Phatbob

Tell Chris not to through those bl00dy spears at me. (Sorry folks, that's an 'in' joke). See you there.

The idea behind the Tri-ang layout is to have yellow baseboard tops with the edging and drapes etc in red, so as to be reminiscent of the old Tri-ang packaging. Looks better than it sounds, trust me.

I shall be off to Poynton this afternoon to set up Bodmin Generally (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127251-bodmin-generally/&do=findComment&comment=3296421http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127251-bodmin-generally/&do=findComment&comment=3296421). Looking forward to it. Always a great show and I go every year. Nice to not have to pay to get in this time. Do pop in and say hello.

Bodmin Generally will be appearing at The Model Show in Poynton, Cheshire this weekend. http://www.themodelshow.co.uk/?page_id=1271 Do pop in and say hello. Always a great event. Now only plenty of layouts, but also boats (in a pool! ), planes, the whole spectrum of model making.

There is no third rail in the fiddleyard, so that's not the cause of the problem. for the record, the only rolling stock that has given issues with shoe / third rail interface on Star Lane is the Bachmann EPBs. Filing a slight chamfer on the leading edges of the shoe solves the problem. Interestingly, the Bachmann 4CEPs have neaver had any issues.

Sincere apologies for any offence. That was never my intention. It's Hornby I'm annoyed with, not you Sir.

Waste of who's money? The bl00dy thing wouldn't go through a fiddleyard fan of just two points! Given the extra cost of fitting an extra motor in China, versus the saving from only tooling one driving end underframe, is it worth spoiling the ship for a ha'p'th o' tar? I've spent over three hundred hard-earned quid on something not fit for purpose. I think Hornby's shareholders could perhaps cope with 50p less in dividends in the short term to avoid p155ing-off their customers in the long term.. I've had a reply from Hornby wrt to my complaint I sent them, prompt and polite. The traction tyres option is out as no suitable wheel sets are available. I'll wait and see what else they might offer.

No lights in the headcodes boxes in the one I've got, despite what the web-site might have to say about it. Just some rather nasty, "far too shiney" stickers to put over the umber painted headcode boxes. The '4' is way wrong and scarely recognisable. I put them on for the Burges Hill show (only bought the thing the day before!) but they'll be removed and replaced with something offering more fidelity to the prototype. I'm not into DCC, but as there are only internal lights, powered directly off the track, I feel it safe to say that only one decoder is required.

Feels about the same as the previous version from handling the things, but it's not been on the scales for a pukka check.

Thanks for the suggestion, but everything was checked-out and okay. The only issue was the wheel spins and lack of movement. It was fine on plain track on the level and ran pretty well going downhill! It would not go through the points out of the fiddleyard starting from rest. Just spun it's wheels. We developed a method of banking it out of the fiddleyard using the train behind, but that doesn't eliminate the fundamental problem. It looks like putting pick-ups on every coach is generating too much friction. Some modification is required and that's really not good enough afer spending over three hundred quid! Hornby should be doing the development, not their customers (assumes "grumpy old man mode").

I picked up my new Brighton Belle set from my local model shop on Thursday. Looks the dogs danglies. All present and correct. Motor coach bench tested fine. Now the bad news; it was set-up on Saturday for a good running-in session on Star Lane at the Burgess Hil show. What a dissapointment. Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. The 5 car set was unable to exit the fiddle yard without being "banked". Massive wheel spins through the points and on the up-hill part of the layout (the gradients are not that sevre). Previous encarnations of the 5BEL work fine on Star Lane, but this one will need either more weight in the motor coach, traction tyres, or a second powered vehicle. Hopeless. Those of you with gradients, complex pointwork, tight curves or anything other than plain level track on your layouts beware.

Greetings RMweb. Star Lane will out on show at the Burgess Hill exhibition this Saturday. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/136814-burgess-hill-model-railway-club-2018-exhibition-sept-1-2018/ Roundhouse and I, amongst others, will be there making a mess of operating it. Do drop in and say hello. Cheers, Bob.

Have a butcher's here. http://www.warringtontransporterbridge.co.uk/ The friends of the Warrinton Transporter Bridge have provided all their info on the site above. Feel free to join them and help the cause! (Disclosure of self interest: I'm one of the friends of the Warrington Transporter Bridge)

Real unfired bullets? (small ones of course).

In w In what year is your layout set? That's the key in determining whether there would still be periscopes or not.

I rode in a brakevan with a working stove about a year ago on a tour of Scunthorpe Steelworks. Does that count?

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_10_2017/post-1557-0-20758400-1508578557.jpg A link to the thread on my "Bodmin Generally" showing Mike Peace's model of a Hawksworth slip coach (converted Hornby).

Good questions, and I have no idea what the answer is. I suspect that for a new fleet of bimodes the fat ladies would have to get even fatter, with a much beefier diesel engine on board. Then we get into weight issues etc. Of course, the alternative is "back to the future" and have a quick exchange of locos at the appropriate stop. This would be easier if the push-pull sets had a cab at both ends. Better still, have push-pull sets with corridor cabs at both ends and get ultimate flexibility...........

A couple of other reasons why "they" may be looking at loco-hauled push-pull sets rather than units for future XC rolling stock. Firstly, they're cheaper to buy and to operate once you get to about 5 coaches. Secondly, should there ever be an unexpected outbreak of common sense at DafT and a rolling programme of electrification finally gets underway, they offer a far easier upgrade path from diesel to electric traction, possibly with interim use of a new elctrodiesel class? Future savings in replacement costs too as you don't have to replace the coaches and locomotives at the same time, which has to be good for cash flow.

I went along to the show today. Impressed with the size of the show for only a four quid entry free! Do pop along tomorrow if you can. It's for a good cause. Good grub for not a lot of money either. I can recommend the homemade bread pudding. I got some secondhand bargains too. :-)

"......How do you know if you're made it as a railway modeller?......" I felt like I'd "made it" the first time a well respected exhibition manager asked me to exhibit my new layout without even seeing it first! An act of such faith in one's ability builds a sense of achievement that hard to believe, until it happens.

I bought one of these on Friday, a BR green one. Is it my faulty perception, or is it the wrong shade of green? The model appears to me to be BR standard loco green. As built, the colour used on the 07 was didtinctly lighter and more like the old SR malachite green. What is the opinion of the hive mind on this? At the moment I'm seriously considering returning it.

Will the pick-ups actually work this time?

I have used the Fleischmann Profi couplings within a number of fixed rakes in 00. Appart from some errant models, where the NEM standard coupling box is NOT actually NEM standard (e.g. Bachmann MkI coaches), I have no problems with them down to 36" radius curves (N.B. I've not used them on anything tighter than this, so can't comment). I've even used them between 4 wheel wagons in a fixed rake with no issues. I prefer them to the Roco/Hornby type as they are far more robust. Also, as you can bulk buy then (50 at a time IIRC) they work out cheaper too, and a lot cheaper than Kadees for example. They work perfectly well with the Keen Systems products. I glue them in to the open based Keen Systems box with canopy glue (basically, PVA) so if they do fail they can be removed with a bit of effort, without damage. I've also used them for things like close-coupling Hornby 2BIL and 2HAL units on Star Lane. HTH