bigt11

Definitely interested in the N gauge version as well

I've got a sparkmaker and have recently bought a photon. Print quality is about the same. Sparkmaker has a smaller build plate.removing the vat you have to use an Allen key. There is no power switch, you have to unplug it from the wall. It uses memory cards to upload designs and you can only have one design on it at a time. The whole construction is plastic. The photon is metal and a much sturdier design.it uses USB memory stick which will hold a lot of designs and you can choose which one you want to print. The vat is held down by two thumb screws and is much quicker to release to clean. For an extra 50-100 the photon has a lot more functionality for not much more money.

I model in 2mm finescale where there are limits on what you can do - keep forgetting that you 7mm boys sometime have to also make compromises! Agree with Aldi - its not gone down well with some folks around here. Not helped by them leaving it as an eye saw for a year after pulling down what was there. The church is nice, but as with the backs of the shops, its full of lots of bits sticking out. Its also where the Merseyside History Railway Group holder their monthly meetings.

I walk past those buffer stops every day and have not noriced the extra bit in the middle before! It may have something to do with the couplings. There is an electrical box below the coupling to privide comminication between the sets when they couple two together. The underside of the station roof is apauling. They cleaned it up and repainted it a couple of years ago but it did not take long to start peeling again. If you are going to model the houses the other side of the bridge, make sure you do a good job of mine !

The Merseyside Railway Historic Group produce a number of books. Another one you may find useful is called the last Merseyrail signal boxes and their heritage - Part 1 the Wirral line. It includes track diagrams of all the stations as they use to exist, except for Hamilton Square for some reason.

Hi There use to be four class 73 locos used for maintenance/loco recovery. They were used for mainenance and recover. They were diesels, but could also operate from the third rail which they use to do in the loop. The last two left about ten years ago. it does not help for the period that you are running, but the only occasional diesel on the loop is the Network Rail de icing/leaf cleaning DMU. It does not go right around the loop, but goes as far as the second platform at James St, sits there for a while and then goes back to the Wirral. They do run it during the day when passengers are there - have seen it at James St numerous times! The Wrexham trains only go as far as Bidson and then return. For the period you are modelling, there use to be a triangular junction just past Bidston station at the junction where the West Kirby and New Brighton lines join. Not sure when it was removed. if you look at arial photos, part of it still exists in the form of a small siding that the Wrexham train use to use to get clear from the main line befor returning to Wrexham. When the junction use to exist, it was possible to get a train directly from West Kirby to New Brighton without the train having to go through the loop first. Might give you a destination for your diesels? The third platform at Birkenhead North (the one furthest from the station building) is used occasionally when there are operational issues. If there are technical isses with a train from West Kirby or New Brighton, it is usually take into this platform to detrain the passengers who are then put on the next service to arrive on the second platform. The train can then be reversed down the track running beside the running line and taken into the depot for repair. Occasionally it happens the other way around with the train being taken out of service on the main platform and the other running through the third platform. The other time that its used is when there are issues stopping trains running through the loop. They run a replacement bus services from Birkenhead North. Trains are brought into both the second and third platforms from West Kirby/New Brighton and emptied. They then pull forward towards Liverpool and then reverse back over the crossover into the platform by the station building before returning to West Kirby/New Brighton.