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Progress of the intricate and fiddly kind. My current project is to recreate a concrete monstrosity of the type common to many large BR stations, built in the late 60’s to house the numerous office staff required to run a railway. This tower will be two sided, in an effort to disguise the return angle of the wall going into the alcove. I’m hoping to be able to have it slightly skew to the railway rather than at a right angle. So far I’ve managed to construct the first part of one side and so I’ve placed it in position to see how it looks. There is the non-shiny side of kitchen foil as backing behind the windows, to try to recreate the anti glare reflective film common on most office blocks. The building itself is fairly straightforward, there’s just a lot of it! I’ve only got the too row of window verticals complete so far - getting them all to line up looks like fun! The lower part will be covered by the station brickwork.

Thanks. I’d decided on just that approach. Previously I’ve relied on securing the loose ends out of harms way, but some loco and chassis combinations are so tight I think the wires may have moved.

It is time for the confessions of a class 87... I’m a firm believer that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. You may have to learn new skills and you may have to accept some failures along the way, but nothing is out of your reach. Sound fitting a Hornby 87 came very close to shattering the theory! I couldn’t decide which electric to fit first, the 85 or 87, so I waited until I could afford both and bought them at the same time. I know you can’t hear the quality properly, but I do like a good listen on Youtube before committing so much money on a sound unit. The only 85 I could find online was Legomanbiffo, so that was the choice for both. When they arrived, I fitted the 85 first. Undid 4 screws, unplugged the old chip, plugged the new one in, slotted the speaker into the space designed by Bachmann to take it, and off it went. The 87 is easier to take apart, being just a simple clip on body. After that it becomes the most troublesome of locomotives to fit. It’s clear not much thought has gone into sound fitting it. Or alternatively, the Hornby designer knows that a model railway enthusiast is having an affair with his wife, and as he doesn’t know who, he’s decided to seek revenge on all of us. Eventually I figured out a way to fit two sugar cubes between the bogies and with sufficient persuasion (more orientation than force) the chip will fit in the designed slot. Now for some recommendations. Always fit a sound chip when you have plenty of time available, at least 3 hours. You’ll need nothing like that long but it will remove the pressure. Have a cup of tea (there’s something in tea which gives you a steady hand*). Arrange a nice clear, well lit, white workspace. Have a handy box on hand to store the screws in. If you need to do any soldering, this isn’t the place to learn how to solder, but it’s certainly within the scope of the average modeller. I always test my sound units before fitting in their final configuration. Take care that there’s no chance of a short circuit as you could blow the chip. The 87 unit worked first time and sounded amazing. I spent some time fitting it all properly, nothing too complex, but you do have to strip the circuit board and remove the motor to do it. On the track it went and... no sound. The loco worked fine, but zilch from the speaker. Here we get to meet local hero, Charlie at DCKits, who supplies the LMB sounds. Send it back and we’ll have a look, he said. A week later a new (or fixed) chip appears. I repeat the above process, and this time... sound. It’s amazing, well maybe a bit fuzzy, in fact that doesn’t sound right at all. Why’s it stopped? This time, a complete failure of the chip, it won’t even respond on the programming track. Second call to Charlie, send it back we’ll have a look. And then.... nothing. Somewhere it’s gone missing in the post. Fortunately, somehow, Charlie sorted it and the third attempt can begin. Failure 1 was almost certainly a short circuit across the speaker. I have no idea how, but that’s the likely cause. Failure 2 was probably one of the 4 trailing wires from the chip touching something in the loco. The lesson here is to fit the chip when you get it, whilst it’s still in warranty and you have all the order deals to hand. Dealing with a good firm is definitely worth it, and Charlie comes highly recommended. All locos are fit-able with DCC sound, but the Hornby 87 is the most challenging I’ve done so far. If you have a choice, start with a Bachmann! A video of the superb sounding 87 will follow in due course. It is unbelievably evocative of the West Coast. And then, we can dissect my real problem loco, the Hornby** 08. Happy modelling! *I have no evidence for this but it seems to be true. **inevitably.

