alant

All Day and all of the Night - The Kinks

Chaz, On the subject of ballast for sidings, I've used a mixture of fine granite ballast, ash (from the barbie), sand and a fine grey flock previously in 7mm scale. Alan.

Back in the USSR - The Beatles

Chaz, Really inspirational, keep up the good work. Alan.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Neil Young

No Easy Road - Wishbone Ash

Hi Barnaby, Would you mind forwarding Sandy's pic to me if possible please as I can't quite picture what he describes. I still have a few Lincs couplings to make-up which I had purchased before they were sold on. Thanks, Alan.

Harvest Moon - Neil Young

Bad Moon Rising - Creedance Clearwater Revival.

You ain't seen nothing yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive

The Bluest Blues - Alvin Lee

Chaz, I sometimes use a hot glue gun to stick foamboard together but it doesn't leave a lot of time to fiddle with positioning before setting! Alan.

I agree it's a real pain seeing several 1:50 scale bues and lorries available but nothing much in 1:43. There are a few military lorry plastic kits available in 1:48 which may be suitable for kit-bashing.

Where abouts in Derbyshire are you?

There's a company who sometimes advertise in the Gauge 0 Guild Gazette called Watling Street Models. They advertise 1:43 scale buses and coaches, prices are around £185 including delivery though, not sure what's in their range. Contact number is 01952 641604. Alan.

Hi Railwayrod, I have just sent you a private message with the contact details on. Regards, Alan.

Railwayrod, The previous proprietor of the Lincs couplings used to offer a "ready assembled" option as well as a self build, not sure if the new guy is intending to do so though. They are quite easy to fix to stock and in most cases "a near enough" position works. Fitting to locos is sometimes more difficult unfortunately due to the lack of fixing space and trying to avoid screws that fix the chassis to the body etc. It is possible to use a "fixed" hook (ie one that doesn't pivot) on locos if necessary and I have done this on a couple of locos. As long as the corresponding wagon has a pivoted hook it usually works OK. Alan.

No problem, I had sent again in case you didn't receive. Alan.

Re Lincs Autocouplers I have made contact with the new proprieter of the above couplers, Richard Syms. Richard only took over at Christmas and does not have any etches to sell at the moment but intends to build up the range with both 4mm and 7mm offerings in the near future. He will "advertise" when they are available again. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested please PM me and I will forward on his contact details. Thanks, Alan.

Hi David, Looks like the BRM article shows things quite well. I have attached a photo of a van "parked" over one of my magnets with the coupling hook being pulled down. Picture taken before I had added the 3 links. Alan.

Hi David, Pleased to hear my layout has inspired you! I will take some photos and get them posted. I am sure that they are no longer available unfortunately, someone called Raymond Hodson took them over from Richard Tarpey. I do have a contact number for him so will give him a quick call. The steel wire tends to tarnish over time so is not too prominent in use. It's also possible to retain scale 3 links as well which can still be used with other stock. The only thing I did was to replace the 3 links with brass ones as the steel ones became magnetised after a while. There is a jig required which allows the hook to be soldered to the pivot at the correct angle - again these were available from the supplier. I'll try and get time to post a few details of my layout at some point also. Alan.

David, Factory Lane Sidings is my layout and uses the Lincs Autocouplings which I believe are sadly no longer available. I have a few etches left for my own future stock building. The system is very simple and comprises a bent length of steel wire which pivots. When in tension they stay "coupled" and when stock is pushed the magnet attracts the steel wire and allows them to pivot apart. The "hand in the sky" is not really supposed to be there, sometimes the couplings don't always pivot away from each other properly (more down to my poor alignment of the couplings I think)! Alan.

More shunting on Factory Lane Sidings

When fuel was cheap . . .

As a change from loco pics . . .