SteveyDee68

Do NOT produce a U.K. spec fireless locomotive in a series of colourful liveries with transfers available from Light Railway Stores to personalise them to various industrial concerns* HOURS OF FUN! * This is Steve’s wallet … I don’t think I could survive another “purchasing bender” should you announce such models!

My name is Steve and I am a shunting locomotive addict. It has been merely 1 day since I bought a model. But when it seems there will not be another run of these for maybe a very long time, the urge to grab a couple more for future projects grows very strong indeed! I now have two black versions (once my second one arrives), one of which will be finished in a quasi BR livery (and will appear on Blackford Wharf and Burnstow Dock as a BR owned shunter) whereas the other is planned to be repainted into PLA lined blue as a “might have been” (to go with my Janus and W4 locos) and also to appear on Burnstow Dock. But another green one to turn into a Port of Bristol version (as mentioned above by @Nova Scotian), or perhaps into a GWR version using the new etches? That could might be justified, perhaps? Maybe? Steve S

I believe they had one on trial, having heard good things from the EKLR. 😉 Turdycurses … that’s just convincing myself to justify another green one… I need to go cold turkey and turn my phone off now!! Steve S

OMG! Who put the advert for a glorious GNR livery LNER J52 0-6-0 tank locomotive at the foot of the page?! I’d convinced myself I didn’t want one and definitely didn’t need one … But I’ve fallen off the wagon (no pun intended) and just like all pervasive gambling adverts tempt gambling addicts to have just one more bet… 🫣

Well, there’s one less black livery model available now… My name is Steve and I’m a shunting locomotive addict. It has been 0 days since I last purchased one…

Actually, there are four of those - two were lying absolutely on top of each other in the bag, and one stuck in the bag when I tipped them out (which I didn’t notice until after posting the photo!) Thanks to @cypherman I’ve now managed to 95% put the brake rigging things into place - lots of peering with a strong light revealed the necessary holes which I simply couldn’t see before. 95% because one won’t go into the hole - I think there is flash on the pip meant to go into the hole… so (brave) trimming may be required and another attempt made, but as it took me about 15 minutes per frame to get into place … I’m guessing the support frames need to be glued as these feel like they are metal. Also somehow ensure they do not lean against the wheels as when I test fitted a couple they promptly fell over onto the inside faces of the wheel set! Absolutely love the underframe detail on this model, including the chain up into the box of the brake van - just wish I had slightly less cumbersome fingers! Thanks for the help - will report back when done! Steve S

Gnaaaaarghhh! Aforementioned addiction and now FOMO!! Resistance is futile 😵‍💫

Perhaps this might be clearer, out of the bag…

This might not be the place to ask, but it is RTR and it is - I think - to do with detailing. Having at long last picked up an ex SR pillbox brake van off eBay for a not daft price, I’ve duly unpacked it and found the following little bag of bits included in the box… Now the model already seems very detailed and peering at it from various angles I cannot see where these bits fix on. Furthermore, Bachmann have not indicated where these should go. Can anyone enlighten me? My feeling is they are something to do with brake rigging, but I cannot see where or how they might fix to the main model! Many thanks for any help. Steve S

Just watched James’s video… 🥹 Now I want to buy one to free up their cash to allow them to fund their next project! Plus the GWR etches of course, to modify it into that version! But that means I’d need to get another in order to paint it into PLA Blue livery (as it appears PI aren’t going to do another batch of locos for a while)… And then a third to put into a fictitious BR black livery… OMG - that would bring me up to the record seven examples! 🫢 And that’s resisting the Rails of Sheffield ROD version (which I just don’t happen to like! At all. Bizarre, I know, but there you go. We shunting loco addicts are infamously fickle and illogical in our choice of fix!) *gnashing of teeth* *wailing* *rending of garments* I have pre-ordered four 0-4-0s shunters elsewhere already that are due after Christmas, not to mention a Ruston & Hornsby 88DS from the local model shop due very soon… Must … Resist … Planet Industrial … Offer … For pity’s sake, please fellow RMWeb readers - buy the rest of their stock before I succumb! Steve S PS Just read that the record holder has increased their haul of locos. I’d say that’s a relief, but the devil on my shoulder is whispering that that means I can buy three more and still not be the worst offender for over indulgence with this particular, award-winning and eminently desirable model locomotive!

