Les1952

Looks good. That NOHABs runs very nicely. I've got the layout set up in the shed again and I've made a start on the front. The front contoured board is now finished, and painted black, which in itself is a major improvement. The white at the front is the plaster bandage for the contours here. Bregenbach is on end in the corner until next summer as its next show is currently Stafford next back end, by which time this one will have been out three times. One day later and the plaster bandage is now an improbable shade of green ready for the static grass to be put on. After that there are 25 or so more trees to add, by which time (the first?) four signals will have appeared. Taking Bregenbach im Schwarzwald to Warley gave me chance to get ideas from other layouts that were there. In particular I need to think about overhead power lines on posts and increasing the vegetation around the station and yard. To quote Mr Simon "much to do".... Les

Some recent pics. Starting last year with Gerry operating at Belper. Loughborough went well but it cost me £950 to get the dent in my car mended after a minor collision with the undamaged bumper of a van in the confines of the yard. As well as wagons from John Catling I tried his Aspinall radial on the layout to see if it was worth buying it. It didn't like too many of the points so I sold it on for John's widow. An unusual view of the coal road taken at Loughborough. Shows up some lifting grass to sort and an edge of coal stack to blend in. Not normally visible either from the front or the back of the layout. Now three from Hinckley in October Close up of the royal photographer, with the young Barry O in the background with his notebook. Rare view taken from the back of the layout. Sir Topham Hat is on his day off and has been caught out by the royal visit. But he was present at Hinckley signing certificates on our club layout next door..... The venerable number 7 shunting at either Hinckley or Retford shows.... The layout is going to County Durham next year. All for now Les

Despite being tucked right away in what used to be the Squires corner the Bregenbach im Schwarzwald team had a very good weekend overall. The pic gives those who have never been an impression of just how big the hall actually is. Going left the far side is the third row of columns and the other end of the space is the far wall. Getting in- easy (apart from the computer bit at home where the software isn't as intuitive as they claim). We arrived at the North Lorry Park just after mid day for a 1pm slot but were sent straight down. No queue, drove to stand B07, unloaded and car out in about 10 mins, leaving plenty of time to get the layout running properly. Getting out - not quite as easy. We were told that we could park immediately outside door 8 (correct) and carry out through it. However the doorkeeper hadn't been given the same information (NEC failing) so we carried out through door 7 and along the road upsetting the shuttle bus drivers as we went- wearing hi-vis and flagging them to a stop... (the area outside Door 7 had by this time filled). Just as I got the last part of the stuff into the car ready to drive off door 8 was opened- I think someone else had had a row with the NEC supervisor.... However I was on the road by 6pm. One other problem - I picked up a screw in one of my tyres inside the hall.... I didn't see everything by a large margin, and only found the last stand I was looking for (the Gresley Society) late on Sunday afternoon, despite Chris Nettleton arriving within 15 mins of me on Friday. Such is life. Purchases? trees, Easi-shunt couplings and some Gresley Society Christmas cards. On pics and vids- I don't mind either, and have got to know Richard of Trains in the Attic quite well over quite a lot of shows. If anyone wants to use a pic of mine or of my layout commercially I have no issue with that, though if I took the pic I would wish to be acknowledged as the photographer. A few years ago a manufacturer (no longer trading) used a picture of an EM1 taken by me to advertise his kit, and was less than pleasant when I asked him to acknowledge the origin of the pic on his website. Lastly, a big thank you to all those of Warley Club who worked very hard to put this on. All very polite and helpful. As retired Show Manager for South Notts Show I know just how much work goes into even a small show- double the size and you almost square the workload. Would I bring a layout again if asked? Yes. Les

The rest of the useable Warley pics A view showing where we were in the hall- and for people who have never been, showing the size of the hall.... European Railway Association to the right and German Railway Society to the left. Probably a repeat of an earlier pic, but the Glass train stands while its punters enjoy a brewery tour. The brewery loading dock with Italian wagon loading. A close-up of the Italian wagon. And that is it until Stafford next October. Now to get Bregstadt ready for South Notts Show in April with three more in quick succession. Les

The threatened promised video from Warley. Taken late in the afternoon on Sunday when there were fewer punters around. I'm still getting used to this video business. The next video will be of Bregstadt now I've got it set up. All the very best Les

