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  1. As a regular contributor to MRJ from the earliest days and as someone who has written widely in both a professional capacity and as a hobbyist (with 16 books and more than 80 published articles to my name), I have always understood that my work will only ever exert a selective appeal. I think that is an inevitable consequence of the diverse nature of any readership and, as a writer, it is not a problem for me. I am equally happy to hear constructive criticism, provided it is grounded in a careful consideration of what I have written and is reasoned. But to have a piece categorised as "dull" before it has been read is something of a new departure for me. We live in strange times indeed. What's that old maxim? Never judge a book by its' cover. Come on chaps; at least afford contributors the courtesy of looking at their work before forming a damning view! I think the notion that the Christmas MRJ always used to be a special issue is something of a myth and I wonder whether the "rose tinted" spectacles of our memory is playing tricks here. Yes, I remember some issues that did dress the content with Christmas themes or showcased classic layouts of the past with more than a hint of a nostalgic gaze, and the Christmas competition was always something I enjoyed and which I do miss. But if you actually look back through the many Christmas MRJs that have been published (and I happen to have several on my desk as I write), then I think you will find that the content is, for the most part, the normal MRJ "fare". So I really don't think MRJ 275 is atypical in this regard. I have always enjoyed reading MRJ because I feel it takes its' subject matter seriously and provides in depth explanation of modelling techniques combined with truly inspirational images that none of the other magazines come close to equalling. To that extent it doesn't matter to me whether a particular article reflects my specific interests or not; there are always lessons we can learn from the work of other good exponents of railway modelling, irrespective of company allegiance or modelling period. The "Station Road" series is a case in point, as whilst I suspect some of the contributors to this forum have mentally categorised the articles as "GWR" (because the scene I am describing is attached to a Great Western branch layout), the articles are actually dealing with scenic modelling techniques and are almost entirely generic in nature. Any publisher will tell you that they can only publish material that they receive, so for those forum contributors who are unhappy about perceived imbalances in recent content, the answer surely lies in your own hands. Write some articles around the themes and ideas that interest you and submit them to the editors. Just don't make them too dull, that's all... Stephen Williams
    28 points
  2. Santa Special on the SDR featuring pannier 6412 near Hood Bridge. The weathering on that lineside hut is rather nice too.
    21 points
  3. It's been a very long time since my last post (which I think was a 4mm scale chair!) but I've nearly completed my latest build: Canterbury & Whitstable Railway, Taylor 0-6-0 goods loco, no.121, c1847. The bulk of it was constructed whilst convalescing with a broken left metatarsal. What a tragedy to be signed off work and have to sit there day after day with my foot up, drinking tea and model making, life can be so cruel! A friend offered some Portescap motor/gearboxes in exchange for kits so one of these formed the basis for this engine. The gearbox had to be dismantled and reversed so the driving axle sat under the motor and the wheels were some old Romford ones from the scrap box. One of the biggest challenges was the haycock firebox with it's brass beading around the corners. The box itself was build up from two strips of scribed 10thou brass bent into an 'n', cut and soldered together, then the brass corners cut from 5thou, bent and beaten into submission around the curves, a horrible job and much learned in the process but it doesn't look too bad. It hasn't put me off doing another one anyway. The tender was rest was gradually scratch built using good old fashioned measure, bend and cut techniques, as was the rest of the loco, a refreshingly 3D print free zone! It still requires some water feed pipes under the footplate and there is an annoying little short every time it goes left which I must sort out. Of course some crew will be required before it moves 'off shed' but they can wait. The photographs leave a bit to be desired, I find the low sun at this time of year a bit tricky, our house faces due south and not casting a shadow over the photo at midday requires some degree of contortion. Hopefully they will do for now, next up is an 1845 Bodmer Single but as usual it will take me ages! Thanks for looking and please feel free to ask if you need to know more.
