Where Worlds Collide

Making Light tells us of the sekrit conspiracy that decides what colours domestic appliances and clothes will be each year. Yes, there really is a cabal that meets and decides that beige will be the new black (actually, grey is the new black, this year). They also come up with the ridiculous marketspeak names for them.

These are the official colours for “Transportation and Related”:

Tusk-Ivory influences aluminum reflecting the global warming of silver.

Acier-Sounds like French, but this steely gray is really from Pittsburgh, and has universal appeal. It is an expansion of the cool metals.

Aloeminium-The healing power of aloe combines with aluminum.

Mystic Quartz-A purple whisper adds mystery to silver; mature, technical and genderless.

Broadway Bronze-This dark and murky complex neutral is pulled from the streets of the concrete jungle.

Peace-A unifying global blue represents peace on earth.

But do One Anglia know about them?

Actually been up a couple of weeks now. There’s a bit more meat in the July issue, most notably Amadán’s article on Online GM Tips. There’s also Pit Fiend’s overview of Paranoia, one of those games I’ve always wanted to play but never got round to. And there are some thoughts of mine in the member survey.

I still don’t like the layout and navigation; some of my comments do appear in letters to the editor.

On the subject of British trains, and the modelling potential thereof, Electric Nose talks of times of transition.

Contrary to popular opinion, I firmly believe we’ve just lived through one of the most interesting and modellable transition eras in the history of diesel and electric traction. The influx of new GM motive power has sat alongside an ample selection of old favourites. New super-wagons have rubbed shoulders with the staple fare of previous generations, such as 4 wheel tanks and MGR hoppers. A bewildering array of modern multiple units are only just ousting the vestiges of their first generation ancestors. Liveries in particular are at their peak, from the point of view of variety - I’ve always been enamoured of the juxtaposition of Virgin and Intercity Swallow colours on the WCML, and the celebrity repaint trend has enhanced things further.

Sometimes you don’t recognise a golden age until you’re nearing the end of it. I wonder if we’re ever going to see anything approaching the bewildering variety of liveries again. On my recent trip to Dawlish I saw class 158 DMUs in no fewer than eight different colour schemes (and that’s just two train operating companies!). 158s were once the most boring units on the network. And then there was the sight of an EWS class 67 hauling a long train of elderly Mk2 coaches in the old BR Intercity colours on a summer Saturday extra; surely the present-day equivalent of a shiny new diesel hauling elderly ‘big four’ coaches in the sixties. Not to mention the 40+ year old class 31 diesel I saw at Bristol on the way home painted in Wessex Trains pink.

Oh, and best wishes to Electric Nose in taking up the hotseat again as moderator for Demodellers.

Electric Nose was right! I had been abducted by aliens and whisked away in a red-and-silver flying saucer. Only it was far too small for me and my 300-odd fellow abductees, and there was no space to put all our luggage!

The alien planet did have this view from the balcony, though.

I know I haven’t been posting much lately; I’ve been too busy doing things. There was the unfortunate neccessity for a root canal (argh!), but then things got better. First there was Marillion playing the Manchester Academy, every bit as good as Yes, but in a completely different way. Then there was a weekend of gaming and sleep deprivation at Stabcon in Manchester. Now I’m back home for just a few hours before heading off for a few days in Dawlish. Hopefully I’ll write full reviews of both Marillion and Stabcon when I get back.