wombatofludham

There was a nasty collision a while back where a train hit some engineering kit causing it to derail and fall into the river. Even so, I was surprised to see that ETCS Level 2 is installed on a line where "inter-operability" is pretty much the last thing needed!

Going slightly off piste, I'm just watching a "cab ride" video of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, and am surprised to see it is fully ETCS cab signalled. It seems a bit odd to see the "yellow arrow" block markers dangling from the overhead structure but probably says more about how ETCS is fast becoming the default signalling kit for new signalling systems than any aspiration to open up the "Danglebahn" to international open access operators. I suspect the built in ATP in ETCS is a vital safeguard for the unique characteristics of the route.

So, just over one day until the next Irish announcement. Whilst hoping for an 80 Class, I expect it'll be a wagon to add to the fleet of Bulleid based stock they have been turning out. Did Bulleid design any milk tankers for CIE? A mix of the grain wagons recently announced with some milk tanks on the back would sort out breakfast nicely.

The bodyshell has the central door locking lights moulded into the bodyshell which would be difficult to remove and fill as the Mk2f in blue/grey didn't have CDL. The only coaches in blue/grey with CDL are the semi-preserved railtour rake.

I must admit although I've seen these cranes around my knowledge of them is limited. I presume they were towed to a worksite by a loco then moved up and down the site on their own?

Given they've already announced the expansion of the Mk1 range and the Class 25s it does make me wonder what else is left to be announced in OO apart from anything EFE choose to throw out Reliveries and reruns always welcome though.

I suspect the impact on SLW will be less than on say Heljan as SLW sound and attention to detail still has the slight edge. However having some of these tasty models next to SLW examples is likely to be less of a problem than previous examples so I suspect many Rat fans will find room for both. Helps explain the glacially slow progress on the models since announcement as clearly at some point the decision was made to go for a full on range redesign, possibly spurred by the development of the SLW range.

Exactly. Although when the last steam on the Cambrian runs were made pre-ETCS by the preserved LMS Black 5 they had to keep the amount of coal and water in the tender deliberately low northbound to keep within the weight limit for Barmouth Bridge, necessitating a stop for coal and water at Porthmadog, but southbound the journey was completed without the need for a pit stop as the amount of coal and water consumed from Pwllheli to the bridge meant the combined weight was OK for the crossing!

I must admit when involved with the "Dolgellau" layout to being surprised to hear that the 57xx were banned from the Ruabon to Barmouth route pre-1948 although the 28xx heavy goods locos were given dispensation to work the route (and apparently did) during the war. The 57xx must have been what we call in the Black Country "a Tunky Pig" carrying some weight spread over just three axles. It does seem bizarre that the physically larger 43xx and "Aberdare" classes were regulars on the line but a dinky little tank was a no-no, but it goes to show the myriad factors to be considered in route availability.

Well, being uncharacteristically generous for a moment, and despite them not being anything I currently have any intention of buying, it is a nice announcement for those of you who model the GWR. Had the "Dolgellau" layout not been in boxes in my garage I could have seen a 517 being bought for the rake of Ratio 4 wheel coaches we had to illustrate the kind of train that would have been common on local services up until the 20s. We did have a second hand heavily reworked AirfixHornby 14xx which had been permanently coupled and through-wired to a venerable Airfix autocoach, which thanks to the extra pickups ran faultlessly, and with sound, passengers and prototypically dim lighting was a hugely popular train, especially with children, and being blessed with a particularly loud autocoach bell, was a really good way of distracting bored children who used to jump when the bell rang! The specs of the models look really good and they've clearly anticipated some of the incoming comments about the Heinz 57 varieties of differences in the 517 by nailing their designs to certain running conditions, which might disappoint some but will at least hopefully satisfy many more. The DCC features look especially good, in a way, and despite the GWR giving me an allergic reaction, it is a shame the "Dolgellau" layout is no more as I could have seen some of these, together with the recent Large Prairies, 43xxs and multiple Manors modernising our running fleet. Dapol must have MI5 running their design team as they do seem to be pretty good at surprising the model world.

Have you seen the Accurascale lighting? It is not overly bright and just about the right colour and intensity for the Mk2b and c stock which was internally lit by fluorescent tubes, increasing the light levels over the old tungsten bulbs by a significant amount. Plus, you can switch them off easily with a wafty magnetic lollipop which moves the on-board magnetic reed switch if the lighting offends you. Nor do they include any on board sounds so that's one less thing to worry about. All for the price of an unlit coach from other manufacturers. When I've run coaches with on-board lighting at the public days of the old "Dolgellau" layout the visitors have been transfixed despite the fact they were Mk2f coaches which never went through Dolgellau and was being hauled by a Class 47 which would have planted itself in one of the many rivers along the route being very much not a blue disc weight restriction loco. They loved the noise and the internally lit coaches and a couple went away having been amazed at the fidelity of modern OO scale and were inspired to think about their own layouts. For me noise and light were the things missing when I was a younger modeller which I would have dearly loved, so 50 years later, let those of us who want the features to have them. You don't have to buy locos with sound, and you don't have to have any interior lights on if you don't want to. No understanding needed, just accept some like these features whilst others don't, but ultimately it's your choice.

