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Painted samples arrived in the Model Rail office on Friday 18 March and they look good. Advance orders will be taken on the new Model Rail shop phone number from Monday 21 March. Delivery is expected during the summer. CHRIS LEIGH

The model commissioned by Murphy's Models is our standard Sentinel but in Irish livery. No tooling changes have been made. CHRIS LEIGH

In response to several questions, you WILL be able to order the Sentinel on line - possibly as soon as next week (the on-line system, that is, not the model). CHRIS LEIGH

All the details are in the next issue. It wouldn't do to spoil the impact by busting the embargo! CHRIS LEIGH

The ADVANCE ORDERING details for the first four Sentinel liveries are in issue 155 which should be with subscribers on 21 March and in the shops a couple of days later. We do not expect to have stocks of models till the early summer. The advance ordering arrangements are with the NEW MODEL RAIL SHOP operation. CHRIS LEIGH

Yes, we are doing a quantity of Sentinels in CIE livery for Murphy's Models. Sorry that things have gone quiet - it's purely because we've nothing to report. The painted models have gone off to China for them to copy the liveries and we're waiting for some finished samples. Once these arrive we should be able to OK the start of production. I guess delivery will be about 3 months from that point. There won't be any ordering details until we've set up the new Model Rail shop arrangements, hopefully in the next few weeks. CHRIS LEIGH

At approx 18.30 on March 4 the first train ran on the new layout - a complete circuit, that is. I had run over a few yards of track in the storage yard several weeks ago, but today's run marked the completion of the outer track on the British section of the layout. The honours went to a Hornby 'T9' and the Imperial Airways set. A '28xx' followed, with the same rolling stock, including a 12-wheel Pullman just in case there were any rough spots to be found. I discovered that I've forgotten how to wire an anolog layout with Electrofrog points (if I ever knew) and I had put in far too many insulated rail joiners. I've taken out several and all now seems OK. So now work will start on the 'up' line, if I can resist the temptation to run the Bachmann 4CEP this evening. Anyway I will run out of Woodland Scenics trackbed before long, so it will be a trip to Trains 4U in the morning.

Yes, but you can't expect the farmer to agree with you. I spent a bit of time looking at the NIMBY aspect around Wendover. While I fully support the need for HS2, I wouldn't if I owned one of the houses that's going to be bulldozed. Especially as, in some cases, moving the railway a few yards one way or another might make it unneccessary to demolish property. However, I don't have much sympathy for the 'spoiling the countryside/view' brigade. They already have a motorway and a pylon line which do far more harm to the 'view'. CHRIS LEIGH

Maybe only the four ex-WR AC Cars, then, which went LATE (that is around 1966) to Scotland. From CLOSE association with W79976 I can say categorically that it never CARRIED an SC prefix although I don't doubt that it was ALLOCATED a Scottish prefixed number and may even have appeared on the books (including the ABC) as SC79976. However, the one side panel still in original green still shows the W quite clearly without a trace of an SC. Visitors to Loughborough GC, where the railbus now resides behind the loco shed, will be able to see the W79976 lettering still unaltered inside both cabs. As an aside, I know enthusiasts like these things to be neat (item transferred to another region = prefix changed immediately) but in reality they weren't. Coaching stock and DMUs moved between regions but didn't tend to get re-prefixed until they were 'shopped' - unlike steam locos where you could simply swap shedcode plates (though that didn't always happen either). Is there any concrete evidence that railbuses were ever shopped in their ten year career? W79977 was shopped at Swindon and repainted after accident damage but I suspect the other ACs were never shopped. They retained their original livery with 'whiskers' till the end. W79976 had 138,000 miles on the clock before its clock was stolen while at the Colne Valley Railway. CHRIS LEIGH

I understand it is alleged that 70012 has been 'dropped' while unloading at Newport today. CHRIS LEIGH

The outer curve in the picture is over 4ft radius and the inner one on the flat plywood is about 2ft 6in-3ft if I recall correctly. The problem curve hadn't been installed when the picture was taken. It runs underneath the outer curve but cuts through to the inner curve and climbs at the same time

Yes, the curves are the big problem. I have some Walthers Empire Builder stock which is recommended for no less than 2ft radius, which is what I've tried to use as an absolute minimum. However it is tight to 2ft on the far end and there's no way that stock or any 12-wheel diesel will go round it. At the moment I'm trying to decide whether I go for only using eight-wheel diesels and the 'more flexible' rolling stock on that ramp. There isn't room to re-lay it with a wider curve. I've tried some super-elevation without success and I may do some subtle adjustment of the slopeas it seems to be the vertical displacement of the outside rail that causes the problem. At the nearer end I've ensured that the curves are closer to 3ft radius. All too complicated! If I hadn't tried to re-use bits of the old layout I would have had the freedom to lay it out as it needs to be. Can't discard the big trestle bridge, though, its one of my best efforts.

