cal.n

*cough* https://www.flickr.com/photos/21095258@N03/5896597719 *cough*

Maybe rather obvious, but the 68 and 88 share the vast majority of components.

No new modelling progress. Earlier today was driving down the A9 and the Torness Flask Transfer compound is only a 2 minute excursion, so I stopped for a few photos.

I believe Branchlines do a replacement chassis with new valve gear. Although a downside is that it will no longer be able to achieve escape velocity.

Inside the no.2 cab of 37407. 66424 just visible out the window. More interior shots please

All boards now on legs and together. 12ft of layout is a bit bigger than it seems on paper...

Not that I’m aware of. I am in the process of designing bodyshells of Mk5 coaches and the DT to be 3D printed which will be available on Shapeways. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130381-caf-mark-5-coach-in-4mm-scratchbuild/

And in Scotland, 170/4s are starting to become debranded. As the first HST sets replace 170s and 158s on Glasgow - Aberdeen and Edinburgh - Aberdeen trains in the coming weeks, Northern will get the redundant 170s. Edit: just an afterthought, I assume Northern will declassify the first class these units had?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlLyNKZX4AA2SE-?format=jpg&name=large Here is a link for anyone without access to Facebook. (With dates and prices) Remeber 68026 is also a TPE allocated machine and once mk5 sets begin running it won’t be seen on any other traffic types. The photo is too lo-res to see, but terms of detail differences all of 68019-032 have a dot matrix destination display inside the cab and a new square multiple working connector to talk to the DVT and open doors etc.. Both are probably easily achievable with plasticard. I better get on with doing my mk5s then... Edit: The Models in the photos don’t even have buffers yet so maybe it’s a bit unfair of me to start looking for individual detail differences.

They are owned by a leasing company called Beacon Rail but are leased exclusively to DRS.

Finally done all 6 legs. And some distractions from modelling, most of yesterday was taken up with a trip to a ‘Diesel operating weekend’ at the Caledonian Railway, Brechin. I even got to drive a class 02

Doing legs... 1 down, 5 to go

Raised trackbed structure progressing well. 2 boards done.

The fiddle yard board now has a raised flat section for the cassette fiddle yard area. This is also the height that the track will be raised throughout. I also had a successful trip to St Andrews Exhibition and picked up a few bits for the layout. To be honest, most of my time was spent at ‘Glenfinnan’ listening to 37s.

92014 with a the Northbound Highlander Sleeper at Preston with a rather colourful 390. More night shots next?

They look great. Love the weathering. I can almost smell the fresh cut timber smell you get when this train passes

That could mean one of a few things things: It comes from Dapol's 1st batch of models which had some reported issues with badly factory applied nameplates and body printing issues (on the DRS livery version). You can tell if the model belongs to the first or second batch because the latter has black dots on the wheel to represent the brake disks shown here It represents a prototype from the later batch of class 68s DRS received. (There are very minor differences including the addition of a few extra warning flashes and 'Stadler' badges instead of 'Vossloh' because of a real life company takeover) To Dapol's credit they have included these differences. It could also mean it has the complex DRS 'map' livery which is sometimes referred to as an early livery because later a few where given a plain blue livery although the 'later' one has not been produced by Dapol. A link might help

I think it’s a reasonably good move. Only Daniel will know how much preferential treatment Verstappen was getting at Red Bull. The number 1 driver would always be Max and given the age difference, it will remain that way. I could see the situation becoming almost identical to Vettel/Webber at Red Bull. Even if the Honda engine package is strong enough for podiums next year, the first year of a new engine with a team will never reach its full potential. Meanwhile Renault is a large manufacturer team with huge amounts of funding and their own engine. They now have two extremely talented drivers. Remeber how mad Lewis’ move to Mercedes was?

Really a trip just to try a new location, so not the best shot. 60103 Flying Scotsman at Horroksford Junction today Some more steam from within the last 50 years

If you don't feel up to a respray yourself, for the price a respray will cost, you may as well buy a Hornby Colas 67. There are few respray services that will respray your loco, you will simply buy a resprayed example. Edit: If you have heart set on respraying your loco, try this http://www.leeslocos.co.uk/index.html

Descending Wilpshire Bank, taken out the window of a class 153 (not an easy thing to do) More wildcards

Photo here of a DT cab. Visually, it looks very similar to a passenger carrying 68 cab. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbCzyCVXcAAWTrI?format=jpg&name=large

The only way qualifying points would work was if there was reverse grids. Say 12pts for Pole, 10pts for 2nd, 8pts for 3rd then 7pts for 4th etc.. This would also mean quicker cars at the back for the race (which carries the bulk of the points) and reward overtaking and still give smaller teams a chance

Ahh. Okay. I don’t think it really needs one and I don’t know what value it would really add. RMWeb performs very well on mobile devices considering its complexity. It is much better optimised for mobile than many other large websites. It also has a choice of either the full site or a mobile version if your device or connection struggles with the full site.