gordon s

Thank you so much for posting the original link, as for years I had a vague memory of travelling to Glasgow as a small child and the island platform at Euston. I was sure there was another loop next to the platform and seeing other trains by pass the Euston platform. The one picture of the booking office set me searching the web and something that has been ticking away at the back of my brain has now been answered. There is a detailed article here with loads of pics under images, one of which is the booking office in question. I can see that once life returns to normal, I must go on one of the tours, but they may be terminated with the work going on at Euston station. https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/euston-underground-station/

I have fond memories of Euston island platforms when I was a kid being taken to Glasgow by my parents each summer. Looking for more pics, I stumbled across this and it definitely appears to be Euston if you scroll down. https://alondoninheritance.com/under-london/euston-underground-station-the-lost-tunnels/

Bit more info here. Looking forward to it..... https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/169617-uktv/

Hypnotic? A really accurate description, Mike. I cannot believe how slow it will run and how it easily pulls a train of wagons that appears far too long for the size of the loco. When pulling away from a standing start, I cannot believe it will move off at a barely discernible speed where other locos need far more volts to get them moving. I meant to say at the outset, all my loco’s are DCC and most fitted with Zimo decoders.

Hi Rob, I haven’t been back through all the previous pages, but by far the best Hornby model I have is the J36, closely followed by the J15, Q6 and the B12. They may not have the glitz and glamour of the large Pacific’s, but are way out there in terms of running quality. The diminutive J36 has running quality I have never seen in any RTR model.

Thanks Jason.Not heard that before, but as an old fella, life is slowly leaving me behind......

That's what has confused me, John. I have an Avonside C2 jig that I bought to build Comet chassis. I assembled this chassis on the jig, so know it's all square and level. The rods sit perfectly on the spigots at the end of the 3mm rods, yet it was only when I fitted the top hat nut crankpins, did I find how tight it was. After a chat with TW and Co, I changed them back to plain crankpins and bushed the rods. It was much better, but I'm convinced it could be better still, hence ordering a new set of rods to start again. The existing rods do allow the chassis to run smoothly, albeit with some slop.

Box openers of the word unite..... What is there not to like? When Hornby make a good 'un, they are hard to beat. ....and just in case anyone thinks all I do is open boxes, work is progressing, albeit slowly on this pile of bits. It's been quite an experience filing up white metal castings and playing with 70 degree solder. Please note I'm not that bad at fitting the bits together, the parts are just placed there, whilst I spend another few minutes reading the instructions and trying to work out which screw goes where and how each part relates to the next. At this rate it could be finished by Christmas.... I'm also waiting for some new rods from DJH. The chassis runs really well, but still has some slop in the rods. I'm hoping to get similar running quality without the slop with some new rods, but can always use these if I fail miserably. Bit of an ugly duckling really....

Sorry Jason, what does YMMV mean? All I can find is Your Mileage May Vary....... I spent yesterday soldering a white metal kit with my 50W Antex at 275 degrees and 70 degree solder and it was perfect for the job. Another day I'll be soldering PCB track and it does that equally well. I haven't found a job that it can't do well yet, so I can only speak as I find. As always, personal experience will always give numerous answers, so it's down to individual choice.

Took a few seconds for the penny to drop. Very clever...... Sat and watched four evenings of the TPC from Sawgrass and Lee Westwood took outright second with his last putt. Looked at the prize money this morning and that one putt gave him an extra $500k versus sharing 2nd. Nice work if you can get it..... Suffered earlier in the day with the ups and down of watching Spurs. Do nothing for 30 minutes, then a great goal. Equaliser half time and then the hero gets sent off. We play better with 10 men and then lose 2-1. Could someone tell Mourinho the guys at the front are there for a reason?....... Had a call from the surgeon yesterday as it would appear the stents they fitted may have blocked already, so back to the Churchill again today. I don’t mind as I shall take the train into GWR territory. Do I need a passport? At least I’ll have a mask on to get past the checkpoints at Didcot.

I’d better not mention the B12 that turned up Saturday then..... It just popped out of the internet whilst I was looking up vitamins......

