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legomanbiffo

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  1. legomanbiffo
    This week, the rain of Llangollen was swapped for the blistering 27-degree heat of East Anglia, with a Class 90 & DVT recording session at Norwich Crown Point, hosted by the fine fellows of Greater Anglia. My partner in crime this time was Richard Armstrong, aka the 'Armstrong Powerhouse' who produces sound packs for various Train Simulator packages.
     
    The loco (90012, Royal Anglian Regiment) was in fine fettle and our assistant did a great job of getting the noises we wanted from it. Although we 'got there in the end', the day did have more than it's fair share of audible challenges, notably; a big tanker delivering diesel for the depot's units, two RAF Tornados on manouevres, regular passing trains on either side (the depot sits inside the junction of the lines to Liverpool Street and Sheringham / Lowestoft), seagulls, a Network Rail track warning beeper in the distance, a fork lift driver who enjoyed replying to our horns and so on. When we'd finished with the 90 we moved on to a nearby DVT and recorded a great set of horns amongst other things. All I need now is a month off work to process all the recordings....
     
    I've always been a keen railway photographer but in recent years my lens has started to widen out from the rolling stock to include railway men and women at work. This chap giving a 90 a wash and brush up at Norwich is a good example. You never know, I might have enough to fill a book one day.
  2. legomanbiffo
    If there's one thing I've learned over the years about railway modelling and photography, it's this; take photos of the boring things as well as the interesting, because one day they won't be boring any more and you'll wish you took more photos of them. This Class 318 is a case in point. Despite living in Ayrshire for 16 years and seeing them almost daily I have only two photos. Now my Bratchell kit has arrived and......I wish I'd taken more photos. I think the same applies to recording sounds. EMU's and DMU's might not be very glamorous but there are loads of them about and interest in them is definitely on the rise. I love them and never turn down an opportunity to point a mic at one.
     
    The Bratchell kit is lovely. It goes together very easily with little or no fettling. The first driving trailer is on the workbench just now and nearing completion. As with my 320, the centre car will become one big speaker enclosure, which produces astonishing volume levels.
     
    Most of the 90 sounds have been edited now and the v3.5 project updated with playable horns, correct pan and auxiliary compressor sounds, wheelslip sounds, improved main compressor sound, new sander sounds and so on. The first draft of the v4 version is on the burner now, using the 'template' developed initially for the 85. The v4 90 will have different horns at either end, neutral section sounds triggerable on demand and the ability to 'put the loco in forward' with the blowers running without actually going anywhere, as per the prototype.
  3. legomanbiffo

    Plasser & Theurer

    By legomanbiffo,

    I can't believe it's so long since my last update, an unfortunate reflection of how busy I've been of late. My missus has been labouring under the misapprehension that DIY and household chores somehow have priority over serious model railway business. She was helping me clean out the loft the other day. All dusty and covered in cobwebs, but she's good to the kids. Actually, she's not been very well lately, she's even had to give up her coal round...
    The new Deltic videos, filmed at a friend's 7mm garden railway seem to have gone down well, clocking up nearly 1500 hits in a month. Thanks very much Dave for the help. We had so much fun on the day that I forgot to record the various departure sequences and only two of the four were captured. The Heljan model is on the back-burner for a while now but I will get around to putting another big speaker in the free space inside the body. The loco was supposed to have made a public appearance at Newark until a certain Yorkshireman managed to corrupt all the CV's and disable the sound before the show even opened! It seemed to go down well at Peterborough though. I always know from the smiles when I've got it right.
    Out in the field, just two recording sessions to speak of. The first was undertaken in the 'Garden of England' at the excellent Spa valley Railway (Tunbridge Wells, Kent; sadly on the other side of the M25 hell-hole from me). The session was supposed to have included the Thumper but its turbo expired the week before so in the end it was just 31206. The Thumper is likely to be in the spring now.
    It was a real pleasure to spend the day on the 31. As a youth living on the Birmingham-Norwich route, 31's featured heavily in my haulage book (just had a quick count-up, over 60 different locos, happy days). This one sounded excellent and pretty much everything was in full working order including both sets of horns. The crew were great and gave me everything I needed. I had plenty of time to set up and tied a boom-mounted mic about a metre from the exhaust (see the photo), which yielded some very clean engine sounds. I also managed to capture various sounds that I missed in my first 31 session when I was just starting out (exhausters, brake applications, BIS etc). The sound project has had an intermediate upgrade (various new auxiliary sounds and enhancements but still with the original engine sounds). The new engine sounds will be incorporated asap so I suppose I'd better start looking for a Hornby loco to ready for a video. Public thanks go to the loco owner, the crew and the railway. As well as the Thumper and 31 the Spa Valley have also got a couple of 33's and the 37 which I recorded in 2011 (37153, now looking superb in Inter-City livery). Well worth a visit if you're down that way. Oh, and they have some of those old-fashioned trains too :-)
    On the way down to Kent I dropped in to see Richard Armstrong of 'The Armstrong Powerhouse' and have a play on his Rail Simulator set-up (big screen, simulated loco control panel that sits on your lap, sub-woofer, the full monty). Great fun and very interesting to compare and contrast his railway sound editing environment and business with mine.
    The final amusing anecdote in Kent came after the recording session when we were all starving hungry and ready to eat. I went back to my hotel room (right next door to the railway) to drop my gear off. Walking back down the corridor I was horrified to find a long trail of dirty black footprints leading all the way to my room. Oops! Cue big tip and apology to the cleaner next morning.
    The most recent recording session was with a Plasser 08-16 tamper which came about as an indirect result of Jonathan Buckie's superb kit. My helper on the day was exemplary, a real authority on the subject and I suspect this won't be the last time we work together. Recording and editing this has been really enjoyable as it's so different to everything that's gone before. They are incredible pieces of kit and very interesting technically. I doubt whether I could have made the project work so well with a v3.5 chip but the v4 is so flexible it has been quite straightforward to make the necessary adaptations from normal loco operation. The project is almost finished, just final testing really now. Jonathan is trying to get a model ready with fitted sound for Warley. I suspect he may shift many more kits than he anticipated, and good luck to him.
    My 03, 33 & 60 are now in the very capable hands of Lord & Butler for weathering. When I get them back I'll try and get a video done of the 60, and the 33 to demonstrate the all-new engine sounds (recorded from 33109 at the ELR). The 03 will be a while longer as the project is in need of major work to bring it up to current standards.
    The (very) slow boat from China has finally docked with Charlie's 144's on board. Part of last month was spent recording new beepers, brake applications and a handful of other sounds to enhance things. I also managed to capture a generic Northern Rail on-board announcement which has been included. Now I have had a production model to play with the project has been tweaked to suit the mechanism and the finishing touches have been applied. Many locos and units have distinctive sound features that immediately identify them and you just have to get right. For the 14X units it's the ear-splitting flange squeal that results from the long wheelbase, two-axle design. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. As with the original version, you can squeal, creak and groan to a standstill and the sound will pick up again (slowly at first) when you set off.
    Finally, the next recording session is shaping up nicely so perhaps more on that next time...
  4. legomanbiffo
    In the olden days, before 50's were called Hoovers we used to refer to them as 'bleeps'. I have no idea where that name came from, or if it was in common usage. Answers on a postcard...
     
