Rich Papper

David, I discovered this excellent thread about 6 weeks ago quite by chance and have just managed to read through all 200+ pages during night time awake sessions with my 20 week old nocturnal son. Not only is the attention to detail fantastic, I really like your method of trial and error comparison to the real thing to get it to look as close as it does. It really is hard to tell the difference with the real thing. Thank you very much for the inspiration, I'm looking forward to the next 200. I might not need an electrostar, but that cam truck might go on the shopping list. Rich

Must admit that I like Pullman livery a lot better than the mainline on 73102, although I'm aware of the issues, but the one I've received doesn't run any better. A DCC Concepts decoder with stay alive has helped a little, but both are still decidedly stuttery. For some reason my 73102 only picks up from one wheel on one side. Has anyone managed to strip them as far down as the bogies yet? Think I need to investigate.

Well after two returns, waiting an extra fortnight and having to pay twice for the same loco mine has finally arrived. Livery issues are well covered above, I will repaint at some point but with a small baby it won't be today. A couple of concerning points to share though. My various conversations with Hattons are well detailed here already, but the last two phone calls both gave cause for concern. Short version of story: ordered dcc fitted 73102, first one that arrived was green, second was right loco but broken buffers, third time lucky. When I phoned to arrange the return of the second loco, the person I spoke to said (and I quote) "the issue with the buffers being badly fitted is a known fault with this first batch". Naturally I asked what was being done to correct or discuss with Dapol, the answer was "we're not, but it Dapol are aware". I asked them to send out another when the second arrived back with them, but they refunded me causing me to have to phone again. This time I asked the person I spoke to (very apologetic concerning whole saga), if they could at least check the buffers before DCC fitting since there were obviously some good ones out there like the one on the MR facebook page. He rang off as he wasn't aware of stock levels and phoned me back about an hour later. Again I quote, "got one, we had to go through about 40 though, luckily we still have 79 in stock". Now I am very grateful for the effort, but seriously MORE THAN HALF of Hattons stock have buffers that are pointing towards each other, skywards, any which way but forwards - and they see no reason to take this up with Dapol? I agree with those above who have suggested that eventually they will end up heavily discounted - who in their right mind would keep a broken one for £140!! The other sad thing - Hattons can probably afford to send the likes of me broken ones and see if I'm dopey enough to keep one, but what of the smaller retailers? They will end up making a loss on this of they discount them far enough to shift them. It is a lovely model, looks every inch a 73 to me*, but the quality control just hasn't happened. Rich (* or it will when I've painted it!)

I think I need a bit of advice from the experts in the collective. The replacement loco arrived from Hattons today. It is actually the one I ordered (a nice touch), but three of the four buffers are pointing in distinctly odd directions. Left hand side at the number one end is pointing upwards by about 10 degrees, the number two end pair are angled inwards towards each other. While the latter isn't as noticible from most angles, I think it would look peculiar when coupled to anything. Still reserving judgement on the colours - but it's the yellow that looks most unusual to my eyes. Doesn't match anything else I own. Contacted Hattons, they blame Royal Mail (despite there not being a mark on the packaging), have offered a full refund, but won't send out another replacement unless I pay for a third time (which I definitely can't afford), or until they get these two back. I do still want a mainline liveried one. If I just have the refund and wait, is it likely they'll have another go and do it better? If I do change my mind six months on I'll likely have to pay more since I had the original pre-order price from Hattons that I won't get again, assuming of course that there are any available. Do I just keep this one with the idea that I'll straighten the buffers out if I take it apart to repaint it one day? And while I'm conducting a poll - is DCC fitted worth it? Never done it before, but thought that with a 16 week old baby here it might be the better way to go rather than fumbling it apart in my sleep deprived state. The first one sent out had the wrong body put back on the loco and the second has clearly been dropped, damaged and sent out anyway! Is this the normal quality to expect for this? Sorry for rambling. I'm sort of cheesed off, sad, disappointed and ambivalent about the whole thing now. Rich

Well although I'm a bit nervous of the arrival of 73102 having read this, I am more than a little envious of those who actually have received theirs. Ordered mine from Hattons months ago, was marked as dispatched by Royal Mail next day delivery last Thursday at 11am, arrived this morning 6 days later (got to love Royal Mail), says 73102 on the box, but has E6003 in the box. Thanks Hattons. And while I'm here thank you so much for offering to let me pay £129 again to send the right one out faster, because it would be more convenient for me to go to the post office with the wrong one at the weekend and then wait for a refund instead of say doing some Christmas shopping. How very thoughtful. Come on Gaugemaster - I need the Pullman one to cheer me up!