Some of the recent photographs Set up at Ruddington show. The lack of the German flag meant no end of people asked "Is this in Switzerland?" ROCO Taurus powers over the viaduct. At Nottingham and Warley it was running the other way round the layout. Close-up of the fork lift truck NGS Hunslet in the brewery yard That's it for the Ruddington pics. The rest of the Warley pics to follow. Les

Not a lot posted since Ruddington as I've been too busy during each show to get much taken in the way of pics. Two new ones (there is a video to go with it once uploaded to YouTube... The layout set up this weekend at Warley. Note the idea shamelessly nicked from Dave Paylor, the big German flag to let everyone know where the Schwarzwald is... And the Warley show plaque to prove we were there. Pics from the last few shows and the video to follow (eventually) Les

One thing you MIGHT see after I had a chat with Joel at Dapol this weekend is a sticker applied to packs of their Easi-shunt couplings or some marketing from them to point out they are suitable for TT:120. Dapol were not aware that they fitted TT NEM pockets or that people like me were using them. Indeed the prospect of selling something into a new market without spending heavily to develop the product seemed interesting to them. Will it happen? Time will tell. Les (who finds they work better in TT than in the N they were designed for due to TT kinematic springs being stronger and TT stock being heavier- just like Kadees work better on heavier US stock than on lighter British)

There are still plenty of model railway shows around, enough to give my layouts almost a full run up to September 2025. However as my largest will be the TT gauge Bregstadt at 8 feet by 2 feet 6 ins I can probably fit most venues- oddly enough the smallest is NO PLACE at 7 X 2 feet, and that is the OO one..... Anyone coming to Warley can find me on Stand B7 (as far into the corner as you can get and still be a layout) with Bregenbach im Schwarzwald, where despite the layout only being 8 feet by 2 feet a train leaving the fiddle yard will travel 31 feet before arriving back at the other end of the yard... Bregstadt's successor, Broken Scar, won't be started until I have tried the Hornby J94- if not controllable enough I'm not building a layout round it. the 08 still has a few issues with Hornby points on Bregstadt- no problems with Peco. Les

It does seem to have a "collectors item" status by some - though definitely not by me..... Les

The coupling box on the Farish vans is also a little fragile for exhibition use. When you have (as I had) trains running at scale 60mph (goods) and scale 80mph (passenger) at a show it takes only a slight distraction for an operator to pile one train into the back of another in the fiddle yard, either through setting the road incorrectly or not spotting the tail of the train was out of punter's sight so it could be slowed down. I have three or four Farish vans left over from Croft Spa that are missing a coupling box- lost at a show. These will eventually get Dapol nem boxes glued where they were for an new club N-gauge project (Croft Spa's goods stock being about 95% sold on). Les

Update on the sticking. Giving it an extra two hours running seems to have solved the sticking. I've been shunting it slowly up and down the test track most of the day and it has refused to stick once. Lets see what Retford show brings next week when it works turn and turn about with others of the preserved fleet on NO PLACE. Checking- the firebox glow mostly corresponds with the shovelling. For a tank loco it is probably fired a lot more frequently than the prototype. Les

Photoshoot won't be the issue so much as the loco being a livery sample. These get handled by all sorts of folk, and from what experience I have of them, not always handled too carefully. Based on one that came my way it is lucky to still have both bogies attached to it..... Les

no, just a chat... Les

Mine (an sound-fitted NCB one) did a running-in spell at the clubroom - about 45 mins each way. I got used to the ribald comments about explosions in the cab from the over-bright and too frequent random firebox glow, and will speak to Rapido about this at Warley. It then went out to Hinckley show with NO PLACE. Unfortunately it occasionally sticks when it stops running forward, not wanting to start again. Cured by lifting it off the track and jer-jer-jiggling the wheels gently. Not good when it sticks at a show with punters watching, It has now had another two hours running in forward plus an hour in reverse. Next is to run it slowly along the programming track in each direction to see if it is still sticking..... Les

I don't think we can necessarily read too much into the "what is in which phase" argument. What we DO know is that there was a starting list, and a lot of the items on that list are at various stages of development. We ALSO know that each different model produces its own difficulties which mean each progresses at a different rate. And that production slots have been used up meeting unexpected demand for more of the earlier models AND China is still having Covid closedowns, skill shortages and other problems we know little about AND there is still a shortage of shipping containers and so on.... What we DON'T know because Hornby are not about to give out commercial information that might help possible competitors is how many additional production slots are being shifted to TT:120 rather than potentially less profitable OO or other items- we DO know that TT:120 is generating a healthy profit despite the nay-sayers. We just need to wait for announcements - and learn that virtue which huge numbers of RMWebbers lack - patience. Les

