JDW

I picked these up from a friend today, and am rather pleased with them. The 153 needs some work to finish the paint on the chassis, refit glazing and gangways, and I need to make a set of new radio pods for the roof. Unfortunately despite lots of searchig we couldn't find any suitable Arriva logos, so for now it will stay unbranded and have them added later as and when any appear. The 141 looks better than I expected. The front end needs the panel lines drawing on, and I need to source a chassis and glazing. Looking along it, you can tell that there's a slight 'hump back' in the bodies either side of the doors but thankfully it isn't too noticeable from most angles. I'm tempted to do the Serco one too.

I get that we all make mistakes from time to time, and that sometimes we don't know which side the filler's on if the car is unfamiliar ... but I struggle to understand how anyone that stupid actually gets through any part of everyday life. Or even how anyone can be that stupid.

I don't know how well known the info@... email address is, but considering it exists and someone had found it and was using it to try and make contact, might it not be wise to set up a divert so any emails are redirected to michael@...? Should be quick and simple to do, and mean no emails are missed (so no grumpy customers!) When one of our colleagues left, his messages were diverted to my address, so we never miss emails - and even now, a year later, people still try and email him.

I think part of the problem with foreign buildings is that the roof pitch tends to be steeper - although as the picture above shows, that's by no means universal! I'd start by removing things like the shutters and probably the attic windows in the ends too, as again that tends to be less common here (and to me at least, emphasises the tallness of the roof. Toning down the colours would make a difference, as British houses tend not to be as bright and colourful - though even just some careful painting to get rid of the plastic look would probably help a lot.

I've had that a few times too, didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why or when though

Yep, it's a nice little layout. I was actually tempted when I had a look at the ad in Classifieds just now. And then saw that you're at the opposite end of the country!

I agree we (or rather, you) have to rely on them being able to understand English - I think that some very basic words like yes or no should be the minimum if venturing somewhere as a professional driver, even if you have no grasp of the actual language. I would say though that although you have to communicate in a set way, and although they must make an effort to understand, sometimes it can be as important to understand why the other person doesn't understand or what the potential misunderstanding on their part could be. You will still have to say no and make them understand, but realising what they could understand can sometimes help you understand the potential misunderstanding (sorry, does that make sense?!) and help you to phrase, re-phase or repeat things in a way that makes them clearer. I'd like to think, though, that since English is a major world language, even the worst speaker would understand "No!" but you never know! As an aside, I used to work on the buses, and having lived and worked abroad had a lot of sympathy for our (mainly) Polish trainees when they were learning with me, and would be careful to avoid colloquialisms etc to make it easier for them. I remember one day, with a trainee driving, we were approaching a set of bus stops in the city centre, and I told the trainee (who spoke good English) to 'stop behind that bus' (pointing to the one just in front). Now, to most of us here, you'd have understood instinctively and stopped 'behind' it, like in a queue of traffic. But he misunderstood 'behind' as in the same as 'behind that wall' to mean 'at the other side of' so overtook and pulled in in front. I was confused at first, it took a few seconds of conversation to realise the misunderstanding. Sometimes even what we think should be the clearest of phrases can be unclear. In any other case, he would have been right, but specifically when talking about vehicles, 'behind' in that context relative to the ends of the vehicle (at the back of) meant what we would call 'in front of' in another context. Seems daft to us but for a non-native speaker its a totally logical way to understand what I'd said. In that case, there was no harm done, but we both learnt something from it. Another great example of the same thing meaning the opposite is "to go off". If "the alarm went off at 3am", did the alarm start to sound at 3am, or did it switch off at 3am? Usually obvious, but the nuances aren't always there for a non-native speaker. Anyways, back to level crossings, sorry!

Older Lima models generally had pick up from one side of the power bogie and the other side of the trailing bogie. Newer models had pick up on both sides of the trailing bogie (one side using the original method via the brass pivot pin, the other side using a brass strip bearing on the rear of the wheels, and a wire through a small hole in the chassis.

