jamesg

The queues of eager passengers must be the reason 31A proposes preserving a three-car set.

Yesterday's Gloucester Horton Road RHTT got into difficulties. It has been in the hands of Colas 66s Nos. 66846 and 66848. Apparently, 66846 failed very early in the route and the set was taken back to Gloucester Horton Road. 56078 was put on and the train recommenced, completing most or all of the route in darkness. Almost a reverse of last year's RHTT, when the original 56s were replaced by 66s. Here it is a week ago, running slightly early, with the extremely grubby 66s. Does dirt getting into air vents and intakes on the locomotives contribute to failures?

I can see it now - if I didn't now know otherwise, I'd have said it was a fold or join in the steel shell. Thanks Jim.

That's difficult to answer. I have a photograph of 950001 from 22nd June 2016 in which I'd say there are two different shades of yellow and one from 12th September 2016 in which I'd say it's all the same shade. Both must have been after the refurbishment (March, I think) as they have the new 'magnifying glass' motif, so I think the apparent difference in colour is caused by the angle of the Sun and the materials on the unit rather than the paint colour.

The Stoke Gifford - Worcester - Tiverton test run that took place last Sunday was in the schedule for yesterday but didn't run. Last week's test run on the same route was slightly late reaching Worcester and got later as it left Worcester for Tiverton, possibly because it had started to meet the first few Sunday morning passenger services at Worcester. The units were 800010 and 800012 last Sunday.

Hi Trevor, What a fantastic collection of photographs! Thanks a lot for sharing. One that really stands out to me is D1036 at Exeter on 29th May 1975, with the conversation between the driver and staff on the platform, and all the little details like semaphore signals and the old parcels trolley (there's a more modern one in the background). I can use it to justify running lots of pristine stock on my layout; the railcar on the other platform looks freshly painted as well.

GIMP has a reputation for being confusing to new users, you're certainly not alone. What I've done before to print out signs is to create a new image with the 'A4 (300ppi)' template from the 'File' > 'New...' dialog. Multiple smaller images can be added to this and duplicated any number of times for printing onto one page. I'd create the new A4 image and load images in using 'File' > 'Open as layers', then scale and move the new layers in cm, mm or in. If you have the image you want to add in the clipboard instead (because it's been copied from another image), it can be added as a new layer from the 'Edit' > 'Paste as' menu. One other thing that might help - by default, GIMP runs in lots of separate windows. This can be annoying on smaller laptop screens, going to the 'Windows' menu and selecting 'Single-Window Mode' gives you one window with a row of tabs for each separate image you have open.

I've heard the new Eurostar Class 374 called 'Serpents' - find a picture of one emerging from the tunnel at Stratford to see the resemblance.

I can't seem to reproduce the problem here, but I guess the DPI is being set incorrectly when you go to print the image. Perhaps the information is being lost in saving and reopening the file. In GIMP, you can set the DPI for the image by going to the 'Image' menu and selecting 'Print Size'. You can also override the DPI per print from the print dialog on the 'Image Settings' tab, which should be reflected in the preview. Once the DPI is set, you can change the rulers around the image to a paper measurement (cm or in) from the menu at the bottom left of the image next to the zoom percentage.

This sounds like a great idea. I hope you'll share some footage of the model running with the sound decoder once the technical obstacles have been overcome. I agree with 34C - look at the gov.uk page on copyright in sound recordings. The duration of copyright protection for sound recordings changed from 50 years (after creation) to 70 years on 1st November 2013. This was only applied to works that were not in the public domain on that date. On 1st November 2013, a recording made on 31st October 1963 would already be 50 years old and in the public domain, therefore the 2013 rule would not apply. Usual disclaimer applies - I am not a lawyer.

I took my Bachmann Jinty apart to investigate a small running problem; at slow speeds, it would have trouble at a certain point in the axle rotation. I think the wheel quartering was slightly off, the running is much better after a small adjustment and a lot of running in. It seemed to take a lot more running in than other models before it was running smoothly, so don't be put off if it doesn't seem to run well after being put back together.

Hi Trevor, Thank you for sharing these photographs. I'm taking black and white photographs now on preserved lines with recent SLR cameras that have built in light meters. Despite being more sophisticated cameras, more often than not I make an exposure error or focus on the wrong part of the subject. Out of interest, did you develop the negatives yourself?

Does this plain white livery remind anyone else of the ISS or other space hardware? I quite like the similar white testing livery on some of the new 800s at the moment but it's going to show up the dirt if they aren't washed regularly.