St. Ansted, the patron saint of low cost airline passengers, who was suggested for beatification by Bishop Ryan Aire.

Personally I like the interior lighting on most of the coaches I have with it and have started retro-fitting lighting in other stock but as you say some can be a bit too bright. However, I'm planning to fit the new layout in the garage with a lighting rig using outdoor colour changing spotlights I used in the old shed layout, which allows for changing in lighting colour and intensity. My idea is to simulate an approaching summer late afternoon thunder storm, with the clouds being penetrated by pools of yellowy-orange light typical of a moisture-laden setting sun environment, which should - if it works - create pools of light and shade with the trains moving in and out of the light and shade highlighting any on board lighting and allowing me to have some buildings with internal lights but others without, and similarly some streetlights having come on in the gloom but others not. I'm keen on environmental effects, such as background noise and "theatrical" lighting having experimented with both on my previous layout builds, and the availability of internal carriage lighting on some trains, but not all, will contribute to the effect, together with DCC sound fitted locos. However, my main interest is the environmental setting of the layout and to an extent my interest in the rolling stock is more as rolling scenic actors, and I appreciate that is pretty contrary to the majority of modellers who seemingly obsess about their locos and generally are very much less interested in the scenics. I'm probably a frustrated theatrical set designer, or it's the retired town planner coming out.

I have to say I personally prefer the Bachmann body shell to the Hornby Mk2f (of which I have a small rake pending the release of more Bachmann versions) as the Hornby versions seem to not quite be there. To me, the window frames don't look too bad from normal viewing distances but it's a difficult call, my memory of the real vehicles is there was a noticeable window frame which some liveries disguised more than others, and my memory is becoming more blurred with time as to the amount of work they got during their various refurbishments. Put it this way, if Bachmann ever get round to doing another blue/grey run I'd raid the savings to buy a full rake of them with lighting to run alongside the Accurascale rake (unless Accurascale announce a 2d range of course...)

Those photos are astounding. When I saw the picture on Facebook I thought that it actually looked like a 31 and the cab details just take it to a next level. Glad I ordered three to add to the fleet.

Excellent news, and if in blue/grey to match the new announcement of Mk1 seconds that'll give me the chance to build up a complete 1968 west coast rake for the new layout (I don't worry about the virtually invisible carriage numbers) to go alongside the Mk2a rake, and allow me to retire my Replica FOs. The 1975 Accurascale passengers will also not starve after dark if the RB coaches also have the pick-up fitted bogies mentioned in the re-issued second class Mk1 announcement last quarter. Having wired up an Oxford Mk3 rake with lights (destroying every coupling in the process) having bogies with pick-ups is a big help when you want to fit after market lighting and even for a solder-phobic like me not too difficult. Good bread-and-butter announcement that will potentially be more worthwhile than some big flashy loco announcement.

I wonder if they have scheduled some more new liveries on the 47 to compete with the Heljan 47 for this quarter? Given the timescales needed to book slots for a new batch with Kader, and the fact the liveries for the Heljan 47s have been planned for some time, I do wonder if they will sneak out some new liveries despite what the Bachmann rep was saying and the lukewarm reception of the Danish Duff which wouldn't have been known about during any future range planning meetings. If they anticipated the Heljan product was some serious competition to their huge investment and was covering a lot of popular liveries they might have just thought they would go toe to toe with a few more popular liveries. After all way back they flatly denied any intention to do a Blue Pullman... It would be nice if a Mk1 FK in blue/grey was announced to follow the previous announcement of seconds, with the bogie pick-ups to allow retrofitting with lighting, together with the RU so my Accurascale passengers don't starve after dark. I'll also put in my quarterly howling to the moon request for a new batch of FFAs and Mk2fs in blue grey. I've got Buckley's chance of an announcement of either but if anyone from Bachmann is reading, there's a serious wedge of moolah waiting for you which I'm sure Kader would be very glad of.

2D or not 2D, that is the question... On the Vintage Trains rake, their Mk2 z/a rake is different to the Mk2b/c by having a centre vestibule with door separating the two seating saloons (like the Mk1) and lavatories at one end, whilst the 2b-c did away with the centre vestibule, had lavatories at both ends and was slightly longer. However, I suppose it comes down to how many penalty points you want to get on your modeller's licence.

Whatever the merits or demerits of Cromwell to modern eyes, back in 1951 it would not have been seen as controversial. In model terms, and going off at a tangent, when my family history research dug up a family connection that went back to the first Earl of Dudley who lived in the eponymous Castle, and another more plausible connection to Josiah Wedgwood, it gave me the impetus to rename two Heljan 86/2s after my old manor and Great x7 Uncle Joe. Well, if you have your favourite class of loco with coathanger on the roof named with tenuous family connections you have to, don't you? The same research also found a number of great uncles who were killed in the First World War so the plan is to get a Bachmann 45 named after the Staffordshire Regiment and the Heljan 45 named after the Sherwood Foresters which were two of the regiments they served in, as a small act of remembrance. Fortunately I have no connection to Cromwell so I can dodge any controversy model wise.

