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Hi all, I'm currently working on kit building a Class 700 for my Sevenoaks layout, using CMAC's wonderful bodyshells and chassis parts. All is going well, except I am anticipating difficulties with smooth and reliable running, due to the unique arrangement of the bogies. Class 700s, as with the new Mk5 coaches, have 'inside frame' bogies. While the parts supplied by CMAC for the frames are superb, it's proving difficult to get the wheelsets to run freely within the frames, so I'm looking around to see if there are any bearings I could use to improve the running. I'm a complete novice when it comes to wheelsets and bearings, having never actually scratch built a coach this way before. As such I'm hoping someone might have some ideas or be able to point me in the right direction! I've attached a couple of pics of the bogie frames as they come, and one in assembled form, to give an idea of the challenge! Would welcome any pointers, Tim

This is true! Rail tours give us reasons to buy all sorts of stuff :) I've managed to resist the temptation so far with these, but so much amazing stuff coming out now - I've got to suppress that FOMO! 😂

I hadn't thought to look at the accurascale thread but will take a look. Nevertheless they look like superb coaches with incredible detail! I am glad in a way that I've limited my layout to a particular location otherwise it would be impossible to resist buying a few of these! 😂

Those Accurascale Mk2s look lovely. The close coupling in particular is most impressive. I've seen a few pics and videos of the WCR ones and can't help wondering if the shade of red may be a bit bright, but it's probably the light! I have a very similar Class 33 in WCR colours :)

Thanks very much! :)

Thanks mate! Appreciate that - more updates on the 700 coming soon :)

Hi all, hope you're all keeping well? Sorry for the lack of updates here, but I wanted to wait until there was a decent/interesting collection of things before posting! The biggest thing I think is the extension of the fiddle yard to include 3 extra sidings, and also the resurfacing and fencing to the upside/season ticket carpark. In the past few weeks and months there's also been some fleet updates and developments, more details of which are included below! :) GBRF's 73119 seen powering through platform 3, as the Networker sits waiting its next assignment! Another shot of the new addition to the fleet, GBRF's 73119 - this was a Hornby Class 73 with added weathering and detailing. I'm really pleased with how it's come out, and I love these old Hornby/Lima 73s! A wide view shot of the new fiddle yard, with the Networker/VEP/33 occupying the new lanes to the right Another view of the new yard Elsewhere work has continued on the up-side of the station, with resurfacing and fencing, as well as parking space markings, adding to the scene Work continues to get the Networker running smoothly and reliably under DCC - this has proved to be a challenge, but here's a shot of it sitting in Platform 2, with the new illuminated destination display A more atmospheric shot of the Networker, with a figure from modelU taking centre stage! And this week - the latest rolling stock project begins with these superb 3d prints from CMAC models. Lots of work ahead, but I'm hoping this will be the new 'EMU in residence' for platform 4 😂 Thanks for looking - some of you may already know we're also on Instagram now, @Sevenoaks_OO - please feel free to follow us on there for regular updates. As always comments, questions and criticism most welcome! Tim

Well weathered work horses! Are they Bachmann models?

I love that bridge! Looks like a superb layout in the making there, looking forward to seeing it develop 👍

I haven't bothered with twisted pairs for droppers but have with some of the lighting. Interesting discussion around 'cross talk', it's not really something I know much about but to be aware of!

Ha ha! Yes I totally empathise with that last point. I like to call it the 'Heathrow effect' where it started off in some semblance of order, and over time descended into complete chaos 😂 I finally bit the bullet over the weekend and ripped out everything except the droppers themselves, and have got rid of tons of excess wiring in the process. WAGOs are definitely the way to go, and I've also found those self adhesive cable tie mounts really handy for threading bus wires through. It's still a rats nest but a slightly more organised one! I did have one additional circuit providing power for both lighting and signals, but I am going to separate that into two separate circuits just to keep things more manageable and to help with problem solving.

