NS Peak

I think the picture probably is either the summer 1986 or 1987. What sets the boundary is. 1). Introduction of NSE in the summer of 86 2) redevelopment of Liverpool Street station made the station look very different from late 87 onwards 3) speed of application of NSE livery 4) the uniforms the staff 5) Liverpool Street can be very very cold and dark and there are few days a year where staff would be walking around in short sleeves I am also curious on why 110 units would go all the way to Stratford when I would have thought Neville Hill would have been able to deal with most repairs

There is a set on eBay at the moment. Here is the kicker... the asking price is 15 quid.

I know it my layout and I can run what I want but I am so glad I can now get away passing a bit of a red face test with running a Hornby 110 on my East Anglia based layout.

A sandite unit could be it, also might explain being coupled to a class 31. Photo does look lik3 a hot summers day however and not sure if it’s the season for sandite.

With time on my hands I was browsing and came across this The comments on the picture don’t shed any light on what on earth is a class 110 doing at Liverpool Street station. It looks like it might be coupled to a railfreight 31 and It must be sometime after mid 1986 as the station has NSE branding. Does anyone know what it was doing there? thanks Stephen

I believe Hattons are VAT registered in the EU and Collect and pay VAT at source as they are obliged to do if selling above a certain threshold. Just when placed my last order this was around new year and DHL got confused. other retailers I know are deducting vat which as you say is normally about the cost of post and packaging. It’s just that over 22 euros you are then liable for local VAT (btw in NL) plus 5he surcharge for collecting. I suspect DHL are more likely to collect on high value orders with track and trace than NL post will for non priority packages. I have an order coming from another retailer who deducted vat and put it through snail mail and I am curious if I will get stung for vat on that or not.

There was also Tag models for a while and I think there was also one in Meadowhall

After picking the budget Royal Mail option last November and the packet taking over 2 months to arrive ( a distance of 500km to where I live here in the Netherlands) I also took the DHL option on my last order which arrived in less than a day. (Sadly thanks to brexit I also got stung for an extra 20% plus 15 euros tax collection free.) Speed is fantastic but it’s a lot less likely to have tax applied. stephen

I hope you get a response. It was listed under their Bachmann spares in their shop and its the same site as the photo you shared s9 should be 00. good luck Stephen

Would the following be of any use https://www.ekmexhibitions.co.uk/store/CL24-5-BOGIE-FRAME-p257922079 I picked up an 08 frame and service was good. stephen

I think I will investigate the Z21 option more and have a go with the emulator and see how that works as a first step. My thinking is that an iPad should have enough computer power to run a pannel and throttle through a DR5000 without the need for a separate pc or raspberry pi. this is where I come clean gents, as my logic is more that while I sit taking hours of conference calls on my work laptop (which is a locked machine and as its not mine I can not and will not install other software on it). I just want to be able to pick up my iPad and operate my railway and not have to start up another pc with another monitor. there must be a way that I can just use my iPad and the Z21 option looks like it might tick the box. I did think about the sprog pi option when writing my letter to Santa but what can I say, Santa is not into model railways and is a sucker for a bargain when sent directly in an email stephen

Thanks Gents, I suppose my goal is to control my railway using an iPad without needing to turn on my windows PC, while being able to use the features of a panel to operate my function decoders without having to memorise all the dcc addresses of my points and signals. Iain, the Z21 app looks intriguing and looks like it should be able to directly connect to the DR5000 but I need to get used to recreating a panel and building up the loco database in the app. I did look but there does not seem to be a windows version that I could create everything with and then export (I like my iPad but I hate the keyboard) Mike, I had been following your thread, but it looked to go beyond what I was looking to do, I need to have a look at the set up you mention as I am curious on the costs and suspect the components at the moment are beyond my budget. But it has peaked my interest. (sorry for the delayed response work has been a bit manic) Stephen

Hello, santa was very generous and gave me a Digikeijs DR5000 command station. (Hay I am sitting here in the Netherlands and my other half saw an offer email). Until now I have just really been pottering about and am (after a lot of e-mails to unlock a licence code) happily using railmaster and an elink. I have had a play with JMRI pannel pro and decoder pro but I find these really hard to get my head around and honestly can’t afford 100 euros plus for the likes of ITrain which looks amazing but is out of my league. now my question... is it actually worth moving from railmaster for my very modest set up and if it is what would be the most user friendly software option to use with the DR5000 that would enable me to use a throttle and pannel on my iPad? thanks for your help Stephen

Thanks Pete, I will try to take a look at the stl file. That is really thoughtful of you, and very much appreciated. now all I need to do is think about the TDM cables. stephen

Hello, I am looking to upgrade a couple of my Hornby class 86’s to 86/4’s and was wondering where to source the multiple working cables that they carried. I was thinking of Hornby class 50 cables but these don’t look like they are available any more as spare parts. Can anyone recommend anyone recommend a source for multiple working cables and detailing parts? Thanks Stephen

You could try PVA glue that way if the plates are misplaced or need to be removed for any reason you will not damage the model itself. Stephen

I cut the webbing of a couple of yards of peco flexi track so that I could make the sleeper spacing look better in oo. Also took about 15 phone calls for work, just to take away the boredom.

Well I took the plunge and stripped down the motor and found it dripping with oil. I also found the the brushes and springs were in desperate need of replacement. Simple I thought I will order some new ones. That is where my plan failed. After checking the usual places (peters spares, new modellers shop and Lendons of Cardiff) X8314 and X8315 are all out of stock. So I suppose my question now is does anyone know where I can find replacement brushes and springs for a class 155?

Hello, I finally got round to running a Hornby Class 155 sprinter (R2108) that had been sitting in a box the past 5 years or so. When I applied power I was greeted by some puffs of smoke (no it does not have a built in smoke unit or so I thought). Looking inside the motor unit I can see the occational spark and get and a smell like gun caps. I am not sure if this could be some oil that has seeped in but there is no short as such and motor does run OK without shorting or pulling a load of amps . What should I do...?

The Rapido trains / Model Rail J70 steam tram has a coreless motor I can confirm they run like a dream

If you are looking for working modern tail lights take a look at DCC Concepts site https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/end-of-train-lamp-with-all-electronics-3-pack/

5 is Den Haag central station. My morning commute is on that tram.

If you are not looking to simply swap out the power bogie as you have already converted them to EM how about about the easiest option would be to use a pancake replacement kit such as the following. (No connection just a satisfied customer) https://www.strathpefferjunction.com/product-category/ringfield-motor-conversion-kits/ the kits are well designed and quite simple even for my very modest modelling talents They don’t come with a decoder socket but hard wiring them would be straight forward if you are already getting your soldering iron out to replace the motor, take a look also at the pcb’s also offered as these are really useful if you want to swap out decoders in the future stephen

I had to read that twice before I realised you said shift. I do remember that at the time that in most of the formations it was a first or second open that was placed next to the locomotive with the break further back. Must have been a good reason I am sure. stephen

Andi, I think you missed the step where the second man swears like hell when some idiot in the leading coach flushes the toilet in the station mid uncoupling. (i did see that happen once at Ipswich)