This is my first attempt at a blog, so if I get it all wrong, I apologise. Just felt it was time to share the experience of trying to adapt bits of the old layout to suit the new space. Essentially, this is 'Chris Leigh Unplanned'. I've always told people that planning a layout is essential. So just why I decided to go ahead without a plan, I'm not sure. The old (HO) layout was round the walls of a room and viewed from inside. Now its an island location, viewed from the outside. That meant that all the curves go the wrong way, for a start. I also want to build a 'OO' layout inside the HO, the two separated by a backscene. Got some nice kitchen units to provide cupboard space under one side and put half inch ply on the top. Then decided to lay hidden loops on the cabinet top, 7in below baseboard level, as need somewhere to 'store' trains. A pair of 1 in 30 inclines connect these hidden loops to the baseboard level. As they climb, the inclines cross, one up and one down, between the OO and HO layouts. I'm not sure I could have drawn a plan, even if I'd tried. In the end, I cut countless plywood curves and numerous 3 by 1 supports and fitted bits in as I went. It's now about 75% complete but the as yet unbuilt section includes the lift-up access to the central area and will be even more complex. I'm wondering just what I've got myself into......

LNER is unlined. In fact none of the first batch has any lining. CHRIS LEIGH

Very nice photo going in the next (but one) Model Rail (issue 152) CHRIS LEIGH

The first batch of four liveries (plus one for Murphy's Models) are the top four from the original livery survey that we did. The ones which got most votes are the ones we're doing first, as promised. Subsequent batches with different liveries will be done after the first batch has sold through. CHRIS LEIGH

We can't confirm a price yet, so the ordering details will have to wait. The price shown in Britain's Model Trains has already been overtaken by events. CHRIS LEIGH

Was there any evidence of the progress on this model at Warley last weekend and does anyone know if delivery is still planned for early 2011? (quote) There was a sample in 'works silver', complete except for the buffer heads. We borrowed it for photography. I don't think I'm giving away any state secrets if I say it weighs heavy, runs well, has drive to both axles and a full interior in the passenger saloons. The chassis is cast and largely hidden by the WMD's skirting. The other railbuses will require a VERY different chassis, presumably that's why they aren't progressing so quickly. CHRIS LEIGH

We change its direction every once in a while and we even stop and have a play with it now and then! Attempts to double-head with a Hornby L1 proved unsuccessful, however! CHRIS LEIGH

It's a reasonable test of a new motor. It will be 100 hours cumulative as we can't leave it running overnight. It is reasonable to assume that level of running - ie 6-8 hours per day for 12-15 days - is more strenuous than it will get under any 'reasonable use' conditions by a customer. We're not trying to test it to destruction, merely to ensure that it will stand up to reasonable use. It will likely be doing some of that running at the Warley show this coming weekend. CHRIS LEIGH

BTW are we to assume that this year's NRM model is the GC 8K and not some new, more exotic, tooling I wonder?) (quote) You might like to assume that. I couldn't possibly comment. CHRIS LEIGH

I wasn't aware a price had been shown in Britain's Model Trains. I haven't really been closely involved in this project but we were hoping to get in around the £75 mark. Bear in mind that the VAT change in January is likely to affect the final price. The model will be available through the MR shop - that is by mail order, telephone or online and I'll post the details on here once we're ready to do so. We still have a way to go. The test model has run for 4 days so far but will need to run for 12-15 days before we can sign off the mechanism. The decoration has to be sorted out and we are providing hand-finished samples for Dapol to copy. We plan to have these samples on show at Warley unless they have to be sent off urgently before then. CHRIS LEIGH

It was running bunker first in the video. It has been running 'forwards' today but the front looks like the back anyway...... CHRIS LEIGH