Better Late Than Never

by Phil Cooper

Hello, I must apologise to all of you especially today’s contributors- a right bunch of scallywags, but brilliant modellers. You see my Stroke-hit brain likes playing devilish tricks with me and I was sure that I had sent off the draft for my 6 March blog to the webmaster, James. And a brilliant blog it was too. But no, when Monday 6 March arrived no blog appeared and I feared the worst. I realised I  hadn’t sent the draft to James so I had to start all over again. And a second apology as I haven’t not had the time to perform my usual brilliant editing job if you come across white spaces, keep scrolling down. So let’s get on with it as there’s a lot of ground to cover.

Firstly we have:

DCC CONCEPTS

DCC Concepts is a brilliant organisation of very very clever people. If you love electronics you could spend several days marveling at their catalogue. I can also recommend their Youtube channel which is full of instruction videos. Go to youtube.com and search for “DCC Concepts”

I’ve picked out a couple for you:

Creating a Control Panel

Working Ground Signals

More good news from this brilliant company is that they have a special offer for you:

They have some service cradles available which do not have the correct box or accessories - but they are still perfectly useable - servicing locos, transporting to shows, picking up from the layout without touching weathering.etc.

This cradle is 540mm long and comes with two foam securing pads.

Don’t hang about too long because, at £9.95 these will quickly disappear.

HORNBY: A MODEL WORLD

THE March 6 edition of Hornby:A Model World was very pleasing. We had another new Simon Kohler girl, Millie who was super-cute and we also had an all-too-brief moment of the lovely Montana, and her hair, blowing up a balloon. I had to switch off the tv because it was too much for me and I had run out of heart-starter pills. Tonight (13 March) we will see the 9th episode so we may be coming to the end of the series! Monday night tv viewing will be boring again with only University Challenge to look forward to! No Montana, no Montana’s hair, no Millie, no Jenny.  Life can be cruel sometimes.

VIDEOS

We’ve got some great videos from our REAL modellers to share with you but first let’s have a look at our favourite Head of Brand in all the world. Yes it’s Montana Hoehren, and her hair.

I suggest you right click on the red hyperlink and from the menu select, “Open in a new tab” The video will magically appear in a new window When you’ve finished, just close down that window and return to your favourite blog -MY BLOG!!!

Hornby Memories - Montana Hoehren

(Sadly no footage of Montana, or her hair, blowing up balloons:

Once you’ve all calmed down let’s have a look at some videos from our regular photo contributors

Here we go with a stellar line-up of 5 top modellers, John Batley, Marcus Pick, Sean Selley-West, Neil Stanley and David Styles. The eagle-eyed will note that my name is missing! Maybe next time. Right, let’s go in alphabetic order:

So, John Batley:

Harold Road 1

Harold Road 2

Junction Road TMD 1

Junction Road TMD 2

Marcus Pick:

Giddyford Day

Giddyford Night

Sean Selley-West

Creating a River

MOVI0004

Neil Stanley

Triple heading 37s

Class 37 Shunting

Banks Road Freight Yard

Dutch Transrail 37043

David Styles:

David’s epic layout

Four Trains

Deltic & Freight Trains

Midland Pullman

2 Class 66s on freight

OMG, Aren’t they great, all of them. I could watch them all day long. I strongly suggest you watch them in “full-screen”. Thank you John, Marcus, Sean, Neil and David. It’s an honour to feature your skills in my wee blog. Maybe the next “….of the Year” should  be “Video of the Year”.

MAGAZINES

One of the things I do just for you is pore through my monthly magazines and search the internet for news on modelling and real trains. Here’s a couple of articles I found on Model Rail magazine which is a magazine that you real modellers and even no-hopers like me can benefit from. It’s a MUST-READ magazine. Annual subscription is £49.99 meaning each issue costs you just £4.17 and is delivered to your door as against the monthly hard copy cost of £4.99.

It’s a no-brainer! The next 2 articles are from the current March 2023 issue.

NEW TOOLS

If you’re like me, with huge banana fingers you’ll know how difficult it is to open coaches and locomotives. Truthfully it puts me off doing routine maintenance on my rolling stock and, if I could open them it would save me money on DCC chips and allow me to service my locos which should extend their lives so a new set of tools available on Amazon might inspire me to get on with that kind of very necessary skill. In essence, it’s a kit which helps to get into mobile phones but the tools can also be used to gain access to coach and locomotive interiors and it costs just £6.69!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opening-Repair-Repairing-Disassembly-Tools/dp/B07WCLRH2D/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=3DS7H0V6TPQTU&keywords=mobile+phone+prying+kit&qid=1678023901&sprefix=mobile+phone+prying+%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-4-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

NEW FENCING

Every layout needs fencing in various places. A new range of laser-cut fencing and matching gates has been released by York Modelmaking with some of the fencing and gate styles ideal for station platforms.