I mentioned some card backscene buildings earlier, I also ordered one of these from Ebay. About £17 if I remember right, and took all of a few minutes to click together. It'll need a few tweaks, but as a base it doesn't look too foreign and a bit of work and detailing should make it look ok. I'll see what it looks like in place before I do much with it though.

Just a random thought - if the layout is permanent, could the ballast be glued down without actually gluing it to the baseboard, and if so, would that help? I'm thinking something like laying a layer of cling film under the track, ballasting on top using PVA or whatever adhesive you prefer, so that the ballast and track are solidly glued together, but not actually stuck to the baseboard.

Ah, apologies and thanks - it was late and I was trying to answer quickly! I'm the same but on the other hand haven't been able to prime them over winter so wasn't too worried. Now the weather's improving I might try and get on with them again. Definitely need the window etches, I'd forgotten those. I reckon I could make a 'chassis' from some thick plasticard I have in stock, but the underframe parts would be beyond my patience and skill levels!

I've had the same issue with my 323s, still sat as bare bodyshells. I suspect they'll end up as unmotored as they'll spend more time sat on display than moving - maybe use a simple Hornby 153/156 power bogie. I'll probably hold out a while yet and see if he produces the underframe parts. Someone (sorry, I forget who) mentioned the Southern Pride bogies, I'll probably use those with his 3d-printed sides - they're listed as for class 507/508/313/314 but they are pretty similar aren't they? I have to admit a 175 is tempting, especially if the bogies become available. A 180 would be, but it'd be too long for my layout!

Apologies for the slow reply, and thanks to @Wagonmaster, @Jack374 and @newbryford for taking the time to answer. I actually have 9 153s, and this is the only one I've had any issues with. I gave up with it last weekend but will have a look with fresh eyes and a multimeter at the weekend. The 3v battery is a good idea - I had wondered about how to check and completely missed the most obvious solution. As far as I can see the sprung pickups at the cab ends are making good contact. Now you mention it, I seem to recall a similar issue after I added a new Lenz handset, but that was a decade ago, it hasn't changed since! It has been idle quite a lot, so there may be a battery issue there somewhere, certainly worth keeping an eye on after so many years.

No pictures, but a few ebay purchases have arrived, mainly printed card low relief buildings. I'm still a bit stuck what to do behind the station area, in a long thin triangular area, so decided to order a few different cheap low relief structures to have a play about and see what might work. Lots of fencing too, yet more metal security fencing, as well as Wills chain link security fences and concrete post/concrete panel styles, plus some possibly temporary platform fencing along the rear until I decide exactly what that area will be. Not a big thing, but it has had the nice effect of divinding things up into more manageable 'scenes' and dividing railway/non-railway, helping to better visualise the new station area and approach. Still also having DCC issues, my Lenz set kept throwing up error 98s seemingly at rondom before freezing altogether this afternoon - not something it's done before. And the 153 that was causing an issue, I replaced the decoder, so it runs, but I'm starting to think someone has messed with the light circuits. With them switched on on the decoder, I get them directional in reverse (red on small cab, white on large cab) and nothing in forward. If I switch them off, they stay on constantly the same as in reverse (red on small cab, white on large cab) in both directions. The decoder is in the right way (and I tried it both ways just in case, same effect). The contacts at the small cab end were also very dirty though its hard to tell what it was - not quite corrosion, but black in places. I scraped it off with a knife and polished with a fibreglass brush, which at least got the lights at that end working. The red ones, anyway! The circuit board is also different to my others, with two what look like capacitors on the end. It doesn't look like they're 'bodged' on, they are fitted to proper marked tabs. I have a spare older one, so might try swapping it out for that next time I have the soldering iron out.

Depending on your accurate cutting skills you could always open out the hole that's left and put in some curved plasticard end sections and small fillets at the sides for the bogie to bear on, to replicate the Lima underframe.

