DavidLong

The December 1964 edition of Model Railway Constructor has a three page article 'R G Perkins visits Jedburgh'. Page 1 has a photo of the branch goods at the station in September1963 behind Ivatt 4MT 43141. There is a brief history of the branch, a discussion of the modelling possibilities, a description of the buildings and comments on the track layout. At the foot of the page is a well-drawn track plan with all building features and signals which are numbered according to the levers in the twenty lever frame cabin. Pages 2 and 3 have six photographs featuring the station area in 1963. These are, of course, in the slightly 'muddy' style which we had to put up with in the magazines of the day. In compensation they are all of a reasonable size. David

Anything that avoids the ghastly and expensive Cross Country is always welcome. I've found some reasonable fares from Manchester with AWC (especially with an old gits railcard!). David

Why would it need to reverse at Bletchley? If it takes the right fork west of Fenny Stratford it could curve round under the flyover and join the WCML facing south. In fact last Wednesday Realtime Trains shows a 6Z42 from Burton-on-Trent to Wembley doing exactly that move: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:99554/2022-01-12/detailed Good news about the new flow from the Burnaston plant. Where are the cars being loaded as the plant doesn't have a rail siding? Indeed, is it Burton? David

Here's the link: https://trans.info/en/uk-government-to-fund-electric-road-system-trial-on-m180-near-scunthorpe-248190 There was also an episode of Gareth Dennis' Rail Natter about it. David

Isn't the M180 going to be the site of the road overhead electrification experiment to be used by trucks? David

Still hiding. "This site can't be reached". David

A possible sort of Plan B+ or Plan C-? From today's Graun: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/18/ministers-reportedly-considering-omicron-circuit-breaker-in-england David

By coincidence this has just been published on the Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/12/number-of-healthy-patients-stranded-in-english-hospital-wards-rises-by-80 David Note: that is 80% not 80!

Although I can't vouch for the standards used on recent 009 products it is the case that all current N gauge productions will run quite happily on Code 40 rail. The flange depth of 0.5mm is common to current N and 2FS, it is only the tread width that is wider in N. The FinetraX range of N gauge trackwork uses all Code 40 rail. The 55 thou visible height used by Peco is to allow the use of older N gauge products but is largely unnecessary these days. As the Fairlie and Baldwin are produced by Bachmann who also make the Graham Farish range there is a fair chance that the wheel standards are similar. Many 009 modellers use Farish mechanisms such as the 08 or 03/04 without modification. This leads me to suggest that any N gauge track gauges will be absolutely fine when building the track. Hope this helps. David

More worrying is letting Bombardier/Alstom anywhere near the software . . . David

And one more vote for the 'simple' version, William. I would think that the loco spur needs to be longer and will also require a trap point. I would go for EM as somewhat better looking in track terms than 00 and a little more 'forgiving' than P4. I suppose that I shouldn't say that being both a 2FS modeller and a member of the Scalefour Society! No more prevarication William. Seize the moment! David

The worst tomato soup that I have ever had was one evening in the mid-1970s when I crossed the border from Bristol to watch Southport play County at Somerton Park. Can't remember the score but that soup memory has stayed with me ever since. David Edit: Tracked it down. 13 September 1975. County won 2-0

Looks like it has been removed, Bryn. It definitely was there. IIRC it was a trial between Stephen and the Association with a view possibly to sell some of his kits via Shop 2. Looks like a success and they have all been sold! David

Justin, I would give Dapol their due as those dimensions scale out to exact 1:148. No scale bending here! The Association does three 12' wheelbase underframes which are all 1:152. The L&Y underframe has weird brake gear and is nothing like the gear for the standard RCH 12' underframe. The GWR DC brake 12' underframe would go with the Parkside 21T kit as all the Parkside kits are 1:152. The other one is the standard BR 12' underframe with post-nationalisation axleguards unlike the more open versions on the SC wagon. If the underframe seems to be acceptable 'as is' then I would stick with it. Having, of course, got rid of those horrendous coupler boxes! David

I'm sorry I don't, Steve. Whatever and whoever seemed to be very concerned about security with all those heavy duty window bars and CCTV cameras. It was quite a surprise to find it alive and well though. David

That will be this one and happily it still exists or at least it did when I photographed it in 2012 (was it really nine years ago . . . !?) David

Indeed and this from yesterday's Observer: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/14/government-to-finally-drop-plan-for-hs2-link-to-leeds-reports David

An excellent choice if I may say so, Paul. An EE Type 4 never offends! I have these two in my stash. The couplings will have to go and they'll get 2FS wheels and probably sound. I look forward to further developments at 8N. David

https://mailchi.mp/760b2d3b2716/introducing-the-east-west-main-line-partnership?e=ddca3c6ce6 Includes link to submission to Secretary of State prior to the autumn spending review. David

67015 at Holyhead on 16th September with 1V98 16.36 to Cardiff Central. Had worked in on 1W93 ex-Cardiff. David

Thanks, Andy. I knew that I had seen something about this subject but couldn't remember when it was. The suggestions on that thread are useful. I have checked in my stash of wires and found that I have a coil of Nickel Wound 0.508mm banjo strings made by Vega of Nazareth*, Pennsylvania which I remember that I bought from a music shop in Cambridge about thirty years ago! This is about 0.005mm bigger than Nick's 0.45mm copper wire. Just to be on the safe side I have got a couple of coils of the copper on the way to me via ebay. Now that I'm back home I will also check out Pete Wright's article as suggested by a couple of contributors. Many thanks for the suggestions both on this thread and the previous one from last year. David * Could this be the same Nazareth as in The Band's song 'The Weight'? "As I pulled in to Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead". I guess we will never know . . .

I'd forgotten that, Rich. I'll have a check in my magazines. David

Anyone got any ideas for producing tall vacuum pipes for wagons. Like this: https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/?q=m422441 Rather than just a single bent piece of wire I wondered if anyone had any success with a bit of extra detailing. David Sorry, this question should have been in 'Any Question Answered'! Must concentrate . . .

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/sep/06/fifa-plan-for-biennial-world-cup-is-a-ridiculous-plan-that-could-become-real In my view this is just as much a danger to the game as the ESL proposal. I'm afraid that Sean Ingle's final comment says it all: "A World Cup every two years won’t benefit football or the fans. Merely Fifa". David

Sadly, David, I only just squeaked an O level pass in Maths . . . Or, as Captain Mainwaring might have said "I wondered who would be first to spot that" David