come to Germany, majority of shops closed from 2pm Christmas Eve will not reopen until 0900 27th. Shops closed Sundays apart from ones at Stations Airports etc. Far more civilised way of life than the frantic life in the UK. Locals cant understand why anyone needs to buy a sofa a car, or clothes in Boxing day. I was in a model shop in Köln just before Christmas, the owner mentioned he would be closing for lunch in 20 mins l was still browsing at 1.00, so off to the local bar, and back at 2.00 spent a bit more than intended after a couple of beers.

Yes and its enlightening when you see a pan close up on the floor just how big they are. IIRC the first to leave his pan behind was a Belgium.

38 years ago tonight………………….. The static silence and the desperation in the Coastguards voice still makes my blood run cold.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-50801443 A tragic reminder of the dangers of the big railway. No one deserves not to come home at the end of their shift. Condolences to all, especially family and colleagues.