So, on the Preston Carlisle section of the roadmap, it says this: “No need to pant with excitement! In the Top Ten, this DLC will Hit That Perfect Beat especially for those with Suspicious Minds as It’s A Kind Of Magic.” Aswell with this image Now, I am not so sure about what this is. Maybe we could see if we could crack the code before December?
It's a Kind Of Magic was a hit for Queen in 1986 and also featured in the soundtrack of the movie Highlander. But AFAIR in amongst the tumbling heads, there were no trains in the film. Was Freddie Mercury or any other of the band members a railfan? Panting and Perfect Beat kind of suggests something steam related but seems long odds unless they have been able to crack the physics. Maybe a Sulzer Type 2, as they do reverberate quite nicely under power.
Hit that perfect beat was a song for Bronski Beat around that time, Fine young cannibals had a song called Suspicious minds in the same era. Pant (with excitement) would suggest its electric?
There are three songs mentioned there that were all in the top ten of the UK charts in 1986: Hit That Perfect Beat - Bronski Beat Suspicious Minds - Fine Young Cannibals It's A Kind Of Magic - Queen Could it be something to do with the highest number they reached in the chart? Or the number of weeks they were in the chart? Highest number: 3 - 8 - 3 Weeks in chart: 3 - 3 - 6
I think it's just the year: '86. In the JT loco thread someone also put a picture of a class 86 which matches the headlight shown in the roadmap.
The lamp is a more unique early model of high intensity headlamp that was fitted to some Class 86 units that were based in Scotland. It's hard to find images of them as the lamp was so infrequent and very quickly replaced with the standardised square one of later years, but you can see it in this image. At the top right of JT's teaser you can also see the protrusion of the headcode box plate. If you want to go into extreme detail and look closely at the lamp again you can see the same layout of the bolts that hold it on - three on each side. Everything about it is a perfect match.
Yes, think it's got to be the Class 86, which of course is what many of us thought it would be all along. Makes perfect sense as the bulk of WCML services were worked by these rather than 87's. Shame it's probably not a Sulzer though but as previously discussed, by '86 these had faded rapidly from being commonplace everywhere.
I think its something to do with Variants Hit that perfect beat went top 3 in January so 86/1 Suspicious minds went top 10 in early February so 86/2 and Kind of magic went top 3 in April so 86/4.
I think the class 86 would be the logical choice and it will certainly be a day one purchase for me too. I would love to see a class 25 in the future though.
I’m glad someone got there with the different variants and the dates. I got as far as “hmm, one or two of those sound like song names…” I can appreciate the 80s but was born a decade too late.
OT but reading the previous comment I sometimes feel I was born 100 years too late. I would have loved to have seen firsthand the golden age of the railways when there were more than 23000 miles of track to explore. Today is just a shadow of what was.
Oh I think the same! I definitely miss what I grew up with - early privatisation: a big melting pot of dusty ex BR locos in grotty BR/Sector liveries, ex BR/newish locos and units in the spectrum of colours that was the initial private companies. But I’m also a sucker for the Pre-grouping era, and it’s own spectrum of companies!
I would settle for a Time Machine… Otherwise, poor working conditions, basic health care if you had no money, no internet, no phones no Tesco and the ever present threat of conscription to fight in whichever war was fashionable!
Very well thought out Perhaps we should speculate on which years out of 1981- 1985 had the best music. You never know we might, eventually, end up with a third electric loco.
Presuming I was born in 1865, I would have been just a few years too old for the Great War conscription, and the previous Boer War was volunteer drafting only. With the exception of a comfortable inheritance with which to pursue my passion, the rest I could live quite happily without.
Medicine in general and dentistry in particular. Scratch yourself on a thorn and die of sepsis, or tooth extraction with limited anaesthetics (and women had it even worse). I'd love to use a time machine and visit the late Victorian era for a week or two, but live there? No thanks!
I miss the days of leaded petrol and paint (never did me no harm!!), no safety barriers and the expectation that coffee would be hot without needed to be told on the cup!
My best guess is that it will be an 86/2 since that seemed to be the common variant at the time and they were seen mainly on express services but sometimes freight too. They were capable of 100mph running and i'm pretty sure the teaser image is 86225 "Hardwicke" because it had the exact same lamp back when it was in it's BR Blue livery