That's a very good find. The polygons on the map look very precise, especially around embankments and bridges. There's also a list of bridges owned by Network Rail (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bridges_managed_by_network_rail) which I converted to a Google Earth file in an attempt to find good trainspotting locations. Turns out there are a couple of Network Rail owned bridges carrying public footpaths near me. I don't know what the forum rules or licence of the data say, or I would share the Google Earth file here.

Yes, for whatever reason, the Class 31 is very particular about the DCC signal. Perhaps the Hornby controllers generate the signal differently to the Roco and others. I haven't found that setting the address to 3 or doing a hard reset makes any difference, though I had set a few CVs on mine already before testing.

That's an interesting website in general. I couldn't find a specific mention about the numbering, but all the recent sightings, including some of 73805 at Bristol, show numbers without a prefix. I know that 73805 has the prefix displayed on the vehicle. Thanks, I hadn't considered a meaning such as this. With most of the on track plant owned by private companies, is the prefix becoming redundant?

I photographed Colas ballast regulator 77327 today on a move from Rugby D.E.D. to Southall Isu (S&Te). I don't know what those two places are, but that's another question. What I'd really like to know is the correct numbering scheme for these self-propelled maintenance vehicles. I've seen some vehicles with just a number, such as ballast regulator 77327 and Colas tamper 75406, and some with the prefix 'DR', such as Colas tamper DR73805. What does the 'DR' prefix mean, and do similar vehicles with a number but no visible 'DR' actually have this prefix in their number?

There's another easement along the same lines for Cholsey (between Didcot and Reading) and one for stations between Birmingham International and Coventry. Doubling back is often faster because relatively few trains stop at intermediate stations. Not sure if I'd want to try explaining it to a guard, though.

You can find permitted routes for a journey in the Routeing Guide. It's not straightforward. The process involves finding valid 'routeing points' (major stations or station groups) for each end of the journey in the 'pink pages', then looking up valid routes in the 'yellow pages' based on the routeing points. A full explanation is here: http://data.atoc.org/routeing-guide . For Bristol to Reading, both ends are already routing points. The valid routes are 'LA' and 'WR'. Looking at the map of each route, 'LA' goes via Westbury, so this would be a valid route. There may also be easements to allow or disallow a particular route. For instance, 'doubling back' (travelling over the same stretch of line twice in a journey) is sometimes permitted from stations with a limited service if the overall journey is quicker. I can't see any easements between Bristol and Reading.

St James' Park to Exeter Central is about 38 chains.

Was there a layout in BRM a few months ago with ambient sounds provided by MP3 players?

Thank you Stu and John for the information regarding the history of the class. I've had a quick look into the 'Skinheads' that were allocated to Bristol - I think the only two were D5528 and D5542. There are photographs of D5542, renumbered as 31124, fitted with a headcode box. Either my list of Skinheads is wrong, or D5542 has the headcode box fitted later. I'm yet to find a photograph of D5528 (31110/'Traction Magazine') with a headcode box, but I did find a photograph of it from 1972 carrying BR blue livery. So, it looks like none of the Bristol allocation ran in any green livery without a headcode box (1973 is a bit late for green anyway). It's almost certain that by the time any were allocated to the Western Region, they would all have full yellow panels as well. I have no idea how many had headcode boxes retro-fitted. List of 'Skinheads': D5500-D5519 (original batch), D5520–29/35/39/42/47/51/52/55/56/59/62 (from Wikipedia, well referenced). Allocation data from brdatabase.info. Izzy, you could be right that a linear curve is used on analogue. When a decoder is powered, has 'DC conversion' enable and does not detect a DCC signal, it should just pass the track power straight through to the motor. This doesn't work well with all decoders and controllers, especially where the controller doesn't supply a perfectly smooth voltage to the track. Controllers with extra features like feedback and PWM usually don't work well with DCC decoders operating in 'DC conversion' mode.

"This Autumn" might mean Warley; Hornby made a pretty big announcement there last year.

This happens with the Hornby 121 'Bubblecar' as well - it seems the wheels are too wide. Going by the service sheet for the Railroad Class 31, the motor bogie looks like a modern can motor inside a Ringfield motor shaped gearbox. The Class 20 has a centrally mounted motor driving one bogie. I'm interested to see what the running quality of each is like, I've yet to observe one of the 're-engineered' Railroad models closely. According to BRDatabase, D5551 was re-engined in October 1967. I can't work out when half or full yellow ends might have been added, but the late sixties sounds about right. A few were allocated to Bristol Bath Road depot, starting from about 1971. D5551 was not one of those, but I wonder if any 31's were running out of Bristol in the form modelled by Hornby?