LNER4479

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.

I can confirm, quite categorically, that the CDL was being worked and operated as designed, ie all the CDL-fitted doors were locked and unlocked from one of the door panels - the guy was right by where we were at the Glenfinnan stop. The toilet retention tanks thing is completely separate to the CDL debate and is not being driven by legislation per se. That's a Net Rail driven initiative, partly due to union pressure (track workers being exposed to unpleasantness, shall we say).

Being forced to photograph the train crossing the viaduct on the way out ... ... and being forced to photograph the train on the way back. Dreadful behaviour indeed!

Fine in the MkIIs today; not sure what it would be like in height of summer with no air-con running ... I was just referring to the fact that the doors themselves were locked out of use; otherwise free to walk through them (and in fact had to at both Glenfinnan and Mallaig, as the MkII at the rear was off the platform. Oh yeah - doh! Sorry - not very good on diesels! No. I wasn't doing any sort of audit(!) I was actually there leading a tour group and they were my priority. I grabbed the above photos as and when I could.

Coaches connected by ETH and RCH cables But loco ETH power supply NOT connected. I'm struggling to remember what the CDL control system uses but it's all running off battery voltage (28v DC?) HTH

Steam at the business end. Diseasel at the rear. Sunshine in Mallaig 😎

So ... FWIW, today's Jacobite report : MkI doors locked out of use; MkIIs CDL fitted. No seating allowed in the MkIs, but you can walk through. They really are towing empty coaches about. Everybody in MkIIs; obviously fully booked. Florence and her stewards patrolling, dissuading folks standing in vestibules taking photos through D/L windows. Those toilets in use on MkIs are retention tank fitted (they were last year - paid for by Net Rail). Didn't check whole train, but MkII toilets I saw were either locked out of use or 'do not use in station'(!?) More to follow...

Like this you mean? All sliding doors Sorry that pic is too head on to show clearly but you get the idea. Due to travel on the Jacobite 2moro; will report back.

Thanks Jonathan for the updates Yes, it has been possible to put up bits of the layout in turn, to attend to a few ailments. Here's the north end, surrounded by the general chaos in the chapel with TWO large exhibition layouts effectively being stored in here between shows. Once Bristol has been and gone, it'll return to some semblance of normality. Here's an example. One or two of the boards have developed 'ski jump' ends, which have periodically been attended to. This piece of track was noted as being particularly bad at York so up it comes for due attention. Above it is the errant Signal 20. Most folks might not have even noticed but we've had multiple signal motor failures which spoils the authenticity of the operation. So ... Now you see 'em ... ... now you don't! Is this a light on the road to Damascus moment? Well, initially not as me and Andrew between us manage to upset 3 out of the 4 replacement servos. However, they eventually settled down and Signal 20 has been signed off as working satisfactorily. With the useful byproduct that the one good recovered Veissmann motor has been used to replace a further 'dud' on South box Signal 3. It now has to pass the 'does not twitch' test when locos of all makes and origins pass by it. And very much a test bed for future projects rather than the start of a campaign change out on Grantham per se. We'll see ...

I clearly remember riding a train such as this to Barnstaple and back in March(-ish) 1987 with a fellow BR colleague. We were doing a mad 24 hour rail travel competition and caught the WR sleeper from Reading at midnight (Fri night) and decanted at Exeter at something like 4am (Sat morning). There was then this 4.30am service to Barnstaple, 33 + MkIs. I'm pretty certain it conveyed newspapers in the luggage compartments (off the sleeper? Or maybe a separate newspapers train from London?). It was then something like 6am back off Barnstaple as more of a bona fide passenger service back into Exeter. I'll have a record of the loco somewhere but not the MkI formation (sorry!). My decade of interest is the 1950s and the 'classic' 3-coach ordinary passenger formation (branchline or otherwise) was BSK-CK-BSK, as others have stated. In fact, pre-1956, more accurately stated as BTK-CK-BTK. Typical 4-coach would be BSK-SK-CK-BSK. I would agree that use of MkIs on such services in the 1950s would be highly unusual; however, add MkI BCK through coach to add interest, ie BCK / BSK-CK-BSK. You need a lot of brake coaches when modelling the 1950s! Finally (for now - and as it's a modelling forum) my 'Festival of Britain' MkI 'Royal Scot' set that we run on Shap. It's slightly reduced formation (11 vs 13) but otherwise correct, including the full kitchen and the RTO vehicle (Comet sides on Lima donors). Rest are bog standard Bachmann. Love MkIs!

All very much in the forefront of our minds at the present time! Firstly, I've been putting double insulators in everywhere with the idea that only the train you want to drive will be live. An overriding factor is that the loops being laid will eventually be hidden from view (either partially or totally) so there needs to be a certain amount of automation in terms of stopping and starting trains. Whilst we'll have DCC to drive the trains, we won't be using it to change points, etc. That'll be conventional electrics, push buttons, relays, etc - we're as one with that. Just a preference, but one I'm comfortable with in terms of being within my competence. Each (of the four) circuits will be a 'district' and switchable between DCC and DC. There are many locos(!) and it will be a long process to chip them all. In fact, there's probably some kit built ones that will never get chipped!

Thanks for comments / concerns. FWIW The room is an inside room, ie no wall is an outside wall. So it's inherently dry and pretty constant temperature in there. Layout is only partly supported by the units; rest is conventional legs (3 x 1) as you can see. These areas are designed so as to be able to store the plastic boxes beneath, as you describe Lengthways, longitudinal beams are also 3 x 1. Bought in a pack of 4 from a well-known DIY store, of orange hue (other DIY stores are available). Yesterday, I opened a new pack (itself chosen from others in the rack as being the best I could see) and selected the two straightest and truest to be the longitudinal beams. They were dead straight and true to my eye. They'd also been in the room for a month and thus had time to adjust to the climate. I do use 9mm ply for similar beams on my exhibition layouts, where weight is a consideration. These (Doncaster) boards are designed to be removable if required which is also influencing the method of construction. I'll keep my eye on things but no concerns so far (although I do understand that some of the effects you describe are of a more longer term nature).

https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/news/the-jacobite-back-in-service West Coast's own statement would appear to imply that they've found / fettled some additional CDL-fitted stock ... EDIT - apologies as most of that is repeated in the earlier RailAdvent post. For completeness sake, therefore.

Yes, it's relying on switchblade contact. I know there's the Taliban out there for whom that is anathema; but it's not a red line for me for a simple set of dead end sidings. I do have 'red lines' on other things, mind ...