Similar conclusion looking through "The Electro-Diesels - An illustrated history of classes 73+74" also by CJ Marsden. Around 75% of pictures show wipers towards the centre, but the rest have them stopping anywhere.

Not here yet according to Gaugemaster, they've told me they're due to arrive and be sent out before Christmas though. Would have liked to test 73102 today - Hattons dispatched it via Royal Mail next day tracked at 11am on Friday so naturally it has spent the last 36 hours in Warrington mail centre while it is 'processed'. Rich

Really enjoying reading this (although it's giving me dangerously inspirational ideas!). Good luck! Rich

I'll be having one of each at least. I grew up in Oxford in the 1980s and have great memories of these rattling along the Thames valley. As a kid I can always remember the fun of trying to work out which types of units had been cobbled together when you got an odd set. I can remember at least one occasion of having to jump out of one coach at a stop to get in the next in order to reach the toilet because there was a cab in the middle of the train. To me it always seemed to be a case of throw anything out for a service as long as there is cab at each end. I'll still keep my heavily tweaked Limas, but my challenge with the new one will be extending the electric pick up couplings to the end of the unit so they are easier to run in hybrid combinations. Hopefully well have an NSE 101 by then as well. Rich

Limited edition Pullman liveries have appeared on the Gaugemaster site. Rich

Dapol advert on P21 of today's Model Rail says 8 being released this month. Rich

Not quite sure I follow you. I haven't ever had a layout in a magazine, although my sister was once in Model Rail. More than happy to if anyone is reading. Just working on the shopping list for the DEMU Showcase tomorrow - only the fact that I am stewarding is going to keep the purchases down! Rich PS Thanks to all those above for the kind words - Derby show was excellent.

I've just had an email from Hattons saying early June. I'll believe it when I see it! Rich

Thank you. Just had a test run - I think I've found all the bits - and much NSE paintwork in evidence. Might be the last time out for Oxford Road for a while - baby on the way.

Hello. Oxford Road is going to the Derby exhibition this weekend. Do say hello if you're passing - I'll be the one wondering how I managed to completely snooker myself with some absent minded bit of unplanned shunting. Of course that's assuming I can remember how to put it together.... Rich

Hi All. Found a couple more of the Underground building. Holden-esque was the plan. Just to prove that it does have ticket machines and a ticket window - really hard to see from the front. Have also found that it isn't possible to tell that the sign around the shelter at the front lights up (unless I'm at home with the lights off) - another one of those cases of hours of work for no obvious effect! I'm still happy that it does. Rich

Hi Nigel. It does seem like a very long time ago. I've been to a few more since then and it does always seem well received. I'm still totally paranoid about leaving some critical piece of it at home! A couple more pics from the archive tonight. Another DMU and some 33s. I'll try and scour around for some more under construction pictures. Rich

Lighting is from Ikea. It's called DIODER - a set of 4LED lighting strips. About £20. Got mine years ago, but I'm fairly sure they still sell them. I think they're for lighting under book shelves or kitchen cupboards. Run on 12v DC, although I didn't use the Ikea transformer as these get a bit hot. I used 2 strips in the front platform of the underground, one in the rear and the last in the shed above. Rich

Hello Keith, not sure I've quite got to real yet, but I am enjoying trying. Two more here. One of the works train which hopefully shows the track off a little better. As I've said, because of it's size it is very difficult to get a camera in to get a picture. Also I've included one of the Underground under construction. It really is as simple as mount card and postal tubes. The tiles were created by copying and pasting rectangles on the computer and then printing on photo paper to give the glossy enamel finish. Rich