    The photo is a vintage scene from Birmingham New Street in the late 70's. I wonder if Jim is planning to have hordes of spotters at the platform ends like this?! Those were the days.
     
    The Class 50 project is shaping up nicely with a full set of auxiliary sounds recorded recently at the ELR. I've ended up using engine sounds recorded from the same loco back in 2008, simply because they provided everything I needed to make a 'multistart' chip including both cold and warm starts. The cold start is great, slow and chuggy but eventually blends seamlessly into the idle. This single clip ate up 81 seconds of the four minutes available on a v4 chip!
     
    Recordings from Bo'ness have already been put to good use in the Class 37 project. I recorded the horns at both ends of their loco and have replicated this in my two projects (37/0 & 37/4). Also, it's now possible to do shorter, more prototypical 'toots' than was possible before.
  5. legomanbiffo
    Coming soon to a DMU near you, Rolls Royce engine sounds courtesy of the Class 127 high-density 'Bed-Pan' unit at Llangollen. After a very successful weekend spent recording the 104 and 127 with Paul I'm afraid to report that the 127 has leapfrogged everything to the top of the editing pile. The unit had a lovely rasping exhaust which we managed to capture in addition to the engines. Rasping exhausts is something the previous DMU's I've recorded didn't have so it had to be done. I know there are some who would question why on Earth I would edit DMU recordings before I did the Deltic or the 40, but there you go. Good things come to those who wait.
     
    At the end of the second day I found time to have a look around the shed at Llan and see the incredible restoration work these guys are doing, not only on DMU's but also wooden bodied coaches and so on. To compare these 'works in progress' to the operational sets is a real eye-opener. As I think I said in the previous post, the Wickham unit is a pleasure to behold and its art-deco interior has been restored to a very high standard. If you haven't made the trip yet I can thoroughly recommend it.
     
    These two trips were the first test of a new solid-state recorder which permits the simultaneous capture of up to 6 tracks at once (three stereo pairs, or combinations of mono & stereo etc). It's quite a step up from my old Minidisc recorder which will now be retired.
  6. legomanbiffo
    Ding ding ding ding ding, can I have some order please! Younger viewers should turn over to Dick & Dom now.
     
    XL'ing the Class 33 for v4 has highlighted one or two things about the project that I wasn't happy with. I also noticed that some improvements made to other projects hadn't found their way to the 33 yet so this evening was time to start putting this right. I'm not quite finished yet but the new version will have 'Multi-Start' (prime more than once, extend the cranking, have the loco fail to start after repeated cranking, attempt another start and so on). At slow speeds, slight acceleration will now cause a rise to notch 1 and back down again (previously stayed at idle unless you exceeded the notch 1 threshold). Finally, if you thrash hard from stationary then quickly drop the throttle, the 'escape' back to idle is now much better (previously took too long, loco still thrashing when it should have been back at idle).
     
    Tonight's photo was taken in the pouring rain at Salisbury, mid-way through an All-Line Ranger in April 1983. Of the 6 nights that week, only one was spent in a proper bed. The itinerary had been carefully planned such that we spent each night tucked up in a nice, warm steam-heated compartment on some obscure overnight train (unfortunately without en-suite facilities - I don't recall washing arrangements other than paying 10p for a shower at Glasgow Central. You could do these things when you were young). Everything went well until one train in Scotland turned up with early Mk2 stock which had those fibreglass bucket seats you couldn't lay across. I've had worse night's sleep since then, but not many.
     
    If you are still struggling to remember, Colin Crompton was the flat-capped compere at the Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club, and one of 'The Comedians'.
  7. legomanbiffo

    Basil Brush(es)

    By legomanbiffo,

    Ha ha ha ha ha, boom boom! He's not just a puppet, he's a British icon! The Tweed jacket, the refined accent, the toothy grin, the razor-sharp wit. Remember his constant interruptions that would cause 'Mr Roy' to grab him round the snout?! I'm laughing now just thinking about it. Pure TV heaven.
     
    On the subject of brushes the most recent task has been upgrading the 92 project to v4 standards. I've yet to do a full recording session with one so a little artistic license has been used along with the recordings I have got. It's in the final tweaking stages now and I'm very pleased with the results.
     
    Other editing work has seen upgrades to the Leyland DMU project using new material recorded at Llangollen, and work on the Voyager, again to bring it up to v4 standards. I've also come up with a method of shortening the minimum length of playable horns so it is now possible to do realistic short blasts as well as longer ones. This improvment is being rolled out to all projects on an opportunity basis.
     
    The last couple of days have been concentrated on my rake of Inter-City Mk4 coaches. I recently discovered that Keen Systems do resin parts for the underframe skirts and the TSOE coach end piece (the TSOE is the coach next to the loco, which has the corridor connection blanked off). I bought a set of each to try. Being resin the detail is not high-definition but they're both better than scratch building. I'm minded to send some photos to Mr Harvey and get some etches made up to go over the skirts.
     
    Finally, did I mention that I recorded a Class 60 last weekend.....?
  8. legomanbiffo

    Slug it out

    By legomanbiffo,

    I've had to set the Deltic to one side for a while as it was seriously doing my head in! However, one man's loss is another's gain as my time has been temporarily diverted to the recordings of 37901 made at the East Lancs Railway last year. Regular viewers will know this to be a habit of mine, switching from one project to another in order to maintain sanity and enthusiasm. Progress on the slug has been rapid and satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I love the Deltic sounds and they are really good in the Heljan loco but I've found the editing quite tedious and time consuming.
     
