Hesperus

Looks like the perfect prototype for your first bash, have you found any pictures from above to give you an idea of the trickier bits? If you are careful you'll be able to swap the chassis over for a better runner once you've finished hacking the body around.

What's going on with the track in the foreground of that picture?

I've not ridden on the WAG but see it fairly frequently speeding by. ISTR that the first class tickets included food and it was quite good. If that is the case then perhaps they could use more than half a coach of First Class space and don't need 3 standard class coachs. The 175s can get very packed on this route but mostly with students commuting into Hereford and Shrewsbury. I imagine that the express service is a lot more civilised in this regard.

For all the shouting that the changes of franchise waste money on livery changes I reckon that the DfT mandated ones will change just as often as they can't make their minds up about anything. Just look back to BR days, only BR blue lasted much more than 7 years as the colour coach's were being painted in and if you include the change from plain blue to blue and grey on units it wasn't that much longer.

Not sure if this technically counts but it feels like it should be mentioned. From Railways in the Yorkshire Dales by K Hoole In 1908 The North Eastern built a special six wheel for the WPMS (Wensleydale Pure Milk Society) and this followed the pattern of the period in having vertical matchboarded sides with numerous louvre panels for ventilation. Its NER number was 125 and it was built to diagram 168 having a van comp 28ft. long and a guards compartment 3 ft. 3in. long. In LNER days it was lettered on each side:- MILK VAN L.N.E.R. WENSLEYDALE PURE MILK 125Y Society Ltd. Northallerton. It would appear that it always stayed on the branch until the society folded in 1931. Theres a picture in the book which I probably shouldn't post on an open forum but can send by PM

How have I missed this? I live in the cottages that could form the backscene to this layout. Excellent work so far, you've really captured the winding house. As always I found this while looking for a different thread to leave this item from the village newsletter.

Presumably they can't raise the platforms until the 38 stock leaves? Any platforms that are worked on will need to comply with the new regs but will the grandfather rights expire with new stock? I'm not sure that has happened elsewhere. That said the difference in step height from an HST to an 800 can't be much. Is there a vast amount of difference between 38 and D stock? The 230's are raised up to platform height by spacers which the new IOW stock won't have.

Thats a shame. hopefully they'll make the loop long enough to comfortably take 6 in case things pick up.

Does the infastructure still support the 7 car trains they ran in the 70s? Vivarail has plenty of intermediate coaches. Perhaps they could become 3/6 car if demand is strong? From what is written previously in this topic the 38 stock has driven a lot of folks away (though I'm determined to try it before it goes). Not everyone is happy

Is it possible that the grotty unit in the opening post was just about to be refurbished? If it was is it possible that the fitters had put all the grottiest seats into it or would that be too much work? I remember the one I rode into London on being smart inside but that must have been 3-4 years ago.

For all the good it did?

Would this have happened if it had been built on time and as originally planned though? http://pathetic.org.uk/features/ringways/

In the picture on this post is what appears to be a hi-top Ital which isn't a thing I've seen before, I was going to put it on the Railway motors topic but I couldn't find it.

Maybe try Whitby first?

Perhaps not the PEP units which are nearly as rusty as the Pacers but there are a good few mk3 based units (317/455) that are being replaced soon and could probably live a few more years. Would they need the kit if they were the rear unit? If they didn't then there is plenty of space for a siding at Aberystwyth if the Google maps images are up to date.

If they ran into Aberystwyth as the front unit they could be unloaded between services and run back as the rear unit of the next service (subject to not causing chaos at Mach when the other unit joins).

I've often thought that a frieght service of sorts could be run using ex-passenger stock and something similar to supermarket rollcages. It's unfortunate in this case that 142's with the entrance step aren't very suitable.

That could work well but the coachs would need better luggage facilities than are usually offered to cope with outdoor pursuit kit.

They were built on a high speed wagon chassis so convert them to powered wagons. They could then be used for wagonload freight on branchs that would be tricky to work with a loco and shunt themselves into a convenient block train for the rest of the journey.

There is certainly a degree of variation in the print depending on the machine that issued it. With a small stock of 'faded to blank' tickets you could probably get away with it for occasional use. With the price of season tickets I bet a few people have tried.

Do you fancy a go at The Mighty Dacia next? https://www.shapeways.com/product/WS8Z5586N/dacia-1300-renault-12-break-body-scale-1-87?optionId=89475360&li=marketplace

It sounds like it would be simpler for staff and passengers if there was a standard format for the e-tickets but I don't suppose that would fit with the markets will decide mentality of the DaFT. The idea that you can abuse the open return part of tickets is nothing new. Many people who travel the same route on a regular basis have bought open returns from each direction and used them for months with impunity. If the railway doesn't check the tickets you've just spent significant amounts of money on purchasing then people will be tempted to buy less of them. I've heard plenty of people complain that they wasted money buying a ticket when they leave the station with it still unchecked.

If it had been 3 broken 47s and one broken 08 I'd have believed you

I appreciate that the screenshot not being valid meant she needed to prove she had paid, though I can very much see why she was angry about that. What I see as criminal is the hounding she received from the TOC and its agent when she had already proven that she had paid to travel. Both should be investigated and prosecuted in the future if they continue with this approach. I appreciate that there are a percentage of the population who try to avoid paying and need to be reprimanded. This was an elderly lady who had paid and quickly sent them proof.

I agree to an extent as the coachs such extensive corrosion it makes me wonder why they are bothering to do so much work to make them DDA compliant. The power cars however are newer than most other passenger locomotives in the UK and were re-engined 10-15 years ago, they are getting old but not yet elderly. The national disgrace of failing to electrify our mainlines has left us with thousands of surplus EMUs. Many are close enough to life expired that scrapping is sensible but lots more are only halfway through their design life (321/365 etc) so could improve our railway rather than gathering dust in sidings.