Kelly

Probably Mk2 (possibly some Mk1 still as Mk2 was start of 87) Sierra's, Sierra Saphire's started appearing around '87 too. (Orions and Escorts were Halewood), and the Fiesta (mk2 until '89) were produced at Dagenham around that time. There might have been models produced as export ones after the previous generation model had been replaced for a few years either side too. A lot of engines were made there too iirc.

Afternoon all. Lovely weather here in Nuneaton (at other half's for the weekend for my birthday). Hope everyone is well, and if not speedy recovery. Meal out for birthday is booked for this evening and Richard is baking a cake :-) Tomorrow is railex in Aylesbury with Natalie, should be a good show. It goes flat etc if left too long (Richard found this with the hobgoblin ale kegs aldi sell. There's a big difference between best before and sell by dates. Sell by dates being mostly the shops trying to get us to buy more. Best before is a 'safe margin' for food to be safe to eat, they work out how long it takes for dangerous bacteria to grow in a given product and then add a bit extra for the date that has to be applied. So of course most stuff is safe for a few days or more past the date, but it varies a lot depending on how it is stored. My fridge seems to be so good at keeping stuff cold, it lasts a lot longer usually I find, so dates become arbitrary. Some products like flour, washing powder and the like *do* have a shelf life after which they don't quite work as they're meant to (flour goes clumpy etc, washing powder loses effectiveness after about 6month.

I remember using a very similar type of unit when my father last set up a model railway when I was a kid. Solid and dependable he called it, I called it owchy on foot when it fell off the table The seller is a business with a name like that, so they can't use the usual eBay disclaimer of private sellers being exempted from certain laws. Trading standards would probably like to have a word with said business owner if they became aware i'd imagine, as would insurers if someone bought it and set their place on fire...

Another option of course is to move it slightly so it doesn't need to straddle the join line.

The traverser looks good Pete. I'm thinking of doing similar at some stage, though my plan is to have the traverser break down into 2ftx2ft sections to be able to shorten/lengthen as needed and make for easier storage/transport. Still to figure out the details of how though lol, but first boards should be getting ordered soon I'm hoping from Tim Horn As for the barrow crossing/join. I'd caution using magnets, it could cause you all kinds of potential problems, as they'll attract all the fillings and other bits of metal that can build up over time, and if you ever go with a train detection system that uses magnets it'd interfere, could interfere with speakers in sound fitted locos too possibly.

Baker Street is a cut/cover with vents iirc as it was part of the original Met line.

Evening all. Back home now and very tired (and very achy) after a lovely ExpoEM weekend. Bought a few things (Mike King plans, a Q1 etched chassis and a class 58 as well as a few odds and sods). Hope everyone is well? if not speedy recovery. My wrist is rather achy after such a busy weekend.

Injuring my wrist has pretty much curtailed much planning or work on this project atm sadly. Whilst the wrist is mostly fine (nothing broken), it is aching too much trying to use a mouse (GP thinks a sprain/soft tissue damage etc). However, have picked up today a B6 P4 point kit from C&L (swapped for the EM one I got at Ally Pally) and a length of P4 flexible track. Am planning to rework the plan in templot when my wrist is able to cope with extended periods of mouse use. Then end of May/early June I might order the first boards... funds permitting of course (as always sadly).

Afternoon all. Hope everyone is well? if not speedy recovery. My wrist seems to have started playing up so off to GP Friday to get it looked at. Sorry to hear about Jock, RIP. I'm reminded of Terry Pratchett's words on the subject though. “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away...” ― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

That is the ready to run price I think, the kits are about £75-150 depending upon the number of cars.

Great to see a new range of better RTR OO track/pointwork coming to market. Best of luck with it.

Afternoon all. Hope everyone is well? if not, speedy recovery. Wrist is improved, with just aches now thankfully. Though it does seem I picked up a cold over the weekend.