    In contrast, I am really enjoying the sounds of the chugging Mirlees engine in my Bachmann 37 test bed. I suspect it will be very popular with the 37 fans out there. The sound project is quite different to 'traditional' ones and although there are inevitably some looped engine sounds in there, you tend to hear them less than normal and the overall effect is more like a real loco. The engine sounds are 80-90% completed so it won't be too long before release. Thanks to Richard Armstrong for use of his photo here. Check out what Richard did with his recordings of the loco at 'The Armstrong Powerhouse' website.
     
    On the photography front, the alignment of good weather, a week day, and a day off have been few and far between, but today fortune was on my side and it was off to a couple of favourite local spots on the WCML. I've had my D700 for a while now and I'm starting to get the results I'm after.
     
    Finally, this evening's task was to fit a v4 chip and a pair of 'sugar cube' speakers into Maggie's 08 for Warren Lane, by way of contribution to this excellent layout. Listen out for it next time you see WL on the circuit.
  9. legomanbiffo

    Jeremy Paxman

    By legomanbiffo,

    Did you threaten to overrule him....? Aah, a truly classic political interview by the man at title. Now if I ran the BBC, all political interviews would be conducted with a Nicholas Parsons 'just a minute' style bell. As soon as the interviewee failed to answer the question or decried the opposing party, the bell would be abruptly rung and the interview terminated. Tell us what you're going to do, not what the other party aren't doing, otherwise you're off.
     
    Anyway, as you've probably gathered I've been up to something in the Paxman department. First of all, I've done a bit of upgrade work to the Paxman HST sound project. This involved adding engine priming sounds of the correct duration, and a higher-revving speed step at the top end, with all its associated transitions. This has improved the driving experience no end. I've also developed a speed-dependant 'Mk3 coach wail' function. With this a 'wail' clip is played at regular (speed-related) intervals to mimic the airbag suspension noises. There are 8 different wails and the sequence is randomised so the end result sounds completely prototypical. The effect is on a function key and can be turned on and off at any speed as required. This will be rolled out to all Mk3-related chips (67, 86, 87, 90 etc) in due course. Finally, I have been studying a 'wired for sound' HST video in order to model the operation of the cooler group fan more accurately. I'm confident I can get it to behave prototypicaly now, I just need to develop the flowchart for it. This fantastic video gives you an idea of what I'm trying to achieve;
     

     
    In other Paxman news, I had a very interesting discussion about 'Project Miller' with the chaps from the 125 Group at the Nottingham show this weekend. If you haven't heard, the aim of Project Miller is to restore the prototype HST to an operational state using a production Paxman engine. It turns out that the project is much more advanced than I was aware of so all being well we'll all be able to enjoy that Paxman scream again before too long. Details here;
     
    http://www.projectmiller.org.uk/
     
    and here;
     
    http://www.125group.org.uk/
     
    With the 57 now out of the way and the HST upgrade (almost) completed, the Heljan Deltic has come out of its box and back onto the workbench. Work continues on removing rough edges from the engine sound transitions and creating the last few clips I need to make the engine sounds as responsive as possible. Once this is done I now know where I'm going with the second engine so the whole thing can be brought to a conclusion (at least in 7mm). I'm sure it's going to sound rubbish in 4mm but there are a lot of devotees who won't take no for an answer so my work may not be over at that point...
     
    In this week's photo, East Coast's 43320 leans to the curve as it hammers through Alexandra Palace on a Northbound working, unfortunately sounding like a lorry instead of a proper train :-)
  10. legomanbiffo
    With several months passing since the last entry there's a fair bit to report.
    To begin with, what a brilliant summer we've been having for photography. After seeing some superb examples with incredible resolution in Rail Express last month I decided I had to upgrade to a D800 and up my game. Initial results were slightly disappointing (we're talking relative here, disappointing vs those Rail Express photos I'd set as a personal benchmark) but as with most things, application brought progress. This was aided in part by the loan of a series of books by Scott Kelby from Tim Rogers. After a bit of experimentation I'm now getting results I'm much happier with. Don't look too closely at this one though, it's a very low res copy of a failed experiment but I just love the colours.
    The trip up to Perth gave a great opportunity to try out this new toy. Stops were made at Greenholme, Greenhillstairs and Crawford Village on the way up and Crawford Bridge and Docker on the way back. Upon arrival at Docker I was incensed to find that the farmer has planted a line of non-native, fast-growing trees to obscure the classic view, clearly an attempt to stop photographers getting under his feet. Shame on you Sir. Fortunately there's still a good shot from the bridge so I will make a point of going back there every year just to annoy him. Perth was well worth the trip and one we will be repeating next year for sure. So much more pleasurable than freezing your bits off taking photos on the way to the SECC. AMRSS take note.
    The Caledonian Sleeper has been the target of several early starts, particularly given that this may be its last year with 90's on the front. I have to get up at 0545 and wear waterproof trousers as the favourite field is heavily soaked in dew at that time of day. Lovely pictures though. I was also fortunate enough to catch the Loram rail grinder which followed the sleeper one morning.
    30-odd years ago I could often be found at Nuneaton station and / or behind a Class 86 on the main line. I also used to listen to Les Ross on Radio Birmingham and then BRMB (you know where this is leading don't you. Well, not quite where you think, but bear with me). If you'd told me 30 years ago I would one day ride in an 86 owned by Les Ross from Nuneaton to Crewe I would never have believed you but that is precisely what happened. I've been pestering Les to record his loco for a little while and after a possibility fell through recently he offered me the cab ride. And very enjoyable it was too, a great opportunity to hear the rheostatic braking and neutral section first hand, and speak with the on-board fitter from Willesden. Many thanks guys.
    Anyway, what was it this blog is supposed to be about....? Oh yes. After several months hiatus, two recording sessions came along in quick succession; D1062 Western Courier at the Severn Valley Railway and D123 (Class 45) at the Great Central Railway. Many thanks to everyone for their help on the day. Both were really sweaty affairs in near 30 degree heat. In each case it was possible to attach mics very close to the exhausts to cut out unwanted sounds. With the Western I used two mics, one on either side. I’ve run with one mix but may do another version in future with an alternative mix for a bit of variety. A double-take was made as we passed a field in the Western and saw Elephant and Rhino wandering by; the adjacent West Midlands Safari Park of course. Although I don't like the look of the Westerns (alright, alright, stop throwing things), the sound is excellent. Initial prototyping took place with a Dapol model with it's integral bass reflex speaker in the body. Nice. Then Charlie sent down a Heljan one which has vast amounts of space in the underframe, duly converted to a big speaker enclosure. Even better. This afternoon I played it through a 7mm test bed (Visaton 60x60 speaker in a sealed box). Wow. The first production version is available from a Yorkshire retailer near you now.
     
