JDW

Interesting, I didn't know that, thanks for taking the time to point it out. I do speak German, but am neither a steam nor German railway fan! Fair point, though given some of what 'we' seem to want on models which would be barely discernible if properly scaled down, swivelling bogies (if they should indeed swivel) would seem like a basic ask! (Over-bright lights are the first that come to mind!)

Are you wedded to using the Skytrex ones in particular? I'm sure there are other similar options available which aren't as deep.

I was going to reply to the original post, but slightly confused by the above off-topic drift. Both of my DCC systems have hand-held controllers with a dial that I can use in one hand, and neither under DC nor DCC operation have I ever found myself wanting to leave trains to creep along for some unexplained reason. I do like ones that will slow gradually through the speed range right to a stop, though, and remain smooth at slow speed. Sound, on the other hand, I find an irritating noise no matter how good it is (though I'll add that I admire the technical skill behind it). Back to the original topic, besides the traction tyre debate, I'm surprised no-one has commented on the fact that the bogies are fixed. I know it's not a new model, and I know it makes it easier to engineer, but it's the kind of thing that I can't help feel that if it were a British prototype, we'd all be saying how terrible it was, unrealistic, a cheap solution, looks daft with the bogies not turning, and so on.

That looks fantastic, great work all round! I'm very tempted by some of the CMAC models, I keep eying them up on Ebay, they look like great models, though I'm still trying to decide what to do with my failed 323 from another supplier, it's put me off building anything at all for a while! The 185 is tempting, but the livery options are... complicated!

It drives me up the wall every time I get on a train (LNER, I'm looking at you in particular, but others are guilty as well) that says "welcome onboard" - or press releases, posters and the like that say "get onboard" and other such phrases. At least one bus company has it in big letters on the side of a double-decker. The fact that so many transport companies can't get a basic transport term correct is crazy. Onboard is a word, but not in the context of transport. It has an entirely different meaning. You get on board, you can be aboard. You can have on-board equipment. You can't get onboard.

So long as it doesn't obscure too much, I'd be tempted to try the sliced-through buildings idea, but not with open fronts (to do the whole row would be a huge task, but also might look a bit gimmicky I think), but rather just 'blanked off' as part of the facia, similar to the post above. However, I'd use matt black rather than white or a light colour, for the same reason it's used in theatres; to make it disappear. It would blend the unusual outline into the facia, and the eye would be drawn to the layout rather than to the odd shapes along the front.

They're very nice, there were some samples on display at Euro Bus Expo in Brussels last year. Hopefully the livery error on the megabus one will be corrected on the production models, though.

What about a pipe bridge? The kind where ground-level pipes rise up at 90 degrees then are supported on a lattice girder arrangement? Looking at the picture, maybe there wouldn't be enough space for them to run along the ground in front of the backscene, but it might be workable somehow. Just a thought.

Yep, I'd agree with that. Mixing them up will give a much better effect. I'd probably look at some basic weathering as well to reduce the variation in colour and give some harmony to the different shades. I have built up a set of Hornby and Lima ARC "PTA" wagons*, and the Lima shade is much more mustard than the bright yellow of the Hornby ones, but some weathering has made them look much more like a uniform set of wagons with variations in shade, colour, wear, etc from use, rather than a string of differently-coloured plastics. Even just a few coats of paint-on, wipe-off with some shades of dirty browny colours on all of them (and the wagons) would probably get rid of the start contrast. *Yes, I know they're not that accurate as PTAs, but for the very occasional run behind an ARC class 59, they're fine and make quite an impressive sight at much lower cost than a set of Accurascale ones!

Just to add another vote of satisfaction with the same supplier. I have a 4-car Lima 156 repowered with one of their motors and it runs fine.

