Anadin Dogwalker

The sandbox latches(?)-the smaller bit anyway- should be on the right side not left. FWIW, the lamp bracket was moved to in front of the drivers feet on almost all /4s, there's one or two locos where they were on the second mans side. The 86/2 retained the original arrangements of 1 lamp bracket on top of each buffer. The brackets migrated on the 87s about 1980 at the same time as the sand fillers were changed from the top hinge with round finger hole to side hinge/ flap (and approx. concurrent with the appearance of cantrail stripes). The /0s and /3s were a mixed bag; there are MU equipped locos that retained the original bracket arrangement, but the /4 rebuild standardised them. The in the early 80s, brackets remained black initially and were repainted yellow, ie work from photos.

I'm aware of the history, but once all the /0s and /3s had been upgraded to /4s with both SAB wheels and flexicoils, was there any visual difference. ie if you were to buy a future 86/4 and remove the mu jumpers would it pass as a /2? I believe the 86/2s being selected from the 4000hp AL6 pool is fact not myth; there were different traction motor specs and the gearing was longer too for a bias of express over mixed traffic use (ie matching the 87s).

Apart from the individual locos that had multiple unit cabling in the day pre-TDM, was there any visible difference between the 86/4s and /2s? Cheers, Neill Horton

Hornby's class 86/2. Except the pantograph which was pants from day one.

I went on the Cumbrian Mountain in 2018, more for 86 haulage than the S+C. One of the chaps at my table had a Garmin satellite speedometer (a great enhancement to the trip). Changing back to Les Ross at Preston, we lost 45 mins due to the air brakes failing to actuate properly. In spite of being well out of path, the fastest we went south was something like 93 mph and were clearly holding up some Pendolinos that overtook while we were sent up the slow line where there was one, and there was another long wait at Rugby(?) to let another flight go past rather than go by Northampton. Slightly disappointing not to have hit the ton, but if I owned a 55 year old loco I'd not want it hammered. Neill Horton

Nice job for an Em3/3- or are you using something else? Neill Horton

My own 303's got to the presentable stage. I bought this built-up in Manchester PTE orange and brown on ebay a couple of years back with the intent of backdating to Glasgow 1980ish when riding behind the driver was the greatest thrill known to a 5 year old. The original builder had done a decent job on the shells but the cab front detail was really basic, so I snipped it off and started over. The biggest deal is making window gaskets out of 0.5mm brass wire- these are a friction fit (prepainted Tamiya matt black). These make a massive improvement to the look of the cab face, as does paying attention to the complex handrail shape. The handrails are 0.35mm nickel silver wire, the MU cable by Details Associates. For the air pipes I tried rearranging parts from one of Replicas sprues but the result was too crude, so I made my own (1mm tube for the T valves, 0.5mm for the pipe, 0.35 for the handle and 1 mm plastic for the connector at the pipe end. The Tenshodo spud's been modified for DCC and I added pickups on the other bogie. They don't work that well so I'll swap out the decoder for one of Gaugemasters new versions with stay-alive. The interior has got as far as the cabs but the enthusiasms spent for the saloons. Regard, Neill Horton

For those of you who have/aspired to roll yer own... I'll leave these here. Pans are Judith Edge kits; headcode plate and sand fillers Jim Smith-Wright. There a shot in print somewhere of these two (87008 leading 86010) in the centre roads of Carlisle in early 83 on southbound coils from Motherwell. Having the pans together looks a bit odd but it is legit.

Only on the AL5 behind the AL6. The very bright light tends to level things out but the shades are not the same. The contrast, two shots before these, between the same AL6 and the AL3 behind it on the same track is much more representative. I think the AL5 is wearing electric blue but some of the early ALs did get rail blue repaints in the original pattern but unless you're modelling Les Ross the AL6s never wore electric blue, only Rail blue in its various application variants. Not wowed by the Hornby 86-style cab front handrail. Should be on three stanchions like Hornby's 87.

Ravensclyffe- this is awesome ! Best looking Mk1 catenary ever. I don't remember ever seeing it on the exhibition circuit- is it still around?

