MarshLane

Hi Rod, My immediate response is Don’t do it! You have created a lovely, fully operational layout that you enjoy, so enjoy it! However, I am also a big believer in that if your losing interest, or not enjoying running it, or don’t have the incentive to go out and run it, then now is the time to change. I do like that your idea combines both the current layout (or parts of it) with a new incentive. I think my only advice would be to consider the pros and cons and think carefully about what you want to achieve out of a model railway. Good luck! Rich

ON a separate topic, does anyone know why the VRF Barstow cam has gone down? I am guessing its coming back as the feed is live with a 'we are down' message, but it's been that way for a bit now. 😔 It was the only VRF cam I watched with any regularity! I do watch the five Tehachapi Live Train Cameras a bit (https://www.youtube.com/@TehachapiLiveTrainCam/streams) Rich

It's the mixed terminology that trips people up I think. We generally take 'subscribe' to mean pay for something ongoing, hence I suspect your thought that (although free) you were subscribing to LiveTrains and needed to be on their website. In this case, YouTube use 'subscribe' to mean 'follow the channel', the Channel is a YouTube feature (with content from LiveTrains). The same acronym is on something like Facebook where you 'follow somebody' .. but hopefully that doesnt mean your stalking them all day!! 🤣 Confusing at time all this social media terminology - but I say that as somebody who (other than watching bits and pieces on YouTube) doesnt do social media! Glad you got it sorted out.

Thanks @Jeff_W, May be a case of designing something and getting a transfer to go onto it. I'll have to take a Kato body off and have a look. Could open the door to a few options if I can come up with something! I have let a few 'cheaper' locos go because they replicated what I have already got! Rich

Ah @melmerby your on the LiveTrains website thats why - you need to be on Youtube. Try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqq-1HPjJ2o

Thanks PH. Ive heard of micro scale now you mention them, but hadn’t thought about them. Both seem to offer decals (as Americans call them) or transfers for renumbering, but don’t do anything with the cab and nose end light boxes which seems odd to me. I’ll keep trawling. Also need to find out what the kit number boards are actually called, that might return closer search results! Thanks for the suggestions tho. I might have found some transfers through that to renumbering my Gondola cars! Rich

If it helps there should be a 'subscribe' button next to the channel name when viewing one of the cams?

I appear to have accidentally acquired two duplicate Kato locos, an SD70 UP 4841 and a AC4400CW BNSF 5642. Not to worry I thought, simple task to renumber them ... but for UK traction it is simple, basically just remove the existing Tampo prints carefully then apply new transfers for the bodyside numbers. But the US models have the extra challenge of the light boxes with the lit number panels. Can anyone therefore advise me of the best way to renumber models ... and is there a supplier (its ok if its in the US) who does bodyside number transfers, and the high box numbers for each end? Or how do other people do it? Failing that does anyone know which font UP and BNSF use for their numbers, and I might approach @railtec-models with some artwork to see if they can print the numbers. Richie

Thanks I have just had a promotional email from Rails about deadline dates and the N Gauge Cartics were on it (I presume following Mike's intervention!) so I have forwarded to my friend and he's placed an order. Mike, Thanks for being proactive in following that up, really appreciated. As you'll note from the comment above, the email from Rails confirmed this Friday for the deadline of the Cartics, the N Gauge 66s and Observation Saloons, and the OO gauge EALNOS wagons. Thanks for your help Rich

You really must post directions (or a Google Maps link perhaps??) of how to get to that bridge / viewing point you use @97406, as the variety of stuff you get through there and on shed beats what I am seeing locally hands down. I have really searched on Google, but cannot find the shed anywhere! Mind you when I go, some smart alec will probably come along and say "oh you should have been here yesterday!" Really great modelling, lovely to follow along with and I hope you get the extension and bigger layout that your seeking. Rich

