ikcdab

I have found that the Hornby close couplers are far better. It's Hornby R8220. They hold the stock more tightly and I have found that they virtually eliminate derailments when propelling. I use these for all inter-coach connections, retaining the hook and bar couplings at each end of the rake.

It appears to be completely dead now.. Can anyone access the website?

Does that help?

I agree. In their as-bought state, the positive leg is longer so you know. Once you start chopping them down you lose that. That's why I always fix the resistor to the negative and then sheath in black heat shrink so I know the polarity.

If you go online to buy LEDs you will find that you are encouraged to buy ultra bright ones. That probaby isn't what you want. I look out the diffused ones which are much better.

I have found that LEDs are very tolerant! I use a 12v supply and 1000ohm resistor. But larger sizes are ok too. I would not go less than 1000ohm. I have found that you can't mix different colours of LED on one resistor. It's better to use one resistor per LED. They are very cheap and all I do is solder a resistor to the negative pin of the LED and put a bit of heat shrink over it. Then you are good to go!

Gorilla glue super glue. Every time

Not really. Signalboxes were rare in the early days when the stations were built. Signalboxes were added later and were to standard designs

Yes, quite. They used whatever was most convenient or suitable. Most early stations were built of stone, though they might not have been GWR designed. But if there wasn't stone easily available, then brick might have been used. When Minehead station was extended in 1923, the GWR duplicated the original Minehead Railway Company design and used the same stone. Interestingly, GWR signalboxes were almost always brick or timber. Apart from an odd few, I can't think of any stone GWR signalboxes.

Every canopy was different!

Both Dunster and Castle Cary stations were built by independent railway companies, though I believe castle Cary was designed by Robert Brereton who is was Brunel's deputy. So neither were originally GWR. To be honest, unless you are looking for a "standard" GWR station built in the 1920s or after, pretty much any design would be ok. It's much more the dressing of the model that makes it GWR..ie the paint scheme, benches, signaling, poster boards etc. The ratio kits are excellent.

The easiest way is to lightly scribe on thin card. I use 1mm card and score it lightly. When painted, the texture is just right. Ian

Pdf is the usual transfer format. That means that you can create your designs in any way you want, including sketching by hand, as long as you can create a pdf from it. And must printer drivers have a pdf option. I strongly suspect your transfer supplier will work from a pdf. Off-topic, It's worth saying that no printer anywhere can print a vector file. The fact that a printer puts blobs or grains of ink or toner onto a sheet of something means that it can only work from a bitmap. If you send a vector file to a printer, it automatically converts it to a bitmap before printing with a software item called a "RIP" (raster image processing).

If it's 8ba, which seems likely, you can buy small quantities from eBay quite cheaply. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-BA-X-1-inch-COUNTER-SUNK-STEEL-X-18-FREEPOST-/352860093037?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

I think that's a little unfair. Yes, MM can be slow in delivering, but a phonecall goes a long way to speeding things with Jim. I ordered some from him over Christmas and he rang me to say they were on the way. Took about 3 weeks, but I experienced a friendly and helpful service

It's less about the quality of the screwdriver, though being able to grip it really well is important, but much more about the head fitting the screw exactly. If there is any slop, then the screwdriver will slip and mash the head. I suggest the jewellers screwdrivers do not give you enough grip. You want something with a decent handle.

If you do this, don't forget that the switch rail you have left behind will be firmly fixed. Typically with a point clip or a fishplate bolted to the sleeper. The accident at Kingham was caused by this very situation. The derailment occurred because the open switch blade of a pair of points, which was being prepared for removal on the following Sunday, had been left unsecured and thus free to move under the vibration of the passing train. Very sad.

Yes, it's a pity its such low-res. Anyone have a decent legible copy?

Yes, I saw that pic. The stop seems to have an extra rail across the middle which makes it easier. I've trawled all of my books and not found any pics yet....

Everything I can find tells me that southern (and latterly BR(s)) buffer stop beams were painted red with a white horizontal band across the middle. This is fine on a stop with a wooden beam. But I bought Southern stops with beams made from rails. Two rails with a gap between.... http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_221.htm In this case, what is the colour scheme? It's not possible to paint a white band across the fresh air between the two rails! Is the beam overall red or white or some other scheme?

I had the same issue on a Bachmann 47. If the heads are ok, then a better quality screwdriver might help. If the heads are trashed, then the only solution is to drill them out. I used a sharp 3mm drill bit, turned very gently and carefully.

I think the danger is that you might end up with a whole forest of signals because it is essentially not prototypical for your basis. You seem to have a lot of space at the top and all the track crammed into the lower half. Could you swing the platform and loop round to the "north" so that there is more room for a headshunt in the lower half? I stand to be corrected, but I don't think three-way points were used in running lines, being kept for sidings. What size is the baseboard?

Great stuff. I look forward to seeing this develop.

To be honest, I don't think there is any substitute for clean track and clean wheels. If you have that then you will get the best running you can get (all other variables being ok). I see no reason at all that superimposing graphite between a clean steel wheel and a clean nickle silver rail will make things any better.

I guess it depends what scale you are working in. I admire your push for authenticity. I maybe unobservant, but aren't all sheep white and fluffy? As for cows, I do know that Frisians are relatively modern, brown cows are more authentic for the 1930s.... I'm sure there is a history of British cattle somewhere....