Calnefoxile

Andy, This is looking brilliant mate. I have 1 question on the stock on the layout, and it may have been asked before but I can't remember nor find it, where did you get the Interfrigo Refrigerated van from?? Oh and by the way, just bought your book on the MIdland Region and an excellent tome it is too, my only comment is that for some reason photographers seem to concentrate on the West Coast Mainline when referring to the Midland, when the Midland is 'traditionally' the line from St.Pancras North through Leicester and on to Derby. I don't suppose you have any photos from that route do you?? Say enough for a 2nd edition concentrating on that route?? Kind Regards Neal.

I'd like one of them as well, just because......well just because I like the livery. But think this is more likely to be a Retailer Commission, so really need to be tapping up any Retailers you know who wish to invest some money into a project. Cheers Neal

The answer to this is simple, go N Gauge It makes having a full length rake much simpler, in your case a full rake of HAA's can be up to 42 wagons, but pretty standard rake is around 36 which measures out at roughly 96" including Loco, A 7+2 HST is roughly 5 1/2 ft. Cheers Neal.

Price rises are inevitable in any/all walks of life and manufacturing, but I think the biggest issue nowadays, and I've said this before, is the batch production process, in that it's the 'if you don't buy it now, you'll not see it again' now if you couple that with the price rises that is where the biggest issue comes in, in my humble opinion. As an example, I can accept the MK2 coach price of £45-£50 a coach if it can be guaranteed that I can lay my hands on them over a 1 to 2 year period, I simply cannot afford to replace 20 older style Farish MK2's with 20 new style ones in one hit. I'm happy to replace them over time, maybe 1 or 2 a month but they'll all be bought up by those with the ability to buy them in one hit or greater quantities than I can afford, but I get that Retailers don't want hundreds of pounds worth of stock lying on their shelves in the hope that more people like me come along on a monthly basis and buys a couple at a time, it'd be nice if some Retailers did so that and in the past they did but not nowadays. The example of Revolutions 92 is a bit of a poor example in my opinion, because Revolutions business model is completely different to Bachmanns, if you bought the 92 at the early bird price it was available at £135 and there was plenty of notice for that price kicking around, and it's the same for any Revolution product get in early for the cheaper price, don't order early enough then you'll have to pay the higher price, at least they're up front about that!! I'm having to seriously think about which of their latest wagons best fit my requirements, I would like to pre-order most of them but I can't afford all of them in one hit. Now I realise that this is missive is personal to me, but I'm sure there are lot's of other modellers in the same boat as I am, with small amounts of disposable income at the moment. Hope most of what I've written makes sense and doesn't sound to whingey Cheers Neal.

You try and find 4-CEPs for a reasonable price!!!! These are the items that are wanted by so many, BachFar had a real opportunity to use this chassis for so many more Units, but just didn't...... Cheers Neal.

Which is a shame as I would've bought one of 59001-59004 as that fits more with my modelling timeframe. Cheers NEal.

As BachFarish already have a suitable modern chassis available in the shape of the Class 40, surely tweaking it for a Peak is not beyond them. Ok the body is completely different, but they have the starting point in the CADs from the earlier release. Regards Neal.

I was just going to ask the same question, as I'm looking for inspiration for a small Depot style layout to build, whilst I wait for our Clubs large N Gauge one to be completed. Regards Neal.

Any plans to shrink them to N Gauge?? Cheers Neal.

Sorry Paul not for me. But an N Gauge version could tempt my wallet open again Cheers Neal. P.S. I will get started on my N Gauge POP 1 soon, promise.......

@cary hill Looks like we're going to blow it, again!!!!! Just don't know why we can't get over the line as far as Champions League places are concerned. Also we seem to lose a crucial player just before an important game, i.e. Evans for FA Cup!!!! On another note, just heard on the news that UEFA are open to moving the CL Final from Istanbul to Wembley, but need some guarantees from the Government. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57051804 Cheers Neal.

Tim, That'll teach me to read every word properly, DOH!!!!! Cheers Neal. P.S. Can't wait to get back to the SWAG Meeting in Taunton

I think the frustration is that OO modellers are getting new models being announced and arriving in timely manners, whereas us N Gaugers seem to be the poor relation. I can't recall how many times I and others have approached Bachmann asking for certain models to be shrunk down to N when they are announced in OO to no avail, citing "They didn't sell very well in OO, so doubt they will in N" but then a second run of these models is announced, i.e. Class 85 as an example. Surely if a model in OO is announced as an upgrade on an old model, why can't the N Gauge one be done at the same time?? Class 90 anyone?? Yes the 40 and 31 have arrived, and they're great. But if you've done the 40 why not move onto the Peak?? It's pretty much the same chassis!!! As I said Tim @Captain Kernowit's frustration!!!! Regards Neal.

Great!!!!! but how about shrinking it for us N Gaugers?? @rapidoandy A lot of us N Gaugers would buy one in a heartbeat. Regards Neal.

Hopefully Cary, we won't have to rely on beating Man U, Chelsea or Spurs, because if we can beat Southampton & Newcastle, Chelsea still have to play Man City and as we need 3 wins to guarantee Champions League qualification, Mna City beating Chelsea should be enough. Cheers Neal.

Call me a cynic if you like, but was this all just a smoke screen so that UEFA could squirt the Champions League reforms through?? Even though the Gang of 12 said that the reforms didn't go far enough, to allow them to always play in Europe regardless of where they finish in their respective leagues, and therefore the Super League idea was born. I'm actually still a bit confused by the reforms because I was lead to understand that if Leicester, for example, managed to finish 4th place in the PL, as this is a place in the CL Prelim stages, we would be usurped by either Liverpool, Arsenal, or Spurs even though they finished outside of the CL Places because of the UEFA Euro Co-Efficient. However reading the changes properly, it seems that these clubs would only be allowed 1 of the 2 'extra' places and so we could end up with 5 teams in the CL instead of 4, but only if they've qualified for any other European Place, i.e. Europa League. I think Cheers Neal.

