January 2001Heljan Class 47



February 16, 2001 - the other wagon supplier also ceases production
	Appleby Model Engineering ceases production of their kits and bits for a time whilst John Talbot deals with a few personal issues. This is a long running saga which will demand much of his time for the next three months. Leave it until the next modelling season. In the meantime, we wish John Talbot all the best and hope he gets the desired outcome. I will say no more...
February 16, 2001 - Mendip Models goes under
	Ian Hull has thrown in the towel leaving a trail of ceditors. He is a nice guy but has no idea of how to run a business. Don't send orders. Creditors or those who have property with Mendip Models should contact his solicitors: J Forshaw Thring Townsend Solicitors Midland Bridge, Bath, BA1 2HQ 01225 340000 [email protected]
February 16, 2001 - New book from Santona Publications - Modelling the British Rail Era
	Steve Flint is about to release a book under the Santona Publications label - a subject not ever covered by any group of authors before. It represents a comprehensive view of BR operations and examines how they can be readily adapted to create captivating, inspirational and authentic model railways. The book covers prototype plans, modelling technique and a number of layout themes. Priced at �14.95, this sounds like a winner to me. Contact Steve at: [email protected]
February 2001 Alan Gibson releases wheels for Bachmann 08 model
	Well done to Alan Gibson for producing fine scale wheel sets for the Bachmann 08 so quickly. Available in EM and P4, they are drop in replacements for those supplied by Bachmann with their superb model. Alan Gibson says that his wheels willaccept the existing drive gear, which is a force fit to the new axles. His wheel sets come complete with outside cranks. Alan Gibson can be contacted on 01603 715862.
February 2001 6,050 jobs axed and plant closures by Corus, formerly British Steel
	The UK's biggest steelmaker, Corus, is to close steel producing and finishing plants and will cut 6,050 jobs in the process. Corus says the jobs will be axed next year. South Wales will be hardest hit, with 1,340 redundancies at the huge plant in Llanwern, near Newport. Ebbw Vale will close with the loss of 780 jobs, while redundancies will also hit factories at Shotton in north Wales and at Teesside. Corus chairman Sir Brian Moffat briefed the Government about the scale of the redundancies before an announcement was made to the stock market at 9am. The company has confirmed that iron and steelmaking operations at Llanwern will cease whilst the coil plate mill at Teesside will close and the plant at Bryngwyn in South Wales will also be axed. Corus says the changes will be completed during 2001, while Ebbw Vale will close by mid-2002. Corus says the cut-back will be completed by 2003, by which time the company's workforce will stand at 22,000. What we say: So how will this affect rail operations? It is clear that the Ebbw Vale branch is now at risk and the Iron Ore trains between Port Talbot and Llanwern will cease – a serious blow to EWS. However, such changes bring opportunity for new flows of semi-finished and un-finished steel. To keep their market-share and lessen the impact on Cardiff Canton and other depots, EWS will have to move in on current road flows of steel and also win some of the new traffic that these closures will create. We will also see the loss of the coil liners from Tees-side; will this be replaced by unfinished steel traffic as inter-works flows? The coil will have to be produced somewhere because customers still exist for this product. And finally how much more will be imported and need rail transport from the docks? Its all speculation at the moment. None the less, it is a severe blow to EWS at a time when winning new traffic is a challenge after the recent and so called "rail crisis". I hope that we will see some new traffic patterns merge from this confused picture.
January 2001 Heljan Class 47 - tooling of sprues complete
	Heljan have recently reported that they have successfully completed the tooling for their Class 47 model. To see the full text, go to www.heljan.dk for full details. The new model is due for release in March 2001 and is a brave move that deserves the fullest support from modellers. If this innovation is a success, and it deserves to be, who knows what they will do next? Class 56 maybe, certainly the choice of a prototype that has appeared in many different liveries makes sense.
January 2001 EWS repaints British Steel blue Class 60s.
	Class 60s, No.s 60 006 "Scunthorpe Steelmaster and 60 033 have been repainted in a new scheme of silver to reflect British Steel's new identity following the merger between BS and Corus. Tyhe images of 60 006 were taken at Didcot - it did not take long for the Corus liveried locomotives to drift away from steel workings. The date is 6 January 2001.