RichardBenn

You and me both, but since investing in an RSU I've found I can achieve the kind of quality in soldering that previously I only ever aspired to. If there were a show called Desert Island Kits it would be my luxury item (solar powered of course) :-)

Just realised that what I gave you were the dimensions of the Dapol bearings. The Association bearings are actually 3.45mm for the Brit and 3.8mm for the Pannier. Richard

Interestingly, the Britannia bearings pretty much fell out of the chassis but those for the Pannier and the Schools needed a good whack to get them to budge. All the Association bearings sit quite loosely in the chassis. Richard

Assuming you mean the outside diameter of the bit that fits the frames, the Britannia bearings are 3.5mm and those for the Pannier are 3.9mm. If you need to know any of the other dimensions let me know. The Pannier bearings appear to fit the Dapol Schools also. See http://festiveroad.net/wealden2mmblog/archives/712

I think it was your laid-back West Country attitude to operating :-) Previously we had been very focused on keeping things moving for the public but htis time we had the confidence to be a little more relaxed about things. The difference on the layout was subtle, just taking a breath or two between movements and allowing time for Nigel's skilled modelling speak for itself, but the difference to me as an operator was profound, perhaps because I had time to enjoy operating it. Hopefully the public picked up on that too.

Rumours of a time-travelling Blue Pullman appearing at Wadebridge a few weeks ago turned out to be false, but it was spotted yesterday on the North Wales Coast: Richard

Whoops, picture too big. Let's see if this works....

Here's a quick shot of Llangerisech taken on my phone (hence the foreground being out of focus!)

Just to let you know that the LNER Van conversion kit, plus a few other etches, are now available. There is a web site with details here: http://www.festiveroad.net/pages/shared-etches

Of course - when they are ready I will canvas the members for likely numbers. The problem is I have around six mini projects like this that are sharing test etch space, and a delay on one holds them all up! Richard Benn Wealden Area Group

I agree about the van being pretty nice apart from the brake shoes. I have an etch at the final test stage that has fold up brake shoes for the LNER van. This came about after converting one for Llangerisech with some spare brake shoes I had lying around and discovering it wouldn't roll. This turned out to be because the Farish axleboxes have so much slop in them that the wheels were dragging on the brakes. However, the axleguards are so far apart on this van that it is actually possible to fit in fold up pin-point bearings with a little bit of filing to the inside faces of the axleguards, and this is what the etch does. I hope to have these available soon. Richard Benn Wealden Area Group