russ p

The princess should have been the top selling car, but the stupid decisions made by BL messed things up. First they decided not to have a hatchback so as not to take sales away from the maxi. Also they didn't use the 4cyl E series which would have fitted an gave the car a 5 speed gearbox. What they should have done was deleted the maxi at this time,which with hindsight probably shouldn't have been built in the first place, as it was basically taking sales from the 1800, and as for the three litre... Well a car that was smaller inside than the 1800 due to transmission tunnel and cost half as much again with hardly any if at all performance increase over the 1800S but much less frugal, only advantage was a bigger boot.

And the same bloke had the Gaul to make a program about who or what killed BL,I've never watched any of his stuff after they wrecked a princess, a dolomite and an SD1. Mans an idiot, turns out also when he was on tornado for that so called race he was only on the loco a couple of hours!

Having read your earlier post you certainly don't seem to have had any problems To be fair k series head gaskets aren't really worse than a lot of others , I've heard fiat head gaskets fail even more, but it was a national sport in the British press to always criticise Leyland and its successors. I still lay the blame for the end of rover at their door.

I had an MGZR160 that was maintained properly but it still had head gasket failure, there have been a few Leyland engines with bad reputations like you say the stag v8 and also the straight 6 in the SD1 that when properly maintained are good units but I'm afraid the KV6 doesn't seem to be one of them. As stated earlier the K4 with modern gaskets is a good unit.

Shoot the moon.... Judie Tzuke

It's a shame the KV6 is unreliable as it sounds great, i know of one in an MGf that would make a great car

I'd love to think so but very much doubt it. When rimmers found the SD1 stuff they also found a load of montego stuff but it wasn't financially viable to bring back and i feel the same would apply to any maestro stuff

The signals with no track were an eye testing station, where drivers who failed their eyetest were sent for a practical test. The embankment they were situated on was a link from the Pillmoor - Knaresborough line to the Pillmoor- Malton line this was to open up a second route from the west to Scarborough. The connection was never used and it is not definitely known if track was ever laid on it. Great pictures again and all the best for the new year

Cold as ice...... Foreigner

I think the company is called yema,not sure if its the same one that made the maestro van. There was a maestro copy marketed by etsong, I actually had some wings from this company that were made in England! I wish some more panels would find there way over here. Obviously with so few maestros left over here it wouldn't be viable to import them

VAG Audi platforms have been mentioned on here, this is a different take on it. These two vehicles are actually Chinese vehicles based on the montego estate platform, the white one if you look hard enough you can sort of see it but the silver one looks like an Audi. I understand that they have Toyota engines, which is a shame I'd love one with a rattley old Perkins in it!!

Do you need the static grass applicator yet? My layout is on the top floor but ours is quite warm, for some reason get a few flies up there this time of year By the way got loads of static grass fibres

She's mine...... Steve Perry

56042, by far the worst of the class. Remember secondmaning on it in the mid 80s by could this thing slip. We had it on a job from a siding between Easington and Seaham known as Hawthorn junction. This was a short lived job while they built the white elephant that was Dawson's rapid loader. This loco had a hell of a job getting out of there, I was driving while the guard layer sand down, took us ages. Nowadays there would have been massive delay charges as we must have put loads of time into other trains. The other thing I remember about it was how the bogie's graunched when going round curves

Fantastic again chris. I didn't realise the up middle road was left in after the down was removed or was it a dead end siding. ? Incidenly when were they taken out as running lines. Views like these make me want to crack on with my layout as its the same era and period Just noticed the iron railings on the platform, were these always black or were they ever green or cream?

Excellent pictures again Dave! Were these the staithes that were in get Carter? I know the last sequence was Dawdon but there were no staithes there

Suspicious eyes..... Tane Cain

Worked out... Big big train, if you like industrial heritage don't listen. ' shafts are capped and wheels stopped turning' how poinient but depressing!

Pick out your cloud.... Tori Amos

You'll be mine. ... the pierces

Ghost train... Counting Crows

Last train to London..... ELO

Something so strong.... Jim Capaldi

Princess of the night..... Saxon

Ah, thanks for that I hadn't realised it was that old