A slow morning spent waiting to hear back whether or not my car is fixable (having died on the way out last night.) Turns out that the Alternator has blown so now I'm stuck at home waiting for the RAC to come and fit a new one, most annoying as until they come and call I cant leave the house!

Still, its given a bit more time to work on Clan line.

The first job this morning was a couple of modifications to the front bogie, soldering on a washer to help correct its position. Looks like some washers are also going to be needed at the other end where the mounting arm meets the chassis as there still seems to be a lot of slop (resulting from the mounting arm used being a lot thinner than the Hornby one.

Much more importantly I have also made a start on the electrics. In preparation for later DCC fitting, I have removed the existing wiring and suppression capacitor and re wired the links to the pickups getting rid of the live chassis block. Pickups have now been reglued to the chassis and all that remains is to connect wires to the motor.

Unfortunately I dont have a DC controller to do any testing with up here (my trusty old Hornby unit is still bolted to the old layout down in Devon), and it appears my temporary solution that I have been using to test my for sale stuff appears to have run out of power. Normaly it wouldn't be a problem as I'd just fit a decoder and be done with it, but having had issues on my 08s with the mech ceasing up once I had fitted the con rods, I want to do all the testing on DC before I risk a chip! I had hoped to make it down to DRAG this month, but alas the second evening when the old test track is up is the day after boxing day (so I would be very surprised if its happening) and the first clashes with Graduation (as it is I already have to chose between Graduation and an assessment day for a job...)

I suspect I will end up fitting a decoder and risking then removing it again after I've fitted the valve gear etc.

I have managed to work out a temporary solution to the details on the trailing truck, by cutting down the Hornby truck and fitting it to the Comet sub frame. Although I still plan on replacing this with better parts once I manage to get them.

Which leaves the tender connection as the only job left that I can work on, and I still havent a clue how I am going to do it...