    20 points
  4. Indeed. In the meantime, someone has either attached a camera to his balsa wood glider or has climbed a tree in the style of Ben Ashworth:
    20 points
  5. Well, overall I was very pleased with the way that Churminster looked in this month's (January cover date) edition of Hornby Magazine - aside obviously, from the picture of the gormless operator at the controls! The majority of the pictures that Trevor Jones took back in February were used in the article, but three were not, and since I have his permission, I have shown them below as I feel they are worth exposing: The first shows the courtyard within Geoff Taylor's excellent brewery complex, with the 2 horse-power brewery dray about to depart with another load of Wadleys Best Churminster Ale: The second shot covers Churminster's industrial area, including the brewery, Barker's engineering, the Southdown bus garage, and the yard of the Wellard Timber Company: I suspect that both of these may have been omitted as they don't include much railway content - well none, actually! The third and last image shows Churminster Station, with an N15 and an H16 passing in opposite directions, the locoshed complex to the right and P class no.1555 shunting the goods yard entrance in the foreground: The modelling mojo has taken a bit of a hit recently as I have experienced two significant bereavements within a four week period, but I am hopeful that I might make a progress this coming week, perhaps inspired by a visit tomorrow to the Peterborough Show. Tony
    20 points
  6. Trent Lane crossing today, just east of the site of Trent station on the line to Nottingham. One photos is from 1983, the others are from December 1989 - I can't remember what I was doing there in 1989, I presume I must have been visiting relatives. Trent Lane crossing 43086 St Pancras to Sheffield July 83 J8023.jpg Trent Lane crossing 150129 Derby to Skegness 22nd Dec 89 C13868.jpg Trent Lane crossing 150113 to Birmingham 22nd Dec 89 C14117.jpg Trent Lane crossing Class 47 up l e 22nd Dec 89 C14119.jpg Trent Lane crossing Class 101 up 22nd Dec 89 C14124.jpg David
    19 points
  7. Inspired by James Harrison's, in my view, brilliant idea of juxtaposing War of the Worlds with Three Men in a Boat, I've been indulging in my own form of escapism and proudly announce ... The BBC Presents Peter Harness Adapts the Classics Three Men in a Tripod (To say nothing of the Martian) Prologue – Woke in Woking No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man. And this was for good reason, because we, the Martians I mean, had been doing the watching, and we, as it turned out, would struggle to out-think a small dog. It wasn’t meant to be an invasion. We thought we’d do a bit of trading, lay down the odd colony here and there. Genocide was very definitely optional, so far as we’d been concerned. In retrospect, it might have been better to land nearer to Whitehall and engage immediately in High Level Diplomacy. Instead we landed in village Surrey and gave the local rustics one almighty fright. I don’t think they were quite ready to meet extra-terrestrials. These people were still struggling with the concept of a loving long-term relationship without the sacrament of marriage, and with the existence of the French, so, you can see, it was all quite hopeless. I have since endeavoured to discover quite why we chose to land near Woking. Of course nobody knew; nobody at the observatory on Mars ever does know where a cylinder is going to start from, or where a cylinder when it’s shot off is going to, or anything about it. The gunner who fired the first cylinder thought it would go to London, as this was the Capital of Empire, while another gunner, with whom he discussed the question, had heard a rumour that it was supposed to go to Berlin, as German industrial production had a exceeded Britain’s as early as 1870 and, thus, represented the greater World Power. The stella ordnance-master, on the other hand, was convinced, if that were the case, the cylinder must have been bound for New York. “You have to bear in mind the need to appeal to the US audience”, he added sagely. To put an end to the matter, I went upstairs, and asked the expedition superintendent, and he told me that he had just met a passer-by, who said he was sure that the first cylinder was bound for Peking, on the basis that, in the long run, the Western Powers were finished anyway, and didn’t need much of a helping hand. In the end I decided that H G Wells had probably slipped him half-a-crown and begged him to send it to Woking. It started well. I mean at least we avoided landing on anyone. While it was unfortunate that blaring Elgar at them on a gramophone caused the occupants of the first cylinder to panic and get a bit free with the heat-ray, it was really the complacent imperialist xenophobia of the provincial Englishman that got us all riled up. The heat-ray was designed as a scientifically efficient way to clear ground for settlement, whereas the black smoke was intended as a mild disinfectant. Possibly we underestimated the potency of these, and certainly we were rather non-plussed at being shelled by artillery. Of course, Wells sensationalised the whole thing – he had a novel to sell after all – but it’s fair to say that things got a little out of hand for a time, though we soon had to admit defeat. We had reckoned without the Suffragettes and Sir David Attenborough, of course, and were completely unprepared for Public Meetings