MrTea

They're annoyingly tempting at that price. I can see quite a few micro layouts being planned what with there being these and Pecketts for £65 at the moment.

I’ve caved in and ordered a BR green one. Planning to change the buffer heads and renumber as 30072 as I remember it from trips to the Worth Valley as a kid. Anyone got any recommendations for good DCC chips for these? I know they have a 6 pin socket but there do seem to be quite a few options for small decoders including the obvious Bachmann one.

Couple of pics from the running session the other morning plus an overall view of the layout set up: Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Hope you’re all keeping well. Ian

Here’s a quick update to finish the weekend... Here’s the rail stack next to the maintenance depot: This is a slightly different angle to normal taken from above the station: The rail stack seemed like a fairly simple thing to build but I’d been putting it off until I had the area between the maintenance shed and the access road landscaped. In the end I used about 60cm of Peco code 80 track and I was surprised how much deconstructed rail was needed! I measured the space and cut the 5 cross members and the full length rails first. I’m not the best at soldering so I figured I could glue the rails together with superglue. I made a little jig using blutack to keep the pieces aligned and set to work. (With hindsight I think the superglue might have worked if I’d filed the surfaces of the metal on the joints to roughen them). But as I started putting the pieces together it became obvious pretty quickly that superglue wasn’t going to be up to the job - it’s very good at sticking fingers to things but not nickel silver rail! I tried a couple of other types of glue before I remembered I had some UHU which turned out to do a reasonable job although the pieces did need holding in place while they set. Having more or less run out of scrap rail by this point my thoughts turned to the legs that support the structure. In reality this is rail too but I figured as I had some H section styrene of a similar profile that would probably do the job. I cut notches in the tops of the legs to help them stick better. And this was followed by more blobs of UHU. I did give the superglue another go but the pieces just didn’t seem to want to stick with it. Once the structure had been left upside down overnight to set I gave it a coat of Halfords red oxide primer. Installing it was a relatively simple process. I’d made the legs a bit longer than I thought were required and I figured I could always cut them down. In the end I made holes in the card surface of the yard with a bradawl and then gently coaxed the rail stack into place checking it was level before applying some white glue to fix it into place.

GE 4/4 IIIs pass at Veja Megstra with services for St Moritz and Chur: (Apologies you can see the top of the sky on the top left hand side)

I’ve finally managed to get round to watching the announcement video from Locomotion Models. It’s nicely done with lots of information. My favourite part was the segment featuring Ant Coulls from the museum talking about the history of the class and the infamous ‘Races to the North’ in the late 1800s: The models look absolutely exquisite. It makes you want to recreate the WCML in the 1890s or the Shildon cavalcade nearly 90 years later!

I didn’t know that existed. Thanks! That would make some model wouldn’t it?!

I’ve been asked by one of my friend’s wife if I could recommend a suitable train to go around under their Christmas tree. She’d like sound and smoke if possible? I’ve always liked the idea of the LGB Stainz starter set myself but it’s the wrong side of £300. It makes you think that Hornby might be missing a trick with their 00 offerings as they could do so much more with them in terms of movement, sound and lights. Definite opportunity for a TTS Christmas sounds chip I reckon. Interestingly there are a lot of Christmas train sets on Amazon for at or around £30 e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Locomotive-Christmas-Accessory-Decoration/dp/B08LMCHXXG/ref=asc_df_B08LMCHXXG/?tag=bingshoppinga-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=&hvpos=&hvnetw=o&hvrand=&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584276306363006&th=1&psc=1 The problem with most of them would be that you couldn’t extend them if you ever wanted to and some of them are super tacky!

For anyone else that’s tempted by this set, Dave from Hatton’s has just done an in-depth look at the Kato Glacier Express and the different options that are available:

Sleeper piles installed: These probably need toning down slightly but I’m quite pleased with how the red Halfords primer plus brown and black weathering powder gives a weathered ‘scrap’ look. Had a visit from the new GE 4/4 III loco the other day and you’ll also see that some signals have sprouted on the exit to the passing loop:

Painted and installed: Very pleased with them. They look just the part! Thanks to Pete and the team.

Halfords do a red primer for plastic: https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-and-body-repair/primer/halfords-plastic-primer-red-spray-300ml-456871.html Funnily enough, I've just sprayed a bunch of rails and sleepers with it tonight! I've used it as a base colour for BR bauxite on plastic kits before and they seem to come out well. Ian

Thanks for posting this. I've been meaning to watch it for a couple of weeks. Finally got around to watching it today. Great fun. Looks like all the passengers had a great day out.

Made a start on the detailing in the maintenance yard this afternoon. First was a short section of rail - not entirely sure what it’s purpose is in real life. But thankfully you can zoom right in using Google Streetview and capture the details: Because I’m taking this a bit too seriously now I even chamfered the edges of the sleepers to match the prototype. You’ll have to look hard to see it on the finished layout but I’ll know it’s there! More to follow, including the tale of the not-so-super superglue...

Does anyone know when the current Glacier Express coaches (as modelled by Kato, Bemo and LGB) were introduced?

I'm about to start wiring up the signals on my layout and I stumbled across this document whilst researching the signs attached to signal posts on the RhB: http://www.thomsoninteractive.com/downloads/Albula_Line_Manual_EN.pdf It's the manual for the Albula line route in Train Sim 2016 but it contains a really good section that explains the signalling from a driver's point of view: The part to look out for is Section 4, p10-14. Section 5 covers signs you might see on the route, which I also think might be useful. Ian

Track workers waiting for the westbound Glacier Express to pass at Veja Megstra on the RhB: (Need to work on my focus a bit! But you get the general idea.)

I love the way you've lit this shot. It really captures the mood.

Managed to get everything painted and installed: On to the maintenance yard tomorrow I think.

Just the job for a wet afternoon in Berkshire: Dreaming of the Swiss Alps in the sunshine... Ian

Hi @jools1959, Yes, glad you’ve found the answers you were looking for. It’s a lovely model. My advice would: ‘be careful...’ - there are a growing range of RhB models in the Kato range (and others) and it’s easy to catch the Swiss Railways bug! If you need any other questions answered feel free to post them here or DM me. Enjoy! Ian

My first order from Model Railway Scenes arrived this morning with an little extra surprise in the package. I needed some relay cabinets for the lineside on my Swiss layout. I found these online and they looked to be a good match. I gather Model Railway Scenes are a new manufacturer this year but they look to have a range of useful detailing parts for modellers in 7mm, 4mm and 2mm scales. I’ll post an update when I’ve got these installed on the layout. Ian

Exactly, although our Christmas tree will be 1:1 scale! TBH Paul, your Bonsai RhB was part of the reason I started building Veja Megstra. Last Christmas I installed this on my desk at work:

Nice! We need a thread for that under: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/2-products-trade-area/ I can just see the comments: ‘What prototype is that based on?!’ ’Aldi never release anything from my era/scale...’ ’£29.99? It's far too expensive.’ ’I don’t like locos with DCC music.’ etc.

Argh!!! My eyes!!!