Urgh...I have not updated this since April. I really must do better.....
World still turning, still here, still producing the most comprehensive and varied range of UK N Gauge livery products.
However, my layout plans have taken a sharp detour.
Originally planned as a modern image main-line with an endless procession of multi-coloured locos and units, the layout will now be Southern Region 1960-ish steam/diesel and third-rail!
Who's to blame for this sad state of affairs? Step forward, Messers Smith and Jones of Chirk!
Quite simply the recent Dapol Q1 0-6-0 kettle is one of the finest models it has been my pleasure to own. Along with a recently purchased M7, a resurrected green 33 and some GUVs, something Southern this way comes.
Next into the workshops is a secondhand 3H DEMU, built from the BHE brass kits, which will get green treatment and a similar 2-HAP, which will be early blue with small warning panels.
Whilst not as detailed as the Electra Railway Graphics conversions, the BHE kits do have a certain charm and can look very good indeed with some TLC.
Next up will be a green 4-CEP, which will be a full Electra conversion with BHE trimmings.
Kettle-wise, I have a Farish 4F which will receive new cabs and fittings to become a Q Class and plans for some Bulleid streamline action!
Friday, November 09, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Oh Hell, What Have I done?
I should have known better than to get involved in an on-line discussion about smoking in public places. The story that really got my goat was here:
http://www.peterboroughnow.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2699349&SectionID=845
To summarise, a chap was enjoying a quiet smoke in Peterborough City Centre and stubbed out his fag butt on the ground. he was promptly accosted by several Council "Street Wardens" and issued a fixed-penalty notice of £50 for littering.
No big deal, I hear you say. The problem is that there are no bins in the centre that have a built-in ashtray, so disposing of the butt legally would probably start a bin fire! The gentleman also alleges that the wardens were circling him waiting to pounce and offered him no chance to pick up the offending butt.
Now, it's school holidays - the centre is packed with gangs of schoolkids , alkies, beggars and assorted riff-raff, which raised the questions:
What were the wardens doing going after a solitary smoker on his lunch-break?
Do we have so many patrolling Peterborough City Centre that several can be spared to fine man for a very minor offence? If so, why not deploy a few to some of Peterborough's other shopping centres. I know they could do with a few at the Orton Centre at the moment, which has become a "Hoodie's" paradise.
Anyway, I digress. I made a few of these points in reply to the article and also offered one or two forthright opinions of those who purport to be our public servants.
Oh dear. I underestimated the strength of opinion of the anti-smoking folk and received this reply...
In reply to Adam Warr: Your comment seems to pass responsiblility onto others to provide smoking facilities whilst at the same time complaining about a nanny state. If citizens do not take responsibility for their actions and surroundings then you will get a "nanny" state. Fact. And how is having visible environment wardens banning smoking by stealth exactly? It seems that your comment is basically soundbites you have collected from various media and regurgitated on this poor website. Please, if you criticise something you must provide a possible soltuion/remedy. Only in this way can citizens find new methods to solve social problems. As far as being fined for dropping a fag and complaining about a friend only getting a telling off after picking it up, why didn't fag-man pick his up? Please can Mr. Warr tell his friends to be more constructive alongside their critical rantings.
In reply, I was compelled to write:
Without wishing to extend the pro/anti-freedom debate on this noble forum, I can safely say that the opinions are mine alone and certainly not "sound-bites" from the right-wing press. The issue is balance and common sense which seems to be lacking from those who purport to be public servants. I'm all for visible street wardens and would like to see them more usefully employed than harassing an innocent smoker. I shall continue this debate on my Blog, with the URL available on request...
Quite balanced, I thought. I'm increasingly concerned about the gradual erosion of our freedoms by "public servants".
As for these rabid anti-smokers: I think that if some of these folk removed whatever they had stuck up their bumholes, they would be much happier people :-)
Friday, March 02, 2007
Blast from the Past
Just out of curiosity, I was Googling my name (as you do...) and came across my first web-site, from way back in the year 2000!
http://www.adamwarr.5u.com/
I'd forgotten about some of those European pics....
The structure is still intact, along with some of the pictures. Just goes to show how much things have come on....
Sunday, January 21, 2007
I Ain't a Racialist - Honest, Big Bruvver
No Jade, you're far too stupid.
Jade Goodie and her loathsome clan are just another product of our moronic popular media and Chav-culture.
The hypocrites in government are constantly hand-wringing over "yoof" behaviour and trying to instill a "Respect" agenda whilst our youngsters are being fed role-models like this shuddersome creature that resembles something from HP Lovecraft's most fevered dreamings.
I recently flipped through a magazine aimed at teenage girls (belonged to a friend's daughter - honest) and concluded that this wasn't a magazine - it was a programming manual! Resistance is futile - you will become a good little consumer or join the underclass.
What happened to good old-fashioned entertainment on TV? It's time for the ad-men and media to take a wider look at the damage that they are doing.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Grumpy Old Git #1
"Evil train companies impose inflation busting price hikes" scream the newspaper headlines once again. Seemingly an annual event these days.
Britain now has the most expensive rail services in Europe, despite ten years of Labour (and I use the term advisedly) government.
The railways are receiving huge subsidies undreamt of in my time working for BR in the late 80s / early 90s. So why are costs so high?
Let's take a look at the structure. Network Rail, a semi-public "not for profit" body owns the tracks and stations. Several private leasing companies (ROSCOS) own the actual trains, many inherited at negligible cost from BR.
Train Operating companies (TOCS)actually run the services, paying the ROSCOS to lease the trains and Network Rail for access to the network.
