tender

I think your right George. Already have a Dapol (ex Loinheart) 64xx Pannier in early BR, a A1X in Southern Wartime Black to be re-branded into early BR plus a Tower Brass (San Cheng) 87xx Pannier that i picked up of ebay for a song that needs a full paint job. Dapol are supposed to be releasing a 14xx in the next month or two so i guess with that i'll have enough locos without have to resort to building. Now what about some coaches..............

Hi George, I did consider a Finney M7, or a Connoisseur O2 when i was at Telford but had other priorities at the time. I'm now more leaning towards a Western Region layout so will be having a rethink. All depends on whats available.

Hi George. To make a double slip, start off with a turnout of suitable size, goto the 'tools' menu, in the drop down select 'make slip', then select type of slip, double, single etc from the list of options. Easy eh.

Hi George. I measured the height difference to be about 3mm between the Marcway track and code 124 rail on 1.6mm copper clad. Getting to grips with Templot now, its not that complicated as long as you don't want to do anything fancy. I've mounted a Mega Bass speaker in the 08 that I already had ready for the decoder.

Nothing new on the wagon front, but did fit a sound decoder and speakers to my Dapol 64xx Pannier and 08. The 08 has the wrong sound file but will get it re-blown at Wigan. Been trying to get my head around Templot to draw a track plan. Made some progress with the main running lines but still undecided about the sidings.

I hadn't noticed that, must be getting old.

Another novice here, but doesn't the 31.5mm gauge use 1.5mm flange ways instead of 1.75mm to avoid wheel drop? O-MF?

Looks interesting, but who sells it, everyone google finds is 'ordered on request' or 'Out of stock'? Sorry Andy for clogging up your layout thread.

Hi Don. Was was going to have a go at track building with chairs but couldn't get hold of any at Telford and after reading the supply problems on the C&L thread i might have problems going down that route until Phil gets this sorted. Soldered Copperclad is another option, and i can add cosmetic chairs when they become available but maybe not quite as nice looking.

Thanks Andy, much the same then as i did with Peco code 75 on Camel Quay.

Hi Andy, Looks like you'll have this one finished by the weekend at this rate. I've not decided what point work to use on my O gauge layout as yet and as this is all very new to me i cant say that i've taken that much detail notice of O Gauge point work at exhibitions. Can you tell me if the switch blades on the PECO turnouts are hinged (as in their OO gauge) or are they continuous up to the frog?

Well its early days for me with O gauge so i've only been able to push the wagon through a bit of point work by hand, but it certainly seem to be an improvement over the non sprung wagons. I have a decoder sound chip arriving today so will be able to get a loco chipped and running shortly to do a bit more testing. The phosphor bronze wire was from Eileens Emporium.

I must admit having laid cork on my 4mm layout it made very little if any effect to sound deadening. If your looking to reduce board noise i would suggest foam as Grahame has shown above.

Hi Peter, I'd be inclined to keep DCC and DC separate, as other members have commented the potential for creating smoke only needs a misplaced switch or lapse of concentration and poof. Keep the DCC for Water Mill Halt and convert BoM to DC would be my advice. If you have DCC Cobalts on BoM they should also work on DC IIRC.

The three wagons more or less complete apart from a bit more paint, transfers and weathering. Not sure what couplings to go with at present so will leave the three links in place for now. A parcel arrived with 10 yards of track yesterday from Marcway, ordered from the show last weekend.. This can bee seen in the above photo sitting in front of a length of Peco track. Sleeper spacing is slightly wider and are about 3mm longer as well as a slightly bigger gap between the rail and the webbing between sleepers. The sleeper spacing seems to be to the same standard as that from a Templot O Gauge printout. The track plan is still in progress so nothing will be laid for a bit. Made a start on a Bedford Coal Lorry from a resin kit also picked up last weekend. Can't say that i'm particularly impressed with some of the mouldings, the worst being the chassis which has quite a few trapped air bubbles making it a bit fragile in places. Still, its gone together fairly well with just the cab interior and scales to complete, and of course painting and weathering. Will be on the look out of a 7mm scale coal man.

That sector plate looks impressive, how much space does that leave for the scenics?

..........and likes sitting down on the job!

Which shop was that Andy?

Thanks Andy, I have some lead shot somewhere that i was going to use for additional weight glued in with PVA but i've heard reports that the pva reacts with the lead and swells up so i think i'll try and get some liquid lead at the Wigan Show.

