Shock Leader in New Poll!!
by Phil Cooper
MODELLER OF THE YEAR
Between now and Christmas I’m going to be posting 3 photos from our modeller-contributors for you to choose your favourites. You each have 3 votes and yes you can vote for yourselves! So, I’ve got two definite votes already and I’m the early leader! Thanks Mum! To make your votes send an email to me (philipgcooper@hotmail.co.uk) with the word “Contest” in the subject line or contact me through Facebook Messenger.
My Facebook profile can be found at www.facebook.com/philipgcooper. So please join in and have your say. The winning criteria is up to you. The winner will be named on the 26 December blog. There’s going to be lots of fantastic photos of fantastic layouts and fantastic locomotives. Fantastic eh! So let’s get started with some great photos and 3 not so great photos. I’ve selected 3 random photos from each person:
John Batley
Marcus Pick
David Styles
Neil Stanley
Phil Cooper
I’ll get me coat
I think you’ll agree that John, Marcus, David and Neil have set a very high standard. I haven’t!
CONGRATULATIONS-1
Congratulations to Mark Wilson who has had one of his amazing Photos of his Swindon Depot included in Hornby Magazine’s annual calendar which comes free in the December issue , number 186.
CONGRATULATIONS-2
I was right about Accurascale’s Class 55 winning the coveted “Best OO Gauge Locomotive in the 2022 Hornby Magazine Model Railway Awards. When I first saw it a few months ago I was sure it would win and it has. It has almost “legendary” status. So it’s a good excuse to produce another photo of it.
STUNNING
I’m still waiting for them to be back in stock because I really want one, hopefully with sound. Congratulations also to Hornby Magazine for recognising a direct competitor building a magnificent beast.
SOME CHRISTMAS DEALS
Hornby have quite a few interesting deals in time for Christmas
Their Staycation Express Train Pack is available as a Web Exclusive for pre-order:
RRP £451.18
Hornby Online £369.95
Another Web Exclusive is their Valley Drifter Train Set Bundle
RRP £190.41
Hornby Online £149.99
And another Web Exclusive is their Playtrains Train & Coach Bundle
RRP £57.47
Hornby Online £49.99
Let’s try www.petersspares.com
Bachmann Whiskies Galore Train Set (With digital sound)
My dad used to drive the real thing
RRP £329.95
Pete’s £280.46
Bachmann Western Pullman Ultima Digital Sound Train Set (OOGauge)
RRP £949.95
Pete’s ££807.46
Now let’s look in on Hattons and this is still available, even cheaper now!
RRP £206.99
Hattons Last month it was available for JUST £99! Now it’s down to £89
They’ve got this one too -same price
Heljan Class 86 OO “Mons Meg”
RRP £239.95
Hattons £160
Atlas Editions OO“Midland Red” coach
RRP £29.99
Hattons £4
Atlas Editions OO Bedford Coach
RRP £29.99
Hattons £4
And now we have some great buys from Trackside Signs with some beautiful items for sale. Check everything out at tracksidesigns.co.uk
Starting with our die cut vinyl Station Signs are a superb addition to our product catalogue, and will add that finishing touch to your stations or buildings on your layout. There are different colour options for this set of Station Signs, please click on the pull down box below for more information.
Full Station Sets - OO Gauge
£30
These signs are printed on Self Adhesive Gloss Vinyl and are individually die cut and are easily peelable and ready to affix to your buildings.
The following items are available on each sheet.
- Platform Signs
- Poster & Notice Boards
- Station Signs
- Custom Station Name Boards and Signs
When you place an order for these signs the bottom section is customisable, this section contains Station Name Boards and Totems. All you need to do is just let us know what station names you require, you can have up to 3 different names.
The finished sheet of signs is A4 in size.
Just £12
Street Names (Black on White) OO Gauge Just £7
NOW SOME NEWS FROM THE REAL STUFF
Achtung: Germany is relaunching its mega-cheap travel pass
From January, you’ll be able to get unlimited public transport in the country for just €49 per month
Earlier this year, German public transport users were the envy of pretty much everyone, everywhere. In order to promote sustainable travel and help out with the cost of living crisis, Germany’s government introduced monthly tickets for near-unlimited public transport usage that cost just €9 (£7.86, £8.80)! Mental stuff, we know.