One thing that I picked up from my chat at Gaydon, though it didn't come out as a specific mention is a feeling that some of the design work for the 08 was outsourced to the manufacturing factory and that there are aspects of the 08 they aren't entirely happy with. I stress that this isn't a specific mention but an impression from the conversation. What I did get is that stuff will be much quicker from announcement to realisation, i.e. announced later. This includes the loco that they haven't announced at all yet (my words, not theirs), which appears to have jumped the queue. Of course this could be something they have mentioned but not put into one of the phases- we will find out when it is actually announced.

One thing that has been ignored by many when discussing the lesser amount of detail- In the Hornby TV series one of the designers was talking about scaling down a OO model to TT- you can't just use the shrink ray- not just because the scale to gauge ratio is different but because of thickness and strength of plastic. Some parts of the loco in OO scale are about at the limit of plastic being able to hold itself together when handled. Reduce the thickness of that plastic and it is no longer able to support itself. One reason I got out of US outline N-gauge was that the newer loco models I wanted (types not in my stock that I needed to make the overall railway work) came with thinner and thinner handrails. Why? because modellers demanded them. Not metal- too difficult to fabricate to correct thickness of handrail knobs and bent too easily- plastic. Each new model was arriving with a polystyrene (expanded or foam depending on the origin) packing piece between the handrails and the loco body. Try getting this out without snapping the handrails- not easy but manageable. Now place the model on the track without touching the handrails. Done it? Just about. Now return to its box- move the box without the packing piece in place- broken handrails. Don't expect finer and finer detail in small scales- there is a physical limit where the model can't survive being handled- and remember these are trains that youngsters will handle. Les As an aside someone could make a fortune making replacement bogie chains for Accurascale Deltics and door bangers for OO 20-ton wagons - the parts that come off almost as soon as the model gets used.....

Just to show UK TT:120 and German TT:120 coexisting on the same track. I will add that while Bregstadt is to be a German exhibition layout in its own right (see thread) it is also being used as a test layout for UK stuff ready for me to start the UK layout in late 2024-early 2025. And an older vid with UK and Continental stock being pulled over the joint between Hornby and Peco track by a Roco BR38 sourced from 3SMR The layout is a lot further advanced now and makes its debut at South Notts show next April. Gaugemaster connection? Some of my Continental stuff in TT:120 comes from Gaugemaster. Les

One thing worth mentioning with these couplers. They work brilliantly on TT:120 stock- the stronger centring springs on the kinematic couplings in the larger scale mean that when the trip pin is pulled off to one side by the magnet the jaws open rather than the whole coupler being pulled sideways. In addition the greater weight of TT stock means that when pulling the couplers stay coupled, and when propelling the wagons don't tend to shuffle relative to one another, meaning that if the jaws are actually apart (still difficult to achieve) they stay apart until the shunt has finished... Les

I have derailment problems at times with empty 21-tonners of all makes. Dapol's are no worse than Hornby's (though there are fewer detail parts to fall off/get damaged..) This is because they are too light to propel through prototypical NCB trackwork - ie rough. The solution is extra weight wherever it can be added out of sight. In this instance the Dapols are better than the Hornbys as there is less moulded on detail to prevent weights being stuck in place. The couplings I glue in place in vertical and horizontal planes as any movement places the minute neodymium magnet on the dropper in the wrong place to repel the neodymium magnet on the trackbed. I also remove the dropper from one end of each wagon and both ends of each loco. Les

You only get hassle if you don't put enough detail into the description. Les

46477 with sound? I could have sold them mine.. Seriously, nice to see a Darlington engine there. 46477 was built at Darlington, used at 51A Darlington shed, and scrapped at Darlington. I think it qualifies as a Darlington engine.......... Les

I don't know how you know it doesn't as you've already admitted you haven't seen it. I've seen the model close up and I've seen far too many of the real thing for a North Easterner. To me it looks just like a class 50 should, and that makes it a class 50. Still out of my region and time frame so I'll not be having one, though I am sorely tempted.... Les

My front kinematic coupler mechanism disintegrated so I glued the coupler back solid. The loco performs exactly the same pushing with the solid front end as with the kinematic rear. It is very short which helps. Les