JDW

It has certainly come on a lot since the first post, and looks much better for it. If I may be permitted to suggest another modification, depending on whether you want a tunnel or not I'd move both the 'cut-off' loops further to the right (ie by the length of one R600) and get rid of that short stub of a siding where you have the red and grey wagon. That would give the impression of a main line and loops with the centre station platform, it would get rid of a potentially hard to use crescent shaped space where that short stub siding is, and would give you a bit of extra lenght/space in the centre for the goods yard area. The curved point you take out could possibly be used to add an extra siding there instead.

That's a good idea with the foam to fill the gap but as @MarshLane says the gap seems a bit large, I'm sure mine don't sit that far apart. Could it be that the foam is a little too long, pushing the coaches apart and pulling the close coupling mechanisms out on their springs as far as the slack/slop in the couplings will allow?

23 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Likewise,  the old brick arch Reading West Bridge used to have a sign on it to remind passengers on open top trams to remain seated. The bridge was replaced with the current girder bridge in the 1930s in preparation for the introduction of enclosed trolleybuses.

I can't help but imagine that if they didn't notice the bridge coming towards them, they probably wouldn't notice the sign either...

For most stock I just use the last three digits without the class number, so 156402 for example is 402. I find it easy to remember most of them, though for some reason there are a few 144s and 153s that I constantly have to look at to remember! I use the same system for locos, apart from a few classes which have adopted class number + 2 digits, due to clashes with 66s. 66001 clashed with 01 - I allocated single-digit numbers to shunters when I first started fitting decoders, I think to try and save typing in long numbers every time I wanted to shunt. And 66405 clashed with 37405. So they became 6601 and 6645, with others following to become 6620 (66200), 6641 (66411) and 6727 (67027). The 144s use the same, as their unit numbers are in single digits (eg 144007 becomes 1447 rather than 07). My Railtrack 121 is just 121, and the 950 is 950, whilst an MPV is just 989, the first digits of the vehicle numbers, as they are all likely to be one-offs (whereas I have something like 10 156s!)

45 minutes ago, caradoc said:

 

Thanks for that, until the wording was changed from train to railway station I didn't have a clue what the story was about....

It was clearly about a station of some kind 

I do agree that electronic signs (not just on smart motorways) need to be better co-ordinated and more accurate sometimes, so as not to give false warnings or apparently pointless lower speed limits*. The other day I joined the M1 in Yorkshire, and the sign advised of a 60 limit. The next one was a national speed limit sign. A few miles later, 50... then 40... then blank, then blank again. Some people speeded up, some didn't, because having had an NSL sign after the previous 60 limit it was unclear whether the first blank one was not working or whether the limit had ended. 

Also for the avoidance of misunderstanding, a red X is not the same as a red traffic light or wig-wag light at a level crossing. It means you must not continue any further in that lane. It does not mean stop, unless all lanes have a red X above them in which case you must stop. After two decades of driving, and seeing all manner of things, I actually had all lanes flash up a red cross about a dozen cars in front of me a couple of months ago. The first time I'd ever seen it on all lanes at once. In that case though, the police had already pretty much brought traffic to a stop, and it was only for a few minutes to move a stranded broken down car from the central reservation.

*Of course, there's always the chance that you pass through in the short window between the obstruction moving and the signs being updated, it will always take a few minutes, but it seems to happen far too often for that to always be the case. 

On 31/07/2021 at 11:38, Mark Saunders said:

Hornby are almost as bad now!

I'm trying to work out which is more accurate, the model or the mangled English below it... With apologies for being slightly O/T, poorly written eBay ads are one thing but it amazes me that big companies can put out something so badly written... 

It looks like yours is the same as mine, the prints have splayed out at the bottom, presumably as they cured. I found as they were they were way too wide. As you say the material is very brittle. Heating it in hot water is enough to make it pliable enough to gently bend back to shape. I usually run them under cold water afterwards to speed up the cooling again, and then leave then sat between a few heavy tins to make sure the shape holds until they are cool. 

I had a spare Lima 156 chassis, and pretty much sliced the sides off. In reality, not much different to a piece of plasticard but I had it to hand, it was spare and roughly the right dimension, and already had a hole in for the bogie pivot. 

How well do the Elecrta graphics line up? I know Electra's graphic work is generally pretty good, but as I said on my thread am not convinced by the window-line of the 323. 

10 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

At first viewing I thought he was just being deliberately obstructive in an "I'm not impressed by your expensive car" sort of way.

 

[...]

 

More the case that he was extremely unlucky to have encountered an impatient @rse who seemed to think a few seconds' delay was reasonable grounds to employ his motor vehicle as an offensive weapon.

 

On the other hand I think there's something a bit dodgy about the whole clip.  I seriously doubt whether any normal person would be able to get up and limp away after a car had been driven over their lower leg.

I see what you mean - but there are a lot of strange people out there! Assuming it is genuine, I suspect the car driver hadn't seen him fall. As the car pulls up, the driver's likely looking at the ticket machine. S/he opens the door, suggesting maybe a problem with the electric window, another minor distraction. By which point the guy is on the floor out of view of the driver in front of the car. Driver sees him crossing, focuses on getting ticket, looks back, the man's gone, sets off... it's not hard to think it's one of those cases where all the holes in the Swiss cheese line up to lead to an accident.

