Hi,

Its been a while since ive updated again, mainly because ive been working on 5 locos at once! The Western has been put on hold for now as I decide as to which motor I wish t odrive the model with.

Over the past mont hive been working on Firstly a pair of Vi-trains 47s. 47805 "Pride of Toton" & 828 "The Severan Valley Railway" both in VT livery. To keep the modifications simple compared to previous models I have done these as quick models with minimal alterations compared to what I normally do. Both models have had Heljan Buffers and beams added. The Heljan steps moulded onto the Bufferbeams I found were knocked off too easily, so I replaced these with Hornby Class 56 steps instead, IMHO these look much better tha nthe Heljan ones. Class 56 pipes were also used for the bufferbeams as well, and the ETH and asscoiated bits were from Heljan with wire added where needed. To me the Vi-Underframe tanks dont do it for me... they lack something, Im not quite sure what but they just dont look like the real thing. So using Heljan tanks (with thanks to 43087 & Lippy for supplying these), I have added these to the underframe. To save have to chop off the blacks that form part of the chassis weight, I cut off about 1mm off the Heljan mouldings and fixed then flush onto the chassis. This saves having to hack the chassis which can be time consuming. Still to add are the Shawplan Roof Grills and laserglaze which will be added soon, as well as Etched nameplates for 47805. Whilst looknig for A1 models' wipers to add to these models I came across these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380281770923 Utah Pacific #97 Windshield Wipers. I brought a pack for evaluation, and after sucesfully fitting them and liking the mvisually I fitted them t oboth ends of my 47s, I must admit althought fragile ,they really do look the part!

31130 & 452

With the influx of swollen Hornby 31 chassis, I decided to use this as an excuse to increase my fleet of 31s. Purchased from my friend, I was able to get 31130 "Calder Hall Power Station" and 31452 in Trainload Coal and Fragonset respectively. Both were Lima models, and although good performers I seeked to have them driven by something more adequate. So already having merged a Hornby Chassis with a Lima Chassis on my other 31, I seeked out a pair of Hornby Chassis to donate for my Lima models. The surgery is straight forward, after having stripped both Chassis down to thier components to fit into the Lima Chassis. The pictures show both 31s as "works in progress" So there are still things that need to be corrected: bogie clearance for one, as well as the Coupling guards and lamp irons to name a few other things, as well as wiring everything up and getting the cab interiors iftted also.These will be Hornby parts which hopefully will be obtained from East Kent models in due course.

56025

The Third Grid ( After 56003 and 115), of my 56 fleet. This Started out as 56032 in Trainload metals. The metals decals and long nameplate were removed as 56025 is in Transrail triple grey. Now this 56 is unique as it has cowled bufferbeams on both ends, as well, the no.1 end has oval buffers, whilst the number 2 end has "chopped off-oval buffers" making it unique. Sadly the real 56025 is no longer here with us being cut up a few years ago. Fox transfers supplied the lovely Transrail logos, which I nervously put on, ensuring they were straight as possible. Modern warning flashes were also added to make the 56 in circa-2001 condition. Because of this 56 having cowled bufferbeams, I had to figure out a way of replicating this. Shawplan do/did a cast kit of the cowling to add to the older Hornby model. Whilst figuring out how to fix it on, I remembered that I had seen the Heljan Class 47 cowling added to the Hornby 56: the only modification need was to reduce the width of the cowling, as the Heljan 47 is wider. So removing the bufferbeam part, the Heljan Cowling was glued onto the Hornby chassis. Next up was to remove the "lip" from the bottom of the cab ends ( This is even incorrect for 56032), so that the Cowling would sit closer to the cab. However, theres still a gap between the cowling and loco body so the cowling might have to be adjusted where nessessary. I also think maybe its too thin perhaps as well compared to the real thing so some more studying might be needed. The windscree nwipers were the same as added to my Vi 47s, which were Utah Pacific #97 Windshield Wipers.

I think thats everything for now, hopefully the pictures will help tell all!

Comments welcomed

NL