john dew

Hi Brian I would buy one of 3, 4 or 6………. No particular preference Not sure whether this counts as a vote or an informative abstention! I will pass on the sleepers Thanks again for all the work involved Regards

I know they used the 2251 boiler but maybe that was because they wanted to eliminate the dome? I notice that Locomotion refers to Sir James Milne, GWR General Manager ( not Chairman) "requesting" that the design be a modernised version of the 57xx class. I knew Hawksworth was responsible for the design. I think I was mistaken in assuming that the original request was directed to Collett. I had forgotten he retired in 1941. Thank you for commenting, I will amend my original post

Dining Car Poll My preference 1 2 3 Due to space considerations I would probably only buy one of the above. If only one were made I would prefer it to be 3 Thanks again for all the work that has gone into making these mini polls so informative. Best wishes

Ballasting and weathering the storage turntable continues. Meantime here are some shots of Granby's latest loco Bachmann's 0-6-0 Pannier Tank.........here it is straight out of the box: This news is not exactly hot off the press. The model was finally released in January, after an interminable wait. It took me a further 3 months to convince myself it was ok for Granby. Then summer etc intervened before I was able to start weathering and detailing. It was only last week that she was finally ready for service! The 94xx class was designed as a replacement for the long serving 57xx pannier tanks. The design criteria included increased power along with a more "modern" appearance. Allegedly the GWR General Manager "requested" that the CME get rid of the "old fashioned" dome. Here is a comparison: Although over 200 locos were produced only 10 were made before nationalistion. Of these, only 9408 ventured north of Watford...... to Oxley (Wolverhampton). There is no evidence it ever got to Chester or Wrexham, hence my hesitation about it being ok for Granby. The model received very favourable reviews so I decided it may have spent a week or so at Granby as the station pilot. I then promptly ordered the wrong etched plates 9407.......so thats top of the to do list. I have tried to make the weathering reflect less than a year in service Light dusting of mud/rust below the running plates on brake pads etc. Roof and running plates painted with matt black and light dusting of soot Modelu Headlamps and crew added. It is great being able to slip the lamps directly on to their irons. Smokebox painted matt black/steel mix Touch of steel paint on some steps where paint has been pretend chipped off by Modelu boots. Inside of bunker rusted. Fire Irons and real coal added. DCC requires a Next 18 chip. Accessing the PCB involves removing the body which is very easy. I learned from the Youchoos install guide (a really useful resource) that there are easily accessible solder points on the PCB for a Stay Alive which was a big plus because you cant directly attach Stay Alive to the economy Zimo Next 18 Performance without Stay Alive was not great but once I squeezed a couple of Tantulums in and set CV 56 to 22 (its a coreless motor) it was stunning......very happy camper. Its a gorgeous model. The detail is superb. Like the prototype its very heavy and handles long heavy trains with ease. Regards from Vancouver

Hi Neal Welcome home! Thats a very lengthy saga with the TT. You must have found it very frustrating and you still have a formidable todo list before it is all sorted. Thanks for posting the video. The bridge movement seems very smooth and much quieter than my Fleischmanns! How much manual intervention was there? I assumed the programme stopped it just before the exit track and then moved it slowly to the track. Once it stopped one could see the relatively minute mis alignment. This mis alignment seemed to be consistent so a very slight adjustment of the exit track position should solve it ? Looking forward to Part 2 when the polarity switch is operating Best wishes

Hi Mikkel I guess the same guy who didnt check the road was in good nick before taking a load of photos Glad you like the photos

Thanks Paul. You are correct, of course it should be “Dai”. That was careless of me. I will try to remember to include some Dais with the next batch!

Option 11 please

Thank you Neal ….My that was quick….I hadnt even finished editing the title! You may be right about Dave. Good job for him that I havent finished painting the policeman! I am glad you popped in because I wanted to ask which of the Heljan and Dapol railcard you like the most? I am particularly interested in reliable running. Best wishes

Thanks for all the ticks guys, its nice to be back I spent most of last week painting and ballasting the turntable storage sidings. I broke the monotony by painting some Modelu figures: The front of the Talbot has looked rather strange since its opening six months ago. Plenty of Cars and Taxis but until last week.... no people! Granby Town Council have carried out some much need road repairs since this photo was taken. Moving left to right some rather cruel close ups Two chauffeurs converted from WWI soldiers Their chat is about to be interrupted......Colonel Sir David Powell MC rtd. has finished his lunch: Of course, his tie really should have navy stripes (Royal Welch Fusiliers) but there are limits to my painting I am afraid that the Head Porter looks a bit like an Austrian general. I wanted him to have a top hat to go with his frock coat. Sadly couldnt find a suitable figure so settled for a Victorian stationmaster and some gold paint. Struggled to think of a legend for this gentleman. He is too fashionably dressed to be a commercial traveler, and they dont stay at the Talbot. Perhaps a Sales Director up from London? No problems with this guy. Its Dave Thomas emerging from the Public Bar. Looking rather enviously at the toffs and their posh motors before crossing Chester Road to catch a Crossville Bus. To finish, a couple of shots from the Box Brownie: I hope you enjoyed my flights of fancy. Next week, not before time, some loco shots Regards from Vancouver where we are enjoying some much needed rain

