Titan

I caved in and got the HST starter pack. It is absolutely superb. The level of detail and the running qualities are hard to believe. I don't know if there have been further improvements recently, but my HST runs far better than the one shown above. I have a "Series three" controller, and the slow speed control is astounding, I can get it to creep along smoothly so slowly you can hardly tell it is moving, and yet it does not stutter or stop. In fact it seems to perform better than my 00 stuff! So if you want to model a carriage washer it will move through at a realistic speed no sweat. The level of detail is good too, you can make out the roof detail on the power cars, the grilles are moulded and not painted, and even the Mk3 coaches have roof ribs! The livery is well done too, even down to representations of numbers and what I presume is the word "Guard" on the rear doors of the power car. Certainly far too small for even the best eyesight to read without a magnifying glass! The only slightly adverse comment i can make is that presumably due to the size of the components, the red tail lights appear a little too close together - the headlights look just fine. An improvement if possible would be to have only the right hand tail lamp as you look at it lit, which was how they operated when introduced and would reduce the 'two red dots near the middle' effect.

Its funny, I used to know a Marine Engineer, he seemed to have the same opinion of Paxmans too!

I am a bit surprised that Hornby have not introduced a basic OLE in their UK range. They own Electrotren which produce a range of OLE not too dissimilar to UK equipment (and much better than the old Triang). It is not expensive either. How hard could it be to just put an extra production run in, put it in the UK catalouge and ship it over?

Unfortunately not, the Class 48 engine is a V12, but the 47 is a double bank in line - basically two six cylinder engines side by side each driving a seperate crankshaft. What this means visually is that on a class 47 engine, all the cylinder heads/block etc are completly vertical, rather than angled towards the the center as on the class 48, and the crankcase at the bottom is much wider due to having two crankshafts inside. However there were plenty of other locos with V12 engines, so as said previously if sat outside a depot or something it would still look the part... Come to think of it I am building a small Diesel depot on my layout.... could well be interested!!!

It really depends upon what level of accuracy you want. If you want something that is close to any of the various UK types, you will have to scratch build, and if you are running a reasonable length double track main line, which would be the typical situation for OLE that could take a long time. The more compromise you are prepared to make the quicker and easier you can get the wires up. I opted towards the quick and easy and used the Hobbex range, which whilst not UK type, does have sufficient in the range to wire any configuration as it is easily adaptable, and it is cheap.

Quite smart, but looks like the one used in a class 48 only, not a 47 as they look quite different.

The footbridge at Taplow won't be touched, it is a bit tight but does in fact have sufficient electrical clearance. Just needs the wire lowering a bit from normal to fit through.

It seems that the beach even has those quaint 'bathing machines' !!

Here a longer version! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rP7QVwn2Cw

Nightstar, I was expecting given your boast that the loco below you gave in your example would by now be fully restored and running given that the photo shows it in 2004, and we are just a matter of a few years down the line... How ironic is that as of 2012, the latest I can find any info of this loco, it seems to in fact not only suffering the same fate as 45015, but there is a very similar discussion on a forum about it too! http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,2836195 There is the implication that some sort of assesment may have been carried out, but ten years on from when the photo was taken I can find no evidence that any progress has been made, let alone that it is in running order!! I kinda hope you can prove me wrong, but does that not somewhat undermine your arguement? It is a pity, because the strategy you outline is sensible, but it seems that in reality over in the US it is just as hard to implement as it is over here....

I was just saving time! On a more serious/positive note I think the problem is people tend to think the only alternatives are to get it running or scrap it. If that was true then one or the other would already have happened by now. I think that the best that can be hoped for is a cosmetic external restoration. This will still take a significant wad of cash, but at least might be achievable. It would be very appropriate on a short length of track outside the Silk Mill in Derby, in place of or maybe next to the Mk3 coach bogie, or alternatively outside of the Roundhouse. It would be a good representation of the heavy Loco building that took place at Derby, many people would get to see it and appreciate it and it could even become a local land mark. Another more ambitious project could be to have it 'sectioned' and displayed in a similar manner to the Merchant Navy 'Ellerman Lines' at the NRM, but that would involve substantialy more cost and time than just having it stuffed and mounted, especially if it was done to the same standard.

