roythebus

Does anyone do a model of it?

That's the one.

An interesting post. I "discovered" trainspotting at OOC and 1A about 1961 when one of dad's workmates told me about OOC. The 630 trolleybus would have got me along Fulham Palace Road to Scrubs Lane then along the towpath and through the hole in the fence by the North London Line into OOC. The trolleybuses had finished the year before so we had to get the new Routemaster buses on route 220. The 220 ran a night service until privatisation from Harrow Road to Tooting Broadway. LT used to use Mellows Hire for a lot of their staff buses until the late 1960s then used their own buses where they could, I remember catching a BEA Routemaster along Fulham Palace Road one morning for a short trip to Cromwell Curve sidings when I worked on the District. LUL use staff taxis these days. One of my neighbours in Delorme Street was a retire 81A driver, Andy Maxwell. He worked on diesels and must have retired in the very early 1970s. On the DR there was a redundant 81A fireman, George Gee, and as a TCS at Waterloo we had Noel Hutchinson, an ex Southall man, still active on the Lost boys FB group. I had to work an exhibition train from waterloo to Marylebone in the 1980s, the driver lived in Crewe and travelled for his job at Waterloo. He must have been one of the furthest travelling for his job. He let me got on with it as we were picking up an OOC conductor crew at Kensington. They were brought there and collected later by the staff bus. That special was one of the few occasions a 33 had been to Marylebone. KX also had a staff bus that ran to and form Liverpool Street, usually driven by designated footplate crew for those who lived at Ilford hostel or lived on the Sarfend lines. It only ran at night when the Circle wasn't running. BR free passes were/are valid on all former joint lines and a few other bits as well. I got a list of them from someone at LT when I was at Kings Cross. they wer from memory District Line Wimbledon-Putney Bridge; Richmond-Turnham Green; Whitechapel-Upminster but not valid for exit at Mile End; Met Line Hammersmith-Liverpool Street, Baker Street-Amersham & Chesham; Piccadilly KX-Finsbury Park; Central Wood Lane-Ealing Broadway/West Ruislip, Liverpool Street-Stratford; Leyton-Ongar via both loop routes; Bakerloo Baker Street-Finchley Road; Northern Line Kings CrossEdgware/Mill Hill/Barnet; Victoria Line KX-Finsbury Park. LT staff were allowed free travel on BR services on joint routes including Harrow-Marylebone. Going back to trolleybuses, we found the 660 and 666 were still running from Old Oak Lane to Hammersmith so we used to get that a few times, not realising then that they only had another few months to run! There was an open day at OOC in the late 1960s with a DMU shuttle from Paddington. star of the show was a Blue Pullman set on display. I still have the souvenir ticket in my collection.

And look what we've got now, those awful 700 things which has wooden or plastic seats with a flimsy bit of material you'd expect to find in the M&S lingerie department. By comparison the IWR 4 wheelers are far more luxurious even in third class!

Deltics could be rostered to work mail trains out of KX but they didn't have the mail bag-on-the-move facility. I don't know if the ECML ever had the lineside equipment fitted.

I'm following a thread on the "collectible and vintage" trains section and there's mention of MTK kits. I used to have a running (yes, running) MTK 3-car Gatwick-Reading DMU with miniature bufet in the centre car. What class were they, does anyone do a model of one these days? If not, were the windows standard Mk1 windows? I have the MTK drawings for what they're worth and may be inclined to cut and shut some Mk1 coaches onto Lima DMU underframes to make a set.

Don't post this on the Templot and hand built track group or you'll have Andy Reichart going!

Going back to the mention I made for the MTK Gatwick/Reading 3 car DMU, what class were they? I can't remember! Did they have the same height windows as Mk1 stock? If they did, I feel a conversion coming on. I have the MTK drawings for the 3 car set, the centre car having a miniature buffet section. I'll have a look at the High Level Models Pacer chassis.

Knowing how that area has gone up in the world, would they have Porches or Mercedes outside their front doors?

