Darius43

I do like that bridge. Is it kit or scratch built? Cheers Darius

Hi Paul, No offence taken - I actually thought your "Donald" post was quite funny and responded in kind. Cheers Darius

Hmm...make one comment about wanting to see model trains running at a model railway exhibition and I am called a miserable old git, a moron and Donald Trump. What a wonderful world the internet is. Darius

Found it - it was on RMWeb - see post #83:- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67511-improving-the-Hornby-apt/page-4 Darius

There is an article somewhere on the web (possibly on RMWeb) that I read a year or so ago where someone modified the power car with a central motor driving booth bogies via articulated driveshafts. I'll see if I can find it and post a link. Darius

The Donald would run lots of trains. And they would be big beautiful trains, bigly beautiful. But he wouldn't let you see them because they would be behind a wall. An amazing, beautiful, big wall. And he would get you to pay for that wall.

At least I don't post like Mr Angry from Purley. Throw the phone down.

I would like to say that my only gripe was the (in my perception) lack of running trains. The standard of modelling was high and I took the unfinished nature of some layouts to be work in progress rather than a lack of skill in the builder - this from someone that operates his model trains on a friend's layout with no scenery or ballast or anything. Electrical problems are a perfectly good reason for the lack of train movement on a layout and I can empathise with the exhibitors if that happened to them. I know there were layouts with moving trains, such as the excellent Crewlisle, I just could not see past the crowd to get a better look. I do have a prejudice against timetabled operation at exhibitions as this does, in my view, inevitably leads to long periods of inactivity - after a few hours of not sitting down my patience for standing around watching nothing happen wears somewhat thin. As I said, that is my prejudice and not an indictment of timetabled operators. That said, I did enjoy the Ally Pally show and will be going again next year. Cheers Darius

Probably for the same reason that Oxford and Cambridge always get into the boat race final. Darius

I always imagined Annie and Clarabel were teak coaches as illustrated. Of course I haven't really considered this in 45 years but there it is. Cheers Darius

It's a 4-TC - being produced by Bachmann for the Kernow Model Rail Centre. Cheers Darius

Careful now. Down with that sort of thing. Darius

This was my fourth visit to the show and it was noticeably more crowded than previous years. Perhaps I was unlucky but, to me, there were a lot of "static" layouts with no trains running. Every time we arrived at a layout, after trying to get a view through the crowd, there appeared to be nothing happening. My friends made the same comments. The large Freemo layout was impressive as an example of railway modelling but I concur with the previous poster - not a lot going on. I will probably attend next year but one of my friends, who I had encouraged to come, was not impressed and will not be returning. Clearly the show is popular - hence the crowds - so perhaps it's just me that wants to see some trains actually running. I did have a nice chat with someone from Bachmann in their enclosure and with Ajay Models and YouChoos so it was still, to me, a good day out. Just run more trains!!! Darius

Extreme examples never really convince me. I was keen on model railways as a kid in the 1970s but got into model aircraft (the Airfix variety) in later life only to return to model railways in recent years. I was on several model aircraft web forums and there were many vehement arguments played out about whether new kits had shape issues and incorrect details. The arguments were similar to those played out here on RMweb, ranging from the "It's only a model" camp to "this evil manufacturer has ruined the only kit produced of my super-adored subject and so no-one else will make a better kit and my life is ruined". There was even a character called "Gaston" (amongst other monikers) who claimed most kits were wrong and proved his assertions with photos of real aircraft with MS Paint red and green lines added to show why. No amount of pointing out about perspective, viewing angle, image distortion etc. would convince him ("him" is assumed - it is the Internet after all) and he proceeded to cut up and butcher his kits in pursuit of perfection. He is totally entitled to do so of course but one wonders if this is the path to true happiness. As for the 4-TC, some photos of prototypes show the front cab base level and some show it raised by a few inches (but not a whole foot). I dug out an old copy of Colin J. Marsden's "Motive Power Recognition:2 EMUs", which has a couple of photos of 4-TCs in it, both of which "appear to show" the base of the door to be higher than the bottom of the cab. Maybe it varied from prototype to prototype, who knows. As for the Triang-Hornby Class 37, my friend with the railway shed has one from his childhood in the 1960s and we recently dug it out and tried it out. It still goes - albeit with that electrical burning smell. We have hatched a plan to clean it up, convert it to DCC with led lights and sound and detail/repaint the body and chassis. What larks Pip, what larks. Cheers Darius

Fair enough - that's one more unit for everyone else

Thanks Phil, I think it needs to be set to 2 to disable DC - will give it a try. Cheers Darius

Thanks Nick - I'll give this a try. Cheers Darius

Last Saturday, my Huntley & Palmers Peckett hauled 35 PO wagons plus a brake van from a standing start in the sidings and thence around the layout with no problems What a little beauty!!! Cheers Darius

Ran Golden Eagle on the large layout in my friend's shed today. Sound seems to be on all the time irrespective of whether F1 is selected and the smoke comes out of the whistle but not the chimney. It ran ok for a few minutes but then started stopping for no reason. Dreading the prospect of another return, the problem was traced to dirty track, after track cleaning it ran fine but still with permanent sound and wonky smoke. I will set the relevant cv to default" smoke off" next time I am in the shed - had F7 selected to turn smoke off for now. Big relief that it runs ok (so far). I am wondering if the dc mode setting (I run dcc) is the cause of the sound being on all the time rather than being controllable using F1. Does anyone know the cv setting(s) to disable the dc operation mode? Cheers Darius

Update - DCC Supplies were unable to repair the locomotive and so a replacement has been sent out by Dapol, which I received today. It works fine on the short test track I have in the flat. Will see how it works on long runs in my friend's shed at the weekend. I would like to say that I have received excellent service from DCC Supplies and Dapol. Cheers Darius

Youchoos sound chips with stereo "3D" speakers installed in both DRS and Scotrail locomotives. Sounds amazing Still a very happy bunny Cheers Darius

Interesting "old maps" view circa 1959 of the Newhaven railway network on this website:- http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=50.7851&lon=0.0643&layers=10&b=1 Cheers Darius

Received Scotrail 68006 "Daring" today courtesy of Collets Model Shop via eBay. Absolutely stunning with no issues. Very happy bunny indeed. Youchoos sound on the way... Cheers Darius

Unboxed my DRS 68002 today - received from Rails of Sheffield. All looks OK nameplate and yellow wearing panel wise. Test ran eventually*with basic 21 pin chip and all is OK. Awaiting a Youchoos Zimo sound chip later this coming week. Superb model - livery application issues aside. * ran fine on dc but refused to move under dcc. Tried several chips to no avail before discovering a disconnected wire at the controller (doh). Cheers Darius

Definitely one to take back to Hattons (as they sold it to you) rather than involve Dapol. The messy wiring looks atrocious and to have non insulated wires soldered in is appalling. In my opinion, however, Dapol should get involved if this starts to become a common occurrence - especially if this is a factory fix for a faulty pcb. Darius