A real work of art, William and that’s just the woodwork! Sometimes the skill in producing such quality work is overlooked when compared to other aspects of our hobby. Really looking forward to watching this develop.

I’ve had an Antex 660TC for years and very pleased with it. Plenty of power and temperature controlled. It appears to have been replaced by a new model which I’m sure will be just as good. https://www.rapidonline.com/antex-soldering-iron-station-660tc--85-4750

Like many others who grew up with Murray, he was the voice of F1 in the same way Peter Alliss was the voice of golf. Both had a wonderful way of adding something to the pictures in their own inimitable style. RIP Murray

I'm always curious about something for which there appears to be no logical explanation, so I tried recreating the situation a few minutes ago with surprising results. This is a brand new Hornby B12 chassis undergoing my normal running in process. This is usually a couple of hours running in each direction in 30 minutes slots by gradually increasing the speed and reversing the direction. All set up on my rolling road under DC power and with the tender connected. I can't understand why it would make any difference other than the number of pick ups in contact with the supply, but here I have the opposite effect to that queried by the OP with the mechanism slowing slightly as the tender is lifted. There is no mechanical link between the two, just the wiring with the draw bar disconnected. Over to you.....

Just received a Hornby B12 from Hereford Model Centre and very pleased on several counts. Very quick service with just £4.00 carriage on Royal Mail tracked service, but upon opening the loco I was very happy to see inside a signed test certificate to say the loco had been tested and the detail pack was checked as included. A nice touch that others could follow......

Whilst enjoying a running session yesterday, I was suddenly struck by the similarity in colour and lining between my A2/2 and my B17/2 and looking back through RMweb, there was a review of the much awaited B17/2 over 8 years ago. I'm reminded of that wonderful film 'Groundhog Day'........ Made me chuckle...

I agree and it runs like a dream. A beautiful loco which at £50-£60 is really hard to beat. Here’s a standing start with 44 wagons. Amazing for such a small loco.

I think this was the original thread I saw....

Try this as a start. A Google search on Lima J50 on Bachmann Pannier chassis brings up several. Before Hornby introduced their J50, I planned to do the same, but I can't find the link to the article right now.

Like you CK, I built my J50 chassis on an Avonside C2 jig, and know it is accurately spaced and level. DJH supplied the new style of crank pin with top hat nuts and I found I had to open the coupling rod holes so much, that it really slopped around. It looked dreadful and after a chat with Tony Wright and Co on Wright Writes, I changed the crank pins for the earlier design with solder nuts. I had to bush the coupling rod holes and effectively start again and whilst they are better, the holes still seem oversize, particularly when they fitted the Avonside pins perfectly. I have ordered a new set of etches from DJH so I can start the process again with brand news rods and take it slowly to see if I can get a better result. Jonathan, having been down a similar route, you have my sympathy.... Having read of CK’s issues, I’ll make some additional checks. Thanks for the info.

In theory it has possibilities, but isn't that part of the research we undertake as modellers? Those that want specific stock and location will always do that work. Then there's the question of route availability where it doesn't follow, that for instance, an A4 was seen anywhere in the 'Eastern' section. I have to agree it probably creates more problems than solutions and with this information just a few clicks away on the web, it would be inaccurate in many cases.

Certainly the Hornby locos I have where the decoder is fitted in the tender are wired this way. This is is to isolate the track and motor connections from each other and enable decoder installation on a plug in basis. You're right that early locos, had the DCC socket in the loco, but this involved removing the loco body, hence the change where possible to tender mounting.

Minor thing on both models. If using the close coupled position, the loco and tender doors clash and something has to give. Just found two between the tracks and wondered what they were and where they came from..... Now carefully fixed back but almost in the folded flat position.

I agree there is no drag on a rolling road, but something else is confusing me. The connection to the tender is via the small 4 pin plug. This connects to the DCC socket with an 8 pin blanking plug which in turn makes the connection between the loco pickups and the motor in DC mode. Unplugging the tender breaks that circuit and the loco won’t run as there is no connection between the loco pick ups and the motor. I can’t see how you can stop the tender picking up power on a rolling road unless you are specifically insulating the tender from the rolling road.