Fordbank

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56249446@N06/53141818387/in/pool-1234820@N20/ 'Life imitates art.' Won't be long then.

Just like so many others, I'm sure, I can't wait.

New Arrivals.2 - A New Golden Age? There can be no doubt that the arrival of a fleet of new high quality models reflecting the boom in new aggregate rolling stock purchased by the big three railfreight companies has revived interest in Peak Forest. The last eight years have seen the release of HIA hoppers and MJA boxes from Dapol(2015): wonderful MMA box wagons from Revolution in 2018: shortie HYAs from Accurascale (2021): with HOAs and more MMAs still to come. Moreover accurate models of the necessary traction has not been overlooked with firstly the Hattons 66 and now its improved sibling offering real potential. Holding the line at 2003 was always going to be difficult. But the arrival of 60044 Dowlow, 66789 British Rail, 66623, and new rakes of HIAs,HYAs, & MJAs have swept away the original notion of a finite time period. (The Curse of Modern Image?) So I am now, as can be seen already, resigned to reflecting a second chapter of Peak Forest Revived. Finance and reason will no doubt continue to prevent PFR ever becoming a full imitation, but there is now a new wider time period to reflect upon.

T'other side of the hills. Peak Forest Revived reflects the real world; it does not follow it slavishly. Of course the truth is I have yet to learn to weather the stock on PFR never mind reflect the avante guarde of modern modelling. Not sure I will find my way to the Derby School. But there is an airbrush buried somewhere in the train garage.... ( And Bankfield? Will it too succumb to the spray can? )

I'm obviously very keen to see the layout up and fully running. Where are you booked to exhibit? My diary awaits. Andy

Hired by the Class 56 Group to Victa Railfreight to fulfil shunting duties at Dove Holes Quarry, 56301 draws forward a rake of MMAs on 18th August 2018. 56301 was released new from Doncaster works as 56058 in June 1978. Photo Stephen Stubbs (Flickr)

New Arrivals: New Horizons 'A new rake of cut down HYA wagons arrives at Peak Forest from WH Davis behind GB Railfreight , 66789, on September 12th 2019. The older HYA coal hopper wagons were shortened by removing the centre bay as the stone aggregate is more dense than coal.' 'The new HYAs are pushed back into the Cemex reception sidings at Dove Holes Quarry by the resident shunter 56302. 'The ex Fastline class 56, itself a relative new arrival at Peak Forest in October 2018, was on hire to Victa Rail who at this time had the contract with GB Railfreight to provide a shunter for Dove Holes Quarry. The days of a resident 08 having long passed.'

Just depressing.. ......and sad.

Apart from being paired with Northern Belle liveried 57312 "Solway Princess", does anyone have any knowledge of Caroline with other DRS liveried 57s? ( A quick trawl of Flickr and google has drawn a blank) Thanks

Reflections on Caroline (at Peak Forest). 'A Proper Peak Forest shot': 47790 + 975025 "Caroline" 2Z02 at Peak Forest 23/04/2014 Photo courtesy Jon Gavin (Flickr) Thanks again to Jon Gavin and to Mick for the heads up.

Hmmm....Now, Viridian Green. Would that pehaps justify a trip to Rainbow Railways? Stop right there. No. But had I realised Caroline when first rebuit was painted in Viridian green, and that the rebuilt version only received Brunswick (SR) later, I would have preferred the viridian sersion. Truth is I just didn't want to miss out and had not anticipated Rainbow Railways having so many available. Hindsight eh?

No names mentioned, but someone is clearly power mad. Great photo.

Looks like you may be needing a coupling on both ends, Mick.

'Let a hundred flowers blossom' or Common Caroline ? There's certain to be a lot of Inspection Saloons appearing on model layouts pretty soon. But did Caroline ever visit Peak Forest? Well apparently so.... DRS 37409 Lord Hinton passes Dove Holes quarry as it approaches Peak Forest with inspection saloon Caroline in tow on 20th April 2017 Photo courtesy of Jon Gavin With special thanks to Jon Gavin for the information and photo.

