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61656

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Everything posted by 61656

  1. I haven’t yet got around to uploading any videos of the new layout yet; time to change that. I have just fitted the 85 with sound (easiest job ever) and it is too good not to share. Indeed it’s going to be hard to resist putting the wires up - but there’s quite a bit to happen before I can. The sound is just as I remember a roarer, and it adds quite a dimension to AC traction. It’s seen running centre road past a scratch rake, which includes the new BFK. I have a GUV repainted in blue awaiting transfers and another couple of sound units to fit. I also need to finish fettling the ballast and then weather it.
  2. Indeed. I’d say it’s turned out pretty good for a first attempt.
  3. I’ve been admiring some of your handiwork following discussion about 31s on the Red Bank thread. I’m getting to the stage of having too many projects on the go again! I have deliberately put off starting anything new until the layout was running and ballasted, now that it’s almost there I’m like a kid in a toy shop. I have a growing collection of parcels that need attending to and I really need to sort some priorities. Sheffield has been in my mind for a while. I certainly think a tall retaining wall is in order, I’m not sure yet if the station building will somehow get incorporated. Normanton is a station I vaguely know from my youth, so I’ll go refresh my memory. I may even have some photos in a book. I love the mid to late 80’s because you get the run down of the mk2s, some of them just creeping into new liveries. A decade later seemed a lot duller place.
  4. Meanwhile, the shed pilot has been renumbered as Chester based 03073, a dual braked loco making it much more useful to have around. The shed foreman has asked the driver to spot an open wagon down to the fancy new drivers’ messroom, complete with shed sign. Stop Boards have been added to the shed entrance too. Hopefully the p’way will be along soon to dirty the ballast a bit.
  5. Hard to believe that this little chap was in Highland green and cream a couple of weeks back. It still needs some work on it, but I’m delighted with progress so far and a run out on an inter-regional working seemed only fitting. Not many PV mk2s made it into intercity livery, and hardly any are modelled (I think I’ve only seen one other), so nice to have this in the fleet. On to some more mundane GUV painting next!
  6. Surely you were at the other side trying to get a glimpse of what was on shed? When I eventually get around to passengers in coaches, FCFW is all yours on the Cardiff set!
  7. 40122 passing through on empty vans to the West Midlands.
  8. Both appeared to be under power leaving just now. Hellfire!
  9. I fully agree with your philosophy. My layout is fictional, but everything else has to fit for Crewe / Chester in September 86. The variety is fantastic enough without contriving more stuff to run (even if a deltic on a transpennine pullman sounds very tempting). I think as you progress through the 80’s the liveries become more interesting, but the locos less so. Plus the later you go the more you need Sprinters, pacers, fixed formations, less freight and demise of newspapers. I was always very conscious in layout planning about how much operating potential a layout has, and I’m fortunate in having almost enough room to keep it varied. I think for smaller layouts, a computer run schedule that has randomised additions and alterations, will give a lot more depth. The computer could add vehicle defects, additional catering required, relief services, charters etc. If you had a maintenance road or shed it could also rotate coaches through for brake exams etc.
  10. I have played around with the pickups on my Hornby 08 for ages, but I think there’s a more fundamental problem causing the coupling rods to bind and add resistance that the motor can’t overcome. It’s possible that a wheel or axle is out of alignment. Stripping the 08 down is about my least favourite job, but there’s little alternative really.
  11. Seeing your 08 running so smoothly makes me realise just how poor mine is. Is yours Bachmann or Hornby?
  12. 1. That ‘North Wales’ layout is the reason for my layout, my presence on RMWeb and my persistence in continuing in the face of all evidence that my modelling skills are a poor match for my ambition! There is something so encouraging and honest about the layout, with no hint of ‘of course you mere mortals can’t begin to imagine...’. I love it. 2. Having seen you efforts so far, sound fitting a Heljan class 33 is well within your ability. After that, the others will be like shelling peas. 3. Final loco? I think we need to nail this concept before it turns into something serious! On your 24th deltic or 600th 47 we can re-assess. PS Great videos!
  13. Were they in multi (both blue star?), both working separately, or was the 33 just ticking over?
  14. A good day of mixed running and working on the ballast. I’m slowly chipping away at the excess (note to future self, less is more when ballasting), and my patent pending 16mm wide wooden stick is making light work of it. I’m then topping up the thin areas - the photos really highlight where it’s needed. I’ve also started a light bit of weathering at the South end and I’ll slowly work round as the ballast progresses. First we see an 87, just detached from a Euston - Holyhead, on the stabling point. Next, resident 03, and potential next loco to the works for numbering and match truck painting, pulls a set of parcels vans out from White Lane sidings. It’s awaiting the signal to come off the loco holding road and into platform 4. Quite a handy place to keep my track rubber!
