john dew

In one sense it is easier with the falling pound - but hang on part of my pension still comes from the UK - you can rarely win 🙄

Thanks Neal I guess you dont need those logs right now then? Not too long to wait for the Accurascale Manor though - they seem pretty confident it will be delivered by the end of the year. Most people, including me, came to the conclusion that it would be superior to the Dapol version. I have been playing with testing the latter for some weeks now - it really is a quite exceptional model so I cant wait to handle the Accurascale version. For started it is more than 50% heavier than the Dapol which itself is a very respectable weight and very powerful. In addition we have the city toplights and siphons coming early in 2023 and of course all the tantalising hints about new products from the Stationmaster 😀 Best wishes

Not much time for modelling - what with my grand daughter's wedding, Canadian Thanksgiving and an amazingly long spell of unbroken sunshine - in the last 6 weeks more rain has fallen in Las Vegas than Vancouver! The wedding, incidentally, was wonderful - and that was despite the bride managing to break her arm the week before while roller skating! However I did find time to weather the new Dapol Manor. Here it is straight out of the box: Compton Manor will be used on the Cambrian Passenger service as I suspect she was in real life. The aim was just light weathering to reflect a well cared for locomotive out of Oswestry Shed. Just a couple of diluted washes of black/grey to get traces of dirt in all the crevices. Multiple coats of matt black on the cab roof, finished off with a dusting of smoke weathering powder. Brass safety valve cover toned down with Dullcote. Highlighted plastic "copper" chimney cappuchion with copper paint. Smokebox, steam pipes and cylinders painted with mixture of matt black and steel to replicate that heat induced sheen. Firebox and boiler were lightly painted with Pledge (in lieu of Kleer) and then buffed with a cotton bud to try and represent wiping with an oily rag. I have never attempted this before but I am not unhappy with the result although only having lemon pledge, Compton Manor now bears an unprototypical citrus odour! The wheel rims were blackened using a Sharp felt tip. The plastic cross head was painted with oily steel. Mud and touches of rust and grease to the brake gear Tenders always took a beating and were prone to rusting. Modelu crew, real coal and fire irons added. Green (!) vacuum pipe painted grey/brown. Buffers: rust/dirt with steel centre Brass plates are supplied as an optional extra. Fractionally larger than the existing decals, they are very easy to apply. All in all nice attention to detail from Dapol. Talking of detail : In addition to normal weathering, the steps have touches of steel highligts to represent paint scraped off by the hob nails of the foot plate crew's boots. Close ups can be cruel - in this case exposing the somewhat over-scale Fire Irons and coal To compare degrees of weathering: A fairly heavily weathering Mogul alongside the lightly weathered Manor. I find light weathering the most difficult finish to achieve. Everything has to be so subtly applied. Anything ever so slightly heavy handed and all is lost - you are into what I consider standard Granby muck and grime. This photo suggests that I havent got the smoke box quite right. Other than that I am content with the overall effect. From an operating point of view the Manor continues to be an an absolute delight - sure footed, ultra reliable and smooth as silk. Couldnt resist a Box Brownie shot to finish with: Regards from - would you believe - a still sunny Vancouver

You already know the answer from me 🙄. Rest assured you will never walk alone when it comes to acquiring too many locos!

Hi Tinker Good to hear from you. Are the renovations almost finished? I am looking forward to admiring the Railway room/space you have carved out. Our gardening seasons are broadly similar so I guess, like me, you are winding down outside and will have more time for North Cranford? Always assuming you are not off again traveling to the far side of the world. The wall is a Langley extrusion module - as it happens I did use something similar to secure a loading gauge although, naturally, I used Sail makers thread rather than saddler's! 😀 I really have to decide whether to keep the bracket or substitute a single pole sunk to the level of the starters. That is very kind of you. I should be thanking you for all the support - I believe you are my most prolific contribuitor. Trudging through 2018 trying to match photos it is fascinating re- reading our old conversations! Best wishes

Hi Bill I do like the Goods shed. I am particularly impressed with the brickwork. I have never been able to achieve such clearly defined mortar courses. You must have a very steady hand! Regarding the prairies - did you notice the weight difference between the Hornby and Dapol Model? If you have not done so already you may want to add weight to the Hornby to improve both haulage and running consistency. My Hornby models were very indifferent runners until I added weight and modified the the leading pony truck - I still added a SA in the bunker and now they are very reliable. The Dapol was better out of the box but still needed too much fingerpoken. I eventually took the Next18 out and hardwired another Zimo +SA and now its great. Maybe I was just unlucky and my track is not great. I will be interested to hear how your run off the rolling road - bonne chance! Best wishes

