Les1952

My class 08 came secondhand from someone who had lost the centring spring at the front end. I glued the coupling mount rigidly in place and it is quite happy with all my Continental stock on the German layout I'm currently building. There isn't much room for sideways movement at the nose end with the air tanks being in the way, so nothing lost. I'll try it on some Radius 1 curves before building the UK outline layout next year (ish) as this will be industrial flavoured and only use small tank locos and diesels. It is DCC fitted with the narrowest decoder I could find to fit the space. In a more ideal world I think I'd have chopped off some of the plastic either side of the channel the decoder is supposed to fit into. Video shows it and the rather strange class 670 railbus running on Bregstadt, which has had a lot of work done to it since then. The 08 will get a repaint as a mythical one sold to a German private line after BR or NS use. When the front of the layout is clear enough for me to mount the camera I'll try and get some video of it shunting. It now has Easi-shunt couplings which I'm standardising on for anything that needs to shunt actively. The pickups and slow running of the 08 are definitely good enough for it to be used for shunting. Les

I've been using the 08 as a test loco while building Bregstadt, largely as a short wheelbase loco it finds scenic grot that has glued itself to my nice clean track more effectively than a 2-8-2T or a Bo-Bo diseasel would. It has Easi-shunt couplings at both ends and is a very reliable slow mover which can be positioned from a crawl accurately enough for automatic uncoupling and coupling to take place. As a result, although bought largely to test concepts before I start my UK outline layout some time after Hornby get round to issuing their J94, it has gone into Bregstadt's roster and will get re-lettered suitably for a German private railway. As an aside, the Easi-shunts work better in TT:120 than in N, largely because the stock is heavier and there is more resistance, including a little more sideways resistance in the coupling mounts- the Easi-shunts open reliably on the magnet rather than being pulled bodily to one side by the magnet. Heavier stock also has a smaller tendency to run ahead and re-couple when being pushed into place. Les

Having 12 Dapol A4s I would rate them neck and neck. However I totally agree with you on the Farish A3 which failed to be as good as the Minitrix one. Dapol's is much better. The advantage that the TT locos have over the N gauge ones is that the plastic is thinner relative to the scale so looks finer at cab edges. This is one of the places where brass kits have a big advantage over r-t-r in OO gauge. N isn't a scale for viewing very close up- it works much better in the landscape. TT is somewhere between this and the showcase quality the OO gauge fraternity are demanding. Les

Comparing my three Blink Bonnys - one each in N, TT and OO, the TT:120 one definitely looks more to scale when standing on the track and looking from the front- that is also after removing the front couplings from the other two (placed in the box for reattachment when the loco is sold on or to be used on an end to end layout) I have a Continental layout under construction- and an 08 is part of the roster, though when we get enough small prototypes a UK outline layout will follow. I have exisiting exhibition layouts in OO and N, and I am finding that for TT I need to gain a new skill set- partly to do with the track actually being to scale gauge, and partly due to the amount that can/can't be fitted realistically into the layout's scenic area. I'm also properly learning laser-cut kitbuilding- I had to be rescued by LCut when building the shed on OO gauge NO PLACE. In my distant youth I actually built whitemetal kits by Ks and others, and they even ran. I remember the days of exploded diagrams which failed to show which bits wouldn't go past which others, and closely typed instructions which might just as well have been written in Czech. The laser-cut loco shed seen here close to completion takes me back to those days- sheet after sheet of exploded diagrams referencing part numbers not on the parts themselves, and lengthy instructions that ARE in Czech.... Les

Wasn't the Jinty on the list of locos Simon Kohler stated were in the pipeline for Hornby? Is there an alternative that might not be on Hornby's radar? Just a thought Les

and will be as long as they sell....

I think we will see more of the future of TT:120 in the overall Hornby stable when the full range of Class 66 liveries is announced- including the Arnold ones. Remember that there are more class 66 locos working overseas than in the UK, with distribution from Hungary and Croatia to France, the Netherlands and Germany. And with the Bulgarians overhauling and repainting their Class 87s at the moment, a class 87 in release 5 onwards would also sell quite well into the TT:120 market where 25KV is the power.. Les

Interesting at 158 pages with Liliput being seen on the Continent as a minor player. The stuff is good, but the N-gauge stuff is not as robust as it was by some margin, sadly. The Fleischmann N-gauge new items brochure runs to 92 pages, How big is Farish's? For that matter how many pages do the OO Bachmann new items take? Has anyone even seen a printed new items brochure from Bachmann UK? Les

Some of the Q3 throughput can be accounted for by 1:120 hot cakes......

