birdbath

Morning all. The latest arrival on Guide Dog Bridge is the Cavalex class 56. I'll happily join the list of people praising this model. Looks the part, well designed, sounds great, performs great. An excellent addition to the new generation of models that have appeared in the last year or two. The vast improvement in standards also pushes the more established mainstream brands to up their game as well. Great work @RBE, I look forward to the 60. I went for the RF grey version. Suits them well to my eye. Better than the red stripe version with the smaller arrows. Just a personal view. The only changes I've made are using JMRI to tweak the sound project to my taste. Other than that, a light weathering as per my usual techniques and it's done. There's something very pleasing about firing it up and just having it idling away in the background. Seen here waiting to leave the stabling siding, whilst a 60 runs onto the maintenance shed. Stretching time frames by a few years, a tired old 'peak' runs past on a Speedlink working in the background. Cheers, Roge.

Cheers Rich. Kind words, as always. I’m currently being distracted by building some 3D printed 009 Ffestiniog coaches for a friend. First time I’ve worked with this form in any real substance, so it’s a bit if a learning curve. The possibilities are mind-bending though. And I still wonder what on earth to do with my 7mm class 60. But that’s another story! What was I thinking?! 😩 Roge.

Morning all. I've been meaning to put something on here for ages, but never quite got round to it till now. The completion of a couple of loco projects has finally spurred me on though. First up is this Heljan 45/1. Slightly out of period, but I do have memories seeing these on their last legs around Leicester in the late 80s. They always seemed to look so much more antiquated than other locos of the period, which possibly made them more exotic! Anyway, taking inspiration from @richard w on his amazing Everard Junction, I took the plunge and repainted the blue livery. It's a slightly lighter and faded shade. Worth doing I think. Transfers from @railtec-models as 45115 'Apollo'. I've weathered and faded it quite heavily, which hopefully reflects the tired appearance of these locos towards the end of their careers. Fitted with Loksound V5 and EM1 speaker. Despite much comment on here regarding the accuracy of this model vs the Bachmann offering, etc, etc, I'm happy with it. For me it captures the lumbering feel of the real thing, whatever the perceived shortcomings may be. Passing slightly more modern Sulzer power. And onwards past the pilot and signal box. (An interior for the 'box is on the list) The other recent purchase is my first @Accurascale 37. This really is a fantastic model. I've got two more on order and I suspect they won't be the last. The only changes I've made are to rework the roof panel hinges. If I had one criticism, I'd say they are too pronounced, looking more like handrails. My solution was to remove them and re-make with small brass strip and nickel silver wire, with the intention being to 'set them into' the roof a bit more. I'm quite happy with the result. Other than that I had a slight issue with making the DCC lighting function work to my taste. A bit of trial and error and help from @RailsOfSheffield and @Accurascale sorted this out. Nothing physically wrong with the loco, I just needed to have the six manual switches in a different configuration to get true independent lighting control. Can't remember now what it was, but I can dig it out if anyone is interested. The loco is the standard factory sound fitted version. A partial roof repaint after the hinge replacement and light weathering have finished it off. Really pleased with this one. Ambling out of the yard. Passing the back of the shed with a ballast. 47 in the head shunt and 20s waiting the road to cross over into the yard. That's it for now. Maybe more modelling updates over the winter. But let's face it, probably not! Roge.

Evening everyone. A plea for help from a friend who's not on here... He's after 4mm scale drawings of classes 315, 317 and 321 units. There's a book titled 'Overhead EMUs volume 1, Classes 302 to 306. Apparently volume 2 will contain the desired classes. The author is Dave Hulls. Has anyone got access to this volume? Or can anyone point us in the right direction for these drawings from another source? Any help gratefully received. Roge.

Just an update on this, for anyone interested in messing around with the DCC lighting settings. After much exchanging of emails with Simon at Accurascale and Shane at Rails of Sheffield, I finally stumbled across the solution. Despite what the card in the box advises, if you set the DIP switches to 1,3,5,6 ON and 2,4 OFF, you can program all lighting functions completely independently. This also works fine for programming 'on the main'. Whilst this is possibly all a bit too niche for most people, it might just help wierdos like myself who can't help but make changes! Cheers, Roge.

Yeah, that was the fall back position! just wondered if there was anything obvious I was missing. at least a reset will prove it isn’t anything physical which has gone wrong. cheers.

