Tony Teague

Yes, some of mine are close to the pointwork, e.g. those used for polarity switching. whilst there is a bank of them inside the control panel fro such things as changing panel light indications - but anywhere from the trigger switch to the device they are mimicking works fine. Glad to know I am not alone! Tony

If I may just divert back to my previous post on the subject of using the Gaugemaster relays and in case anyone is minded to try out what I have suggested, I omitted one key detail in terms of how I went about it. When I first used these it was at the suggestion of two guys who were hepling me with the layout at the time, and they had considerable experience in using these in the way that I was proposing. What they told me was that the relays worked more consistently and reliably if two resistors on the relay circuit board were removed; I have no idea, or can't recall what they said about how they behave without this modification but every one of the 60+ of these relays on my layout has been doctored in this way - see image. The two black wires to the right have replaced two resistors that come built into each relay board and whilst I am certain that this negates any warranty, I can say that (touch wood) all of those that I have installed are continuing to work well and I have so far had no failures. I give no warranty to those either following or ignoring my advice!😁 Tony

The rails may have been 'borrowed' in places but the key issue is that the line from Bicester to Bletchley was mothballed and never closed, so ownership of the trackbed / formation was maintained throughout.

Excepting that the trackbed is already owned = nil, or less land acquisition costs; a major problem with HS2 and for a new route into Cambridge.

Interesting indeed - but massively biased against! Having carefully demolished the arguments in favour, the article then makes just as many sweeping and unsubstantiated statements against; for me, this loses the author any credibilty. For the sake of clarity I am a great supporter of bringing back Bicester - Bletchely and upgrading Bletchley - Bedford but because the rest of the line is all new it is always going to be harder In my mind) to prove a business case.

It is also worth remembering that the Bicester - Bletchley section (which is actually the subject of this thread) WAS mothballed, HAD enormous trees growing out of it and HAS just been (almost) re-built to modern standards on what was the existing formation; the exception being where bridges have replaced former level crossings.

I am very comfortable with electrics, but a bit allergic to electonics where I don't understand what is going on, so whilst my layout and control of it are complex, almost all of it relies on fairly traditional switching. There isn't really a special design, it's just an extension of normal / basic switching in which one lever or switch on the panel operates multiple devices by firing one or more relays. I use Gaugemaster GM500 relays which are latching, and can be triggered using the same voltage as used to fire a solenoid point motor - so they are literally wired in parallel with those, and sometimes they are in multiple. I use them to change polarity, to light indicator lamps on the control panel, to switch off the feed to conflicting tracks, and even to reverse the polarity of servo feeds so as to raise or lower semaphore signals that reflect the direction of the point setting. They use very little current and so I have locations where my CDU might be powering 2 or 3 solenoids plus 2 or three relays with one pulse. When combined with the DCC Concepts lever switches, which have both passing contacts and two on/off switches (or one to reverse polarity), so these together offer fairly flexible / powerful switching options. Hope that helps but happy to clarify or respond to any other points if wanted. Tony

Do you find those Peco switches attached to solenoids to be reliable? I gave up on them some time ago and use relays wired in parallel to the solenoid as a preferable, and more reliable solution. Tony

All of this is very interesting, but the consultation on this stretch has closed and whether or not it will go ahead, and on what basis, will depend on a government minister who will not be guided by what is said on here.

Accepting that recent operators of the line have done nothing to encourage local travel, isn't it fair to say that there would be almost no business case for most of the existing stations, and that the business case for EWR is therefore entirely based upon the longer distance through traffic?

So it is! My medication must be stronger than I realised......🤪 I actually took that deliberately, so I can't have looked to closely - right! - I'll have another go at finding and photographing No.8 tomorrow! Tony

Thanks, I agree, and one of the few who both built and painted. Unfortunately he has now retired and the pair of PDK / WC's illustrated above were his last two builds (for anybody). It is becoming more difficult to find really good loco kit builders. Tony

Or, with AI becoming increasingly clever, perhaps a trainset that you can switch on and leave to "play with itself"?