Thanks Mikkel You omitted the heat dome….which has returned…..with the smoke ……certainly been a summer to remember! Regarding Fleischmann, I was told that some of their H0 track tooling had worn out and it had been decided, no doubt by Rocco, that they would not replace it but concentrate on N gaude Best wishes

Thanks Tinker.......in this weather I am glad to be back down here in the cool. How is your 12" to the foot building getting on? I do hope everything is on schedule. Best wishes

Thanks Neal that is very kind of you. I have been remiss in not congratulating you on your new turntable. You did a super job with the painting. I am rather envious of the appearance. It is a far more accurate representation of a GWR turntable than mine. I am afraid I had to sacrifice appearance for functionality. I have tried to eliminate the more obvious traces of its continental origin but it still looks nothing like a GW table. Is yours working now? I am interested in how it deals with indexing Best wishes

Option 1 I would definitely buy one of each Thank you Brian and congratulations for drafting such a concise and persuasive argument Best wishes

Hi Brian Its good to hear from you but I am so sorry to hear that your hip is still painful and preventing you from "playing trains". I know how frustrating that can be. I also share your dislike of having to crawl under the layout to fix something.......lithe and flexible are not adjectives that spring to mind. There is no way you can work around the stalled train or recruit a helper......its a bit far for me to pop over. I envy your A/C. The Railway room is in the basement and its pleasantly cool here but right now the mercury is climbing upstairs. Its unusual to be writing on here to someone in the same time zone and near identical weather I do hope your hip continues to mend and it will not be too long before the trains are running again Best wishes

Thank you Richard I am glad to say the TT is behaving impeccably. They are actually very very reliable. Malfunctions are usually self induced. You may recall , about 5-7 years ago I managed to spill a jar of ballast on the TT on the other side of the layout. Once I corrected that unforced error it has run perfectly and accurately without ever a moments hesitation

Thank you Tony thats really very kind of you. Its good to be back!

A tale with a happy ending First my apologies for not acknowledging the last few posts and in fact for not posting at all for three months. Just after my last post, in early May, I wasn't feeling too well. After a couple of days in bed I was rushed to hospital. I spent most of May in an Acute Care Unit with a fever which developed into pneumonia. I dont remember too much about it but I do realise I have been very fortunate. Pneumonia is pretty unpleasant at any age and certainly not recommended for an eighty four year old! I was allowed home after three weeks and spent most of June and July swallowing innumerable pills (which made me indolent and sleepy) and phone consultations with assorted specialists. On top of which I had to keep out of the sun and clear of the smoke from the forest fires in the interior. Forced indoors, I spent most of my time staring at this hole in the ground and continuing with my futile attempts to repair the bridge of the storage yard turntable. I guess I could have run some trains on the rest of the layout but the non functioning turntable was just too frustrating and demotivating. Happily the temperature has now dropped, ** the smoke has cleared somewhat and the pills have done their job. Newly energised, I decided enough was enough and solved the turntable issue by the simple but expensive expedient of buying a new one . Actually it wasn't that simple, Fleischmann have stopped making H0/00 turntables and cleared all their spare parts. Fortunately I tracked down a complete unit in Germany. A week later it was delivered, hooked up and working like a dream! Here is Large Prairie 4124 crawling on to the centre of the bridge Lots of work still to be done....The storage tracks have to be painted and ballasted, one of the approach roads has to be re-aligned, the turntable surround weathered and blended with the baseboard and an extension made for the Scalescene retaining wall Most of the RR&Co routines already work seamlessly so the plan is for a video, provisionally titled "The storage shuffle" to be produced in the fall. Oh dear, I almost forgot to include a pannier: Regards from a happy camper in Vancouver ** I may have spoken too soon about the weather...the temperature is now forecast to rise back to the low thirties. At least its cool in the railway room and I have a functioning turntable to play with test.

Hi Brian Era 3. 1939-1945. Plus first two years of Era 4. (1947-8) Please do continue with the mini-polls, I find them to be really interesting. I may be taking the instruction to “only vote if one will definitely purchase “ too literally…..hence my no show on the last two! Thanks again for all the hard work Best wishes

Hi Brian My choice 3. 5. 10. 11 Best wishes

My preference is for L22 Best wishes from an extremely warm Vancouver

Thank you once again Brian and team. My choice 2 3 4 5 7 Focussed choice 3 4

My choices. 1. 3. 4. 6 Focussed choice. 3 Many thanks to Bruce for organising and Rob for hosting

April 1948. 6346 leaves Granby Junction with an Up Ordinary Passenger for Barmouth

Fortunately I didnt have use our local small appliance repairman. I stumbled on a couple of old threads and discovered all was not lost. RMWeb is such an amazing resource. Its still not working properly .....all the exit sidings still have to be relaid and wired. I then discovered the exit tracks were without power unless the bridge had turned through 180o. I remembered that I had to fit jumper wires to the bridge track feed.... @melmerbymodification (thank you Keith).........so the the bridge has to be remove again. To cheer myself up I went over to the Engine Shed Turntable... which worked flawlessly. Granby Shed on a spring morning in 1948: Wrong locos but reminds me of the atmosphere at Edgehill in the early fifties. Regards from Vancouver where it is definitely spring and I am amazed that I am allowed to spend any time at all in the Railway Room