Pedro32

A shot of the 158 samples from Warley yesterday. Spoke to one of the reps in the lounge as they were keen to see what items I was interested in and apparently they’re expected to arrive in the middle of next year. cheers Peter

Had a nosey in the Bachmann lounge at Warley yesterday and the current revised sealed beam sample was on display. I didn't get much of a chance to lurk as my young son was getting restless to spend his pocket money. cheers Peter

I took a few of the upcoming units and in my humble opinion they look very nice to the eye. And if I get time I’ll post a few others of the sealed beam class 45’s with the updated body shell in the relevant topic. cheers Peter

Hmm I'd tend to agree having had a look of photos of the model on Hattons website. It would appear the large blue square should not be aligned to the orange cantrail. And there should be a small gap. Nevertheless I'm still going to buy one once they come into stock at my local shop. Side on photo from Flickr..

Hello, Having chatted with Kerry @Invicta model rail, over the weekend this ltd edition run was originally a Modelzone commission which was then taken forward by Invicta, as its taken a number of years in the interim for this to materialise. So to answer I'd say they were new. KMRC also did a chipman weedkilling Ltd Edition set some years ago (2014?) based on BR Mk1's, (39-000P Bachmann OO Gauge Chipman Weedkiller Train coach pack). Hope that helps Cheers Peter

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Hello there, Alas its been a while and yet all I've managed to do in the intervening months since I last posted has been to finish off my helix for the fiddle yard and allow my eldest son to test run his Lima 37 up and down the two tracks with a selection of rolling stock. The concept seems to work well as the longest rake I've so far tested is nine coaches plus a loco and clearances all check out- much to my relief. And every opportunity my eldest gets he wants to be in the garage with his Dad. A selection of photos follows. IMG_3145 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr Spot the 37.. IMG_3432 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr Slow progress on the upper fiddleyard wiring. IMG_3309 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr Got some leave coming up so I anticipate some garage time will hopefully move things on.. Cheers Peter

Apologies if this has been mentioned before. I was wondering when these weed killing coaches are likely to arrive. As I've had these on preorder since they were announced so assume after CNY shutdown we may hear something possibly soon? Cheers Peter

Crikey time flies when you're having fun. So plodded along working on CC over the last few months. I'm currently finishing up installing the remaining bus wiring underneath the upper layout and have finished off the lower level connecting helix. This is now raised on a wood frame. IMG_2997 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2998 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr Helix IMG_2872 (2) by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2877 (1) by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2893 (1) by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2895 (1) by Pedro Hill, on Flickr Merry Christmas fellow members and hope all have a restful festive break and some modelling time also. All the best for 2019. Cheers Peter

Hello, I received my initial batch yesterday and very pleased with the Redland wagons. Lovely detail and packaging. Thanks Alex and Cav for bringing this product to fruition. I just wanted to check the Cavalex gmail was the right place to email as have a query? Many thanks Peter

Hello, Is there any ETA on the PGA wagons? Unless I've missed the update? Many thanks Peter

Hi there, I spoke at length to one of the Steve’s at Bachmann at Ally Pally this year and made the point about demand for more 45’s. We’ll see what emerges I guess. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/108777-wr-oo-castle-cary-theme-br-1970s-1990s-era/?p=3114089 Thanks Peter

Hello, Sorry unless I've missed it what was the update on the BBA wagon? Cheers Peter

Managed to upload clip of the loco leaving the shed at the start of our footplate experience day: Just click the photo to view. IMG_0008 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr

So as common with most of my updates I’m plodding along. I’ve made some decent progress over the last few months. I’ve now completed the upper fiddle year/siding areas and now concentrating on completing the second removable viaduct prior to linking the final section of track to the main baseboards. Then the plan is to complete the helix and work on the lower fiddle yard and depot. Wiring of the remaining boards is being done one at a time, as are point motors being added when funds allow. I recently returned to Somerset for a long weekend where I had a lovely full day on an Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46447 on the East Somerset Railway and thoroughly enjoyed the mentoring of the footplate crew, driving and firing the loco. 013 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2111 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2242 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2241 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2240 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2429 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr IMG_2352 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr All for now Cheers Peter

I would echo the fantastic customer service I’ve received from Derails. I’ve ordered a number of items and now switched a number of preorders to them as I’d rather give them my £. Always had prompt responses to my emails and they now ring me up to check when I’m around to receive orders which is helpful to avoid the red we missed you card from the postie. Five star service. Cheers Peter