WARNING - LONG POST FOLLOWING Cue an appropriate childhood Christmas memory (well, it is 1st December so I can now utter the C word without feeling premature!) … Boxing Day, mid 1970s, whole bunch of my dad’s family are around at my mum and dad’s house for a Boxing Day meal (Christmas Day being my mum’s side of the family, if I remember correctly). My sister would have been nearly four years old, as she was old enough for me - her older brother by five years - to play a trick on her, so must have been 1976 or 1977. Our Great Grandma had given us both a shiny old shilling for Christmas*, which were placed on the stereogram** in the lounge. My sister kept picking her coin up and showing it off to various relatives, so I thought it would be funny to hide it somewhere out of sight. Scooping up both coins, and slipping mine into my pocket, I went hunting for somewhere suitably hidden but at the same time “in plain sight” (which in my head was the essence of the trick!) In the dining room, the table had been set and the buffet spread (including cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks***) and I spotted the ideal place - a side lamp on the sideboard! Or, rather, the three pin plug attaching said lamp to the mains! You see, I had this sudden idea that the shilling would fit between the three pins - and it did! I carefully balanced the coin in the middle of the three pins of the plug and then carefully pushed the plug into the wall socket - but not fully home, you understand?! I wanted there to be a gap so she might spot her coin there and marvel at the ingenuity of where it was hidden in due course. I am certain everyone reading this can predict where this is heading… She noticed it missing. She searched. She got a bit mad when she couldn’t find it. But before she got upset (which would have been me in trouble) it was announced that the buffet was ready. Folks duly filled up their plates and were sitting in the dining room chatting. I had my sandwiches and sausage rolls and silverskin pickled onions (still a favourite!) so had completely forgotten about the hidden coin. Noticing it was going a little dark, my dad turned on the side lamp… Nothing happened. Nothing went bang, but neither did the lamp light up. I suddenly remembered where the coin was… Noticing that the plug was hanging precariously out, my dad decided that rather than put his plate of food down he would push it in with his foot… 💥 To say it went BANG is an understatement! There was an enormous BANG louder than any firework I’d ever heard in bonfire night, accompanied by an almighty flash of light from the corner of the room, and we were instantly plunged into darkness as every other light in the house went out… Shocked silence, then my dad asking if anyone was okay. He’d dropped his plate when his leg was almost swept from under him, but other than being a little shaken was okay. Now, of course, I realise how close I came to being brought up by a single parent, but at the time I was putting two and two together and realising that a piece of metal bridging the pins of a plug was NOT a good idea after all. Not at all. My dad went under the stairs to the big old fashioned mains board and found resetting the big switch didn’t bring the power back on. A few moments later, there was a knock on the door… Our next door neighbour was asking if our power was out… Very soon afterwards it became clear that nobody on the entire housing estate had any power. I remember at this point admitting that I had put a coin in the plug to hide it from my sister. I remember being told off very sternly (my dad was not into smacking children) and being sent up to bed - there wasn’t much else to do with no power on! A short while later, I was aware there was a man from the electricity board talking in the hall with my dad and listened in to him saying that the local substation had tripped out and they were investigating why. I remember thinking I might go to prison and being very worried, but years later my dad told me the electricity board were more interested as to why the short circuit in our house had apparently taken down the sun station! In fact, unbeknown to me (probably because I was at school during the day) until my dad told me, all the main distribution boards (or whatever they were called) in the ‘new’ (late 1960s) houses were replaced pretty smartish, the bill being picked up by the developer! However, the day after Boxing Day the full extent of the incident was revealed - the plastic socket into which the plug had been placed was blackened and melted around the holes, and black scorch/spot marks radiated out from it on the wall (replacement and redecoration required). Bits of the plug were found all over the room, the largest shard buried in the wall opposite the socket, as it appeared to have exploded. And I had to give my little sister my shiny shilling coin, as there was a bent and blackened piece of metal found which was eventually identified as my sister’s coin! I didn’t go to prison (phew) but also the neighbours never found out WHY they lost power on Boxing Day that year (double phew) as I think a fair few would have felt a clip around my ear for ruining their Boxing Day would have been in order! I don’t know enough about electricity to know why the result of my little (and ridiculously foolhardy) prank ended up killing power to around 100 houses, but I do know that I have had a very healthy respect for it ever since, to the point of messaging eBay sellers about the dangers of selling dodgy transformers! Harken well to my sad tale, and taketh from it the lesson it giveth to one and all - Leave Electrickery to the Experts! Steve S * She was born when Queen Victoria was still alive - and thought a shilling a goodly amount of money to give as a Christmas Present to a small child. Bless her, she couldn’t cope with decimalisation! ** OMG - just saying the word “stereogram” gives me a flashback of the pale teak colour and the smell of polish mixed with warm electric components! *** Crikey - we thought we were so sophisticated in the 1970s when we put cheese and pineapple on sticks and stuck them into half a potato covered in kitchen foil to form a “cheese hedgehog” for the buffet table!

