TheSignalEngineer

The price of the Dublo West Country in the final catalogue would be about £120 now based on the inflation index figure. Compare the look of that to the current Hornby offering. The only better thing about the Dublo version is that mine still runs perfectly nearly 60 years after my Dad gave up smoking until he had saved up enough money to buy it for my Christmas present.

In the German pension Act introduced by Otto von Bismark in the 1880s retirement age was originally specified as 70. Life expectancy then was around 40. Given the current life expectancy in the UK on the Bismarck formula you will probably be able to retire in 2105. Bachmann will have just delivered their model of the original HS2 sets announced in 2040. The updated price is £27000 per coach against Hattons original pre-order price of £995.

Or some rearranged features.

The revised plan is pretty close to what I was going to suggest. I would probably forget the Shunters Acceptance and TRTS as the box wouldn't be able to signal in and needs to know the reporting number and destination of outward moves, so there is a need to phone anyway. Leave LP101 as it is, assuming the loop is track circuited use a main aspect if loop clear or sub if occupied. I was going to suggest renaming the loop as part of the branch then you wouldn't necessarily need to have the outlet back to the main line. If you make the loop passenger and the branch is freight only you may need to consider a different arrangement at the LP105/LP112 interface

I posted this a while ago in another thread but probably worth reviving here.

I originally thought of getting one to make a 118 as those crept out onto my layout area on test from the BRCW factory. At that price it will only happen if someone has a 50% off clearance and I'm still here. Not essential = won't buy.

Finally the Lurgi seems to have abated, back to swimming today after about five weeks gap. Thankfully I was only a couple of lengths short of my usual, so looks like recovery is nearly complete. What an eventful drive home from grandad duty tonight. Firstly a P!ll0ck cut straight across in front of me from a Give Way sign, just missed him by evasive action and an emergency stop, then five miles later an eejit opened a door into traffic without looking and hit my wing mirror. I couldn't quite avoid it because of oncoming traffic but fortunately the impact was at very low speed and only 1/2 inch from the end, just turning it inwards without any structural or glass damage. Must research dashcams when I get up, I've taken to wearing a bodycam when out cycling lately and I think one is needed in the car as well. Night all. Hope the next trip out is less eventful.

My Dad went to Normandy as a Redcap a couple of days into the invasion then through France and Belgium into Holland, often with front line troops marking safe routes to follow or acting as a Despatch Rider between HQ and the sharp end. He was then sent to India where he spent nearly two years attached to the Indian Army trying to keep order in the country in the run up to the British withdrawal in 1947. Two of my maternal grandmother's cousins were killed in Palestine in WW1. My Mother's great uncle served on gunboats around the Med in the early 1900s before being posted to Admiral Jellicoe's flagship for the duration of WW1 and taking part in the Battle of Jutland.

There was a previous thread where Paul Bartlett showed a picture of two still in traffic with Associated Chemical Companies in 1968. There were some still around as internal users in the 1980s.

I think the present policy is for a catch-up period. Some of the things still to be delivered have been on pre-order with shops for several years, so they must have some idea of how many they hope to sell thus the price required to get the return on design and tooling in a reasonable time. Hopefully we will eventually get to the point when like Hornby's 78xxx they could say "We're doing a Jonhson 2F, and here's a 3D print from the CAD of the 5' 21/2" Belpaire firebox/Deeley cab version (yes please) which is going to tooling next month. EPs will be available for approval later this year. CADs for a 4' 101/2" chassis (yes please), Johnson cab (yes please), and a round top firebox (not at the moment thanks) will be produced when the current version has been approved for production." If they did that I would probably end up with four variants that I saw working in Birmingham and Black Country in the late 1950s. (Plastic runs and hides). PS. For those only into Diseasles , Blue Kettles or Green Kettles the variations of this class numbered around 900 locos which were built from 1875 to the early 1900s and could be found almost anywhere on the LMS system and many lasted into BR, the oldest being scrapped after 88 years service the early 1960s. There's plenty of scope for use as a trip loco on a wide variety of layouts. Many were rebuilt into the Midland 3F as already made by Bachmann.

We regularly had a wooden framed tar tank, rectangular PO one registered with the L&YR in 1917, in Curzon Street yard when we were building the PCD in 1966.