in which we were relentlessly lectured upon the Evils of Colonialism, the Vital Importance of Female Suffrage, and the Countryside Code (always close gates to prevent the escape of livestock, never litter, and try not to incinerate too much of our native woodland (as this quite annoying and also contributes to Climate Change)). I think, though, the decisive point in our re-education was when Mrs Pankhurst argued that Martian Tyranny was just to replace one out-moded oppressive patriarchy with another, albeit it even slimier, one, and that, if we didn’t want a nail-bomb shoved up our heat-ray funnel, we’d better get Woke pdq. So, with the expedition barely begun, we were stopped in our tracks by the power of Socially Progressive Thinking. That and the fact that we all came down with a really nasty bout of ‘flu. For the next few years we led blameless lives keeping to our pit on Horsell Common, taking The Manchester Guardian, inventing a wind turbine, reading all the great feminist academics (intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic), and learning how to recycle single-use plastics. In an effort to get out more, I joined the local Society of Free Thinkers where I met the companions, whose journey with me I now have the privilege of laying before the Reading Public. Chapter 1 There were four of us—George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were—bad from the point of view of our sufferings I mean, of course. We were all feeling seedy, and we were getting quite nervous about it. Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of post-colonial guilt come over him at times, that he hardly knew when to insert a suitably recriminatory monologue into the day; and then George said that he too had fits of Imperial Angst, but hoped that joining the Fabian Society and Living in Sin would cure it. With me, it was my Martian physiology that was out of order. I knew it was my Martian physiology that was out of order, because I had just been Googling "Martians - proneness to disease", where links detailed the various bacteria that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. I had them all. At this point, Ms Deliveroo knocked at the door to know if we were ready for supper. We smiled sadly at one another, and said we supposed we had better try to swallow a bit. Harris said a little something in one’s stomach often kept radical politics in check; and Ms Deliveroo brought the tray in, and we drew up to the table, and toyed with a little steak and onions, and some rhubarb tart. Had I but realised that eating beef was destroying the earth faster and more effectively than red weed, I might not have had seconds. This duty done, we refilled our glasses, lit our pipes (we were Hipsters to a man), and resumed the discussion upon our state of health. What it was that was actually the matter with us, we none of us could be sure of; but the unanimous opinion was that it—whatever it was—had been brought on by overthinking. “What we want is a rest from the tired clichés of classic literature,” said Harris. “Rest and a complete change,” said George. “The efforts of sympathy with late nineteenth century modes of expression and social mores, even those penned by a popular Free-Thinking author, cause overstrain upon our brains and produce a depressing craving for the anachronistic touches of a dumbed-down re-write, relevant for a supposedly dull-witted modern audience. Change of plot, and absence of the necessity for thought, will restore the mental equilibrium.” Debate then ranged to and forth upon the possible means of achieving such a change, and an expedition of our own was mooted. George said: “Let’s hire a Tripod.” He said we should have fresh air, fine elevated views and they couldn’t be wheel-clamped; the constant change of scene would occupy our minds (including what there was of Harris’s); and life at higher altitude would give us a good appetite, and make us sleep well. Harris said he didn’t think George ought to do anything that would have a tendency to make him sleepier than he always was, as it might be dangerous. He said he didn’t very well understand how George was going to sleep any more than he did now, seeing that there were only twenty-four hours in each day, summer and winter alike; but thought that if he did sleep any more, he might just as well be dead, and so save his board and lodging. It was at this point that I think I annoyed Harris by pointing out that I was indefatigable (when I hadn’t a head cold, of course). Harris said, however, that a Tripod would suit him to a “T” and that I’d know how the drive one. Harris and I both said it was a good idea of George’s; and we said it in a tone that seemed to somehow imply that we were surprised that George should have come out so sensible. The only one who was not struck with the suggestion was Montmorency. He never did care for heights, did Montmorency. “It’s all very well for you fellows,” he says; “you like it, but I don’t. There’s nothing for me to do. Scenery is not in my line, and I don’t smoke. If you ask me, I call the whole thing bally foolishness.” We were three to one, however, and the motion was carried.
    17 points
  8. Just a couple from last night, rugby to Preston with 47749 and an electric unit Didn’t manage a proper pic at Preston as as soon as I’d stepped off the loco the other driver was away! Got a couple of stills from a Video I took which was also poor as he’s already started moving by the time i started!
