Horsetan

Will I get the oul popcorn out?

I have two, inherited from a friend a couple of decades ago - one Exactoscale, one London Road Models - neither of which I have ever used, as the traditional Antex 25w takes up less space. The last time I used the RSU was at the end of 2002...in Australia. It's certainly very quick, from what I can remember, but things like layers laminated together might still benefit from a wipe with a traditional iron.

The photo is also a very rare and useful show of the York Road "pointer light" subsidiary signals in operation. With the main 2-aspect head showing danger, the miniature lights (arranged as 3+2) display the route for shunting - in this case, the red light is extinguished, and the right-most route is cleared to green-under-yellow. Just visible to the right is the other main head, with its subsidiary pointer underneath showing red - the normal indication. The main heads appear to be the same type that was frequently used on surface sections of the London Underground, quite likely a Westinghouse product. Westinghouse colour light signals were also in service at Coleraine for decades, and were again common to the London Underground and the Southern Region of BR. Cravens 105 and 129 are superficially similar in the windscreen section.

Are there any British RTR DMUs which have similar curvature at the front? If so, it might be possible to cannibalise sections for a model.

That sounds very much like the flexi plastic that Lima used to use for bogies and underframes; it was all but impossible to glue.

As usual, I've gone for the two that are preserved: one green, the other black 'n tan Could be March '27....

Be careful what you wish for....

Unfortunately, it's unlikely that my choices will appear in 4mm scale

The last time I was there was in 2001. It was very difficult to work out where the pier siding had run, whilst the Goods Bank and station area had long since been flattened - I think a school has been built there since.

Training Ship for cadets?

If you've seen the size of Rails' warehouse, it's not like they're short of space. I wouldn't be surprised if some items have been sitting there so long that they're starting to decompose....

Probably gone off for scrap.

That "A" is a bit of a bargain if it stays at that bid level. The Mk2s....not so much.

This is the one that's preserved in the Haifa Railway Museum in Israel. It still has the number 203.

There's a lot of blue in those white LEDs....

A possible solution might be FREMO-21, but that would need other modellers in NZ to have a sudden fascination for building Irish models in 21mm gauge. I was much taken with the FREMO idea because, when everyone gets their modules together, the trains actually travel to other places on the assembled network through a variety of scenery. The Burma Road, being single-line, would be a good fit for FREMO-21.

Years ago, our family car was a Mk.1 VW Jetta, the basic "C" model in Mars Red. Quite a reliable thing; we had it for about 6 years. Anyhow, in those days, the family used to do the weekly shop at the nearby shopping centre, which was one of the first of its kind and still exists today in expanded form, even busier than before. We parked in the multistorey car park, did the shop, and returned to the car. I unlocked the doors and the boot, heaved the bags in, then got in and started the car.....except that the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. Hmmm, it's never done that before, so I kept trying, and still the key wouldn't turn. So, as I sat there, I looked up to see a tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the rear-view mirror.....and then it slowly dawned on me that we didn't have one of those. I got out of that car and removed the shopping from the boot quicker than a feral stealing a smartphone. About three bays away was another red Jetta. Our car. Turns out the one we got into was identical, except for the air freshener and the registration....which was from the same year but which I hadn't noticed. ....and this all serves to show that there's only a finite number of car key patterns. My key was enough to get into someone else's car. Imagine if I'd been able to start it and get it home?

...and there you have it. Quod erat demonstrandum.

How long ye reckon that single-piston engine will last before being declared shagged-out?

*squints* Er.... think I need to get the oul magnifier out....

Unique prototypes and small classes of 10 or fewer aren't unfamiliar to the RTR manufacturers, and I don't think you can say that they should only produce items that existed en masse. In 1:76 scale, the UK market has (or will have) things like: - BR Std.8 Duke of Gloucester - CR Single no.123 - GWR 47xx - class of 9 + 1 new-build - LNER P2 (and Thompson rebuild A2/2) - class of 6 + 1 new-build - BR APT-E (and production APT class 370) - WR Hawksworth 15xx - class of 10 - BR Class 13 - class of 3 In 1:87, they've had (and still have) things like - DRG 61.001 (and the Henschel-Wegmann set) - DR 18.201 - DR 18.314 - DB Br.10 - class of 2 - DRG/DB Br.05 - class of 3 - DB Br.66 - class of 2 - SNCF 232U.1 Clearly there is a demand for these things, and it's fairly clear that they do sell, otherwise no RTR maker would have ever touched them.

Is it my imagination, or is the centre wheelset missing?

OT, but this also shows views of Sambo that I've not seen before. It has been said elsewhere that the engine was essentially cobbled together from leftover spares, pretty much ad hoc, and I think these photos prove it. The cabsides, rear plate and bunker are clearly non-standard, being roughly cut from whatever sheet was available. I'd be very surprised if an official drawing was ever created for the engine back then. Even the front and rear buffers are different, the rears being tapered. Only the smokebox and door look standard, similar to that carried by the J15s with round-topped fireboxes.

What do the abbreviations stand for? E.g. CS, CSH, CSPH.

In my case, it's also going on a funeral as a family member died on the morning of 9th January. Enjoy the models during our lifetime; we're grateful that they exist at all. But always remember that we won't be around forever.....so choose your favourite model and arrange to have it buried* with you. *Note: models are not generally permitted to go with the deceased in the case of cremation; always check local disposal regulations.