thegreenhowards

I like the snowplough idea. I’ll be interested to hear whether it works.

Looks the biz! Will she be ready for Kempton Park? Do I need to fit a decoder? Andy

I think I’m calling the signal box finished for now. Rob’s trick for spacing out the letters in word worked well. Thanks. It was difficult to find - I had to right click then go onto ‘advanced’, but got there in the end. I went for a more buff colour for the corner post. And I found a Sankey scenics sign in my ‘might come in useful box’. It’s not got the top bit, but it’s close enough and was free! Now onto the station building. I’ve mixed up two pots of the right colours so I keep them consistent. Andy

My experience of Tortoises is that you can pick up second hand ones for between £5 & £10 .

Why they should work in the fiddle yard but not on the scenic section is a complete mystery. They were obviously getting traction current to keep moving, but not receiving the DCC commands. I can only put it down to the ‘sir’ effect. It’s well known that all locos, layouts etc. misbehave when you have been invited to view them! Andy

Thanks Tony, You certainly read through it all pretty quickly - I noticed your progress with the ‘likes’ coming through. My weed skills are down to excellent tuition from our club expert, Rob - @woko on RMWeb. He took my rather uniform static grass and showed me how to mess it up by ‘scrunching’ it. He also did a club ‘masterclass’ on making weeds using astilbe and sedum from the garden. If you want a hand with weeding C&SM give me a shout. Andy

A few derailments are not a problem. They make me feel less bad about my own layout and allow me to be useful as your gofor! It always seems worse when it’s your own layout. Andy

Tony, Thanks again for your hospitality yesterday. I enjoyed seeing Churminster & Stowe Magna again. Your ‘NASA spaceship ‘ control desk is truly awe inspiring and I’d forgotten how good the trains look disappearing into the distance past your wonderful signals. Andy

I see what you mean, but I wouldn’t have called it khaki green! I wonder whether it’s an undercoat.

I’m back to painting my signal box today. I’m basing it on this picture, in which the steps are still dark green. I think I’ve also seen them in yellow green and white. But this is roughly the right era for my main focus of early ‘80s. It Here’s my attempt. I mixed a bit more hello into the yellow green mix and added a bit of white to both as suggested by @03060. I think I’m happy with the colours now, but I’d welcome comment from those less colours blind than me! I’ve also had a go at printing the signal box sign. I think the letters are slightly too big and need to be spaced wider (anyone know how to do that in word?). But the colour seems OK. Again, comments welcome. Anyone know where I can source the ‘passengers must not cross the line’ sign? Sankey scenics do the lower half with ‘Warning….£200’ but I can’t find the upper bit anywhere. Andy

Personally the only sports I bother watching on telly are F1, tennis and my beloved QPR. I find the commentary excellent in all three, but particularly for football where it now seems to be possible to have dedicated commentary for your own football team, certainly in the Championship - I can’t speak for the money pit division above us! I rather enjoy the combination of a commentator who’s also a fan paired up with a former player, in our case, Andy Sinton. The scream when a goal goes in is worth the money alone! Andy

I think this is a classic case of the ‘ best being the enemy of the good’. Personally I find attempts to model coal or aggregates being unloaded are fascinating and really add something to the model. They’re not perfect for all the reasons that Tony states, but that doesn’t mean they’re not an improvement on not trying. I say well done to those who have the skill and determination to try. Andy

Yes, the tour was very good apart from the safety b……s about not standing by the window. The 37 was audible through the a/c, but rather muted compared with fresh air stock. The dog box was a surprise to me. RTT didn’t have it in advance, so I think it was an on the day adjustment. Andy

I answered some questions during my visit to Glenfinnan. The first was, that the water tank has no top. I think the grp tanks postdate my era, so it would have been open and full of water. I gather the local kids used to swim and fish in it! I now have to consider scratchbuilding it. Those curved tops look challenging. Any suggestions as to how to proceed? Andy

Arnobol is very hemmed in by trees and is quite a rough hike to get to it. Probably why it doesn’t feature in train photos more often. Borrodale is even more hemmed in, although I could have done better if I’d left myself more time!

After the tour I spent a few days staying in Morar with some hill walking friends. And then on Thursday they all went home and I had a day mainly spent on a Glenfinnan site visit. I took loads of photos and some will trot out over the next few weeks as I continue detailing the layout. But I also spent some time checking out other iconic locations on the West Highland Extension in case I get the opportunity to include any around the garden. I’ve put this video together as inspiration. I hope you enjoy it. Sorry it’s only got sprinters in, but if there’d been decent trains out, I’d have been in them! Andy

Back to the run round loop at Mallaig. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a real train to Mallaig today. This was load 7 Mk 2F (mk 1 RU) and I can report that the run round loop is big enough for seven vehicles … but only just! It was this tight at both ends. This shows the loco having run round. Andy

Coming back to the subject of colours, I’ve bitten the bullet and tried some new colours on my signal box. Only one coat and it hasn’t covered particularly well, but I think you get enough of an idea of the colours. I’m trying to replicate the ones shown in my first post on this subject here. I decided not to buy the Tamiya paints because a) I’m not convinced the colours weren’t spot on, at least for the faded state at Glenfinnan, b) I prefer enamels, and c) I have inherited (almost) unlimited supplies of Humbrol enamels from an estate. So I went with. 1) Humbrol 101 (mid green) with a tiny amount of Humbrol 104 (Oxford blue) for the darker green; 2) 3 parts Humbrol 120 (light green) to one part precision signal yellow for the yellow green; and 3) Humbrol HR 103 (cream) for the cream. I think the cream is a bit too yellow, so I may switch to BR coach cream for that. The others I’m quite pleased with, but I’d welcome comments as I know my colour perception isn’t the best. Andy

Never mind the B1, that’s a lovely steel 5 set behind the tender!

This is pretty standard in O gauge for Mk1s. Both the main manufacturers use a form of Buckeye. Darstead actually use Kadees, while Lionheart/ Dapol use their own version - annoyingly at a different height to Darstead. The other manufacturer of Mk 1s, Heljan, still use screw links but they’re nigh in impossible to couple up under corridor connectors, so I’ve replaced all mine with Kadees.

If you really believe that then you’re deluded!

Probably because that would be an unnecessary extra cost and complication.

Always nice to see a 27…although I wouldn’t have said that back in the day!

If I can weigh in on this too, then I would say 1) is possible, but often not achieved; and 2) nearly always. The ‘Chuff rate’ is programmable on modern chips, certainly the more expensive ones. However many people just fit and forget rather than taking the time to change one CV (CV 267 on Zimo) to get the correct rate. It needs to be finessed because different locos will have different gearing etc. On my O gauge locos this is particularly important as the chuff rate is normally roughly set for 00 and the larger diameter wheels mean they chuff far too frequently. As for coasting, there all decent modern chips will do this, but early DCC sound didn’t do this and maybe some current cheaper ones still don’t. I particularly like ‘active drive’ available on Zimo and ESU (maybe others) where shutting off means the loco coasts with just some clanking and slows down very slowly (just like on the real thing) and one applies a separate button to brake (with appropriate noises). Andy

Thanks Peter, I will interrogate G&H on the subject of rollers. Andy