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Good Luck Andy, hope the move goes OK.

Sorry for butting in Andy, I haven't posted on your thread before, but I have been watching it for sometime as I am really impressed at the speed you put the layouts together and move them on. It struck me that (if there is enough room on the drive and SWMBO agrees) you could replace the garage door with a bay window to give you some more room in the garage?

Good to see the M7 being worked on, it looked sad sitting at the London end of siding 1 at Swanage.

I've used a TCS DP2X-UK chip in mine with no issues. I have found that some chips are not good when first used, what I have tried in the past (doesn't always work, but worth a try) is to run a factory reset, some chips do not support this, check with the manufacturers documentation. The DCC Wiki site has a page dealing with "Decoder Reset". Hope this helps.

Hi Paul That's brilliant, I love the tramway look you are getting with the granite sets. How did you mark the granite sheets to get the shape required and what did you use to get the level of the granite up to the rail level?

I used a TCS DP2X-UK in mine with no issues, I learnt with the Oxford Radial that the Gaugemaster direct plug is slightly thicker than the TCS one; there is a chance that the Hattons one suffers from the same problem.

Thanks Gents, I hadn't thought of that one, interestingly they are consecutive numbers, I wonder if that was intentional or just chance? Brian, I like the buffer stop lamps, looking forward to seeing the signals.

Hi Dave, that explains it, I spent sometime yesterday looking at the drawings that LN850 posted and couldn't make out exactly how it worked, but that is much clearer. Normally the valve rod would be connected to the top (in this case) of the combination lever to operate the valve above the cylinder; what the designer has done here is connected that to a 1:1 lever with the pivot going through the frames, bringing the movement back down parallel to the cylinder centre line where the valve is beside the cylinder inside the frames. I hope that make sense?

Eddystone, I think it is the only offshore West Country class! Nice work on the dairy.

Hi Andy Only just found this layout thread and was enjoying looking at the posts.... and you've sold it! Looking forward to the next masterpiece.

What happened to the cat? Also, surely Arfur should have some scotches, a not to be moved board and a possession?

Gents, I have no knowledge of the history, but practical experience with a preserved example, the loco brake on 662 is operated by air (as opposed to steam or vacuum), therefore even if the loco is hauling a vacuum braked train the air pump will still be required.

Giles Your craftsmanship and knowledge never cease to amaze me.

Hi Castle I have realised that your weekend clashes with the Purbeck Art Weeks down here in Dorset and I am afraid due to Mrs Hardwick's involvement with this event I will have to give up my place on the Didcot tour weekend. Perhaps another year!

Gents if you have a look back to Nile's post and mine a couple of pages later we have a look at getting the pick-ups to work properly, it requires a steady hand and a good pair of fine tweezers.

Arrived at lunchtime, not run it yet, but pleased with the look of the model, now need to decide if it runs with windows open or closed, end doors open or closed, which shed plate and can I afford another!

Howard That is beautiful, your tenacity and patience has to be commended, having looked at the locking frames in a number of boxes (including Exeter West) they look hard enough to get working in 12" to the foot let alone in miniature. Well done and keep up the good work.

Hi Graham Thanks for chatting yesterday, really enjoyed meeting you and seeing Canute Road Quay in the flesh, I've attached a couple of photos. Whilst I was there you were talking about the uncoupler units you use but I cannot remember who the manufacturer is?

Right, haven't posted anything for over a year, I have had a bit of a loss of confidence and haven't touched the L class since then either. The trackwork building has moved on with a delivery of code 75 bullhead rail and copper clad sleepers; I also just about learnt to use Templot which was interesting and I have built this: - I am in the process of building a small layout based on Gordon Gravett's Arun Quay track plan, but it is very slow as I haven't properly built a layout for over 30 years. Changing the subject slightly, I have acquired a Bachmann Wickham Type 27 Trolly: - I had a look at an article in Hornby Magazine but didn't want to go the full sound & light route, so I settled for a Gaugemaster DCC22 (very small decoder) fitted under the floor. I decided that with a small bit of modification the decoder would fit in the void under the car body; so the first job was to move the fixing screw for the little printed circuit board: - I used the screw to cut a new thread and then cut off the old mounting hole as shown. I also had to file some material away from the axlebox sides to get the decoder in, remove the components from the printed circuit board (two chokes and two capacitors) and then solder the decoder wires into the holes vacated by the chokes, the track wires to the front holes and motor to the rear (the circuit board shows which way round to fix the wires): - I added two pieces of the sticky part of a Post-it note to the bottom of the bodywork just to add a tiny bit more clearance: - Here is the finished model posed between a Hattons AB and a Hornby L&Y Pug in the cabinet: -

Drew Please pencil me in, I will not know for sure until nearer the time, but I couldn't pass up the chance of a look at Fawley Hill.

Thanks for pointing that out, looks like we have chopped the wheels off as well to make sure it's under 13'1"! You're more than welcome, I have a number of photos that I took between 1990's and 2010; so if you need anything specific give me a shout.

Hi Gareth/Castle I found a couple of photos I took a while back now (2001) but I don't expect the wagons have changed much, first the original wagon pair showing a continuous plate frame from the buffer beam and the handbrake handle under the buffer beam at both ends: - Then the rebuilt pair with joining plates between the buffer beam framing & the remainder of the wagon; also the handbrake handle is between the axles and in different places on each part of the wagon: -

Very sad to hear of your life challenges, will also be sad to see this model go, it evoked so many memories of my youth (apprentice electrician based at OOC), although I missed steam by a few years the location hadn't change a great deal. Good luck with the new project and I hope the back problems ease.

I ran it in on a rolling road on DC, then did an up and down test on the layout. I generally like and use Gaugemaster decoders, but naively thought that as the Hornby one was special for these locos it would therefore be small, when I read later that it is just one of their R8249 decoders fitted with a 4-pin plug I was disappointed. I would have been better off with an M1 or a DCC22. The erratic behaviour turned out to be dirty wheels, probably picked up on the rolling road; she runs beautifully now, although a dead spot on the layout is proving a problem for the short wheel base.

At last....... After missing out on the original batch that were released towards the end 2016 I thought I would get in early for the newly announced Lillesshall Co. example that was to be ready for August/September 2017, finally it has arrived. The model is lovely now I have handled one, I agree with others that the whistle is not going to last long and is already very wobbly (will probably get replaced with a brass turned one), the lubricator on the chimney is at a bit of a jaunty angle, but overall well worth the price. Which BTW was £92.99 including Hornby decoder and postage from Rails, who did hold the order price of £74.50, result. I have run it in this afternoon and fitted the said Hornby X9659 decoder, most impressed with the body removal and decoder fitting. Sadly running on the layout with the decoder is not wonderful so I will have to do some investigation to see if it is the pick-ups or the decoder itself.