HPMRS RAILDATE 17 Nov 06

News

RAILDATE: the weekly newsletter of the Hursley Park Model Railway Society: http://www.ibmhursleyclub.org.uk/ss/hpmrs/

NETWATCH

From Nick Wheat:

Canon are holding an in-store day at London Camera Exchange on Saturday 2nd December from 9am to 5.30pm. It's at LCE PRO Centre, 11 Civic Centre Road, Southampton, SO14 7FJ

Admission is free and is a good opportunity to try out the latest Canon kit (sadly just before Christmas!) and chat to Canon's 'experts'. http://canonpro.lcegroup.co.uk

At the very least you can get your EOS sensor professionally cleaned for half price at just £15.

The GWR Abingdon Branch website has recently been updated and now contains almost 300 photographs: http://www.abingdonbranch.co.uk

OO Works now has a website. It is purely a shop window and ordering must be done by telephone: http://sites.ecosse.net/ooworks/index.html

Benn Pollard has a website about his N gauge Southern Region model railway project: http://www.wagon-wheels.tk

Neil Kearns has spotted an article about the future of Waterloo International Terminal after CTRL services start from St Pancras next year: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6146690.stm

Neil notes that one problem that isn't mentioned is that Waterloo International was built with a wider than standard (for UK) train-to- platform gap for the Eurostar trains. The track fixtures are cast into the concrete structure of the terminal and can't be easily moved. Before the opening of Waterloo International, route learning specials had a warning on the special notices about the wider than normal gap.

Tony Pearce has four collections from the recent Bluebell gala weekend on his site: 1 Friday 10th 2 Sunday 12th 3 5 Terrier Line Up - Monday 13th 4 Photographic charter with Martello - Tuesday 14th http://tony-pearce.fotopic.net/

Thanks to Ralph Rawlinson who has produced a round-up of Yahoo discussion groups that might be of interest...

Bygone Lines UK: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/bygone_lines_uk/

Derbyshire Railways: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/derbyshirerailways/

East Cleveland Railways: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/eastclevelandrailways/

Great Eastern Railway: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greateastern/

Great Northern Railway: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/great_northern_railway/

Great Western Railway: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/gwr-elist/

Irish Railways: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/RAILWAYS-IRELAND/

London Midland & Scottish Railway: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lmsreg/

London & North Eastern Railway: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/lner-list/

Scottish Railways: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/firstscotrailgroup/

Sheffield & District Railways: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/sheffieldrailways/

South Eastern & Chatham Railway: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TheSouthEastern/

Southern Railway, historic - SR and its constituents (900 members!): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SEmG/

Southern Railway, modern - aimed at London to South Coast services: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/southernrailway/

South Yorkshire & District Railway History: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/sydistrictrailhistory/

The Woodhead Line: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/woodhead_railway/

The history of railways and canals: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/railwaycanal/

Ralph has also supplied details of a programme on the Discovery Channel (which I don't normally list in the TV & Radio section). On Saturday, "Megastructures" records the construction of the high-speed line through Switzerland. 2000 on ch520 and 2100 on ch521.

This is presumably mainly about the new 21½ mile Lötschberg Base Tunnel that I reported on exactly 12 months ago. It will be opened next year as the first part of 'AlpTransit' to be completed. For most traffic, it will replace the current 9-mile Lötschberg tunnel completed in 1913.

News of a new light railway system in Denver, Colorado:

http://www.southeastlightrail.com/

IN THE NEWS

Railway author, Rex Christiansen dies: http://www.guardian.co.uk/otherlives/story/0,,1947154,00.html

Stealth train uncloaks on Google Earth (spotter - Nick Wheat): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/09/stealth_train

CTRL2 - high speed rail link open in a year http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6144338.stm

Metrolink tracks to be replaced: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6145900.stm

Mayor quizzed on music-free buses: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6149756.stm

TV and Radio

Events

See Mainline Steam Tours page for up-to-date info on many of these tours, and others, often with timings.