81A Oldoak

I know Cwmbran and will drive past on the M4. I'll send details privately as soon as I know when my daughter is due back.

Yes, that's me. Do you live in Cardiff?If so, my daughter is studying at Cardiff University and I will be driving her back next month and perhaps we could meet. Regards, Chris.

This is a splendid layout and I am enjoying following progress. The pits are very impressive. I agree with your comment about signalling. John Fitness is a superb practitioner of the art and S&T is an aspect of the hobby that I particularly enjoy. Attached are some shots of my scratchbuilt GWR 7mm scale signal box that appeared in the Railway Modeller a few years ago. Looking at it now, the interior needs papers, log books and wall notices to bring it to life. I also have a signalman awaiting painting. The signal was built from a Scale Signal Supply kit. Regards,

This is a cracking good layout.

I think I shall have a go at making some copper-clad track with Code 100 FB rail for industrial use. It looks very effective here. I need a three-way tandem, but the one I have built from C&L parts with BH rail looks a little heavy and too-well-engineered for the industrial setting I have in mind.

Tim, I discovered this splendid forum yesterday while searching for some information about the JLTRT CCT. I have found this kit to be very frustrating. The instructions are not worthy of such a description, I had to ask for missing parts to be sent and the whitemetal castings, especially the battery boxes, required much effort to make them presentable. After a lot of work it is starting to resemble the prototype. I have a JLTRT GWR Fruit D waiting to be built and I hope it is easier than the CCT. Then it will be on to the Class 25; I still find it odd that Heljan has not produced a Rat. The section about the EasyBuild DMU very helpful as I have a Class 108 waiting to enter the works. Do you use DCC? Most of my 7mm scale locos are fitted with DCC sound, but I am still unconvinced by the steam offerings. The diesels are better and my Hymek brings pleasant memories of the west end of platform 12 at Bristol Temple Meads in the early Seventies. However, I am considering stripping out the DCC and reverting to DC. I would be interested in your thoughts. Regards, Chris Klein

Very nice job. No idea what you were worried about.

I agree with Chaz, no hiding lights under bushels.

The 85A Hunslet was a splendid model. I picked this one up on eBay for £85. A buffer was missing , some handrails were broken and there were no reversing or brake levers. All of these faults were easily corrected. I then added lamp irons, sand-pipes, guard rails over the bunker spectacles, front steps and operating gear for the sand-boxes. I fitted DCC sound. She was a nice model, but has since been sold as I have a surfeit of Hudswell Clarkes.

Chaz, Here is a colour shot of a Deltic at Bell Isle with some retaining wall in the background: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=holloway+railway+bank&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=0AD84910112D39B57C7D51B25A5D3EF8652A0126&selectedIndex=2 It might also be worth flicking through the original version of the Ealing comedy "The Lady Killers" as several scenes were filmed in the same area. Regards, Chris

Up bright and early Chaz. I think I shall try to finish construction of my JLTRT BR CCT kit today. I think JLTRT's instructions must be among the worst in the world. Chris

This an interesting thread. We looked at the feasibility of making the MSLR Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 side tank loco that became LNER J64, which has the same wheelbase and wheel diameter as the Ixion model. Unfortunately, we would have to move the gear train and the motor would emerge into the cab, all of which would have meant a complete re-tooling of the chassis and no economies of scale. Anyway, I have attached a profile of the J64 with a rough outline of the Ixion chassis superimposed to show the problem. J64 profile with HC ST chassis profile.pdf

Is there a better reason?

I doubt many people would have predicted the day when an O Gauge model would be described as "run-of-the-mill" and off-the-shelf". I take that as a form of compliment. One of Ixion's aims was to produce a relatively inexpensive point of entry to O Gauge. It is much easier to hack about one of these than buther a much more expensive piece of metal. Keep us posted on the progress.

Great job and It is fun. If only there was magic wand - and I don't mean a chequebook - that could produce baseboards and wiring in an instant. Chris

I like it too!

Rear steps are also mis-aligned, but I'm not sure I should be encouraging such cruelty to our off-spring.

I'll start a new thread when I get back from Cornwall. I know how Chaz feels about anything that is not out of the East.

Up bright and early Chaz. The edging is very neat. I was hauled by a GWR 42xx on the Bodmin and Wenford yesterday. Most of the line is 1 in 40, which made for some spectular sounds and sights. It has inspired me to crack on with my JLTRT 52xx, which has been grinding through the erecting shop for over three years.

I'm feeling rather guilty that I set this particular hare running, but the signals are beauties powered by servos with realistic bouncing.

I have just spent a pleasant evening with Chaz admiring a couple of the boards for Dock Green and looking at his fixed Ridley Wharf layout, which is one of the nation's best kept model railway secrets. Everything about Chaz's work oozes with quality from the construction of the baseboards to the very fine signalling and I consider it my good fortune to live just ten minutes away. I have come away inspired to finish some of my many half-built projects. His charming wife Sue also taught Art to some of my children when were they were at Thornden School in Chandler's Ford. Meanwhile, design work on the Ixion Fowler progresses well.

I have also looked at this loco with similar thoughts. Do you have an Ixion Hudswell Clarke? I have some spare body parts I can let you have for some vivisection.

I use Halfords cellulose thinners to achieve a blistering effect on enamels (Humbrol, Revell, Precision, Railmatch). It is also very effective for cleaning my airbrushes between colour changes.

One of the finest railway photos ever taken, It is in my edition of GWR Branch Line Album" by Ian Krause and was the first railway book I ever bought in 1972.