Well that was certainly different! Absolutely brilliant Mikkel - so imaginative and yet so well researched - definitely has my nomination for Cameo collection of the year!😀 Until I saw the photos I couldnt believe the soldiers were wearing Bearskind. I wonder if it was to make them look more imposing and/or provide a modicum of protection. I googled out of interest - they were from the 2nd Bn Royal Munster Fusiliers hence the little bomb (fusil) badge on the bearskin. You may want to get your paint brush out!🙄 - only joking Best wishes

If I weaken before you I will let you know how I get on. If you havent done so already, the work around for Loco Exchanges in dead ends on Granby is no different from an exchange on a running line. I use flagman indicators in the exchange block activated by the relieving loco exiting the entry block. Its one of the reasons for me vacillating - V10 apparently offers a slicker version but do I really want to dismantle my tried and tested version. Its a bit like the short distance move in V9 - its great but for some locos I find it better to still set the speed above threshold for uncoupling.

Hi Mike Thank you - as I said to Paul above, maybe I should think again. The problem with replacing the existing arm with an etch or Ratio would be getting it to work. However I could reposition the circle and cut 4mm off the existing arm. Hopefully that should not affect the mechanism. Currently I havent changed the cosmetic ground disc that controls entry to the other end of the loop. Should I consider a twin bracket there with primary doll for the running line and secondary doll with the arm modified to 3' with circle? Best wishes

Thank you Neal - Its a lovely Fall morning here. Glad you liked the post. The signals are all connected to the DCC bus through accessory decoders from Train Tech. DCC treats the signals like turnouts so I can operate them "manually" using my Lenz throttle or click on the icons on the Train Controller virtual switch board. When I am running trains automatically the signals are now synchronised to work with the appropriate train movements. Not for everyone but great for me to watch!😀 Best wishes

Thank you Paul, I am so glad you like it. Its particularly gratifying that both you and Mike @The Stationmaster approve the loop exit. I was not at all certain it was appropriate. Maybe I should think about replacing it?. As you can see I may have some issues with , to quote John @St Enodoc, "the angle of dangle"! Largely because of my initial block structure, I have had to do a surprising amount of fiddling with the signal conditions/triggers and schedule rules/operations to get the signals moving to my satisfaction. Happily all seems well now. Have you come to a decision about upgrading to V10 yet? I am still vacillating - there are no real must or even should have features but a couple look as though they could be useful for me. The cost, in Canada, is $130 US. Amortised over 4-5 years (usual upgrade interval) I guess its not unreasonable - I suspect I am weakening! Best wishes

The picture recovery continues, albeit slowly. I have now worked back to Page 35 March 2018 (My heading, now amended, was incorrect - happily no one noticed. In other news, my eldest Grand Daughters wedding is on Oct 1. W day meetings are increasing in both frequency and length. Fortunately my presence is rarely required and I have been able to to creep away and do some modelling. I finally got around to bedding in the branch starter signals and replacing the Signal Box, Water Crane etc The signal box and water crane, both Ratio kits, were built for Granby I circa 1994. They were installed here in 2008 and remained there, suffering all manner of indignities, as I leaned over them to access the adjacent storage yards . I lost count of the number of times I repaired the Crane and Fire Devil.They were beginning to look like some of "the ruins that Cromwell knocked about a bit" When, earlier this year, I started the storage yard extension followed by new branch signals it was time for a major refit. The water crane was completely rebuilt and the Signal Box finally repainted in Granby's version of Light and Dark Stone The signal box also had to be re-positioned so that the line of sight to the bracket signal was not impaired when approaching the station Regular readers may recall I was a bit concerned about the best way of doing this but I think this has worked out rather well and the box doesnt look too out of place. Less satisfactory was my attempt to use a single bracket signal to control the loop exit : The loop exit is used not only by the daily goods goods but also, throughout the day, by coal trains to bypass passenger trains waiting at the platform. Hence the decision to install a working semaphore rather than the cosmetic ground disc. Sadly it hasnt worked out as I hoped. The bracket overshadows the platform starters and looks ungainly - so out it comes, hopefully for use elsewhere, to be replaced in time with a modified single pole. Some cosmetic work is still required for the signals installed at the approach to the station from the canal - but for this section of the branch I can now write "finis" and enjoy watching the trains go by: I was just finishing this post when I noticed that there are now 100 followers. After almost a decade writing this blog that has to be some sort of of milestone. At the very least, it gives me the opportunity to once again thank all you guys for your ongoing advice and support. As a solitary modeller, you have no idea how much all the comments and ticks are appreciated - thank you!😇 Best wishes from Vancouver

