If you do need vinyl style sides for old coaches and are willing to draw up your own loads of online and local printshops can do vinyl cut stickers with transparency these days and usually with really quite good alignment (you still fill the uncut window bits with the window frame colour and extend the colour out a bit past all the cut points)

So if you are ok with some drawing tools it's quite possible to do without actually owning any machinery.

Or you could just do the job properly. You don't need a giant energy sucking guess the next word machine in order to put the correct date on a notice.

In this case though it looks like someone's nonsense newsbot spewing delusions not the company in question. Which is fairly typical and a good reason why you don't use AI for such things. If you need delusional news there's a wide choice available on TV.

It's not the AI itself that is stupid, but the people and organisations that put blind faith in it and trust the outputs without any form of review or sense-check. All the more reputable systems do caveat that AI can make errors and outputs should be checked...

It is very good at answering the question exactly as you ask but not the question you meant to ask.

Used as a digital assistant it is powerful. But Companies whose non-tech-savy leaders see it as a cheap replacement for human staff are likely to rapidly run into trouble.
There is a reason Microsoft call their version CO-Pilot and not Chief-Pilot...

Yeah I was also going to wait for Kinlet as I wanted late crest, but in the end I couldn't resist getting Ragley and rebranded the tender instead. I'll get at least one Kinlet when it arrives.

Halls were fairly prominent in Cornwall, so I'm hoping to have 4 or 5 in my fleet eventually, all BR lined green with late crest. I've so pleased that Farish are doing the modified halls (which I actually prefer) and the Hawksworth straight sided tenders. I may well end up getting a couple of spare straight tender bodies to run with a couple of castles. I'm guessing a BR lined green modified with straight sided tender will come out in a future run.

I thought mine ran at least as well as the V2 and 8F, which are my current star performers, absolutely perfect straight out of the box. My only slight niggle is the largish gap between the loco and tender, though nowhere near as bad as the V2 gap was.

Yeah, we all know it can be stoopid but.............

. United Utilities has announced a Temporary Use Ban starting on Sunday, August 5.

5th Aug is next Wednesday

Edit:- Checking United Utilities website there are no plans for a hosepipe ban

Wow! That's some find

Don't know how long I've had these, 1st time the large box they were in has been opened this century.






Here's one from another discussion

The Tale of the Lost Railway  - Part Eighteen

Once again I am indebted to @Train Waiting for this episode

After dinner, Archie stood up to address his guests:

"My Lord, Distinguished Guests.

Thank you for joining Flic and I this evening. I wanted an opportunity to inform you of a little project which I hope to address. But first, I'd like to introduce two distinguished railway officers. To the left Mr John Hammond, the General Manager of British Railways, Western Region. [Applause]

And, on my right, Mr Gerard Francis Gisborne Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, who prefers to be called Gerry Fiennes [Laughter], Chief Operating Officer at the British Railways Board. [Applause]

Like all of you here, I was disappointed when British Railways withdrew passenger services on the Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead line in February 1959. Of course, it's still open for goods traffic, but it seems that is declining. Earlier today, Mr Hammond kindly arranged a special inspection train over the line for which I'm especially grateful.

Some of you might be vaguely aware of rumours of a railway beyond Moretonhampstead which have been circulating locally for years. Tonight, I should like to inform you the rumours are true. [Gasps]

At the instigation of my Grandfather, a railway was built between Moreton and Okehampton, over privately-owned land. The Great War intervened before it could be inspected by the Board of Trade. After the  War, my grandfather became involved with several  other, more urgent projects and my own father, not interested in railway matters, failed to resurrect the plan. In around nineteen-twenty, the tunnels at Moretonhampstead, Baskerville and Okehampton were gated and both sides of the track became overgrown, thus creating the illusion that no railway ever existed.

Over the past year, I have arranged for much of the vegetation to be cleared and have requested British Railways to consider re-opening the Moreton branch for passenger traffic and for facilitating connections with our private railway to permit through traffic. Furthermore, I hope British Railways will be able to assist with the matter of an inspection to have our railway passed for passenger traffic.


