SteveyDee68

Ah well, it would be in my interests to reveal that… It is with The Locoshed model shop in Manchester - ring Jim on 0161 772 0103 if you are interested. (It is very nicely lined out, but has had some “weathering” applied which you might not appreciate. However, it runs like a Swiss watch. The nameplate has been glued on a little heavy handedly, but nothing a modeller can’t sort!) Princely sum of £195 - yes, an absolute bargain! Perhaps get Jim to send you photos if you are a way off. He may say that someone else has already expressed an interest in it - tell him you got his number from Steve! 😉 Good luck - I shall be sad to see it depart, but my bank card will rejoice! Steve S

Checking on eBay just now I’ve spotted a brand new one (Hudswell Clark) at £265 (a cool £70 more expensive than my second hand version) and a sound fitted version for £380, so I’m happy with my sub £200 price tag and can’t see myself parting with it. Of course, assuming that selling anything on eBay will garner you a profit is a short cut to insanity but as a salve to purchasing something for the sheer hell of it I suppose the argument carries some weight! 🤣 You’ll notice I now refer to the new loco as a Hudswell Clark rather than a Manning Wardle - turns out that I misidentified my loco 🙄and only got corrected after contacting Minerva Models about the possibly of data sheets on the model! (Their near-legendary customer service standards are deserved - emailed speculatively last night and they replied first thing this morning) So, all in all, an interesting 24 hours. Steve S

Regarding scales, I’m a very simple chap at heart. OO for me. Yes, I know it is “narrow gauge” but it is readily available, with lots of choice. My late father did O gauge. It’s packed away, with an idea of a project at some point. But basically, OO for me. Steve S PS Except for the Ixion O gauge Manning Wardle Hudswell Clark 0-6-0 saddle tank I succumbed to yesterday. Oops.

In my late father’s obituary here on RMWeb, I wrote that he swapped from modelling German practice in HO to O gauge when LIMA produced British outline RTR models in the 1970s (if my memory serves me right). He built a through station named Blackford Bridge across the end of the house in the loft, using a third of the loft space and separating it from the rest (storage space) with a “cardboard wall”. On one side a single track ran off under an overbridge into a length of track “through the wall” whilst on the opposite side it ran into a tunnel with just one foot of track beyond. The track was LIMA’s finest, so he wasn’t overly happy with the radius of the curves nor of the geometry of the pointwork. However, trains ran (even if they didn’t really go anywhere) and he happily spent years upgrading his LIMA 4F until, like Trigger’s Broom, there was hardly anything left of the original LIMA model! Then came retirement, and after having the loft properly converted he started building again, this time with a plan for a terminus to fiddle yard in a U shape around the loft. What he had not accounted for in his planning was that his newly acquired kit built locomotives would not go around the radius of the curve required to reverse direction after leaving the terminus - it turned out the loft extension was approx a foot too narrow in width! He therefore settled - rather wistfully - for a terminus running straight into a sector plate fiddle yard along one long wall of the loft space. Sadly, although he had buildings and decent trackwork in place, dementia overtook him and he never sorted out power to the track - therefore Blackford Bridge (Mk 2) was a static and unfinished diorama for his locos and stock to be placed upon. The name for Blackford Bridge was not taken from a railway station - it is the name of a road bridge crossing the River Roche next to the junction of Hollins Brow and Manchester Road, on the outskirts of Bury. The nearest it ever was to a railway would have been the Bury Corporation trams running to Whitefield (where I assume one would have changed to a Manchester Corporation tram to continue the journey to Manchester). After his death, a decision was taken to dismantle the layout and store his locos and stock - in the process, I discovered that his baseboards had been rescued from his previous LIMA based layout, and that some of those had actually been part of his German HO layout from the early 1970s! I also discovered card packing above and below the boards as he attempted to get a flat surface for his trackwork - which explained why wagons sometimes lifted an odd wheel from the track! In fact, upon dismantling it was clear that much of the baseboard was warped beyond salvaging. The many loose dropper wires from the track above also indicated early signs of his dementia that nobody had spotted - I later found a full wiring diagram he had drawn up meticulously (he was a professional draftsman) and I can only assume that he suddenly found it impossible to relate his drawing to the reality of the underside of his baseboards, where of course everything was in reverse to how he had drawn it. So, why write about a layout that was never completed and, in fact, no longer exists? Try as I might, I can’t part with his models - all of his wagons are kit built by him, and his two BR MK1 carriages are the result of him super detailing some LIMA coaches. He was interested in and modelled LMR (ex MR/LMS) which is not really of much interest to me, although he does have a Hunslet 0-6-0 saddle tank which appeals to my “small shunting locomotive” addiction! I’ve long been thinking about a way of using/displaying his models in a way that uses less space than the usual O gauge station layout; my thoughts have been of an Inglenook (to allow self contained shunting) grafted onto the end of a loop serving a passenger platform, which disappears off stage under a bridge (which he had already built). I shall post a sketch of the idea here for future reference. But why write now about this idea? Let’s just say that a chance visit to my local model shop in search of my pre-ordered Hornby 88DS* led instead to the impromptu purchase of an Ixion Models 0-6-0 Manning Wardle Hudswell Clark which simply begs to be used shuffling a few wagons around! Bearing in mind that I model in OO, it’s an impulse buy that means I need to do something to justify spending the money! Of course, it happens to scratch my aforementioned itch regarding small shunting locomotives - the worrying thing is that its stablemate (in a fetching lined green livery) is also available at the same price and I am finding it massively tempting to purchase it too! There’s a sane part of my brain telling me that if I do buy the second loco then I shall have spent the equivalent of a new Bachmann 4BEP on two locomotives, in a scale I don’t model in! Therefore, I must make this layout happen! It will need to be portable in order to store it and - maybe - exhibit it! As a tribute to my father, I can best describe it as “O gauge for the average modeller” as I want to feature as many of his buildings as possible, suitably restored. This may be a long burn project - and perhaps sorting through** and selling some of his unmade EASY-BUILD coach kits might help fund it. HOURS OF FUN! * Not arrived yet, of course! ** Another facet of his dementia - he ‘sorted’ all the kit parts into boxes of like components - etches, wheels, bogies, under frames, roofs, castings, sides etc - with no indication of what goes with what… potentially £100s resale value once correctly reorganised into ‘full kits’ again!

