Pillar

Is it really a snowplough? It doesn't seem shaped for it. I always thought it was an 'obstacle deflector'.

I model the North East and had ordered mine on a Rule 1 basis. Good to see it did actually show its face here!

I'm glad you found it useful. That was one of the first locos I converted to P4 and did extensive detailing for. I've definitely become more pragmatic since then given the time it took to finish. I was even questioning whether to do the other two 40s at all, but the new detailing parts from West Hill will probably sway my decision back in favour - not having to make 16 more of those lifting points by hand is a load off my mind! Cheers, Liam

Great work! I did a Bachmann Class 40 a while ago and have been gradually posting my writeup here: https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=164&t=7804 I've seen a lot of people say the Bachmann mdoels needs lowering but to be honest I didn't see the need comparing it with drawings. The Peak model was more suspect I felt. Just typical that the West Hill detailing parts have become available after I spent ages making my own inferior efforts from plasticard and flower wire! On the other hand, I have two more Bachmann 40s to do and those 3D printed bits will make those much less painful!

I've been pondering how to convert mine to P4. I found standard 26mm over pinpoints 2mm axles do just about fit, but the brakegear as you say will need repositioning to avoid fouling the wheels. A bigger problem is how to arrange electrical pickup for the lighting. The factory solution picks up via the pinpoint bearings from half-axles which are live to the wheels. Unfortunately live, uninsulated wheels aren't that common in P4 (or EM I assume), so keeping this arrangement could be a non-starter.

Thanks, I'll see if I can track that down. There is an Arriva one here which is quite interesting, although I'm not sure if the drawings are to scale: https://traincrew.colinjones.co.uk/traction/TractionManual.pdf Edit - This site seems to have the traction manuals and more besides! http://www.locodocs.co.uk/brmanuals/143-144DMMU-Working-Instructions-issue1-1987.htm

Nowhere did I say I wanted 'others to do the leg work'... I'm only asking for advice which could point me to resources I might have missed in my search so far, on the off-chance. Would you rather I took a long trip to photograph a 143 (there are none preserved near me) even if there are drawings available?

Hi all, Does anyone know where I might find any of the above? There seem to be precious few photos of these units out there which are anything other than the standard 3/4 view from platform level. Ideally I'd like to find some decent underframe shots similar to Brian Daniels' excellent collection for locos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brianews/albums/ Thanks, Liam

I was reading through this thread today which sums up the limitations of Hornby's Class 153 model. Although newer and better in a lot of ways than their old 142 and ex-Lima 156, it's nothing like in the same league as Realtrack's 156 and 143, or Bachmann's 158 (or even their 150). Unfortunately it isn't just a lack of finer details or features which can be corrected by modelling; the basic shape of the body is at fault. All of that said, who else would like to see Realtrack produce a 153 to the same standard as their 156? It's a well-travelled class which has worn a lot of liveries, and being a single car the cost would be lower.

NORTHERN SPIRIT! 😁

I recently received my order of buffers from S Kits after sending a list of items and cheque by post. It took a long time to receive though. I tried contacting by email in the interval to confirm the order had been received, but didn't get a response until a message arrived after 2 months saying it was being dispatched. It's still a very good product range though despite the wait. Edit - George at S Kits did also send me the latest price list, which I've attached below for reference. This was correct as of 4th March 2023 when I received it. s list Feb 2022.pdf JPGlist Feb 2022.pdf

Don't forget 262!

I've been experimenting with converting mine to P4. I tried swapping the motors for Mashima 1015 or Mashima 1020, which are capable of fitting to the original gearboxes (although the latter needs either chassis modifications or omission of the flywheels), but there was no real improvement. I think the gearboxes are the issue rather than the motors so I plan to try fitting a High Level Kits Pacemaker unit to see if that makes a difference.

Well i finally got round to testing this, and it turns out I was mistaken as the interior lights are definitely on the 3rd function ouput and nothing higher. Based on Rockhopper's post above, it seems more likely that the interior lights issue must be due to a poor contact somewhere, rather than anything decoder related.

Hi David. I removed the brake yokes planning to refit them, but I ended up damaging them. I'll probably replace with some etches therefore. I don't think the yokes are quite wide enough for P4, but they would probably look and work fine if the brakes were chamfered as you say.