You can get a 20% discountby quoting the offer code, “MRfences” at the checkout stage when ordering online. This offer is open until 3 April and for web orders only.

www.yorkmodelrail.com

DEBUTANT MODELLERS

We’ve got 2 debuts this time from real modellers. First

BR Blue at it’s best

AND NOW

RASMUS BLIDEGN

This layout has a great story behind it Rasmus was offered the chance to build a model railway for one of the residents in the carehome where he works. He loves trains and has always wanted his own model railway.

So after 1.5 years of hard work, sweat and tears (mostly tears) he is about 95 percent finished of it and his resident is very happy.

He has never built a model railway so he spent a lot of time on Youtube learning different techniques. Not surprisingly he’s found it very time consuming and challenging but now he’s almost there. I think this a great story and, for me anyway, Rasmus will get my vote in our next “Modeller of The Year (Easter)” competition.

Ras is based in Wales. A resident at his care home is Phillip. Phillip is 50 years old and has got Autism. During lockdown Ras and his colleagues weren’t allowed to leave the care home, so he thought if Phillip can't get to his trains, he will bring them to him. Little did he know that it would take 1.5 years to "finish it".  But Phillip is very happy with the layout and will sit for hours (if the train doesn't derail) and watch the trains go by and wave to them. Building the layout has been a massive challange, but with some stubbornness and determination, everything is possible. It is his first attempt to build something but he told himself he could do better.

So his care home was kind to say "crack on" and “it doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as he (Philip) is happy" and that is the attitude there should be in every care home, a person-focussed approach to the people they support. Ras received a lot of help and advice from other modellers for which he is very grateful.

A wonderful story behind a wonderful layout and for me,

anyway Ras is the Modeller of The Year

A WELCOME RETURN

Martin Poulter shared some of his photos with us a few weeks ago so it’s good to update you with more of his photos which affected me with their Scottish theme and here’s some of his thoughts on his East Road layout;

“I have decided on a locomotive stabling shed with the track design loosely based on Kyle of Lochalsh (my dad’s favourite destination) shed. It is purely a "what could have been" if Kyle shed had survived as an Inverness sub shed during the BR TOPS 1974 - 1987 period. The original two road steam shed structure will be replaced with a diesel service/fuelling facility and stabling sidings.

The diorama baseboard is constructed of 12mm hardwood plywood which is mounted on 22mm X 38mm wooden battens and fixed to Wickes wall mounted metal adjustable shelving brackets.

The size of the diorama is 2.2mtr x 0.4mtr.

The power for the diorama will be via DCC bus on the underside, with each section of track fitted with dropper wires soldered to the rail underside.

The images below are of the first stages of track laying and scenery construction.

The track is from the EM Gauge Society and is their own Peco Bullhead 18.2mm gauge flexi track. The points are from Finetrax and are the A5 self assembly point kits.

Further track and points will be fitted once they have been delivered.

Here we go with EAST ROAD

HELPFUL WEBSITE

One of the websites I use to get information for you is www.keymodelworld.com. Subscription is just £3.99 each month and for that fee you get access to articles on modelling and also general railway news. It’s well worth the money. Key Publishing also offer subscriptions on Hornby Magazine which, I think, is brilliant and another MUST-read. They also have “Modern Railways” and “MLI Plus”-both great magazines which I look forward to each month.

EUROSTAR-THALYS

The Eurostar Group, an alliance of Thalys and Eurostar, has unveiled its new brand.

This marks a new milestone for the group, which was legally established last May.

The new brand identity was developed by DesignStudio. The new logo and symbol consist of an iconic star inspired by the North Star, the original train service linking Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam and a tribute to the first Eurostar logo.

It will be deployed from October 2023 in a palette of ten colours, bringing in warmer tones to represent the Thalys brand. By the end of the year, it will be in place across all customer touchpoints, including the group’s 51 trains.

From October, passengers will also be able to benefit from a single loyalty programme, covering all destinations on the current Eurostar and Thalys networks, as well as a single website and booking system.

For continental travellers, this will make it easier to book direct and connecting journeys to London.