There used to be a toilet at Top Shed which according to tales from those who worked there at the time was a series of semi-open-fronted wooden benches with holes cut in for the "seating arrangement". The outlet was a simple U shaped pipe which of course had to run sightly downhill for drainage purposes. Sometimes the stall nearest the outlet would get blocked...this provided an opportunity for the practical jokers to get hold of some cotton waste soaked in oil, set fire to and floated off down the pipe to unfortunate occupant of the downhill trap.

Rummaging through the boxes of part-built things, I found an almost unbuilt MTK class 140 with etched brass sides and other bits and a load of cast bits, but no instructions1 It may be worth trying to build this kit during the latest lock-down in between bus restoration. Has anyone got a copy of the instructions for this one? I may use a Branchlines 142 motorising kit if they still make it.

I've had my little compressor since 1968 and it still works ok. It cost me a fortune in those days. I'm on about my 4th Badger air brush and still can't use it properly. Back to the OP, I found the MTK instructions and diagrams for the 3 car Gatwick DMU set they used to make. It was one of the few of their kits I managed to finish and run an exhibition layout. Maybe I can do a cut and shut using modern Mk1 sides and Lima DMU underframes to make one? Ive got loads of bits...

But remember the amount to take the loss back to zero has to be added to the profit.

when the Hymek first came out I got one as I worked in Patricks Toy Shop in Fulham. I was jsut getting into "doctoring" things so did some mods on it. I fitted it with Trix AL1 driving wheels on the motor bogie complete with rubber tyres on one side, a Triang X500 inside to make a diesel engine noise, and a Suethe Triang smoke unit. that of course made smoke come out of the exhuast, the X500 would run on very low volts so ran when the main motor didn't. With the rubber tyres it would pull the house down. The trouble then with a very heavy train on the MRC's test track was the smoke effect. Originally we thought it was the smoke unit, but found it was the plastic brush holder on the motor that was melting! I sold the loco to friend many years ago but re-acquired it a few years after. I sold it about 8 years ago on ebay, still running but with a standard Hymek wheel set!

Resistance wire is what you need.

How much is a bus fare? How long is a bit of string? sort of question. A 40 mile branch would be more of a secondary line rather than a branch and would require a loco with water capacity for a 40 mile run non-stop.

They look a bit more substantial than the previous offerings that were 2 separate parts that used to fall off. There will always be expansion on rails as many have discovered over the years.

I think they used to use a bit of cotton wool.

As russ p says, it depends how easy all the bits come apart. BR had to allow for all but the most awkward bits to come off relatively easily, then adjust the linkages one the new blocks are on, then check they actually work when pressure is applied to the blocks via the brake cylinders.

If you're fed up trying to fit Peco geometry, give hand-building a go, it isn't as difficult as some make out.

What was it after all?

Crash for cash?

You can get miniature yellow LEDS, we used them on New Annington in the mid 1980s.

Add to my previous comment that the platform starters would only be capable of showing a "proceed" aspect without route indication when the road is set towards DM. Any move to UM would be a wrong line shunt move.

From right to left, the signal facing the platform on the DM would be a shunt signal with theatre indicator with 6 options, not a main aspect. the DM is not a reversible line and no passenger movements in the Up direction. subsidiary signal A? will be a yellow/white ground signal showing 2 whites when the road is set to DM; similarly B? with 2 routes UM or DM. The "arrival" signal at UM will have theatre indicators for the route setting plus a subsidiary signal for entering an occupied platform for coupling units up or light engine onto train. There would also be stop boards at the top headshunt for moves from the headshunt to LS1 and LS2 and bottom sidings GS1-3 to GR, "STOP do not pass without shunter's permission" or similar. There will also be subsidiary signals below all the platform starters for shunt moves towards UM, a train could shunt onto DM towards the advance starter using the main proceed aspect. There must be a subsidiary on P1 and P2 starters for shunt moves towards UM, a wrong line move, and a Limit of Shunt board a "safe distance" away from signal 4 on UM. But then I'm not a signal engineer, I just drove trains on the Southern for years.