Les1952

About time I put up some more pictures. I've now just about finished the scenery and am now onto bringing the layout alive. The old factory showing the power lines running along in front of it. Cables to this and to the goods depot not yet installed. I've made the cable out of 0.5mm knitting-in elastic following the pattern for Furtwangen Ost's tramway lines. However I coloured it with black paint so it looks a bit heavy. Still insulators to add to the masts, and the wire itself needs to be lightened in colour a little. First person at this end at the door of the office building (actually a station house I bought for the second platform I ended up not building). Looking a little further along, the construction site has wiggly tin around it, a worker with a wheelbarrow, one of the two workmens' WCs and a grotty wagon being filled with earth. The wires disappear into the factory, largely to avoid them crossing the board join. The layout now has its name board which slots above the factory and hides the discontinuity in the backscene. The bare wood visible to the right is a plywood sheet leaning on the wall of the shed behind the layout. The A3 was undergoing trials which decided its fate- it won't run round the R2 curves at the end of the layout under any circumstances, so has now been sold on. The old factory and the goods depot are now connected to the electrickery grid.... Last for today, the first of the pigeons. It has since flown away- or to be more accurate fallen off- superglue isn't the best to attach it with. It has been recaptured and it and its 5 mates will be attached with UHU as a second attempt... Population happening and other work off the layout going on. More pics when I have them. Les

Lack of re-runs of quite a few useful medium-sized locos amongst others. If I were to suggest a couple we could do with out of the Bachmann OO stable- the K3 and Ivatt 4MT spring to mind. Also up-to-date replacements for almost everything in the Union Mills range. They may be bombproof but won't last forever. I know Revolution don't do steam, but how about something simple like a 2P 4-4-0? Widespread (too much so given their lack of real grunt) and long lasting.

Demonstrations Tony Wright Loco Clinic Cardboard Modelling- John Fownes Weathering - Roger Garrett plus Merg will have a stand. Rest of layouts to follow. Les

Ho-hum. It does make it look more likely that I won't be returning to N gauge for the next British layout. Les

aftermarket opportunity. Les

The prototype Hawthorn has a deeper bufferbeam than the prototype L&Y pug. My Pecketts all had issues with coupler height- to the extent that I sold on both of the 0-4-0s, and the shank on the front coupling of the 0-6-0 has a distinct upwards bend, to the extent I've seen straighter bananas. I'm not happy with detachable bufferbeam pieces after a moment at a show when a youngster piped up "hey Mr, is that diesel supposed to leave its buffers behind? - a Heljan Hunslet. With an exhibition shunting plank using magnetically modified tension locks I prefer my couplers to all ride at the same height and be stable. That way I don't need the hand in the sky. Les

Have you produced a design that allows for working UK couplings without a rectangular space to make room for them? Looks like a UK compromise in line with the 4'1.5" gauge..... Les

Locomotives were generally cleaned thoroughly in early days- there are some contemporary references to this I can't put my hand on immediately, but wagons would get dirty quickly- which might be a reason for chauldron wagons being black.... Les

Just need nameplates for HOPE, BLACK DIAMOND and DILIGENCE.... Les

I wasn't going to buy any more OO locos (having got far more than I need)- but I've ordered NCB Number 6.... Les

European variants will be fitted with one traction tyre per bogie."- Hornby One wheel per bogie means one side only of a wheelset has tyres- again standard European practice. It makes using wheel cleaners fun.... Les

I saw one in Verona, and it would have crossed the Alps to get there..... Les It was in EWS livery at that......

The traction tyred wheels on Continental locos are fitted with pickups and there is no effect on the overall electrical performance- they crawl through insulfrog points with ease. My locos are Bo-Bos rather than Co-Cos. Les

Of course it is fitted with traction tyres. Continental users have a penchant for using a helix to put storage sidings below their layouts. Indeed the recent Stuttgart show had two eight-foot helices to lift a running track over a gangway with layout modules running either side.. One without tyres is no good to me- my UK Bo-Bos can climb the banks on Bregenbach im Schwarzwald (which are less steep than the prototype) but are lucky to pull two 4-wheeled wagons. Link to Wordpress pic of one of the helices. Les

My Arnold loco that arrived today was packaged exactly the same as my last Hornby order, and the same tape was used throughout. Les

