Rich Papper

I took the family last year. One tip on tickets - there were none available for the time period we wanted to go on the day we were able to, so we bought some small upgrade - a 5 minute VR experience or some such that we didn't end up doing anyway. It was only a little extra but made our tickets valid for any time of the day so we were able to just turn up when ready and go straight in. Fantastic though - could have stayed for the week. Rich

Can almost hear the rattling echoing off the walls.

Excellent first day at Cheltenham today. Thoroughly recommend a visit tomorrow. Some pictures below.

Hello. Have you tried the cranked version of the Hunt ones? The NSE coach above looks like it has a straight one in. I’ve found the cranked ones work a bit better on the Bachmann Mk2s as the straight rubs on the lower edge of the buffer beam. I’ve not tried connecting to the Accurascale yet though. Rich Edit: sorry, tried to add link, looks wrong but seems to go to the right place: https://westhillwagonworks.com/hunt-couplings-elite-oo/474-additional-pair-of-hst-powercar-buckeye-elite-couplings.html No connection etc.

High levels of excitement and some nerves in our house for this. Debut of Kings Lane by my son. Started when he was 7, he’s now 8. Would post pictures but he’s still working on it! I’ll be spending the rest of today convincing him that we don’t need to bring a boot-full of stock for a layout that’s 3 square feet. Great show by the way - lovely people, good cake. Rich

Some did: https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brsturgeon

Both! (but maybe one at a time so I don’t have to mortgage the cat)

There’s also quite a variation depending on where and when things were painted, and sometimes what they worked with. Several hybrid NSE DMUs had unusual stripe positioning for their class as they were paired with a vehicle of a different class and the height of the windows or door furniture on their partner dictated a difference. Rich

Hadn't spotted that yet. Not sure it will leap out at me in a mixed rake (not had a chance to assemble one yet as my son has taken over the room to build his layout!). One other thing that I only spotted looking back at the picture, the 2b has the cantrail line on the gutter, the 2a has it just beneath. Hopefully someone with better eyes than me can suggest which is more correct. Thanks Rich

Doubted myself on the darker blue for 2d 13575 now. Wasn't dreaming: (Not my picture - please click on it for Flickr link and credits). Rich

Arrived home to find my NSE pair had arrived today. Some comparisons for colour and size if helpful. Accurascale on the left in each picture. First against a Bachmann 2a. Colour match is pretty good - certainly nothing to worry about running them in a rake together. The wheels on the 2b are a bit finer, but when weathered probably not noticeable. Similar the roof - black on the 2b, grey on the 2a - again, to be weathered anyway. To be honest the most obvious thing between them is the table tops being white on the 2b and not (yet!) on the 2a. Height, shape etc look pretty close between the two. Against the darker NSE blue (although I think Bachmann have this a little too dark - and now I look at it the white doesn't look as bright. Weathering needed!) Then against the 2d FK13575. Pretty sure this was only ever the darker blue. And for comparison if anyone is respraying - slightly incongruous, but my 119 uses the Phoenix NSE light blue. Pretty close. Need to clear space to get them running now. Already found how free-running they are - rolled off while trying to take a picture. Thank you chaps! Rich

Handy to know, thanks. First 6 pin I’ve fitted I think so not sure I’ve seen one close to before. A little bit concerned about it shorting on the body to be honest. Might have to do a bit more research. Rich

Good Evening All A bit of naffling around the workbench this weekend, although to be honest it is virtually impossible to get in the room at the moment as all of the floorspace has been taken over by the construction of Thing 1's first layout - now named 'King's Lane'. Construction moving apace as it has a show in 6 weeks! But while the soldering iron was out: He picked up a Hornby Duchess second hand for a very reasonable price at Warley, and it has been sat around waiting to have an 8 pin socket hard wired in. The socket was just to get it running with a cheap chip. His long term plan is a smoke generator and sound. Plenty of room in there too - body shell is huge. Then at the other end of the size range, my birthday present this year: Hornby 88DS. Really really struggled to get a 6 pin chip in this - even the prescribed Hornby one. I did also ask advice from a reputable seller of DCC bits whether I could wire in a stay alive - his advice was 'no chance'! Brief test with a running mate for company. Both need weathering asap as they are on the roster for the next show. Assuming the layout is done of course. Talking of which... Really hope all those point motors work when he fires some power through them - they're very hard to get at buried in the styrofoam! Stay safe folks. Rich

Ready and waiting...

On the Mk6 power bogie there is something that the class 73s have that the EMU variant doesn’t have - other than the retractable shoes. Unfortunately I can’t for the life of me remember what! I only vaguely remember people pulling me up on using a set of Lima 73 bogies to power a Southern Pride kit 4CIG, but it was about 25 years ago. I don’t think I ever modified them (and if I’m honest haven’t lost any sleep over it in the meantime). Someone more knowledgable? Rich

Peters spares actually do replacement for the motor bogie wheels. No traction tyre to worry about, and a much finer wheel profile than the old Lima ones. https://www.petersspares.com/p/peters-spares-ps78-replacement-lima-small-wheel-on-axle-pk2 No connection etc. I’ve used quite a few PS wheels and found them very good. Good luck. Rich

A big thank you to Mark and all involved in the show today. Spend several hours there today with my son and thoroughly enjoyed it. Really good range of layouts and my spending suggests some excellent trade support. Rich

