Sorry I've been quiet. I've mostly been lazy lately, but I've had other business as well.

Firstly, the 5600 was built and tested. Can't complete a circuit of the loop I have set up at work. Shame. I don't think I'll pursue it further; any money I saved buying the kit secondhand has been spent trying to get a decent 94XX donor.

Secondly, found a couple of gentlemen with some bring-backs at the local model train show/swap meet. I picked up a Langley yard crane. A lot of flash, but the castings cleaned up well.

I just before mentioned a loop I have set up at work. Our office is in a storefront, so for the Christmas season I set up some Kato and run as prototypical trains as I can. This also means that my locomotives are pulling long shifts, about four hours a day. I try to change out locomotives every other day or so, but I have had two casualties so far. My Dapol 14XX, which I bought second-hand, and a Dapol Terrier, which I found new. The 14XX just quit, but the Terrier started smoking at one point. I'll need to investigate at some point; if the Terrier is only afflicted with a fused wire, I may be able to fix it myself. I have a shot of the loop below;

Finally, I picked up a nice Micro-Ace set of a Japanese DD51, a rake of side-dump ballast hoppers, and a Japanese brake van/caboose. I'm not sure if Japanese practice relied on the van for train braking, ala UK practice, or if it was more of a crew office, ala US practice.