woodenhead

Dapol 52, 121 chipped and working, second Farish 24 chipped then there was an upset - my other 47 had a split gear, the loco is probably 10 years old so I was expecting one somewhere. Dropped the wheelset, found the errant wheel, removed its gear and all back together - nice and smooth again. Starting to play with the trains now and find what needs attention.

And with the 92s out of the way and these on the way - what about letting some other models off the leash - the 313 and 128 maybe, please, maybe

Thank goodness you operate a pay on delivery method, I would imagine it would be more complicated resolving VAT issues if you'd taken pre-payment.

Dapol 50 speaker fitted - those are the thinnest wires I have ever soldered. Need to find the hoover sound, it's there somewhere in the options. This is Digitrains again. Having wired this speaker to the loco and the speaker itself I do now feel confident to move on to the 108s, so I need to get those ordered. Then I had a play with forty again... The Forty and the 31 don't seem to like the Peco medium radius points, this is new, never had issues in the past - a bit of fettling I imagine.

CMDG - Central Manchester Diesel Group, Central Manchester Dogging Group, Celtic Mountain Dancing Group. It could mean lots of things.... Ah found it 'Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group' - based at the Toddington on the GWR.

@Lacathedrale always remember less is more - perhaps rather than trying to build something epic build something more in line with the space available that also lets you build your track and stock which as you indicate is your preference. Building a big European layout on multiple levels might achieve one goal but at the same time as you found when you mixed your own built stock with RTR you weren't satisfied with the overall result.

It's interesting that OOC could see off a lot of footfall at Euston, Paddington and Marylebone if people opt to switch here from GWML, Chiltern and even HS2 services to then use Crossrail into central London.

When I moved to our current house I managed to secure the downstairs 4th bedroom/study as my railway room - but I had the railway floating on shelving around two sides of the room for a rather nice N gauge layout - I ended up with space for 16 decent length trains in a long fiddleyard with each track accomodating several trains and the running lines at the front. I'll admit I overcooked the depth of the railway to ease out the curves and really the layout was precarious - but the lack of legs meant lots of under railway books/university stuff storage and the shelving above for other house house stuff plus space for train bits and bobs. Then I added a desk for homeworking and it became an office as well as railway room and household dumping ground. I then decided that I couldnt see N gauge any more and went to OO - which was a simple end to end in the same space, it too grew in depth but I added a couple of legs this time. It worked fine for several years till Son #1 left home and I took over his room in 2019. Now I have more space but the room isn't a box, it is oddly shaped, I could have filled the room with railway but I still need an office and whilst I did think about having the railway over the desk a little I did quickly realise it would become rather overbearing on the room so I've accepted that a N gauge end to end by my side and behind me doesn't encroach on my working space, still allows easy access to the room and it doesn't dominate. There is also thought that by leaving space I can also build a small OO layout to run tank engines on. I guess my thinking on the spare room is that if it is just a railway room it can be filled with railway as that is it's only purpose, but if it is dual purpose then you have to cut back expectations and be more modest with the baseboards otherwise it will be a stressful experience.

And an abandoned brake van. Clive likes his cliches

I was out shopping this morning, for my in laws, I think I have now done most of their shops this year due to shielding and other matters. I noticed again how many people out shopping were older than me, is it the case that the most likely to be affected by Covid are also the ones out shopping because online shopping and deliveries is a younger generational thing. Are the younger people staying at home, ordering in takeaways, ordering in food, panic buying but the older more fragile among us are the ones venturing out to do their shopping still?

All local Facebook groups obsess over dog poo, noise and where best Chinese/Indian/other takeaway is, our local extra is a peculiar fascination with a need for a shoe shop. Covid of course figures high, having now replaced Brexit. We've never received a local paper, in both houses we've lived in over the past 25 years we've never managed to be on the delivery route. Mind you, they stopped having any news in them a long time ago, and our local news online is mainly harvested social media content, advertorials and other associated cr*p.

Nice livery - Crewe Works green, bogies should be shiny black and a few dabs of pink scattered across the bodyside.

I'd never be allowed to use that much paper and ink from our printer!!