Think Glen Ogle on steroids? Superb layout BTW. Must get round to doing one of the sliding window 27/0s and fill in the tablet recess. Then Heljan will announce a run. Neill Horton

Hope I didn't imagine it, but what's happening with the single arm Faiveley pantograph please? Neill Horton

Mr Leigh, Gents, I apologise unreservedly for any offence incurred, especially by the last sentence. My intention was to point out, at an opportune moment as the thread had come up, that Model Rail's content and particularly Paul Lunn's plans have been recycled to a degree that is worthy of comment (and which I have not observed in other magazines). This editorial habit pre-dates lockdown and the current issue - which I clearly said I had yet to buy, but recognised the Jones Goods on the cover- by a number of years. It hasn't stopped me buying MR more frequently than any of its competitors (which I take or leave on individual content), but it is annoying enough to me to chip in when an appropriate thread came up. I do appreciate that producing a monthly mag is an unrelenting treadmill, but others manage it without the degree of recycling I have observed in MR. I have no problem with people returning to favourite themes, we all do that; eg my UK modelling is mostly of a refresher between US projects but I keep going back to Fisher Street +Victoria Bridge (RM Sep '85-ish) for inspiration and relocating it from Sheffield to Strathclyde. I have found that the Lima 87s and Hornby 86s of my childhood now scrub up remarkably well and am currently renovating a DC Kits 303. Yours, Neill Horton Cranleigh, Surrey

Model rail does have an annoying habit of recycling articles, Paul Lunn's stuff in particular. Do they expect us not to notice? I really like what he does but I'd like to see new plans. His plan's style of compression is as instantly recognisable as Chris Nevards layouts. I've not got the new issue yet but recognise the Jones Goods from 2012ish. You'd have though they'd have more time on their hands.

Love the look of the ply kits. Is there a link for Mr Ross' resin models?

FWIW if you look at the cab roof contour on the secondman's side, the bodyside curve does start well below the rain strip. Might Heljan be able to correct the top of the door to follow the contour?

I'll second Johns post about weaning off- about 50mg a fortnight, same rate as an increase. I've been on 200mg for 7 years now, and it took the full whack to make a difference. I only feel anxious when I think about reducing the dose. Apart from a nauseous yawn in the first year, I've got on with it fine. My brother was prescribed it about a year after me, and it caused his sodium levels to tank and he collapsed at work with cerebral oedema. That put him in a coma for 3 days. If it'd happened at home, he'd have not been found in time. He isn't on any meds at the moment, a change of job did the trick. In my case (I'm a self employed vet) I'd been piggy in the middle in an uncivil war over a particularly toxic member of staff that my partner vet refused to fire, and good staff were leaving. When the miscreant left, the adrenaline wore off, I crashed and spent much of the next 3 months under the duvet. Sorting out the root causes, financial stress too, was all-important; taking the tablets is often the easy bit - as long as they're the right tablets for you. KBO Neill Horton

Here's one I made last year. Trix shell, 85 pans, bus bars and air tanks. The black skirt that carries the bufferbeams needs to be trimmed back a bit; the arrows on the masking tape patches show where I made the cuts. The aisle behind the cab needs to be cut back a bit too to all fit back inside the shell. New wire grabs on the cab front make a big difference as does the flush glazing (SEFinecast). Numbers and dominos are rail-tech decals, the cantrail stripes and etched arrows by Fox. The silver handrails and black slots in the roof vents are from Microscales window gasket sheet 87-1423 and the tail lights reduced in size by cutting the tails off 6s or 9s from 87-143 (Northern Pacific switchers) and draping the yellow circle over the lens then dab with Micro-sol. I've made a few Lanarkshire appropriate AC updates as an occasional break form US modelling (the catenary is supposed to be Milwaukee Road). Neill Horton

27012 should also have sliding, not drop-sash, windows, being one of the former tablet catcher fitted locos. Has Heljan done this variant this in blue before (other than the 26s)?