Hi Joe, Thanks for your post and pics - that's a great method and funnily enough it's very similar to the one I've ended up using. I love Wagos and am now replacing all my choc block connectors with them! So much easier and tidier. I share your liking for screw in hooks as well, making good use of them :)

You could try contacting the TOC, although I think nowadays they are much more cautious about providing plans of public places or transport facilities for obvious reasons. For the same reason I think you generally will not find plans of railway stations uploaded to planning portals, but sometimes the footprint of the buildings may appear in block plans for neighbouring properties so it's worth doing a search for any properties nearby just in case.

I'm guessing it was a cost consideration - you wouldn't really want to waste decent bullhead track on non-scenic areas. Much easier and cheaper to get job lots of old 100 track for use in sidings and return loops etc.

I too was very interested to see Richard's results from using the chinchilla sand - it looks just as good, if not better than the WS grey blend. Interesting to see the problem you had with the cracking though - could you go over those areas with another sprinkling of ballast and a bit of diluted pva after it's dried maybe? Let's hope the manufacturers don't catch onto this, or the price might go up! 😂

I love that worn out and faded billboard sign!

Hello to all and hope you're all surviving the perils of late winter weather! Bring on Spring :) Apologies for the lack of updates - progress has been a bit slower in recent weeks and I've lost a bit of mojo after working solidly on the station area for some time. I thought it would be a good idea to move away from that and onto actual running of trains - so a couple of the locos and units that have sat sadly dormant since the move to DCC have been the networkers, and also my Dapol Class 73. The latter has been a long running challenge, and having replaced the PCB and decoder, I was about to give up on it completely when someone on Instagram pointed me towards a pickup upgrade. Well, all I can say is, after adding some wiper pickups to the bogies, it's a changed loco and runs like a dream. Really good to have it back on the layout at last! The other return to the layout is the Southeastern Class 465, which has undergone a complete chassis transplant, and is now running with a Bachmann motor and bogies from a Class 170. Even with the re-motoring, the weight of the diecast chassis on the two intermediate coaches was too much, so I ended up having to remove some chunks of the underframes to get the weight down. Finally it seems to be a reliable and consistent runner, and I'm hoping to replicate this treatment for the NSE one, when funds allow. Anyway, enough of the waffle, and here's a youtube video with a few clips from February. Hope you enjoy! :)

Absolutely stunning James. Really appreciate you sharing your techniques on here.

Totally agree. I do like the Oxford Diecast models out of the box though, I think they're tremendous value for money given the accuracy and level of detail. A bit of weathering really brings them to life though :)

Superb job on that NR transit mate. I particularly like the newspaper and crisp packet on the dashboard, great attention to detail!

Looks like a very useful trip! It's always nice to be able to capture all the lineside stuff that often gets hidden by greenery. Some nice reference pics for graffiti as well! Looking forward to more updates on the layout soon.

Absolutely stunning James as always. Makes me miss my Class 60!

Thanks Jeremy! Hoping to get a few night time clips together for the youtube channel soon :)

Hope everyone's had a good week. Not a great deal done on the layout for the past few days, but in keeping with the night time shots last week, I thought I'd try placing some platform lighting to add to the scene. These are the double head type from Gaugemaster, which I got as a gift nearly a year ago and have been patiently waiting their call to action! Wiring them up took a little bit of thinking about as they each come with a PCB with a choice of three resistors on the positive rail. Having drilled holes in the baseboard and fed them through, it was an interesting challenge getting each of them hooked up to their respective PCBs and back to the power bus while trying to work upside down with a soldering iron. Fiddly but well worth it I think - I'm really chuffed with how they look, and the cooler white offsets the warm white glow of the station. Thanks again to 73c who pointed me in the direction of a lighting control unit, which arrived yesterday. I had intended to use it for these but initially I couldn't get it to work. However, having got back to the seller it looks like the problem was me using the AC side of my Hornby power supply so I'm going to try using it for the footbridge and booking hall lights, which are definitely too bright for camera!

These look great mate, top work. Really nice depth of colour and texture. Weathering is one of many things I wish I was better at, so always admire these threads!