    For the first time in ages my pal Richard and I went to a model railway show as paying customers; the new marquee-based one at the GCR. Highlights for me were the superb Roundtrees Sidings and the ride behind Gordon Highlander. Now where's my mic...
    Stopping off at the Co-Op on the way home after recording D123 I could hear something highly unusual approaching (the car park is next to the WCML). Whizzing past on the slow line went the Hasting Unit which I subsequently learned was on the way back from Crewe on a railtour. One of the most unusual things I've ever seen through Atherstone, and what a great sound! Where's my mic (again)...
    This week, having rekindled some lost enthusiasm with the Western I have kept up the momentum and made a start on the Class 37 recordings made from 37175 at Bo’ness. I’ve put a ‘teaser’ video of progress so far on You Tube today. I really like the sound of this loco, thanks to Stuart and the guys up there for their assistance. On the subject of 37’s I’ve been given a set of Ruston 37/9 recordings which appear to be suitable for the purpose so once the Bo’ness chip is completed I’ll have a proper look at them...
    Still on the subject, one of my 37's is presently away being fitted with the right coloured head lights. Why Bachmann are still bringing out models with sodium yellow headlights is beyond me.
    Finally, after some delay the first production run of my replacement tanks for the Class 26, 27 & 33 are now at the (3D) printers. I've made several minor design changes from the initial test run. Now 3D printed in black, suitable for 4, 8 or 100ohm 20x40 speakers and hence usable with pretty much any sound chips, not just ESU. A straight replacement for the centre-section of the Heljan underframe, to which the sides clip on and the speaker clips in. Supplied with full instructions.
  11. legomanbiffo
    Things in Legomanbiffo's world have been extremely hectic lately, mainly due to three weeks of training in Manchester and Scotland, punctuated with a day's intensive recording session. The trip to Manchester gave a welcome opportunity for rail travel and photography, with stops at Crewe, Stockport and Manchester Picadilly on the way up. On the return journey I spent some time at the Crewe Heritage Centre with Brian Porter, trying to coax more sounds out of the APT. We had minor sucesses but it will be a long time before we get the major bits we really want working again.
     
    The first proper recording session of the year was a bit of a departure from the norm for me. It was at the invitation of the young man behind 'The Armstrong Powerhouse' Train Simulator sound site. Needless to say the opportunity to spend the day with a preserved line, 5 coaches and three main line locos at our complete disposal wasn't to be missed. It's too early to say whether we'll see legomanbiffo sound projects for all three locos since, being a guest I didn't always have 'the best seat in the house' but we will see. Which locos? You'll have to wait & see!
     
    Extraction of suitable clips from the recordings has begun but will have to be set aside again as the training gets under way again on Monday. Roll on the end of the month when things get back to normal.
  12. legomanbiffo

    People power

    By legomanbiffo,

    The last two or three weeks have been a bit of a blur, with a week's working trip to Norway followed immediately by Warley and then another week away from home on a course. Work is such an inconvenience when you're trying to develop new sound chips :-) As is customary with Warley, everyone left their orders until the last minute so getting them ready whilst in Norway was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately this possibility was forseen and a family member received full training in the use of the Lokprogrammer before I went and had everthing ready when I got back!
     
    I've now taken delivery of a Heljan 7mm Deltic and 37, and an Aristocraft 66 for 'product development' purposes from Charlie. For some reason my missus doesn't see it as product development and unkindly tries to purport that I'm playing trains. I've fitted an XL to the 66, which comes ready-fitted with a great big speaker. Whilst it's very loud all I have proven so far is that Hornby and Bachmann aren't the only ones to 'throw' speakers into models with no regard to basic audio principles. It's going to sound fantastic once I've changed this but for now, people power has forced me to sideline it in favour of something else....
     
    Yes I've finally been nagged into submission by all the Deltic fans out there. The question 'when will you be doing a Deltic?' is second only to the question 'when will you be doing a Western?' and has recurred with monotonous regularlity since I said I'd done the recordings. Well an XL has now been fitted in the Deltic and the first of two custom enclosures has been built, in the tanks. This will be sufficient to make progress on the sound project but I'd like to build another enclosure in the body to deepen the bass even further, just to see what's possible. I can confirm that test clips definitely make it sound like a Deltic though.
     
    As for the Western, I'm working on that. The general answer to any 'will you be doing a xxxxxx ?' question is yes, where xxxxxx is UK diesel or electric. Recordings are generally made on an opportunity basis though so some projects will take a lot longer to appear than others. Anyone with ownership of, or access to a loco or unit may short-circuit this wait by getting in touch with me!
     
    In the photo, 55016 Gordon Highlander looks stunning at Crewe Works Open Day, sometime in the 80's I believe.
  13. legomanbiffo
    Take one Hornby 08, add two sugar cube speakers in the nose and the result? Gronk heaven!
     
    Over the past few years I've tried about 6 different combinations of v3.5 chip and speaker (standard & micro chips, 23mm round and micro speakers. In the nose, in the cab etc etc) and have never achieved a sound even approaching acceptability. Having heard the superb sound from the sugar cubes in Paul Chetter's 03 at the LYDCC show, I thought I'll have to try these. They sat in the speaker box for six months but today I got round to fitting them, along with a standard v4 chip.
     
    To say they are impressive is a complete understatement. I put two 8 ohm ones in parallel, in the nose, behind the grille which is acoustically transparent. The resulting volume is around twice that of any of any other fit I've tried and more than adequate. In fact the engine sound volume had to be turned down a bit to match the level of the other sounds. Mounting them was a piece of cake, I simply stuck each one using a dod of black-tac on the front of the motor assembly, one above the other. It doesn't seem to matter if they are touching anything around them, in fact they are pushed tightly up against the nose when the body is put back on.
     
