Les1952

February 26

With this thread being extended to the point of getting silly, would someone who gets an HST like to start a new thread to show it off?

Just a thought

Les

February 23

1 hour ago, BachelorBoy said:

Surely China's economic slowdown works in Hornby's favour.

Industry is slowing down. Demand in general for Chinese exports is down. The prices manufacturers can get for their products have been falling for eighteen months or so. Consumer inflation is negarive ... in other words, deflation, so Beijing is trying to stimulate the economy and keep interest rates low: that means the currency is weak.

That all gives Hornby a lot more bargaining power.

It doesn't, however, give more bargaining power in shipping, where the semi-closure of the Panama Canal and the consequent lengthy detours, plus the Houthi attacks affecting access to the Suez Canal and lengthy diversions for that mean a lot of ships in the wrong place, and even more importantly a big shortage of containers in China.

Les

February 23

9 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

One problem of course with model trains is that RTR versions are very labour intensive - the tooling and parts manufacturing could probably be done in the UK -and is done by Peco, Airfix, and many smaller kit and parts manufacturers. It's surely the assembly that makes it uneconomic to do in the UK......

We demand so much detail and so much of it is extremely delicate and falls off at the first heavy shunt on the layout. There are a lot of parts which, if placed in a bag for those whose models stay in the box unused (a lot) or in a showcase could lower the assembly cost significantly.

I'm thinking in particular recently of scouring a 24X12 club layout for Deltic bogie securing chains and door bangers from open wagons, incidentally both from Accurascale....

Les

February 20

On 19/02/2024 at 09:58, Mike Bellamy said:

Les - are you sure about this one as comments in another topic indicate that the business has closed - see link below

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/184049-rocket-railways-leicestershire/#comment-5425161

.

Hello.

I've just contacted our show manager who has heard nothing. Thanks for the heads up- he'll contact Jason tomorrow to find out what is going on there.

Additional layouts with more details to follow-

Martin

Doe Lea (N- gauge) - why did I miss this off the list as it is the flier picture?

Harborne St Mary

BoxWorks Wharf

Denton Sidings

Blue Harbour

plus two more and any corrections

Les

February 18

Traders include...

Malcs Models, Ilkeston

Sherwood Models, Nottingham,

Book Law Publications, Nottingham

Starlight Models, Wellingborough,

A2B Models, Matlock Bath,

J&C Models, Leicester,

Railstuff,

Rocket Railways, Coalville,

Sleaford 3D Printing,

RCTS

and anyone else I've forgotten...

Rest of layouts STILL to follow....

Les

February 11

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

February 8

8 hours ago, Revolution Ben said:

Hi Les,

With the caveat that not everything is available all the time these days, I feel the choice in N has never been better. What is the missing prototype(s) that are putting you off another British outline layout in N? (Apologies for slight thread drift, though I think it has some relevance.)

cheers

Ben A.

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.

February 7

Demonstrations

Tony Wright Loco Clinic

Cardboard Modelling- John Fownes

Weathering - Roger Garrett

plus Merg will have a stand.

Rest of layouts to follow.

Les

February 7

Ho-hum.

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

Les

February 6

17 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Thin brass overlay with a few rivets embossed in it. A half hour's work, tops.

aftermarket opportunity.

Les

February 3

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

February 3

11 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I can live with some things, but its the rectangular chunk missing from the bufferbeam that gets me… and that debate goes back 2 years ago on this thread.

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

February 2

6 hours ago, Fair Oak Junction said:

I would imagine things would only stay clean for literally the first two or three days. Once the opening was over and the crowds are gone, the waggons are back to coal use 😉

I'll definitely be weathering it all. I want it to looked worked 👌

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

February 1

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

Les

January 29

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

January 27

13 minutes ago, natterjack said:

Quite right- blame it on me massaging my IR returns!

Sorry but re-reading this, the traction tyred locos that I have are so fitted to both wheels of an axle so on a co-co four pick up points are lost, so I'll stick with 8 and get back to the IR forms.

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

January 27

1 hour ago, Michanglais said:

It's interesting, this traction tyre debate. How they're seen as selling points in Europe but not elsewhere. As far as I know, the class 66s don't run in particularly mountainous territory in mainland Europe but I could be wrong. I guess some with layouts having gradients or helixes would prefer traction tyres.

I saw one in Verona, and it would have crossed the Alps to get there.....

Les

It was in EWS livery at that......

January 27

8 hours ago, natterjack said:

Okay, I've got this- so we are looking at two different systems; one with pick-ups from all wheels (up to 12 for a co-co) and a traction tyre equivalent of 8 pick-ups.

Much as this might seem dancing on a pin head but given the mechanisms will be equal it does make for an interesting opportunity as to how the different approaches will actually perform in like to like comparison. The real challenge will be on gradients.

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

January 27

9 hours ago, natterjack said:

Just out of interest, is your Arnold loco fitted with 'traction tyres'? There has been some discussion as to whether these remain a European market preference. If so the forthcoming Class 66 presumably will be featuring wheel options dependent upon target market.

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

January 26

7 hours ago, Porfuera said:

It is good to know that you've managed to get refunds - IIRC you're the first person I remember hearing about first-hand, everything else has been hearsay. I don't have any personal experience of doing that because so far all my orders have qualified for free postage but soon that may change.

It is just that the Hornby pre-orders generally don't seem to be sent out in a single package but seem to arrive separately over a number of days.

I would assume that Arnold operates out of Margate and use the same warehousing/logistics company as Hornby, which is CCL Logistics. Maybe TT:120 generates high volumes of orders in short bursts and that makes it difficult for the logistics company to co-ordinate the pre-orders and to get them all sent out as single packages.

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

Les

January 24

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...

January 23

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

January 23

On 18/01/2024 at 09:49, Flatlandia said:

Recently bought some for Hornby coaches but dont fit / too long for socket. Advised to cut the coupling shorter to fit as some Hornby sockets not to standard.

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

January 23

On 22/01/2024 at 19:12, cctransuk said:

It is that kind of 'I don't care about errors / omissions' that encourages manufacturers to take shortcuts with product accuracy.

CJI.

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

January 23

2 hours ago, britishcolumbian said:

It's mindboggling that they can't use a shopping cart system to combine everything in to a single shipment... other online retailers will even hold a shipment until everything you've ordered can go in a single package, if you want. But imagine three tank cars, each in its own shipment, to Canada each one is going to cost more in shipping than the car itself...

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

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