The consultation on this section of the line is closed and both options list this crossing as being closed with alternate private access tracks to be provided on either side of the line - so no crossing in either case. See: https://eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation/maps

....and her is No.21C8 'Orient Line' which was nearby on Stowe Magna shed, so not too difficult to extricate: Another PDK / Chris Philips production. Tony

Thanks Jack I'm sure that in posting these I run the risk of Muz telling me that they too are not quite right - and all of them need weathering - nevertheless, here goes: This is Merchant Navy No.21C18 'British India Line' again from a PDK and built by Chris Philips. Whilst this is No.21C134 'Honiton', a twin sister of 'Exeter' posted yesterday but seen here on a Pullma special on the ECML passing Little Bytham! Lastly here are 21C106 'Bude' and 21C115 'Exmouth' which both have Kitmaster bodies with Portescap motors on unknown chassis; I acquired this pair from the collection of another modeller but have no idea whether he or someone else built them. There is only one other non-RTR Hornby Bulleid pacific in the collection which is No.21C8 'Orient Line' and I can't find a picture of it, so will find it and take one shortly; the rest of the fleet (and there are 'several'!) are all Hornby and therefore inevitably wrong! Tony

Phew! Thanks.

Hi Graham I'm sort of aware that most of my WC & BB locos are wrong, simply because when I acquired them there were really only two RTR prototypes available from Hornby and at the time I was even more ignorant (& less capable) than I am now! I have acquired a couple of sets of the Albert Goodall conversion parts but really I have so many of these locos and so much else to get done that the conversion is a very long way down my list! I do have three or four that I think are about right - but they are kit-built: This one is from a PDK kit and built by Chris Phillips but I think that even then, he needed to source some Albert Goodall parts to adjust the kit. Tony

Finally decided to spend some time in the railway room yesterday and today, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still there, where I left it a while ago. Unfortunately it will take a couple of visits to sort out the workbench and the priority areas to work in, but I have made a start - question is, can I keep it up? Anyway, I managed to take pictures of a recent addition to coaching stock, being the Bachmann / EFE Rail cross-country 4-car Set No.134: It comes from the same tooling as 3-car Set No.253, released earlier in malachite green and shown further up this thread, with the addition of one further trailer and is really rather good: There is a 4 compartment brake 3rd at either end whilst in between is an 8 compartment 3rd: and a 7 compartment composite: The lined Maunsell olive livery is exquisitely applied and the detailing is excellent. The Set is shown behind class D1 No.1492, from a DJH kit and built for me some years ago by Chris Phillips. The second set I have chosen to show is also an RTR product, this time Set No.209 comprising Maunsell Hi-window stock from Hornby: As with the EFE set, these coaches represented a huge step forward in RTR detailing when they first emerged a few years back. The set is pictured with Bulleid West Country class loco No.21C107 Wadebridge which is a re-numbered and re-named Hornby model This set was said to be in a dark shade of malachite, however, it looks to me rather more like the BR(S) Southern Green that came later - but it is what it is and with some weathering should pass muster! No.3722 is a 4 compartment corridor brake 3rd. No.1127 is an 8 compartment corridor 3rd No.7411 is a 7 compartment corridor 1st and the set is book-ended by No.3723, another 4 compartment corridor brake 3rd. Despite posting most of these sets in pairs, I still seem to have about 18 sets to go - and this also illustrates the scale of the weathering taks ahead of me! Tony

For the time being here's a very poor / partial shot from September 2005 when it was still in ticket:

....and mine!

Don'tt disagree with anything you say............

Not sure that's a safe assumption, being a GWR loco on an SR line with SR stock............

I don't know whether Andy has an answer, but I am not the right person to respond, as my approach has usually been to get someone else to build loco kits for me! It's not my favourite thing.......... Tony

Andy Thanks, will PM you. Tony