RichardEyre

I hope to catch up with Troutons and the team at Stafford if I can battle the crowds!

Sorry Jack, we're not booked for Stafford 

We are at Pontefract this Saturday and Sunday though.

Good news Chris. 6 locos chipped and programmed. 007 was a cow to smooth out but I think I've managed it. Everything crawls on speed step 1 apart from the 56, which starts at 4 (not many options with the Hornby chip)

Scenic side is 24 feet by 3. With the fiddle yard its about 12 feet deep owing to the large (ish) radius curves.

For a 60 fan you do have a lot of 56s.

It's OK. They have power now. Think I've reached the end of what I can do now. The rest is mechanical.

It'll only turn so far, the wire would get twisted. I thought it was asking for trouble turning it anyway?

I think it's something like that. There's detangling work to be done anyway so hopefully it'll be obvious once I've got it apart.

That's the one. The address was wrong on the trolley decoder. Reprogrammed it on the power cab and it came to life.

The rotation motor is fine one way and tries to turn the other but fails.

Think there's a duff connection to the magnet but currently the strings need attention.

I've got the troubleshooting guide. It's slightly helpful.

Rotation only working one way and no magnet, but we're half way there.

What's up with it?

Only 2 of its 6 functions are working currently. And one of those is a light.

Still need to find a fix for the Hejan crane as still wot working.

I've got it in bits at the mo. Fingers crossed.

Looking good. Are we keeping the be livery?

And what's more, the photos are the right way around. Looks like you've cracked it.

There are 4 planes of movement though, plus an electromagnet. Lot of amps for an n gauge chip.

The blue one looks ace, I was hoping you'd found a way to motorise it that you could share with us all!

Not yet unfortunately. It is a much nicer looking model but I fear much to fine too be able to site the motors in there. Then there's the small matter of controlling it :S. 

What's the crane? Is it the Heljan with some modifications or is it scratch built?

That depends which crane you're asking about. The red one is Heljan's and is unmodified. The blue one is kit built, re-painted and weathered.

Very true. But I was actually pointing out that we have 3 invites in the workings, not 2.

Ahem... 3 

And a cruel close-up of the DMU fleet. Lightly weathered on underframes and roofs, as per the prototype.

I think last 10 years is a fair assessment.

We try to keep the stock interesting with a variety of 60s, other deisel freight, units and a rather special yellow train (I won't spoil it for anyone coming along next week).

We must find the rotate button on your computer.

I just remembered one...

I was at an exhibition (I think it was Wakefield) and someone had left a mug on an overbridge. I asked the operator if it was to scale. He wasn't impressed.

Echoing the comments of others, but great work on the tunnels, walls and pointwork. Just the slight modification of the standard geometry has really lifted it. Have you noticed any effect on running through the points you've changed? (for better or worse)

Wow, this is a great layout with great photos. I can't believe I've only just come across it.