I blame @NHY 581 posting pictures of his gorgeous collection of “P” class locos… I called in at my local model shop as my drive home had been a bit horrible and I had this idea that he might have a Hattons “P” class in one of his display cases, ripe to be purchased and buddied up with my existing example. In any case, he definitely had a Hattons Andrews Barclay, a black one if my memory was right… Ah… no, he had a “P” class but someone else bought it a while ago. And the Andrew Barclay 0-4-0? Well, it turned out that a certain RMWeb member with a penchant for small shunting locos bought that off him not that long ago, as it happens … Oops! 🙄 The thing is, I looked in the cabinet where I had seen said locos and they weren’t there, but what was there got me all palpitating and sweaty-palmed… An Ixion Models Fowler 0-4-0 diesel and - even more adrenaline inducing - two (2) Ixion Manning Wardles Hudswell Clark saddle tanks, one in plain black and the second in a gorgeous lined green livery. Now, that Fowler loco is an odd looking beast and for some reason just doesn’t do it for me, but the Manning Wardles Hudswell Clarks… before you knew it, both had been placed on a length of hastily arranged and not-that-clean track and put through their respective paces. Both ran super smoothly, silently, with crazy slow crawl speeds. Both were priced just south of the £200 mark. Pay day is a week away. M’lud, I know not what came over me. I am a self confessed shunting locomotive addict and, despite it being a month (oh, okay, 37 days) since I last succumbed, I believed I could go into a place where I knew I could purchase such items and still be able to resist. Alas, that was not the case, and my resistance rapidly crumbled. See, Rob, it’s definitely all your fault, posting pictures of your gorgeous collection of “P” class locos … Steve S PS Just to be absolutely clear, I model in OO. The loco that came home with me is O gauge. I honestly don’t know what came over me… PPS The lined green one is back on the shelf. For now. It looks lonely. It needs a home. Its stablemate keeps giving me dirty looks as if to say how could you split us up? That’s my sister, Alice, you left behind. Stop thinking about your bank balance and go rescue her, you fiend! PPPS If I had any sense I’d say which shop I visited and next time I call in (to pay the balance on my new O gauge loco - I did say pay day was a week off!) then Alice will have been snapped up and I’ll simply have to live with the reproachful looks of her sister. But then, where’s the fun in being sensible?! 🤣 Steve S Self confessed and hopelessly addicted small shunting loco aficionado