Bayern Munich have just distanced themselves from the ESL: 15:43 Bayern Munich 'say no' to the ESL Bayern Munich, who are the current holders of the Uefa Champions League, have released the following statement in the last hour: FC Bayern Munich takes a closed position on the Super League. President Herbert Hainer says: “Our members and fans reject a Super League. It is our wish as FC Bayern and our goal that the European clubs live this wonderful and emotional Champions League competition and develop it together with UEFA. FC Bayern says no to the Super League. " The chairman of the board Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirms: “On behalf of the board I can expressly state that FC Bayern does not take part in the Super League. FC Bayern stands in solidarity with the Bundesliga. It was and is always a great pleasure for us to be able to play as the German representative in the Champions League. We all still fondly remember our Champions League victory in Lisbon in 2020, such a happy moment is never forgotten. For FC Bayern, the Champions League is the best club competition in the world." Oh and as far as TV rights are concerned, Sky & Amazon Prime have just confirmed that they've not been involved in any discussions around the ESL. (In other words they're a tad annoyed their not going to make any money out of this) Cheers Neal. Cheers Neal.

Ok after reading all the recent comments on here and reading through the articles on the BBC Sport website, here's my take on it: European Super League - Closed shop for the financially biggest clubs in Europe, 12 at the moment with another 3 waiting to join, I suspect those 3 are PSG, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. However they are allowing 5 other Clubs to be 'invited' to participate, quite how those 5 are chosen is up for debate but I would suspect that it'll be like the Non-League clubs used to have to apply to join the Football league, so let's say that Leicester win the EPL again they would then have to apply to join the ESL, a vote would then take place within the 15 full members for a majority to allow Leicester to join, this process would take place across all the other European Leagues. Will there be relegation?? Probably, but will one of the founding 15 be allowed to be relegated?? If so, where would they go if they've been kicked out of their relevant League?? That will be the danger to these Clubs. More so where would the Players come from?? I wonder if the current crop of players at these teams are considering their positions in the Clubs. How many of them are at any of these Clubs purely for the money?? I actually suspect not many, yes the money is good but the prospect of playing alongside top players and 'winning trophies' (unless your name is Danny Drinkwater ) or even having a better chance of playing for your Country. Champions League - The current reforms for the UCL also goes some way to ring-fencing these financially biggest clubs, in much the same way as the ESL does. Lets take this years Premier League, if Leicester & West Ham were to finish in the Top 4 at the detriment of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal & Spurs then under the new UCL rules, it wouldn't matter as 2 of those teams with the best European pedigree would trump Leicester & West Hams efforts over the season, I'm not sure if Leicester & West Ham would even be allowed to take part in the Europa League?? All kudos to the Leeds players last night, wearing those T-Shirts saying 'Earn it' next to the Champions League logo and 'Football is for the fans', apparently they even left some in the Liverpool dressing room for the Liverpool players to wear. So in closing, as a Leicester fan I'd be more than happy for them to off to the ESL because it'd probably give us a better chance of winning the Premiership more often, but on the other hand, would it be a hollow victory because we've not played the 'best' teams in England and what would we get out of it as Champions?? Sorry for my lengthy diatribe. Regards Neal.

Any plans to shrink this to N as well Paul?? Regards Neal.

@TomE You know what, seeing that photo and the model in GMPTE makes me completely agree with you, there's definitely too much gap between the lights and the bottom of the front panel, also the brown strip along the Tumblehome is too wide and yet the windows look fine, so the whole body must be too tall. Shame as I was waiting for the Provincial one, so I might have to think a bit longer..... Cheers Neal.

As a member of the Committe of Bentley Model Railway Group, I'd just like to confirm what Rob @37114 has posted. Obviously as friends of Geoff we are all very shocked at the moment and are trying to help the family as much as we can. As Rob has also said, Geoff was a big force behind BMRG both as Exhibition Manager and Treasurer, and as such we will be making decisions on the future of both the Club and the Exhibitions, however this won't be for a while. So can I ask that all those that have invites to both Calne 2021 & Trainwest 2022 to please just give us time before trying to contact anyone in the Club about the Exhibitions, we will be in touch as soon as we can with a decision either way. Many thanks for your understanding and condolences, which we will pass on to the Family at the appropriate time. Many Regards Neal Mansell.

Oi You, Nowt wrong with BR Blue, ya young whippersnapper It's these new fangled colour schemes that get me, flaming companies can't make their minds up what livery they want, pick one and stick to it. Cheers Neal.

Paul, Here's a reminder of how my Scratchbuilt version looks. The photo is a bit cruel and it doesn't really look that wonky in real life. My packs were a ball ache to build, all built out of about 250 lengths of Plastruct 1.6mm I Beam Cheers Neal.

Steve B, Totally agree with that comment mate. I applaud Bachmann for improving their Models, take the MK2 Aircons, they are a superb model but there is now a lack of TSO's, where as a surplus of FO's and BSO's. Gone are the days of constant production and more of batch production, I can understand that for the smaller manufacturers like RevolutioN, EFE etc. But I'd expect the larger ones to at least do runs every year of staple models, and by staple models I mean Coaches & Wagons at the minimum. You'd probably only buy 1 or 2 Class 47, for example, but possible 8 coaches to go with each of them. Don't even get me started on the cost of new models especially coaches Cheers Neal.

Matt, If you go to this link http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/Prototype.html they have a load of these books, if they don't have the ones you friend has, they may be interested. Regards Neal.