97406

One of my earliest memories was standing on Navvi Road station with my Mum, getting electric shocks off her because of the 25kV and being scared half to death by the ICI hoppers behind a blue or green 25 or 40. The noise was immense, and those two particular classes are my favourites. I lived near Skelton Junction and often used to hear the squeal of the goods trains as they went round the curve. Quite atmospheric, especially at night.

I’ve seen worse liveries and I’ll become accustomed to said whiskery appendages, no doubt.

Thank you. I’m now up to the point where I am adding the smaller and smaller details, such as relay cabinets, and people, which will come next. I quite fancy doing a depot open day scene with it, lots of stalls and people, plus D200 and Flying Scotsman doing brake van rides. All in a form that can be removed and it then reverts back to a working depot again.

The 80s is my main modeling period. Plenty of blue, and interesting diesel/electric classes, but with a few spangly liveries thrown in for good measure,

One of the reasons for the existance of the layout is to serve as a diorama, so from this angle it appears as a normal running line. This allows me to recreate one of the nostalgic trains from way back when, the Northwich to Tunstead empties. I need some ICI letters for the hoppers as the Oxford PHVs are nearly all sold out.

Incidents of giant cats on the loose are on the rise.... https://youtu.be/tb59dEHRt5Q

The layout resides in a couple of old chests of drawers and the tops have been fashioned into lids that go over the top, but they're often left off as I nip up and tinker with the thing quite a lot. The cats seem to show little interest, but one of them has jumped onto it when I've been working on or running the layout when he wants some fuss. There is a stick with a bit of wire kept near the layout to distract him. The cat-enary is superglued to the baseboard and is designed to break away rather than bend, so in theory I can just replace any damaged sections. Time will tell!

That was the original intention. The shed was modified so it is high enough to accommodate wires, and the gantries reached over the shed lines at one point, but they made photography more difficult due to more posts to get in between the locos and the camera. There was also a concern about 12” to the foot scale hands and cats interfering with the catenary at the front of the layout, so a decision was reached to electrify just the main road in and the rearmost sidings. Here’s a couple of earlier pics with the original gantries, which were in the process of being revised in the second photo. If it ever gets integrated into a larger layout, then it will be extended to the front, so more wires may appear.

Five Forties off the bucket list.

Electrics coming off duty

Well done, it really is a thing of beauty! I may have a go at another one. I fell short of being able to get the parallel motion soldered in properly, and my diagonal bracing's based on a mirror universe example, but I just used a few blobs of glue to keep mine at a fixed height. I ended up doing similar with my Hornby 87 as the crossarm pantograph’s pan head flops to the side and it doesn’t stand the test of time in use. Pic here https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/164738-nifkins-bridge-tmd/&do=findComment&comment=4461631

Ooh, I quite fancy doing one of them.

Those inclines are a lot more fun to go down! There's a couple of ways to connect with the Monsall Trail, and I've checked out the White Peak Loop work at the northern end, but there's a couple of missing links, the worst bit being having to use the A6 out of Buxton. However there is a short cut to Mill Dale on the Pennine Bridleway (High Stool Lane) which is along a ridge so lovely views to both sides.

Really appreciating the Traction Magazine archive. Could lose myself in there for weeks!

A break from the scenery to concentrate on the eponymous 97406 which is a Lima model with newly-grafted Bachmann cabs. Alongside a Bachmann 40 and 45, and ViTrains 47.

Brilliant stuff from a regular user of the High Peak Trail. I have cycled up the inclines many times, normally on bottom cog and zig zagging my way up. I’m quite fascinated by the old and current industry around the place.

Of course, there is always their eCommerce site. The banning of discounts on new models at retailers as per earlier comments on this thread means that you may as well go to the Hornby website. They get better margin on the sales, rather than going through the resellers. Lots of my customers who supply wholesale are setting up their own web shops too. Having cogitated on the matter, in many ways it’s a smart move by Hornby. Not without certain risks, but so is the case with anything in life.

The locos and units from when I was a kid, and from a blooming of the interest in railways in my teens. So 40s and 25s which were so noisy they used to scare the living daylights out of me as a 4 or 5 year old, AC electrics which I used to see at Piccadilly station when my mum took me shopping in Manchester, first gen multiple units. The main period is the 80s at the end of BR blue, but also with a growing fleet from the green-blue transition period. And a heritage fleet with a couple of Gresley pacifics, a Western, Hymek, and an Accurascale Deltic, the latter on order. Also the aesthetics of the loco in question. I’m currently musing over the Kernow Warship despite never having seen one in action. I also quite fancy a BR 4MT for the preserved fleet.

A funny way to treat your wholesale customers. Working for a supplier, I'd struggle to countenance treating my customers in the same way. It would also perhaps encourage my competitors to produce more of their own versions of my products. Still, Hornby must have a plan, and I'll still buy their products when I see something I like.

Electromotive force in physics at school if I recall correctly

I recall ‘Ecstacy Mother Hubbards’ from an interview in Mixmag or DJ Mag at the time (I thought it better to sanitise things a little before posting, what with this being a family forum and all that).

Which stood for....

A pristine one should be EXW! Then there’s always KLF.... https://youtu.be/-gLs6YNnqZY

Of course, the real enthusiast would be keen to know whether they’re being shipped FOB, DDP, or with some other such incoterm, agreed with the factory.

Go from P32 onwards. I’m running detailed and flush glazed Hornby 86s alongside the new Heljan ones and will be getting a couple of Heljan’s 86/4s when they come out.