Tony Teague

Hi Mikkel It is for this reason - and having experienced the PVA problem - that I now use superglue to flood the liquid lead. Tony

Mikkel Thanks - obviously this is not a problem with a closed wagon or one with a load, but I was interested to understand how you had managed it for an open, empty wagon. Tony

When you use liquid lead in this way, under the floor, what do you do to prevent tiny balls of lead from dropping off one at a time onto the track, into the pointwork etc? When I have used liquid lead, even if I flood it with superglue, I have not been able to avoid some "drop off". Tony

David No, by Timeline Events: http://timelineevents.org/ (no connection etc) Tony

David Thanks - Yes, GCR south of Loughborough. Tony Yes, at the time, the owners of this particular 8F had decided to paint it red - their choice I suppose - but they had agreed to it being temporarily pained black for photography; this was done by the organisers the night before the charter, using poster paints......it then rained, hard, so that on one side half the paint washed off, and most of the rest looked a mess - "dirtied" in your terms! So the overall look was not exactly what had been intended, but it looks pretty reasonable to me - especially in black & white. I should add that the loco has since been repainted more permanently in black. Tony

David You are not alone! I too have been on many photcharters because photography is one of my hobbies, alongside railway modelling, and both feed my lifelong interest in railways. I am old enough to remember steam and what it looks like, and just as I try to recreate scenes through my railway modelling, so I do through my photography. In the same way, I have little interest in the current railway scene which I neither model nor photograph. I am not delusional about recreating scenes from the past, I simply like looking at, hearing, smelling and photographing steam trains to the best of my ability. Clearly that won't be to everyone's taste, but then I don't like fishing, dancing or playing darts - to give just 3 examples - but others do. Tony

"With regard to the overall colours on a model railway, what I've (we've) always tried to achieve is a limited palette. By that I mean, nothing too strident or dazzling, especially if one is attempting to create a representation of a 1950s' scene. Changing the subject slightly, I made a recent comment about superimposing a neutral sky on my most recent pictures, rather than using a real sky. The picture above has this, and it's cloned from the sky colour I used on the backscene. Any comments/thoughts/objections/criticisms gratefully received. " -- Tony May I first say how pleased I was to see that you had painted the grass on your backscene in malachite, despite the disparaging comments about that shade made elsewhere on this thread! If I may contribute to the "photoshop or not" debate, I totally agree with you about the addition of smoke etc, as well as the question as to enhancing the model itself; I am in agreement too, with the removal of distracting backgrounds. As others have said, I think the mind tends to do this, but there seems to me to be no harm in helping it along; occasionally, however, it is certainly good to get the overall picture as to what is happening in the railway room, or to see how something was done, what is holding it up, etc. I offer two pictures in support of the 'distracting' backgrounds point; I was privileged to visit the stunning Liverpool Lime Street layout this week, and here is a picture of the massive and detailed hotel that has been added to the front of the layout both with and without 'distractions'. I know which I prefer! I have put a couple more onto the Lime Street thread if anyone would like to see them. ( http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/33141-lime-street-station/page-61 ) Tony

I probably share your concern but I am not sure that a spring operated ramp might not carry the same risks? In the end I guess that the only way is to give one or other approach a try! Tony

Andy Thanks, this is most helpful; I too have a number of similar Genesis kits awaiting building and so your experience should help me avoid errors. Tony

I did do an alternate treatment of a 3rd picture which might amuse you - with the untreated shot beneath: Tony

Yes, my layout has numerous (>70) Heathcote IRDOT's installed, and I particularly use them for automatically moving trains up in my fiddle yard; aside from careful adjustment of sensitivity I have never had any problem with their products - so I am tempted to give the uncoupler a try. Tony

Thanks philsandy - very helpful

I see no-one has brought up malachite....

