john new

Interesting. Is there a website with info"?

If going for the DN&S I would suggest Winchester Chesil. Reasons - 1) Against a hillside so prototypical options for a back-scene 2) LH end - tunnel (Assuming viewed from station approach side or reverse if you want the City/Cathedral as back drop) 3) RH - road overbridge 4) Main goods yard off stage to right. 5) There is a good book on the line available. If you want to run small locomotives, such as the Terrier, invent a short branch line (perhaps a private siding to serve the College). Goods supplies in out and start/end of term passenger trip workings. Ideal for a roundy roundy or fiddle to fiddle option.

1st choice - local where possible for the convenience, 2nd choice, buy at a show, then if both those fail, on-line. However, even the better model shops often don't have what you want as they can't stock everything. The smaller the shop the more holes there are in their range. Example, my local one does not sell any 00 diesels. The internet is great, we have an Amazon order coming later today, but for things we couldn't get locally although my wife and I had both tried. Even for routine stuff we prefer to go to the shop rather than have it delivered.

And when they reused their 4-4-0 chassis from an earlier model they left the cylinder on.

Sadly I missed the Howden show, my last Yorkshire visit was the weekend before! Looked good in those pictures.

Fully concur.

And was how you did it on the old version, thread title = first post; time shown - last post in the thread.

We (SLS) are stand 11. Books and photo sales etc.

Me too. It is a great pity that is not the default option. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks to Steven B's answer above, and other helpful tips received by PM, together with a bit more research today it looks for my purposes that with a 1989 cut off I can use the maroon liveried (Bachmann) van for any time from their introduction (1975) through to my self-imposed cut off date for the layout of 1989. Flicking through Paul Bartlett's site suggests that the Red/Grey version (Hornby) began to appear from April 1982 onwards. These include an example photo'd in York in April of 1982. Therefore for the blue diesel era between 1982 & 1989 either type can be mixed together. If I do get some Hornby one's I can live with the under-frame errors but will be sanding the erroneous roof details off as they are much more noticeable errors.

It is often found as one of the listed options if in your browser on a mobile you click the dot dot dot icon. However, I find it often makes no difference on the site in question even if you request the desktop.

Agree with PaulRHB it doesn't need to be over-engineered. Not seen the Tidworth example he quotes but the flexible dowel arms attached with door stop springs and then a rope run parallel with the board front works well. Takes up almost no space in the van, cheap to do, and they fit in minutes. Also as the arms are springy there is (a) minimal safety issue and (b) that they are flexible reduces wobbling of the actual layout you get from anything fixed and rigid.

Apologies for reviving an old thread - thought it better than starting a new one. Hoping to pick up one or two at either Ally Pally or York. 1) When were the prototypes introduced - answer now found = 1975 See https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brvda 2) When did the liveries swap over? My memory is brown was first then the Railfreight with red stripe section to the top. 3) What sort of transition period was there when both liveries might have been seen together? (Cut off date for the layout 1989) This probably appears a very numpties question but my reference library on the post-steam era is somewhat patchy. On my shunting plank I want to run different eras with locos (Including my diesels) matched to appropriate stock. It is the late green and into the blue period I'm not so sure on compared with earlier eras.

Possibly cut part of it Out and have cameo of builders fitting a new sheet of crinkly tin into the gap.

I also noticed from my own photos that this pipework varies on the two surviving Britannias. That on 70000 in preservation differs from 70013's. Photos not currently to hand but I spotted the difference a year or two back after seeing them both at Weymouth.

Thanks for reminding me of that view across the Foss to the round topped buildings Neil. I was recently back up in York and took advantage of the lack of leaf cover on the trees to take some photos; still a lot of photoshopping needed though to turn my shots into a printable image.

Background research is still on going. Thanks to Neil Rushby for reminding me of these buildings opposite Clifford's Tower. From these photos I may have an option to add some genuine York industrial buildings to my backscene. Very rough montage from photos taken a few days ago when I was up in York and they are needing a lot more work in Photoshop to de-skew tilting issues in the images. At least with the leaves off the trees the editing is considerably reduced. Not yet sure I will actually use these but it's an option. The twin chimneys on the lower (RH half) of the full image are an error from the automated photomontage filter.