Thanks Chaps. According to my Vernier gauge, the plastic centre ones that Peco used to supply have an axle length of 25.7mm, the newer all metal ones measure 26.0mm. It sounds like nothing 0.3mm but the older ones spin in any I've made, and the newer ones don't. There might be something in the shape of the cone where it comes to a point at the end of the axle but I'm not sure I could take a picture (or focus my eyes!) to see clearly enough to show on here. The Peters Spares ones I bought were these here which say 25.6mm axle length. Slightly disappointed not to have had a reply from Peco. They responded advising me to recess the bearings further, I said OK with a new build but what about the ones I've already built - nothing. As for the Grampus, at least the yellow line needs a repaint before weathering. I think the Dapol version is supposed to be faded, but I don't think it was yellow to start with. Given that I've got to find a yellow for the Barbels I'll just do these at the same time. Rich

Good Evening All, A couple of new bits of rolling stock getting a run out tonight. First up a very nice Bachmann 4-CEP from Santa. Not sure for my chosen timescale that it needs the high intensity headlight, but will live with it for now. I did note that it comes with spare doors so can easily modify one of them to lose it and see if I can do it neatly enough. I think my 4-TC also had spare doors without a light but not sure they're quite the same shape. Far away from southern territory here! Unsurprisingly it runs very well with the Bachmann MLV. Then not to be outdone, Thing 1 managed to consist it with the Hornby 4-VEP. Very different level of engineering between the two, but he did get them running smoothly (his excuse was that they both say Kent Coast on the badge - he has a point). Besides some cab front surgery I really would like to re-motor the VEP. If I found a cheap MLV I'd be tempted to use the innards of that. Then all I'd need to do is repaint the cantrail line, replace the corridor partitions, get some interior lighting in... Final new thing, a present from Thing 2, a Rapido Squid. Beautifully detailed, but two things slightly baffle me. The paintwork doesn't seem to match the Rapido VIX van. As far as I know these are the only two items they've released in this colour scheme - I assume there's a reason why they don't. Not overly bothered, they'll get weathered anyway. Second - the wheels. I think they are cast. It runs very smoothly but the wheel / rail noise is bizarrely loud compared to everything else the same size. Really do need to make some layout progress soon, but all focus is on the new one at the moment. Might get some inspiration at the Weston Super Mare show this weekend. Look after yourselves. Rich

Thanks Will. I'm still in that club to be honest. As we broke up for holidays so close to Christmas we seem to have overdone some of the treat shopping. Going to still be eating mince pies at Easter!

Good Evening All - and Happy New Year! I'm hoping to be a little more productive with the layout and stock this year as we have a number of shows lined up for Oxford Road and I like to have some new piece of stock each time - if only to keep myself interested! Quite a lot of this holiday has been spent on Thing 1's layout as the deadline for first show is fast approaching. Hopefully a thread on this as soon as I figure out a way of safely letting an 8 year old loose on RM Web. I have been working on the 'to do' pile though. First up, some Barbels are on the way. The Parkside kit, just going for a short rake. I think I've built six and still have three more to go. Quite a satisfying wagon to build, and not too complicated to get everything square and all the wheels sitting on the track - which I confess I haven't always managed in the past! Not sure what they'll look like yet, but if you want the ultimate guide you need to head across to Mr Makin's page (here) for the proper way to do it. More underframe detail than usual for me too! I did run into a slight problem here - you'll notice the different wheels. I've been collecting these for a number of years - the usual: at a show, want to buy something just because I'm here! At some point Peco seem to have changed the wheels supplied in the kit. The older ones I have seem to have black wheels which feel like plastic with a metal tyre, a couple of newer ones have all metal wheels. The metal ones certainly feel like better quality, unfortunately the axle length supplied is longer. I thought it was just my ham fistedness until I swapped a few pairs around with the first four I built and found that the older wheels spin freely in all of them, the metal ones don't spin in any. I emailed Peco, they replied that I need to recess the bearings more when I build them. Logical (although not easy) for a new build, but no suggestions for those I've already built. Fortunately Peter's Spares do dome of their own brand that are even better than both - shown in nearest wagon above. Also have live axle to one side so could fit one with a flashing tail light. Thoughts on battered old spoil wagons, some Grampus have been out too. These are having the couplings changed from the Dapol one supplied (right) to the short straight Bachmann equivalent (left). These have the benefit of being about 2mm shorter, so bringing the wagons closer together, and not having the droop of the Dapol ones. I had thought this was caused by the coupling pocket until I changed a few over and found the Bachmann ones to be level - seems to be the coupling itself. Much weathering to follow on this lot. Keep smiling folks. Rich

Following your latest development with great interest. I have a rake exactly the same running with some of the newer Hornby power cars. The Lima are so smooth running and already couple quite close so I'm loath to get newer ones when a few small tweaks to these would make me just as happy. Best of luck with it (I too have only managed to find about an hour so far this holiday!) Rich

Happy Christmas All! Have a good break, look after each other, don't eat too much. Rich

Wish I was as fast as you! I do have a small pile of kits to do and some Dapol Grampus and Turbot to fettle, but they never seem to get to the top of the pile. In fairness, I'm quite quick at the building, it's the painting that takes me an age. Rich

Or you could do a parcels 114 and chop them into sections anyway...