Bomag

I have an expression down for both a single 89 and Caroline. If it wasn't for the biggest down turn in recent years I may have been happy to get two (in different liveries). Perhaps bump them down to next year?

At the terminal stations on the WCML and GEML most of the crossovers had been removed, or were difficult to use, so when a train arrived the loco at the buffers was detached and a new one put on the other end for the next service. Once the train, left the original loco was moved onto the end of the next train to arrive to take it out. Given the number of closely spaced departures from Euston I think they needed 6 locos for every 5 departures. They also had the handful of 82 and 83s to take stock back to Brent Sidings / Stonebridge Park to avoid wasting a 86 or 87. By having the DVT you have the same loco on the other end all diagram and save the extra loco and the 82/83s. It also sped up the turn around times. By releasing effectively 27 Class 86 and 87 diagrams by the DVTs (and DBSO on GEML) there were enough spare locos to cover the class 81 (mostly wd 87-89and some class 85 diagrams on secondary passenger, parcel and some freight services (class 84 had long gone) . The Class 90s were lateish - only the first ones went to Intercity which released several 86/4 for use by parcels and freight-liner. This, along with the later class 90 going directly to parcel and freight operates finally saw the end of the class 85 (msotly wd 1990-91). While I don't think that class 81 were still regularly used on class 1 trains by the mid 1980's I did have some 85 haulage.

The Mk2 Pullmans on the Manchester / Liverpool services were introduced before 1968. Also 13 Pullmans were in LMS service on nationalisation - LMS numbers 211-221. 211-213 were 12 wheelers (Type H) and 216-221 look to be two different type K version with Gresley bogies . 214-215 seem to be oddities from Swindon. All were used as composite dining cars rather than as Pullmans. There was also M280M/M281M where were ex LNWR Ambulance carriages which were converted for the Devon Belle - they were absorbed into BR LMR stock 1957 and then to SC in 1961

When they redid Leeds the best part of 20 years ago there was some right howlers - 'Frizzzinghall' got changed fairly quickly. The person who did it recorded all the local stations, even those with no through service. As they have added Slow'it on to a through stopper/semifast we now get this pearl. If they reopen the Colne to Skipton line it could be fun as some communities on the Yorkshire side occasionally shorten it to 'Cone'.

Sorry is this a typo for the the 70's? I thought the Class 56 were not use in the valleys due to their high RA and not their brakes (why 37/5 at RA5 were used instead). Given you mention HAAs and steam it is not clear which era you are referring to.

2833 is still in use with WCRC and 2834 is at dean forest. Being the last lot of BCKs (and last Mk1 day coaches) built - and that most of the lot survived - then they probably did not have asbestos. For preservation they have the advantage/disadvantage of being delivered as air braked / electric heated. With the number of spare Mk3 sleepers from the Scottish sleepers available then I am not certain if there is a particular call for these.

I thought the M&S was at the end of the bay platforms; the through platforms are used as car parking.

While the universality of EWS was as bad as pure banger blue it wasn't a failure as a livery or brand.

SLF 2080 and 2132 SLC 2442 are preserved in the normal sense. 2108, 2110, 2127 and 2500 exist in degrees of decrepitude in the WCRC dump at Carnforth.

The majority of the WR sleepers were SLCs rather than SLF/SLSTP; they did have some full 1st and full 2nds but most trains had at least one SLC. The Taunton fire train only had a single SLSTP and no SLF

Agreed, given how close they stack the cars nobody can get into anything left unlocked except on the last row!

I have never had too many issues with the Pentland ferry catamaran and have never needed a Quells as I normally do on a Cal Mac boat. A few times I have been on it where the tide through the firth was creating a hydraulic jump going round one of the island, the boat did a zig zag to cross the jump at right angles - presumably to avoid any rolling. It does create a bit of a bump and sets off all the car alarms. Looks like it will be 2021 before next sailing forth.

The Royal train sleepers were a SLF (2908) and SLSTP (2909), the Bachmann/Farish was correct (except possibly the retention loos). The picture above with converted Mk1 Pullmans is the Royal Scotsman train.

Also relevant is if a train etc is a ' Public transport service' under Regulation 2(2) - which is presumably why you have to use the same station to start and end all activities on many railways.

I believe they will be using their Mk1 suburban stock (except their SLO) which is nice but bouncy! I cannot see any reference to needing facemasks, not needed in this type of stock.

There were two royal Mk1 Sleepers 2908 (SLF 2013) Feb 1977 and 2909 (SLSTP 2500) March 1982. Both were withdrawn in Feb 1986 but seem to have been mostly superseded by 2914/15 (which originally going to be the last two Mk3a SLEs 10734/10735) by early 1985. 2908 was the one at Southall (cut 2012); 2909 (which is the last SLSTP) is in a dire condition at WCRC Carnforth/

It all depends on why you are travelling. If I am going for about a fortnight or more I will take the car. For about a week I would take the train and ferry if going to Dublin (but I wish they had better public transport on the Dublin side). Only if I was going for a day or two would I be prepared to take the unpleasantness of flying and then for work. It all depends on peoples tolerances to individual modes of transport. When I had a week in Dublin last year there were two or three bus (transfer) loads of foot passengers on the lunch time high speed ferry to and from Holyhead - probably 25%-33% of travellers. When I went over to Larne in 2014 with the car (lunch time/ mid afternoon) about half a coach load of foot passengers arrived - obviously a hour on the A77 was not as appealing as a train along the North Wales coast. Its always amazed me that although the loadings are always seem to be higher on Irish see ferries it cost much more to take a car to NI/ROI than it is to take a car to Lewis/Harris. Both are subsides to some degree (either directly indirectly) and take over two hours but there seems to be no benefit by having the limited competition to Ireland.

How terrible; no not the sanitizer, but the purple seats!

If the photo is 1984 it's likely to be SLC 2423 which spent the summer at Cowlairs/Eastfield. This was in one of the last two trains with Mk1 Sleepers in May 84 - being the in the Glasgow to Inverness portion on the last train before it went to Mk3s at the timetable change. It was also notable as was it severely damaged by smoke in the Taunton fire.

I got mine yesterday. The mock teak is nice but there is a slight mismatch with the NGS full brake in some light conditions. This may have be prototypical.

As consistent as the negative response from some OO modellers that it would be nice to provide the same models in the two most popular scale/gauges. Its not as though it requires a new tooling in N.

No, quite a few banks (well most) would like to kill them off but there is a still a significant number of users with protected characteristics for which the alternative is more costly for the banks. Therefore it will stay, even with a much smaller usage. For some equality and fairness only applies to somebody else'e ability to fit in with how they see the world.

For most bridges bending forces are more critical than shear. Therefore the position and weight through the axles is more important than the total load. A small 50T hopper in the centre of a bridge is going to be at least as critical as a 100T tank wagon. Hammer blow is much less of an issue with most bridges than with the track. Kettles are simply not fast enough for dynamic loads to be critical.

The CDJR Class 4 worked but the various books about them say that the Class5/5a were more economical for the same load.

According to the Parkin book the SR repainted one of their internal Mk1 corridor sets blue as they considered it to be a suburban set, but was 'quickly' repainted to B/G. Whether it was ever in service is uncertain; I have never seen a photo.