Evening, So another month rumbles by and the weather has improved and so have my opportunities to have garage time. In the last month I've had more electric sockets put in and replaced one end of the garage with pvc cladding with insulation and put down floor tiles, which means the garage is now much more weather proof and warm! At the other end of the garage I'm installing a solar powered fan to improve ventilation too. On the layout I've finished wiring the main station board and now progressed to the side sections. I've decided to incorporate a helix design so instead of having just one fiddle yard I'll now have an upper fiddle yard and lower fiddle yard (approx 3.5m long) accessed via a helix. The supporting shell for the lower fiddle year has already been put in place and all I need to do is assemble to boards to sit on top. I'll also revising the design of a hinged bridge section adjacent to the upper fiddle yard to something that will be lifted and locked into place- more because I hate soldering than anything. Photos to follow: Showing the lower fiddle year boards 008 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr starting to work out logistics for the helix 010 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr finally corner board is now assembled just waiting for the cork to dry 012 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr All for now Cheers Peter

Hi there, Great progress so far! Sorry if this has been asked before, but is there an indication when the TOPS wagon packs will be available for pre order? Many thanks Peter

Hi, Just a few quick clips of some action I took at Ally Pally with Calcutta Sidings2 and Mostyn. Both I could have easy pulled up a chair and watched all afternoon. Just open the picture and the clip should play. 091 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 092 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 093 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 094 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 095 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr Regards Peter

Hello, So its been a while. Busy with life generally, and DIY jobs on our house take priority with a four month old and three year old boys. The good wife does allow me some garage time and recently I’ve been busy adding power bus lines and track power connections along the underside of the main boards. Currently waiting on a delivery of point motors and decoders before pressing on. IMG_0572 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr I took a trip up to Alexandra Palace for the annual model railway exhibition and enjoyed watching some of the layouts I’ve read about in various magazines. I picked up a few wagons and a couple of second hand locos but in the main didn’t go too crazy. I did pop into the Bachmann Club lounge to see some of the upcoming releases and had a lovely long chat with one of the Bachmann designers called Steve (there’s a few in the design office apparently). One of the points I raised was about the absence of sealed beam Class 45’s, and why they’d not released any more variants similar to that of the modelzone ilk. It transpires that the recent release 45 chassis has been updated, but the tooling for the later 45 bodyshells hasn’t. And that partly explains why there’s been an absence of sealed beam 45’s. There simply cannot be another run of the s/b bodyshells to add to the updated chassis, as they won’t fit. I genuinely hadn’t registered this point before and to credit to the designer he was at pains to point out the ‘gap’ has been noted. Who knows what will transpire there. I loved the detail on the upcoming Bachmann class 117 Dmu and that’s no doubt going to be a corker once its released later this year. On the wagon front it appears the railfreight VEA wagons I’ve been holding out for are a good 18 months away sadly. There were some lovely items on the Dapol stand and the decorated class 22 samples looked nice. 089 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 083 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 081 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 082 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 079 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 078 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr That’s it for now. Will post more when further progress is made. Cheers Peter

Might be worth creating a poll so members can vote here or on your own website! FY or ARC PGA get my vote, plus a good PTA hopper...new samples look good btw.

I’ve got two of the new releases and think they’re a good entry to start with and over time I hope Oxford Rail include lighting as standard and produce HST variants as well. I’ve sold my two sets of Hornby Swallow livery Mk3’s and I’ll be upgrading my initial Oxford rail purchases with interior lighting from train tech and populate them with some cheap EBay seated passengers. I’m very impressed with the initial model release and favourable price to the extent I may even order another six car set (once the remaining swallow models are released). I’ve considered cancelling my Bachmann Mk2f order on the basis of cost. Not quite decided yet mind...I digress.. I do get other members viewpoints on lack of lighting and colour accuracy. Every modeller to their own. Let’s see what else Oxford announce soon..

Seasons greetings! So work has plodded on, albeit slowly as I now have another baby son to add to the brood. Hopefully he'll be interested in trains just like his older brother I've had to adjust the layout plan and will share a revised layout plan in due course. Essentially the station section will now incorporate a curved platform section, as originally I'd planned to have an outdoor element which could be bolted to the layout during the summer. This plan has been put on hold and as the garage is painted and insulated and has the benefit of heating I want to use the garage to its maximum potential, so CC station will be curved at one end, with a shorter station exit throat and fiddle yard on the opposite side of the garage. I quite like the idea of having a secondary fiddle yard for stock storage beneath the through fiddle yard and a hinged access bridge. Time will tell what happens.. And the buildings on the far platform are only there for temporary storage. Currently I've starting relaying track which I'd discovered had been damaged prior to my move with flexi track and adding the small yard adjacent to platforms, to make it more interesting and because space wise it made more sense. I've redoubled the Weymouth line as one line will actually have a spur off to a small TMD. Cheers Peter 170 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr 169 by Pedro Hill, on Flickr

So it would appear the BR Red R3555 Sir William A. Stanier F.R.S locos have arrived at Hornby HQ and will shortly be dispatched, as got an email earlier to say my pre-order was being prepared. Cheers Peter