Dava

If you want an O gauge J94/Austerity then you can start with the Premier Components frame kit including coupling rods for £37, plus Slaters drivers at around £66 and motor/gearbox of choice http://www.premiercomponents.co.uk/Locomotive_FrameKits_lner.html Build the rest, John Fownes has done one in card, or plasticard, brass or nickel silver. Even alu drink can could work for the tank. Dava

Very fine view of the Blue Funnel Line ship MS Helenus. My grandfather was a deep sea mariner who sailed for the Blue Funnel from Liverpool to the Far East, his last command being the MS Peisander, torpedoed in the North Atlantic, all hands survived. Dava

So it's OK for Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Leiecster to have a slow, diesel, overcrowded MML which is unreliable and badly run by a company [Abellio] which didn't want it when every other region north of London has high speed electrified services? We have already been stuffed by Grayling. HS2 is too late anyway but cancellation of route 2b is not acceptable unless we get total modernization and electrification of the MML which will still leave inadequate capacity at the London end. MR Northmoor is way out of date. I travel the route most days each week. Dava

Sounds like it is. Is it 4mm or 7mm scale? They are usually complete. Ask Peco the manufacturers for missing parts. Dava

Is the modern day equivalent of MTK in O scale the Steve Beattie diesel kit? They appear to be coming back.....with resin road vehicle kits too! https://www.sbtdevelopments.com/

The forum is slow because its full up and has an old operating system. This is a very long train thread. We need a new, High Speed Forum for fast posters and the slow stuff can stay on here. But Google will have to build a new server farm to host it and there are hedgehogs living in the forest which has to be ripped out to build it. Maybe some of us prepared to pay premium rates will get it around 2030...? Dava

Coxheath Sidings will be appearing at the ever-friendly 7mm NGA Trent Valley event at Mickleover this Saturday 18 Jan, details here courtesy of EDM Models: https://ngtrains.com/shop/exhibition/7mm-nga-trent-valley-group-open-day/ The microlayout has had some changes made, and this may be its last public outing. Or possibly not. After nearly 5 years it has long outlived its experimental construction from foamboard, but not its usefulness. A bit like the BR Mickleover Test Track [who remembers that?] it continues to be useful in testing train control systems, ie DCC! Here we see an old friend, the little Peckett, out from storage for a test run. Come and say 'Hi!' on Saturday, bargains and goodies to be had from the traders as ever. Dava

I'm interested in the Gifford & Garvald Light railway. Hajduckie's book on the line arrived yesterday. Saltoun station looks like it has potential for a modelling project. With a passing loop, two sidings and traffiec to/from the Glen Kinchie Distillery. I would start with the ticket office, these were the same design for all 4 stations on the line. His book has a drawing for the agent's house but not the station building, though it may exist in the same source, the Scottish Record Office. Has anyone see a plan, drawing or front elevation photo of one of these buildings? All I need is length, width and height. Saltoun station building was rescued by the SRPS, I've asked them whether it still exists. As it would now be a 120 year old wooden structure I'm not too hopeful. Anyone know of any information? https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/19/487/ Dava

If you go for the top one with the loop and move the point for the first siding to the loop road immediately after the loop point, your siding can be as long but will shunt better. You could also extend the loop with the space saved. Dava

Everything Kevin says. Add: education. Involving young people from pre-school to College & Uni. Railways can fill a gap in their experience & learning and also help develop the future staff, volunteers & visitors. It's working for the GCR with a growing educational portfolio. It's also working for its attached but independent and amazing community-driven Mountsorrel Railway. It's not quite a light railway technically, a quarry branch with a rail museum and narrow gauge system with a great cafe and nature trail, but go visit and you'll see what I mean. http://heritage-centre.co.uk/ Dava

One answer is to look at the trains surviving Col. Stephens' lines are using. Here is one from the K&ESR. Sorry its pointing bunker first but you can see the vintage coaches. There is a green DMU out of sight. Dava

Amazing how much fun you can have with 1 old Peco point, some s/h track, a sector plate & 6 x 1. More in 'Coxheath Sidings goes DCC'. Dava

Its good to see this Z scale layout and I wonder why RmWeb doesnt have a dedicated Z Gauge forum, since there is evidently some interest. My activity has been limited to updating the GCR 'Bridge' diorama shown here [page 24] but I'd like to see more. Dava

Great work, very atmospheric, a preservationists' dream or nightmare? Rather like this one...[Scaldwell, earlier type, now at Southwold for restoration] Dava

So it gives a firm timescale for the East Midlands HST sets: the current Porterbook sets to 31.7.20 and the ex-LNER and Angel sets to 31.12.20. Which confirms what we knew, what happens then...? Dava