You are such a tease Mike!😀 will I, also,” almost inevitably” be buying one?😀

I guess due west from here (ignoring Vancouver Island) is Japan? Excellent carriage Neal

Thanks Mikkel thats very kind of you - we had a great day. One of Vancouver's marketing slogans is "Sea to Sky country". The multitude of views both from and of Mountains and Water are indeed spectacular - we are very fortunate. Should you have an appropriate socket installed I have no doubt that fitted with a Zimo you would move smoothly about your daily tasks with imperceptible changes in pace as required😀 Best wishes

Thanks Neal, I am glad you like it. It was really too brief. In particular I should have given more time to the running test and shown it hauling 8 up. I also forgot to mention how sure footed it is. I have a set of points on a curve that the Hornby Prairie in particular really struggles with - no problems at all with the Manor. Its surprisingly hefty at 350g which no doubt helps with the haulage capability. By way of comparison Dapol Prairie 300g, Hornby Prairie 200g (I added another 70g), Dapol Mogul 210g Bachmann Dukedog 180g. Not sure of the exact weight of the Accurascale Manor the web site says 500g! Assuming that includes the tender at the very least that puts it on a par or somewhat heavier than the the Dapol version. So yes - a comparison between the two will be fascinating - cant wait! Best wishes

Picture Recovery: Working backwards I have now reached Sept 2018 Page 40. I think that my regular posts P41-76 are pretty much fully recovered with one exception where I am darned if I can find the file. Progress is slower now because the link in the text for each photo no longer match the photo reference. It now have to make certain the correct photo is inserted in the correct order in the text. Its time consuming but quite absorbing re reading about all those past events - did I really pour a jar of ballast into a brand new turntable? I wrote the following yesterday Sept 7: Special day to day : 59 years ago, we got married in Oldham and in torrential rain headed off, in our Ford Anglia, to our honeymoon cottage in Cornwall - lord knows how long it took us! Today, we celebrated by having lunch, in glorious sunshine, on top of Grouse Mountain - a mere ten minutes drive from Chateau Dew. Fantastic views of the city and the waters of English Bay and Georgia Straits, where we have spent so many happy hours sailing. Back to Granby, fitting a decoder to the Dapol Manor with a very short video - coupled with a tale of general incompetence on my part : Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of Zimo decoders. Sadly the MX variants (Standard non-sound) have been incredibly difficult to get hold of, "temporarily out of stock" at Youchoos since February. Not having any spare Next 18 decoders of any brand I added a Dapol Imperium to my Manor order. The photo above was posed on top of the excellent Dapol Box: Having finished drooling over the loco (it really is rather nice) I finally looked more closely at the box and noticed the "DCC Fitted" sticker! I guess, given hindsight, the blanking plate in the accessory pack was a clue. Sure enough when I removed the smoke box door : There was the decoder already installed in the PCB ! I had stupidly not realised that Dapol offered : DCC ready, DCC fitted and DCC sound. Hattons had sold out of DCC ready but I really should have spotted the different description, quite apart from the 20 pound price difference. Irritated (with myself) and embarrassed I then spent almost an hour trying to adjust basic CVs to get an acceptable crawl with smooth acceleration between the speed steps. I think the video shows how unsuccessful that was. The solution : By way of reminder: my Dapol Large Prairie has a Zimo Next 18 decoder installed. Like its Hornby equivalent it has an irritating tendency to stall. I solved this problem for the Hornby Prairies by fitting a Stay Alive in the bunker. A downside of the Dapol install system is the inability to attach SA to a Next 18 decoder. For some time I have been muttering about removing the PCB from the Dapol prairie and hard wiring a basic Zimo + SA . Now seemed a good time! Out came the Zimo Next 18 from the Prairie and into the Mogul - literally a matter of second. The Manor like most loco with pick ups on the tender doestnt need an SA. You can see the impact of the Zimo in the video - definitely a result In fairness to Dapol, after I made the video I realised that to change the Imperium individual Cv settings I need to disable the default speed curve by changing CV 29. In the haulage test I used just 4 carriages because that will be the standard loading for the Manor. Out of interest I later repeated the test with 6 and 8 coaches - absolutely no problem - very impressive. What about the Prairie I hear you ask. It was surprisingly easy. The PCB assembly pulls out, just 3 screws release the body. The wiring is neat and accessible. The whole job took less than an hour. I lost the firebox glow but thats no real loss. There wasnt enough space for a 6700 u/f capacitor without putting it in the finished bunker but 3 x 800 u/f Tantalums should suffice. The end result is a Prairie that is now ultra reliable. So, despite my embarrassment, alls well that ends well - two excellent locos both running smoothly and reliably (pluss two unused Imperium decoders) Now for dinner: Grilled steak and a bottle of Cote du Rhone Villages - could be worse

