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But equally theres nothing to say they won't. Rails would be better saying Bachmann expect to have received the following models in the next 30 days and we will be receiving stock therafter.

The building in the previous post will be at dock level, behind the viaduct wall. To the right of the viaduct wall, the other buildings on the backscene will be at railway level but separated from the sidings by a sleeper fence. Just had a change of activity to have a go at the fence. Every 100mm has an extended post to be dropped into the baseboard. Quite a bit more to do.

I have started whiteboxing some rough building shapes over the map, and added my 313 and 55 models for fun too. I've cut the size of the depot a bit, but it's still far too big for my loft. Hard choices ahead... for now I will work on the station and neighbouring garage as a minimum! The garage is basically still there, kind of. I believe that the Hornsey Historical society have a photo of it from the eighties.

In the past I have exhibited a couple of layouts & I don't like it when people seem to think it's OK to lean on the baseboard edge. Yes, you can have barriers &/or perspex but I like people to be able to see closely. What puzzles me though is that one of the clips on RMW shows someone talking about a layout whilst leaning on it, half an arms worth !

Given it took some time for the newly formed Southern Railway to settle on what we would now term its cooperate image then a 1923 Arthur would be without a name (that was a SR marketing department initiative) and in LSWR livery!

I would send Rails an e-mail with your old Hattons order number, if you had one, and include the stock details. I did one in early February to them and got confirmation that the order was set up within a day or so (wasn't for coaches). Cheers, Philip

Woman On A Mission - Gabriella Cilmi

Matt it's always nice to follow your excellent level of weathering and detailing. It definitely inspires people like myself.👍

that doesn’t sound too good!

The model depicted is an older Roco design - the later ones are DCC ready (socket in tender), smaller motor with flywheel & a carden shaft (small diameter & hardly noticable) to drive the locomotive driving wheels. Although this particular model does not have kinetic coupling between the locomotive & tender visually it is far superior to what UK manufactures expect modellers to accept - they would do well to take note. I have a number of Roco Locomtives with this design (converted to DCC) & they are superb peformers in every respect. The traction tyres give no issues either.

Cricket was umpired. It was very cold.. Baz at Headingley. The ground was quite soft.. but.. as we left.. they were watering the square. All club cricket has been postponed around here..... Baz

This may or may not be of use, but I have fairly recently bought a couple of single Roco DR-liveried Donnerbüchsen (at least, I think that's what they are...they seem a little shorter than another one I have) second hand. While both have the same catalogue number, 44227, on the box, the actual coach numbers are different, though in the same series (340-220 and 340-237) which is handy. -220 is in the older style blue and orange box and made in Austria, while -237 is in the current darker blue and grey box and made in Vietnam. The window frames are in different shades and the typeface of the lettering differs too, though I suspect that happened in reality. Neither has a route printed on its destination board. I'm also thinking in terms of using mine as "heritage" coaches, along with a couple of DRG liveried vehicles. Cheers, Simon.

Good evening Stephen, Will this do? It's certainly big and (very) ugly, in the form of Thompson A2/2 60504 MONS MEG (Crownline/Wright/Rathbone) hauling a train made by Ken Wilson. Ken and his (real railway) driver mate, Andy Swan, popped down from Newcastle today for one of their twice-yearly visits to operate Little Bytham. They always bring things with them they've made; things of great interest, and today was no exception. Interesting things such as......... This Buffet Car built by Andy. And this scratch-built M&GNR wagon; Andy's work, and a gift! Some of the vehicles made by Ken included............ His BR version of the same Buffet Car. This 12-wheeled Kitchen Car. A steel-panelled Gresley BG. And this suburban pair. Thank you gentlemen, for your tolerance of my operating incompetence, your hospitality at lunchtime, the gift and for your donation to CRUK. I'll leave it up to Ken to describe the models above. Regards, Tony.

Bear here.... I tried on the new strides this evening - two pairs, both identical - except one is 34W (my norm) and the other is 32W (wishful thinking). But..... After all Bear's d**t antics over the last few months it seems the 32W are most suitable. Result - a Very Happy Bear 😁....so long as they don't shrink much in the wash..... I can't recall the last time a pair of 32W fitted - I think it was when I was helping some bloke called Noah to launch some boat or other. BG

You’re very welcome Jim. Sorry the cider is only 1:152. Next time I see you I’ll buy you a 1:1 pint! Jerry

It is a problem with most things thesedays - too many people assume that you know the basics & RMW is no exception, in fact, IMHO it is worse in some respects as many members over-complicate things. I would suggest that you start simple after taking some time to choose your controller - visiting a shop &/or exhibition stand with choices will help a lot there, if not speak to people like Coastal DCC or DCC Train Automation for advice. Follow up with a couple of locomotives & a "test/learning" oval with a couple of sidings and you will soon get the hang of it and be ready to progress further.

Thanks Matt I intend to.

It took me about three hours this afternoon and tonight to rectify both my Hornby's A3 60078 Night Hawk front bogies because they rode badly and derailed on plain track. Earlier on, my ex-Easterner set A4 60004 William Whitelaw needed similar work, but was less of a problem. I now own three mechanically optimised Gresley pacifics. On the other hand all my diesels ran OK out of the box (Hornby 08, Tillig DB V162, V200 and PKP train set loco)

My email was received 6th February:

Rant Incoming: House and contents insurance. Last year £230, this year £647. WHAAAAT! On a rock where there is hardly any crime, away from water courses, pit heaps, etc etc. So the story is they now use 'blanket cover' in areas, and the value of our house is taken as a million.........I wish. £330k more like it, it's tiny. Tried three other companies, same story. (Probably same underwriters). LV came to the rescue at slightly under £230, with Civil Serpent Motoring Club membership. So why this stupid blanket cover lark, while there are houses in the village with that sort of value (and one of ten times that) why should we be paying their costs? /rant.

That's brilliant. I hope it is!

Probably not adjustable. What you observe is the principal reason why I would like them discontinued on steam locos. The point of such mechanisms is to provide scale separation on straight track, with a camming action spacing off the two vehicles on curves, in proportion to the required clearance. This 'feature' will be in the bin shortly after my purchase of one of these, replaced by a simple drawbar.

Some people think maps are quite adequate....... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/sailor-using-road-map-to-navigate-is-rescued-710914.html

Hello chaps and chapesses, I was right about not a lot getting done today - bit of a washout, especially as it's cold and wet and it wasn't at all inviting in the barn. I managed to get a bit of 'styrene in place before it was time for the 'air cut. I have done the yard area on the Pontrilas side of Dymented. Tomorrow I have a whole day of modelling ahead and the intention is to do some trimming of the ply that I had done towards the storage sidings (Ledbury direction) and have the 'styrene glued and trimmed there as well. If it all goes well, I may get to finish the whole of the Dymented area. I'll then take a photo of the working area as soon as the track-bed is in place. Definitely more tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Fantastic layout, it's giving some good inspiration to have a go at something similar, what's the dimensions of it please. Rob