Les1952

With a sound fitted one on sale on eBay at the moment, any news on sound decoders? Les

Plus Austria with some of each still, and those parts of France that border Germany where there is right-hand running, though the latter might be shown on the map....... Les

That won't fit my layout! (5 foot scenic and 2 feet hidden.....) Les So it will potter about like the rest of the 0-6-0 fleet...

The double reward points also work on Arnold- a couple of beer vans for Bregstadt for £32 worth of points, still leaves me with an awful lot ( two train sets and an Arnold sound-fitted 2-10-0 got me the big number...) Les

The good news is that I've managed to drill out the holes in the mast bases where the masts had snapped off and the masts are now stuck in the enlarged holes with a serious amount of plastic weld holding them in place. I can make a couple of new bespoke lengths from the leftover Hobbex wires I kept hold of, and hopefully there are enough masts including the new ones on order to renew the wiring to the corner. I picked up a Fleischmann Class 147 from Access Models this morning- sound fitted. They ordered it from Gaugemaster for me. Win-win- I get 10% discount and my local model shop gets the rest of the difference between Gaugemaster's trade and retail prices. Pics might be after the weekend. Les

As things stand your main line out needs protection against things rolling out. That would be in the form of a trap point or a headshunt. you are also shunting on the main line which the prototype avoided. To be absolutely correct the station and signal box should be swapped so the other line is the lead out with a crossover of two 8009 points instead of the 8008, which would bring the goods line into the station part way along the platform (plenty of prototypical examples of that), and leave the present exit line as a headshunt. this means nothing can roll out of the goods sidings unless pulled by an engine, and a loco shunting the yard doesn't go onto the running line. You would have a home signal at the end of the platform by the station building, and shunting moves may not pass that point. Giving a headshunt means you don't need shunting signals.

Show was an overall success, with our best ever attendance (though still below our target of 1000). We also put a healthy amount into club funds. Next year is the first weekend in April again, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th April 2024. See you there. Les

To be nearer prototype 8007 needs replacing by a left point and a short headshunt.

Bregenbach is back on its trestles following NO PLACE's appearance at South Notts Show this weekend. An earlier photograph, but I decided that the dodgy point that the near end of the railcar is travelling over needed replacing, and while it is up I'd look at the connections to the other two points in this area. I took out the mast with the tensioners and the wires to next mast down the hill and to the tower masts, but the latter were quite heavily glued and pinned in place. Getting the old point out involved a lot of levering but it came up cleanly. Fleischmann's "thinking clips duly swapped over from the old knackered point to the replacement which although a good secondhand unit came without clips. Then to get the replacement in. The motor went back cleanly at the second attempt and the point fired in both directions from the switch. So far, so good. However one of the fishplates at the end below the mast refused to go in under any circumstance, and while trying to persuade it I slipped and demolished the two tower masts, snapping each off at the bottom and bending the two bespoke pieces of Sommerfeldt wiring that hadn't wanted to come undone. A bit of a disaster as Hobbex tower masts are no longer made. I'm going to keep these two as spares for the vulnerable masts at the other end. I've now removed the bases and all of the wiring between here and the point at which it goes through the backscene by the brewery. No Hobbex tower masts to be had anywhere means improvisation. I've ordered a pair of Veissmann tower masts and a kit for a cross span from DM Toys in Germany- none of the dealers on my "save list" had all of the parts I wanted, and I've found a pack of five Hobbex long-arm masts on German eBay. All this lot should reach me in about a week, leaving me just over a fortnight before the layout goes out to Leicester show. In the mean time the track can be bedded down properly and the new point soak tested with either diesels at the head of trains or elloks with their pantographs down. I've five new elloks to try- all sound fitted and these will be photographed as they get tested. Some of the existing stock will appear on eBay in due course. How have I paid for all of this? Selling Croft Spa has left me with a surplus of about 120 locos, 150 coaches and 300 wagons, of which 100 coaches and all the wagons have already been sold. That is enough to buy the smaller amount of stock Bregstadt will need and to upgrade Bregenbach's loco fleet a bit. Les

No parking restrictions apart from finding a place. There are three car parks in the precinct just down the street, two accessible from Ringleas (which is your approach towards the Welfare) and the other round the back behind the police station. But wherever you find to park, make a note of landmarks on your way to the Welfare. Tony Wright spent some time after the show today driving round Cotgrave with a punter who had lost his car before coming back for assistance. We found it eventually........ Les