Hmmmm... First off, forget trying to run it with the 121 at the other end, that's not going to help solve the problem and will just make trying to sort it harder by adding extra forces. Take away all the other vehicles. - Does the power car derail when running by itself at the same place(s) each time, or randomly? If it's always at the same place, it could be a track issue. If not, then it's a train issue. - Try turning it to face the opposite way. Does it still derail at the same places? - Does it derail when the power bogie is at leading or trailing, or both? - Does it derail at any speed, or just when running fast or slow? Can you get your eye to track level to try and observe the wheels and bogie closely? - Are the traction tyres properly seated in the groove all the way around? I've purchased replacement ones, and when I came to fit them found they were way too thick, so although they fitted the groove, they stood well above it and made those wheels sit much too high on the rail. The rubber tyre shouldn't (or barely) protrude above the metal part of the wheel face. Check around the full circumference of both wheels. - With the model held upside down in your hand, can you swivel the motor bogie easily and smoothly without applying force? - Are there any wires visible that might be snagging and causing it not to turn properly? If you can't see, try removing the body (undo the two screws towards the centre of the chassis, it should lift off easily) and checking that way. There shouldn't be, but if a previous owner has replaced a broken wire or installed a DCC decoder, something could be snagging somewhere and restricting the movement). - Possibly a blindingly obvious question (hands up who hasn't ever been so engrossed looking for a problem that they missed the obvious!) but is it properly coupled? I know it's only the big, floppy and fairly forgiving Lima tension lock couplings, but is one of them bent, for example, so that the arm gets stuck against the one on the opposite vehicle and restricts the bogie when it tries to turn? - I suspect it's unlikely given that you are using new track, but I used to find that some Lima stock would derail on old-style Hornby points when going through from the 'single' end onto the curved arm, at the point where the wheel passed over the V-shape in the middle. Most of my points are Peco, and I can't recall this happening on new-style Hornby ones but it might be worth checking if it's derailing on points. If you've checked all of that and are still no nearer to a solution, maybe there's an RMWeb member who is local to you who could help, or a local model railway club? Or could you maybe post a video of it?

The darker version looks more correct to me, and is the same colour as the train pack and extra coached I have. I wonder if the lighter model in your pictures was from a train pack, as it seems to have less detail on the ends. I'm going to guess, since the darker colour seems more common, that the lighter one was an earlier release in an incorrect shade (it's not just 2020s Hornby that gets colours wrong!). The darker one certainly looks closest to being correct. What the model numbers to look for or avoid I couldn't say, but it should be pretty easy to work out from decent pictures when buying online. The contrast between the blue and the black is much more pronounced.

...and if you're running it with the 121, probably best to couple the power bogie end of the 121 to the powered car of the 117, so there's less sideways drag on corners for better running. If they were both in blue/grey or Network SouthEast livery, then replacing the 117 power car with the 121 would be entirely prototypical! (See > http://www.hondawanderer.com/55022_L420_South_Stoke_1989.htm or > http://www.hondawanderer.com/55027_L408_Moreton-in-Marsh_1986.htm)

Interesting about the wheels - I presume that was the easiest option at whichever factory produced them. The slot in the bogie is vital, if I remember right, as the bogie frames are pretty stiff. Unlike, say, the ex-Lima 156 where there's enough flex to be able to easily pop the axles out. Re the noise, mine was doing that. Like a dull screeching kind of noise. I can't remember if I ever cured it, it's so long since I ran it, but I seem to remember pinpointing it to being that the motor output shaft was spinning but the small gear on it was slipping. Something else I found with mine, especially in the extreme temperatures of the loft, were that the bogies could become a bit stiff and not rotate freely. Unclipping them and a few light strokes of a file plus rubbing some graphite from a pencil on the contact surfaces seemed to sort it.

It's nice to see the 110 reappear, it might not be the best model out there but it still appeals to me. I have a white 3-car one, despite it being too old for my usual era. I haven't DCC fitted it as it usually lives on a shelf. One thing I found with the older model is that replacing all of the trailing wheelsets (metal rims on plastic wheels) with newer style Hornby coach wheels vastly improved the running (they run much more freely and are better quality. All of the wheels on the samples in Andy's pics look like the chunky and not-so-nice-looking power bogie type, rather than different ones for the trailing wheels. I found that slicing off the huge coupling mount with a razor saw made a big improvement to the front end - I keep meaning to add some basic buffer beam details, but never quite get around to it. The price point does seem just a tad high to me, I could see it being very popular at the psychologically-enticing sub-hundred pound price of £99 (whether that'd be viable or not is an entirely different question of course), and like a lot of the other Railroad stuff it's a very sound basis for modellers who either can't afford, don't need, or don't want ultra-high-fidelity models that cost twice as much, or for those wanting to do some basic detailing and weathering projects.