nightstar.train

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.

Important question for those of us who don’t model in 7mm, will you be turning the shrink ray on it?

I'll put my 50p on it being the J67/68/69 Buckjumper. The class 31/37/50/55 have all already been done by Heljan. The Manor hasn't so would be a possibility. But it would be a pricey model and a big risk, they might end up with shelves full of unsold stock. I think the Buckjumper looks like the safest bet. Unless of course it's something completely new Accurascale haven't modelled yet.

There are far far more OO modellers than O gauge modellers, probably 10 times more.

A coach with a very fascinating history, bit ship of Theseus. Still with us today and owned by the Princess Royal Locomotive Trust. https://www.prclt.co.uk/6320-special-saloon.html

Did the GWR whitewash car get a new underframe, or the B4s put under it's original running gear? The LMS saloon 45000 was lifted and plonked on a Mk1 underframe in the 60s. Bit odd that it didn't get new gangways and use a buckeye with that, but it seems to run with it's buffers extended and using a screw coupling.

Air travel killed the boat trains. Very few people use the ferries as pure foot passengers now days. It's mostly people travelling in some sort of vehicle.

How does the banking work in this day and age Jim? Do you have radios to communicate with the rear engine? Does it couple on or just push with it's buffers? And if it couples is there automatic decoupling at the top or do you have to stop?

I'd forgotten the Hatton's Andrew Barclay. That makes 6 industrials, plus I'd probably also count the DJ Models (now EFE) J94 as that was produced in mostly industrial liveries. Hornby W4 Peckett Hornby B2 Peckett Rapido Hunslet Rapido Manning Wardle Dapol Hawthorn Leslie Hattons Andrew Barclay DJ Models/EFE Rail J94 I'd certainly be up for a model of the Lambton tank. I had haulage behind it two weekends ago, lovely engine.

I think upscaling the J67/68/69 Buckjumper to 7mm might be a winner. The problem with upscaling a big engine like the Manor is the cost. Judging by the cost of other 7mm locos compared to their 4mm counterparts it would probably be a £750 loco. Could they sell enough to make the project pay? Maybe if they did on more of the Rapido model where it only goes ahead with enough firm orders by X date. (also judging by the size of the boxes for their 4mm locos they'd probably only get 4 x 7mm locos in each 40ft container, so the shipping costs will be enormous 🤪)

Why would it "have to be". That's an awfully large presumption. And don't forget they've already announced the Buckjumper which could well count as an LNER loco for your list. I will admit I'm not an expert of steam engines and what has/hasn't been modelled, but there is literally nothing forcing Accurascale to model one of each of the big four. They could just make GWR if they want. Industrials certainly sell well, but there are now 5 RTR in or on the way to the market, so another one might be a big risk, they might end up with a warehouse full of unsold little 0-4-0s.

A bit of a change of all the blue 50s on here, for those of us who've ordered Edward Elgar (can't wait to get mine). In 2009 on the GCR. (From Flickr)

Yeah, It's a little unusual having the chip in upside down. Presumably to allow clearance for those DIP switches. Not the only loco to have the chip in upside down by any means, but they are uncommon.

A bit more progress on my layout. One important job I've tackled is to make a pair of controllers. I had looked at Gaugemaster controllers, which are very good, but are at east £35 each. So I've decided to build them myself. I shall try these home built controllers for a while and if they're no good then I will buy a pair of Gaugemaster ones. The home built ones have only cost me about £5 for the pair as I bought all the components off Ali Express. This is the circuit I'm using. It's a simple circuit using a variable voltage regulator. However this can only go as low as 1.5v, so the 2 diodes in series with the output are to reduce the voltage further to about 0. There is also a thermal fuse rated at 1.5a in case something stalls or shorts out the track to prevent a complete overload of the voltage reg. One advantage of this circuit is that it uses a 12v DC power supply, as will the rest of the layout. Using Gaugemaster controllers would need a separate 16v AC power supply. This does restrict the output of the controllers to about 9.5v, but that's more than enough. At that level most locos are going like a rocket! Built up out of stripboard and popped in a case looks like this. And here are the two controllers completed. I've also started the wiring of the first board. I'll be using the MERG CBUS system for my layout. This is a two wire bus system where everything is controlled by various modules. The control panel will contain modules to take switch inputs and to display LEDs, and these inputs are passed down the bus to the modules that then move servos, switch relays, turn on signals etc. On this board so far is a USB interface (bottom right) that is required to program the modules. There are then two Servo modules (top right and bottom centre), and an output module (bottom left). The servo modules have 8 servo outputs plus 8 inputs. They will drive the points and crossing gates, and the inputs will be connected to micro switches on the points to sense position. The output board has 16 outputs and will switch relays for the sections on the layout. The first block of 8 relays is the blue board with the white wires coming out. Finally the chunky green connectors on the bottom right will connect to the other board and to the power supply. Next job will be to mount the relays and wire up the power supply so I can start getting the points to move.

Had my dispatch notice early afternoon, so the yellow peril is on it's way to bonny Scotland.

I hope so! I ordered one in March when a few came back in stock on their website, and it's not been dispatched yet. I must be very near the back of the queue though, so I'm not worried yet.

My dream layout is a huge loop with two large stations joining it in opposite directions. So a train can leave station A, do some laps of the loop, then arrive at station B. Ideally a double track setup so two trains can be travelling in opposite directions at the same time. It’s nice to watch the trains go by.