That scheme ended in August but in the months since, the German government has been working on a follow-up. And that successor has now been announced: from January 2023, regional transport across Germany will cost just €49 (£43, $48) per month.
Sure, compared to the €9 ticket, the new ‘Deutschlandticket’ might sound expensive – but it still works out really, really cheap. For reference, if you wanted to get a cheap train ticket from Berlin to Hamburg today, using only local trains, it’d cost you at least €35 (£31, $34). With the new pass, you’ll be able to do as many of those journeys as you want for under €2 (£1.75, £1.96) per day.
The new pass is expected to have similar criteria to the €9 ticket in that it’ll be available to visitors but won’t cover high-speed Inter-City Express (ICE) trains. The €49 ticket will be available to buy as part of a monthly subscription that can be cancelled at any time.
The idea, again, is to cut CO2 emissions and help out Germans with the cost of living crisis. In June, July and August, a whopping 50 million €9 passes were sold, covering one billion trips every month and saving 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. And who can argue with those numbers?
The new €49 ticket is set to come into effect in January 2023 and it’ll be re-evaluated by the government at the end of 2024.
In other words, you could be enjoying super-affordable month-long jaunts around Deutschland for at least the next couple of years!
Photograph: Shutterstock
Missed Germany’s €9 travel pass? Here’s where you can still travel in Europe for basically nothing
From free public transport to mega-cheap travel passes, here are the countries offering cheap travel for visitors
Spain
From today (September 1) until December 31, 2022, intercity trains in Spain will be totally free. The policy was designed to help Spaniards out in the cost of living crisis and covers Cercanías (commuter train), Rodalies (commuter routes in Catalonia) and Media Distancia routes (mid-distance regional lines, covering journeys of less than 300km) run by the national rail operator Renfe. For cheap travel this autumn, Spain is king. Find out all the deets about free train travel in Spain.
Austria
Austria also has annual travel passes covering buses, trams and trains that average out at €3 (£2.60, $3) per day, while the country’s capital Vienna boasts €1(£0.85, $1)-per-day public transport passes. With both of these, however, there’s a catch: you only get the discount if you pay for a year-long ticket. In other words, they’re probably only worth it if you’re planning a really long Austria trip.
Luxembourg
Sure, Luxembourg probably isn’t top of many people’s travel bucket lists. But in 2020 it became the first country in the world to make public transport free. So long as you’re not travelling in first class, both visitors and residents can get buses, trains and trams without spending a cent.
So if you missed out on the German scheme, why not jet off to Spain, Austria or Luxembourg? Time to make the most of these seriously bumper transport schemes.
The World’s First Hydrogen-poweredpassenger trains have Launched in Germany
The new Coradia iLint trains in Lower Saxony show how train travel can be made even more eco-friendly
Trains are already one of the greenest ways to travel. Even those that run on diesel are much better for the environment than planes and cars. And when they’re fully electric – or, better yet, run on renewable electricity – there really is no more environmentally-friendly way to get around.
But now trains could be getting even more eco-friendly. Germany has just launched the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger trains, which release absolutely zero emissions. All that comes out of the exhaust is steam and condensed water. Pretty freaking cool, right?
The train model is called the Coradia iLint and it’s now in service on a line in Lower Saxony. Five of the trains are already running, though there’ll eventually be 14 on the route. Built by French rail manufacturer Alstom, in all the project cost €93 million (£78.5 million, $93 million).
Hydrogen rail is so exciting because it doesn’t necessarily require trainlines to be electrified. ‘Hydrail’ locomotives (as they’re called by those in-the-know) can work on existing lines, which means that, in theory, they can be implemented on pretty much any train track in the world.
And the Coradia iLint isn’t just zero-emission. It’s also much quieter than diesel trains and has an impressive range and top speed. Reaching 140 kilometres per hour and having the potential to run for a whopping 1,000 kilometres on one tank, the iLints are more than up to the job of running a regional rail service.
So if you fancy having a ride on one of these cutting-edge pieces of train tech, head on down to Lower Saxony! Coradia iLint trains will be found servicing the towns of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude – all of which are to the north of Bremen and east of Hamburg
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.
