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I'm very happy - I bought the model on the strength of it not having the roof-mounter air conditioner, and because HGK were the second customer after EWS and I hoped the detail differences would not be too great - and they aren't. The former Dutch locomotives operated by GBRf seem like a good match. I've found a photo of 66748 running in plain grey livery (about half way down this page), before the application of the main bodyside lettering. I think they look good in grey. - Richard.

I think the buffers are different too. Also I can find photos of locos with rear view mirrors, but so far only UK DBS ones. I've never found a Mehano EWS model to look at, but in this photograph (British H0 society) the lamp clusters look like the same moulding, with some black paint around them. This would make sense to me, thinking about the primary "mainland" market Mehano would be wanting to serve. I didn't photograph the ends very well before so here is one more photo. Thanks for the replies. - Richard. Edited for photo colour balance.

I have a Mehano model of the HGK class 77 loco (photos below), and I wonder if there are any external differences between this and the batch of 250 class 66 locomotives supplied to EWS? I know Mehano did a batch of these in EWS livery some years ago but I've been searching for too long and decided to buy this one (brand new) and accept a repaint one day ... or indeed accept it as it is. It's a nice-looking model and I get the feeling the red colour is close to that of the DB Schenker machines. This is Mehano model number 58589. - Richard.

I have assembled my train as a 3-car set and kept it in a display cabinet. The short formation fits onto a yard of track, this sat on a glass shelf in the cabinet. For operation, I slid the shelf out of the cabinet, carried it to the layout and rested it down on a level section of track. Then a Peco "Loco Lift" to bridge the gap and trundle the train out. This was a stop-gap but it worked well enough even though the glass shelf seemed to flex alarmingly. I now have a "Vision" tube suspended from the ceiling on hangers. - Richard.

Me too! I've had the same avatar since I arrived here, time for something new. - Richard.

Postscript. I looked in the nesting box yesterday, the last baby had gone and the box was near-empty. It is as though they eat their own shells? And then this morning, sitting outside my back door, was this: Seemed ambivalent to me being there, merely turning its head to watch me walk round it. Here I am lying on my tummy with the front of the lens barely 4 feet away, the closest it will focus: Later I reached down and broke away the stick and took some more shots, but when I moved the upturned bucket (first shot) to get a better view, it flew into the shrubbery nearby. - Richard.

I've got a new category straight way: "it's what I bought last time" - Richard.

I went out to wash the car this morning and realised things are moving. Baby 1 The bird stared straight ahead for several seconds. Then flew twenty feet in a straightish line to the fence opposite. Landed on the arris rail, which slopes. Sat there for a while - when I turned to look again it had gone. Never seen a baby bird on its first flight before - something to remember for a long time. It was slightly wavy but pretty quick. Baby 2 Then I moved the camera, and it flew. Baby 3 I'm afraid I just watched number 3. It went away in a large sweeping left-hand curve Baby 4 There is at least one left in the box. It seems to need more feeding. This morning really was a treat. Now to wash to car. - Richard.

Here's a shot from the bedroom window. I had a glance inside the box about a week ago and saw about ten tiny beaks. I won't look again, but if all the babies are this size now then it must be pretty tight in there. - Richard.

I have a nesting box and I get blue tits each year. The parents are constantly bringing in grubs for the babies at the moment. Photos a few minutes ago. To my mind the baby looks as big as the parent - not long to wait to fly. - Richard.

Please don't - I can see miniature posters on model railway layouts to suit. - Richard.

Izal paper was more expensive. I think it sold because it was perceived to be safer against germs because it was "medicated". It used to come in boxes of "cut sheets" (like modern tissues) as well as on a roll - there were domestic dispensers for these you could fix to the wall. Thank you to everyone who responded to my post . . . an important subject and possibly the first time it has been discussed on the RMWeb forums :-) - Richard.

Does anyone else remember "Izal medicated toilet paper"? It was shiny, like greaseproof paper, and it was useless, it did nothing except spread everything around instead of lifting it away. Everyone at work took their own box of tissues. - Richard.

The British Government. - Richard.

The BR class 310 and class 312 EMUs. Slam door commuter trains, retired before their time (rules on central door locking), much missed and ignored by the major manufacturers. 3- and 4-coach formations, so perhaps a 3-coach unit as a set, with an additional fourth coach to buy as desired Supplied un-numbered, with a sheet of transfers (like the APT-E extra coaches) for the purchaser to add themselves. - Richard.

I got the feeling the production quantity was less than 2000, because someone wrote here (much earlier) that DC (DCC-ready) models got odd-numbered certificates and DCC/sound fitted models got even-numbered certificates. If the total run was exactly 2,000 then this implies exactly 1,000 of each, which sounds unlikely. Then again, I have read too much into things in the past. - Richard.

Spotted in a book shop in Stow on the Wold a few weeks ago. - Richard.

Sorted. In fact, the other side of the UJ was already "home" and as you say a prod with a small screwdriver does the trick. I've put the model back together again and I must agree with others who have pointed out the coupling mechanism gets easier after the first one or two goes. Edit: this still leaves us to solve Matabiau's problem at post 3311. - Richard.

Funny what a photo can show up. I've not noticed any mechanical noise, but then again the turbine sounds would probably drown this out. And the model has only run six feet in each direction because of a pinch point on my layout. Could anyone advise, is re-seating the universal a DIY job? Before I take it to bits again. - Richard.

I have no idea whether this will help but here goes. This morning I took my PC-2 to pieces because I wanted to try to adjust the nose alignment (I didn't) and to see what was inside. If you pull off the nose assembly first, then run a thumbnail along the body joins both sides the body top lifts off. So if you do this, you will see whether the body top is straight, and also see where the top clips into place. For reassembly, I fitted the nose assembly to the model, then put the body top back on. This was easier than disassembly. Six photos here but I'm afraid I put it back together before I read your post.. This is a sound-fitted PC-2. - Richard.

What I am trying to say is "dial A-P-T-E", that's all. - Richard.

This would work for me - twenty-odd locos all addressed using the first five digits on the dial with two rotations. The trouble is, the zero is at the far end, and nowadays every other UI designer delights in inserting leading zeros for us to type in. - Richard.

Thinking about the dcc address (discussed many pages ago) this could be 2783,from the old telephone dial. Richard.

Absolutely agree, and thinking about my own school life and indeed life in employment, your closing words (my bold) do highlight something which has got a lot better in our world in the last 40 odd years. - Richard.

Hi Craig, Thanks for all of this. I went back to the Trainsafe web site and discovered they also do hanging brackets to let you suspend tubes from the ceiling. I've ordered up a pair of these so I can put the tube behind the layout, above the backscene. I went for the unpowered brackets but they do an "electified" version as well, with the suspension cables being the electric wires. It does seem a very well thought out system. In the meantime, the house is so cluttered it will be best (safest) to keep the APT in its box and the tube stored on its end. - Richard.