Patriot87003

Agree … and yes, following feedback they opened the cloakroom sometime during the morning. They confirmed the cloakroom would be open during Saturday and Sunday. I’ll update my original post … and thanks to the kind folk at Accurascale for storing my bag during the morning! Enjoyable show; Eastfield looks amazing although seemed to have some tech gremlins. Good luck to the team sorting them for the rest of the weekend and look forward to seeing again. Enjoyed plenty of other layouts especially Crewe Gresty Bridge. Looks great, smooth operation and packed with details including the Mornflake factory. Just needs smellavision … Look forward to returning again next year!

For info … the cloakroom is closed. *Update*: The cloakroom was opened sometime during the morning following feedback. The charge is £2 per item and they confirmed would be open during Saturday and Sunday.

Good to see the MK1’s announced in OO and with a few tooling upgrades and tweaks as well. Including bogies, electrical pickups and did I see an upgraded roof with no roof ribs? Especially good to see the bog standard TSO released in blue-grey and Intercity liveries … very tempting to recreate a 1980s WCML rake from them.

Time flies! Another busy few months have seemingly flown by with a mix of domesticated life and work that included a 7 week training course in Milton K. I did manage a 7 day rover ticket to have a few final trips aboard the Cross Country HST’s. 43007 and 43008 have a brief rest at Plymouth during the glorious weather, 3rd September 2023. As for the layout, the wiring for the new Yard 4 loco sidings was successfully completed. The control panel working well with the LED lights installed to show position of the points for the new sidings; The underside of the baseboard with the two diode matrix boards; The new sidings begun to be used … A few new arrivals to the layout have included an Accurascale Class 37 … … also a couple of the Cavalex Class 56’s. I recorded a brief running session and this also shows that I did give in and buy a rake a Yeoman PTA’s that also compliment the Class 59 that arrived last year, also a rake of Cawoods. Other developments inside the shed have included replacing the original fluorescent lights with new LED lights, also laying foam tiles on the floor to help these ageing knees and joints! I’ve begun to plan the next mini-project for the layout. Will hope to commence in the coming weeks. In the meantime I’m looking forward to attending the Doncaster show on Saturday as well as a jolly to Model Rail Scotland, plus I’m vowing to have a few more running sessions this year!

The mentions of 56001 and the cracking picture above reminded me of the Stewarts Lane open day that my Dad took me to during April 1988. I was only 11 … amazing to think it was almost 36 years ago! I’ll resist mentioning the open cab door! 😜 😇 Since running the new models in, I’ve had a running session and both loco’s performed very well. As a few others have mentioned in the thread, the performance of both loco’s was very similar so was able to double-head on DC.

Lovely pics and same idea as me! My couple of 56’s arrived and run in ok and 56120 in ex-works condition hauls a rake of Cawoods … It meets my other new 56 heading the other way, 56077 in original Railfreight livery. Congratulations to Cav and Alex and to all those involved in delivering these mighty fine models 👏

Well … 56062 did almost go upside down at Copyhold Junction back in 1988! I can remember a trip down to Brighton and passing it by. Have found a clip on YT showing the recovery operation … could make for an interesting diorama!

I saw them in the flesh today at Warley and they look fantastic. Really looking forward to these. I did notice that the pre-order closing date on the tv screen showed 31st December 2023, while I think I saw the eta being 3rd quarter of 2024.

An update on the website has been published today and the EP1 samples look superb! https://revolutiontrains.com/fantastic-4-revolution-cartic-samples-in-00-and-n/?fbclid=IwAR2S_nyHsrGrt1BrYo57Tr8g6TmyTipXxPVzWQ3YRsX2Z_AEal65stgQUWA

You don’t always need knitting in order to have a loco with a coat hanger on the roof! 😜 Eg The Class 89 visited Worksop Open Day during 1993 … (an 89 will look good being towed to/from an open day with your 92! You know you want to!! 😁)

The tamper looks great! I hope it’s prototypical … with random hydraulic leaks! Do you have any forthcoming exhibitions in the diary? Kirkhill is one of my favourite layouts on the exhibition circuit and would be great to see it in action again soon 👍

With wiring the new loco sidings still progressing, a new loco has arrived to fill one of them! A bit of a random purchase as well … Growing up in Croydon during the 1980’s saw the new Foster Yeoman Class 59’s head to Crawley on aggregate workings. My dad also took me to Stratford and Reading and was always impressive to the the silver 59’s in action; radically different to the traditional BR traction and liveries. A 59 passes Selhurst Depot heading towards Norwood Junction (approaching Tennison Road bridge) during the early 1990s. I wish I had a better camera back then! A 59 runs through Stratford station … The new 59’s by Dapol look impressive and I had been tempted … but the resistance ended this week! So 59005 has arrived … While the Foster Yeoman 59s were mainly confined to the west, east and south of London, I did travel aboard a mini-tour along the WCML between Crewe and Wigan NW during August 1995 as part of the Crewe Basford Hall open day event … so some justification! A pic of 59003 and 59101 as the Pathfinder tour left Crewe to head back to Bristol TM …

Only just stumbled across this! Another excuse for you to justify Class 59s passing Dallam is that during 28th August 1995 as part of the Crewe Basford Hall open day event, Pathfinder operated a mini tour from Crewe to Wigan NW and back. It used 90139 to haul north top-n-tail with 59003 and 59101 to haul south, before taking a tour back to Bristol. I was lucky enough to be aboard and grabbed a couple of pics … further details on Six Bells Jn page below. https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk (Then use the Railtour files to find the Crewe Excursioner Tour; 28/08/95) 90139 at Wigan NW 59003 and 59101 leaving Crewe after the mini-tour, on it’s way back to Bristol TM (I’ve just been searching Class 59 WCML wanderings to justify a OO gauge bargain! 🤭)

Quite a bit of progress has been made with wiring the new 13 loco sidings, with all the dropper wires for the track feeds connected. I have also updated the Yard 4 panel. This pic is the original Yard 4 panel before modifications; I used the Visio drawing software to design an update to include the new sidings with as minimal number of changes to the original switches and wiring. I used spray mount to stick the print to the panel but unfortunately it has seemed to have gone off … and the paper was see through and awful! I then made another print and stuck on top using double sided tape and thankfully looks ok. I then used clear sticky-back plastic over the top. I also made a reverse print for the underside of the panel to help when wiring. It’s not the prettiest result, not helped by the spray mount issue … but as long as it works then I’ll be happy. I began to drill holes for the switches for the points and isolating sections … All of the switches installed and with the blue toggle covers … With the switches installed, I’ve completed the bus wires for the point motor switches and isolating section switches, with 4 of the isolating switches wired so far, tested and working ok. 9 more to go, then it’s the turn to wire the point motors and diode matrix.

Looks like the order book is now open … https://revolutiontrains.com/product-category/pre-order/oogauge/cartic-4-oo-4mm/?fbclid=IwAR09wNqB5_UKsC7iYgEL4OT_TjbCXP6mOsz3X_HOziXI-R2dHikaYekNs28