Very privileged, along with a couple of good friends, to have been able to spend yesterday visiting Liverpool Lime Street, and I have to say that it exceeded all expectations! What an amazing layout, both in terms of its appearance, and its technical sophistication. Here are a couple of my shots which highlight the fantastic new hotel building, plus Peter Goss' recently installed figures: A huge thank you to John, Steve, Noel and Rob of the Lime Street team for looking after us - an excellent day! Tony

Thanks Philsandy and The Johnster for your further thoughts on this. I can see that I am not alone in adressing this problem, but equally that there are several viable solutions. I shall just have to take the plunge & try one of them out! I'll post the results here or on my layout thread in due course. Tony

Thanks for this Dave; I don't have the BRM video as I don't keep them but the demo on the Heathcote site looks convincing. I'll be interested to know how you get on with the installation. Many thanks Tony

Thanks Philsandy, and no I had not seen Brian Kirby's post which looks very interesting. The principles of it are very close to what Graham Muspratt has since implemented, excepting that Graham is using electromagnets. One way or another I think I am going to have to settle on tension locks, and a single version (probably Bachman) at that. I have quite a number of Kadees fitted but they just don't look right on wagons, and I have also found them unreliable if not very accurately adjusted, especially at changes in gradient. I also have 3-links, and whilst these look good, they do not lend themselves to remote uncoupling. Thanks for your help, all food for thought. Tony

Has anyone installed one of these? http://www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk/uncoupler_oo_gauge.html I'd be interested to understand their experience of it in use.# In a recent discussion on Graham Muspratt's 'Canute Road' thread, he has explained his own solution to the uncoupling problem, based upon Dingham Uncoupler electromagnets, see: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/114980-canute-road-quay/ I have a dreadful misture of all types of coupling on my layout and I need to standardise, especially for those wagons that I intend to shunt, so I am keen to identify the optimum solution. All help welcomed! Tony

Hi Graham Thanks for responding to my question; your three posts and the vid on your blog are all extremely helpful. I have a dreadful mixture of Hornby, Dapol & Bachman tension locks, 3-link and Kadee couplings on my layout, and so I have a great need to standardise, particularly where the intention is that wagons should be shunted. There is obviously a slight overhead in ensuring that all shuntable wagons are fitted with the soft iron wire, and I wonder, does this ever catch in / on anything else on your trackwork? I see also that Heathcote Electronics now offers a servo-based uncoupler for tension locks, see: http://www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk/uncoupler_oo_gauge.html I will place a question elsewhere to see whether anyone has used one, because this looks to be a further alternative, albeit based on similar principles to those that you have used. In due course I'll post something on my own thread about whatever I decide to adopt! Thanks again! Tony

Hi Graham This sounds interesting and it is a problem that I have yet to solve; do you have illustrations anywhere as to where exactly you fix the iron wire and how / where you have fitted the electromagnets? Any help appreciated. Tony

A Happy New Year to everyone who follows this thread and thanks for your postings in 2016! By way of an update, I decided over the Christmas period to take a break from the scenic side of the layout as I felt the need to build something - but I had to start by clearing my workbench... So after several days of finishing the painting of a couple of kit-built road vehicles, numerous half-painted figures, 60 Langley beer crates and umpteen barrels (both of the latter bound for the eventual installation of a brewery on the layout), I eventually had a clear space. These lorries are in Southern Railway green and now need decals plus some glazing to complete. Painting bottle tops is a tedious business! I decided to start with a couple of Parkside Dundas LNER vans which are needed to add some inter-regional variety to my predominantly SR van train; they went together very quickly and now await the paint shop, some weight, decals and couplings, but I have two questions for LNER and van experts! 1. Did these vans have brake levers on one side only, or both? The kit instructions are unclear but enough parts are provided for both sides. 2. How does the brake cross- rod thingy (loose brown part in pic below) fit? Again the instructions and diagram are unclear and I'd rather put it in the right place. All help appreciated! Tony

Tony Most grateful, and no, I have no idea who built it - but if they have read this they are hopefully hiding their head in shame! I, perhaps, unwisely, bought the assembled loco from a 2nd hand dealer at Warley two years ago - largely because it is a fairly rare kit of a prototype not modelled by anyone else, and of course, it looked cosmetically better than it turned out to be underneath! One lives and learns... Looks a lot better now! Tony

I am pretty certain that copyright is being breached through these being posted on YouTube, but this seems pretty common these days, and unless the copyright owner actively objects, it is unlikely that anything will be done about it. That does not make it right, of course. Tony

Tony I'm hoping you mean that the K class didn't go very well, rather than your deconstruction of it - which seems pretty thorough! A belated Happy Christmas! Tony

Hi Tony I am not sure how you could manage to "hijack" your own thread?? I for one find your postings inspirational and anything but boring! May I also publicly thank you & Mo for a great day at LB today; I always enjoy seeing the layout but it was great to be allowed to drive, even if I did set one train off in reverse.... for which my apologies. An excellent day. Tony