Gwiwer

Dapol Dave - of much-requested OHLE fame - are you watching?

Ooooohhhhh ..... a rat towing a failed dmu! Must be the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch set again

They look superb in reality as well. I went squiffy-eyed trying to sort out how many rods there are never mind the linkages! An excellent model all round.

Jamie - there are plenty more pictures; it's my choice to not flood the board with dozens of them and instead just post one or two at a time. The only track diagrams I currently have are not to scale. First a single plan of the entire layout and second a more detailed plan of Treheligan station and the fiddle yard. A few small changes have occurred since these plans were drawn up to improve operating flexibility and allow trains to run right through the yard in either direction on most tracks; a new crossover exists between 60 and 72 points, the East Siding connects back into the Up Through and 63 points together with the Back Siding have been removed. So if, for example, all the "Up" roads in the fiddle yard are already occupied I can bring an up train in via the crossover at 56 - 76 points and through any of the Down loops before it continues from 72 to 60 points back to the up exit road. Down trains can run through the "Up" side via 70 - 61 points at the entry end and 57 - 77 at the exit. This flexibility has amazed a few visitors when they suddenly see a train running in the "wrong" direction. This shot gives an overview of the entire layout which is around 15 metres long by 2 metres wide. As you suggest it is bigger than some layouts as it makes full use of the outside location under the plastic roof. As an indicator of its size that is a loco + 7 coming around the curve in the foreground while a 66 is visible in the station heading 12 CDA clay wagons. Those trains don't occupy even half of one side. A double-headed 16-coach train can be run and not look out of place. And yes, this is 00 not N. Another benefit of having a lot of space is that it is easier to create "timeless" scenes uncluttered by buildings or signs of a given era. Almost anything can run and not look wrong as shown here.

Kernow and Dapol have already indicated that this is highly unlikely for the weathered ones. The cost is prohibitive. Given the extremely fast sellout of the clean ones and the fact that no additional manufacturing process is required there I guess there is always a chance .........

If I hadn't been and seen the layout for myself I'd be posting comments about images of the real thing B) . The "Irish Mail" under the bridge had me looking twice. As always you show excellent workmanship and photographic skills. One point of contention. I seem to recall that some early Leyland Nationals in at least some fleets actually did have a rear fleetname though possibly not as prominent as on your model and it certainly wasn't the norm across NBC.

With our antipodean spring well and truly under way and the main running season almost here I am starting the annual tidy-up and refreshing of those scenes which may need it. The beach car park has seen some grass growth ..... While the viaduct arch which is not used by the road has finally been completely greened and gated to prevent unauthorised access. There are some new cottages on the workbench to go around the station area which will be fitted around the downpipe which intrudes slightly into the scene. With those and another backboard panel fitted this corner will be almost complete. In the meantime I have borrowed from my stock of items being collected for the next project to temporarily rename a well-known location and feature some SR stock!

The 00 ones are stunners. That Dapol has managed to repeat that and present superb detail in N as well really raises the bar. I can fully appreciate that the cost of individual weathering is prohibitive. The "spill" is visibly different on every wagon and therefore not sprayed on. Let's enjoy these as they seem destined to be a one-off opportunity. One more arrived here today (00, non-ECC) and there is a "wiped" one still expected to complete the dirty rake. Superb workmanship and worth every penny of what might be looked upon as a hefty price tag.

I've had the same with Penhayle Bay B) . The lucky few can see it in person but it's still just a model sitting outside the house and nowhere near Cornwall.

Do we need a coding wave for our DCC surfers and bathers?

I was escorted around Salisbury a few weeks ago by a certain member of this parish and heard all manner of unfamiliar train descriptions. Backalong almost everything through there was 1V, 1O, 6V or 6O. The SR internal workings had 4-digit codes but always displayed their SR 2-digit ones (62, 66 or 75 covered most of them). "One oh eleven" is apparently now "One Oscar One One" by way of example. The telephone greeting which used to be used by (at least) one gentleman in Salisbury West box, namely "Yeah bud?" has been superseded by "Signaller - Salisbury". N was used under the old "10-option" system for ER trains towards Newcastle and towards Norwich and any inter-regional to the ScR used S so you can add those to the list. Accompanied in the STN by the stern warning in bold type that "This machine cannot be relied upon to actuate track circuits ..... "

Indeed on the face of it. However I shall still reserve judgement until I see the contents of the box. Not because of any skepticism; more to do with the need to part company with multiple drinking vouchers to obtain one which will only occur of the product is right for me.

I guess the days are long gone when WR trains had to use "V" because "W" wouldn't fit on the roller-blind Backalong they might have been 6V24 etc .....

