A few more modifications!
Firstly, both ends of the 4VEP have had yellow warning panel paint applied to remove the peak, and the cantrails - which were orange - painted to their correct red shade:
The cantrails are now correct on every single coach in the train.
Sadly, I managed to break the fine handrails on the trailing coach, so I have replaced it with wire. Overhead warning flashes were removed, as were the numbers for renumbering, and the cab ends weathered further:
Furthering the debate on the Hornby 4VEP thread elsewhere, another problem found was that the trailing bogies at each end had been designed incorrectly. The damper should face inwards, towards the centre of the train, and the guard irons were also on the wrong end, as shown below:
This had another affect, as moving turning the bogie around and putting the guard irons on the opposite end would mean that both the steps and the 3rd rail shoes would be in the wrong position - in the f
I finally bit the bullet and ordered a 4VEP - and on arrival, it started off probably the most bizarre morning in railway modelling I have had for a long time. For the full story click here... and here... and here...!
But all in all, I'm happy enough now that I've sorted the coach body problem without (thankfully!) breaking anything. It'll remain a sole 4VEP as the diagrammed working I'm planning was a very rare occurrence - it may have been only on Thursdays at peak time, if memory serves..
I don't know much, if anything, about EMUs (Electric Multiple Units). I have only just started to understand the codes such as 4VEP, EPB, the number system, and similar, and why it is 2x2EPB and not simply 4EPB (which is entirely different!). So you could say I am having a baptism of fire in trying to research and develop a standalone layout based on Sidcup in the early 1990s!
However, the latest discussion on the Hornby 4VEPs have unnerved me somewhat. I've planned "Sidcup" around the Hornb
Okay, went and did some photography today, to get a feel for the area. Sidcup hasn't changed radically since the early 1990s, except for the Office Block to the left of the up line to London, demolished last month, so in essence it still has something of the Network South East about it, particularly its unique station building.
With thanks to Dave, Liz and Phil at Sidcup station for giving me free rein to take photographs (but of course, keeping behind the lines and going only where it was
I've been thinking I have been trying to run before I can walk, for some time now. I have been building up stock and buildings, and similar, for a layout based around Copley Hill in the 1950s (and will continue to build stock up as it is my ultimate aim), however the thought occurs that:
a ) I have very little experience building baseboards.
b ) I have very little experience making track look realistic.
c ) Scenery is not something I have done much of either, though I have made a few