Hi everyone. Forgive me if this has been covered before... I've been tinkering around setting up the DCC lighting functions on my sound-fitted 37026. Just changing the function numbers that are assigned to various lighting features, that sort of thing. Now I find that all the lighting has stopped working, even the bits I haven't changed. I've been using JMRI software to do this, programming on the main. I've also tried the same via the programming track. Never had any issues doing this before with other Loksound V5 and V4 fitted locos. Any suggestions what I've done to upset it? Cheers, Roge.

Thanks for this.

Hello again people. A few more random shots of some different stock. 1. Here's 31449 passing by with a scratch rake of mk1 stock. 'Super Sprinter' 156 heads the other way. 37046 has just arrived for fuel. The 31 is a repainted Hornby model, with modified lighting. This was a right pain to do! The 37 is a standard Bachmann effort, with the orange cantrail line added. The 156 is the recent Realtrack model. 2. The 37 has now moved over to the shed road to stable. A parcels 47 heads past the signal box on a van train. 3. And finally, 'modern image corner'! I need to have a word with myself about this unhealthy habit! 68027 and 68034 are obviously Dapol models. 027 has had some quite significant paintwork changes, as I couldn't live with the manufacturer's rendition of the colours on the TPE livery. It took ages to try and mix up something that, to my eye, was a bit more faithful. Not perfect, but I'm pleased with it overall. It'll be interesting to see what the colour is like on the Accurascale Mk5a coaches when they appear. Wouldn't blame them for matching the Dapol loco to be honest. 66762 is a Hattons model, with the 'Europorte' logos carefully removed from the GBRf livery. Next project on the go is to get on with my Heljan 45. Cheers, Roge.

Thanks for your comments guys. There’s only so many angles you can photograph the layout from. I use a DSLR on a tripod, then convert the files to JPEGs on the computer. I’ve thought about getting one of those strange looking mini tripod things for my phone. But the camera on it just doesn’t give the depth of field. Open to suggestion on this topic though. cheers, Roge.

Hope everyone has had a pleasant Christmas. Here's some photos of a recent trip to GDB. 1. 60006 and 47474 await their next duties, whilst 56091 undergoes an exam in the shed. 2. The pair of 20s have reversed their short steel train into the depot to collect empty fuel tanks. 31449 runs onto the fuel point and the 09 idles away waiting the next move. 3. 75014 passes, tender-first, on the main line with a rail tour. (Hornby model, renumbered with Railtec products, including 3D smokebox number plate) 37422 has just arrived onto the depot with an inspection saloon. That parcels 47 is still sat around! Cheers, Roge.

Evening everyone. Here's a few general overview shots to give a feel for the layout. 1. Looking from the doorway. 2. The depot area. 3. Looking the other way. 4. A bit more detail. 5. The opposite site. 6. The storage yard end, with work bench under. Hope this makes it a bit clearer for anyone showing an interest. I'll try and do some more pics of locos and stock soon. Cheers. Roge.

Morning all, I hope you're all looking forward to seeing what model trains Santa has brought you! (and then hiding the acute disappointment when you actually receive yet another 'Great trains in colour' type book from well meaning relatives who 'know he likes trains'!) Rich suggests reposting some of the lost images, which I like as it's an easy win. I hope these are of some benefit. Here's the trackplan. (produced in AnyRail) And the JMRI panel. Probably best to read the initial description over the first few posts to make sense of it. I'll take some up-to-date overview shots and post them too. Cheers, Roge.

Hi Rich, Nothing much to report. A few small rolling stock projects and jobs for friends. I'll try and upload some pics now you've prompted me. If I'm honest, the loss of the old pics on here and the constant pestering by pop-up ads has taken some of the attraction away. No one's fault, just how it is. Cheers, Roge.

Morning all, Here's a couple of pics of the completed 60. Pictures of them in their early days seem to suggest the bodysides kept reasonably clean, whilst the underframes were as dirty as any other class. So that's what I've tried to replicate. The renumbering and naming was done using Railtec transfers, whilst the cast arrows were from Nairnshire model supplies, via a eBay. Nothing much else done cosmetically, other than painting the components of the number one (fan) end in cream. This can clearly be seen through the grilles and I think is worth doing. Cheers, Roge.