Trees, trees and more trees... There are now 111 trees on the layout plus quite a few bushes.. Looking towards the town along the top row gives the impression I'm trying to create. At the front out of focus is the ginger cat, while the lamp post has the inevitable dog relieving itself. Its owner is somewhere in transit from Modellbahnshop Lippe together with a lot of other figures. I'd not realised the tall timber framed house leans forward. It will stay leaning as from most angles it isn't that noticeable. There is also a tree root to disguise behind the shed and some glue spilt on the railings and on the roof of the small shed on the coal stage. A view of the shed from wheelchair height showing view blocker trees to the left, signals on main and loop- the semaphore is the loop- and the WC for the shed. Someone appears to have left the door open. the front edge of the shed is exposed and needs longer grass. Another pair of 3-axle Umbauwagen arrived this morning, together with some material for the concrete area, and a pair of tipper lorries. One of these is being grotted up to sit by the excavator while the other will get a load of some description and stand by the goods shed. Also arrived are some masts for the electricity cables that will run from the woods on the right to the factory in the middle. I'm going to use 0.5mm elastic for these and pass them through the backscene (in the trees and behind the factory) so they are secured firmly. That is a job that will test my patience. there was a lot of interesting language while I was doing the tramway overhead on Furtwangen Ost, and this will be more complex. Some folks never learn... More before too long. Les The signals do work, by the way...

Some of the layouts- Newton Folly - OO gauge roundy-roundy from Bingham MRC Cumanavago - OO, the return of this popular layout, this time with Sir Topham Hatt himself... Burdock - N gauge, a new layout from Dave Westwood of Syston MRC Doe Lea - N gauge layout from Derek Gelsthorpe Bregstadt - TT:120 Black Forest layout by Les Richardson (who?) making its exhibition debut Hawton Lane - OO gauge, first showing for this new layout from Tomas Tomblin Victoria - 4mm layout from Dave Tailby Ashtown - N gauge layout by Bingham MRC, last outing before retirement. plus seven more, for which I'm still awaiting full details. More later. Les

There are three different lengths. Alternatively try the N-gauge Hunt couplings, where the pocket is slightly smaller. Use a little Pritt adhesive to make sure they don't pull out, or squeeze the jaws of the pocket slightly with small pliers. If satisfactory and to be a permanent addition you could then use a small drop of a stronger adhesive. I do this on some stock with Easi-shunts which I use for stock that is shunted in the goods yard. Les

I don't have that many pics of 14" Hawthorns in the collection taken by me- though I could get a generous few dozen more from the books in the other room. Looking at my own collection (about 10 or so images of different locos) I can confidently say this about the details on these. No two were the same. Not only that, but one Durham County NCB loco seems to have swapped its saddle tank between the two pics I took of it.... Errors and omissions? These are industrial locos, which with very few exceptions never went back to their place of manufacture for an overhaul and didn't take long to gain embellishments or lose bits. A class of 50 identical locos leaving works would become 50 individuals before they were ten years old. Les

I suspect the answer to that is hidden in the depths of the contract they have with the website provider- how many years ago, what length of contract and what flexibility there is in that contract to add in a shopping cart. Also most management teams aren't that computer literate so may not understand the need for it. Think bad systems- think Horizon. There are plenty of other sub standard systems out there that were bought because those purchasing at the time didn't have adequate IT knowledge- if any knowledge at all..... Les

Its that time of year again- or soon will be. Les

My gut feeling (and only that- no evidence) is that they've shipped as many as are ready in order to get them to market and the rest of the batch are on the high seas or still being made, and that we will see them in a "few" weeks... It would make sense, but sense and people's perception of Hornby's actions don't always occupy the same planet. Les

A lot of the errors will be the result of those in the publicity and advertising dept (who do catalogues as well as adverts) being non-specialists. These errors occur elsewhere- I used to work as a GCSE examiner. One year every candidate doing our paper gained a "free" mark. Why? Because between being signed off by the Chief Examiner's committee and the paper appearing in print one multiple choice question had lost answer E- the correct one. Lost somewhere in typesetting - which in those days wasn't done by the examiners themselves. Les

Panama canal is closed to larger ships due to a lack of water. Cape Horn? Les

We'll have to wait until April as Hornby have said. Les