I am not interested in sound at the moment. Therefore for modellers like me in the cusp situation the way forward in a staged manner can be:- 1) Get a basic DCC controller but it must be able to turn the DC running option function on/off. Needs a basic programming track. 2) Fit chip(s) and set them to DC enabled. (The locos then run fine under DC analogue on DC layouts). 3) BEFORE running them under DCC make sure step (2) is undone. (Avoidance of runaways) 4) To reuse on a DC layout repeat step (2). The layout project I'm about to wire is small enough that the sections can easily set up for either power option. A DPDT switch can be set so that either DCC or DC is enabled and with only one of the controller options plugged into the layout at any one time to minimise errors. Thanks everybody for the various posts in this (and other threads) as they have demystified quite a lot. I've still a lot to learn but can at least now see a route forward that won't involve a massive future, single spend, outlay to make the change over. Does the Hornby Select do steps (2 & 3)? If it does as I posted earlier their Somerset Belle set may provide the very basic entry level start point I need to see how DCC works against DC with the same locos on the same layout when used in alternate modes. PS Other posts do suggest that to work well the Select also needs Hornby's replacement higher output transformer pack not the basic 1A.

Your number 2 reminds me of a lesson long ago learnt as a smallish boy when elctrickery was an unknown dark art: taking my HD 3-rail (12V DC) loco around to a friend's Trix 3-rail (15V AC) system wasn't the good idea it had seemed. We discovered that not all 3-rail is/was the same. Dad would have known the difference but I don't think I asked. My, then blown up, Duchess of Atholl did eventually get fixed about 30 years later!

Trouble with the most recent suggestions (dc enabled running with DCC chips in) is they clash with other posters advice that says don’t run DCC chipped locos in DC mode. The DC enabled route initially seemed to me to offer a way forward for the long term, but then I read the don't do it advice. I’m coming to the conclusion. I’ve just got to try it and see with an entry level system. The most recent RM article helps too as it splits the options available into levels of sophistication.

But that assumes going from analogue direct to DCC. Is there not a half-way house option to get existing locos ready for a future swap by adding a socket and blanking plug, or does that work out so expensive a route onwards towards future DCC as to be not worth considering?

Still slightly confused - my only experience to date of DCC is having to take this badly wired in item out of a 2nd hand Class 25 to make it run properly on DC/analogue. To get a loco DCC ready (i.e. to fit a decoder later) does it not need something between the loco/motor and the socket into which the plug on the decoder lead goes? Looking at examples of DCC decoders on line suggest some (A) are plug & socket and some (b) just wire in. I had assumed option (A) was for converting DCC ready locos to run as DCC and (B) for going direct to DCC. What is needed for the intermediate step? Example - my Cl 25 - Step 1 wire a socket in but with a blanking plug so that it is DCC ready. (what do you buy?) Step 2 - in due course, when the time is right to actually go DCC, fit a decoder chip. Is step 1 worth going through now to make my older loco's DCC ready?

So if is Zimo best for the actual chips what is recommended for the socket/wiring loom you need to buy to get older locos that are currently analogue to DCC ready status?

These two recent threads (DCC for Dummies & DCC Controller recommendations), and posts above, have convinced me that we are still (with DCC) in a situation paralleling the the pre-IBM PC/MSDOS era in early computing. Too many systems to chose from and only the cheapo' Hornby Select option getting (predominantly) poor reviews. However RedgateModels' post here does imply even that option has a place for beginners if you don't need sound and anything particularly advanced. My conclusion - Still probably best for me to sit it out as this layout doesn't really need it. That said, as and when I have the top off locos, adding DCC ready ability is probably a good future proofing.

Combi. Yes. I've used it for a few years and bought one for my grandsons. One crit, the layout wire attachments are bit too small, easily fixed by either taping or using a cable tie to fit them to the combi rather than just rely on the wire staying in the fitment.