    Still a bit of work to go before the v4 sound project is released on an unsuspecting public but I'm really pleased with progress after trying for so long.
  14. legomanbiffo
    Well that’s the misery of Christmas over for another year! I actually quite enjoy Christmas itself but two things spoil it for me;
     
    The ridiculous three-month build up, the over-commercialisation of everything, and everyone being on holiday at the same time and clogging up the shops / roads / Post Office etc.
     
    The three things that spoil Christmas for me...
     
    And there’s having your railway time compromised because you have to spend time with family.
     
    Amongst the things that spoil Christmas for me...
     
    Well here’s my idea for addressing these issues; stagger Christmas alphabetically. All families with surnames beginning with A or B would have Christmas on 25th January, C & D on 25th February and so on. Every year it cycles forward one month so we all get a shot at a spring / summer / autumn / winter Christmas. You read it here first!
     
    Anyway, on to business...
     
    One of the most enjoyable recording sessions of the year was with Richard Armstrong at the Spa Valley Railway back in August. The weather was absolutely superb and the Kent countryside magical. Add in the Thumper and 26038 and what more could you want? (drink! girls! etc). The Thumper was excellent; lovely rolling idle, honking horns, great turbo whistle and so on. The 26 presented a problem as far as DCC sound goes; there was an issue with the engine governor that meant the revs at any given notch were not steady and hunted up and down. This will make it difficult if not impossible to use the sounds. I’ve yet to fully assess them but fortunately my existing engine sounds are fine. The horns and all the other auxiliaries will come in handy though. It just goes to show how considerable time and expense can come to nought – something the chip buying public doesn’t always appreciate. The photo shows yours truly tieing one of the mics on at the start of the day.
     
    You can see more of what we got up to here;
     

     
    October saw another trip oop-North with Richard again, at the East Lancs to record 40145 & the Hymek. I’ve yet to make a start on the Hymek but the 40 has provided the exhauster sounds the project was previously missing. In the fullness of time I’ll process the 40’s engine sounds to provide an alternative to the existing project (recorded from 40135, also at the ELR).
     
    The final recording session on 2014 was a significant departure from the norm; my first full main line recording. I previously made recordings of a 350 from the cab window with the help of London Midland, in order to capture the tone change that you hear at around 25mph, but this was something much more advanced; at the invitation of Hastings Diesels Limited, Charlie and I travelled on board the Christmas trip of said unit from Hasting to Kensington Olympia and back.
     
    Needless to say you cannot cable-tie a mic to the handrail or out of the window here. Quite some time was spent working out how we were going to put a mic near the exhaust in a safe and indeed fail-safe manner. The extremely remote possibility that you might somehow cause the trip to be delayed or cancelled if something went wrong certainly focusses the mind. I’m pleased to say that everything went exactly to plan and we got the recordings we wanted. There’s no video yet, but the chip itself is ready for those wishing to partake.
     
    One happy consequence of the Hastings trip was that I now have recordings of an authentic Southern Region whistle (two actually), so this feature has now been added to the Thumper and the generic SR EMU project that I did for Charlie (but don’t admit to). Answers on a postcard - what else carried them?
     
     
    One amusing anecdote from the trip was the ‘tourist information’ given by the ageing Italian waiter at breakfast, who offered to tell us where we could get ‘cheap sex’ in the town and get the hotel porter to turn a blind eye! Perhaps Charlie and I fitted the profile... (Before you ask, we didn’t!)
     
     
    In other news the 37/4 has recently been upgraded with the addition of RETB token exchange sounds. These are set to a level as if heard through an open cab window, so they are subtle but clearly audible. You can repeatedly request the token, and ‘grant’ it when you are ready. This feature will be added to the 67, 156 and other classes that have worked on the West Highland & Cambrian lines as time permits (suggestions on a postcard please).
     
     
    The Scottish theme continues with the addition of user-configurable Scotrail on-board announcements (to the 156 initially);
    Welcome aboard this First Scotrail service to <destination>, please familiarise yourself etc, where the <destination> can be chosen from a list of 17 different ones by changing a single CV. Destinations include all the popular terminii and larger stations served by DMU’s in Scotland (Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, East Kilbride etc). This feature will be added to the 150 and 158 as time permits.
     
    A similar feature with all the popular Scotrail EMU destinations is also in preparation (Ardrossan, Ayr, Balloch etc), to be applied to the 303 & 320 chips, and similarly configurable Welsh announcements are in preparation for the Arriva Trains Wales 143 (thanks driver for those – you know who you are).
     
     
    Work is continuing on the Ruston 37/9 engine sounds which are approximately half-finished and sounding very good chugging round the layout. Time is currently being spent between this and bringing the long-lost sounds of a train back from the dead...
     
     
    Latest attraction on Charlie’s stand is the mighty Heljan 40 with sound to match. The model has a large void in the centre of the casting which I’ve used as the speaker enclosure, closed off with a thick plasticard lid at the top and a single large speaker facing down at the bottom. Whistle while you work.
     
    See you all at Stafford , Donny and Glasgow! If things go to plan I’ll be recording again while we’re in Scotland...
  15. legomanbiffo

    A wail of a time

    By legomanbiffo,

    Well that's the trauma of Christmas over for another year. Another chunk of modelling time irretrievably lost, bah humbug!
     
    Progress on the Deltic has been slow as a result but it's going in the right direction. The loco had the opportunity to stretch its legs on my pal's layout this evening and I'm pleased to say that it's shaping up very nicely. The slow wind-up to the highest notch is pure Napier heaven! The session also gave me a good idea how I can enhance the two-engine experience, something I now need to test on the bench.
     
    As a short aside from the Deltic, I did a bit of work on the 86 sound project as my Hornby / Heljan hybrid model is nearing completion. One of the sounds in the project was a nice Mk3 coach 'wail'; the sound you get from the airbag suspension, typically heard when they leave the station. Nice, but fairly basic. Well earlier in the year I heard plenty of these wails on a photting trip to Manningtree, where trainloads of Mk3's arrive and depart every half an hour. At the time I was kicking myself not to have taken my recording gear, but took the opportunity to capture it, purely for reference, using the voice memo app on my phone. Turns out that the recordings were far better than I expected. I have extracted 8 of the best ones and created a flowchart that plays them at random, on demand, and at just the right interval to simulate slow-speed navigation through pointwork or round curves etc. Once I'm happy with the execution I'll roll this feature out to other locos typically used with Mk3 stock (47, 67, 87 etc). I've also added the ability to run the traction motor blowers whilst stationary (already present on my 85, 87 & 90).
     