  15. Quite a few 37s ran paired with 33s on the Holyhead service, it’s certainly an option.
  16. That’s because of how the TOPS code is made up. The first 2 letters denote vehicle layout, in this case AB, for Gangwayed Corridor Brake. The third digit for the class, in this case 1 for First. Finally a suffix for relating to the mark. 1 is Mark 1, but since 2 would be ambiguous Z is Mk2, A is Mk2a, B is Mk2b etc. A Mk3a is G. This coach is AB1Z, of which 17037 and 17042 made Intercity Mainline livery in 86. Both were based at Carlisle and ran mainly in the motor-rail sets. 1 Mk2a, 17093 at Bounds Green was part of the charter set. 3 Mk2c’s, 17128, 17130 and 17134 were Oxley based and ran predominantly on WCML services, but also made regular runs on cross country services. This is mainly information from my Platform 5’s from 86 and 87, Flickr and Longworth.
  17. I have been contemplating this for a while, and decided to compare to the elegant wiring found begind a proper panel. I’ve come to the conclusion that the real ones benefit from being significantly larger whilst not having to include functions like track feeds and frog polarity. It also takes several people months to build a real panel, so practically I think settling for it working and looking good on the outside, is an agreeable compromise.
  18. That’s a good question now you ask. I assumed it was just a stock balancing move, but why bother to marshall it next to the other buffet if not in use? Potentially it’s an inter regional service, or even just a charter.
  19. An RU to RBR conversion is now a project I’m looking forward to. The problem with any blue grey alteration is the pesky white line and its cuvre at the corners. Potentially this conversion will only require some colour matching mid coach and avoid a full repaint. My other option, not open to you 3-4 years earlier, is to do it in IC mainline, which isn’t as hard as I first thought due to the availability of transfers for the red and white stripes. I think your actual biggest problem at the moment is that no-one has any Mk2fs in blue grey in stock.
  20. Isn’t RMweb just great? Thanks very much. Updates to follow..
  21. Brilliant. Very much appreciated. Will microsol rescue the current lining or should I restart?
  22. I popped out over lunch and stumbled into 1986, managing to grab a couple of photos of some of the models in question. In the first shot we see Airfix mk2d FO, Mainline mk1 RBR, Bachmann mk1 RU and Bachmann mk2f SO. Both catering vehicles are corridor side. Next up, by amazing good fortune, we see almost same formation but with the RBR and RU in the other order and showing their kitchen sides. For me, I think not many people would be able to spot the difference, let alone know that the RU is incorrect for the period. But I know, which means I need to address it. Only close up can you see the improvements that both Bachmann coaches offer over their earlier counterparts. As a rake, the difference in heights are negligible and the difference in colour about true to life. The biggest difference for me is the close coupling. I have a PV rake which is close coupled and the difference is enough to make me want that look as standard. Ultimately we all choose our own standards, for me I’ll have to address the RU and change the RBR (or investigate Keen). But I won’t lose any sleep whilst the first half of 1986 takes me 20 years to sort them out! I think if I was buying long rakes to appreciate from a distance, the Airfix would beat the Bachmann on economy (~ a 5x price difference), so long as I could sort the couplings.
  23. Does the Hornby RB have a close coupling system compatible with the Bachmann 2fs? The Mainline model looks a little dated next to the Bachmann now, but still stands up remarkably well for the age. Its lack of close coupling will ultimately see its demise on my layout.
  24. I’ve been looking at the RBR from RU conversion too, as until yesterday I thought they were externally the same. I think you’re correct in your assessment that two windows and a door need plating over on the kitchen side. I don’t think any alterations are necessary on the corridor side (you can only see my layout from one side so there’s a cheap solution possible). I’ve found a couple of pictures of 19xx in the mid eighties on Flickr. The top one is the best I can do on the corridor side. The bottom one seems to match your mock up. I also never realised that there was inconsistencies in which came first, buffet or restaurant.
  25. I have recently taken the plunge and attempted my first relivery project. Converting a Bachmann Mk2z BSO from Highland green and cream to BFK in Intercity mainline livery. I’ve made a reasonable start with painting the two greys and first class yellow. The white and red transfer (Fox) for the lining is giving me a slight headache. The transfers themselves are brilliant and I can get them straight (enough). I am struggling with the raised detail on the coach though. I hoped that I could let the transfer dry and then simply force the transfer down over the detail, possibly even cutting slightly with a sharp knife, but I’m having limited success. The photo shows the lining taught across the door handle, handrail and doorstop. Does anyone have a tip or trick to share for this? Or am I best to remove the lining, sand or trim the raised detail flush and then reapply the lining? All help gratefully received!
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