No, no, no, no, no! I have all the Victories I want* - I don’t need another one, even at a super discount price! My name is Steve and I’m a shunting locomotive addict. It has been 136 days since I last purchased one… Must resist… must resist … must resist ordering a black one and GWR etches… Steve S * I only needed one to satisfy my desire for a Victory tank loco … but I ended up wanting one of each colour …

That first photo is intriguing … Firstly, if the buffers on the wagon behind the loco are at the correct height, how over-tall is the loco? If not, how come the wagons have their buffer beams set so low?! The second photo somehow makes the new loco look like a narrow gauge engine - perhaps 3 foot gauge like the IoM? Maybe it’s the (comparatively) large smokebox front*? 🤔 Steve S * Yes, I know it’s OO and therefore already ‘narrow gauge’ - it’s something about the bulk of the loco …

What a terrific interpretation of Paul Lunn’s plan - I do hope you decide to show this again, though; I couldn’t get up the road to Colne on Sunday due to a prior commitment to assist at a fundraising Xmas Fair, but would really like to see your layout in the flesh at some point. Steve S

I’ve messaged a few eBay sellers regarding their controllers for sale, asking about PAT testing and certification. One has responded, “Yes, all tested and working” which did not answer my very specific question and carefully worded question. I’ve responded asking “PAT Certified?” Their answer determines whether I draw the attention of trading standards to their auctions (as they have many similar items for sale) My gut instinct from their first response is (a) they have not PAT tested/certified (b) I will get a similarly non-committed type of answer and (c) Trading Standards will be informed of unsafe selling practices AND deliberate misinformation. Disgusted of Farnborough (or similar!) Steve S

There’s far too many transformers / controllers for sale on eBay - and in model shops, too - that have not been PAT tested/certified by a qualified electrician. I’m certain that is because paying for testing probably negates any profit to be had in selling them (once purchase price and tax/VAT are taken into consideration for businesses especially) but selling untested and therefore possibly faulty electrical equipment that could cause serious injury and possibly death has both moral and legal implications. There’s several older controllers up in the loft; I think I may need to retain either the H&M “Clipper” or the “Variable Transformer” for my dad’s O gauge locos (I don’t think my far more modern GaugeMaster Combi will have the guts to power their motors) but once that is sorted, the remainder will be de-plugged and taken for recycling. On eBay right now, a “Clipper” is up for £9.99 (“was working”) and a “Variable Transformer” for £7.50 (£6.50 p&p - well, they are heavy!) … see what I mean about not worth paying for PAT testing (except, of course, to ensure that you, the seller, don’t electrocute anyone!) Steve S

Getting closer and closer to the paint stage … I wonder what colour you will chose?

Or for not very much more £ you could pick up an example where you needn’t have to strip off a layer of gunk first… (though this doesn’t really fit into the “madness” thread, more the “bargain” thread if purchased at the starting price) Sentinel

Looking at that seller’s other offerings, I am suspecting that he may have used nail varnish to paint his locos …using the brush that attached to the cap. I also suspect that the nail varnish may have been acquired second or third hand, given the general lumpiness of the paint finish. That or he has found an old mascara brush and thought that would do just as well for the job! HOURS OF FUN!

But … these are THOMAS THE TANK related … surely the prices will end up in the £££s if not the ££££s?! 🤣

Oh gosh… Hornby SENTINEL But not as we know it… The “madness” is (currently) in the state of the paint finish. However, I predict some bidding madness before too long - after all, it has a face! Steve S UPDATE It has a stablemate!

Is it eBay madness to give yourself a seller name that doesn’t exactly match your self proclaimed status? John’s Hornby/Bachmann Bargains is the name, but I don’t see any “bargains” in his listings at all! HOURS OF FUN!

This is a fantastic “micro” and it’s great to see the thread leap back into life again. All the very best for the exhibition - I am sure it will get a lot of interest and attention. Steve S

Ah yes - I unashamedly stole that from a regular Gnatterbox contributor! Sadly, I can’t remember who! 🫢 But I think it was a modeller who super detailed several Smallbrook Studio “Katie” kits (improving the motion in particular) before building an 0-6-0 “super Katie”. Steve S

Whoops! 😄 Never realised the LMS version was so rare/sought after! Original post corrected/tweaked appropriately! 😉