The signals are operated automatically by DCC and thence RR&Co The number (1-100) came with the decoder instructions from Train Tech, described as "Location Board Labels". I had seen them on some protype photographs so I stuck them on albeit,for convenience, on the wrong side. Of course, I can no longer find said photographs - they are not in Stephen Williams book. They do, however, serve a useful practical purpose for me as they represent the DCC number for the signal, which I can punch into the DCC throttle when operating manually. I would not consider them to be obligatory!

Hi Graham Both my original post and Mike's @The Stationmaster correction are on this page -In summary I originally wanted to use a bracket for the branch starters but it proved too restrictive so I fitted Dapol single poles instead. I originally thought that the GWR had standard heights for specific signals 24' for home but 16' for a starter. This assumption was based on page 82 part one of Stephen Williams trilogy where there is a lovely illustration of all the various GWR signals all mounted on poles of differing heights. Mike, who knows what he is talking about, pointed out that there were not standard heights for specific signal types - pole height was determined primarily by line of sight criteria. Here is link to the posts Colin referred to: I have been admiring your work with CR for some time - just been a bit slow in commenting Best wishes

Hi Neal Just spent an hour profiling it for RR&Co - I think I would grade it as close to excellent. It crawls happily at speed step 1 with literally not a moments hesitation (no stay alive of course being Next 18). There is the tiniest lurch when it moves from step 2 to 3 thereafter its as smooth as silk. You will be able to check it out yourself in a day or two, I have just completed a very brief video. Haulage is good - it had no problem with 4 collets on the curving grade out of the storage yard. 4 is likely to be its normal load but I should have hitched up more - I will try it with 6 and 8 tomorrow Hope thats useful Regards from Vancouver where at 5pm its 77o with a pleasant breeze

Hi Neal @Neal Ball I still expect the Accurascale to be the better model and I look forward to making a side by side comparison - hopefully in early January. I didnt cancel my order, I dont think one can totally apply the Pannier Principle but one can certainly have more than one Manor😀 The DCC aspect is more a tale of my negligence than a great technical development - you may find it amusing. I should take this opportunity of telling you how much I enjoyed your regular updates on your UK trip particularly Didcot, Pendon and Swindon - you are a far more diligent correspondent than I! Quite by chance, as I reload my photos of 2019 I have come to our trip to Swindon where I too walked under the Castle - bottom of Page 49. Best wishes John

