esngblog

Just a quick post today, as my daughter has hi-jacked her father’s laptop to complete her dissertation…..

From the Daily Telegraph:

Eurostar train ploughs into wild boar causing delays for passengers

Eurostar passengers were delayed after a train ploughed into a wild boar, holding up services behind it.  The 14.22 service travelling from London to Paris hit the animal near Huate Picardie, roughly halfway between Calais and Paris, causing delays of around an hour.  Speed restrictions were put in place after the incident…..

The wild boar in the area can “take it upon themselves to roam from their area onto the track”, a spokesman said…..

Wild boar are related to domestic pigs and have thick, bristly coats. They weigh around 20 stone – although some males can reach double that – and live for approximately 30 years. [Unless they are hit by a train, of course. Ed.]

Elsewhere a Grand Central train hit a herd of cattle between Peterborough and London Kings Cross, causing delays for passengers. Eleven cows died in the incident.

Not sure I want to meet one of those in a bad mood (the boar that is) on a dark night.  Now I’ve just been complaining about the lack of movement on our layouts.  Perhaps here’s a little cameo – train derailed by wild boar or herd of cows?  I’m sure the ESNG junior members would like to operate the boar – Derek, can we fit a mechanism in one?

Well, the title should get me a few reads, anyway…..

But what I really meant to say was provoked by Martin’s ‘G’ scale electric…

Looking at this locomotive provoked the proverbial ‘train of thought.’  It’s a brilliant model, but I thought about the ‘G’ gauge layouts I had seen recently at shows.  The models were again brilliant, but the layouts were really quite unsatisfying.

Of course, ‘G’ gauge does stand for ‘Garden gauge’, when the train is truly in the landscape, and scenery grows itself.  And strangely, it is more difficult to build scenery in large scales than small.  I think there are three possible reasons for this:

1. It’s more difficult to add all the detail to be convincing.  In ‘N’ a lot can be left out, and the general scenic impression is still very good.
2. It’s more difficult to ‘bed in’ large structures to be part of the scenery, especially when they need to be removable to get the layout in a car.
3. And perhaps most important – lack of movement.  It becomes very obvious that the people and vehicles, the grass, the trees and the livestock are absolutely stationary.  Again, we can get away with that in ‘N’ (although moving vehicles are catching on).

I have seen a few ‘G’ gauge layouts in the model press that beat the above comments.  Perhaps as a relatively young gauge, these concepts haven’t been worked out yet.  But I’ll stick with ‘N’ I think, unless someone releases a set of Pacific Electic interurbans in ‘G’!

And on a different note, I’m pleased to record that I’ve retired from the civil engineering business after 40 years generally enjoyable labour.  I may do the odd day or two to help out, but I’m looking forward to some modelling time – although I may be under pressure to do a lot of jobs about the house!!!

A couple of links for Wednesday….

An example to all train drivers from the Daily Telegraph…..

Driver of 175mph Japanese bullet train caught with feet up on dashboard

The driver of a Japanese bullet train that can reach top speeds of 175mph has been suspended after being caught in the cab with his feet up.

The 29 year old admitted stretching his legs out on the dashboard for about 10 seconds, adding that he had done it a number of times before, according to operator Central Japan Railways Company.

The driver who has not been named was photographed by a rail enthusiast as his 16-car Kodama train passed between Kakegawa and Hamamatsu stations in the Shizuoka Prefecture. The photo has since been shared thousands of times on Twitter.

And also below…..

Perhaps this is the ultimate detail for your Kato bullet train?  But no tricks like this on ESNG layouts, please, even if you are controlling your train with your phone.

I might hasten to add that this is a common pose on UK railways, though the trains are never moving when it happens.  I’ll stop before someone throws something at me…. 🙂

And Michael Portillo is back travelling the rails.

Great Continental Railways: What would George Bradshaw make of British rail today?

Portillo sagely comments…..

In general, though, I feel optimistic about the future. Many of the problems the [railway] industry’s currently wrestling with are, ultimately, problems of demand. When I was Minister of Transport, we had about 700 million passenger journeys a year – and we thought we were managing an industry in decline. Today there are about 1.5 billion. So there has been a huge transformation.

As for Bradshaw….

Incidentally, we really do carry that guide around with us on every journey. Or rather the researcher does. While filming our pilot episode, I dropped a Bradshaw on the floor; it split in half and I had to hold it together for the rest of the episode, and since then I’ve never been allowed to carry it. Our researcher keeps it in a children’s lunchbox. So for about 13 years of my life, I was followed around by a civil servant carrying a red box. Now I’m followed by a researcher carrying a Thomas the Tank Engine tin. It’s funny how life takes such unexpected turns.

The fifth series of ‘Great Continental Railway Journeys’ starts on BBC Two on Tuesday 20 September at 9pm.  I wish I had his dress sense!