A friend of mine (who does not do web forums!) decided that he wanted a rake or two of the late 1980s MAT cartics with mesh sides, after the order book for these closed. However, he's been looking around the various Revolution retailers and found that while a couple do not mention Revolution at all on their website, even those that do ( for example, Rails @Kernow MRC @Derails Models @Mike at C&M ) dont seem to have the Cartics listed. Before my mate starts emailing various shops asking the same question, does anyone know/can anyone say is the lack of listing because the models are all fully sold out at retailers or is it just that the retailers are not listing them until they arrive? I thought it was probably best to ask on here first. Rich

Wow cannot believe it's over five years since I last did anything with this project. Well I have been back through and put all the images back in - good job my archiving system and photo management software did its job! Also its handy that the software rmWeb uses does not fully rename files, so I could work out what went where! @spsmiler Apologies for not responding at the time. No I have never had the CAD on Shapeways. I did a test print using them, which I was impressed with, but they are just too expensive now. I have been using a couple of UK-based 3D printers for bits and pieces. I am hoping to get back on with this project at some point, although as I am not doing 7mm any more, I may scale it down to 4mm and look to get an operational unit. I would like to get the light bar designed, so that the whole thing could work with a DCC motor decoder. The bogies and the cab did get a coat of primer back in 2018..... All of the images a bit critical of the detail as they were done on my iPhone at the time. I suspect with the advances in 3D printing a fresh print would be far better. I have had several enquiries about making these available in 4mm. To be honest, it was a 7mm project, and it was just for me, I never had any intention of producing it for others. There was other work done, for example brass pieces on the interior to transfer the power through the unit, but I didnt get over the problem of the articulated centre - I could get it round corners, but the gap between the vehicles was too big, or I could get the gap right, but not much lea-way between the vehicles. So that is still to be solved. But I would like to get up to Newcastle before the Met-Cams are withdrawn and do some detail shots to help with finishing the project. Rich

On behalf of a good friend. He has hand-built this Great Northern Sommersault signal in 4mm scale (OO gauge), but has no use for it on his layout, so is offering it for sale. It was produced using parts from Model Signal Engineering and is powered by a Servo, which in the attached video was connected to and controlled from a Megapoints servo board (not included). The servo could be operated by any servo control unit from Megapoints, MERG or a third-party. I know it took him some assembling to get it to work right and it looks superb. He's offering it for sale at £35 plus postage. SIGNAL IS NOW SOLD PENDING PAYMENT. Please PM any questions. A demo of the signal working can be seen here:

If I have understood the website @Paul Cram - clicking this link ... https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/coupon/modelu9/ should automatically add it for you. Rich

Looking forward to seeing the diorama and hearing about CF at the forthcoming NMAG meeting Tim. Rich

Some people just have no imagination you know Andy :) If its the passenger element .. how about a parcels unit :)

Thanks to all three of you, that's really helpful. Rich

No scary scenario involved. These are LTO batteries, not Lithium-ion (Li-ion) which are the ones more commonly associated with fire. LTO batteries are known as the safest of the lithium batteries, but there is extensive fire protection around the battery area as a safeguard. But LTO have been used on light rail vehicles for a while, as they are fast charging and also have a longer cycle life that Li-ion, LTO are used on the West Midlands trams and the Merseyrail 777s.

Yes they do - Lithium Titanate Oxide batteries (LTO) which are expensive but charge quickly. The type of the LTO battery that is in the 93s is actually different to that specified when ordered, as the technology moved on the two years between contract signing and construction, and the current ones have a bigger capacity. They are specifically modular, so that they could be swapped out for another style in a few years time if the technology continues to develop to give a battery that in the same space could deliver more power or higher capacity.

