dymstocklr

And seasons greetings to you and Howard. Nice to see John Drummond Smith enjoying himself - haven't seen him since the shop shut what seems like eons ago! Bill

Maybe they could get lottery funding for that as well! In all seriousness none of the potential funding streams (lottery, councils, etc.) will be forthcoming without a solid and sensible revenue plan, and I just can't see how sufficient traffic is going to be generated. I travelled on the last Moretonhampstead train in 1959 so I'd love to be proved wrong. But I don't think so. Bill

And pigs could fly..........

Tom According to the Gauge 0 Guild traders product list, Gladiator do a number of LNWR coach kits. See https://www.gladiatormodels.com/ Bill

Sadly Peter Gray died a few weeks ago. His many photos will provide a lasting memory of him. Bill

Or possibly the old Gorse Blossom Railway at Bickington? Bill

Simon I blacken rail with metal blackener and paint them with Floquil 'rust' before putting the chairs on the rail. Sliding the chairs on the rail disturbs some of the paint and gives a nice uneven finish - and no nasty bright rail showing through of course! Unfortunately I don't think Floquil is available in this country any more which is a shame because it went on very thinly. Bill

They had silver buffers. Not that we saw many in S Devon! Bill Bill

I specifically asked Neil at the Exeter Show if the 505 could be updated in the same way and the same cost as the 511 and he said yes . Bill

Jonathan Well I can only say that the additional weight has solved the problem and they now run perfectly. I would have thought if there was a problem with the wheels that would not have been the case. These are brand new wagons and the wheelsets look normal to me and they also have modern couplings - unlike an older wagon I have which has wheels with stub axles pressed into a plastic tube and the old style Hornby/Triang coupling. Bill

Thanks for all the replies guys. Just as a tailpiece to this I ended up with 7 Hornby wagons, mainly from ebay, and then some unpainted Dapol ones came up cheap locally and as I intended to respray the things anyway I went for them as well. Others have pointed out the cosmetic differences between the two, but the difference in running quality was quite staggering. The 7 Hornby wagons, with a GUV attached at the rear, ran perfectly, whereas the same length train of Dapol wagons would scarcely run a few feet without something falling off or coming uncoupled. Having checked the wheels were turning freely and the B to Bs were ok I realised the Horny wagons were noticeably heavier. About 15 grams per wagon in fact. So I added about 12 grams of lead flashing under the Dapol wagons (taking the things apart and putting the weight in the tanks would have been a more elegant solution - but life's too short!) and they now run perfectly. Credit to Hornby I think for recognising the problem and putting, as far as I can tell, some weight in the tanks. Thanks again to everyone for your help. Bill

I'm trying to set up a typical milk train from the 50s. In terms of quality, how do the Dapol and Hornby offerings compare? Bill

Simon I've sent you a pm. Bill

Hi Simon I'm pretty sure I've got a set of instructions for the coach lying around somewhere - together with the half built coach! I'll try and work out how my new fangled printer/copier thing works and email them to you - probably tomorrow. Enjoying the Armstrong build - it will be a great help to me when I eventually get round to the build. Keep up the good work!! Bill