bill badger

Nearly four years later... Work and family are always top of the list and modelling time has been incredibly limited, but it’s still crazy where the time has gone. Have had the odd evening, now and again, building up the Finetrax point kits and doing other bits and pieces. Had quite a bit of spare time in the last week, combined with an urge to do some modelling. All the point kits were done and ready to lay, so I've now got them all down & have also done the wiring. The Cobalt motors proved too big for the spacing, so I removed the one I had fitted and have gone with the MERG servo kits instead; these appear to work well. Have done some initial testing; there are a few little tweaks to make here and there but I'm really happy with the results. It’s great to have all the points down and working. I don't know how people manage to create neat wiring arrangements - despite all best intentions I have made a lovely rat's nest. Still, it seems to work...

Is there a problem with the order page for the Cartic-4? Just had a look and it doesn't seem to be available.

Thanks for the answer. Had no idea that was a thing!

Can anyone say what the yellow motif is below the cab window on these linked Class 31 photos? I'm putting together a renumbering and weathering gallery. I don't recall seeing / noticing these back in the day. Tried numberous searches but not turning anything up. Should be two links to Flickr below... https://www.flickr.com/photos/37190-dalzell/49969863138 https://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelmenzies/39803025433

Thats a really nice looking respray job.

Well that's an order for 59001 in original livery placed. Definitely a Rule 1 for my location (NW England), but I I remember one of our school Rail Soc trips specifically including time around Westbury back in 1986 to see if we could see some of these fantastic new machines. Happy memories!

What will they think of next...

Share price looking very handy of late - up to 65p now; glad I took a modest plunge when they were down at 30p. How long this sustains remains to be seen. Our local toyshop owner mentioned in conversatoin that Scalextix and Airfix were flying off the shelves (well at least they were until lockdown). The Airfix Quickbuild are particularly popular apparently; our 7 year can't get enough of them.

D'oh! Saw the 58 in the initial post and pricked up my ears for a moment... Oh well.

Slow progress as I've been away a lot with work; did manage to spend a couple of evenings in my hotel room, sitting with a pint and putting chairs into the sleeper bases in the Finetrax kits. Back at home, I've got some cork down, transferred the track plan with carbon paper and, this last week, got some track down. This front point and the track is the reference for getting all the rest in the right place. I'm not using fishplates and am using scale 60ft panels, if only because this is the length that is easily produced using the Finetrax jig; I tried making a longer length but with the code 40, the already slotted sleepers move as the track is pushed and it all ends up too wonky. The Finetrax point kits are excellent; fiddly as you might expect, given their size, but excellent. This point and the approach track are now glued and have gone down nice and straight using Tracksettas. I have also been able to fix a Cobalt under the board (the two obvious dropper wires are like that so they clear the casing) and that works really well with the Finetrax tiebar. A pushed wagon runs through nice and smoothly; there may be a couple of tweaks needed but all seems good. Next target is the rest of the 'front line' so I can wire up and test with a loco.

I don't understand the Farish approach. The release schedule seems completely scattergun; there doesn't seem to be any coordination which would surely drive sales and nuture the market.

Pasted too much of the code from Flickr - that should have it now?

Managed to get some time over the last couple of weeks to finish preparing the baseboard (varnish 'out' and grey primer / undercoat 'in') and get the first track laid. Finished gluing last night and wired up today. Tested tonight and all seems fine. The track is the new(ish) concrete sleeper / flat bottom rail flexi from Finetrax, forming the 'backdrop' through line (i.e. the Down Slow where it runs away from the fast lines to link to Northcote Junction, depot and goods yard - in my mind anyway). I'm very impressed with the track. Given that its Code 40 with flexible sleeper base units, it took a lot of tweaking with a metal rule to get it down smooth and straight(ish). There are a couple of small wobbles, but they aren't visible from side on and from the end they look no worse than you would see in a photo of prototype BR track. I've posted a comparison shot with a length of Peco Streamline (granted with wooden sleepers); let's just say I'd never consider using the Peco track again.

Rather sorry I started this thread now...

Decided to go with a single signal covering normal running from right to left and forget the reversible or bi-directional idea. Think it would add interest to include direction feathers to indicate a junction beyond.