To cap it all, the Department of Transport (DfT) decides service levels, subsidies and lets franchises to run TOCs.
Remember, the TOCS, ROSCOS and numerous other bodies, such as safety certification, track renewal, are all private companies with shareholders, out to make as much profit as possible. Thus the cost of leasing trains, providing maintenance, etc, is set artificially high meaning that the end cost is passed on to the passenger.
The situation is made worse by a Stalinist DfT, who award franchises not on service level or innovation but on how little subsidy or how much premium repayment can be made. Short franchise lengths and uncertainty in the market mean that joined up planning and long term ideas, such as stock replacement cannot be made.
With the treasury being increasingly greedy, the TOCs are struggling to make a profit and are now finding it hard to make any profit repayments. GNER has already folded and is being re-let. Several other TOCs are likely to face similar woes in the future.
Bit of a mess, isn't it? This from a government led my a man who pledged a "publicly owned and publicly accountable railway".
What can be done about it? In a word, re-nationalise....
For starters, remove the private sector from passenger train operation, maintenance and track renewal and merge these operations with Network Rail. The more levels of management that can be slashed, the more value can be had. With GNER now effectively under DfT control, there is a perfect opportunity.
Before the Major government sold off the system, British Rail was running very efficiently - it had to with a cost-conscious Tory government checking the cost of each rivet and bolt! The INTERCITY sector was making profit - of course, it owned the tracks, trans and did all it's own maintenance in-house. There were strategic plans for large-scale electrification and route modernisation, which are undreamt of now.
To summarise, if we had the same railway structure in place now, as was present in 1988, with the same level of public expenditure, we'd have a railway system the envy of Europe (even Switzerland).
Now we hear that the roads are too congested, and Mr Blair wants to introduce road-pricing (by using a car-based transponder system that tracks your every movement like a spy in the cab) and want us to use public transport more.
Instead of spending trillions on replacing Trident (which we've never used...), spend it on sorting out our national infrastructure now!!!
End of Rant.
"Evil train companies impose inflation busting price hikes" scream the newspaper headlines once again. Seemingly an annual event these days.
Britain now has the most expensive rail services in Europe, despite ten years of Labour (and I use the term advisedly) government.
The railways are receiving huge subsidies undreamt of in my time working for BR in the late 80s / early 90s. So why are costs so high?
Let's take a look at the structure. Network Rail, a semi-public "not for profit" body owns the tracks and stations. Several private leasing companies (ROSCOS) own the actual trains, many inherited at negligible cost from BR.
Train Operating companies (TOCS)actually run the services, paying the ROSCOS to lease the trains and Network Rail for access to the network.
To cap it all, the Department of Transport (DfT) decides service levels, subsidies and lets franchises to run TOCs.
Remember, the TOCS, ROSCOS and numerous other bodies, such as safety certification, track renewal, are all private companies with shareholders, out to make as much profit as possible. Thus the cost of leasing trains, providing maintenance, etc, is set artificially high meaning that the end cost is passed on to the passenger.
The situation is made worse by a Stalinist DfT, who award franchises not on service level or innovation but on how little subsidy or how much premium repayment can be made. Short franchise lengths and uncertainty in the market mean that joined up planning and long term ideas, such as stock replacement cannot be made.
With the treasury being increasingly greedy, the TOCs are struggling to make a profit and are now finding it hard to make any profit repayments. GNER has already folded and is being re-let. Several other TOCs are likely to face similar woes in the future.
Bit of a mess, isn't it? This from a government led my a man who pledged a "publicly owned and publicly accountable railway".
What can be done about it? In a word, re-nationalise....
For starters, remove the private sector from passenger train operation, maintenance and track renewal and merge these operations with Network Rail. The more levels of management that can be slashed, the more value can be had. With GNER now effectively under DfT control, there is a perfect opportunity.
Before the Major government sold off the system, British Rail was running very efficiently - it had to with a cost-conscious Tory government checking the cost of each rivet and bolt! The INTERCITY sector was making profit - of course, it owned the tracks, trans and did all it's own maintenance in-house. There were strategic plans for large-scale electrification and route modernisation, which are undreamt of now.
To summarise, if we had the same railway structure in place now, as was present in 1988, with the same level of public expenditure, we'd have a railway system the envy of Europe (even Switzerland).
Now we hear that the roads are too congested, and Mr Blair wants to introduce road-pricing (by using a car-based transponder system that tracks your every movement like a spy in the cab) and want us to use public transport more.
Instead of spending trillions on replacing Trident (which we've never used...), spend it on sorting out our national infrastructure now!!!
End of Rant.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Happy New Year
Apologies for the lack of updates recently - Christmas and all that.
Work has started on the layout, with the first boards down and a 12ft test track up and running.
The boards are to be re-surfaced, as the 20-year old fibreboard is way past it's best. The eventual plan is for a 12x6 continoius loop with double track, freight and passenger stabling facilities and an urban setting.
A bit of 80s nostalgia
I've also recently picked up an HP 4370 scanner, that can handle slides and negatives to make a start getting some of the Warr railway archives on-line.
The gallery can be found here: href="http://www.adamsphotos.fotopic.net/c1174199.html">http://www.adamsphotos.fotopic.net/c1174199.html
Expect plenty of shots from the glory days of BR, such as these:
One for the Music Lovers
Katie "Jordan" Price and Peter Andre's solo venture "A Whole New World" hit the shops before Christmas and has been an amazing success, giving untold inspiration to millions.
The reviews on the Amazon website say it all:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000JU8FXK/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/026-2084626-2878047?ie=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=229816
(Some of them are increasingly bizzare and are not for the easily offended.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)