    The photo of the Mk3 was taken at Crewe Works open day, the same day as the Deltic in the previous blog entry. How long before we get a better model of them?
  16. legomanbiffo
    Late February means it’s time for our annual pilgrimage to the frozen North and Model Rail Scotland. This year’s trip started a day early on the Wednesday, for reasons that will become apparent shortly. First stop was to stoke up at the Little Chef just off Jcn 16 on the M6 (Crewe), our usual breakfast stop for this trip.
    Several en-route photo opportunities had been discussed but in the end we went to a favourite from last year; Docker, on the WCML in Cumbria. Upon arrival, a search on Real Time Trains quickened the pulse as the ‘logs’ to Chirk was due. Almost as I finished reading the words the unmistakable pounding of a 56 drifted into auditory view and we prayed for the sun to stay out. And stay out it did, I still can’t believe how lucky we were. Subsequent shots of an unliveried 350/4 and a Plasser tamper pushing a trolley-thingy were nowhere near as good with the sun in (even after adjusting the white balance).
    From there it was a short hop to Greenholme by which time the rain came on. The intermodal DRS 66 working which normally flies through Atherstone was reduced to a crawl on the climb to Shap and made for interesting listening. A mental note and reference shots were taken of this excellent location and then it was onwards and upwards to a sadly freight-free Carlisle station. The first night stop was at Moffat, staging post for the final thrust in the morning. If you’ve never visited Moffat I can thoroughly recommend it, plenty of good hotels and restaurants in a beautiful setting in the Southern Uplands, and after breakfast only an hour to Glasgow.
    The subject of Thursday’s attention was a 35-year old successor to the famous ‘Blue Trains’; the Class 314. This recording session had had a very long gestation. Following a steer from a DEMU member in early 2013 (thanks Peter), a session had been set up for February last year, but was cancelled at the last minute when the host called in sick – doah! Luck was on our side this year and thanks to First Group and staff at Shields Road this veteran unit has now been captured for posterity. No model yet as far as I’m aware but a set of recordings ‘in the bank’ nevertheless. We never thought we’d see models of Lion / EM1 / Blue Pullman etc so someone will do one eventually.
    Friday and Saturday was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends but sad news was to arrive. My very good friend and ‘chauffuer’ Richard had to drop everything and leave for Manchester where his aged father had taken a turn for the worse. Sadly he died not long afterwards but Richard was fortunate enough to get there in time.
    The rest of the show wasn’t quite the same, and getting myself and all my stuff home was interesting with no transport. Plenty of offers were forthcoming from fellow modellers and traders passing through the Midlands, but everyone was leaving on Monday. As I needed to get back on Sunday the services of Virgin & London Midland were called upon. An offer of £92 First Class was grabbed with both hands. My camera, recording gear and show purchases went to Manchester with Richard. The stock boxes that would fit in Charlie’s already-bursting van went to Leeds, and the rest was kindly taken by Fiona of DCC Supplies back to Worcester and I will be re-united with them all at Leamington show. Oh, and my car was stuck at Richard’s house, half an hour from home.
    Recording sessions for later in the year are shaping up nicely. Nothing I can divulge just now but suffice to say that there are some interesting and innovative things in the pipeline. Finally, with the assistance of Pete Harvey we will shortly be launching a range of 'easy-fit' resin underframe tanks incorporating loudspeaker enclosures, to make high-quality sound much easier to achieve. First examples will be for the Heljan 26, 27 & 33, with a set for the Bachmann 40 currently in development.
  17. legomanbiffo
    One theme of this period in the sound lab has been consolidation; instead of working on new projects I’ve concentrated on rolling out specific improvements across the range, where suitable recordings are available. One example of this is to change F5 from a simplistic brake dump sound to a multi-function brake sound experience! If you press F5 whilst stationary you’ll hear a brake dump sound . If you turn on F5 when moving, nothing is heard initially, but you now have a ‘playable’ brake application function. Dipping the throttle briefly will trigger a gentle brake application sound. Dip it further and it brakes a little harder. It is possible (for example) to approach a signal, repeatedly ‘touching the brakes’ without unduly affecting the speed of the loco.
     
    The theme of consolidation reminded me of the classic Norman Wisdom film ‘The Early Bird’ which documents the struggle of an underdog horse & cart milk firm against the mighty Consolidated Dairies with their new-fangled electric milk floats. The opening 15 minutes or so, in which hardly a word is spoken, is comic genius, with the hero Pitkin (Wisdom) struggling to get up and make the tea for himself, his boss (Mr Grimsdale) and the boss’s ‘fancy woman’. There's a link at the bottom if you’re interested.
     
    Work on 10000 has continued. I am currently prototyping the engine sounds in a Bachmann model and things are progressing, slowly but surely.
    A packed show schedule in May / June will see me with Charlie at Bristol, Derby, LYDCC (where I’ll be assisting Tony Molyneux with his seminar), Railex, DEMU, Wigan, and Perth, and also Nottingham as a visitor.
     
    The first production runs of resin tanks for the Heljan 26, 27 & 33 have been kicked off. These comprise a replacement centre-section for the underframe assembly of each loco, to which the Heljan sideframes are attached. The new sections feature a sound chamber which accepts a 20x40mm speaker in a simple clip-fit aperture, making the fitting of sound much more straightforward.
     
    At Ally Pally I picked up some excellent weathered JNA’s from Lord & Butler which will no doubt feature in a video in the fullness of time. I must get round to doing more videos at some point as there are several new projects that haven’t been captured yet (33, 40, 60 & MPV amongst others).
     
    Finally, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of a personal guided tour of some of Paul Woolard’s local photographic haunts to capture some of the Cross-Country workings that were being diverted via Chepstow. Pictured above at Purton is the Daventry-Wentloog working. Paul has taken some beautiful railway photos and one of his taken previously at Purton featured in Rail Express this month. Hopefully some of his skill will rub off on me.
     

  18. legomanbiffo
    You see there's two kinds of people in this world my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.
     