That looks great. I'm very tempted by the 175 or 185 that he's produced too, but I think any of the 185 liveries might be a bit complex to paint, and the 175 is a bit out of area for me! Great build though, nice to see something a bit different. I had the same crack/split issues a few times on my 323s, the printed material seems very brittle, I imagine these are the same? 

14 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Surely that's a design issue - fit the thing with its own brakes and an accelerometer to apply them in such a situation.  Maybe even a sort of deadman's that the steward just has to let go of.

Unfortunately that probably wouldn't do much - if the force of the train stopping is hard enough to throw the trolley forwards at any great rate, then it'll likely be thrown, tipped or just skid with locked wheels, as there's only a limited amount of friction between smooth trolley wheels and the carpet. A push-down handle like on airport baggage trolleys that released the brakes might help stop it at slow speed - maybe they already have them to keep them steady, I don't know - but at anything like a higher speed the lack of friction between the trolley and carpet would be the bigger problem. 

I'm not generally an N scale fan but this is fantastic, the attention to detail and level of realism in such a small scale is brilliant. 

On 10/06/2021 at 00:22, br2975 said:

 

Well the roof appears (dirty) grey in this image.

.

Photographer unknown.

Interesting dirt marks on the shed wall in the background too - presumably locos were often started up or left running in that same location!

3 hours ago, Wagonmaster said:

They're looking great and I'm glad you managed to sort out the wheel problem.

 

The Realtrack chassis is a good way to go, but a Hornby or scratchbuilt chassis can work well. I have a Bristol Railbus and Class 140 running on scratchbuilt chassis using the High Level Kits Pacer motorising unit. These work very well and are nice and smooth, especially at low speed. They do come in various gear ratios too. It is what I'm going to use in my Class 141. Certainly worth serious thought if you get stuck.

If I were stuck I'd use a Hornby one. I have three and all run fine, though would really benefit from smaller wheels to lower the ride height a little. 

My ability to cut things square and straight is sadly much too poor to even think about trying to build a chassis myself. I'm sure it would be do-able, but experience has taught me that getting things accurate is not a skill I posess...

Yes, I'd rather have something that runs well than just stick it on a Hornby chassis because it's cheaper (but with the price of them on eBay, not that much cheaper!). I'm keeping my eye out, though have managed to acquire a single 144 car sold for spares and repairs, and have almost a full chassis left from my second centre car build which used a Realtrack unit, so might be able to bodge something together.

Following on from yesterday's post, I managed to pull the wheels out to around 14.5mm which seems to have sorted the problem, and the units run fine again. I've ordered a few more sets so that all bar one of my 156 sets will either have the Hornby motor, or replacement wheels. 

Whilst testing things in the loft I couldn't resist posing the 141 alongside a 3-car 144 and a 155. Don't get too excited though, look closely and it's just the shells sat on supports!

I mentioned on my workbench thread yesterday that I'd bought a few sets of these and found the back-to-back measurement way too tight, causing too much friction between the wheel back and the bogie frame. I managed to open it out a little today to around 14.5mm from the 14-ishmm they were set at, which seems to have cured the problem. A few small tweaks might be needed, as at least one unit sparks quite badly over a couple of sets of points. However, it does seem to have sorted it and first test seem to show they run well. I've already ordered a few more sets to replace the Lima wheels on other units.

...I also got around to fitting a couple of sets of replacement wheels to some Lima 156s, obtained from Peter's Spares following a recommendation on another thread. The wheels look great, very fine, and no traction tyres. But unfortunately that's where the fun stopped. I popped a set in one unit, and although it moved, it was very stiff, wouldn't move at low power and when it did, it was with a very high current draw. The back-to-back measurement appears too tight by maybe as much as 0.5mm, meaning that the wheel backs are very tight against the inside frame of the bogie. I've tried pulling them out on the axle but the fit is too tight to move them. I've tried a light skim of the boss on the plastic bogie frame with a file, but it wasn't enough and I don't want to do more and introduce slop when I refit the Lima wheels. All 8 axles are the same. The matching wheels for the unpowered bogie seem the same. Has anyone else had this problem? I'll send them an email and see what they say. 

Not much progress of late, but the Arriva 153 has been fitted to its chassis, with snowpoughs added and glazing fitted. The chassis still needs new air tanks and BSI couplings fitting before painting, and new radio pods need fitting before the roof gets a coat of dark grey. It also needs new steps under the light clusters, as some are missing.

No real progress on the layout though...

It would work, it's built from rearranged Hornby 142 parts after all,  but I'd rather try and use a Realtrack one for better running, and to save the work of re-motoring. The Hornby one sits a little high anyway, and the Peco Leyland National roof sections are also slightly tall, so a Realtrack chassis should bring it back down to a better ride height.

Thanks, I can't take any credit for the painting though!

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. 

13 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Someone doesn't know their left from their right.

 

 

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. 

On 08/03/2021 at 05:00, KR Models said:

No, info@krmodels.co.uk doesnt get checked at all. Email me personally at michael@krmodels.co.uk

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.