Think we must have done a few things right at some time. Mrs SE and I had started full-time work at 17. We bought a flat and when we moved in had a big mortgage and about £20 in the bank. We moved up through the housing chain, supported two children through University and finally managed to get debt-free 31 years later. Strangely enough most of my RTR models post-date that event. My Hornby Dublo 3-rail layout survived until we needed to move to a bigger house when I was 32. Fortunately I managed to keep the HD stuff, I still have it along with some 1960s and 70s kit built wagons now on their third life extension. Due to financial constraints and work pressures my modelling activities virtually stopped for the best part of 20 years. I hope that in his years at University, besides the academic side, Josh learns that items have a price and they have a value which is not necessarily the same thing. My first 3-rail loco would probably fetch about £50 boxed, although the box is probably worth about £30 of that, but there is no way it leaves the house before I am crated up for transit to the other side. (OMDB)

I started on a similar amount, the old P&T 'A' scale, which I joined at 17. I think the peak with qualifications above 'O' level came at about 28 years old in those days. With just the basic which was 4 'O' levels it took an extra four years. Out of the basic came tax, NI and pension, which took out about £1 or so. I was spending close to £7 for accommodation, food, clothing and essentials so had about £2 entertainment, etc. Model trains were well out of reach. I agree with Mike's comments about the rest of life. We always lived by the rule that house and food came first, anything else you could have if you had the cash otherwise save up or shut up.

Something that I was near finishing when the first model 37 came out. Didn't buy it, no money and was still on 3-rail so "nothing in it for me"

As one of my old workmates said when pressed on a delivery date "Do you want it now or do you want it right". I suspect the answer on here would be "I want it RIGHT NOW"

It will say the announcement will be arriving in 2023

Halls were cleared to run as far as Burton c1961. Previously they had been limited to Water Orton

In the early 20th century Johnson 0-4-4 tanks were used on the Birmingham - Evesham trains, about 34 miles distance. It's a wicked climb out to Five Ways, a mile at an average of 1 in 77 with some wet tunnels. If you go out via Camp Hill it's up to Proof House from a standing start then St Andrews to Camp Hill with a ruling gradient of about 1 in 65. In the other direction from Redditch to Barnt Green there's nearly four miles at about 1 in 100 average with an intermediate stop at Alvechurch. Pictures are not entirely clear but they show loads of at least eight six-wheelers or six bogie coaches. As loads got heavier they were replaced by Deeley 'Flatiron' 0-6-4 tanks, followed variously by Stanier 3P 2-6-2 tanks, Fowler 2-6-4 tanks and Ivatt 4MT moguls. In the early 1950s the LMS 2P 0-4-4 tanks sometimes put in an appearance on Rugby - Birmingham stoppers, another 30 mile journey. Then to get us back on topic, after the WR took over there were 94xx Lickey bankers which performed the occasional rescue. At least one took a Peak and its train through to New Street after the diesel failed at Blackwell.

For my ĺatest attempt at weathered black I sprayed the kit underframe with matt black then gave it a wash of thinned Humbrol 32 before adding the grime.

Following Clapham there was a big need for extra staff so we did a similar thing for signalling designers. Our project group produced a 12-week course explaining Rules, Regs and the history and reasoning behind signalling. It included basic principles of signalling and interlocking. Each intake did the initial course and those who passed the tests were allocated to a section to get on-the-job training and working their way up through various tasks. During this time they also shadowed various people like Scheme Developers and Project Engineers to learn what happened each side of the detailed design process.

Thanks, original post corrected. Told you I was confused.

Some clarification is needed as to the liveries proposed. Hornby don't say what colour or lining is being used for anything, just era numbers. For 78010 Hornby quote Era 4, which I assume to be Lined Black, Early Emblem. Hattons say Early Black. The post above say Late Emblem Black, which would be as the picture I posted. For 78000 Hornby quote Era 5. Hattons say Late Unlined Green. The post above say Early Emblem Lined Black, which is the livery it was carrying in mid-1956. In 1961 it appears to be carrying Unlined Green Late Crest ex-works at Swindon. For 78047 Hornby quote Era 5 and the picture they used shows it when carrying Lined Black Late Crest. Hattons say Late Black. The post above say Lined Green Late Crest. Confused, The Dark Peak.

Thinking back, there was a place in the tunnel under St Pancras where we had 4" clearance to the equipment cupboards on the tunnel wall with a 319. I used some battery locos down there once on an engineers train and we had to keep stopping to see if we were going to miss possible obstructions.

60536 perhaps? Other options are available

78010, I would guess unlined black 78010 Crewe South 16.5.65 by George Woods, on Flickr