For UK passengers, it will offer simple and seamless connections between London and German destinations, including Cologne.

As Europe’s largest high-speed rail network – crossing five countries and connecting 245 million people – there’s huge potential to encourage the use of more sustainable modes of transport and the group aims to carry 30 million passengers a year by 2030.

Gwendoline Cazenave, CEO of the Eurostar Group, said:

“We're proud to unveil our new brand today, which will increase our visibility, help make us the cornerstone of high-speed rail travel in Europe and support our ambition to double passenger numbers over the next decade.

“Our customers will be able to enjoy the same quality of service they know and love on our unified network, which connects iconic business and leisure destinations in five European countries.

“As the Eurostar Group, we’re joining forces to write the next chapter in the history of rail transport and to truly encourage the modal shift from road and air to rail.”

HIGH SPEED IN ASIA

A new high-speed sleeper train will link two major Asian cities

Journey times between two of India’s biggest cities will soon be slashed – and get a swish new sleeper option.

As it is, the train between Delhi and Mumbai is one of the world’s great rail journeys. The rail route between the two Indian cities – which are more than 1,300 kilometres apart – can take around 16 hours but often takes more than a whopping 20 hours.

But the route is soon to get a major upgrade. Not only will brand-new Vande Bharat Express trains take just 12 hours to get between Mumbai and Delhi, but they might be getting an even faster and swisher update.

Current Vande Bharat semi-high-speed trains can run at 130 kilometres per hour, but a new model might be able to reach speeds of 220 km/h. In practice, it’s likely they’ll travel mostly at around 180 km/h – though that’s still significantly faster than current lines.

And better yet, there’s also the potential for the Vande Bharat Express to become a sleeper train. The second stage of the new model’s rollout will see night train options with Wi-Fi, LED screens, air purification systems, and much more. In the long term, Indian Railways hopes to feature these new trains across its entire night train network.

As it stands, however, quite a lot of work needs to be done before any of this becomes a reality. The trains themselves are apparently about 30 months away from completion, though improvements need to be made to tracks, signal systems, and fencing before they can be fully rolled out.

In any case, it looks like journey times on the third biggest passenger train network in the world (after Russia and China) are about to be well and truly slashed! Keep an eye on this page for further details – we’ll update it when we find out more about US High-Speed Rail.

US HIGH SPEED RAIL

The US could benefit immensely from investment in high-speed rail connections as an effective and sustainable mode of transport.

The Amtrak Acela service is currently the fastest passenger train operating in the US, travelling at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour on select sections of the Northeast Corridor.

According to Amtrak’s President, Roger Harris, this service has had a significant impact on attracting rail passengers. Prior to its launch in 2000, business travellers typically relied on air travel to make trips between cities such as Boston and New York. However, over the last 20 years, the Acela has made significant inroads on shifting these transport habits and has now gained a 75% market share of business travel within the Northeast Corridor.

This impact demonstrates that high-speed rail has the potential to attract passengers for journeys that are too far to drive, but too short to justify a flight.

Due to the challenges of decarbonising the aviation sector, this shift would offer huge environmental benefits, and could present the US with opportunities similar to those leveraged in countries such as France, which is stopping domestic short-haul flights on routes with feasible rail alternatives in order to significantly reduce transport emissions.

The Passenger Experience

In addition to the environmental benefits, Jim Mathews, President and CEO of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, stressed that the demand for high-speed rail services is prominent due to the appeal of improved convenience and flexibility for passengers.

However, Mathews argued that in order to build upon and expand this support, it was also critical to focus on improving current rail services. This could help convince more automobile drivers to travel by train and thus see the appeal of expanding the network.

Working to attract such customers through a positive passenger experience is a key priority for Brightline, which operates intercity passenger rail services in Florida, and is preparing to construct a second network between Las Vegas and Southern California. Unlike in Europe, where stations may be operated by a different company to the train operator, Brightline takes care of the entire travel system, from booking the ticket in advance to finding last mile transport upon arrival.

During the CoMotion webinar, Ali Soule, VP Community Relations at Brightline argued that this hospitality-focused approach made travelling by train more enjoyable and less stressful than driving a car and therefore helped the service to gain and retain passengers.

The entrance to Brightline’s Orlando station, which is due to open in the second quarter of 2023.

To further ensure a positive passenger experience, operators must be able to deliver reliable and efficient transportation. Amtrak President Roger Harris therefore stressed the importance of investing in existing infrastructure to upgrade it to high-speed standards. Such upgrades will allow Amtrak to provide faster and more reliable services at a significantly reduced cost compared to constructing an entirely new high-speed rail network.

