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Hi, there are some videos on Youtube, MikesMovies Lima Loco Service guide is quite comprehensive, but I did mine serveral years back and added a TTS sound chip at the same time. I can't see the video I watched, but it was a fairly simple process. It has to be for me since I have effective use of only one hand after a stroke. IIRC I didn't remove the gears but carefully cleaned them in situ and used a small piece of wet & dry to remove any pips from their backs, then they nwere lightly lubricated. I did remove the rotor and cleaned it and all the contacts and pickups. I didn't touch the wheels as I fitted some Ultrascale EM sets at the time. However, if you don't fancy doing a motor strip down, there are several companies offering alternative motors that are a direct replacement for the Lima, and other pancake motors, and offer superior performance. I didn't need this as my current layout is only 1.6 metres long, but I may try one one in the future if my roundy roundy ever gets built! Roja

I have a Lima 20 which I've sound chipped. Before I did this it sounded like a bag of spanners falling down the stairs, but, as you've done, I stripped and cleaned the motor and now all you can hear is the sounds provided by the chip, even at low volume. In my humble opion I think all Lima locos benefit from a really good service and clean, irrespective of whether you use dc or dcc. Roja

Maybe a mix of mat and satin or gloss varnish? Apply the mat varnish first and then, befoe fully dry, apply the other, but only a very thin coat? Or maybe I'm just spouting nonsense, wouldn't be the first time! A little experimentation on some scap plastic or wagon body may be the way forwards before commiting to the model. I agree with MrWolf, it's a great bit of painting and it would be a shame to mess it up at this stage. Roja

Hi, did you use a pva type glue for the water? I use a contact adhesive to attach paper overlays to card as, with a little pressure it dries flat. The water in pva can cause paper to swell and stretch, causing bubbles, as you've found. It is possible to correct, but it's very tricky not to leave ripples or creases. Much quicker, and easier, to strip the water off and replace it using contact adhesive. Roja

Hi, the Highland Railway proposed branches to Ullapool and Lovhinver, but nothing came of them. A line to Poolewe would have been useful during WW2. Lochaline would be a bit of a non-starter, being a circuitous route from Fort William and offering no time advantage for ferries sailing from Oban, and, if it had existed, would probably been built by the North British Railway. A silica sand mine, the sand used for making high quality optical glass, was opened there in 1940, but it was always transported by ship. One reason Lochaline is noted isis that when St Kilda was evacuated in 1930 a lot of the people chose to settle in Lochaline, the rest headed to Oban before moving on to Portree, stromeferry and Inverness. Roja

I have several books on first generation dmu's and they are all dangerous! Luckily they are all packed away pending a house move! Roja

Hi, well, it's been awhile since I've posted on here! St Mungo's is still on the go, although packed away waiting for a house move. I thought I was being clever, having packed a lot of my stuff, but these things have a way of not working quite as expexted! Such is life! However, I just cannot do nothing! I've recently bought the Scalescenes canal wharf boxfile kit, which is being modified to connect to my Poppy Hill distillery boxfile. As I model in EM a bit of work is needed, so I've built and added a short 'Y' turnout to increase play, I mean, operational value! Although St Mungo's is dcc (sorry, Clive!) these are just dc as there will only be one engine in steam on them. To this end I bought a Hornby 'Pug' tank loco in Caledonian blue, used a wheel puller to alter the back to backs and, viola!, it runs like dream, down to a slow crawl. The loco is going to be repainted black, a more appropriate livery. I may even build a tender for it. We shall see! I've also been busy designing a roundy roundy layout for a future build. When my partner was a wee girl her family used to take her to Withernsea from Hull for holidays. The line closed 1964 but she still remembers it fondly. Cue some research, the result being a station based on Keyingham. Almost a perfect station for our needs. Small yard with coal drops, platforms on a curve, seperate road siding and an interesting signal box and level crossing. I've built a small diorama of the box and crossing to test it's viability, and it was a success, so, when we get chance, it's future project! So far it's designed to fit in an 8' x 8', 10' x 8', 12' x 8' and 14' x 8' spaces, anything longer or wide would be a benefit, but it works well as an 8' x 8'. So that's my excuse for, er, aquiring, more items of rolling stock and building kits! Latest buy is a Dapol N2 from Rails. A non-runner, I look fowards to sorting it out, keep me out of mischief for a while, and at £29 a bit of a bargain! Then there's the turnouts for Kayingham (my partner is called Kay and I've added a headshunt to the trackplan which the Keyingham didn't have, so the name change was obvious.) for which I've started building, then there's a couple of loco kits, some coaches, a few wagons... I think I need some more storage boxes! When I have a moment or two I'll post some photo's of what I'm up to. If I remember! Roja

Hi, I model in EM and I'm building a Scalescenes wharf boxfile model. It just dc and I built a short Y turnout, operated by w-i-t, using a dpdt switch which also changes the frog polarity. Can't get much simpler! Roja

Cracking layout! It's what my partner and I are aiming for with a future layout! We'd be happy if it turns out half as good! Roja

Every layout needs brambles! Roja

Hi, well, every day is a learning day! I hadn't known it had made it to Mallaig on it's tour! Cracking photo! Roja

