Horsetan

Booked the Railfreight Construction one. Will be interesting to compare it to the very old ex-Triang 31 body I have and see how far we have come in the last 50 years.

I just like the way the roof over the left-hand cab has more overhang than all the others, hence the noticeable shadow.

The question you have to ask yourself is: "Do I feel lucky?"

I seem to recall that MSTS worked alright on Win7 and 8/8.1 when my previous PC was running it. I still have the original discs and packaging for both the Irish add-ons. North was quite accomplished for its day, but South struck me as being unfinished, especially once you got into Dublin. I'm not sure if Irish routes will be covered again for the existing TS/TSW generation. I have some of the Swiss routes (RhB particularly) and the general look and feel of these are streets ahead of what was possible on MSTS.

He'd probably get done by Hornby

"Keef" discovered, by process of experimentation, the exact combination of drink and drugs that would not only cancel each other out and prolong his life, but also provide a self-embalming treatment for when time is eventually called!!

Calling @Josef2000

Oh no I wouldn't.

That's some impressive corrosion!

I'm just after having an e-mail from Des today. I'm given to understand that he works in the theatre (as in stage) industry, so long unforgiving hours for stretches at a time, with very little in the way of rest. I wouldn't want to do his job, that's for sure!

SSM is not Des's full-time job, as far as I understand it. He does have a day job, just like most of us.

I think only the Belmond luxury tourist train would qualify in terms of passenger sleeping cars, given the very leisurely travel time.

No, the cab was kept at same width as the Southern Ns and Us. That's why there was a considerable width of footplate available alongside the Woolwich cabsides.

Right down the middle.

The Bachmann one is unfortunately too narrow over the footplate. Once you notice the width, you can't "unsee" it. If it's any consolation, even Tony Miles got it wrong on his scratchbuilt Woolwich for Adavoyle

Oddly enough, they could do worse than try a Woolwich Mogul - it might be possible to obtain permission to scan the sole surviving N (31874) and one of the new-build Us (31618 or 31638) as a starting point for the 372/K1 and 393/K1a. The resulting scans would require modification: - engine and tender frames are 6 inches wider - centre section of buffer beams correspondingly wider, as is smokebox saddle - overall width over engine and tender footplate is wider by same measurement (3 inches extra per side); similar principles apply for cylinders and motion - 393/K1a shares same 7'3" x 8'3" wheelbase as 372/K1 (i.e. not the same as SR "U" which was 7'3" x 7'9")

Did they scrap it in the end?

More generally, there seems to be a substantial number of Peckett-related drawings here.... Could this one be broadly similar to 1097?

Tunnock's Teacakes are where it's at.

Not Fray Bentos? (Other pies are available.)

Might as well have outside frames!

Will there be a newspaper kiosk on the station selling copies of Portadown News?

Wheels are always a touchy subject. Ultrascale now has a 12-month wait list and that actually increases the possibility of customers actually dying whilst waiting for their orders to progress up the queue. In many ways, they're a victim of their own success because, each time they manage to reduce the waiting time, word spreads, and more orders go in, causing the queues to lengthen back to what they were before. AGW have no intention of tooling up for new types of driving wheel - realistically that kind of development stopped when Alan Gibson sold his eponymous business all those years ago. Likewise I don't think there was any real intention of getting Sharman production going again - the production techniques and tooling were eccentric to say the least, and Steve & Angela Hodgson did well to keep it going in Wales for as long as they did before selling to Phoenix. The weakness of Sharman wheels is that the built-in crankpins are a fixed length; if you want to portray full thickness big ends on the driven axle, then they are not long enough. Since RTR wheels are now much better at representing the appearance of the real thing, some P4 modellers are buying RTR driving wheels as spares, turning off the OO tyres on a lathe, and pressing the RTR centres into new P4 tyres; it's a lot of work, but if you want an accurate wheel for something like a BR Britannia or a 9F, then this is the only credible route.

This all demonstrates that the colour shade changes depending on the ambient light available....

Just beware that ambition can get the better of you....