Needs someone who has one to measure the doorway heights and then times by them by 100 and by 120 to see what they scale up to. Les

One thing omitted on most BLT designs is trap/catch points, of which I think you need two, with a long wait before Peco get round to them.... Les

Sam's trains tried to fit one. The decoder was too long for every OO model he tried it in except one- the Hunslet, where it the space was long enough, but the decoder was too wide. Les

We know from SK's comments on the Hornby videos, and from snippets in the TT club mag and other places that Hornby have published that there are (at least) three designers working on TT:120. We also know from the Model World TV programmes that Hornby put a designer full tome onto one project until it goes into tooling at which point they move (part time?) onto other things and come back to do mods as tooling samples arrive. We have also seen different projects having different technical problems. From the evidence they've presented even if there is a set sequence of starting each item in the scale it is fairly obvious that there will be some that leapfrog other others. Looking at the loco list the 57xx seems to be the one where they might not have got a good library of measurements in stock. We know from what SK has said that the 08 is more complex than it looks at first- which will have slowed it down. Their aim is still to do two releases per year, but it does look as if some release 3 stuff may arrive before some release 2, and so on down the line. At least we aren't waiting as long as we did for the Farish J72 (was that six years from announcement to cancellation?) or Dapol's Bulleid pacifics in N- which might arrive before the tenth anniversary of their announcement. Hornby needed to set out their stall with a decent range of stuff in the pipeline for the scale to take off at all. They are trying to deliver. I will start to lose a bit of patience if I don't have a J94 in my hands by Spring 2024. Of course if this sabre rattling by the US and China develops beyond just that everything could change. Sanctions would stop the flow- remember that we trade with China in US Dollars. Let us hope it is no more than sabre rattling. Les

Talking to SK at Gaydon specifically about the J94 he said- low bunker, high bunker, conical fabricated chimney and Geisl ejector- though I did point out to him how difficult the latter would be. I'll take one of my OO Geisl fitted Hornby J94s to show him the effect when I go to Warley with Bregenbach im Schwarzwald... Les

Osborns are putting together a nice range of wagons in kit form, with half a dozen or so available already. Just waiting now for the NER 20 ton hopper wagon to appear.. Les

There is a rather nice range of small diesel locos in the Piko range, some of which would pass for UK industrials. Les

Our card reader is having problems reaching the Welfare's wi-fi from the entrance. As a result, although we can still take card payments you'll get in a lot faster if you pay with cash rather than having to wait for the machine to contact the living..... Les A fiver to get in (remember those things called banknotes). Accompanied children free.

Also there is NO PLACE, in the capable hands of Geoff Warren and Eric Beech while I spend most of my time on club sales. Les

Mine will be strutting its stuff on NO PLACE at the South Notts show this coming weekend. I've now given it a very subtle weathering, taken off a lot of the shine and added a tiny amount of dirt where it first starts to show. I've tested it under the screens and it performs perfectly but it will probably chuff around on the passenger and in the shed as it is too clean to be hired to the Coal Board. The dirty WD next to it in the pic won't be going as it isn't sound fitted. Cotgrave Welfare NG12 3PJ, only a fiver to get in (cash preferred as our card machine takes forever to contact the living...) Les

Unfortunately for ALL manufacturers (not just Hornby) stuff is delayed by random amounts mostly by problems in China. I'll give a non-Hornby example. I ordered three of the N Gauge Society Hunslet diesels expecting to run them on my layout "Hawthorn Dene" for which they were eminently suitable. I even had a prototype (unpowered) being pulled round Hawthorn Dene at Warley, where we gave the NGS the award for innovation, expecting them by the following Summer. TWO YEARS later they arrived, by which time I'd sold the layout. Two more years on from that and those who ordered the last batch of liveries are , I think, either only just in receipt of them or are still waiting. I will add, not least because Ben Ando reads these, that the delays were not the fault of the NGS- just a combination of hold-ups by manufacturers, suppliers and suppliers of suppliers. This will also be happening to Hornby. Les

It could be thickness rather than width, or possibly just a little more off underneath to hang the tab of the blade on to. All the best Les

Lincoln MRC have had to drop out, so another new layout taking their place Burch Green as a layout still under construction (but not far off finished as it is going to Sleaford at the start of June).. Play spot the character- apart from Steed and Mrs Peel who else is there? Les

Another layout pic. This one is Marmagne.

No. I think the guy who was doing them might have retired. Les