nightstar.train

I'm trying to fix a name for my layout. It's an imaginary fishing port on the west coast of Scotland that also serves local Islands by train ferry. Sort of a cross between Oban and Mallaig, with a dash of Fort William. It has a narrow gauge railway which joins the West Highland Line. Names I'm considering Port Kirkbrae (meaning church on a hill) Loch Drumbrech (sort of means hill hill) Port or Loch Dunard (Fort on a hill) Port or Loch Dunnabreck (Fort on a hill) I'm leaning towards Port (or maybe Loch) Dunnabreck, but would value opinions of others.

Could well be something like that. If it is then I'm 99% certain that it won't be compatible with the Hornby HM7000 system. There is no standard for Bluetooth communication, like there is for DCC, so if you pick one system you'll be wedded to it. Another possibility for Kinesis could be a range of moving accessories. Things like park roundabouts, swings, people digging up the road etc. Or a car system similar to Faller maybe. That would be good, although certainly expensive. Another thought could be Bachmann adding smoke effects to their engines. We know that Hornby and Rapido are both working on that using a water vaporising system, so Bachmann might be as well. Or it might be too gimmicky for Bachmann, and would require a new tool steam engine, which they seem reluctant to do.

It's coming in very similar to what Accurascale are charging for Co-Co locos. Whilst I accept that steam engines are likely to be higher in price due to their valve gear which will increase assembly costs, I do think that Bachmann and Heljan have become massively over priced in recent years. The contrast is most stark for the class 37 where Bachmann and Accurascale are directly competing. The Bachmann model is nearly 50% more than the Accurascale, and the models are essentially identical in finish, lighting functions and detail. If EFE start producing more models like this than more power to them. I must admit I'm rather tempted by a booster for my railway museum.

I seriously doubt Bachmann going into TT120. They have proven a good market in 009, in which they are by far the biggest player. The success of TT120 is only really known to Hornby and to a small extent Peco, and I doubt they’d share their numbers with Bachmann! I think Bachmann are happy to be king of 009 and leave TT to Hornby. The fact that Hornby have started to shift TT120 through retailers after having it as an exclusive suggests to me that it’s not selling as well as hoped.

I think that an NGG16 might well be north of £300/£400 (DCC ready/sound) if we get it. After all it’s a 2-6-2+2-6-2, so two entire sets of pistons, coupling rods and valve gear that need assembling. You’re right about 009 pockets being fairly well drained. But an NGG16 is such an icon I think hundreds would still be sold. Kits for it, the old Backwoods Miniatures kit that is now out of production, are regularly going for £500+ on eBay.

If they announce that along with an NGG16 then I’ll be rapidly bankrupt!

Really really hoping for an NGG16. The winter announcement has bought a big 009 release for the last two years (Double Fairlie in 2021 and Mainline Hunslet in 2022) so here's hoping that they continue the trend. The 009 releases certainly seem to have done well for Bachmann. I'm not sure they would go for a retooled 66, not unless it's been in the works for a number of years (like the 37). They can't compete with Accurascale on price, and it looks like Accurascale's offering will be fully up to snuff in terms of details, lighting etc. If they could make a 66 at a similar price to Accurscale, or at least not too much more, there are certainly enough liveries for both manufacturers to fill their boots. It has been a good number of years since Bachmann has made a new standard gauge 00 steam engine off their own bat, all the recent ones have been commissions for retailers. I'm not sure why that might be. Maybe they don't see a market themselves, or consider it too much of a risk without outside money to guarantee their profits. 4 new tooling projects is exciting though.

Many many pages ago Accurascale posted a photo of the circuit board for the lights in the nose. It was a very clever little board that allowed all possible lighting types to be accommodated on the one board. So if you're handy with a soldering iron and confident in soldering SMD type LEDs, then changing the lights is fully possible.

The numbers etc on Accurascale’s OO locos is very easy to remove with a cotton bud dipped in thinners or IPA. Assuming they use the same sorts of paints for their O gauge offering I should think you’ll have no problem removing the owners lettering.

KMS Railtech did announce an O gauge HST a couple of years ago. But as with the OO 73/9 I'll believe it when I see it. Nothing more has been heard of the project since.

You'd need trains that fit our loading gauge. Unless you can procure some original Eurostars (probably impossible) they’d need to be specially designed and built. The costs for a run of just 12-16 trains would be enormous, far far more than just buying an off the shelf design from Alstom (with added Chunnel bits). So unfortunately I think the chances of beyond London international services are nil. The only other options are places on HS1, so Ebbsfleet, Stratford and Ashford.

I have a Locomotion models D6700 on order. It’s in a race against my Titfield Thunderbolt as to which will arrive first! It’s going to be a very expensive month, especially with Bachmann dropping the current condition Blanche with cab tender as well.

The model already contains a smaller speaker. So you don’t absolutely have to get an Accurathrash speaker, but you won’t get the best sound, especially in the bass notes, without it.

Looking forward to seeing this layout again. I saw you at Model Rail Scotland and it was really good to see something so different, and modelled to such a high standard.

Really looking forward to this! Tickets, train tickets and hotel all booked for eldest child and myself.

The Bachmann website says: That's 9 inches in old money. So it will certainly do that, I'm not sure if anyone has tried to see how low it will go. The front wheels on this don't pivot like you'd expect on a 2-something-something engine. Instead the axle is free to move side to side by a few mm.

I do wish Bachmann would stop taking all my money. That's Blanche dually ordered. I'll need to order a few different nameplates as well, I now have 4 of the mainline Hunslets in various guises! If/when Bachmann announce an NGG16 I'll be a very very poor man.

This used to be a family website, now we see utter filth being posted on a daily basis. I don’t know……

I wonder why the makeup of this train is different to the others? The others posted so far have 5 tanks and one jetting module spread over the two wagons. This one though seems to only have 3 tanks and additional modules.

Shhh, don’t encourage them!

The bar is in the observation coach, yes. But the photos also showed kitchen equipment fallen over, which is in the first dining car next to the observation coach. There is also a wine cellar in the second dining car, which may have been the photo of a huge pile of bottles. Hopefully not many smashed, red wine is terrible to get out of carpet.

This is exactly that. Vivarail partnered with GWR and the DfT for a full scale trial on this branch line. When Vivarail went bust GWR bought their technology and assets and employed the staff needed for the trial. There is a large bank of batteries at the station that trickle charge from the grid, then when the train arrives it can be fast charged in 10 minutes. The plan is that the traction batteries on the trains will last 5-7 years before they're too degraded and need to be replaced, but they can then have a second life as the station battery. If this trial is a success GWR are hoping to role it out on many more branches. They've bought all of Vivarail's unconverted ex tube trains to enable that.

I really don’t like the black nose. I know yellow isn’t needed on an 805, but it would look better, or maybe continue the green around? The black makes it look mean somehow, not as friendly as the pendolinos.

Yes but it's known that Hornby will flog off their stock cheap to retailers if its been sitting in the warehouse too long. Below the usual retailer price. That's why you end up with these sudden stock clearances at the big box shifters, they've bought a load cheap from Hornby. I think that's also happening more currently as Hornby no longer own their warehouse. they pay a logistics company to manage all that. So not only do they have money already spent tied up in stock that isn't shifting, it's actively costing them money every month.