Not a lot has happened over the last week, mainly due to full sized train distractions, but come what may the weekly brewery train needs to run. A couple of 25s look on as the vans are shunted about.

BR’s loco policy never seems to have been properly thought through from the modernisation plan onwards. It was though a lot more joined up than today’s railway where even units of the same class aren’t necessarily compatible with each other. 1986 is the halcyon days for me, a lot of the inconsistent or unreliable classes had been weeded out and most of the traction was still in good health. Loco hauled was still king and freight was still available by the wagon load.

Imagining moaning about the service we would all have chosen if offered the choice!

A very brief visit to the railway room tonight to run a couple of trains and see which pictures I can recreate. 47612 (received mainline intercity livery sometime in 86, this version with below buffer ETH jumper) has just taken over a West Midlands to Holyhead service formed of pressure ventilated mk2 stock. The buffet car indicates it’s a timetabled train. Bescot’s no-heat 31144 has just taken over a summer relief service from the north east heading for Llandudno. The booked type 4 remains on shed surrounded by spanners and expletives. A class 108 has just terminated in platform 1, which often happens when the terminal platforms are dealing with relief services. The driver is grumbling about having to perform the ‘Christleton shuffle’ over to the carriage sidings at White Lane. It’s a proper railwayman’s grumble that doesn’t mention an hour’s overtime that will just take him to opening time at the Brewery tap.

Greek mythology has always been my achilles elbow, but I’m sure Epimethius was the God of hindsight and basically said something about sharing the knowledge of model railway derailments with your kin. The original text is somewhat faint and the ancient Greek is often hard to translate literally. I can’t say for sure that the bit about expansion gaps and the unusual effects of a thin beam of strong sunlight have been accurately deciphered. A more modern take on it may be “buy your 16 wheelers before ballasting”!

Back in the late 80’s I knew 31/4s as ped(estrians), all other headcode boxed ones as Goyles and Skinhead for those without. I guess terms differed everywhere and there can’t be right and wrong for a nickname!

Aren’t there some differences in the tanks between the bogies and various combinations of grills to consider? Something will have to be done about 47436, mainly because it was still all over blue in 1986. I think it became large logo in late 87 or early 88. Which is a pain, as renumbering a large logo example was something I was hoping to avoid.

A brilliant set of photos, worthy of further discussion and definitely some inspiration for the next running session. I am a massive fan of the mundane and everyday railway, so banger blue and uniform blue grey mk1s is right up my street. I also like to model the changing scene, so I love the mixed blue grey, intercity and trans-pennine liveries. I try to avoid the unique and rare stuff, because I like to model what you could see every day. The PV intercity BFK is one of my few indulgences, although with a handful of them at Oxley and Carlisle, I think they’d have been fairly regular on cross country services, but a massive plus to see one on a Holyhead service! The picture of 25035 highlights further work required - no central lamp irons and a number on the front end. Such is the joy of modelling!

Far too many great pictures whilst I’m at work. Only time for a quick bit of pedant’s corner - aren’t peds only 31/4s? Anyway, a railfreight 31 in 1985 is great news!

That’s a great offer, but a ferryvan has now been added to my “amazing pub and model shop” national tour which commences shortly. My intention is to get out and support the small suppliers of beer and model railways, single handedly keeping both in business!

Some great photos there, I can probably recreate a few of them. I can’t say for certain, but it would appear the Crewe test rake was used up to about 1985, after which the 33 turn from Crewe seems to have been a regular for testing. Which is quite handy for modelling, as the 5 coach length allows me to have 2 locos without overhanging anywhere. I’ve seen a few all first class relief services, presumably because of the excess of spare first class mk1s. I think the Western region had a regular FO service using all first. I’ll see what I can do next time I have a proper running session! Keep ‘em coming...

Remarkable coincidence...

Sulphur hoppers are on my ultra long range plan, together with the Octel tanks for Amlwch. Interesting little shunter possibility too. Always interesting to see the variety of stuff in the area, the NSE 47 is typical of the everyday unusual too. Not sure I can really justify one though. A 47/0, 47/3 (one in grey) and a plain blue non-generator 47/4 are all on the list...