That's good to know, it would be nice to have a couple of /2s for my 1975 timetable alongside the /0s and others. I had a mare removing the plated headcode box from the Bachmann 85 to backdate it to 1975 as it was a moulded in panel so a simple pop-out plate will be good.

The 86/2 EPs looked nice as well, I do hope @61661 considers doing them in TOPS with Headcodes in rail blue as well as the announced liveries. It is a style that has never been produced previously yet some ran un-named with headcode boxes (post 75 as 0000) for about 5 years, and would complement the 86/0 models giving them another boost in sales!

And people wonder why I have a dim view of the gene puddle bottom feeders who inhabit the world. I just had a quick look at the Dapol Faceache page where Dapol explicitly say they have no authorised dealers who ship from China so if the Tatbay listing says "from China" then you would have thought even the densest of social media gene puddle slime would be able to cotton on. They just want spoon feeding so they can buy some, and then resell as "boxed, unused" back on Tatbay claiming the mark-up, to the unsuspecting having neatly circumvented the "from China" clue. The Irish have a word for them - "Gougers"

I've bought carriage lighting rigid LED bars, with magnetic reed switch and battery holder, from one Chinese retailer direct and have been very happy with them. They do other useful electronic stuff, none of which is a grey rip-off as they can't be found anywhere else, so whilst I agree some of the figures do look they have been bathing in battery acid (although useful carriage fillers if repainted and the Kim Jong Un hairstyles are repainted) if you look you can find stuff which is genuine and very useful. As always buyer beware and look around. There are a number of places with weird names that appear to be doing knock-off Brawa working streetlamps and I had twigged the cheap Irish class 121s appeared to have come out of an unauthorised source so gave them a swerve but I am confident the supplier I use for carriage lighting is legit and not doing knock off items.

Well, enough people have bought their 45s to make them happy enough to do a second run of them despite the electron microscope examiners declaring it wrong. I think some forget that for every one on here who finds fault there are probably ten others out there who don't read posts on here or watch YouChoob video reviews but are happy to part with their money. For me I think the 47 looks good in some liveries but others seem to make it look slightly out, fortunately most of the livery variants I would like are in the good category, and as I will be watching them moving and not double heading with a Bachmann Duff I think I will be able to live with them. The fact Heljan have covered a lot of very useful livery variants in one release, whereas Bachmann tend to dribble the liveries out over a few years, will be a swing vote for me. Basically, if you don't like it because you feel it is compromised, don't buy it, but I suspect your boycott won't upset Heljan too much. PS @61661 Now King Fred has got his legs under his mother's table given the amount of stuff I'm buying from Heljan any chance of a coffee and pastries at the Amalienborg for my contribution to the Danish economy? Just asking.

Aaaanyways... How about this for a mad idea to have a discussion about at the next brainstorming over a few Liffey Waters... ...a Class 150. With a few adaptations. Hear me out. The 150 seems to be the railway equivalent of last night's curry smell, and are not going anywhere soon. The Bachmann model, whilst nice, has a few compromises and none of the three car sets, both the original prototype and the Centro and GMPTE 150/1 and 150/2 three car lash-ups have been made (although I have modified three three car lash-up sets and am happy not to have through lighting). Now, the prototype units had a full intermediate car, and also had recessed drivers doors, so, with a different cab end slide, and another body tooling for the motor car, you could chuck out an NIR 450 class. That would be a good tribute to NIR's make do and mend design, which combined used English Electric diesel engines salvaged from scrap 70 class, some bomb damaged 80 class and possibly the odd spare from the Southern, bolted to second hand Mk1 underframes onto which were welded Class 150 style bodies, kitted out with PEP style low back seats, at a time when getting any money for trains was virtually impossible given the stranglehold Ulsterbus had on public transport funding at the time. One of these yokes even carried the Queen across Belfast at one point, Lord only knows what she thought of that. Of course, there are more differences than the cab ends between the 450 and the 150 but oh, the joy, if you decide to progress a 450 when you announce you are planning a Castle Class, only for the fans of those poncey green painted things that took posh people to Cornwall, to collectively whine when it turns out to be an NIR DEMU. Northern Irish humour at it's best, naming the cut and shut 450 class after Castles. The only sort of Castle I like given my main line experience with those 4-6-0s resulted in two partially cancelled railtours when they developed tummy ache after being fired with something other than Welsh finest champagne coal. Joking and pithiness aside, I can't help thinking that the 150 could be worth a punt despite the Bachmann offering. Price wise you would probably be competitive, they are widespread, have worn a paintbox worth of colours, have lasted from BR early sectorisation to now (and are knocking on for the same age as the trains they replaced) and if the tools were cleverly designed could also get the NIR 450 out on the back of the Sprinter, I can't help but think there is room for a competing model. And before the "why do you want more duplication" team start, to be honest, Bachmann's pricing would leave room for Accurascale to come in with a better detailed product at a similar price without the compromises some of the Bachmann models have due to the way they were designed. I would like many other units but given their longevity, colourful liveries, widespread use and possible crossover potential with the Ulster Castles subject to details etc, I have a strange feeling there could be a market for a better 150.