    A classic line from a classic film, the relevance being; which of the three are these two in the photo, taken at Newton Heath during a recording visit in April 2010? The 180's are notoriously unreliable and the front end design could be good, bad or ugly depending upon your point of view. And the 142's, what can you say? Two Leyland Nationals on train wheels with no suspension. Their only redeeming feature is that they're full of character!
     
    Anyway, the reason for this interlude is that I've been bringing the 142 project into the 21st Century in readiness for Charlie & Arran's long-awaited model. It's coming along quite nicely (the sound project that is, you'll have to ask Charlie about the model).
     
    Thanks to Mick Bryan who took the photograph on the day (and another 20Gb of them for reference!).
  19. legomanbiffo
    A two-week course in Scotland provided an ideal spring-board for a bit of recording during the middle weekend. Various Scottish modellers have been asking me to record the sliding doors on a 303 and adapt my 304 project accordingly. However, with the help of the hard-working chaps at Bon'ess I've managed to go well beyond that and record almost all the sounds that the 303's made, including horns, driver & passenger doors, hustle alarm, main & auxiliary compressors, guard's right away bell, aws, oil pump (which they had instead of traction motor blowers), brake releases, main contactor & battery charger hum. The only things which couldn't be done on the day were pan up / down (which might be a possibility in the future) and the traction motors themselves (no 25kV!). All this was possible because the majority of things ran off 240V which can be temporarily lashed up from a shore supply.
     
    For good measure I took the last trip of the day on 37175 and recorded the start-up & run from the back cab, then captured all the 'auxiliary' sounds when we got back. Hopefully this will yield some improvements to my existing 37 project (better / bi-directional horns for a start) and perhaps another 37 project altogether with the new engine sounds. If you haven't visited the Bo'ness & Kinniel Railway it is highly recommended. They have a great roster of Scottish region diesels which are all in fine fettle and the line has a long and steep bank on the way up to Kinniel.Thrash-tastic!
  20. legomanbiffo

    Gauny no dae that

    By legomanbiffo,

    I'm pleased to say that the Glasgow show was better than last year's, which was hopefully just a blip in the year-on-year improvement. Well done to all concerned. As usual it was great to meet up with old friends, and put some faces to new ones. Deviations on the way up included photting at Winwick Junction and Carlisle, and on the way back, Tower Models followed by fish & chips on the front at Blackpool!
     
    Back in the sound lab the 73 diesel / electric transitions have been sorted out after some persistent misbehaviour by the programming (ie it wasn't doing what I told it to do. 'Gauny no dae that' was very apt at the time). Now it's just a case of gilding the lily with a second set of horns etc just to finish off. As with the 20 the video is going to be a little while yet as I really want a banger blue loco to feature, and extensive searches at Glasgow failed to turn one up despite the vast array of second hand stuff on offer.
     
    Thoughts are beginning to turn to which sound project will be the next to benefit from the upgrade to v4. Current favourites are the Voyager (though this will involve swapping out the four 100 ohm speakers for 8 ohm ones) or the Eurostar (into which I could fit the huge 28x40 speakers from Alan Butcher).
  21. legomanbiffo

    Genetically modified

    By legomanbiffo,

    The 2013 recording season has gotten off to a flying start. The text, received with 48 hours notice said words to the effect; 'do you want to come along and do some recording, with three or four different locos to choose from, one of which you haven't recorded before?' Let me think about that for a minute.....
     
    After an hour's drive and a generous helping of lard to set me up for the day, a start was made on the previously unrecorded loco, the 'genetically modified' 57. I must say that when I started out recording this beast it was mainly to fill the gap in the range of chips that I do. I always enjoy the recording process and I knew some users out there would be very happy but at the end of the day I wasn't intending to get a model 57 for myself. Fast-forward two weeks and all that has changed. The damn thing has grown on me to the extent that I bought a sound-fitted one at Doncaster show from those fine chaps at Lord & Butler / Dirty Boy weathering (more on them in my next blog entry). In comparison with the Deltic the editing has been a breeze so far. The project is shaping up nicely with all the ancilliary sounds done, also the multistart functions which were enabled by some skilled choreography by the driver on the day. Many thanks, you know who you are!
     
    It's worth pausing for a moment to say that the driver can make the difference between a good project and a great one. When making recordings the instructions you have to give them to achieve what you want can sometimes appear quite abstract (slam the door 9 or 10 times in different ways....don't open the throttle until after that bridge....sound the horn before moving off, not during, and so on). Once you explain the reason in each case, most will understand and do their best. Some set out to do their best but forget and fall into 'normal driver' mode. Some listen attentively and then do their own thing regardless.
     
    It also helps to have a driver who is knowledgable on the internal workings of the loco. Can he (temporarily) isolate the noisy traction motor blower whilst you record the quieter compressor next to it? Can he cause the start to fail? Does he know how to bring on the cooling fan if the engine isn't hot enough? Happily the driver in this case was exemplary and a full set of great sounds was captured. After the 57 was finished we moved on to a couple of other locos to capture a handful of sounds on each that I was missing. All in all a very sucessful day's recording.
     
    Despite all of the above the Deltic is still moving forward slowly. Every clip of engine sound is in place and there now follows an iterative process of getting them to flow naturally regardless of what you do with the throttle. Once that is done the project would normally be finished but in this case there's the second engine to think about. I'm currently gathering information from various sources that will enable this to be modelled accurately.
     
    A week off work has also enabled progress on other things. I've fitted an XL chip and a Visaton 40x70 speaker (!) to a Heljan 7mm 37 for Charlie. The first attempt with the enclosure was unexpectedly rubbish but the second was far better. This just goes to prove the importance of experimentation when doing your speaker fit. I've also done a chip and speaker fit in the new Heljan 31 for a customer of Charlie's. This was something of an ordeal and the thing nearly got the lump hammer on a number of occasions but it got through unscathed and sounds very good. It's also got independantly switchable tail lights and the fan works slowly enough so that the noisy mechanism doesn't drown out the sampled clips of the real fan.
     
    In the photo, 57012 pauses at Nuneaton on a working from Lawley Street to Southampton (I believe).
  22. legomanbiffo

    Heavy metal

    By legomanbiffo,

    I had an enjoyable day out at Doncaster yesterday and succumbed to the persuasive powers of a superbly weathered Bachmann 37/5 in Railfreight Metals livery from 'Dirty Boy' / Lord & Butler. Whilst I am reasonably skilled at weathering, this was in a different league and I was happy to pay the money.
     
