Saturday Variety

Discovering Delightful Discovery Detail

fbb was aiming to share his joy at purchasing a Land Rover Discovery but could not find a picture to match the vehicle that had just been delivered. Then he worked out that he had bought a Land Rover Defender!

So ... Take Two! - and rewrite the headline!

Discovering Delightful Defender Detail

And fbb thought the above was a Defender, a slightly posh version of the traditional Land Rover.

Now it could be that readers are already aghast with horror ar such a profligate expenditure. Worry not, dear folks, it only cost the old man £4 (yes, four quid).

As it is summer (in date if not in meteorology) model railway retailers are desperate to persuade you so spend money in a valiant attempt to create some cash flow in the months when all good modellers are weeding their herbaceous borders or mowing their weeds.

So Oxford Diecast had a special offer. For just £20 post free you get a random box of FIVE OO scale models. fbb's box included four cars and one military tank. Unless Mr Putin is planning to invade Peterville, the latter will be passed on to a happy home elsewhere.

So fbb's Defender is almost exactly two and a half inches long! And it is exquisite.

Contrast and compare with the real ting!

This model has separate windscreen wipers, NOT moulded a part of the "glass" ...

... and there's even a steering wheel!

It has sweet little wing mirrors and they have "mirrors" in them.

... the "glass" is flush with he body moulding ...

... and it has a full set of seats including headrests.

The front even has a representation of the Land Rover badge in green plus cream splodge!

It would be realistic if only you could see it!

But, horror of horrors, there is a massive error at the back end.

All you Defender drivers should spot it right away. For we humbler mortals, the answer will be given at the end of the blog.

Bad house point, Taff. (He writes the Oxford Diecast blog) ...

... from company HQ in Swansea, hence the brand name.

The Defender currently retails at £9.95 ...

... which makes the £4 price a real bargain - especially as fbb doesn't care what cars he has; just a few parked around Peterville's private property will populate the picturesque place.

Bob Thinks Steve Is Wrong

"Bob" now dubs himself Robert Montgomery and was for a while boss of Stagecoach.

"Steve" is Steve Rotheram (without an "H") and is boss of transport in Merseyside; and like his chum in Manchester, he wants to improve services and cut fares by using the "franchise system". The nub of the matter, says Bob, is similar to distilling gold from human urine or making s perpetual motion machine, the numbers just do not add up.  (Please note: Bob uses more business orientated examples).

Bob now works as a consultant.

He could say much the same to Andy Burnham over at Cottonopolis.

Bob's Beaver Buses Bombed

Bob joined Mainline, the employee buy out of South Yorkshire PTE; and carried in his back pocket the "multitudes of minibuses" idea. This was introduced on one of Sheffield's busiest cross city routes, Crookes to Woodhouse Station. During the day, supposedly, Eager Beavers ran every 3 minutes.

But they didn't. They bunched! The revised service was not popular with the locals and just four years later, Bob left and so did the Beavers from the 52.

The 52 is now joint between First and Stagecoach and runs as 52 and 52a giving a frequency of double decks of every  7/8 mins (VERY approx).

To be fair to Bob's vision, some Beaver routes were successful, either in attracting extra passengers or (quite often) disposing of competitive opposition.

Well, it seemed a good idea at the time.

Swanning Around Porthmadog

You can't risk running it over - the bird belongs to the King.

Spot The Bludner (NOT By fbb!)

Erm, Rails of Sherffield, it is NOT a steam loco - it IS a  diesel.

Moe about this loco in tomorrow's blog.

Remember This?

Here it is in the tunnels at Peterville Quarry Railway.

The new-build tunnel extension has been temporarily removed.

What is going on?

A railway modeller will always have problems with track and trains in tunnels (See the recent Gotthard Base Tunnel accident for a real railway equivalent) so a whole tunnel's worth of track is being fixed to a slide-out base. Any problems; slide the whole lot out, make the repair and slide it all back in again.

The wiring is still  be fitted.

And An Answer

The rear number plate should be YELLOW not white.

Bad house point, Oxford Rail! fbb will be correcting the error on his Defender.

fbb has overlooked the dodgy registration number. They never begin with zero but model makers have to be careful about inadvertently advertising a model of a real car! So that oddity is allowed.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 27th August