I'm finding that a single CD motor copes with a 4-car class 156 set up a very slight gradient with no traction tyres, but anything more would be an ask. What always gets me with Lima motors is that the good ones run better with just an occasional wheel clean than the bad ones will run after I've stripped everything down, cleaned every wheel, pick up surface, etc...!

They'll never match the quality of a newer model (with centre drive or modern motor bogie) but I find the strange thing with Lima is that some really will run great. I have a couple of 156s that it'd be pointless remotoring as they are smooth, slow, and reliable. Yet others which should be identical will stutter, judder and run indifferently depending on the day of the week or the direction of the wind. Age, type, amount of use seems to have no bearing, it seems completely random which are the better ones.

I'd second what both posters above said. To fit a Bachmann chassis would be a lot of work. Fitting the central motor and bogies into the existing chassis might be more practical. The example of a twin-motor-bogie loco pulling signficantly better than a central motor one must have had a lot of extra weight packed in as well as traction tyres. If you've found a suitable Bachmann one for a good price, then yes, it makes as much sense to do that as try and update the older one. In more general terms, rather than your specific example, I think sometimes people are quick to 'dis' motor bogies in favour of central motors, but forget that a motor bogie doesn't usually mean the juddery pancake that Lima and Hornby made. Those in my Hornby DMUs for example use a small can motor atop the bogie, and I can control them just as smoothly at a crawl as any central-motor fitted unit. That said, this thread has reminded me, I still have a DynaDrive conversion kit in the cupboard to fit into a Lima class 37 or 47...

Full marks for effort and doing something fun, but I think it looks a bit top heavy. At first I just thought there was too much dark grey and too much black on the sides - after all, the Roundel livery was designed around the full-heght body sides of UK-designed stock and doesn't transfer across well. But having seen the edited version, the black front balances it out a bit more and looks much better I think.

I'd either go for the Hornby chassis option (be careful, make sure it is the right chassis not the old Hornby versions!!) as I find the mechanisms run well. They'll never be the same as Bachmann's centre motor, but for lots of people they're fine, especially if you're not hauling long heavy trains up gradients. And as said above, you can sell on the old chassis and new body on Ebay to recoup some of the cost. I've also used some remotor kits from Strathpeffer Junction which are a faily simple job to fit. I used them on a 156 but am pretty sure they are available for other types too. That also worked well, just needed some basic soldering skills. As you say, there's also the ViTrains option. I've done that with one of mine, but unless you use one of their Lima replacement chassis, a small amount of work is needed to provide a way of mounting the body on the chassis. It's certainly an improvement, but as you say probably not worth the hassle.

Hmmm, its a nice effort but I'm not a fan. The livery doesn't suit the lines of the loco at all - or maybe the loco doesn't suit the lines of the livery. It looks top-heavy. The proprtions are wrong, the logo sits wrong, with too much black and not enough light grey, not helped by the black lettering on the side. I can see where it's going, but it doesn't have the same clean effect that Roundel created for typical British locos with full height bodysides that were around when it was introduced.