Even if advance samples are in the country for 18th October they then take a couple of weeks to be approved and sent out to the press. And that is only the first few and not the container-load destined for general sales. I would expect, based on what has been seen and said so far, to see a painted sample at Warley and then have them in the shops around the New Year. I believe the Bachmann 2EPB is running a little earlier than that and may indeed be in the shops this month.

It's been a few weeks since I was able to work on Penhayle Bay. A very enjoyable trip to the UK allowed me to both attend the Kernow / YMR show and exhibit some images of Penhayle Bay there. That was followed by a three-week holiday doing very much as I pleased in gorgeous weather. Today saw the first session on the railway since I returned. It needs a thorough clean and some minor maintenance but is in pretty good shape. I came back from Cornwall with a bag-load of goodies not least of which was a 15-wagon freight and a lovely Bachmann 0-6-0PT all weathered superbly by Lord & Butler. It's not every day you can get an entire weathered train all in one go! With only a short stretch of clean track I was able to pose the train for some record shots of which one is attached. GWR steam is just a little early for my theme but there were some shunting activities alongside the early diesels so when the class 22 and 41 appear this loco will be more at home.

Excellent trip thanks Peter with a few goodies to add to my own layout. Unable to manage the convention despite it being on home turf thanks to a number of domestic commitments including an important anniversary B)

Been trawling through after a month away and it's all good. Must get ourselves together again sometime as well, Sir.

Still expected at or around Warley judging by the major retailer's pages. "End of 2010" for example shown on the Kernow site.

I have to say that looks better than the same livery on the "Ugly Betty" class 70 in the UK. Neither is the most attractive design of loco.

I really think we have to wait and see what comes in the box. That's frustrating for many of us but I also take the wording of the Hornby web site to be vague and open to interpretation. In broad terms (and we have all read above that there are many detail variations) units 7701 - 7807 / 7809 - 7815 were delivered blue with the rest blue/grey from new. Only the first 20 had small blue panels IIRC and I'm not sure at which point the raised aluminium logo was replaced by the sticker - possibly coincident with the switch to b/g but I'm not sure. All of those units had sliding toplights as delivered and orange curtains throughout as well as the full-size brake taking up half a coach length plus four first class compartments in each driving trailer. At that time high beam headlights were unknown. The preserved unit 3417 has many modifications and unless Hornby issues a clear statement to clarify their intent (or shows shots of as-built vehicles which have not yet appeared) then we are stuck with the wait and our retailers are potentially stuck with lower advance orders than might be the case.

The test shots seen at the Kernow / YMR show included the rebuilt brake / small passenger saloon arrangement and modified toplights. Thus not at all original what ever livery is applied. At a guess it might be possible to rework the tooling to issue an "as-built" version at some stage. I am also none the wiser on the intended power unit for the models which was something I had intended to ask Simon Kohler but was unable to do so in all fairness as he had a fairly respectable queue of customers.

May I suggest that my words, which were carefully chosen, are carefully re-read as that is neither what I nor Simon Kohler has said.

I had a chat to Simon Kohler at the Kernow MRC / YMR show who, while not specifically forthcoming on the release date seemed rather pleased with the test shots on show. He was also less than forthcoming on the possibility of a later release of the unit in original condition but seemed at least to accept there might be a demand for it.

The initial test shots look promising subject to the windows being modified as discussed. I'll await developments with intereset though the refurbished version will not find its way into my collection.

Richard - no need to apologize in any way; you are adding information which I was not able to so my thanks are due to yourself. Michael and all followers of Penhayle Bay - fear not, I am still enjoying freedom and good (enough) health. It is mid-winter here and with the layout being outside this is not a busy time not the best for grabbing pictures of anything. I am busy with a few projects. In three weeks time I fly back to the UK principally for the Kernow MRC / YMR Show but making a decent holiday of it as well. A series of my images from Penhayle Bay should be exhibited at the show. I still have a fair amount of preparation to do for this trip. As and when weather permits I am pressing ahead with the viaduct reconstruction. The 5-year old Metcalfe card viaduct kit is starting to show signs of wear and I have an all-new Wills plastic kit built ready to replace it. That sits on a new removable baseboard and the scene must be at least substantially completed before it can be wired and tracked then fitted to the layout. It is also something of a challenge to keep the railway operating as damp rail conditions make power pick-up erratic and there is always some tarnishing on the rails which needs a wipe off before a running session. With well over 100m of rail that's a lot of cleaning; the fiddle yard has been left to its fate this winter as it has before and will get a thorough clean-up in the spring. Meantime I satisfy myself with just the three or four trains I can run on the main lines. Penhayle Bay is now featured in the RMweb Gallery so for those who haven't yet visited the link (which leads to some familiar and some new images) is in the signature. I also intentionally keep this to a single page of 25 images so the ones you see displayed will change from time to time; the least-viewed get taken down and new ones put up about every second week.