A closer look suggests VJX or similar (the ferryvans seem to have led varied lives!). A couple of Hornby examples could make nice little projects. I think Bachmann do two varieties of flask wagons, of which I have one. I can probably draw the line of nervous breakdown some way before getting excited about different flask varieties! Great to see some real pics. I find flickr quite hit and miss, so always good when someone else has done the legwork.

Thanks. Other than renumbering 47408 to 402 I haven’t yet done much with my 47s. 47436 and 47612 are still fresh from their boxes. I did sort of hope they’d have all the right bits in the right places, because 47s are as yet an unexplored minefield of subtle differences. I do have an unhealthy fascination with getting things right, up to a point at least!

That’s a great formation. 2 vans (VDA?), 5 flasks plus brake van. Really unprototypical weathering with the dirt only coming half way up the 25’s bodyside though...

The sound project on this one is as good as I’ve heard. The midi speaker is also a step up in base quality - which you won’t really be able to pick up over the internet. It’s a fairly straightforward fit, but you do have to strip the loco right down to get the speaker in the fuel tank.

With its epic new sound unit, Kingmoor shedded 25/3 moves off Bluebeck towards Chester. Very happy with the sound quality on this one. Larry Goddard’s equally epic Colour of the North Wales Coast provided photos of 25/1 25035 and watertank-less 25/3 (were they all NB?) 25278 both in action on the Coast in 1986. A spot of renumbering and a light touch of weathering for both and the backbone of the light freight fleet is ready for service. The 31 will also move across to light freight duties pending arrival of more type 4s. As I progress with the scenery, I want to work on the coaching stock and weather the remaining passenger locos (including converting a 45/1). I have another GUV to sort out and I want to have a go at converting the Bachmann RBs to RBRs. There are a small number of speedlink wagons still to be added and a few to be weathered. But obviously my mind is now beginning to think about the heavy freight. Oil, steel, coal and sorting out the freightliner. 47/3, 20s and a 56 to be thought about next.

A bit of progress today on the road bridge at the scenic break. I’m quite pleased with how it’s looking, which is to say I haven’t messed it up yet. I think there’ll be a factory on the far side of it, to help hide the link to the backscene. On the right I’m planning on a small station entrance for parcels only, with a lift shaft and a cluster of BRUTEs on the platform below. I also managed to swap the underframes around on the class 25s. It never ceases to amaze me the differences that manufactures manage to create between basically the same loco. I also managed to fit the unbelievable sounding Legomanbiffo sound, with a midi speaker in the fuel tank. Video to follow when I’ve renumbered it.

A short video showing some arrivals and departures at the South end. 40122 arrives on a relief service from the West Midlands for the coast, a 108 departs for Crewe, filling in for a non-existent 304 and the lack of wires. Finally a grubby Bescot 31 brings in parcels stock for shunting later.

I guess most of the readers of this are disproving the theory by viewing the video whilst on the loo...

Thanks for the praise - definitely a motivating response! I do like a complex junction, although it does come with quite a significant amount of effort - the volume of wiring and difficulties in getting so many point motors aligned definitely causes a few headaches. The flat bottom rail might be tricky to source at the moment. I seem to remember trying to buy some last year, but in the end had to resort to cleaning up salvaged rail from the first layout. Marcway are probably the best place to start - and definitely a phone call not an internet search. Suitably inspired into a false sense of ability, I filmed the morning trans-pennines this morning. It's one of my favourite moves, seeing two trains arrive in parallel. First of all a 47 comes off shed and goes for fuel, ready to take over one of the incoming services. First train in is the morning Holyhead to Newcastle, closely followed by peak hauled York to Llandudno. The large logo 47 shuffles from the fuel road to pull the Llandudno and release the peak to work the Newcastle service back over the pennines. This releases a generator 47 which goes to the loco holding road before setting back on shed. We've previously talked about the advantages of sharing warts and all, and the last move is no exception as the 47 hits a wart right at the end! 8 minutes of video, featuring one middle age male trying to play the role of 3 drivers, signaller and cameraman. It could have gone worse...