Does anyone have a copy or details of the track plan for Manchester Piccadilly and its approaches in the mid-1980s please? This is the time before Platforms 13/14 were lengthened and when the former power box was on the west side and the sky high Royal Mail corridor link to Mayfield was there. Any help would be appreciated. Ive looked in my collection of Track Plans but the Midland ones don’t go back that far. Rich

Apologies to Revolution for the thread drift my comment caused. No, I believe the Mk5a and 68s remain on hire to TPE until June - the (current) expiry of the original contract. Which is why the TPE-liveried ones are not doing much. On paper they are still hired to TPE, if TPE choose not to use them or store them, thats their problem. 68025 and 68026 noted on Longsight today still coupled to Mk5a sets. The 93s do have advantages over the 88s in some areas, but the high cost of electric for freight operators is still an issue, and part of the reason why DRS are in no hurry to operate all 10 of theirs at the moment. No, I believe the Network Rail paperwork has been issued and its awaiting ROG to arrange the tests. That is *MY* understanding, which may of course be wrong. We still conform to the EU requirements - that part of the EU law has not been changed yet. Interestingly there was an issue recently (I cannot remember the exact full details) where the regulations required somebody on the EU side to sign off paperwork for UK rolling stock - they would not sign it off because the UK is no longer part of the EU - but our law still required it. I gather it took several weeks for somebody to legally be promoted to a position where they could take over that responsibility! Nothing is simple in the rail industry! However, while all standards and commissioning is to the same base level, UK acceptance (or homologation as they call it) would always have had to done in or out of the EU. In the same way that a new loco built for Belgium (for example) has all the base EU paperwork, testing and documation completed, but still needs separate homologation for Holland, France, Germany etc.. The same has held true in the UK, both before and after Brexit, very little changed in that respect. The '93s' have some of the work done, but the dynamic testing is outstanding. However, there are other issues outstanding, that I cannot mention here. Dynamic testing isnt the only thing.

All nine remaining '93s' are ready for delivery, and parked in this line at Valencia, waiting for ROG to accept them. The shot is taken in Valencia for anyone who doesn't click through to Flickr. Nice shot!

Could be interesting in a couple of ways, especially as 50% of the DRS 88 fleet is currently stopped - with 88001 having not worked since November 2022, 88008 has not been in traffic since February 2022 and 88009 was stopped in July, all are at Kingmoor, while 88003 was stopped at Crewe in November 2023 and 88004 has been at Motherwell for 12 months. #off-topic - sorry!

Horses for courses I suspect, what you don't like others will. Your comment about getting home and discovering you'd paid £10 simply shows that like many people you pick something up and go pay with a card and don't look at the total. I'll make that assumption as if you'd paid cash you know how much you would have paid. I cannot dispute the advice your friend was given by BRM that it is your responsibility to check - nobody should ever tap their card or enter a PIN without checking the total. Also you say "simply writing off feedback as grumbling with a condescending comment" - what exactly did you expect to happen? Oh we are sorry here is a refund? Thanks for your feedback we won't do it again? I suspect whatever response you received you would not have been happy about because you chose to purchase something, without looking at the price, without looking at the amount the retailer was charging you and then feel annoyed that you made a mistake because you assumed something. Dont worry, we've all done it, we've all got home and muttered swear words to ourselves, but then we realise it's just a small thing and watch in the future. To say that you'll never buy another copy of BRM again is, in my view, a total over reaction to the situation. TO balance this argument a bit, can I add that I know of two people who have both bought this issue of BRM specifically because Traction was included, both of them are modellers, one very rarely buys BRM unless there is an article he wants to read, the other is a semi-regular reader who purchases it may 5-6 times a year. Both mentioned it to me and said they had bought BRM to have a good read and the addition of 'Traction' was a great advantage. So it really is a case of what suits one might not suit another. I am not sure how this works, but also consider if you had BRM on subscription from the publishers, I doubt you would have been charged extra for the bigger issue - I am assuming that subscribers got the same bumper edition as everyone else. However, writing and making views know in a polite way, whether for or against any ideas such as this, surely has to be recommended or how else does the editorial team know what readers want, and whether they like ideas or not? @AY Mod how does the different in price work with the digital edition of the magazine for those that buy individual issues?

You’re doing well Tony, looks nice! I look forward to seeing it running!