LNER4479

For info - on the day I travelled on the Jacobite (26.4.24) the buffet itself was NOT in use; there was a drinks trolley making its way through the train as an alternative. Ergo, no queues of people in the buffet waiting to be served whilst the train was in motion. This appeared to be the new normal arrangement for this season, at least whilst the current situation exists.

Thanks for the photos and descriptions JW. But a case of mistaken identity here. 4327 is 'Sir's LRM kit build, now owned by Mark Allatt. You are hereby sentenced to 40 lashes. The loco we tried on the iron ore was my 4317 (close, but no cigar). That is a M&L w/m kit which - most realistically, I thought(?!) - I rebuilt from a D4 into a D3. It's in your photo, looking at you (indignantly) We also have 4329 on the roster, just to add to the 'D' confusion 🤪

It's very early days (for me) Ollie. But first impressions are that it's even more fragile than Code 75, Code 75 being more fragile than Code 100. Perhaps not unsurprisingly? The sleepers are only held together two at a time (alternating), whereas Code 75/100 are 4 at a time. So the sleepers can easily go out of alignment when you start curving it. Conversely, when a chair popped out of the rail, a quick little shove and it popped back in again - the advantage of the bullhead profile compared to flat bottom. Looks great, notwithstanding.

Dodgy track Tony - blame the Civil Engineer (as any good rolling stock engineer always does) (there's a new isolating joiner on the curve there, never an ideal situation, but part of recent electrical mods to reduce unintended section link ups. Did some temporary repairs at the show but needs proper fettling before the next show)

Latest visit, earlier in the week. Exciting, as it was time to set out the track spacings for the station. This then determines the alignment for the ECML double track through the centre roads and on towards the south end, where the positioning of the junction for the Sheffield lines is key. As can be seen, it's time to start playing with the Peco bullhead! A few hours on and the first pieces have been sprayed, ready for laying. A bit of time was spent playing about with various options for the exact configuration and positioning of the track layout. Finally, the first lengths of bullhead were ceremoniously laid. Next visit should build on this work.

With attention focused on Grantham recently (York and Bristol shows), you could be forgiven for thinking that there was not much happening on HotN. To some extent that's true, but I have been plodding on in the background. Yet more pre-wiring of point motors. These are the depot entrance points. And now beginning to take shape. There will be separate entrance and exit arrangements, aligned to the usual one-way system round the depot. The pointwork leading away towards the locos is the entrance pointwork, with the inbound servicing road curving off to the left. Bottom right leads to the exit, whilst the Princess Royal waits patiently for the roundhouse exit track to be linked up to the newly laid points. Best of all ... All 24 roundhouse roads are laid! (and pre-wired) Getting to the point whereby I need to start creating a proper control panel soon ...

(Very late!) Evening Tony, Would have posted it anyway but the following piece of video filmed earlier today at the Bristol show fits nicely with recent posts and is certainly a kit-built tour de force. Just the loco of the second train(!) that is RTR. You might just recognise the leading loco of the principal train ...

OK - so that was the Bristol show. Not a simple show for us as the logistics were probably the most complex of any show we've done to date. But I think we gave a reasonable account of ourselves in the circumstances. If you happened to be leaning on the barriers this morning at around 11am, you'd have seen us at our best as we achieved a sub two hours cycle round the full schedule ... and then lunchtime cover arrangements kicked in! Somewhat spontaneously, within the last hour of winding down, we ran the following train which, if I'm allowed to say, did look rather splendid: There'll be more to follow over the next few days, I have no doubt ... but, so far as tonight goes - that's all folks 🙂

So today we were graced by a visitor all the way from the land of Oz. That's a heck of a way to come to operate a model railway. Mr Andrew Emmett, better known on here as 'Woodcock29, gamely agreed to take the controls at South box to help us out. He might even been getting the hang of it by the end(!)

Pictures from an exhibition: Jonathan happy in his work (possibly) Stock starts to amass. Steve being reminded why he doesn't use 3-links on his own layout. I don't usually put the buildings out. Wonder where this one goes? A few more hours this morning to figure it all out until the great British public are admitted.

At slight risk of pedantry ... ... it's actually a Luton van with tail lift. This is the contents at York show, with just a few of the domestic sundries unloaded - the full layout is in there at this point. We did originally use a LWB transit, but the stacking and packing was indeed becoming like a Krypton Factor challenge; the Luton (and the tail lift in particular!) does make life a little easier these days.

Not had a Fairburn (Noo Year challenge) update for a while. Quietly plugging away in the background ... Tank top details. Lifting lugs and inspection covers waiting to be fitted. The tank straps are quite distinctive. As the boiler and tank units separate, needs to be a close interface. With the two assembled together in the frames, straps are soldered to boiler, to align with fixing points pre-soldered to tank tops. Filler caps. None of the right size in stock so simply fashioned them by lopping the tops off these long term residents of the 'spares' box. No idea what loco type they were originally intended for? Moving on to the front of the loco, here's the all important 'face' coming together. No LMS style smokebox doors to hand (WHAT?!), so I took a similar size one and turned it back to plain so I could ... ... add the detail. Not too shabby? Tried in position. Front footplates now need detailing Adding steam pipes, lubricators and front sand box fillers. Are we - perhaps, just maybe - starting to look like we're on the home straight? Hopefully!

SO ... We're on our way to Brissle. Long way back home if I've forgotten anything! 6 day adventure this one, in total. Today: 4pm pick van up, load up and get some miles under the belt Tomorrow: to show venue and commence set up. Friday: complete set up and be ready for the adoring public from 1230 Saturday: full show day Sunday: last show day, pack up and get some miles under the belt Monday: complete journey home and unload Tuesday: take van back at 8am There must be easier ways of making a living 🤔

A classic, if ever there was one 😆

My understanding is that the two train service does not run low season, only the morning train currently. So, a plausible explanation behind the announcement is that the second service was due to start on 6th May but not yet enough suitable stock available yet to put together a second rake similar to the one currently running? Just my interpretation; happy to be proven wrong.