In terms of purchasing, there is nothing in the 2021 range for me, even in OO I would be looking at small GW locos and I've enough Panniers, 14xx and 45xx locos for a small branch which generally come in a blue box. The Southern locos I am left with are more than enough and about half of them are Hornby. Do I expect lots more Southern and GW stuff from H, probably not, they did a good job a few years back producing lots of LSWR stuff and there are plenty of other bits of the country crying out for models. The masses of 47s in anticipation of the new Heljan model plus Bachmanns own offering is not a surprise, nor are the HAAs - good to see a return of blue and large logo 56s to pull them. The Mk4s are not a surprise either and the Midland Pullman HST is going to please anyone buying for a modern railway to run alongside their new Mk5s, 68s and 800s. LNER continues to be the main big loco development area for Hornby, are there any Gresley coaches missing, I do wonder if 2022 will see some coaching stock to go alongside the A1s, A2s, A3s, P2 and W1s that people will be buying this year and next. The A4 is a gap, is there actually an A4 in the catalogue this year? All in all the announcements looked sound, nothing wrong with the 4 and 6 wheelers coming out, it's an open market after all. I think Hornby will have another good year with a spread from young childrens toy market up to people who want a lovely model of a W1. I am pleased they are doing well and remain ambitious, the other companies may produce lovely models but really it is only Hornby who have the wide spread of model types, age groups and brand name that everyone knows, we need Hornby to continue as they are doing, it is good for the hobby.

One forty whistling away courtesy of Digitrains, accompanied by some warbling 31. They aint half a to get the bodies off, 4 side windows pinged off when I removed the shell. Still not as difficult as a 108, had to glue some of the underside of the motor unit back on in my struggle to get that one to part from it's chassis. I am thinking I don't want to have to lift the bodies more than once so maybe I just order the sound chips and speakers for these too.

Nice image how it might all look when done - it's going to be all dug out and then covered: If you live in the houses facing it, the view will be much improved when all finished.

I've always loved this song - this line resonates after last night 'Adolf builds a bonfire, Enrico plays with it'

Whilst it was lovely in the 1970s I think we can all agree that Old Oak now looks like a proper modern railway location - it was all long last it's best.

Its the limitation of the baseboards that forced me to singled line approaches, the original plan was to insert another point and a crossing, but it looked very cramped, perhaps too cramped so I opted to single to retain the essence of the approach I wanted. I figured being so close to the actual main line that a railway looking for economies in the 70s may have decided on singled approaches - the junction is more important to me in this case than the number of tracks - having a junction allowed me three more sidings in the fiddleyard, it also means that trains arrive and depart over more than one route which is also important to my imagining of the scene. Subtle differences in traction will also build the scene - the Western, 31 and 101 will only come from the Welsh route, the 108s will work towards Manchester - in my spotting days I used to associate the 101s more in Wales and the North East than with Manchester where it was a diet of 104s, 108s and 110s

Thanks The station would take 6 plus a loco at either end - but the fiddleyard is more restricted so I will be going for 5 coach trains which reflects the nature of the station - it's not big mainline services you would get at Chester General, it's a development of CLC services out of the station with loco hauled regional trains out to the Hope Valley line, Sheffield and beyond via Skelton Junction. DMUs are restricted to Birkenhead, Wrexham and Manchester via Altrincham as they would have been from Northgate. As I liked the class 25 services from Crewe to Cardiff, I've decided I'll have a couple of those from Northgate too. Parcels services give me scope for other traction in the form of the a Western, 50 or 31 on trains from Paddington as a rump of the old GW mainline services to Merseyside and I might have a Crewe 50 doing a postal train to Stockport where it joins with the Aberystwyth-York postal. I loved the back story on Bradfield as it resonates with me that I need my model trains to be based on some sort of potential reality, hence no MPD or freight - it wouldn't happen on a real location like this, but a rundown corner of some old sidings as a stabling point for a few locos would be feasible. I want a layout I can imagine myself stood on spotting and this does that. On my last foray I was doing a North Cornwall line, I ended up with a Maunsell catering vehicle, baggage vehicles that wouldn't have been required and locos like T9s and Moguls that wouldn't have made it to the location when all that was needed was an M7 and an O2. My GW collection was also very pointedly Welsh - a Dukedog, 2251 and Dean Goods in Cornwall. I had fun with that layout but the stock was getting out of control. This time I have only got out what I will use, if it's not on rails it's in it's box - and I am thankful I sold my 8 coach HST a couple of years back.