I think finding the parts is a very small part of the equation, and far from the most difficult challenge to overcome, which is resources, both in terms of labour and money. Take Deltic 55015 Tulyar owned by the Deltic Preservation Society, 100% complete and in full working order in 1997. It was due a heavy repair, the bogies and body were in poor condition, and the power units had high hours. When the test certificates for the air reservoirs expired, the decision was taken to turn her off and start overhaul. 18 years later it is still ongoing, and the DPS is one of the best resourced Diesel Preservation Societies with a comprehensive inventory of spare parts including five spare power units! (and thats not counting four more that they have which are marine units and share many common parts), although they are admittedly keeping two other Deltics in running order. So anyone taking on 45015 could well die of old age before it gets finished, that is if they don't go bankrupt first!

Aeroplane Blonde!

For a cheap simple shuttle solution try this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-MOTOR-REVERSE-POLARITY-CYCLIC-TIMER-SWITCH-TIME-REPEATER-700-300s-2A-12V-/281181038050?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4177b225e2 Just add a short isolating section at each end of the track with a diode across the gap, so that the train stops where you want and automatically starts in the opposite direction when the polarity reverses.

Surely if they are in containers you won't be able to see them? And you would need a Tardis to see some of those listed 'new' even if you could!

OK fair enough, I guess they re-named it to avoid confusion...

Erm, HST's have never been fitted with Venturas, which are even older than the Valentas! Looking at the Paxman history site, whilst I think it was usual for Paxmans to be blue, there are indeed some shown pink so the VP185 might have been that colour from new. I don't think the ex Mirlees power cars were stored for very long, probably around 18 months.

I am not so sure, Whilst their performance did not justify further development, I think they carried on in service for a while until withdrawn and stored, and then became the first recipients of the VP185's, in the very early 1990's - The first VP185 re-engine was also a long time ago, particularly compared to the more recent MTU upgrades. Then one of them got written off in the Southall crash with the side ripped off clearly showing the pink VP185.

Try telling that to the victims and families of the dead in Bellgrove rail crash, which would never have happened if the train had been fitted with DOO..

Not only that, there are other useful features sniping programs can have - the one I use allows you to put several auctions in a 'group'. It will bid on the first to finish, if you don't win it will automatically bid on the next one. when you win it stops. There was a guy selling brand new high spec but end of line tom-tom sat navs, he clearly had quite a few as he had about half a dozen listings finishing throughout every day. Despite them being identical, the final bid price generally varied widely from just under £100 to nearly £300 when people got carried away. I put all the auctions in a 'group' with a low max bid based upon the lowest price I had seen them go for over the last few weeks and let it run. A few days later guess who was the only bidder ever to pick one up for the starting price of £50...

and the trunks go in the boot!! (Although if was in America I guess their boots would go in the trunk, yellow or otherwise...)

Funnily enough its functionality is not too dissimilar to what I needed for the station throat in my layout, although for compactness I dispensed with two of the slips in favour of putting the required points in the main running lines:

I thought that the number of # matched the number of letters in the censored word? There are six # in the above, and ###### is seven? Edit - it would appear that it maxes out at six. Lets try ###### Nope - it seems you get six no matter how long the word is. No wonder I was struggling to guess which word was actually used, it was taking some time to work through my vocabulary of censored six letter words...

Tee hee! The cars do get rearranged from time to time, I think a lot of the minic cars are back on the cartic where they came from, so there are a few gaps. I suppose it is now more like a Saturday rather than a weekday. Not only that, but they all correctly have no driver! There is also now a barrier and ticket machine at the entrance - which come to think of it includes an 'I've not seen that modeled before' cliche - I will have to get the camera out and post a picture!

tupperware? Hmm, my Station car park is big enough for that, plus I have some double yellow lines on the approach road...