    16 points
  9. The ECS from Delaval sidings to Holloway is next, with a rather neglected KX V2 doing the job. I really must ask the photographer what was the point of taking the next one.
    16 points
  10. Back to some fiddling (modelling?). And trying to put together a bunch of buildings to potentially form a sub-assembly and because I wanted to make sure that they fitted a specifically sized area. The problem is that each building was made individually at different times and with various elements of compression and simplification. Bringing them together is rather like herding cats or trying to make a changing jigsaw although the footprint (pen) is a fixed size. But I'm nearly there . . . . Next is to add the 3D aspect. The left edge slopes up but only for the building on that roadside, while the front/right edge and centre remains flat.
    14 points
  11. They are staring at something..... Yep, most definitely.....I wonder Could it be the thundering approach of a King has caught their attention?
    13 points
  12. 13 points
  13. This picture seemed to suit monochrome better Original for the record
    12 points
  14. A few of mine for now, taken at Bickershaw Leigh. No.7 is seen shunting empty MGR'S on the exchange sidings at Bolton House Rd. 21-Jan''83. And in 1982 loco's Respite and Gwyneth are seen at the Bickershaw Colliery, Plank Ln. end scrapped and stored.
    12 points
  15. Changing the Subject somewhat, here are some pictures of my latest completed project. It’s a GCR bogie fish van built from a WSM kit. It was a bit of a struggle as it was made from thick brass which needed to be laminated together. It certainly tested my soldering iron’s power! Only a few of these made it through to nationalisation, and I believe they were relegated to parcels traffic by that stage. So I’ve finished it in LNER livery without fish branding and will use it in a mixed van train. I had to guess a bit (tut tut!) so I’ve probably made some mistakes. Any comments welcome. Andy
    12 points
  16. Views along the Newcastle to Carlisle line for this afternoon's photos. Corbridge 143023 Sunderland to Hexham August 87 J9102.jpg Fourstones 156431 Newcastle to Carlisle 26th Aug 92 C17957.jpg Haltwhistle 60023 limestone Hardendale to Teesside 28th April 93 C18515.jpg Cowran Hills cutting 29th March 94 C19371.jpg Cowran Hills cutting 142037 down ecs 1st June 94 C19466 David
    11 points
  17. Hello and welcome to what I hope becomes a documentation of my adventures in attempting to model the Great Western Railway in 7mm. I've been lurking here for a good year and a half watching the goings on while nursing along my own modelling, and a major step forward I think warrants coming out of the shadows. I suppose I should introduce myself to start. My name is Zach, and I'm a Civil Engineer in Indiana, USA. I've had more than a passing interest in the GWR for a while now. In fact, almost a decade ago, I wandered in here as a student seeking to build a Springside 14xx on a Lionel 3 rail chassis. That obviously never went anywhere, but now I'm older and (hopefully) wiser. I saw in passing last year that Dapol was making the 14xx in 7mm, and thought that it and an Autocoach would make a nice display for my desk at work. With the 14xx being a long way off at the time (hopefully in the next month at this point!), I saw a 57xx was a lot more imminent. That of course snowballed over the past year and now I'm knee deep in attempting to model the GWR in 7mm. I've built a number of Parkside kits and a Slater's Siphon to date, as well as rebuilt a Slater's Milk Tank bought off eBay. The end goal is to build a layout of the GWR c. 1934 once I have somewhere to actually put it, but for now I'm accumulating and building stock. These open wagons are 3 of 10 of the Parkside kits I've built and weathered. The weathering is a dry brush of the base color to fade the lettering, followed by an acrylic wash of brown/black and a brown dry brush for rust. A Parkside meat van, weathered so far with just the acrylic wash. This is the Slaters milk tank came to me built, but rather poorly. It was unpainted but decaled, and held together with electrical tape and a glue that had yellowed badly and became brittle. With the confidence of the Parkside wagons under my belt, I tore it down and built it back up the best I could. It's not perfect but definitely a lot more presentable than it was before. A part of why I chose 7mm is the implied necessity of having to build anything I want to have. I can't just order up a fully built and painted Castle or a King like one can in OO; I have to build it. The making of my own models to eventually create a railway appeals to me greatly. That also means that I have to eventually face building in brass or whitemetal, something I'm not entirely familiar with. After much research about various kits for the past year I finally jumped in a month ago and called Mr. Jim McGeown of Connoisseur Models. He happily supplied a trio of brass kits: a Loriot, a Macaw H, and an AA3 Toad. I hope to get to a point of building engine kits, but for now this seems like an appropriate first step, as it appears many have also done. I started on the Loriot this past evening. Starting in the realm of Brass has been my main impetus for starting a presence here. As I am bound to run into trouble eventually with it, any and all advice is greatly appreciated! I also hope that I can share my journey of modelling here as I go on. It's been a lot of fun so far, and this all is just the beginning. Thanks for reading, Zach