Hello, everybody. I hear that some of you missed seeing me on the Tour of Didcot. I did pop out a few times, as you see above, but you have to keep out of the rain when you are just a cuddly toy. Maybe, I should invest in some wet weather gear.... You will be sad to hear that I did not get to the recent Ffestiniog expedition at all. There was a very good reason for that. While Tender and Suvvern were out getting scared stlly enjoying themselves, I was doing the Back to School run on Ivor. It is always a joy to do this, even in the rain, as the children are all excited at going up a year, or off to a new school in their new uniforms.* Of course, you do know Ivor has made the odd trip up a quarry line or two. It may be great on a lovely sunny summer's day, but in the rain, hail, ice, snow? Not so great! Anyway, I am delighted to post a few pics of my companions' trip up (and down) the mountain. I am not superstitious, but I must point out the journey number... Just unlucky I had to miss it. * In other words, THEY FORGOT ME! Journey 13: Monday 3 September 2018 Ffestiniog Railway on the Gravity Train Tender and Southern42 Using Ffestiniog TTs Minffordd to Dduallt MONDAY 3rd September: Steam Loco + Slate Waggons • Depart Minffordd @ 08:30 • Arrive Dduallt @ 09:25 Gravity Train: • Depart Dduallt @ 09:35 • Arrive Minffordd @ 10:15 0750 The guests arrive at Minffordd for a cuppa and Briefing. 0820 Everyone goes outside to meet the train 0828 Everyone is aboard the slate wagons buffer to buffer ready to depart for Dduallt. 0845 Smoke, steam and showers of smut fall down behind LINDA. The train passes Minffordd and Penrhyn stations, and stops at Tan y Bwlch where they could get out and stretch their legs but just for a few minutes. 0905 LINDA, taken from the Boneshaker Gravity Train at Tan y Bwlch. The train eventually comes to a halt where the "deviation spiral" takes the line over the top, just short of Dduallt Station. Dduallt back to Minffordd 09.28 With LINDA uncoupled from her load, the Gravity Train is let loose . 09.29 and runs free down the mountain 09.34 through the tunnel 09.35 and views across the valley. 10.15 At Minffordd waiting in the loop for the 10.15 from Porthmadog hauled by MERDDIN EMRYS before continuing back to the Yard. BLUE TIMETABLE Porthmadog 10.05 Minffordd 10.15 Tan y Bwlch 10.45 Blaenau Ff. 11.20 Porthmadog My companions then drove down to Porthmadog for a longed for cuppa and were greeted by the 11.25 to Blaenau Ffestiniog, hauled by No. 190 LYD. The Route See the route on Ffestiniog's website. https://www.festrail.co.uk/route.htm Zoom in to see more detail (+/- in bottom left corner). Click on the circles to see more about the stations. Dduallt is the circle left of "FFESTINIOG". This is where the line spirals round the Ffestiniog power station. Thanks for looking in.

Cheers George, just started a new thread 'Ray's 7mm Workbench', hope you pop in and supply some of your wisdom from time to time. A layout thread will follow when I've got something to show.

Well the bugs finally bitten, so to start off this thread here's some shots of a few Parkside Wagon kits i picked up at the weekend. The only digression from the instructions so far was the addition of some springing on the axels. As supplied he axel boxes slide nicely in the W irons but i don't see the point if theres nothing to stop them just sitting on the end stops. So some 0.5mm phosphor bronze wire was bent up and attached to the chassis via four 0.5mm holes and a spot of epoxy to support the axels. Bodies have been given a quick spray with some Halfords primer before adding buffers. I'll try out the sprung wagon on some track before deciding to do the others but it looks Ok to me and was simple to do. Adding a bit of additional weight might be beneficial as well.

See below, folks!

Yes, afraid so, the bug finally got me. Just starting a layout to replace CQ but haven't got room to get it all up in one go so interesting times ahead. I've started to gather a bit of stock, mostly RTR tank locos and a few wagon kits, but would like to have a go at a loco kit once I've got some track down to play with. Probably a Connoisseur O2, Finney 7 M7 or B4 if I can find one.

Hi Peter, Good to see you back building again and the problems with the shed behind you now. So is it to be DCC or DC. From what I remember most of your layouts were DC but I know you did at least one DCC and converted quite a bit of stock. All the best. Ray.