AMJ

As speculated by @papagolfjuliet 0-4-0ST "Hawarden" HC 526/1899 This morning on the track in Leeds at Middleton

Hudswell Clarke locomotive Vesta arrived at Bury transport museum on East Lancashire railway 24th January 2024. Locomotive was shunted into place via fellow Hudswell Clarke no 32. Vesta operated at Shotton steelworks and 32 worked on the Manchester Ship canal network

The prairie tank could be a handy size for many preserved lines a bit like a study found that BR standard 3 tanks had happy compromise between power and range.

Quite a few of the locos are (or have moved depending upon when you read this) to new homes from the stable block railway museum Fairy Queen has already departed and is temporarily going on display at VOR in Aberystwyth until it's new home at Llanberis is ready. A press release has was seen earlier today about this move. One loco is going to it's city of birth and upon an appropriate press release happening I will then say which loco and where you will then be able to see it. For info see https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/services/media/penrhyn-castle-plans-to-share-more-about-its-industrial-history-in-a-new-experience-as-it-rehomes-some-of-its-locomotives

I'd always wire to the board rather than decoders for a couple of reasons (i) if you decide to change the decoder you can keep the stay alive without any surgery (ii) As there can be very little space on decoders it could be easy to slip with the iron and damage it

See GM's video

69009 passed through Wakefield Kirkgate today on https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R03024/2024-01-19/detailed

Every preserved railway needs more volunteers so I'd suggest that if you are interested in railways have a chat with your local line as you will be able to help keep it open.

A lot of what has survived are down to the management of railways. The following link about the origins sums it up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Railway_Museum#Origins

Just before I remove chips from locos that I am upgrading I recently have set the address to 3. However I know that my DCC system can read the address when in a loco on the programming track. Some locos are easy to access so have been known to do temporary decoder swaps if I need to say set to 3.

For many who have paid into pension pots getting to 55 and having the ability to retire is very tempting. At times for some it can be a 7 day job as the shop is open and model exhibitions at the weekend so when do you have a day off?

For those in main land Europe it might be worth looking at one of the traders in Eire. The other option might be to turn your hobby into a business and you become a retailer - don't need a shop as online is enough.

Every operator has to comply with all rules no matter who they are. These are designed to limit the ability for the stupid people doing stupid things like trying to open a door whilst the train is moving. I'm expecting the next issue will be opening door windows, these will probably end up with bars on to stop folks doing the following

I find it interesting whilst standing at Wokefield Kirkgate whilst waiting goods trains that the Grand Central trains to London are the only ones that there are a fair number of passengers waiting for that service. Other trains from there seem to have ha handful of folks get on there. There seem to be quite a few who would have normally gone from Westgate on LNER. It might be down to the fares as many of the leisure travellers getting to London is part of the overall experience. I was on York the other month, there was an issue in the north and there were 2 LUMO's sat in the station awaiting paths. Walking past both units they had obviously sold 90%+ of the seats so I feel this new operation to Sheffield will succeed.

Many years ago one long gone model shop sold dad a steam loco that was missing it's chimney. Rather than send it back to the supplier they said it works ok and we have some finer detailed replacements so it can be sold with one of these.

Even for many smaller venues the cost of hiring have gone up considerably so for many this can be a factor in "can we hold an exhibition?" This is why I think there seem to be more clubs doing open days at the club rooms. I enjoy these more informal events such as last week I visited Keighley. Age demographic is also impacting upon preserved railways as I have heard of quite a few who are having issues staffing trains, shops and the works. Main issue is that retirement ages are going up, retired folks often have to spend greater family time due to kids working longer hours and unable to get cheap child care.

@Butler Henderson This week following the news I cancelled a Rapido loco and ordered it elsewhere. The other items still outstanding are Genesis coaches and associated lighting. I'd prefer to have them illuminated and TBH I could live without the lighting as I could add some using LEDs etc. I have not had any emails indicating that the lighting is not coming so assuming that it is. We have seen other retail outlets close due to various factors, we can all remember Beatties and our sales will be dealt with by others.

This is how distance selling is supposed to be carried out. Having been involved with a mail order business you are only supposed to charge the card upon packing and despatching the said item. This ensures that should an item become unavailable then as a customer you do not financially loose out. Similarly should a model be shipped from the maker with an allocation the trader can then decide whom is getting one of those which they have received. Even a simple quick email reply to say we are awaiting more stock from the supplier would pacify most folks.

Other than the planned coaches that I have on order today I have been sorting out alternative suppliers for other items. Might have been better to have said "retiring from the business". Batch 3 would make a nice portfolio for another maker to take on any future releases, whom would be down to striking a deal.

They might be chatting with interested parties, the 66 had earlier became an other makers.

If the trains end up being a bit like the buses that are supposed to have Wifi the operators seem to be keeping the access points turned on but the link to the mobile network seems to fail or has been turned off for sake of saving money. Even the newest (5 year old) vehicles seem to have issues with the wifi. I envisage that many operators will see it as a means to cut a few pounds from the cost of running the service per vehicle that they can then get back into the bottom line. We joking say that at some time passengers (not customers) will be wanting/expecting that preserved railways also provide onboard wifi in the trains. I'd be tempted to setting up a small Arduino type of device that upon folks connecting to the wifi they get a page to say "Enjoy your train ride, this is a heritage train built before wifi, look out of the window and relax!"

This has been doing some of the Elf Express trains top and tailed with the 37 diesel

A nice video on the construction of the real loco along with how it works can been seen in this period Shell film

68004 on Midland Road this morning. The weathering looks like some one has masked the cabs whilst spraying on heavy muck. Both sides were the same. The Nuclear wagon has been here over a week.

There are photos of wagons marked as loco for the coal. Subject to the size of the shed depends upon how it's handled Small, often off loaded in a platform level pile. Larger ones had had wagons unloaded by gravity into locos (having pushed wagon up a ramp). Similar to the one that survives at Didcot. Mechanical coaling plat similar to the one at Carnforth lifts and empties the wagon into a bunker, then gravity fed into loco. Diesel locos can vary from small sites having drums that are emptied by a pump into loco tank, many industrials had a hand pump for doing this. A pump will be needed to empty a tanker into the storage at larger sheds.