DK123GWR

£64.39? Not on your Nellie!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-R455-0-4-0-Industrial-Tank-Locomotive-Working-OO-Gauge-Boxed/254626906463?hash=item3b48f2415f:g:3BAAAOSwNG5e6Kro

9 hours ago, Nile said:

For some ideas of what can be done with this model look here:

 

I've been following that thread for a while and its incredible how many designs have been created from such a small group of RTR locos. Its definitely one of the things that has pushed me into deciding to make considerable alterations to my own loco.

I have a Hornby 'Queen Mary' 0-4-0 which I would like to turn into... well, just about anything else to be honest. Bought in a joblot, the chassis is a relatively good specimen and more than capable of pulling the loads required on my small shunting layout. However I've never like the look of the body shape. As a result, I have considered having a go at scratchbuilding a new body for it but I quickly realised that I know very little about this. While I have been able to find reccomendations on brands of plasticard and adhesive, as well as general techniques for working with them, I have found it more difficult to find what thickness is reccomended for loco bodies. My other issue is the construction of the body and how to connect it to the chassis. I assume making use of the existing clips is the simplest approach but I have found that with most things in this hobby there important things to watch out for and pitfalls to avoid - I would be very grateful for any advice on common mistakes.

To give you some more information which may be useful, the new body is likely to be a diesel (possibly BR class 02 based as I recall that the wheelbase was about right when measured). This should allow the use of flat rectangular parts in most places, which should be simpler to build. Thanks in advance for any advice that you can offer on this subject.

I think I could tell the difference when I was still watching Thomas every night. As an added bonus, looks at the photo and consider how much you would actually pay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-BR-Flying-Scotsman-1950-60s/174375354419?hash=item289994c033:g:-kMAAOSwqCZfJl2C

Not ebay, but unless I'm missing something this is certainly madness.

5 hours ago, Oliver Rails said:

It's time to connect with the next generation of DCC Decoders.

 

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These high specification decoders include features such as:

 

Featuring:

 

•Fully self-adjusting back-EMF for consistend performance

•Support for coreless motors with a single CV change

•Brown-out protection for silky-smooth motor operation (like having a built-in stay-alive!)

•Super-simple 'plug & play' installation in DCC ready locomotives

•UK based customer service and technical support

• Crafted by our friends DCCconcepts

 

Four versions are available to order, three of which are in stock now.

 

Is there a list of supported CVs?

Thank you for the help, and I'm glad to see that the question provoked a wider discussion.

I'm trying to put together a basic timetable and need to know how long a suburban train (such as those on the London, Tilbury, and Southend line) would stop at a station for in the steam era (both small stations and larger interchanges). Although I don't need the information right now, I may later need to know how long inter-city trains stopped for at different types of station, namely an interchange on the scale of Reading and a smaller mainline station (perhaps something like Chippenham) so I would be grateful if anybody could provide this information too. Thanks in advance for any help!

Thanks for the info. I suspected Lima as it seemed to share a few features with my 47, but it didn't quite look the same (although I don't have the 47 available for a direct comparison. Looking at the trailing bogie (which has the frames fitted) it only reaches the buffer of the rolling stock I have compared it too (when aligned with the oposite edge) so the class 55/50 suggestion seems very plausible.

Please could somebody help to identify this ringfield motor? It came in a joblot with some spares for a Jinty (I also have the bodywork of the bogie and the trailing bogie if that would help).

Thanks in advance.

Grassroots football has recently restarted. While this is great news, it does come with one irritation. As my team play on a 3G pitch, I always have to empty hundreds of small pieces of rubber out of my shoes afterwards (if you think sand gets everywhere after a trip to the beach, you haven't got any experience of 3G pitches). After my last training session, I had a brainwave - I must throw out tons of this stuff, but maybe I can find a use for it. I salvaged what I hadn't yet thrown away and have poured it into the the first available wagon. This is the result:

Has anybody tried working with this before and did it work? If so what did you do with it? My instinct is to try and hold it together with dilute PVA (as per ballast and other types of coal load) but I have no idea whether it will bond. Thanks in advance for any tips that you may have for this slightly unorthodox technique, especially as it will be the first that I recieve (although I can't find a single search result for it, I can't believe that it hasn't been tried).

I'm asking Hattons now via the online chat. It appears to be common to most/all DCC fitted items on the pre-owned section so I was hoping somebody with more experience of buying from them might have a quick answer.

It took about 7 minutes to get an answer (not bad at all). To quote them directly:

'If an item is listed as DCC fitted you will not need the DCC fittings version.'

I am a little confused about the pricing of DCC fitted items on the Hattons pre-owned section. As an example, I have decided to use this Hornby Class 66 with TTS sound.

 As you can see, it is stated on the overview page that the model is TTS sound fitted and costs £110. However, when you click on the link to the model, you end up here:

https://www.hattons.co.uk/567562/hornby_r3748_po02_class_66_7_66789_british_rail_1948_1997_in_br_large_logo_blue_with_gbrf_branding/stockdetail.aspx

This page tells a very different story, and appears to suggest that it costs £110 analogue or £138 DCC fitted. I don't understand why this would be the case. This suggests to me that Hattons are removing a chip (with the associated labour costs) and selling the model at a lower price than they would if they were to do nothing. I could understand this if they were to recover the cost by selling second-hand decoders separately, but a quick scan of the pre-owned page reveals no evidence of this. Can anybody shed some light on this situation?

