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Touch wood Bachmann are using the same yellow as they have used on many of their other recent diesels which is a perfect match for Phoenix Precision P134 BR Signal/Warning yellow. Normally the underlying plastic is black, so a white undercoat is needed if you carve any details off. Build up the white in thin coats sanding with fine wet and dry (600 grit or less) then do the same with the yellow. Take your time and you can get a great result with a brush. Thin the paint as you see fit. I’d estimate a total of 8 or 10 thin coats of undercoat moving over to top coat does the job.

The lack of lighting in the Bachmann coaches is a shame as well, though they have pickups installed.

If the 24/1 is anything to go by, the headcodes can be removed easily from the front with a little Black Tack. It would be a nice touch if Bachmann made different ones available but you can get transfers and stick on ones. Here's 24137 looking decidedly Rule 1.

As I slowly collect coaches for my eventual layout extension, these look good but the lack of lighting is a shame, though the pickups will help installing this. The other requirement is blue and grey or IC livery so I’ll keep a lookout for them.

Plus the Bachmann 37 whilst good in its own right, has its own share of issues with wires coming away from the pickups and jumper sockets from the PCBs. I’ll still buy 37s from both manufacturers as none of the issues are insurmountable, though I’ll take advantage of the lifetime warranty if any of my AS 37s need some TLC.

I’m going to keep my SLW orders open. The sound on them is brilliant and one of them is the Ice Cream Van version of Tamworth Castle which isn’t being produced by Bachmann yet. One advantage of the slow lead times with SLW is there’s plenty of time to slip the odd Bachmann one (or several) in, but then I’m happy to collect Rats. The downside for SLW thereafter is that after my 3 SLW ones have arrived, it will be difficult to not cherrypick more Bachmann 25s as they come out rather than order and wait for the SLW ones. Hopefully they will be able to react and evolve as the funds trickle in from sales as I’d like to see both manufacturers do well out of their 25s.

I for one really like the inclusion of Traction magazine in BRM, but I do wonder how the steam modellers and fans feel about it being in there.

I've got a couple of 37s with the Accurathrash speakers and Biffo sounds and they sound good, although I think they are different to the EM1s and 2s. I have one or two 27mm round base reflex speakers in most of my 40s and they are good but lack the bass of the Accurathrash speakers.

I was thinking more like this

Hornby got the cab shape a lot better than the original Bachmann version which makes me squint! I’ve seen plenty of very realistic scenes marred by having the original Bachmann 25 as the centrepiece!

The one advantage of adding sound is that the sound file is different, so it gives the loco a different character. Biffo sometimes does different files for a given class which is good too. Having said that, the Bachmann sound projects are very good and the latest 40 is especially driveable. Just could do with room for a bigger speaker without needing a milling machine!

I must admit to thinking of getting a blue late body style one to go with all the others too. One advantage of Bachmann’s approach is the ability to buy one from stock somewhere as and when. I’m not fussed about the tinted windows of the deluxe, but having the speaker already installed in the DCC ready one is useful as an alternative to buying the middle sound version if I decide to stick one of Biff’s in later. They just need to retool the 40 now.

They do look nice, though I have most variants covered with recent Heljan purchases and ones on order from SLW. I’ll go for 2 middle sound fitted blue 25/1 models and save a few bob by weathering them myself. They’ll need dominoes fitting as well.

I think it’s only lightly weathered and the ones I get will get a lot more!

I grew up with Rats and 40s and miss them too.

Yes, they will reveales it at 12. Joking aside, the models look great, don’t they!

Thing is with the smaller scales they come into their own when viewed from a distance as it’s the scene as much as the models. With me I like to recreate and photograph scenes from depot and works visits so I like things to be as good as possible at close quarters. 4mm currently has the best RTR models for that. 7mm has some great models, but most of the RTR diesels are a little ‘off’ and jolly expensive. The Pete Waterman kits were great but not easy to get hold of at the moment from the new supplier and cost even more than the RTR models.

That’s looking great especially so considering that you don’t have the benefit of a modern RTR version to start with. The paint job’s good and you’ve eliminated creep under the tape which is especially difficult if you use a brush. They did just make it to Buxton in Large Logo livery before being painted in more elaborate schemes so it can be a modern slant on your layout. Here’s one of my Accurascale ones which I’m using to try and persuade them to release some PHV hoppers. There’s a pic in the post if you click on it.

I’m currently driving myself mad looking for some PHV hoppers which occasionally get advertised on Ebay for silly prices. I’ll put in another request here before I start to work out the best way to do it mesen! Maybe Mr.Oxford Rail could be persuaded to do a deal. They go well with 37/4s and central headcode 37/5s in Red Stripe, Construction or IC Mainline….

As an aside, when I were a lad, there was a chippy in the village called McDonald’s as that was the surname of the bloke who owned it. The other McDonald’s stopped him from using his name, so he renamed his chippy “The Frying Scotsman”.

Just needs the blue tweaking to Rail Blue and the numbers changing to the Rail Alphabet style and that would be perfection!

I really miss the regular loud diesels that you could hear rumbling in the distance from miles away. The current crop of over-silenced locomotives just doesn’t do it for me, Class 68s being the exception. For many years my only exposure to a Hymek was a Triang one until I visited the East Lancs Railway where there was D7076 freshly restored in green. It was a lovely site and sound. It is a shame they didn’t last in squadron service. 37s weren’t originally all that popular in the North West due to the prevalence of the 40s, but that soon changed after the 40s had all but disappeared and 37s started being shown some love at Crewe works, being refurbished and painted in nice liveries. They have basically the same cab and I’ve spliced Bachmann 37 cabs into a Lima 40 before. There was that sweet spot between 1985 and 1987 when you could still have 25s and 40s alongside the newly-released 37s. 47s also became more interesting with Large Logo, Railfreight and the especially nice Executive and Scotrail liveries, all of which I have in the fleet. The aforementioned Banger Blue 47 with plated headcodes is all I am after to complete the collection.

Yes, but how's the cactus doing?

It's brandishing its weapon! So to speak.

The irony is that the 47 that I am after is the plain Banger Blue one, plated headcode panels and a square headlight. I only need one though. Or maybe 2..... (stoppit!) A few reminisces: Rats were so underpowered and ramshackle that they had to be thrashed within an inch of their lives to do anything of merit and that was much of the attraction. One of them still managed a loaded train of PHVs (just). The sheer noise belied their lack of power. 40s were overweight and underpowered (not unlike myself), but their stance and the sound was what did it. How anything with a diesel engine could sound like that was a mystery when I was a kid. I like the Logs too, though Banger Blue wasn't particularly flattering on them but Large Logo made them. They sounded a lot more rateable than a 47. Small Sulzers and large English Electrics always sounded the best to these ears.