South Notts Show use Signomatic. We get engraved blue plaques that are self adhesive. The plaque I got this afternoon for Bregenbach im Schwarzwald at Ruddington was similar but appears to have been 3D printed. Les

Taking advantage of Kelvin White's liquidation sale- the first batch from him were the BR795 railbus set and the sliding wall vans and railbus trailers. Next we have a Nohab, in MAV livery but when the Iron Curtain was falling the railways of Eastern Europe were liquidising assets so it is feasible one ended up in the Western part of Germany on this private light railway. As A1A-A1A types they would be light enough. It had a Bachmann decoder with it, and despite my dislike of old Bachmann decoders I've used it as the decoder socket is surrounded by quite a lot of bare metal- the Bachmann decoder is encased in blue plastic insulation so doesn't need Kapton tape to protect it. I'll have to get some special couplings for it but in the meanwhile I've put an old-style coupler back onto one of the Piko wagons to act as a converter. The Nohab will be rostered for through freight. Just needs some weathering. Next up from Kelvin an Arnold BR95 which is a little too large for the line, though just about OK on axle load. It will work passenger in rotation with the BR86 and BR94, with the two tender engines only putting in appearances when there is a Plandampf. This has a Next18 socket and although not too difficult to dismantle getting the bits of the front to line up when reassembling it wasn't fun. The vertical boiler handrails down to the cylinders are safely tucked away in the box as I decided I wasn't going to manage to re-fit those... Not the best view of the other end, but it will no doubt appear more as the layout develops. There was also BR215 diesel ( a class being disposed of by DB about the time of the model. This is still in its box awaiting a Plux12 decoder I've not yet got round to ordering... The layout is standing on its end for a week while Bregenbach goes to Ruddington show. All for now Les

The "Not invented here" is probably a bigger reason. The Era system originated outside the Hornby bubble. Les

Layout packed up and ready to take to Ruddington for this weekend's show at the Great Central North. One new operator on Saturday to train. Fortunately there will be three of us there. I ordered a Fleischmann sound-equipped BR140 from Access Models on Monday and it arrived this morning. Set up and ready to go- it will be easier to use than the Minitrix one, which has a very odd sound file. Les

Looking at the Facebook groups (far more numerous than RMWebbers) most people are quite new to the hobby and don't care that the coaches don't match the engines. They'll grow into that, but maybe not until Hornby has had time to line them up... Les

"Not invented here" - didn't it originate with Bachmann, and fail to tie in with the Continental Epochs which were already widespread? Les

Shed and wall progress. The end of the wall has now reached the bank, so the improbable green can be covered over. Below it the shed now has the first of its roof trusses. The improbable green has now been covered with a first layer of static grass. Like all static grass it sticks at the angle it wishes to stick at and some will then allow itself to be dragged nearer to vertical, but it is a hairy green carpet that isn't a uniform shade. Variations and clumps will be applied later. The road will get another coat of grey after next weekend when the layout is re-erected after Ruddington show. The other end. An out-of-sequence pic with more done on the shed. Trigo has arrived and, after an interval, so has its chip. Running in largely successful, though there is a little bogie lift on the radius 2 curves. I'll do the same as I did to 60004 and cut a couple of turns off the bogie spring and apply a little lead to the underside of the bogie to help it stay on the track. It is intended mainly as a showcase queen, but it will make odd Plandampf appearances. Last for this post is an eBay purchase, now fitted with a decoder. A BR280 from Germany. This now completes the roster of off-centre cab B-Bs, or at least will when the Class 110 gets its replacement decoder. There is a Nohab and a BR215 in the next packet together with a BR95 2-10-2T. All I need to complete the roster with spares is another railbus, though the class 212 or 280 pulling three railbus trailers could be a passenger substitute. Les

A new video of trains- the pics will follow later. BR94 with passenger, two shots of the class VT95 set, and the Nohab. More to follow Les

Messy job number one done- the banks have now been plastered. .... and the base layer of improbable green added to give a colour underneath the grass. That will be added in the next day or two as the layout has to come down for a week or so while Bregenbach im Schwarzwald goes to Ruddington show at the start of July. The other end of the improbable green. It makes an improvement on white or wood/card frame. Also in view a couple of the new acquisitions, a pair of sliding door wagons. These were in a batch of goodies with a railbus set and some trailers, bought secondhand. I'm not sure whether to keep these with Tillig couplings or add them to the fleet of vans that will be shunted. I've got the luxury of a few months to decide what goes in which category. Another acqusision in the parcel - posed on the layout with the power off as I've run out of decoders. The 795 set now gives me the basic branch passenger train sets with the Ferkeltaxe behind. A view from the other end. I think this is actually a VT and a VB set, so I'll have to look out for a driving trailer to make the train bi-directonal. I suspect I may also have to do the same with the Ferkeltaxe. In the same batch of goodies (all bought from someone who is moving up to O-gauge) three railcar trailers, BTTB in origin. I'll work on these to make them into a set that can be hauled by one of the small diesels as a backup passenger set. They will get the Bregtalbahn crest over the DR on the sides- I must get on to those nice Fox people and order a transfer sheet.... More later. Les

