Carl BR

A bit of an update on the layout. First off I have decided to plough a bit more money into the signalling on Alderford in the form of new two aspect Red-Amber with dot matrix theatre boxes from Absolute Aspects. I'm still waiting there arrival but will get photo's uploaded as soon as they are fitted. The theatre boxes will display the platform number a train is heading for after leaving the fiddle yard. Also there are two shows coming up soon that Alderford will be attending. The first one is the North Fylde show in Fleetwood on the 19th & 20th of September, then three weeks later at Barrow in Furness on the 10th & 11th of October. Carl

Hey Kev Following this will great interest and if the EMU's and your Class 85 > 81 conversion is anything to go by this will be a stunning layout. Also you are invited to give the EMU's and 81 a run on my layout Alderford at the next Barrow show in October if they are not in use on another layout. Carl

I may still come over for a bit of a play as it may be the last chance before Blackmill heads to it's new home.

Hi Neil The only thing worth a mention is that Alderford is filling a space at the Blackburn show in September due to another layout dropping out. It was booked to go to Blackburn next year. I also have invites to Doncaster next year and Wakefield and Stafford for 2016. I still need to get the form back for Stafford. No updates on the layout it's self but with these upcoming shows I really need turn my attention back to the layout. I've been a bit committed the rebuild of my two 3 watt RGB laser light show projectors that need to be finished for an upcoming show at the end of the month. Another expensive hobby of mine. Carl

Hi Neil A bit of a late reply to your question, not a lot has happened to Alderford since York apart from getting frog juicers fitted to the remaining 12 points on the scenic boards to eliminate an issue with the point motor switches that caused a short on the layout at York that took what seemed like 10 mins to find. Did you get a chance to get to York? Carl

10 hours to go until play time. Everything on the layout seem to have serviced the trip to York. Come over and say hello.

Has anyone noticed that the station has no name boards on the platforms and the front of the building? This is about to be rectified. I managed to download the transport font from the web for what I am told is the right type face for BR signs. It looks convincing to me. And thanks to all of you that have complimented Alderford since the last time I thanked anyone.

After calling in at the local model shop I discovered that the Little girl and Nana figures are from the Bachmann shoppers set and not from the Hornby range. I hope this error has not mislead anyone.

If it's not your not coming. I went to the market in town today to buy the material for the layout drapes today. I just need to find someone to stitch up the hems and Velcro. There's only 46ft of it.

I have another lecy loco on it's way for Alderford in the shape of a Limby class 87 87010 King Arthur IC Swallow livery. It should land tomorrow or Saturday but as I'm away in south Lincolnshire all weekend I won't get my hands on it until I get home Sun night. It's not brand new but I'm told it's in like new condition and was only £43 inc p&p. Once it's tested and I'm happy it I will be at it with the weathering brush. I will also be making a call to Bachmann about buying a Bracknell Willis pantograph they fit to the class 350. Dose anyone here know if these are available from Bachmann as spares? I know of people being able to get the Class 85 pan from them. Carl

May be a test of loyalty. I could possibly turn a blind eye to the yellow 150.

My team will be warned in advance of your intentions Mick.

A few more photo's for the magazine but ended up not being used. Credit to Derek Shore & Railway Modeller

Your very welcome to come and play John. Nothing yellow apart from front end warning panels. @ Sub39h. Thanks. I hope you get a chance to see Alderford in the flesh.

The little girl and her nan are from the Hornby range and no great thought went in to positioning any of the figures on the layout other than if they looked right in a place that's where they got glued. But I have to say the setting of the little girl and nan do look convincing in that cover photo. A bit sneaky of you with that 66 Mick but I won't say it will never happen again as I really the class 350's. We've had one on Alderford at the club and looed good sat in the station. I'm really looking forward to York as it will be the first time we have run the layout in anger since Preston last year. Should be a good weekend. I came up with Alderford for the new Preston club layout that will replace Bee Lane in time but the other members weren't sure so I used it for me new layout instead. I did find a small village in Norfolk called Alderford but it has no connection with any railway. Cheers for the kind comments so far. Carl

Hi people I've been lurking around this forum for some time now but haven't made too many posts so I think to correct this I am going to introduce you all to my layout Alderford. A 38ft OO end to end layout with a terminus station, TDM and OHLE set in the mid to late 1980's. You will find Alderford in the April edition of Railway Modeller as layout of the month. A big honour in my opinion. Alderford can be seen at York over Easter, Wigan in June and Warrington in October of this year. I hope you all like and please fire question, criticisms and helpful suggestions. Carl ps. I will upload some photo's later when I get chance to shrink the file sizes a bit.

Hey Mick I may have pulled some funny faces at your loco's visit to Alderford but you have done some cracking jobs on the Rainbow 66 and these 37's. See you at York and I should have an answer for you about Perth by then as well. Carl

I was just thinking that Dapol Dave would like to hear that people are jumping on the pre order wagon following this announcement. I got my first close look at the 2mm version yesterday and if that's anything to go by the 4mm version is going to be a great addition to the RTR DMU scene. That's all.

I've now got two 122's on pre order with Hatton's for £103 each. Ordered 55002 Blue / Grey and 55012 Regional Railways.

A 144 in BR provincial blue running on my new layout at the Preston show would look nice. Is there going to be a BR pro blue 144 released?

Your 85 looks fantastic Cav.

So far my two 85's have done around 2 hours of running on Bee Lane and the Pan dose seem to be up to the job of riding up against the wires. One of them even got the better of a base board joint wire that had unclipped from a head span. The wire was left buckled so I think the Bachmann Pan is as robust as the Summerfeldt ones. One thing a lot of you may find is the pin that holds the elbow of the pan together is a loose fit and it may work it's way out over time. I found one of the pins already missing in one of my 85's on delivery and had to make a replacement out of brass rod that is a tighter fit. Carl

The 350's are nice but I was thinking more like the 1st gen EMU's. Carl

Here are my two 85's on Bee Lane tonight. Great work Bachmann. An AC EMU would be nice next. Carl