I've wanted to do something like Bradfield Gloucester Square in terms of operation without copying it. I found this station by chance whilst reading a book about Cheshire Lines Committee signal boxes and saw something with lots of operational interest but at the same time very compact - it had multiple platforms and a junction but the track layout was very simple. Once I saw it I knew it would be my next layout, I did want it to operate in a sort of Bradfield style with my Black 5, Jubilee and Royal Scot plus other LMS engines and green diesels but plumped to make it BR Blue as I had all the stock I needed - or so I thought..... When it came to the build I had already started thinking about the wiring and switches which I detest and decided it was time to finally look at DCC, the tipping point being that apart from 2 class 40s and a peak, all my diesel locos are DCC ready and I discovered the DCCConcepts IP Cobalts. I tried to find a DCC system, the plan was NCE Powercab but at the time they were out of stock everywhere and it was suggested that I try a Sprog and JMRI, I ordered one, a couple of chips and tested it out on a short test track - all worked and that was it, I was ready to convert. First thing I did was sell a load of locos - all my N gauge non DCC engines apart from an 08 and an 04 plus my OO engines larger than 0-6-0 tender engines, some coaches and all my ancient 009 stock - this paid for my initial foray - the Sprog, a new class 40, a pile of ROS DCC chips and the Cobalts, I've also added a sound 31 and a Dapol 50 since with the sound cards for the 40 and 50 currently in the post from Digitrains. I've still got a lot of DCC ready steam engines and some green hydraulics, a potential alternate world involving these may also play out on this layout, but for the time being it is 1975/76 in my Chester Northgate world. The station in my universe has remained open, the real station closed in 1969, I've added an extra platform face and I've imagined that the lines out each way have been singled (this is for practical reasons on entering the fiddleyard, I would have preferred to keep the double tracks in situ). There is a hint of the second tracks to be left in place to give the impression the singling work is underway. For traffic there is going to be a lot of parcels traffic and DMUs but I've also allowed myself Rule 1 loco hauled services with trains to Cardiff, Sheffield and York. Because I've picked 1975/76 then I can allow myself Westerns, Class 50s and Class 24s in the Northwest as well as the more usual feasts of 25, 40s, 47s. Services will be in as follows: DMU services to Birkenhead, Wrexham, Manchester and a Shotton Shuttle bubblecar service. When the Revolution 313 becomes available I might plump for one as some were tested in Merseyside before the 507s were authorised - but as they were introduced in late 1976 I would need to stretch my timeline a little. Parcels services will serve Paddington (class 31, 50 or Western) - sort of rump of GW services from Paddington, Manchester, York, Newcastle etc using 24/25/40/47s , nightly postal which could also draw in a 50 from Crewe Diesel as at that time they still operated in the Northwest in dwindling numbers. I fancy a Revolution 128 as well for these services. Loco hauled services will serve Cardiff - class 25 as a nod to the Crewe - Cardiff trains, class 31/40 to Sheffield and York. No freight though, it wouldn't sit right with me to force a freight depot into the layout, but I will put in a small stabling area - sort of like Arpley in the place where the cattle pens existed in the real station - then I might allow my 37s to visit, coming off the sidings at Shotton to stable. Tracklaying was completed on the main layout this evening, I still need to lay the stabling point and the point motors have not been installed yet, also I need to cut back the main lines within the station, they are overlong at present whilst I decide the final length of the lines. I was going to have a kickback in the fiddleyard for some of the coaches, then it struck me I could use this scenically so the tracks curve around with the main and will be part of the scenic layout as well as being useful storage Finally the fiddleyard - just enough space for the stock I have opened - my grey/blue Pullmans won't see use here, I do like them but I've accepted it's not good to have all your stock out all of the time. Trains that go out to Birkenhead/Wrexham only have three sidings, the rest of the the trains out to the east via the CLC. The little track to the side is a DC Test Track. The 31, 40s and 50 will all be sound fitted, I intend to also fit sound to the 108s and 101 as they have speaker spaces in the body (didn't know that until yesterday!). The other locos will remain silent for the time being though I do have to wire in DCC to my 08 and maybe the 04 too. Perhaps once I have mastered wiring in the chips on the 08 and 04 I might use the Zimo PCB replacement sound decoder that you wire in on the 37s and 47s, the 25 and 24s are a step too far unless I pay someone to do the work - perhaps last of all eh. If Farish want to do some new Peaks, I will be happy to buy a new one, I do hope my old one went to a good home. PS, how do I turn the images round that are on their sides?

It would be rather shooting themselves in the foot to not sell them, they cannot really afford to lose Hornby as a box shifter, they've already lost Bachmann. Rails was selling the Hornby Terrier before their own product came on stream and it is only recently they stopped selling Hornby models.

Sent an email to Digitrains last night enquiring about some sound decoders, despite them having been shut for Christmas I had a response early this morning. I placed an order at 12:30 and they were dispatched at 5pm - not a bad turnaround for their first day back. Looking forward to some whistling and hoovering in a few days

Are the cows small and in the caravan or are they outside and far away.