Record funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping to deliver these crucial improvements, with projects such as the B&P Tunnel Replacement and the replacement of the Susquehanna River Rail Bridge now underway. This work will increase service reliability, capacity and speed on current pinch points along the Northeast Corridor.

The Cost of High-Speed Rail

Despite the benefits of investing in the country’s railway, many Americans object to expensive rail projects, and view such funding as an undesirable use of tax dollars. In particular, the California High-Speed Rail project, which will be the nation’s first network to operate trains at speeds of up to 220mph, is estimated to have a total projected cost of 105 billion USD, which has sparked controversy.

From 2029, the California High Speed Rail system will run from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours at speeds of over 200 miles per hour.

In response to these objections, Melissa Figueroa, Chief of Strategic Communications for the California High-Speed Rail Authority argued that equivalent projects to expand highways or airport runways to meet the same capacity demands would cost twice as much and deliver none of the greenhouse gas emission benefits.

Melissa Figueroa, Chief of Strategic Communications, California High-Speed Rail Authority said:

“You have to put the benefits and the cost in the same boat. What we're building is expensive, but it is absolutely worth it if we want to leave a lasting impact in a positive way on this country in terms of reduction of GHG emissions.

“If we want to provide connectivity to populations of the state that have often been overlooked and don’t have mobility options, we need to do better. And we're working to do better, but that does come at a high cost.”

This sentiment was echoed by the other panelists, with Harris highlighting that in the past 20 years, the US Federal Government had spent 1.3 trillion USD on highway investment. Moreover, this figure will keep rising if the nation does not reduce its reliance on road transport, as continued car usage will simply increase the need for additional maintenance and capacity upgrades.

In support of this perspective, Mathews also stressed the importance of recognising “the cost of doing nothing”, as not pursing projects such as the California High Speed Rail network would also be expensive. Indeed, this approach would still require billions of dollars to be spent, requiring funds to instead be invested in augmented issues such as congestion and road fatalities, while delivering none of the benefits of rail.

The future of high-speed rail thus offers vast potential to better connect communities across the US and provide a more sustainable mass transport solution while improving economic activity in surrounding areas. However, Soule noted that a few voices of objection could often be louder than many voices of support, and the panel therefore urged US citizens to speak out in favour of such projects and advocate for improved connectivity and mobility in their local areas.

AVANTI WEST COAST BEGIN TESTING

Avanti West Coast has started testing its new Hitachi fleet on the West Coast Main Line.

The fleet consists of ten seven-carriage electric trains and 13 five-carriage class 805 bi-mode trains, which can run under both electric and diesel power.

These were purchased as part of a 350 million GBP  investment in sustainable travel and are set to replace Avanti’s diesel-only Voyager trains later this year. This change will provide an expected 61% cut in carbon emissions.

The first of Avanti West Coast’s new fleet of Hitachi trains has made its first ever test run on the West Coast Main Line.

Two of the new trains have entered main line testing following two months of dynamic testing at Network Rail’s Rail Innovation and Development Centre (RIDC) at Melton Mowbray.

Here, basic functionality was checked, including the pantograph, Wi-Fi, onboard CCTV, coupling capabilities and emergency lighting.

Additional noise testing was undertaken both on the train and lineside.

Prior to this, static testing took place at Hitachi Rail’s Newton Aycliffe factory, where final assembly was also undertaken.

Over the next few months, these trains will undergo main line testing, running up to their top speeds of 125 miles per hour, to ensure the vehicles can operate fault free for an extended period of time.

The 560-mile-long inaugural test run went from Alstom’s Oxley depot in Wolverhampton – where the fleet will be maintained once it enters service – to Glasgow Central.

Steve Whitewick, Head of Fleet Transition at Avanti West Coast, said:

“The new trains have certainly turned heads and the anticipation is building.

“It’s great to have the first two sets on the West Coast Main Line and we look forward to working with our partners to deliver a new fleet that will help deliver a step change in the travelling experience of our customers and colleagues.”

During the test period, new customer-orientated features will also be evaluated.

This includes improved passenger information, a new seat reservation system, multiple running and selective door opening, which allows the trains to call at stations with shorter platforms.

If you would like to read more blog posts from Phil check back every two weeks or sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date on site news or when the blog posts go live.

The views and opinions expressed within the content are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of Trackside Signs or its affiliates.