Last weekend but several was , of course, Warley. Feeling a little buoyant after completing the Baby Deltic I went with a list...

It was one of those occasions when you end up buying all sorts of things you didn't know you needed until you got to the show. And I didn't get some of the things I did know I needed.

But the result of all this is a number of new projects opening up so -

- The first cab off the rank is an attempt to follow the Baby Deltic by assembling a home-brew NBL Type 2 diesel-electric from bits. (That's a Class 21 in decimal money, but in 1958 TOPS was a long way away). I have long had a second-hand Hornby 29 body , bought for a couple of quid. The Baby Deltic used up the chassis and bogie frames I had bought for it - so I sourced some more from Peter's Spares

But they didn't have a power bogie.

So I went to Warley on the scrounge for a cheap second-hand loco to cannibalise for one. With the further thought that if I managed to get a Hornby 25 then the body is reckoned to be better than the Bachmann one, so putting it on Bachmann chassis is a known route to a 25....

And I found a Chinese-production Hornby 25 in BR Blue with 5 pole motor and all-wheel pickup for £39.50 . Thank you!

A tip-off from the Chairman on the stand sent me scurrying across the gangway to Shawplan for their etched NBL cab window surrounds - which radically improves the cab end of the Hornby 29. I also bought a suitable etched fan and a set of laserglaze windows for the Hornby 25. 247 Developments supplied NBL worksplates

Dart Castings visited us to advise of a new etch allowing the fitting of couplings to bogies. I went round to their stand and bought a couple.

And then there is the GBL Jinty which I've recently disassembled. I think the wheels on the Hornby 0-6-0 chassis - or at least their flanges -may prove a bit big for the moulded chassis. But an etch on Brassmasters' stand for a fiver, intended for the Bachmann Deeley 3F , offers replacement splashers for a larger wheel.

I sourced a Zen Nano Direct for a Bachmann BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0, and a couple of other decoders from Digitrains , including a big stay-alive to help the 29

Two weekends later was Peterborough. The list was shorter, but I still needed sheet lead. I took my part built 128 - or at least it's Replica chassis with a damaged supporting yoke at one end - and Replica fitted a replacement part for me for a modest sum - I bought a few small bits from them as well. That unblocks the 128 project , which I hope to finish in the New Year

And I also managed to find a second-hand Bachmann class 25 , at a very reasonable £49.50 - probably because all the cab handrails were broken. But I don't care about the cab handrails because I have a Hornby 25 body....

Also part of the Peter's Spares order was a Hornby Javelin motor bogie to repower the recalcitrant 155 with its seized motor bogie, and a Hornby Railroad 31 chassis frame . All I need is some suitable bogies so I have a mechanism for another of the stored Airfix bodies.

I hope to make some inroads into the list of outstanding projects in 2019

Meanwhile I think I have found a solution for the Baby Deltic's annoying tendency to stall. The culprit is almost certainly the deep flanges on the old-style Hornby wheels combined with code 70 bullhead track - removing prominent bits of ballast has eased but not quite cured the problem. After various wild ideas about somehow turning down wheels in a lathe I don't possess , I realised there was a simpler solution . A quick rummage in a box produced the remains of a packet of Bachmann coach wheels. Pinpoints were quickly sawn off and the wheels replaced on a trial Hornby trailing bogie .

But I could have sworn there were 4 axles in that packet when I found it, and when I went back to do the next pair - there was only one axle left. I've had to buy another packet from the local model shop...