Just the sort of local train that can be expected on Newton Abbot to Okehampton services

This is where the matter has got to and I hope we will hear this evening if the idea has any chance of success."

As Archie sat down, there was loud and sustained applause. When it eventually died down, Gerry Fiennes rose to speak.

"My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Branch lines are perceived as a problem for British Railways. Many of them lose substantial amounts of money as costs exceed receipts. Although the private companies closed some branch lines to passenger traffic before the last War - my own LNER was probably the leader in this - most remained open for what we are now meant to call freight. But even that is declining, leaving the option of very many complete closures within the next handful of years a distinct possibility.

However, little serious attempt has been made to reduce the costs associated with these lines to see if they could actually survive. Maybe not reduced quite as far as the late Col Stephens achieved - [Laughter] but still with major savings. What one might call a 'Basic Railway'. I believe that, by altered methods of working, we could see our way to making at least some rural railways profitable. Mr Hammond - John - has been very supportive regarding my ideas.

As such, we are glad to inform you that we intend to recommend to the Western Region Board that the Moretonhampstead line be re-opened to passenger traffic by the end of this year - [Cheers] and that, providing Ministry approval is forthcoming, British Railways will run trains, Monday to Saturday, from Newton Abbot to Okehampton, using running powers over the private railway." [Loud applause]

Gerry sat down and Archie stood again.

"Thank you very much, Gerry and John. That is excellent news. I welcome British Railways' investment and, of course, the line from Moreton to Okehamptoon will be financed by my estate.

I'm glad to inform you that Devon County Council, Newton Abbot Rural District Council and Okehampton Rural District Council have all given the plan their enthusiastic support as have our local Members of Parliament.

With regard to Sundays, it is my intention to work special trains for visitors and railway enthusiasts, over our line from Moreton to Okehampton.

The estate will purchase locomotives from Western Region and Mr Hammond has arranged for these to be repaired at Newton Abbot works. These officially closed for steam work last year, 1960, but a special exemption has been made in this case.

For the future, I'm glad to announce that Lord Pandaford has generously agreed to assist us open a SPAM Workshop at Baskerville, so steam will continue to be heard on Dartmoor for years to come. [Applause]

In addition, the Honourable Bonzo Poppingham has kindly agreed to help us with the financial and administrative aspects of our railway - we intend to learn a great deal from what our friends have achieved in Poppyshire and Sillyshire. [Applause]

Before we adjourn for drinks I'd like to ask John Hammond if he has anything to add."

Archie sat down and John rose to his feet.

"Thank you very much, Archie for your idea, your enthusiasm and your substantial financial investment in this project. You will attend to the staffing of the private railway so that it meets Ministry requirements and allows Western Region to safely run trains over it. This is an innovative arrangement and will require close liaison at a local level. Late this afternoon I telephoned two trades union leaders to sound them out and they gave the plan their tentative backing. I wasn't surprised by this as I was offering to retain all the present staff on the Moretonhampstead line - they were anticipating redundancies. [Applause]

Finally, and I hope this isn't unfair to mention in public, I will ask Ronald Parker to remain station master at Moretonhampstead and have the additional responsibility for liaison with the private railway." [Cheers and applause.]

As John sat down amidst the applause , Bertie sprang to his feet and shook Ron's hand.

Archie rose to his feet one last time, "I know that Gerry and John have to return to their respective offices early tomorrow but I invite everyone else to The Baskerville Arms for six thirty tomorrow evening where the plans will be revealed to the public. The drinks will be on me"
[applause]

To be continued.........

Good to see a Southern brake van tagged on the end of the Q1 train 

Missed last week as I was lazing around in hospital with an 18 hour drip in my left arm.
So this week I had a Southern Region night, using a C lass, N class, Std 4MT and a Q1.
Here are the 4MT and Q1 in action...............

BR Std 4MT 2-6-0 number 76053 passes through Heatherley with a short parcels train by Mick Hollyoake, on Flickr

SR Q1 number 33040 on Heatherley with a hopper train by Mick Hollyoake, on Flickr