    As a bonus the loco came pre-fitted with the latest SWD v4 chip so it was a good opportunity to listen to the competition. After trying it 'out of the box' it was clear that the dire speaker fit by Bachmann was seriously letting it down so as an experiment I took my v4 chip and tried it with Bachmann's speaker fit, and put SWD's chip in my loco with my tank-mounted Alan Butcher bass-reflex speaker. The improvement to the SWD sound when put through a proper speaker fit was truly astonishing. And of course the converse was true; the degradation to my chip when played through the Bachmann speaker was equally astonishing. The moral of the story is, regardless of who's chip you use, it pays to improve your speaker and speaker fit.
     
    In other news my 73 now has an Alan Butcher 28x40 speaker and v4 chip in. Early experiments served only to reveal the shortcomings of the new Hornby motor. Mind you, it's brand new and hasn't been run in yet so this may improve. When I'm finished playing with the 37's I'll put some effort into developing the 73 sound project. One aspect I'm giving some thought to is just how to give the user control of the change from diesel to electric power and visa-versa. I'd be interested to hear from any 73 drivers on what can and can't be done, and what sounds happen when etc, so I can get everything just right.
  23. legomanbiffo

    Hammer time

    By legomanbiffo,

    Two models that came close to the lump hammer treatment this weekend were a Hornby 50 in 4mm and a Heljan 20 in 7mm, after I expended an inordinate amount of time on both.
     
    The 50 is the Rail Express limited edition 50149, weathered by Grimy Times and destined to become the star in a You Tube video demonstrating my v4 Class 50 sounds. Yesterday I milled off the weight in the underframe and spent most of today building a long speaker enclosure to fit down the middle with cut-down tanks etc glued on the sides. It contains two 20x40mm ESU speakers, wired in phase and completely airtight. I was convinced it would sound great but it's nowhere near as good as I expected. Back to the drawing board with that one.
     
    The Heljan 20 was loaned to me by Charlie to try out my project in 7mm. The casting has space for a chip (fitted vertically) and a speaker (in the tanks), but like a venn diagram, the two spaces overlap so you can't fit both at the same time. Without going into detail, fitting chip and speaker was a complete pain in the butt which I will steer well clear of in the future. In contrast, their 26 was much easier and well thought out.
     
    There can't be that many photos of Class 50's on the drags but here's one; 50023 Howe leaving Arley tunnel on the Nuneaton-Birmingham line dragging what looks like an 86, circa 1980.
  24. legomanbiffo

    Fantastic Voyage

    By legomanbiffo,

    I often find that as a project is nearing completion it pays to step away from it for a while and do something else. You then return to it with a fresh pair of ears, add the finishing touches and iron out any last remaining niggles. As such, I have briefly stepped away from the 40 to the Voyager.
     
    I upgraded one end of my Bachmann Voyager from a v3.5 to a v4 some time ago but never got around to the other. Having now fitted the second chip and ran it, I found that the engine sound editing and programming was a little short of my current standards. Having spent a couple of days on it I'm now much happier. I've also added a handful of new features including; the ability to start the intermediate engines one at a time, two slightly different engine shutdowns, and a more accurate recreation of the 'forward' position on the driver's controller on the prototype.
     
    On a real Voyager, the driver selects forward when getting ready to move off. The engine revs rise but nothing more happens until the controller is advanced further, whereupon the set moves off. Similarly, when coming to a standstill, the set can be left in forward (and hence at slightly higher revs) until the driver puts the controller to idle or moves off again. The principle is exactly the same as my latest electric projects (85, 87, 90 etc), and has now been enabled with the Voyager.
     
    The project has been prototyped as a 'single' chip version, now I need to make the necessary modifications for the two-chip version so that the horns etc change ends when the set reverses, the engine starts and stops are staggered and so on.
     
    Tonight's good news was that Charlie has finally found a Heljan 7mm Deltic down the back of his sofa. This will be passed onto me at Warley so I can prototype the Deltic sound project in it.
     
    The photograph was taken at Milton Keynes, one of my series of 'railwaymen at work'. Try covering the despatcher and guard with your thumb and you'll find the photo much less interesting.
  25. legomanbiffo

    Wet wet wet

    By legomanbiffo,

    I'm just reviewing the latest set of recordings from a full day at the ELR yesterday. Fortunately the rain didn't impact on the recordings themselves but merely added to the general discomfort of standing up all day, holding mics in uncomfortable positions and struggling inside confined and dirty places (no, not Bury). After leaving here on Tuesday morning it was raining within 15 minutes and it didn't stop chucking it down until early on Wednesday morning. 50mph all the way up the M6 in heavy traffic and spray, and the same coming back yesterday.
     
    Anyway, enough of that and on to the subjects of my attention; 33109, 37901 and 55022 (again). The 33 was of interest because the first set of 33 engine recordings I did are not that great; adequate but no more. The latest set are much better, still perhaps not the definitive set (I have higher standards these days) but nevertheless better. The horns were very good at both ends. I'll have to compare these with the ones on the existing project to see if there's room for improvement. I also grabbed some good brake release and application sounds which I was missing.
     
    Second trip of the day was on 55022. Again the main objective was to capture better engine sounds than the previous trip. I deployed two mics, and one of them gave me almost exactly the results I was after. It has taken 30 years to improve on the Deltic recordings I made with a cassette recorder at Peterborough in 1982!
     
    Finally it was the turn of 37901, Mirrlees Pioneer. As far as I remember (not that far these days) I've never heard one of these before but I really liked the sound of the engine. Again two mics were deployed, one near the exhaust and the other in the engine room. Having just finished doing the 60 the similarity of the engine sounds was notable. Even the priming pump and cranking sounded very similar. I preferred the more mellow sounds from the exhaust-based recording though and it's probably those I'll run with as they capture the character of the loco better. I'm looking forward to editing these, more so than the 33 or Deltic. They might even leapfrog ahead of the 40 (sorry to those of you who are waiting for that).
     
    55016 Gordon Highlander is pictured at Crewe Works Open day. I forget which year it was (I've got the ticket somewhere) but no doubt someone can tell me.
     
    Off to pack the bags again now as I've got to be at another preserved railway at 0900 in the morning. No peace for the wicked...
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