Denbridge

Brassmasters produce list wax castings for screw or buckeye couplings complete with pipes, at a price

I'd like to see manufacturers model valve gear and rods properly and get rid of the horrid hex head retaining screws while they are at it

Are you certain the gear bracket is true, with no twist? I would think that is the most likely cause of your problems going by your descriptions. I once had one of these in a loco that had been bent up wrong, and the bearings also out of alignment due to the builder opening the holes out too much. I substituted a London Road gear mount & gears, resulting in a total transformation to the owners joy

Yes, totally agree. Prior to WW2 owners generally kept their vehicles pretty clean. They were of course mobile advertising.

Ask yourself if adding a passing point adds anything to the operation. I feel the existing design has more than enough to keep a team of operators more than busy. Too many layouts end up looking unrealistic due to contrivance yet more operational 'gimmicks' that end up just looking unrealistic and crowded . I felt you let yourself fall into that trap with the Mk1 layout and it suffered for it. The plan you've developed this time looks great and will be a joy to operate.

I'm a great believer in the maxim "less is more" I think you may be in danger of making the scene look crowded by trying to cram in a passing station. In the space available you could have a station or the colliery. Trying to incorporate both would possibly destroy the image you want to create.

That's a serious investment in flight cases alone.

Have you seen McKinley railway on you tube? They use computer control for trains on the mainline as well as entering/leaving the stations, with operators handling train make up, breakdown etc manually. Impressive stuff.

As I mentioned in a previous post, portescaps are available if one is prepared to put some work in. I would think around 40% of my stash has come from ebay or similar. By swapping the motors out of purchased locos with something else them selling off the doner, I've rarely spent much on a RG4. Does that make me worthy of your vitriol for being a user of ready made units? I will continue to use RG4's and now DJH units were suitable, but also high level & others where required.

Out of interest, I have today assembled a High Level roadrunner plus. From laying out the parts to fitting leads to the motor and testing was 34 minutes. To be fair, the first few I built did take quite a bit longer, but I've now built several

The DJH units are superb, I've got one to go into a scratchbuilt Duchess, so impressed was I seeing them in action on Little Bytham. I am also a big fan of portescaps, having used them extensively over the years either as bought or modified to fit various configurations using replacement frames from Martin Finney or MJT. I have built up quite a stash of these over the years. However, I would only use the above units if they can be entirely hidden. If not, I turn to High Level gearboxes, there is a configuration to suit any prototype and assembly is so simple and straightforward resulting in superb, near silent performance. Price is also a factor. In my view High Level wins hands down, even taking into account the time to build them, though many of my portescap units have been acquired cheaply by buying locos off a well known auction site, stripping the portescap out, replacing it and selling on the loco.

I was impressed by the look of these kits from the outset, though switching to an all rail design really is a game changer. I must admit to thinking the cast crossings let the rest of the turnout down aesthetically. This crossing looks superb.

The varnish coat has transformed the rather flat lack lustre livery Hornby apply. What a difference.

It was built originally by Krauss, Munich.

I would hardly call the media's reporting that of facts. The True fact was that FIVE petrol stations, from a UK total of 8,380 were without fuel for a very brief period. The media took this non event and turned it into a crisis, instigating nationwide panic. Had this not happened, the nation would have carried on as normal. We wouldn't have queues at the pumps and stations wouldn't be running out of fuel. We would be none the wiser and there wouldn't be the current ridiculous scenario we are now seeing. Our mainstream media is a disgrace and should be held accountable.

I echo this. When I visited at the end of August the running was exemplary, as is the whole layout. If it is possible to fall in love with a model railway, then I fell hard I very much look forward to visiting again at some point.

It's clear that some sort of fuel crisis was inevitable, in the fairly near future. The only reason we may have a fuel crisis for a short time is because of panic buyers reacting to a non-existent problem as drummed up by the media.

Yay. Must have been a nightmare for you. Thanks

In many instances a train approaching an occupied platform would be brought to a dead stop, before the signalman gave permission to proceed with the calling on arm

You need to build a mezzanine

Isn't S 1:64 though rather than 1:68

It doesn't take much to work out that without queues of 100's of vehicles throughout the day all over the country, there would be no crisis. If people needed this much fuel, we would see these queues every day throughout the year. I've just read a report of people filling up, going home and draining their tanks, then going back to refill. The worrying thing is many of these are storing their stockpiled fuel in totally unsuitable vessels, including one moron filling his kids paddling pool with petrol. The fool is proud of his ingenuity.

I maintain that the ONLY real problem is the idiots panic buying. They are the sole reason stations are running out of fuel.

I mentioned in another post that I have a friend who manages a superstore and its attached service station. According to her, despite media claims, she has never had a reduction in deliveries and her reserves have never reduced. Indeed she is not only receiving her usual deliveries, but an extra tanker this week. Even so she can't keep up with the unnecessary panic buying and has been forced to close twice in the last week by the police due to the disruption caused by these idiots.

Yet in the vast majority of cases stations are getting regular deliveries of fuel only to have the idiotic panic buyers empty the tanks. THAT is the reason for any percieved fuel shortage when in reality there is no such thing.