Thank you Sam and Merc435, the Model Shop was a bit of a learning curve as was the first time I have ever tried to model a real one. Modelmania is in Bristol - fantastic shop - I spent a great deal of time there growing up. A proper old fashioned train shop, stacked to the ceiling with boxes just waiting for a good rummage. I strongly recommend a visit. Just about managed to get the dimensions of the building right, even through the original is on a slight hill. The window display was the biggest challenge as I had no clear photograph and lived 300 miles away from it at the time. Decided to take pictures of all the stock I had that I had bought from there over the years and then scale it down to fit. Tiled them all together (some boxes are 1 x 2.5mm!) and then printed on photo paper. So all my models are in the window! I think 'Model Your Model Shop' could be quite a fun challenge. Photos below. Rich

Thank you. There are also filing cabinets, noticeboards, desks with mugs, computers (such as they were in the 80s), chairs and bins in the Portacabin, but they're not easy to photograph! There are also offices on the mezzanine level of the shed, and a staff mess with lockers downstairs (although perhaps the less said about the contents of these the better!). A few more, with DMUs. You can never have too many DMUs. Rich

Hi Nile. It's a class 114 from DC Kits, with a few bits and pieces from Bachmann and some scratchbuilt details. I originally started by trying to stretch a spare Bachmann 108 body that I had - how hard can it be? Very. Ended up more filler than plastic and was the wrong body profile to begin with anyway. I chopped the unneeded sections out of the DC Kits body and spliced in some evergreen plasticard cladding for the roller shutter doors. Some of the windows are plated over and painted on the outside, but with the top lights left clear, so I fitted those in question before painting and painted maskol over the top lights, to peel off afterwards. Simple paint job, pretty much all red. Chassis is the DC kits one supplied, but with Bachmann drive unit and bogies. Head / tail lights added and DCC'd. I remember them sitting in the bay platforms at the north end of Oxford station as a kid. I also have a Heljan 128 in matching red. Rich

Thank you all for the kind comments. Will continue to add pictures, and I'll try not to be too repetitive, but being so small there's only so many bits of it to photograph! I did realise that I mentioned the Underground though, and didn't actually include a picture first time round. It isn't easy to photograph, but here are a couple. Rich

Oxford Road was supposed to be a bookshelf, but we all know how these things get out of hand. About 10 years ago, and living in a very small flat, I hit upon the idea that I could put a small depot shunting plank on the top of an Ikea book shelf so that I had somewhere to park the various locos I was tinkering with at the time. One board became two, then three, and when I realised how easy it was to adjust the shelves, the Underground was added beneath it. For many years it sat happily at the side of a room whilst I tinkered with bits of it until one day, I kindly chap spotted it on the DEMU Forum and asked if it would fit into the back of my car (your fault Nigel!). Since then it has been out to about 8 exhibitions and been generally well received, so I thought it was about time I got it on here. I have to confess that I am very envious of those people who use all sorts of computer wizardry and templates to plan exactly where every sleeper will go on a layout before they've even been to buy the wood. My method (and apologies to the purists out there), has always been to build a baseboard and then spend many an evening tinkering around with bits of track until I figure out what fits on it. Oxford Road is built using the traditional 2"x1" battens topped with 12mm MDF. Yes, that is as heavy as it sounds, but it was never intended to be carried to exhibitions! If I'm honest, I'm still surprised it is. It had never even occurred to me that anyone would want to see my ham-fisted efforts, especially when compared to the quality and skill seen elsewhere. There are three 3ftx1ft scenic boards and a similarly sized fiddle yard. Track is Peco code 100 with some setrack points to save space. Properly weathered it doesn't look too bad, and it does allow me to run all of my Dad's old stock (and my nephews' Thomas) without expensive re-wheeling. It was originally built as DC, but was rewired and converted to DCC about 5 years ago. Control is an NCE PowerCab. I probably only understand about 10% of what this is capable of, but I am learning. Stock is whatever comes along. Many items are ready to run, most weathered, but I am getting more proficient at repainting and detailing my own as well. Oxford Road is not based on any particular prototype. It is somewhere in West London and includes a station with sporadic DMU service, a small depot / stabling point with fuelling point and an engineers siding. Beneath runs the Bakerloo Line. I grew up in Oxford in the 1980s, the highlight of which being weekend trips to London with my Dad. A class 50 with a rake of corridor Mk1s is a proper train - far better than the Lego trains that replaced them! Here then are some pictures of the layout and a track plan to give some idea of what it looks like. I'll try to add more if the first pictures work. I hope you like it. Rich.

I need a bigger house.