Hi, I believe a 31 was trialled in Scotland in the late 50's, and on the Highland mainline. I seem to recall it didn't stay very long before returning south. After that they were very infrequent visitors to Scotland, the odd one venturing as far as Edinburgh, even in sectorisation days, and photos are as rare as hen's teeth! I've seen a b&w one of one on a train at Dunbar but for the life of I can't remember where I saw it! As for railtours, well, I suppose it's possible but I don't know of any. That's not say it's not possible, the Strathspew Railway has an operational one, D6869/31327, on it's books, so yu never know! Roja

Hi, the 303's suffered a series of transformer, er, mishaps, in 1960 which led them to be withdrawn for a few weeks and a steam service reinstalled until the problem was corrected! Roja

What happens to a bicycle if you try riding it when suffering from Rangoon roulette! Roja

Slippery is an understatement! Roja

Hi, I like tge way your thinking, however a branch along the blackwater to Kinlochleven would probably been a non-starter even if had been proposed. A nearer railhead to Kinlochleven was Ballachulish and a branch along Loch Leven would have been a cheaper, and easier, proposal. Until the branch from Connel to Ballachulish closed to freigh in 1965, and passengers a year later, regular trains of alumina were sent to Ballachulish for forwarding by road to the smelter at Kinlochleven. The Blackwater reservoir was completed in 1909 specfically to provide hydroelectric power for the smelter at Kinlochleven. The wee electric railway was the first in Scotland, using ecxess power from the hydrogenerating station, as did Kinlochleven town itself. It wasn't a particularly long line, and never carried passengers, but was used to carry alumina from a quay to the smelter and aluminium in the other direction. It closed in 1960. One wee interesting fact is that until 1920's Kinlochleven had no road access! All the materials for the reservoir dam, the smelter and the railway had to be brought in by ship the loaded into carts and manhandled where needed! German prisoners of war "helped" in construction of the road! Roja

Hi, that's a cracking interpretation of the Scalescenes kit! It's almost enough to get me into 7mm micro modelling! Roja

Hi, they make a great micro layout project, don't they, and are a good base to modify too. I bought one, converted it to EM and changed it to the rear dispatch area of a distillery. A simple sector plate is used as a fiddleyard. I've included a photo showing the main change, which is the silo has been placed on the loading platform and I omitted all the air vents. At the moment I'm rebuilding part of it to enable it to be connected to the canal wharf boxfile. When it's done I'll post some more photos. Roja

Hi, I love the way this is developing! I'm a big fan of dmu's an diesel traction! However, there is one thing I must say, and it's to sort that nasty wee kink out that you noticed. Better to sort it out before you go any further with weathering and detail work, earlier would have been better. Now you know it's there, and even though stock runs over it, you'll find it starts to annoy you more and more as time goes on and you'll wish you'd sorted it out earlier! Happened to me. I thought I could live with it but I found that, in the end I just couldn't live, so fixed it, and regreted not doing so before doing the ballasting etc! Roja

Hi, when I was in secondary school, many, many years ago, my art teacher always said paint what you see, not what you know to be there! I apply this to my modelling, especially my rolling stock. If you can't see it when it's on the track then I don't model it! Some years back I was at an exhibition at Barrowhill Roundhouse and I was sat in a chair looking at a wagon from approx 4ft away. It's amazing just how little of the under-details can be seen from so close and such a low height! I appreciate that a lot of modellers like all the bells and whistles on the underframe, but that's not for me. Now, if our models ran upside down on their roofs with the chassis upmost I'd probably model everything, although probably not! Roja

Mayhaps a narrow gauge feeder line? Roja

Hi, before committing to buying sheets of plywood you should watch What's Neat on Youtube by Ken Pattinson. He builds all his layouts, including one he uses for photographic projects, from rigid foam with thin ply edges. They are extremely light, even ones that are a couple of metres, or more long, are very strong, and are easily moved around. My own project, St Mungo's is built using underfloor insulation foam board and is very light, easily moved with one hand yet is extremely tough. To be honest, I can't understand the reluctance to use rigid insulation foam board when it has so many advantages such as lightness, strength and ease of use. Roja

Hi, that makes sense. Not many industrial grain whisky stills in the misty glens! Roja

The subject of transporting whisky, and barrels, by rail is a fascinating one. This is not be taken as gospel, but I believe that barrels of whisky were conveyed in open wagons, depending on the route to be taken to their final destination. This was simply that most whisky barrels were too large to manhandle into covered vans whereas they could be rolled or craned into opens. I'm pretty sure there are photographs around that show such full barrels in open wagons in mixed freight services, especially on the Speyside line and in BR days. No doubt an internet search can find these. Regarding specialised barrel wagons, such as used by the Caledonian Railway, I think it was soon found out that they were uneconomical to operate. At first they seem like a good idea but apart from empty barrels they were unsuited to other sorts of traffic and so spent half their lives running empty. Much easier, and cheaper, to load the barrels into opens that then could be used to convey full barrels in return, thus generating two lots of revenue instead of one! Ropja

Don't let Clive M know you've said that! Roja