That is certainly thhe intention but a bit more practice with the airbrush, and particularly with my fading paintwork techniques are needed before I am let loose on such a fabulous model. When my skill level is up to scratch I suspect 37026 will be near the front of the queue. Andy

......and the other source of motivation from Accurascale: Shapfell at Peak Forest, 29th November 1995 Photo courtesy Marcus 'Shapfell stands at Peak Foret Revived awaiting its next duty on the hoppers on 29th September 1991. 37026 had recently transferred from Inverness and still wore its Scottish headlight.'

Now that sounds like a very promising tweak. Thanks. And should anyone else have tried it please let us know.

Caroline gets there first - even before her driver! Caroline emerges from Great Rocks Tunnel after completing an inspection. It took a while and a lot of help from other RMWeb members ( see Revolution Trains thread )to select and sort a decoder for Caroline but it is certainly worth the effort to see the lovely interior detail. Now to source a suitable train crew and retreive that missing ETH connector from behind the workbench.

Back to Life! Never quite gave up, but the mojo certainly drained away. Now feeling the modelling motivation is coming back and after a two year "lull" I have been enjoying running the loco fleet to test out its ability to withstand a prolongued rest. I was pleased (and surprised) to find the layout performed impeccably once it had received a good going over with the hoover and track rubber. I really should have covered it with dust sheets, but to do so felt too close to a burial shroud! Sometimes new models spark ideas for new layouts, but for me they can rekindle a flame. The revival of Peak Forest undoubtedly owes a debt to Accurascale and Revolution Models and the purchase of a new class 37 - 37026 Shapfell - and the delightful inspection saloon Caroline. Both were long awaited but once delivered in the post just demanded to be run on a proper layout. So away with the cobwebs, and time for a photo or two of Caroline's first visit to Peak Forest Revived....

Lights sorted, a (driverless) Caroline emerges after an inspection of Great Rocks Tunnel.

Hmmm.. I think you are surely correct - the controller will be turning off ALL the lights at the train end. But I cannot think of many times when I would require Caroline to be showing headlights or even the searchlights at the train end whilst in motion. Hence I am quite content with the Laic 80069 which with my controller will switch all the lights at the train end independently either off or on. And thanks for the warning regarding adding a resistor. Beyond my expertise obviously. Andy

Further to my above post, prior to fitting the Lais 860019 I installed it temporarily in another loco for the purpose of re-setting CV1 - the decoder ID. I did not check or change any of the function outputs prior to its now successful installation in Caroline. With the hindsight provided by other subsequent posts taking a note of the values of other CVs would be sensible. Two queries remain. 1. Is the switching on/off of the train end lights without any resort to blanking tape a unique function of the ZTC controller? 2. Is there a simple way of adding a resistor to the PCB to mimic a motor load so that were the decoder to default to ID3 (as some decoders unhepfully do on odd occasions ) then CV1 could be reset without having to remove the body and risk all those delicate fittings? I'm sure all the forensic c investigations of the PCB will produce some useful output. Andy

Bin the black tape? I fitted a cheap LAIS 860019 to my Caroline, and feared a false economy when I failed to get the directional lights to work. The headlights would only come on at one end with the red tail lights at the other. Reversing the direction seemed to have no effect. But I persisted, ie fiddled & fiddled... More by accident than design I moved the regulator ( ie 'throttle') at the same time as the reverse leaver. ( I use a ZTC controller ), and WOW! Both the headlight and the tail lights became directional. I now have all lighting functions working: Headlights on F0 Interior lights on F1 Red tail lights on F2 (requires F0 on) Solebar lights on F3 Tunnel search lights on F4 (requires F0 on) Moreover I have separate control over the lights at the train end by moving the regulator from off (rear kights off) to step 1 - rear lights on. ....and no black tape over contacts! But what is F5 for? Andy

And patience is rewarded! Having remarked that i was still waiting for Caroline, I feel obliged to add that it has now duly arrived. And all in good order. Thank you Ben and the team - an outstanding model. Andy

On the web page choose <Shop>; then choose <Accounts>; then <Orders>; then choose the order number you wish to pay the balance on. This brings up Order Detils. To the left on this screen choose <Payment Methods>. This will bring up a card payment screen into which you can put your debit card details. And then begins the wait for your Caroline to be despatched. But they're understandably busy just now. Hope this helps. Took me a while. Andy