Miss Prism

I like this. Good scene 'blockers' at either end. I wouldn't want to put you off the jigsaw sections, but I do wonder whether you really need them - they too have edges and boundaries that need careful disguising, and that's not easy where the ground is flat. The baseboard joint on the running lines is hidden (a bit) by your PW Dept, but this will depend on how big those buildings are and at what the layout default 'eye level' is. Similarly, the front coal depot office, if removable, could simply be placed across the baseboard joint, as you have shown. I think the biggest visual challenge is the backscene, particularly at the left-hand side. (The essentially flat East Anglian terrain makes backscenes very problematic, and I can't help wondering sometimes if backscenes are better absent in such cases.)

Having done a quick check, the K's kit end is a 'pseudo' corridor end style, so making it suitable only for a K15 (or K16 if you add a corridor connector). K15s did run on Dean bogies, but many received the 8' American style in their later years.

Hornby's curtains look crazier the more I look at them. And where did they get that curtain colour from? Weren't curtains generally matched to the colour of the class upholstery?

What a marvellous euphemism!

Ah yes, thankyou, Adrian. That artwork looks, err, familiar.

There was once a plastic K's kit for the K14/15/16 - the first ever plastic coach kit in 4mm IIRC (1967??), but you won't find one now. There has been an etched kit whose artwork has 'done the rounds', from Tony Hammond, and onto Frogmore, and may now I think be somewhere in the Shire Scenes territory.

Steady on, Cap'n - when the WR re-ballasted a branch line, it was usually a sure sign it was about to close!

Mike - Hawksworths were 64' x 8'11" (9'3" over handles), so I see no reason why they not eligible for the North Cornwall, but I guess my point was, as indicated by others, I've never seen any pics of (G)WR vehicles on the 'withered arm' bit of the line, i.e. with the exception of the odd interloper from Bodmin on the Wadebridge-Padstow section, so I look forward to Adam's picture references. (Edit: have just seen Adam's latest - thankyou!) Nice to hear that foreign BGs were seen at Padstow though, but I guess they must have been uncommon. BGs of any provenance were very rare on branch lines. On the curtains matter, 3rd class compartments on Hawksworths were fitted with them, but I feel Hornby has greatly exaggerated their prominence, both in the 3rd and 1st class compartments. The official drawings do show a Hornby-ish shape, but the drawings were done to show how the curtains worked, and are not representative of how most were 'drawn'/'hung' in normal everyday working.

I would have thought that normal southern CCTs/Utility vans would have sufficed for that line. More to the point, did any (G)WR stock work the North Cornwall?

Hubba, hubba... <picky mode>It's probably the way the light catches the model, but those guard's compartment grabrails do seem to have too much 'to the right'</mode off>

Looking good, Craig. (I've just rediscovered this blog after the last forum 'upgrade' destroyed my favourites list.)

David - your point lock lever should normally be in the 'pulled' position in the frame. The point should only be released for operation after releasing the lock. The starter should not be pullable unless the point is in the normal position and the point locked. The shunt signal should require the point to be reversed, but should not require the point to be locked.

As I see it, there are several parts of the logic: - preventing two catch handles being pulled within a single locking 'cycle'; - ensuring that once a lever has been selected for movement, that lever is either moved completely or is not moved at all, i.e. not half-pulled; - in the case where one wanted to move lever x but instead mistakenly pulled the catch on lever y, and then released the catch on lever y without moving lever y, the frame should still unlock (provided of course that lever y was 'releasable' according to the locking table) and re-lock.

I love mission redesign statements! How's about the locking being initiated only when the microswitch reversion (confirming the locking) is checked to be the same one that initiated the unlocking?

I suspect you will become quickly attuned to the characteristic. I'd never really considered wholeframe locking/unlocking before, but for a 'one signalman in steam' box I can't see a disadvantage.

Ah yes. Sorry, I should have read your previous 'framework' blog. What do you estimate the unlocking and locking cycles to be timewise?

I assume the microswitch switches only while the catch handle is in the pulled position?

Brilliant Mikkel. I was wondering whether the caption should have been 'Damn these electromagnetic couplings!"

At any one time, there is likely to be a mixture - a few newly-outshopped vehicles with a still-noticeably white roof, but the majority of vehicles in various stages of dark browny-grey. I'm inclined to believe that roof weathering was quite rapid, with perhaps only a few months of use (depending a bit on location etc) before there was a significant layer of darker grime. "Edwardian Enterprise" (WSP) is particularly good I think for a guide, but it's very difficult to assess how often rooves were cleaned before WWI. Having said that, there was an interesting discussion a while back on the gwr-elist concerning wagons, and examination of some aerial shots taken in the 1930s showed a surprisingly higher than expected proportion of wagons that were still light in colour. Whatever the choice of roof 'colour', the coverage tends to be very even - a white roof on which some uneven brown has been streaked looks very unrealistic in my view. In most cases, it's probably not a good idea to have a base white colour at the build stage.

3.5 lbs, Ken?

Always good to see pics of the Bay - excellent stuff as usual. Can't help thinking though that your white coach rooves are a bit too pristine, Mikkel, even for your era.

What's the weight balance like on that one, Ken?

I succumbed to a GYSP one yesterday at my local shop. Initial impressions are very good, the bogie sideframes lack a bit of relief depth I feel compared to Dave Alexander castings. Width between bogie sideframes is 22.8 at the bottom of the frame, and about a millimetre less than this at the top of the inside of the frames, so some filing or padding out of the sideframes will be needed for the wider gauges. Axles are standard 2mm non-muffed as far as I can tell at the moment. Heljan have fitted correct 13mm wheels. I'm tempted to use standard 12mm DMU or 14mm coach wheels for conversion provided there is a way of not compromising the buffer height - I don't fancy using AG 13mm ones, which are difficult to fit and get concentric on a 2mm axle without rebushing. Bodywise, I think my only adverse comment is that Heljan have made the top of the cab slightly proud of the top of the shorter bonnet end - it should be flush. Some extensive filing could correct this. There'll be some fun and games seeing how much clearance there will be between the front bogie sandboxes and the inside of the drawbar - this was very tight on the prototype, and Heljan could perhaps have done itself a favour by making the bogie centres a millimetre or so less than what it should be.

In the gushing Hornby magazine review, there was a peculiar phrase concerning the rear axle (whatever the reviewer thought that one was), and described it as "appeared to float in this sample". Can anyone translate this into something meaningful?