With the sad announcement today that Hattons are closing, I guess you must be relieved to have three of their lovely P class locos to hand. I’m desperately trying to remember if I pre-ordered another BR liveried example to act as a stable mate to my current P class loco … although they do say they are considering whether to do that second run of P class locos. If they do, I can guarantee that there will be plenty of Mendacious Chisellers buying them up and immediately posting them on eBay at inflated prices! In any case, resale values of P class locos will rise, as they are super little models. Personally I will be very sad not to see a second run of their delightful Barclays - I had my eye on a couple/trio/quartet of new liveries (something else to check whether I had pre-ordered with them!) having originally purchased ‘Katie’ directly from them, and then a second hand ‘Coronation’ from my local model shop. A very sad day to see such a major retailer and manufacturer decide to call it a day. Steve S

Thanks for that, Rob - booking my appointment for Specsavers as obviously my eyesight is worse than I thought! I could have sworn that right hand point was a Y … I’m gonna blame @Sitham Yard * for suggesting there was a reverse curve at the right hand side, which was enough for me to then see one and deduct that was because of a Y point! The likes of Paul McKenna (remember him?) and Derren Brown have made careers out of using the power of “suggestion” to influence people - perhaps @Sitham Yard is one of them in disguise?! 🥸 🤣 Steve S * not really!

Ah, serves me right for reading on my mobile phone without my glasses! On zooming in on the photo you are quite right, as that particular point is a Y (albeit a nice long one) which introduces a subtle reverse curve; if replaced by a right hand point it would, as you say, remove that reverse curve. Funny how I hadn’t noticed that earlier and assumed all the points were left and right hand only. It’s a great trackplan — I’ve saved the image for future reference and have already sketched it turned around 180° (so the front is the back) to see if it works as a quasi Wells-Next-The-Sea quayside layout! Steve S

What I particularly like about this (and your other more recent) track formation(s) compared to your earlier layouts is your use of standard points to avoid reverse curves through points around loops - it inspired me to rethink the trackwork for my own micro layout Blackford Wharf (with set track code 100 points, where reverse curves are even more severe). Looking carefully at the above, there are no reverse curves through any of your pointwork formations … I feel I may end up stealing borrowing this trackplan for Woodhey Wharf when I eventually build it! (Note to self - purchase of 6 x code 75 medium points required) Steve S

Crikey - I think John Wiffen’s TO30c Modern Cargo Ship from ScaleScenes looks pretty close to BOTHNIA FIN in the above photo. I’m guessing BF above is probably a little wider than John’s model (he has used selective compression to make it “workable” as a 1/76 model, and I think looking at most modern coaster photos* that it is mostly across the beam - although if he did that to scale width it might then show up the shorter length more) A bargain at £9.19 - one heck of a lot cheaper than any Artitec kit! Steve S

That is a really inspiring Nellie bash, and the photo sequence is a great guide for anyone wishing to do the same. I wonder - if assembled “t’other way baht” would the motor block still make ‘side skirts’ on the boiler necessary? (I’m squinting a bit and wondering if the motor block sits more to one end than the other on the chassis) Not meant as a criticism - indeed, I have such a chassis ripe for bashing in a similar manner, and although others have put a (single) Nellie body on that chassis, your version does seem more ‘balanced’ overall and worth emulating. Steve S UPDATE Further perusal of your photos shows the block is pretty central, so no is the short answer. Could the sloping section at the front be further trimmed, or would the block then disintegrate?

That’s London for you! (Hat, coat etc)

Delighted to be able to tell you that this is as simple as “Export to mp3” from the Audacity menu! eBay is selling iPods for very low prices, which you could load up with sounds/tracks via iTunes on your computer (I think it is available for both Mac and PC). Something like an iPod Nano with 32GB of memory should be more than enough to hold your backing tracks - and with a micro jack socket for headphones/audio out, you can run the sound to some powered speakers under the baseboards. You could pick up any old generic mp3 player, but just remember that Steve Jobs demanded the iPod be created because he loathed the awful user interface on them before Ives came up with the “touchwheel”! Steve S

Yep! Shows up now as “add to cart”! At least my eBay seller will deliver to ARGOS with Click & Collect (much better for me than arriving at home whilst out!) Steve S

Well, I’d looked to preorder a “Booster” from ROS before Xmas but got distracted and returning to their website today found all the “preorder” buttons are greyed out … which I think means they have sold all their stock? However, opening eBay up I found exactly the model I wanted (BR green) on sale from The Class 37 Group at a BIN price only 1p more than ROS, so promptly made use of PayPal’s Pay-In-3 and am looking forward to receiving it in due course! Another loco for my planned “Broadhaven” layout! Steve S