The frame of the banking of the Donaueschingen end built largely from coffee stirrers and sprues from laser-cut kits. More framing round behind the engine shed. there will be a low wall here. Redutex walling applied to the slope at the baseboard middle. Showing the framing all the way along under the flats block. More to follow. Les

The engine shed and other ground-level kits have arrived. As the footprint of the engine shed determines the slope in front of the flats it is first of the five to be tackled. A laser-cut card kit by Igra there seem to be about 170 parts to it- an awful lot but not the most ever- the station building on Bregenbach had more. Bregenbach's station building. However, the new shed takes me back to the early days of building white metal locos, when you would sometimes get an exploded diagram or two that wasn't easy to follow, and a closely-typed instruction sheet running into a few pages that were incomprehensible enough to have been written in Czech.... The engine shed has a 17-page instruction boooklet that IS written in Czech... The base placed in position to allow me to scope the slope behind it. Step one is adding windows, door and glazing to the pieces of the wall at the tower end. The tower end assembled with the Ferkeltaxe trying it for size. Behind it the flats are bedded in ready for the slope to be put in. Meanwhile some more trains have arrived. More later on these. Les

The high level round the back is taking shape rapidly. The Redutex for the stone walling arrived. I'm a little less than exstatic about it as the colour I wanted is a little too regular in its stone size. Although it is 1:87 the stones still seem on the small side, and it is a bit of a menace to get level- more imperfections to disguise... Having the road down to the bottom level from the middle may be storing up scenic issues for later, but... Wall now Redutex-ed through to the Donaueschingen end. Next here is to build the frame for the bank- I'm using coffee stirrers and sprues from laser-cut card kits- flat and lightweight. A close up of the pedestrian/trackway bridge at the Furtwangen end. Sourced from eBay it is actually intended for OO9 layouts, but it is about the size I want. Lots of second-user stuff coming, which should see the loco and railcar stock as good as it needs to be. Maybe another railcar as a spare in the future, and definitely a few more vans due but the trains are now just about sorted. Decoder fitting is another matter- I have a baglog to tackle. Arrivals will be photographed as they are readied for the layout. Les

Even a wide-cab can be set up with the cab as the rear and the seats and controls facing the long end... I'm not convinced that any of them have been.... Main line electrics have a 1 near one cab and a 2 near the other. Les

Diesels and electrics (at least on the prototype) have an external 1 or 2 to tell the driver which end is which. American diesels all have a letter F on one end of the frame. F stands for FRONT. Identical diesels were often set up by different railroads to run long end first rather than the more usual short end first, even after the noses were cut down for improved visibility. Hence the need to know which end of any particular loco was set up as the front with the driver's position and controls facing towards it. I tend to place all of my diesels on Bregstadt with no.1 end facing the same way, and program this as the front of the loco. On Bregenbach the front of an electric loco faces away from its train- two of the trains are push-pull. My railcar has the first-class end set up as the front as you can see which end it is when standing in the fiddle yard. On Croft Spa the diesels were all set up so that forwards was away from the train, and multiple units were placed on the track so they normally ran forwards- but Croft Spa is a roundy-roundy. On my shunting plank NO PLACE none of the locos are big enough (the largest diesel is an 08) so the cab is set up as the back to be like the steamers. Others will do things differently. Some use the end with the fan as the front. Les

With an N-gauge fleet that peaked at 16 A4s and 21 A3s, I'm with you on the differences between the two. Then again I'm one of those heretics that prefers them with double chimneys and blinkers. Now all we need is for Hornby to release one with blinkers and a GN tender. Anyone for 60045 Lemberg? Les who would also settle for a double-chimney A4 with a non-corridoor tender (like the one behind Scotsman in BR days-) 60019 Bittern or 60034 Lord Faringdon post its tender swap with Scotsman, perhaps?

I mentioned the A3 running backwards in an email to Hornby Service, and also told them about the lack of adequate packaging in the box. They agreed with my suggestion that it was either the leads to the motor crossed or a rogue motor with the magnet installed the wrong way round. Either way they agreed that as it runs well to leave it and let the decoder sort it out. They were more concerned that it had rattled about in its box from the warehouse to being delivered, and were going to take up inadequate packaging with the warehouse- mine arrived intact but they thought others packed as sloppily wouldn't. Les