Indeed it did. It reinforced my opinion that MERG's CBUS/DCC solution is the way forward. Natalie being left handed has caused a bit of debate on which is the best system handset wise, today gave her the opportunity to try the MERG CANCAB (their DCC handset), which proved suitable for her. So that answered that question. Also had chance to give soldering on one of the kits a try, which helped as its been many years since I attempted such. So a very worthwhile visit. Natalie also took the opportunity to browse some of the archive of magazines/books the LWMRS have at their clubrooms (where the group meeting was held). Everyone there was helpful and friendly, so hopefully we'll go again end of June for the next one. We'd considered joining the LWMRS in the past, though it proved unsuited for logistical and economical reasons sadly. However, a member of Coventry's MRS was there, so I had a chance to have a chat about the club and will look to go along to a running night of theirs next month hopefully. As for the school stuff, this was back in the 80s/90s when I was at primary school in SE London. I just never really got on with the teachers there in general.

Evening all. Now back home after a rather good and informative MERG area group meeting about the MERG CBUS/DCC systems. Wrist is aching still, but improving thankfully. Expect it to make a full recovery by the end of the week I suspect all going well.

Morning all. Up early for MERG area meeting in a couple of hours. Wrist is sore still, but not a great deal of swelling or loss of movement. Hope everyone is well, and if not, speedy recovery. The weather is looking to be a nice day here today.

It is rather sore this morning, but have most of the movement back in it. So I think I've hopefully gotten lucky in terms of avoiding breakage. I broke the same wrist when I was 9, and whilst everyone left handed got a whack with the ruler by the English teacher if they used said left hand, I was forced to use my left hand due to the plaster cast on the right. This I recall didn't endear me towards said teacher... thus, I've remained at least a bit ambidextrous as a result and can write with either hands if I have to. Will try to remember to mention to that to them, need to drop C&L an email before Bracknell to make sure they have the bits there ready for me to collect/exchange. May be easier to just exchange the entire thing mind.

Afternoon all. The wrist mostly aches now thankfully, so thinking I've avoided breaking anything Hope everyone is well? speedy recovery if not.

That works rather well

Evening all. Not been on ER for a little bit due to one reason or another. Hope everyone is well? if not, speedy recovery. Myself, I've managed to hurt my wrist by falling over (my walking stick slipped on some gravel in a car park, dumping me on the ground, breaking fall with wrist). It hurts, but I'm hopeful I've gotten away without breaking anything, but have had Natalie strap it up for me to help it heal better. Last weekend was a busy one, with a trip to Wakefield for Scalefour North, well worth the trip. This weekend sees us going to the Leamington and Warwick MRS club rooms for the Warwickshire/North Oxfordshire MERG area group meeting, which should prove informative and will be the first MERG event I've attended since joining.

No real further updates alas. Other than that is the decision to switch from EM to P4 after being inspired at Scalefour North last weekend. Having spoken with C&L it seems I can swap the parts I need for P4 for the point kit (template and track gauge). I've edited the Templot plan to be redrawn to P4. I still need to rework the single slip on the left and aim to redraw the crossover to try to make it not on a transition curve to flatten it a bit more. I intend when funds allow to join the Scalefour society at a future show. However, that will have to wait, as this evening at slimming world I managed to fall over and have hurt my right wrist (I'm right handed), hopefully nothing broken. In terms of electrics/DCC there is a Warwickshire/North Oxfordshire MERG area group meeting I'm attending with Natalie on Saturday, which should prove informative. This will be the first MERG event I'll have been to since joining in March.

You could always do a micro/diorama sized layout for some of these thoughts, much quicker and easier to put together and crucially easier to transport.

I did have a look at a couple when at scalefour north today. Will give them consideration when I do another kit after the first, will start with the c&l B6 and go from there.

Thanks :-) No, not made a start yet. Have had a rethink today after going to the scalefour north show in Wakefield and thinking I'm going to redo the plans to p4 rather than em. Part of the reasoning being that I'm going to have to remoter and change the wheels anyway, so might as well go that extra 0.63mm. Was impressed by the help and advice from the scalefour society I received today too. Have had a word with c&l today and they'll swap the gauge and template so I don't have to get a whole new kit. Won't collect that till expoem most likely though.