Some general maintenance happening today, it seems to build up and up, to the point I was getting pretty frustrated at having so many units not working properly. For some reason both RR and Provinial 150s are always tetchy, yet the 950 runs perfectly all the time. All on clean wheels, clean pic ups, etc. So brought them down from the loft, sat them on the wheel cleaner, and both of them ran perfectly from the off. Took them back upstairs, and both distinctly average again. On top of that, I'm finding that some stock the lights will only work properly in 14-step mode on DCC (on 28-step they come on and off alternately through the steps, and on 128 they stay off). On stock that's always been fine before. How can that be?! In good news, I managed to quickly re-solder a broken wire on both the Provincial and Strathclyde 156s. After which, before committing to spending money, I thought I'd double check my diagnosis of the 158 problems. A couple of them run badly, which I suspected was split gears. So decided to swap the wheelsets for some from a newer one. Simple, right? Grabbed a Central one from the shelf, tested it, and the lubricant had dried, so removed the body, rotated the motor by hand, and after a little running in the amp draw dropped and it was back to its perfect-running self. So, body back on, popped it back on the track, and... nothing. Body off, check, poke, prod. Nothing. How?! Just how! Equally, fitted a new Lenz decoder into the new de-branded Regional Railways Hornby 153. It ran fine on DC. It still runs fine on DC. It ran fine when I pulgged in the decoder. So I stuck the decoder down, to the underside of the PCB using a sticky pad, nice and firm. And now it won't budge. It'll read back. The lights flicker when read/writing. The motor hums/judders when programming. But put it on the track and it does nothing. Final DCC moan du jour... On my Sig-na-Track controller, the F2 and F3 and not latching, how do I change them? Can't see anything in the manual. It means I can't switch on one set of cab lights on my new Railtrack 121 without holding down the button. No huge issue, it works fine with the Lenz set on the layout, just can't figure it out!

Indeed. I think I said something similar a while back. I'd like to hope people might talk about the model at some point, but I'm not holding my breath. No, for the love of [bleep], please don't tell us any more. We don't need any more comments on what people think of each other, of other people's businesses or how they think things should be/should have been/might have been/could be. The rest of us are sick to the high teeth of coming here to read about a new and interesting model to read the same old crap, frankly, over and over. It's well past its sell-by date, everything that needed saying (and more) was said when it may have been remotely relevant. None of it is any more, and even if it was at one point, most of the rest of us don't give a [bleep] any more. Besides not doing anyone any favours, its starting to become disrespectful to the rest of us who actually want to read about the model to keep seeing the same thing go on and on and on and on like kids in a playground.

I'll grab some close-ups next time I'm in the loft. It will be a 465 - I overlooked the fact that 365s don't have the small window at the coach ends, and can't be bothered filling all 12 of them... Its not as if I need either, they're both equally out of my modelling area. It was just a fun project that seemed a good idea, not going to make more work for myself though! I did find myself eyeing upba Bachmann 150 and a Networker cab and thinking 'hmmm' but the 325 will have to wait for now. Too many other things on the go...

A couple more Ebay purchases arrived today, including another 466 bought cheap(ish) and - like the other ones, stinking of cigarette smoke and with damaged bogies, two of which were hanging out when I removed it from the box. I notice 3d printed replacements are available on Ebay and bought a pari a while ago - but the brittle nature of 3d prints meant that as I pushed the snug-fitting metal inner into place, one snapped. I suspect the same will happen with the clips which hold it in the chassis as they won't like flexing to clip in. I might try heating them first in hot water. Anyway, that gave me two non-toilet driving cars, and enough chassis for the full set and left me with two spare toilet cars and one spare chassis. So a few cuts with the rasor saw gave me enough sides and roofs for two more centre coaches. I had to be a bit more creative this time, to make use of the spare sections I had, so couldn't make the joints down door lines. Just new ends needed. If I can get hold of another chassis I'll probably put one pair on Ebay when they're done. Or if I see another cheap set buy that and sell on as a 4-car set. I also now have an accumulation of five cab ends. I might keep a few in case I ever decide to do a 325 and pop a pair on Ebay for anyone planning the same. Something else that arrived among a big order of Oxford cars for Aldi's car park and yet more pallisade fencing from Hattons was a Wills engine shed kit, which has proved more work than I expected - lots of parts need cutting from standard Wills sheets, and I have an inability to cut things square with a knife at the best of times. Lots of flash needed removing from the windows too. Anyway, after lots of preparation it's starting to come together, but am starting to wish I'd bought the ready-to-plant alternative I was considering. Hopefully it'll come good. It will be modernised with new doors and maybe some bricked up windows as another old railway building now used for something else - I'm leaning towards a small engineering facility (think RFS at Kilnhurst) which might provide somewhere to display things like my Sentinels as well as create a nice industrial yard scene.