number6

Dave - do you brush on the varnish? Presumably if you aren't covering the whole in one go? R

Can I say: I absolutely love your fiddle yard. May be wrong but I think the large double arrow sign disappeared from the roof when the station was 'messed about with' a few years ago. I would have had that in my garden if no one else wanted it.

Funny that is what people were doing back then too - saying that Lima had the shape right. Which was horlicks of course! The underdangly bits on the Dapol look wonderful. Having chopped away at mine many years ago attempting the same its really nice to see.

Oh dear, I'm having flashbacks to the original Heljan 33 and its dodgy roof shape....

I would love one of these gauges - very useful - but I have a large 00-SF layout and I have run a huge variety of wheels through the pointwork without one so far. In many cases I couldn't tell you what the back to back is in mm - I have merely tested the wheel on the track and tweaked the gauge until it runs smoothly. I have various gauges but they are often only a starting point. An existing wheel which runs is often my preferred gauge - hold them up and compare the back of the flanges. I've never had to re-gauage a Romfords/Markits wheel/axle but I have had to pull out a few early China Hornby loco wheels. Never any Bachmann locos except those wheels in the terrible new LMS bogies with plastic centres. They went in the bin. The wheels which require the most care are Gibson coach and wagon wheels because of their thin tread and often have to be very finely judged. This I do with a tweak of the wheel press/puller or just my fingers and then testing through pointwork. I then mark the bottom of the vehicle as gauged and off it goes. With respect all the time spent with calipers and gauges could be better spent re-gauging at a speed so it becomes like shelling peas! With respect - like a lot of aspects of this hobby there can be a bit over overthinking going on here. Checking back to backs and adjusting is very easy to do- takes no time at all and is probably something people running pure PECO could spend some time doing because it pays dividends in good running. I have PECO in the hidden yards and any adjustments to run through 00SF have had no detrimental effect.

Instantly telling the difference between the designs of various pre group company coaches is obviously a dying art! These are going to create an explosion [as it were] of cut and shut early SR EMUs. All good.

I just had a new Mashima go all 'screechy' on my yesterday. A dodgy batch perhaps? Will have to replace it even though it is super smooth under 10mph! Fabulous work on the 700 Dave.

32469 has the Brighton smokebox http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/photograph-32469-e4-class-at-brighton-120100496.htm#pic As does 32470 http://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/p878339393/h56bd3bea#h56bd3bea But Bachmann has done 470 - why not choose another?! If you need to find images for locos Google search the number. Bound to find something useful regards number6

Just goes to show how closely I looked at the thing! I was about to carve up the lined version and change the smokebox door. Thanks... Does it mention this anywhere in the descriptions of the various types available?

You spends your money etc... but when I look at the Hornby Terrier I see this. p.s. this guy is a genius LEGO builder. https://www.flickr.com/photos/93540898@N06/

II hadn't noticed that the early crest version was unlined. Duly cancelled... Not really about the price but about the time it would take me to add the lining. Having done one in the past that bunker side reverse curve is a .

Grand. I also remember gazing longingly at the maroon one I had and amazing at the quality. Must be in a box still. They had a nice solid feel too. I may be way out on a limb here but found the Triang-like construction of Bachmann's Mk1s, their roof ribs and bogies with brake blocks in line with frames a slight backward step when they emerged... Look at the roof on the Mainline one that is a lovely job... for 1981. cheers 6

Was that when someone chained a coal train across the junction and blocked you in?! [A Brighton Joke] Smiffy2: Mike Waldron is doingloco name transfers now...

Travelled on a few from Sussex to the north in the 70s. To York the train originating from Eastbourne - our Crompton expired on the north London near Brent and we were sat waiting for an hour or so - when we got to York the Railway museum was closed during the move - big sulk. Also up to Carnforth from the Sussex Coast this time Crompton to Wembley then cl81 north. Vividly remember overtaking a footex on the slow where seat cushions were flying out the windows and many fascinating rude words was being shouted. We did Carnforth shed - the black fives and 4472 in steam - then a coach convoy over to Lakeside and a trip on the railway and/or steamer. Then another huge convoy of coaches over to Penrith where we very late meeting the train. It apparently had been shuttling from up to down line to let other traffic past. Route home was very convoluted: after reversing at Wembley rather than taking the West London we went via Brentford, Clapham Junction, Herne Hill, Streatham Common then down the Brighton line. All in a day... just. A few years later many excursions originating from the south started in London and there were coach connections across London from Victoria. I guess because of less loco hauled stock available? I was my understanding it was the Oxted line sets being put to use over the weekend. My Dad got us on the wrong bus outside Victoria so when they announced welcome to the Merrymaker to the Norfolk Broads we legged it up the front, got dropped off on the Euston Road somewhere and ran to Marylebone for our correct train to Alyesbury and the Grand Union canal... that was a reserved unit and the trip home from Tring was also a reserved extra 310 unit into Euston - coach across London then service train back south. Have to say I preferred the Mk1 compartment stock all the way...