Just stumbled upon this thread having been a regular contributor to the eBay Madness thread just next door… I have to report this one, as I am still grinning from ear to ear about it … Have been trying to get hold of a Triang four wheel “Swedish” starter coach for some time after seeing an “upgraded” version on a FaceBook micro layouts group, and had seen single examples sell for crazy sums (I think upwards of £50) so a listing by the infamous Gostude for four of them for £99 almost seemed a bargain … Then in early December I was looking through a seller’s other items (as I always do whenever I watch something of interest, in case they have other items I might combine postage with) and stumbled upon “Continental Style 00 g.u.a.g.e Short Coaches” [sic]* with a starting bid of £2.99 and one bid only. One of them has damage to one corner (also has a damaged buffer - that was not at all clear from the photos) but I couldn’t believe my luck. Set an alarm for four minutes before the end of the auction expecting the price to have rocketed and was amazed to find them still at £2.99 and one bid. I was prepared to pay up to £16.20 each, and so put a bid in five seconds before the auction ended for £32.40+£3.75 p&p I won … for £3.20 … a tenth of what I was prepared to pay! Result!! At £1.60 each** that definitely fits the “good buy from eBay” title of this thread! Good luck to everyone finding more good eBay buys in 2024 Steve S * RMWeb’s autocorrect has changed the seller’s incorrect spelling of “gauge” despite my efforts to stop it doing so - last attempt is by using redundant full stops 😡 ** I never factor in postage - it is what it is!

Just to follow up re: Audacity - it is free and a really powerful audio program; I used it before Christmas to join so-called professionally produced backing tracks for a school musical that had gaps between songs that were supposed to run one into another - needless to say the school are mightily relieved and it took about half an hour all told - majority of time spent listening by ear to remove any audibly noticeable joins between the tracks. You can “loop” sounds to act as “beds” for individual audio effects - example the sound of wind through trees looped and then individual bird sounds dropped in on top randomly. Will be watching with interest how you further develop your layout before the house move, and all the best for 2024 Steve S

Happy New Year to you, too! Thank you for posting your micro layout up on this thread - I finished 2023 by re-reading it all from the start! What you have demonstrated to me personally, more than anything else, is that all of my projects have started too complicated - I should learn to walk before I run, so to speak! Congratulations on your purchase of a Victory tank loco, too - they really are beasts of a model, and you took advantage of a brilliant offer from Planet Industrial linked with PayPal’s Pay-in-3 (my favourite purchasing method!); thankfully I refrained from buying yet another (as their offer was extended until midnight last night!) Looking forward to seeing what you do next in 2024! Steve S

Happy New Year to all! Just to report that the first book is absolutely fascinating, and the second book is literally a follow on volume, as it uses the same sequence of photos and compares it with “modern” (1997-1999) views of the riverside. Although quite a few riverside buildings were kept, restored and adapted, it is sad to also see how much was swept away in the name of progress. Of course, the 1980s/1990s were not exactly a period of great architecture (with a few exceptions) and some ghastly carbuncles (to borrow a phrase) were thrown up by the waterside. Of course, we are now a further two decades on - I wonder if they have a further volume in preparation to show even more changes along the sides of the Thames? With any luck, perhaps some of the worst of the 1980s architecture has been torn down and replaced? Although the authors are not experts or particularly interested in the ships caught in the photos, they do give some pertinent information. I’d recommend these books for anyone interested in how the urban landscape at the edge of the Thames has changed over the years. Steve S

And straight back to you, sir! Steve S

Hi @New Haven Neil - any idea of the scale of those models? They look utterly gorgeous, but must surely be a little bigger in scale than 1:76? Steve S

TMC have on their website the Collector’s Edition of the Blue Pullman available to order at £419.97 (reduced from £599.95) which makes that cheaper than their lazily-listed second hand version on eBay! Steve S

TMC would like you to spend over £500 on an item with one fuzzy photo and a description that tells you nothing other than somebody else has owned it… Blue Pullman See me - Can do better

Thanks @Darius43 for pointing me to the other thread (sadly devoid of photos) which explains a lot about bullion flats and their usage. Nice short train - class 31, 2 x FXAs and a bullion van for the armed police - to pass by at speed on any through station*! Steve S * Using Rule #1, of course!

Okay, time for a really stupid question (or three) for @Darius43 (1) Is a Bullion Flat wagon for the transportation of gold bullion? (2) Are the containers shown on said flat wagon effectively “portable vaults” for said gold bullion? (3) Is it me, or wouldn’t the use of said containers on such wagons be as conspicuous as, say, a nuclear flask wagon? In which case (a) where are the photos and (b) doesn’t that make them obvious targets for the criminally inclined? I mean, absolutely fascinating and totally perplexing at the same time! Steve S