Thanks for all the ticks guys - much appreciated after such a long gap Photo re-instatement: Now got as far back as Page 50 Sept 2019. Thats about a third finished, still a long way to go. Work last week came to an abrupt halt with this new arrival:. My brand new loco from Dapol- 7807 Compton Manor looking rather splendid on top of its Dapol Box. The box itself is both smart and substantial - I have to say Dapol lead the field in terms of both packaging and presentation.The customary one or two page leaflet is replaced by a 24 page "Owners Manual"! : . The Manor Class was intended for cross country mixed traffic. They were specifically designed to cover routes, such as the ex Cambrian, from which the heavier "red route" Granges and Halls were barred. 20 Manors were built in 1938-9. A further 10 were built by British Railways and allocated for service from 1959. A relatively small class compared with 80 Granges and 258 Halls - yet the Manor has consistently topped the RMWeb poll for new models.This is perhaps due in part to the number of Manors (7) still to be seen on Heritage lines. Probably the principal reason is the fact there has not been new model released for over 30 years. After this long wait two manufacturers, Dapol and Accurascale, announced new models for release this year. I originally cancelled my Dapol pre-order as it seemed the Accurascale would be the superior model. However when the Dapol Manor was actually released earlier this month I changed my mind (yet again) and ordered one. The Accurascalece version is now not due until Q4 and a bird in the hand etc. Here is a comparison with my Bachmann 7802 Bradley Manor which I bought 25 years ago : Hardly a fair comparison, pristine against Granby grime - at the time the ex Mainline Bachmann version was considered more than acceptable - but standards have advanced significantly. Today, I am afraid, Bradley Manor looks rather clumsy alongside the more elegant lines and subtle details of Compton Manor. The shape of Dapol's smoke box has been criticised, particularly the acuteness of the angle where it meets the front of the cab. I think the comment has, perhaps, some validity but to my mind is not the end of the world. The highly polished safety valve cover compare favourably with the brilliance of a Life Guard's helmet. Fine for Horse Guards Parade perhaps - less so for a Steam locomotive. Its particularly bizarre because the "copper" chimney cappuchion is just painted. Slightly annoying but easily corrected. Overall I think it is a delightful model: Here are some of the details I particularly liked Fantastic backhead detail - ok they forgot the flip up seats, but who will notice with crew and tender attached? You can now see what I mean about the safety valve cover! The tiny slot of plastic between the wheels is the PCB that serves as both the coupler and the electrical conductor from the tender pick up. This is the same ingenious device Dapol used for their Moguls. I must say, at the time, I and others had durability concerns. Well, I have been running two moguls fairly regularly for some time without issue The change in production standards is very evident in the tender: Removable coal load reveals a fully detailed interior - a feature which I really like They have also included another innovation from the Mogul introduction which I rather like : the horizontal board* suspended between the tool boxes (?) to prevent a full coal load from shifting. One of those details like cab tarps and supports that I keep meaning to add to the rest of the tender locos - it looks so odd to just have one or two isolated examples. * This "board" has a proper name which escapes me - can anyone help? Enough of this detail, no matter how fascinating, how does it run? I am afraid I have run out of time so this will have to be continued - perhaps with a video - but I can reveal I ran it in (you dont have to but old habits die hard) on the rolling road using DC and it was perfect - it was when I moved to DCC that life became rather interesting! Regards from a very warm Vancouver (31o)

Mori - we adopted him at 18 months and kept the Taiwanese name One well washed pure bred Heinz I too originally decided to just opt for the Accurascale Manor, then I started reading all the favourable reviews and thought : a bird in the hand etc particularly true at my age!😀. So I weakened and am now keeping a close look out for the postie - I will let you know what its like Hope you are keeping well. You have clearly been busy over the summer. I really enjoyed those Vintage Car Rally photos that you posted Best wishes

Thanks Paul I hadnt appreciated that quite so many photos had been lost. I had down loaded over 2,000 photos and I would guess over 80% have gone. I am working back steadily and by tonight should be ready to start on 2019! That year and 2018 should be straightforward but thereafter I am less certain because I had a different filing system!🙄 Glad you like the signals. I am having a lot of fun, and some frustration, modifying and testing the branch schedules. Frustrating because some of my blocks are relatively long so I am having to wait too long TC to release the block and return the turnout and signal to normal. Conversely signals were moving to off too early - I tried to correct that by changing the "look ahead" rule from 2 blocks to 1. Not a good idea! I quickly found out why those schedules had a 2 block look ahead. All good fun - keeps the brain alert - I am told Best wishes

Hi Mike Thank you for your continued interest in Granby and this detailed correction. In my defence, and to prove I wasnt shooting from the hip, I would refer you to Stephen Williams "Great Western Branch Line Modelling" Part One: Figure 31 on Page 82 issued by the GWR Signal Engineers Office Reading entitled GWR Standard Signals"s 😀 ( I guess I cant reproduce it here because of copyright ?) ** Having said that I am sure you are correct and your reply reflects actual practice. I wouldnt want to mislead anyone so I will amend my original post. ** Sorry I couldnt resist having a dig at my Guru!😀 Hope you dont mind. Best wishes John