A thread about these locos pops up every so often - I think Heljan should take note - I still haven't finished my pair which are probably six years in the making now. There is a set of photos of their construction so far on Flickr here if interested. I used the NNK 'kit' as a basis as illustrated earlier but the rest has been a scratch build and bodgefest. A simple box at first glance all three of these locos had endless changes of detail and livery making them really characterful. Researching their working diagrams shows them to have been intensively used. They ran light long distances light engine between Chichester, Three Bridges, Newhaven and Victoria in the course of a diagram shuttling between freight and boat train duties. That is why you find many images of them on their own out on the mainline. And they were on the move almost all of the time. I think the Southern Region got true value for money out of these things. Discussions on SEMG recently talked of the early Southern electrification for the Hastings Line - using a production batch of these locos - which in part explains the restriction 0 body size. Alternative history scenario with some of these and red and cream Hastings gauge sets on the Tonbridge line alongside Schools and older SECR locos would make a nice project.

You are joking?! Look again at that last image of the shed area. The subtlety of weathering and colouring across the buildings, the trackwork, and in the ballast is sublime. Perhaps some of those bufferbeam bolts haven't got enough grime around them and the grass is a bit uniform but even then... Seems obvious to me that PGH knows how to look at the real thing - be it an old sleeper stuck in a embankment or how the industrial railway worked - and can translate it into model form. Really excellent work - on many levels: execution, design, detail, operational possibilities and also the care of presentation online here as well. Much appreciated. No.6

Part built indeed! Are these things ever finished? Now I know - from David's amazing versions - that the stripe on the black livery was silver not white, so I can get on and paint them. I think you'd do an amazing job of them Colin. Plasticard definitely being the best route to an accurate version rather than the ex-MTK brass 'wrappers'. Kind words on the 2BIL - which when I compare to my Hornby ones I think I still prefer. Perhaps it is all the effort that goes into a kit or scratch built model that makes it more attractive despite the new alternative - I can't be the only one out there with much loved kit builds now threatened by RTR versions. I was wondering about the slightly flat face of the 2BIL myself. Looks a little pushed in perhaps... but as a fully paid up member of the broad brush modelling club I just think how lucky we are to have it despite this. I have collected up a box of Hornby spare parts for the BIL [and BEL] to see if I can't use them to replace some of my past cruder attempts using various bogies or detail parts on my other units. A Laser Glaze pack for the BIL would, I think, make a huge improvement. Watching with interest to see what else you do to it. Best wishes.

What a great layout and capture of the character of the Woodhead and East Manchester. All those quibbles over rivet size, window position etc on the EM1s seem forgotten when you can create scenes like this. Such a characterful line, now the possibilities for modelling it are so much greater. And improving upon the RTR model is also the key - making it your own by carving it up. The sum is greater than the parts - that is my mantra! Look forward to more. Cheers 6

Good job. A real hang-up of mine too! My current fad is to chop sections of the black close-cell foam you get in Heljan stock boxes and fit this between the frames so the top of the bogie presses just slightly on it. It acts as a bit of a spring as well as filling in the gaps that you can't do with plasticard. I've found it works amazingly well on Hornby Bulleids which suffer in a similar way to your King - it even helps the loco turn into corners better.

An air of spaciousness is hardly the preserve of the rich! Unless that too has been privatised when I wasn't paying attention.

Its a really nice concept having the M&GN included as well. From these photos the stock reflects the rather neglected air of the line with the older blood and custard contrasting with the mainline with its classier more modern stock. Also the long smooth curves on the ECML compare to the truncated M&GN. Really like the spartan embankments: the distant views of the single wagon and lone signal box. Even with the photoshop helping out there is a very nice sense of distance and space.

Special Traffic Notice: 11th Dec 1958. Due to high traffic demand. Train 236 Scotch Goods to run in seven sections.

Gilbert - How you resisted running that train until now is beyond me. Splendid stuff. If it was me I'd let it go around a few more times!

I'm beginning to wonder if someone on this thread isn't sat on one of Gordon's shoulders with goatee, red suit, tail and little trident!

Very envious of you then Rick! Those images have appeared elsewhere on the web including Flickr. A search of the web reveals that a couple of the trains have been preserved at the Post Office Museum in Debden along with a few other artifacts. My feeling is that a thorough photographic essay should be made of the system before it degrades any further. Is there a good book on the subject? Although it is officially not abandoned there is zero likelihood of it being resurrected, although I did discover recent plans to use it to transfer between hospitals - no not patients - but blood!