tractionman

Thanks, I've made a small start on backdating Spencer Park, posted elsewhere, and worked out a way of building it into Westburnham in the hope of making some progress on layout building and modelling, rather than just buying more stuff!! I've got as far as putting down some cork for the trackbed, but keep on getting sidetracked, so to speak, running my new acquisitions on the roundy in the loft :-) Cheers, Keith

Shame about the autumn steam gala, highlight of the events calendar for me, but the Western Weekend sounds very tempting, especially as I've had to miss out on the diesel gala this year (again). Cheers, Keith

A big thumbs up from me for TrackShack - order placed on Thursday evening, shipped on Friday, arrived in NI Saturday morning, loco on track and running in Saturday pm and very lovely it is too (Bachmann L&YR tank). Excellent service and as others have said, very competitively priced. Cheers, Keith

Just to report, great service from Model Railways Direct, having been tempted by their sales I ordered a few things on Friday, they were shipped on Saturday, and arrived with me this morning, Tuesday, in NI, and over a BH weekend too! All the stuff was very well packed and, as mentioned above, all straightforward to place an order through their very good, easy-to-navigate web-site - lots of email updates on the order came through to me too, so keeping customers up-dated. cheers, Keith

Very nice, reminds me of the sidings at York at the southern end of the station where DRS locos are sometimes to be seen. Cheers, Keith

Another good issue of RM, and I especially like the Kilbowie layout, and as always with RM it comes with a scaled plan of the layout - so useful for those of us still musing over our own track plans! I have a similar amount of space as that used in Kilbowie and I think the suburban station and island platforms look really good, a set up that might work well for me... cheers, Keith

In the latest Railway Modeller (April 2016 issue) there is a lengthy feature on adapting 'Skarloey', step by step, a nice job made of it too. cheers, Keith

Thanks for your interest, alas little has happened on the layout for quite a while - I can't believe two years has passed since I was posting photos of my Deltic! I've had plenty of running sessions over the intervening months but no actual modelling :-( but fingers crossed that will change over the coming months as I am due some leave and might even get round to sorting out the baseboards... cheers, Keith

I saw a green one at Ian Allan in Manchester on Saturday, the first Dapol 73 I have seen 'in the flesh', and I must say it looked pretty impressive in the display stand, colour looked good, finish excellent, and no pointy-upwards buffers etc - of course no idea how it would run, but seeing it inclines me to save some more pennies to get a green one... cheers, Keith

Just got the latest Steam Days magazine (March 2016), always a mag with quality images, and on page 36 in the colour photo feature on Scottish steam is a lovely shot of a grubby green Peckett 0-4-0 (works number 1390), taken in 1964 at a scrapyard, Young and Co, on the Clyde - well worth a look. cheers, Keith

True, but if poss I do prefer to see a model in the flesh before splashing the cash, especially with locos to see if any bits have broken off or dropped off, something which seems to happen so often when I get stuff posted (at least it seems to to me!). Trouble is I don't have a model shop within reach, unless I get a plane or boat, so usually has to be mail order unfortunately... Cheers, Keith

Well put! There was an article in Narrow Gauge World last summer about visiting preserved narrow gauge lines in Ireland (mainly focused on lines in the Republic) and in it the author pondered why they are so under-resourced and not thriving compared to ng lines in GB - there was no recognition, in the article, that the big difference between Ireland (the island of) and GB is relative population size. Norn Iron as a whole has a population equating to that of Birmingham! Accessibility around the island is also a factor, though the new motorways I guess help a bit compared to a few years ago, if you live in Dublin and want to go to Limerick, Galway or Cork. Plus the state of the economy, north and south, compared to pre-2007 is not exactly great... All are factors I think in explaining why a number of Ireland's preserved ng lines are not what we might wish them to be. Still, the article did a good job at least in promoting the lines to those who might want to pay them a visit. cheers, Keith

looking at the photos of the green one (I am most tempted by...): eg post #694 - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/54082-new-oo-gauge-class-73/page-28 I was also wondering about its number font, and then following the Rail Online link above (thanks) checked out this 1962 image of E6001: http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p594593195/h313b6246#h313b6246 which does not show a white stripe either? were white stripes added later? cheers, Keith

I am very tempted... How does it run? I'd be interested to hear. Cheers, Keith

This morning I got this email from Hattons: Hello We thought you may like to know that an item you have asked us to notify when it arrives into stock, has had some information about its release date added or updated. Dapol 4D-006-004 Class 73/0 electro-diesel E6003 in BR green with lower grey panels<http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=74818&utm_source=ItemDeliveryDateUpdated&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4D-006-004>£119.51 Our latest information from the supplier suggests this item will arrive with us on or after Wednesday 2nd December 2015 Whilst we are hopeful this information is accurate, manufacturer lead times are frequently prone to be delayed. This information is to be used as a guide only. We hope that this email has been useful. The Hattons price, until very recently, was still showing at £105, but seems that £119 +/- is now the going rate for the model wherever you look. cheers, Keith

Just spotted this, looks very nice... http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/peckett-0-4-0t-2.html Price stated by Hornby at £79.99. Cheers, Keith

I can't see it anywhere on the web-site under: http://www.locomotionmodels.com/british-model-railways/oo-gauge-4mm/nrm-exclusive-editions-and-collection.htm or am I looking in the wrong place!? cheers, Keith

I agree Mal, and weren't some of those mighty Russian diesel locos just amazing, I just wish the TV producers would give the locos a chance to 'talk' for a change, they must sound great. cheers, Keith