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I spent my weekend building a 68-inch extension to my layout, the longest I could manage into the corner of the room: I don't want to labour the point, but with a power car taking 12 inches of track and a trailer nearly 11 inches, I have a chance of trying out the two extra trailers when they arrive :-) - Richard.

Going back to display options - If you assemble the train as the 3-car set (minus TC-1), it measures a shade under 35 inches from nose to nose - and it sits nicely on a one yard of length of SMP or similar. Would be an excuse to put up a 3-foot shelf. - Richard.

It's a good one but a day early :-( - Richard.

Look at the photos with the eBay listing - the seller placed the order on 12th March, and paid for it yesterday. Edit: the seller's claim "This limited edition model was produced strictly to order, and has completely sold out to pre-orders" seems a bit ripe. - Richard.

The way I see it, the NRM charged the price for one market - the price everyone paid if they ordered in advance and put down a deposit. This first market has closed, to be replaced by the first stage of the secondary market. The next stages will be "test run", "run in", "weathered" and so on to eventually become "for spares". If the model is in high demand, a fixed-price classified ad in a magazine will probably bring a better return than going via eBay and Paypal and their fees ... - Richard.

The NRM have had their whack - so surely, what follows is straightforward speculative investment, which looks like succeeding? - Richard.

If you assemble the model in 3-car form, dare I suggest you can safely pick up the train in one go, without disconnecting as mandated in the "Do not pass Go" booklet? Would save a lot of wear on couplings on smaller layouts. - Richard.

My second order came today with the card transaction slip from last April stapled onto a copy of the purchase order. If we suppose this attachment happened at the time of ordering, and the orders went into a series of lever arch files, we're looking at a first in / last out process. So I might see my first order (a few days after the initial announcement) in the next week or two. I realise, Andy Y still got his straight away. - Richard.

Incredibly, I left enough space beside my R2 curve (under a high level section) but the nose will foul the tunnel portal near a 24-inch curve. Somehow, making the portal a lift-out item is a lot more appealing than keeping the train in a display case, but this is going to take some time ... - Richard.

Thank you David there are some excellent shots here of the early days with the 3-car set. I especially like the semaphore signals in the first sequence. Can someone can tell us, what is the flap hanging down on the trailing PC in the first sequence in this video? - Richard.

Here is the photo I have been wanting for the last year ... PC-1 on a Hornby no.2 radius curve. Offset is 26 mm from edge of sleepers. - Richard.

I received a newsletter from Locomotion Models earlier this week, which answers some of the recent questions here. They explain, they are at York this weekend. Patience. - Richard.

What a nice idea - not a "micro depot", but a simple Inglenook for locos. This sort of project might encourage me to move to DCC. - Richard.

A nice diversion while we wait for the parcels to arrive . . . especially good for me because my first car was an Opel Kadett, much the same outside as the Chevette here. I remember a good driver's car, only really let down by its cross-ply tyres, which I let myself trade in too soon. What a fine start to the day. - Richard.

Locomotion models had a sample in its box on their stand at Ally Pally - Rapido trains have a formidable reputation but this model still exceeds expectations. It looks fabulous. - Richard.

Thanks for this. On topics to do with trackwork, I've had the term "train set curves" rather thrown at me and the implication was very much this was a derogatory term. To my mind, if the term is to be useful as a parameter for stock it can only to refer to one radius, which is a minimum - and for me this is the Hornby "radius 2" because as far as I know, all RTR will go round this though sometimes you must omit optional detail fittings. I do appreciate the need for the radius 1 on the smaller sets so I guess the term must remain dimensionally ambiguous for the time being. I am very much looking forward to my own APT-E when the time arrives. I suspect it won't fit my layout because of the overhand of the nose, but I surprised myself a while ago with what the Roco close coupling mechanisms can achieve and I expect the Rapido mechanism will be just as good or better. - Richard.

What is a train set radius curve? What is the threshold and why? - Richard.

This is what I did. Set up a quadrant of Setrack on a sheet of board on the floor. Lift one side of the board, so one end of the track stays flat on the floor, pointing down to the floor. When you look at the other end of the track, it has a cross-fall (superelevation) on it, which on a real model railway you need to get rid of. This cross-fall equals the gradient at the bottom of the track, and also equals the slope on the board. So in a 90 degree bend, you have got to impart a twist which equals the overall vertical climb. With your generous curves and a 1:100 gradient, this will be ever so small - if the cross-members are at right angles to the track, the flex in the plywood track bed will take it up as you fix it down to the cross-members. If you have a wye turnout on the gradient, the maths will tell you the crossing vee ought to be higher than the two stock rails. Keep the turnout flat, and the track beyond it flat for the length of a loco, and lose the error in the next yard or so of track. The differences in rail lengths will be too small to worry about. Even on the Thread Shed (4-inch curves), the inner rail was barely 2 inches longer than the outer one. Hope this helps! - Richard.

I have bought one of the full cab models brand new - very nicely done by Bachmann and I'm so glad they haven't (quite) sold out everywhere. The model is beginning to loosen up but it waddles from side to side on the rolling road. The ends oscillate about 1.5 mm on every revolution of the wheels. My Bachmann class 03 diesels do this as well. The ammeter shows a tiny fluctuation too, like something is almost binding. Could anyone shed any light on this - possibly one or more wheels not orthogonal on their axle or a problem in the quartering? It's not noticeable when the model is running on the track. - Richard.

Spotted in our local supermarket yesterday. - Richard.

Ray, The height gauge does not fit bullhead track like SMP and Exactocscale and as your photo shows it ends up too high. Get yourself a length of Hornby or Peco code 100 Set-track, and use this for setting up couplers. I've got a length of track glued down to a bit of strip wood for this. Then you can hold the whole assembly up to the light and see what is going on. The magnet looks too high as well but this might be the camera angle. I use the Kadee jig to locate the magnets, and bed the magnet on No More Nails to fill the void beneath it. Good luck! Richard.

In the packet of NEM couplers there will be some red washers. On the lower coupler, run a needle file across the pivot hole on both sides, then reassemble with the washer between the coupler and the box lid. If the two couplers then line up with each other but are 1 mm or so too high, try centre set couplers. I have been through so too many iterations, but in the end most of my 00 stock has ended up with centre-set couplers, with a washer above or below the coupler to make the difference, and often no washer at all. - Richard.

The completed van proved impossible to run smoothly over Kadee uncoupling magnets, because the original Electrotren axles stuck to the magnets. Two axles of Markits 10.5 mm disc wheels (24.5 mm axles) are a drop in replacement. Fault cleared. The magnets holding the body in place are not a problem with uncouplers. My drawings of the VGA do not show the wheel diameter, but I'm sure someone here will tell me if its not 36 inches :-) - Richard.

Thanks for the whole of your explanation. I've taken the magnetic monopole out of my blog entry. I really wish I had a packet of iron filings to play with before I write anything else on magnets. Nevertheless, what I made (as per the blog entry) does work. - Richard.