Trofimow

Well, it's only taken me 15 years, but I finally finished this lot... So you can expect someone to announce RTR palvans any time now...

A bit of progress has been made on the lowfits, all now resprayed and transfers applied... And wagon floors repainted in weathered wood effects, all different, and the tie down rings highlighted with metalcote ... Just about ready to add a little weathering next, then fit the tractor loads.

Sorting through the drawers of stuff in the railway room the other day, I came upon these Ratio kits, still unopened. This one must have been lurking for a while, judging by the price ticket... But then how long has this one been hiding at the back of the drawer, at that price and from a long gone model shop... Have you got any kits that have been wailting longer to be built?

While selling off my late Father's train stuff, I came upon a number of these, variously in GWR, LMS and NE liveries, mostly Mainline specimens from way back. They did not raise much interest on Ebay, so I figured I might as well keep them and see if I can find a use for them. Paul Bartlett has a picture on his website of a train of lowfits loaded with Fordson tractors, and I believe one of the magazines recently ran a photo of a similar train, so let's have a go at emulating that.... First up is to fit metal wheels and ensure that all couplings are a similar type. Then the wagon bodies will get a repaint in bauxite and relettering using the appropriate sheet from Cambridge Custom Transfers. I know that means some will have numbers from the wrong diagram, and the underframe detail won't be accurate. Effingham is all about operation, and I'm hoping to create a train that looks passable rattling through on the down slow, not making highly accurate wagons that are going to sit on the front of the layout to be scrutnised at close range.

Gosh, it's been a long time since I last had the opportunity to do anything on the layout... almost 2 years since the last post! It's still not going to happen for a while, but a lot of time and thought has been going into the planning for Effingham Mk2. SCARM has been getting quite a workout and the complex 3 dimensional puzzle of how to fit sufficient lower deck storage loops into the space available is pretty much finalised. Hopefully the shortcomings of the previous layout have been avoided. Time will tell how many new ones have been unwittingly incorporated! Meanwhile, I have at last got space for a workbench, and a little time to use it, so time to catch up with some of those half finshed projects, part built kits and such like. I'm also trying to learn how to do weathering. Here's a first attempt. Looks like a need to give the areas around the chimneys a little attention. Maybe those duckets too.

So you think steamroller wheels are unprototypical.....

John, I respect your view and I am glad that you were able to turn a very nasty experience to a positive benefit. That does not mean that I wish to advertise MY identity on the internet, and I hope that you can respect that. Twice in her career, my wife was the subject of unfounded and malicious allegations from those we must refer to as clients. This resulted in police investigations, inquiries by her employer and her professional registration body and the very real threat of having her registration revoked thus depriving her of the means of earning a living. Neither of us found it a pleasant or a liberating experience. On a third occasion, the unfounded and malicious allegations were directed at me, resulting in my being arrested and spending a night in the cells. Not something I have any desire to go through again. A colleague of my wife had similar experiences and the trauma of it led her to take her own life. I DO care if these low lifes have the means to get at me or those I care about and I'm not about to make it easy for them. I'm afraid that our views will have to differ on this one. Alan Edit for typingj errerrr

Wot he said. My wife, now retired, spent her working life delivering mental health care. Although mental health troubles can affect anyone, her work tended involve disproptionally the lower ends of society. There can be some rather unpleasant friends and relatives to deal with, who are quite capable of laying the blame for the situation at your door, rather than believing it has anything to do with long term substance abuse, or any one of a dozen other causes. The consequences of such people identifying the practitioner and where they live can be most unpleasant, not only for the individual, but for their entire family. I've seen it happen to others and it's not pretty. If you have lived a blameless life, in a safe occupation, in a nice area, you may well find it difficult to understand why some wish to hide their identity. Please try to understand that not everyone has that luxury. Alan

Yes, it's just the job in conjunction with and SMD resistor. Works a treat and easy to use. It was only available in large pots when I bought mine some time ago.

I've found Bachmann customer service excellent - very helpful and customer orientated. I have never needed to contact Hornby customer service, so can't comment there.

I happened to be passing the other day and the Ty2 was running. I've put some video on my youtube channel

Don't leave it too long 2018 might be the final year.

Dunno. It is a big grate to feed though. Howard reckons those without mechanical stokers had 2 firemen rostered as routine back in the day. As I had the loco to myself, I stuck to the driving and left the firing to Tomasz and new Andrej! Alan

Indeed. My most recent trip last month included a 300 mile round trip on the main line with the 2-8-2, with the 5 coach heritage set most of the way and 3 extra coaches added at Wroclaw. The loco had one or two problems which necessitated unscheduled stops to deal with, and then time had to be made up in betwen to avoid delaying other traffic. 12 and a half hours on the footplate and no-one else to want to share the driving. Glad I didn't have to fire, cos that would definitely have done for my back!

Don't let that put you off. There's no compulsion to do the firing, you can do as little as you like or as much as you are able to. As a first timer, nobody would expect you to fire a full fifty mile run. It's a very different experience from a UK heritage railway though.

Unfortunately I don't have the facility to run mine at the moment. Pics are all I can manage.

There's a card enclosed which essentially reads - stop please -RTFM (I paraphrase)... Quite a comprehensive bits bag containing shoes, body mounting brackets, headcodes, buffer beam details, etc, etc. Enough to keep one occupied for a while.

a few more..

as promised

Oh all right then... more shortly

Both of mine arrived today, just when the e-mail from kernow said they would. Expertly packed, no issues at all. Although the reported problems should not have happened, hopefully they are few and far between. As to the models, they have been well worth the wait and Dave has done an excellent job of delivering on his promises and has vindicated my faith in putting my money where his mouth was. What vapourware? Alan edit fur speelingj

Then he's Ted

It's not a hamster, it's a rat....

Back in the day when ITV were on strike (for 9 weeks IIRC), the apology caption and music allegedly got enough viewers to register in the ratings.

Mine have also just been delivered by Hermes. All good, and I might also get some more for stock before Pete clears them out!