exet1095

Hello, Taking advantage of the Hattons £69 Bachmann 4-CEPs, I have bought one to run as a trailer unit, substituting the powered motor car for an unpowered one. The spare motor car chassis is going into another project. Could anyone please help me set it up so that the lights work. I notice that every wheel has pick-ups, but the lights only work when the unit is coupled together with the motor coaches at each end. What is the easiest way of getting juice to the lights? Many thanks, Paul

David Geen does a beautiful nickel-silver etch for the door grilles. It's not on his website as far as I can see, but it is worth dropping him a line. Brilliant models by the way!

Great pictures, thank you. I spend a lot of time at Longmoor and quite a few relics of the railway are still to be found, both in the closed-to-the-publc bits of camp, and around the ranges, which are familiar to local dog walkers. Paul

Dapol informed me a while ago that the tooling was theirs and had been damaged beyond repair. I am still after a Trix body too.

If anyone in London wants a "Tintagel Castle", Modelzone in Holborn had two in stock yesterday. They were marked as £89.99 each.

Slate waste is also pretty soft, whereas stone from Minffordd is syenite, a type of granite. This will not be broken-up and washed away so easily by the action of the sea. If much more comes off the top of the arry we'll have to change the name of our house to "Snowdon View"!

I asked Simon Kohler about how the Brighton Belle would be powered, saying I was worried in the light of the VEP issues highlighted in this thread. He was pretty insistent that there were only a few problems with individual units and that most of the comment on internet fora was pretty worthless. Now, I have not bought a VEP (because of the solid partition) and so I said I only had the evidence of what others said. This was exactly the point, he replied - lots of anonymous comment and very little of substance. We then moved back onto the Belle which was a much more positive conversation. Anyway, the Belle looked great and as long as it runs ok I am sure I will want one. Paul Dryden

Amazing job on the printed sides Brian. Could you tell us more about the masking of the windows please? Thanks, Paul

I remember Earley on the Reading - Waterloo line - which I think was Esso - but I was very young. I think it closed to rail in the 1970s. Paul

I found a shop with a large stock of Kitmaster kits in it in 1978. In Luxembourg. I foolishly told my best friend's father who then bought the lot! I have a few around - perhaps I should try some cuts and shuts on them - maybe a BFK from a RFO and a BSK, or a BSO from a TSO and a BSK? Love seeing your coaches Brian - just need to find some time to follwo your example! Do please put together a thread on this subject. Best wishes, Paul

Kitmaster BCK? Is this a cut and shut as it looks pretty good?

And if anyone knows the closest Halfords match for the GWS coach then please let me know

Thanks Larry. I shall scour all of my photographic books to see if I can find any other pictures of stock clearl in brown and with a Wxxxx number visible. It will certainly make the painting easier! (If I assume the droplights are brown too - if not, I had better go for a C77 "Sunshine" coach instead...) I wonder if the brown was the same as the normal brown used with cream? Didcot have a coach which is painted brown on one side Diagram E.158 Number 7313, with a single 1/2" red line at the waist. It looks much redder, certainly then that on other vehicles there, but this might be because that was all the paint they could find. It certainly is quite an attractive livery Best, Paul

Unusual for the train to have no first class accommodation, bur this is just the sort of photo I like to see as I try to model WR trains based on photographs and tied-in with the carriage working notices. Was the brown coach sporting a line on the waist? I was thinking of painting a couple of vehicles in this livery (maybe a C54 TK and a Toplight TK), but wondered about lining, and whether the droplights should still be in maroon. Cheers, Paul

If you're in Oxford, Graham in Boswell's has one R4381 left too. No connection, other than as a satisfied customer who bought the other one he had in stock. Paul

Dear Rob, thanks, I had a look, but it wasn't the bogie that was causing the problem - I think the main chassis block is slightly bent, and so it will go back to Margate tomorrow. It really is a great locomotove, and the Hawksworth tender is stunning too, with a wholly-removeable coal load. Cheers, Paul

I got my Chistmas present Earl Cairns out of the box to give it its first run yesterday - we've moved, and most railway stuff is boxed-up with the books at the moment, but I now have a small Bachmann-based test track available. It is a fabulous model, but it will not stay on the track when going forwards. The front driven axle is a fraction of a mm above the others so the loco rocks up and down. this means the front drivers climb the rails at some joints on curves. In reverse, it is the best-running engine in my fleet, but forwards is no good at all! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do please? My wife bought the loco an exhibition to which I dragged her, and I don't know who it's from. Should I send it back to Hornby, or is it likely that there is something in the axle slot obstructing things? I worry about filing the centre slot deeper because that is the driven axle and I suspect the gear meshing is very delicate, as it is on most modern Hornby engines. Many thanks, Paul

I have been thinking about doing something similar with a Grange boiler on a Hogwarts Castle chassis and gottom half of body moulding, with a scratch-built cab. The good thing about GWR 4-6-0s here is that the wheelbases are the same. Paul

I ordered one today, even though we are about to move house. I think it will be a present from my nine-month-old daughter. Goodness knows what she will have to buy for her Mother!

I have just spoken to the very helpful William at the NRM shop and he advised me to ring tomorrow for the ??145 price. More importantly, models will be available for delivery from the 16th of this month, which is stunning. Well done to Bachmann for getting things done so discreetly, and saving the annoyance of waiting for two years after starting to get excited about a model! I am just hoping that his will also lead to a family of outside-framed GWR 4-4-0s; two boilers, three types of frames, two wheelbases, one bogie and two tenders will cover most of the Flowers, Cities, Atbaras, Dukes, Bulldogs and Dukedogs... As for the price; it is a lot, but I still think that it is worth it, and, of course, the NRM - including the loco itself - will benefit.