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I don't think this has been mentioned before but I just noticed that the rather odd yellow version of "Sussex" represents a unique tooling combination of an Adams loco with a Drummond boiler. Sussex was originally LSWR no 100 and was sold out of service to Stewart and Lloyds in 1949 carrying a Drummond boiler which it presumably kept the rest of its days. For those looking to do some renumbering it could be painted black and re numbered SR 100 and be correct from 6/1945 up to when it was sold in 1949. Another possibility is to give it the identity of 30088 which carried a Drummond boiler from 5/1947 to 8/1956 when that boiler was (re) fitted to 30084. My information comes from the excellent booklet "The B4 Dock Tanks" by Peter Cooper Norm

Hi Richard. Nice to hear from a fellow LSWR mainline fan. I just love that model of 'Beattie' you're building. Can you tell me if it's an available kit? I hope you manage to make your planned trip to the USA in the future. Hopefully next year norm

I like the way your mind is working there Richard but even if by some inexplicable reason the train started out A2 hauled from York it would have been replaced enroute. Oxford was the last interchange before bypassing Reading and heading for Basingstoke. You'd be more likely to find a King Arthur or Lord Nelson hauling it on the last part of the journey However remember rule 1!! Just be sure to fit the correct SR head code on it!! I imagine that beast would cause quite a stir at Bournemouth shed Norm

Hi just curious why you wouldn't want to use the SC1. It's about the simplest way I know to do the job and each SC1 will control two dual aspect signals. I use the SC1/2/3 models for color light and Dapol semaphore signals extensively and have had no issues plus the wiring couldn't be easier Norm

If you don't mind sharing Luke, what chip and sound project did you get and how do you like it? I was asking for this information earlier in the thread but never got a reply. I am only aware of the YouChoos option norm

I wasn't intending to really get into a TTS steam discussion. What I was hoping to hear was any opinions on the YouChoos LN sound project, as well as whether anyone knows of any other alternatives . Any advice gratefully received. My loco awaits chipping! Norm

I did not opt for the TTS version fearing I might be a little disappointed. I see that YouChoos do a sound decoder. Does anyone know of any alternatives or is that the only choice. I hasten to add I have other sound projects from them and have not been disappointed Norm

Good to know Iain and thank you for the reply. A couple of questions if you don't mind and possibly know the answers 1. For those using semaphore signals. One of my minor annoyances with rocrail is that I have to show a junction signal on my track plan as two individual posts placed after the switch for the diverging routes. I haven't figured a better way to do it, and of course I have to create actions so that the switch is one of the conditions setting one to clear and the other to stop. It gets complicated to write the action logic to combine that with not being able to set either to clear if the block or the next block is occupied. 2. One of the things I do like about rocrail is the staging yard support where you can have trains automatically move from block to block when the one at the head of the line leaves the staging area. I did have a quick scan of the iTrain documentation but couldn't see if it has similar support. Does it do you know? i'm going to have a play with it I think. Norm

I've been following the topic on "iTrain good or not so good" with considerable interest and I would be very interested in similar user experiences and "how tos" with RocRail. I am a RocRail user and while I have found it has much of the functionality of TrainController and iTrain it is a very hard learning curve and the documentation is not exactly very helpful most of the time. i am at the point where I have almost full automation but am having trouble operating a true timetable schedule. I also cannot figure out how to implement U.K. Signaling although I understand there is an add in for this. I use mostly digikeijs equipment now having started with digitrax. I find the digikeijs dr5000 control station and dr4088ln block detectors much more cost effective and reliable than Digitrax equipment to to the point, if the new version of iTrain due this year is as good as I am hearing I could be convinced to switch but meantime maybe this is a place we can swap knowledge on RocRail and especially automation and signaling

Absolutely agree. And never issued in BR livery at that. A surprising omission Norm

Thank you very much robertcwp and headstock for this valuable information. Also relieved to know I wasn't just imagining the mix of Lord Nelson and Gresley stock. When the Hornby LN finally appears. ( just heard delayed to Jan 19 now). I will be ready to recreate a representative inter regional working This forum is the best. Someone always knows the answer!! Sorry if I veered a little off topic but hey. The train did employ a Maunsell catering car on some occasions!! Norm

Hmm I wonder what train it was that I have fairly vivid memories of? Not just on one occasion but quite regularly. Mostly Lord Nelson hauled, but sometimes a King Arthur. This would have been about 1955/56. My memory is of Gresley coaches - quite a change from the normal Bulleid/Maunsell stock I saw on all the other trains. What I'm looking for is a (fairly) prototypical excuse to run a rake of Gresley coaches with some appropriate destination boards behind a Lord Nelson - can anyone help? Norm

Interesting that this topic has come up as I've been meaning to ask the group if anyone knows the formation of both the SR and ER stock of the Bournemouth to York train in the mid fifties. Giving away my age I seem to remember seeing ER coaches - possibly Gresley running up the main line to Basingstoke behind sometimes a Lord Nelson 4-6-0. With the forthcoming Hornby model getting close this is a train I'd be interested in reproducing in model form using both SR Maunsell and ER sets. As an aside I remember in later years it would be MK1 stock as someone mentioned and could be powered by some quite 'foreign' locos

Thanks RFS. I will certainly watch that clip and others of the period. Also, yes. I meant to say I recall the Royal Wessex with Mk1's. Not the ACE which of course was not seen in my base of Winchester Norm

Of course for the period I try to portray - more or less pre 1956 cycling lion emblem, I really should have more blood and custard vehicles than BR green but that is a whole different issue and I like to think my green coaches are revarnished southern green!! After so long without proper dining cars I can live with the green one we are getting. I do vividly recall how mixed the livery was in the trains of my youth, becoming progressively more uniform green as the decade progressed