    10 points
  18. Had a lovely day helping Alex and Liz operate Upwell Drove. First time I'd seen the layout and up to the usual Warren standard. The Model Rail/Rapido J70's are superb and run really well. Alex has weathered them nicely. Of course a visit to Upwell Drove by 46444 wouldn't be complete without a visiting Ivatt 2MT from Cambridge shed in the form of 46466. And even Jonty Chambers made an appearance with his trusty Thornton Pickard ... Lovely atmosphere and the old cattle pen makes a nice cameo. For some unknown reason a horse box can be found in the siding. Great show and well organised. Good choice of layouts and something for everyone. Good to see loads of families and Christmas Cheer. Worth a visit tomorrow if you could not make today. Good to catch up with David and Phil as well. Cheers, Mark
    10 points
  19. I agree with Alex Holt here, the original poster seems to want a model with Hornby's TTS sound decoder fitted to the model for operation on DCC. This appears to be the default way that Hornby supply this particular model, but it doesn't seem to be an option that can be ordered on Olivia's Trains website. It therefore seems logical for the original poster to want to clarify what they would be getting for £115: is it the TTS fitted model (as per the Hornby catalogue reference) or one where the TTS decoder has been removed? If it's the latter, is it possible to purchase this model without the decoder being removed (ie as supplied to Olivia's Trains by Hornby)? These are sensible questions to ask, and ones that Olivia's Trains should answer properly and politely. Perhaps the problem with Olivia's Trains here is that they have the same attitude as many of those who have replied to this thread. If you want sound, buy Olivia's own sound project (for £236), if you want to operate on DCC without sound, buy one with Olivia's own choice of decoder fitted (for £143) and if you want to operate on a DC layout, buy the analogue version (with the TTS chip removed) for £115. If you want it with TTS fitted (why would anyone want that option), just go **** ***. That's not good customer service. I'm sure that the DCC Sound version with a Loksound V4 decoder (I note it's not a V5) and Olivia's sound files is probably better than Hornby's TTS version, but not everyone can afford the higher priced version or thinks it is worth the extra cost. It appears that if someone is in the market for TTS Sound, Olivia's Trains don't cater for their needs. I've no experience of dealing with Olivia's Trains, but I see rather too many posts on RMWeb about their customer service to make me want to purchase from them
    10 points
  20. Hi Everyone, I have completed 37239. I took a couple of photos around lunchtime when the light was greatest, but not sure if the photos are so great. The loco has been varnished and etched ;arrows' applied. Loco now ready to be added to the Shirebrook running list! And the building works.... not good, not good at all, but that story is not suitable for this site, however, the next Shirebrook running day will have to be postponed until the new year Cheers Duncan
    10 points
  21. Another post... As mentioned just upthread, another of my NEC purchases was a Ratio Open C. I have just finished my first pass at it's construction! Why first pass? The instructions are somewhat basic - so I have messed up the brake gear. This will need to be corrected at some point. This hasn't been my favorite kit to make, it certainly shows it's age compared to other kits, but as its the only current way to get an Open C, it does the job. I have also done a small upgrade to the V7 - I have replaced the tie bar with a slimmer section of plastic bar. Both now need a trip to the painters!
    10 points
  22. Tonight we get a look at the V2 which has stood pilot all day, waiting for the call that never came. Then we come to Wednesday, when I decided I had to get some more photos taken. About 2.30pm the sun was bright but very low, and shining cleverly through the slats of the blinds. A 9F appeared with a York parcels, and we leaned out from Crescent Bridge to get this shot. I never set the camera to auto, but this shot came out with such peculiar tones that it wouldn't have been worth showing. Messing about with Digital Photo Pro I changed it from daylight setting to auto, and it transformed itsef into this. Most peculiar. Here's what it looked like before I did that.