16 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

According to Ramsay's British Model Trains Catalogue D210 Empress of Britain was made in 1978,a class 40 1Co-Co1 diesel in BR green which looks to be what is advertised. 

The image shows a different loco.

20 minutes ago, 'CHARD said:

No idea what's going on here:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jouef-class-40-in-BR-green-in-a-Bachmann-box/333710019499?hash=item4db2aacbab:g:ghwAAOSwnHBfUsWp

My guess would be that they didn't have the original box so just found another the same shape to protect the loco in transit.

9 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

What are they doing for that money? Sending it through the channel tunnel under its own power?

They should have included a spare motor if that was the plan.

2 minutes ago, ikcdab said:

The thrust of the radio reports this morning is that "work starts today" building HS2.

Really.... On a Friday? Surely you wait and start properly on Monday morning?

Or is it some kind of ceremonial today, golden spades etc?

Ian

My school has often started on the first Friday in September. I guess that the only response is 'why wait until Monday?'

1 hour ago, Darius43 said:

Actually that’s not a bad price for a complete TGV Duplex - the Mehano extension packs are quite hard to find.

Compare that price to the Jouef TGVs.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

My mistake - I read 'extension packs' and assumed that they were track ones (which I knew Mehano produced). I wasn't even aware that they did intermediate coach packs, which I guess proves you right.

Mehano are known for their ability to produce trains which, while not great, are generally acceptable at a relatively low price. This lower price has made them quite popular among certain groups of modellers. Some bright spark seems to have decided to cash in on the demand for Mehano products caused by BMR and Sam's Trains videos on them. Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten that the only reason they are desireable is the low price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HO-Gauge-Mehano-T688-SNCF-TGV-Duplex-with-T699-and-T700-expansion-packs/264849460178?hash=item3daa420bd2:g:7MoAAOSw1u5fTQ~h

7 hours ago, The Johnster said:

DK, are you sure there is no problem on pointwork?

It's not flawless but it isn't any worse that other locos with pickup on two axles.

Interestingly my wheels appear to foul the chairs (or something else is making a very ominous sound whenever the Jinty is running, and even being pushed by hand) yet there are absolutely no problems on points (code 100 Hornby set track made in Austria). I wonder if the enourmous weight contributes to this as it feels heavier than most of my Bo-Bo diesels when held (although I haven't measured).

6 hours ago, hayfield said:

Loctite would be best, buy a cheaper alternative super glue, or 2 part epoxy or one of the modern glues like no more nails/Gorilla glue

 

I've tried that today without success. It looks like I'll be ordering some bushes.

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

If one driving wheel of an 0-6-0 keeps falling off, does that make it an 0-5-0 shunter?

Yes it does. Your next challenge is to find one and post it here.

I have recently aquired an R.052 Jinty with a screw in the chimney and couplings which resemble tension locks, but have a different hook design and a bar which is only connected to the body on the left hand side. I believe that this makes it a Trinag model manufactured between 1955 and 1960. Service sheet 2 appears to match the model. I have corrected a few electrical issues and have put it on the track to test it. However, whenever it runs the flangeless centre wheel (which appears to be the driven one) and the coupling rod (which is screwed to the wheel) on the right hand side keep falling off. Does anyone have an idea for a quick and cheap fix? I am considering putting a single layer of electrician's tape around the axle to increase its diameter. Should I just try that?

Thanks for the advice.

4 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

As an aside, I went to a local Hobbycraft today and they didn’t seem to be selling ANY model railway stuff. Is this specific to this one or the whole chain? It is sort of relevant to this thread if they’ve decided the market is no longer there.

 

On the other hand the nearby model railway shop seemed to be doing some good business.

I don't go too often but there seems to be less every time. I think they used to have a fairly extensive range of track, buildings, grass, etc. (although I was quite young at the time so my memory may be faulty) but the last time I went in I didn't notice anything rail-related.

7 hours ago, CanSpam said:

My first round of applause recipient.

I was at a meeting yesterday discussing the effects of lockdown on young people's mental health and it struck me that what you have said about the value of friendship is very similar in tone to what I was saying there.

Your point about the importance of treating members of a minority group (in this case young rail modellers) as individuals reminds me of my frustrations with portrayals of gay people as one homogeneous group. Of course young modellers have a huge range of interests. I have an interest in 1980s/90s diesels and electrics but I still think a steam loco running on the mainline is one of the most awe-inspiring things you can see in Britain and I love the sight of the IETs. If one person can have such a diverse range of interests, how much diversity would you get from a group of five?

I think I may be guilty here of jumping onto the price bandwagon which has some valid points but barely scratches the surface of the full spectrum of reasons that young people do not get involved in modelling. I would still support a range of beginner kits designed to work on an RTR chassis supplied by the same manufacturer as I feel that this is something that we are missing anyway, and I believe that this would make it easier for young people to find their preferred activity within the hobby.

By the way, the last time I heard an argument with that much flow and energy I was sat in the House of Commons listening to other Members of Youth Parliament (and particularly one member from Kent). They had the advantage of body language and intonation, which shows just how good at writing you are.