So far I have spent several hours, as has my son, rubbing the numbers off my City of Manchester, so I can change her to Princess Alice.

The numbers on the Hornby model are larger than those on my photos, and need to be taken off, as therefore for the same reasons do the tender letters.

The problem is that on the right side, I have taken off enough to reveal the plastic underneath, but still I can see the shadow of the numbers , so I may have to go to Town on the weathering after. We’ll see how we go when we get there.

The latest Model Rail has an article about fitting lights to steam locos, which is great, because I was going to fit lights and my Nigel BURKIN book doesn’t quite go into enough detail(or too much detail... hard to tell!).

Saturday...

Today I have finally found some small bits to make holes. It turns out that rather than the two 0.8mm holes both Model Rail and the intstructions suggest, one 1.5mm hole is good. Further, the model I’m using, 6246, has holes under the rear of the front buffer beam where the lamp irons are glued in, and these holes are in precisely the right place for the holes for the lamp wires. I will follow up with the success of these holes, namely whether they work and have damaged the lamps in putting them in the holes.

As far as the rubbing off of numbers is concerned, I have got bored, so I have fitted the lights instead. I will continue to rub as and when I get the inspiration, but it is so dispiriting rubbing the numbers and still having bits left around the rivets, and anyway, there are still shadows showing where the printed numbers have come off. Will these disappear with the application of weathering? I am trying to persuade Mrs BOMP who is the artistic one to apply the weathering but she is taking some persuading.

Now I am home, I just have to clear some space and test it all. I should add that although I've claimed above that one 1.5mm hole is good, I haven't yet wired it all up to check that it works. I'm pleased with the position, though, having checked the model against my prototype photos.