Gwiwer

What's a meeting?

Let’s do the time-warp again ..... Newly-arrived Kernow MRC / Revolution Trains Cargowaggon is tested on the tramway-radius corners of Waddlemarsh using an 07 as traction. These are superb wagons. Well out of my themed era but one was purchased anyway. I am pleased to report it rolls freely through even my tightest curves.

Tiny platform lights being assembled. Ratio kits with presoldered LEDs fitted with wires fed through 0.8mm holes bored in the shades.

As the sign says: “Welcome to Clapham Junction”. An unidentified class 455 unit calls under a spectacular early morning sky.

I was hoping to have all the point levers in black as would be correct in most signalboxes. Peco's ongoing supply issues put paid to that and I have had to settle for twelve each in black and white. As white means "Spare lever" to any signalman (signaller in 21st Century-speak) I shall paint those black in due course. I also have some blue switches which would be facing point locks in a real 'box but - as I don't fit FPLs in this scale - these are on-off switches for the isolated track sections. Stop signals will be correctly worked by red levers in the frame and

Spaghetti alert. The panel is slowly being wired up.

That's as bad as on the Southern Region where Cars halt on Beeches ..... Hat ..... Coat ..... Gone ..... >>>>>

Not only steeply graded but it suffered a few runaways in its time. Goods wagons which careered down to the wharf with catastrophic results and passenger trains which overshot the mark at Town station and ended up through the buffers and hung in mid-air over the road. Of note the buffers now used for the class 139 Parry units are of a non-standard design to account for the very different front-end shape because if the Parry were to strike a normal buffer it could cause severe damage including to the interior of the saloon.

A new line - meaning perhaps the reinstatement of the LSWR inland route - does not address the continuing need to serve Torquay, Paignton, Newton Abbot, Totnes, Dawlish, Teignmouth and even the under-used Ivybridge. There is very little traffic potential on the inland route and the arguments for rebuilding this, or for an inland "coastal" route, simply do not add up and have been done to death. The coast is an expensive line to maintain but remains the best option.

Apparently the weather has caused s signal to lean at a jaunty angle. Both lines were blocked for a time until bi-directional working could be safely established over the Up road. That requires XC services to be terminated at / started from Exeter and a few other alterations to permit up to three trains each way each hour along the sea wall. I saw posts on the antisocial media calling for the immediate reopening of the inland (LSWR) route, perhaps predictably, but these always overlook the practical realities not least the continued need to serve Torbay and the coastal towns.

I think I paid £99 for each of my green ones which were both significantly discounted; much more for the b/g ones at more like retailer's shelf prices Neither do I But then I also find it hard to believe that a unit which has only required one coach out of four to be r&d's from new has taken so long to bring to market and now costs far more - in comparative terms - than its earlier sisters did. Even allowing for the steep rises in Chinese production costs. There are some tweaks including, I understand, a better and more evenly-balanced lighting system and possibly

Confirmation from Bachmann via Kernow MRC that the green one has been revised to match the images. Namely it is a plain green unit with large headcode numerals. Anyone with a green syp on order for whom that makes a difference is advised to contact their retailer.

Let's just say that questions have been asked of Bachmann by several well-known retailers and others regarding the 4-Bep. Will it be an all-green 7005 or a green syp 7003? Possibly both although the catalogue number is currently the same suggesting two green versions are not about to appear together. Watch this space .....

The good news : more Peco bits are being scavenged from the darker recesses of the internet meaning that by the middle of the week I should have almost enough to complete the panel build. I remain one lever-frame short and several PL-11 surface point motors none of which is critical to panel construction for the moment. Meanwhile the E4 has shuffled down the yard slightly to allow the fireman to "put the bag in" and top up the tanks.

Correct in some cases Ian but not all. A wider issue has been picked up by the Modelling Officer of the Southern Electric Group who has flagged Hornby's recent green coaches for similar inconsistencies. They are illustrated by Hornby as having BR crests which is wrong other than for brake vehicles. The models themselves correctly are devoid of these embellishments but the inconsistency (error if you like) might put a few people off for whom the detail matters. I wouldn't want to paint lines along a unit I have paid around £400 for, neither would I wish to add the sm