wainwright1

Hi Roy. I have a couple of GS kits stashed away somewhere. There are Bec motor bogies available from KW Trams. I think that the ones for the Feltham are built to order. By the way, the chap who has acquired the ABS 4mm railway kits is from the South Hants club. Awaiting further info on what is happening with them. All the best Ray

That Nelly looks good and looks well proportioned with that chassis. Is it a straight body swop or has the body been stretched slightly ? I always thought that the Nelly model looked right, I know that it was based on a stretched LSWR C14, but the original looked like it had been squashed up. Its a pity that a modern version is not in the current range for junior and beginner modellers. Ray

Trouble is, you have to get them out of Coopercraft !!!!!!! Ray

Another customer for Anyscale Models. I have bought a number of his castings, mostly quite good and reasonably priced. These include tents, cable drums and a garden shed. These will go on our St Mellion and Crystal Palace layouts. I also got the locomotive boiler which can go on a well wagon and the old army barracks building. That will go on a military layout I have been planning. I recall seeing a layout of Ningwood some years ago, but cannot remember where. Quite a good subject for a layout being a small passing station. All the best Ray

The bus kits and fittings have gone to the Model Bus Federation and the first items are starting to reappear. The 0 gauge railway kits have gone to CSP Models. The 4mm railway kits have gone to a member of the Waterlooville Club. Ray

Aah, jolly good. You will be able to come and visit our club when we re-open. Our clubroom is just off the Walworth Road, so within easy reach. We managed to open for two weeks, then the tier 2 came in and we closed down again and now the lockdown has made that a definite shut down for at least another four weeks. You never know, we might open again before Christmas, but don't hold your breathe. By the way, I used to work for Otis Lifts who at that time had their London offices in Clapham Road, just along from Oval Station. All the best Ray

Have you moved sarf of the river ? Ray

Hi Bish. We know Harry O. of old. He failed to turn up for the first day of one of our shows. Hi is however very well stocked with all sorts of useful things. Unfortunately, he does not do many shows these days and that was before the Covid situation. But it is Harry D. who is keeping his head down. Ray

An S.E.R. Q class 0-4-4 tank would be good, followed by an S.E. & C.R. Q1. Wishful thinking, or not ? Ray

Hi All. Just stumbled upon this blog. I am not going to roll back through 35 pages, but don't know if anyone has posted the following: Ghost Patrol - A Scotland Yard drama with I recall (Sir) Donald Woolfit as the boss. The Sentimental Agent - Starring Carlos Thompson. Orlando - A spin off from Crane, starring Sam Kidd. Man in a Suitcase - Starring Richard Bradford as an ex US Intelligence Officer. You will like this Seaway - A Canadian series related to the St Lawrence Seaway. These are I think all ITV related programs form the 1960s. All the best Ray

Hi All. There were several of these Rails terriers that I had intended to buy, but I have been put off by the recurrent faults that seem to affect all the different batches. On the other hand, I have purchased a number of the Hornby models and apart from the first one which had its chimney leaning to one side, which was easily rectified, every one looks and runs very well. Most of the few design errors which were highlighted early on have been corrected in later issues, and allowing perhaps for slightly less detail in the more complex liveries they leave me fully satisfied. My finances are limited and are going to be even more so after a visit to the dentist tomorrow for some crowns to be fitted, just what I need on the run up to Christmas. So I do not want the hassle of ordering something which I may have to send back. Moving on, perhaps the only thing missing here is a response from Oliver Rails confirming their position on this and what ongoing action may be taken with respect to future model issues, that's assuming that there will be some. As I have indicated previously, the terrier is one of my favourite locos and there is a lot more fruit left on the terrier tree. All the best Ray

Hi Colin. Glad to see that you are o.k. Did you see my PM on September 27. I thought it might be of interest and possible use. Ray

No, Harry Denford who runs the Bexleyheath Show. Ray

That's a nice simple option for another model. Ray

Thanks al for that information. Ray

Hi Chris. I agree about the issues with Design-clever. I do not think any of the Model Rail models suffered too much from bits falling off, although I think from memory that the USA tanks were a bit fiddly to pick up, but I have not used them for a while. All the best Ray

So am I.

Is there any difference to the standard version and the Locomotion version ? Ray

Sounds like you got two relatively good ones Pete. All the best Ray

As I far as I am aware, there should be white lining around the various green panels on the tanks, cab and steps. Something like this. Instead, they seem to have gone for this, which appears to be unlined, although the reproduction may not be good as there are signs of lining on the steps.. Ray

Thanks for that, most informative. I know that Peco have changed the wiring on the points in recent years to make them more reliable and in particular make them more suited to DCC operation. I do not know if they have made any changes to strengthen the tabs where they are attached to the tie bar though. I have bought three new points to replace the broken ones, so will adopt these wiring adjustments when I get around to fitting them. All the best Ray

I have quite a few of those maps, though not the ones covering that area, One of our club members lives in Tooting and knows the Mitcham area well. He may well know the location mentioned above. All the best Ray

I am sure that it would not take too much effort for Peco to update these parts of the points to eliminate these problems without any great expense. They are pretty basic engineering issues. Ray

We Grockles are also looking forward to this new model, probably some time in 2022. I share your sentiments of the level of detail. We have to handle these things, especially on an exhibition layout and do not want things falling off all the time. On some recent locos, you have to look very carefully where to pick them up without damaging something. All the best Ray

My Hawkhurst exhibition layout is over thirty years old and the track is code 100 with all electro-frog points. I was not happy with the original colour of the rails and started getting issues when I repainted them with acrylic paint which seemed to get into hinge bits and caused problems. I therefore added small wire links to the point blades the same as you which seemed to solve the problem. I now have a different problem as I have three points where the point blade has broken off from the tie bar on one side. I think that this may in part be due to the force from the point motors which are powered by a Gaugemaster CDU powered by one of their 24 volt transformers. I have made temporary repairs by drilling and inserting a shortened Peco rail tack into the tie bar and Aralditeing the blade to that which so far has held up. We had the same problem with a point on one of our club layouts, and I extracted the whole point and inserted a new one. This was not too disruptive as the ballast on there was heavily weathered, basically painted, and it did not show. On my layout the ballast is much more subtly weathered using weathering powder, so it will be difficult to hide staining when gluing down new ballast and also matching the weathering to the existing track. All the best Ray