    10 points
  23. I finally plucked up the courage to weather the Peckett. I know that sounds stupid, but it almost feels like sacrilege to dirty up a brand new model. I didn't want to overdo it, either, it's not going to be as dirty as a Cromford and High Peak loco, but it wants to look used. So here we are: We've done a lot of looking at scenery and buildings, but there hasn't been much railway action on this thread for a while, so let's address that, shall we? Thanks for looking, Al.
    9 points
  24. A very pleasant morning with an Hour up at my old Club helping my mate John lay some Track. Then it was a nice couple of Hours in TOPS which involved; Plasticard, Scrap wood, Masking Tape, PVA. Hot Glue Gun, Grey Paint, Dark Green Paint, and some lateral thinking. Almost ready for Fencing, Flock and Foliage etc,
    9 points
  25. If you were loitering in the yard at Capel Bethesda in the 1950s and early 1960s, you would probably see two types of goods workings. The first would be the normal BR goods services, worked as far as Bethesda Sidings from Leominster Yard, via Kington and New Radnor. Such workings usually included the Presteign services as well. Apart from a relatively small amount of local goods traffic by the early 1960s, most of the traffic to and from Bethesda Sidings was that which was exchanged with the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, which ran from Capel Bethesda up to Llanddewi, where a military depot was to be found. The Vale of Radnor Light Railway was still nominally independent, but was heavily reliant on the military traffic for it's survival. It was also a member of the Association of Independent Light Railways. Membership of this body resulted in the various railway organisations that belonged to it, being able to help each other out in the event of a motive power shortage. Whilst the VoRLR had it's own resident motive power, in addition to a couple of resident military locos, it did from time to time, resort to borrowing locos from other concerns. Here we see an 'Austerity' tank waiting in the yard at Engine Wood, in Somerset, for a path northwards to Leominster, via Bristol, Gloucester and Hereford. This loco was actually owned by the South Polden Light Railway on the Somerset Levels, but ended up being a bit of a nomad, being hired out to the local NCB collieries for much of it's life:
    9 points
  26. Brave place to stand Jimmy especially as this express isn't stopping!
    9 points
  27. Looks better now it’s dry looks quite good with a bunny emerging
    9 points
  28. The American magazine Classic Trains has been doing just that for several years. Each quarterly issue has a a double paged spread called, "What's in a Photo.". One page has the photo with several added numbers in red. The other page has captions for each of those numbers. The current issue has 12 captions of which the loco is only mentioned as a passing refernce in one. The other 11 are all about background features and the railway infrastructure. I always find them fascinating. Knowing how Kalmbach (the publishers) work they will no doubt do a book of these features at some point. Jamie
    9 points
  29. Couple more of the finished dive under ..
    9 points
  30. Thanks Mr.Rockershovel, but I've gone over the top and lost the plot now.... Not content with point rodding, I've also added signal pulleys and wires. I found I had some whitemetal pulley wheels from the old Scale Signal Supply trader (not to be confused with Model Signal Engineering) in the bottom of my signal parts box. Initially I thought I would just install the pulleys but wanted to try the wires as well. They are made from 0.4mm brass wire, so hugely ovescale (over 1/2" thick!) so you can see them. In reality they would be invisible from model viewing distance. Anyway, I'm pleased with the effect. Cheers, Dave.
    8 points
  31. Now with added; Ratio Fencing, Bachmann Station Lamps, Bachmann Notification Board, ? Waiting Shelter. NOTE = The fencing will show up more once the grass behind is a proper lighter green flockage, (as Al would say).
    8 points
  32. Another aerial view, this time of a group of building that I've put together to make sure that they fitted a specifically sized area allocated for them. The problem is that each building was made individually at different times and with various elements of compression and simplification. But I'm getting there (as BR used to say) . . . .
