Richard Lee

A friend with whom I wargame sometimes makes videos, so maybe that could be arranged...

Bachmann 3F nearly £64 at a certain Cornish model shop: http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/51180/31-627B-Bachmann-Class-3F-Steam-Locomotive-number-3520-LMS Bachmann 4F nearly £65: http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/51184/31-883-Bachmann-Midland-Class-4F-Steam-Locomotive-number-3848 I happened to buy the 3F from them a few weeks ago and was pleased with it, and the price.

https://westhillwagonworks.co.uk/ They seem to be concentrating on fairly modern stock at present. From the video they look impressive if you don't need automatic uncoupling. I wonder whether they would be any good for a 1930s/ branch line with small 4-wheeled wagons? I will watch this thread with interest.

Concerning prices, it does seem to me that Bachmann have significantly increased their prices. I noticed the MRP or whatever they call it of the new Birdcage Stock coaches. They aren't going to be an impulse buy for me anytime soon, although I did shell out for the earlier Maunsell Green ones when their price eased down a little. Last night I ordered a Bachmann 3F 0-6-0 tender locomotive from Kernow, for coming up to £64. If the price had been approaching £200 then I don't think that I would have bothered. The message seems to me to look for stuff that seems good, but that is closer to your preferred budget.

Forgot about that. There are some very nice industrial locos around, so industrial layouts are a reasonable bet now. Must admit that my junction to BLT 'L' shape would find more use for small than for extra-large points, although I want to keep minimum radius for anything except light engines to no less than 30", ideally 3'.

I do like the Bullhead medium points. If I was seriously thinking about a new layout or replacing the track of my existing one, it would make the choice of track type easier. Not sure whether a small point would be necessary, though. A small point would be useful for loco release to run around loops (no wagons or carriages would go through) and loco sheds, but at a pinch, the Code 75 flat-bottomed rail ones could be used, with a bit of weathering and "careless" ballasting to disguise them. Many people would like larger radius points, which would look really great on layouts that model main or secondary lines. What I would like is a simple way of switching polarity for Unifrog points for the purpose of frog and DC power routing. I know that Tortoise and Cobalt point motors do that, but I am a bit mean with money and also like to operate points by hand. A cheap, unobtrusive, hand-operated lever with built in microswitch to attach to Unifrog points would be of great interest to me.

One thing that they could do to get a few extra sales is to offer the four-wheeled red coaches as a bargain pack with a tin of mahogany paint and a sheet of LB&SC Railway stickers for Stroudley era coaches.

I like the Langley ones, although they dearer than a lot of plastics. You can buy footplate crew that fit in Hornby Terriers. They also footplate crew in the old "pill-box" type caps, in case you have any locos in Victorian or Edwardian livery. They have quite a lot suitable for pre-grouping or Big Four layouts. I would say that the level of casting is quite good. There are a lot of white metal 15mm wargames figures around that need a lot more tidying up with knife and file. http://www.langley-models.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_OO_Scale__1_76th____HO_Scale__1_87th__Kits_8.html Must admit that for passengers for coaches, I am getting a bit less fussy about the figures that I use, except when headgear or lack of it would be important. Once, I bought a couple of Mainline paneled early LMS coaches, added metal wheels and Kadees, and put in some cheap plastic figures that I believe were made in China. I joked about the coaches representing an excursion from Chinatown in Liverpool. (The figures all had black hair and a yellowish skin tone.) The difference between using bargain basement figures for seated passengers compared with using reasonable figures is not really noticeable if you don't have lights in the coaches. The main exception is that I believe that hats and caps tended to be different in Victorian and Edwardian times, so I would still use decent figures, at least near windows.

Won't give marks out of 10 because I don't have a huge number of locos, and trains tend to be short on my layout. Pulling power is comparable with the old Terrier, but possibly a shade lighter. The new Hornby Terrier can cope with a rake of 3 Bachmann's Birdcage Stock very well. You have to be a little careful at low speeds (running on DC) with 2 Hornby's ex-LSWR Maunsell re-builds because those coaches are not very free-running, though. It doesn't make a lot of difference if you add a Parkside passenger luggage/guards van at the back of the ex-LSWR re-builds. Please note that my layout does not have intentional gradients. Concerning prototype, so far I haven't found too many pictures of single Terriers pulling more than 3 bogie coaches, or 2 bogie coaches and a few goods wagons. The new Terrier seems to like to go slightly faster than the old (ex-Dapol tooling) Hornby Terriers, but is a lot quieter, and looks a lot more like the pictures of Terriers with coaches that you see in the Hayling Island Branch Line book. (I think that the old Terrier is taller than it should have been.)

That sounds almost as if I can legitimately run it on my layout, assuming the Rocket ran on Southern Railway branch lines in the 1930s.

I notice that both the limited edition and the normal train pack are shown as sold-out on pre-order at Hattons. I am glad that I got my pre-order in on time. Edit: I think Kernow still have some.

Can't speak for others, but I will be keeping an eye open for Dapol Stroudley 4-wheeled coaches in OO. If I remember correctly, Hattons will be doing their coaches in the umber LBSCR livery rather than Mahogany (which is what I would tend to expect with locomotives in Stroudley Improved Engine Green). I have pre-ordered some of Hatton's coaches in SECR livery for my SECR liveried Terrier to pull. At the moment, I use mahogany painted resin kits for my IEG liveried Terriers, but I imagine that Dapol can make better looking coaches than I can. Whatever happens, I want my LBSCR coaches to look a bit different from the SECR ones.

Glass plates? What is wrong with oil paintings?

You might find that Metcalfe sometimes stop production of a kit, and a little later bring back a revised version. If you can't get hold of one now, it may be worth keeping your eyes on the Metcalfe site for the next couple of months.

Train-Tech do vibration-triggered battery-powered coach lighting that has a delay before it switches off. It stays on for short periods (such as stops at stations). It uses batteries that are about the size and shape of large coins. The batteries are of a type that are readily available. If you have a lot of coaches then this method might not be cost effective, though. Works well, although I haven't bothered to replace the batteries lately, so not at the moment on my layout. By the way, the batteries last longer if you don't live right on a busy road with heavy lorries and agricultural vehicles where the coaches are stored near the road, triggering the coach lights. Link to an example at Hattons: https://www.hattons.co.uk/80686/train_tech_cl2_standard_coach_lighting_strips_warm_white/stockdetail.aspx