tamperman36

Oh the memories of those pegboards, long after the public had gone home there were a gang of mad modellers bent over in a very cramped (about 5 foot high under the swimming pool) and very warm and dull basement humping those heavy pegboards about and stacking them ready for the next year.

There is still a mk1 in the former bay at Huddersfield. I believe there is 2 mk2s at Eurika in Halifax used as classrooms, not technically grounded as they are still on bogies but on an unconnected piece of track just behind Halifax station.

I vaguley remember having to make a collection of some pre used sleepers from a rail reclamation yard at Doncaster in the early 90s. If I remember they had stacks of sleepers in various states of use from unused to firewood and also lengths of used rail.

Some parts of the Leeds tram network were quite rural at the time and had double decker trams on services.

You could start with a basic motor service, begin by removing, checking and cleaning the carbon brushes. Next remove the cover over the commutator and then gently give it a clean. You can either use an electrical cleaning fluid or a light rub with fine sand paper or glass fibre pencil. Once done reassemble and lightly lubricate the motor bearings and test both loaded and unloaded, if the fault persists then the problem is within either the winding or magnet thus will require a replacement from one of the Hornby spares suppliers.

There is consistency, if its a red Italian car then its in the right otherwise penalise them and issue a penalty.

One thing is that by selling these kits piece by piece it means they could be easier for people to collect and put together a complete unit, especially if they are on a tight budget.

9009 looked good on a rake of blue grey aircon mk2s, brings back memories of ECML until you notice the 3rd rail.

I noticed these on ebay and I could be tempted to have ago, it looks good and appears to be well designed. Will keep watching to see how well it makes up.

Apparently the failure was caused by a hot axle box. Don't know if it was on the loco or coaching stock though.

There are several issues affecting our hobby at the moment, costs of production and shipping which could be looked at and possibly improved with bringing production back to Britain. Now we get all the people saying its cheaper in China but the cost of the production over there is rising as the Chineese government are making western companies pay more to improve there workers living standards, and also the shipping costs are rising as shipping companies are tightening there belts. Another problem with sales is the amount of small local model shops that have closed down as the internet has reduced high street footfall and people have less disposable money in there pockets. The current prices have gone a fair way to killing the hobby. Once little Johnny would have saved up £40 - £50 and bought a new loco, now they save that much and buy an Xbox game as they need 3 times that for a loco. The big internet stores offer discounted costs which then help to drive the local model shops out of business. The current Chineese production process has also vastly affected the once impressive spares supply which also brought in revenue. Modellers used to keep there models running by carrying out a lot of maintenance and repairs themselves, whereas now if they get a problem with the modern models they require a service center for a repair. With local model shops closing down this then makes repairs harder and more expensive to carry out and thus people start to think twice about buying a brand new model and look at preowned.

I have an idea for you about what to use as a bath. Thinking outside the box, how about a metal bread baking tin available from most large supermarkets or pound shops.

Is there a better motor which will replace the Hornby standard motor if they are prone to problems.

Several years ago when I worked as a postman at Leeds sorting office ( Stourton mail center) I was placed on bag emptying duty, which is where the first stage of sorting occurs. We used to regularly come across stamps with all sorts of decimal amounts on the face. We questioned this with the management at the time and were given the answer that as long as they are decimal currency and have the image of the current reigning monarch on them they are still legally usable and the overall amount adds up to the cost of a current 1st or 2nd class stamp.

I would expect it to have been under the control of the BR depot as it was on there property, and there was and still is a power station within a short distance of the depot.

I remember seeing a couple of brakevans at Gateshead stabling point in the early 90s, however they were modified with braking equipment and air horn fitted on the verander ends. I believe these were for use with trains going down the dockside branch.

If Dapol use the grampus chassis for the rudd, they could use the different types of axle boxes.

Many years ago I remember regularly crossing a little used ungated level crossing in Allerton-by-water near Leeds and one day to my surprise I saw a class 11 shunter idling away at one side of the crossing, sat there between a row of houses and a working mens club. At the other side of the road the line disappeared around a corner between the back gardens of more houses. The line was quite heaverly over grown in either direction even back in the late 80s. I have since found out the class 11 I saw was 12099, which is now preserved on the Severn Valley Railway.

Ratio do a set of various sizes of curved brick window and door headers that are ideal for this kind of project.

Not quite the same but I do remember seeing a Eurostar passing through a gated and manned crossing just south of Ashford station.

I usually use Micro soft paint to create any transfers that I cant find else where, and then use the printer settings to change the sizes of the finished transfer. Another thing to remember is whilst doing test prints use the printer settings to reduce the colours and definition and once happy reset them for a good print.

If you model US Railroads you can also get 48' and 53' however they are only used within the states. Another thing to think about is the larger continental containers are also taller than the original 20',30' and 40' containers.

Have you thought of checking Machine Mart, you can check out there catalog on line or order a catalog so you can read it when ever you want. I keep a catalog on my workbench along with the Tool bank, and Screwfix catalogs.

If your main requirement is for working lights and if you are upto the work you could always fit a non sound chassis and an express models (no connection) lighting kit.

Don't let this go the same way as so many of our local model shops, as in use it or loose it. If we don't bother visiting then eventually it will be closed and all we will be left with is the factory and no visitor center.