    8 points
  33. The next signal to be tackled is the balanced bracket signal which allows access to platform 2 (main road) and the down line to platform 3, the carriage siding and the MPD. The lamp and wires will be installed as I go and retro fitting is difficult. Build again is mainly plastic with MSE fittings. The wires to the nano-LEDs will go down the inside of each doll along the trimmers then down the main post. The copper covered wires are just long enough to through to below the base piece. Progress so far. Hopefully more next week.
    8 points
  34. Yes the down fast was lifted in 1986 and the dive under line singled in ‘88 so 87 my guess. I tried to get a similar angle on the model just out of curiosity.. unfortunately no large logo 47 tho
    8 points
  35. Trains which don't reliably activate track circuits are nothing new, so you'd expect there to be known solutions available. The problem is that the old trains have already been sent on their merry way, leaving GA with nothing. Which is down to the structure of the industry more than anything else.
    8 points
  36. It's not so much that as just another example of loss of corporate memory which seems to be happening a lot. If you trace the history of diesel and electric traction from the modernisation plan onwards the same theme recurs. Design faults and/or construction issues which either condemn entire classes or require expensive and time consuming remediation (eg Class 47 engines) or require fleets to be stopped on safety grounds (eg Class 303) followed by expensive and time consuming remediation. I'm not aware that there have any changes in the laws of physics, sod or Murphy and so it can still happen. The bottom line is that new stuff always has bugs whoever makes it and whatever their reputation may be and in a sane world service introduction and stock cascade plans should recognise that and plan accordingly. There seems to be a breed of managers now that think everything in the past was as a result of bad management and that it won't happen again. They then have nowhere to go when it does. They resort to trotting out the new vogue mantra "lessons will be learned" and then make the same mistake next time. Makes me want to weep it really does.
    8 points
  37. I do like using seafoam Such an easy way to make realistic(ish) looking trees
    7 points
  38. A long weekend was the perfect opportunity to crack and get some serious work done on the track. All of the mainline has now been cut/shaped leaving just the station area and carriage siding to complete. None of it is fully laid yet just sitting in position ready for any wires to solder on. Next stage is finish the station and once any wires are added I can lay some pernamently. I've yet to decide on the point motors I'm going to use but will drill a hole under each tiebar before laying each point (or I might have a problem in future!) Close up of one of the track joints, so far there's 40 odd fishplates that have been fitted like this. It gets a bit tedious but we'll worth it I think.
    7 points
  39. A few from the early '80's. 47 099 in the snow at SP Jan '82. Love the lwb mk1 Tranny mini bus. A trans-pennine 47 approaches Man' Vic' on 16th Dec' '82. Un-idenitfied 47 with 25 085 at SP depot May '82.
    7 points
  40. In stock at Titfield towers, I have written a brief summary on my website. https://www.titfield.co.uk/Wild-Swan/MRJ-Journal.htm Always a good read and refreshingly different to pretty much everything else. Simon
    7 points
  41. I hear introducing electricity to water can cure anything, principally by inducing a cleansing bout of mortality.
    7 points
  42. Encouraging a keen interest in model railways may be one way to distract folk from other activities more likely to contribute to population growth.
    7 points
  43. Ah, the trap of False Equivalence. That's Trump thinking; I can refuse to accept that anything true is true by calling it fake news, and assert the truth of anything I fake by calling it true. This is the 'logic' behind teaching Creationalism in US schools; I mean, after all, both it and Evolution are just theories, right? So, they're both equally valid? We've been lied to for years and years and it's consequently very difficult for any of us to really discern solid fact-based truth, so I don't blame anyone for failing to do so.
    7 points
  44. I have never considered the issue with holly on the front to be any different from any other in terms of information and content. They're all damned good.
    7 points
  45. Yes, I know. The photographer has carefully set up his camera to take a photo of the luggage barrow on the opposite platform and then blow me along comes the up Queen of Scots with some hulking great green obstruction at the head... Pre-grouping photos are particularly annoying. Not only do the crew take great malicious delight in parking their engine in the centre of the shot but they then stand on the footplate, grinning away. "Oi, move that b****y loco!"
    7 points
  46. Hi Stephen Why do railway drivers park their steeds in front of the photographer when he wants to take a photo of that interesting structure. When building Hanging Hill there was always something I couldn't quite see owing to a loco being in the way no matter how many photos of that loco shed I could find.
    7 points
  47. No, just ‘C’s...
    7 points
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