Waverley47708

Just got an email from Rails to say my ScotRail DBSOs are on their way................................ Excellent, now it turns out it is my 20th wedding anniversary soon, and that china is the thing for your 20th seemingly. Since Bachmann make their stuff in China, do you think that counts?

Very interesting, glad Bachmann seem to be sticking to the more usual version which did not have the light grey above the classification band or with grey window surrounds. Interesting most (or all) the Lima Mk 3s in ScotRail had the version with the light grey on the roof for want of a better expression. Have you a link to where you have or are going to post these "oddities" I assume the photos with the two DBSOs at Waverley in the earlier posted link was as a result of them being swapped.

No wonder, this along with Waverley West is one of my favourite threads on RMWEB. Another favourite of mine being Scottish Region in the 80s, however the latter is not as regularly updated as your one. Thanks for all your photos.

Thanks for posting, very interesting. With it being November 1986 I would have assumed they'd be going from Blue Grey to Intercity but am not sure, there is a lot of grey ( undercoat or intercity executive light grey ) but also what looks like fresh rail blue. I have a couple of spotters guides which include liveries bu my 1986 one would have what it was was published not in November. Anyone with a 1987 version may be able to tell us assuming it was published post November of 1986.

Must confess I am now a little confused regarding this, on the one hand a suggestion that there is no evidence of this but on the other people referring to some kind of announcement in 2014 which related to smaller retailers getting priority. Add to that the fact that Hattons still don't have them. Anyway prior to being a little confused I was surprised to read of such a policy. I had never heard of it. On first reading it seems a bit strange to give priority elsewhere and therefore by default penalise Hattons. After all many of us are impatient for any new release (yes I appreciate how silly this is when we've been waiting years) and I suspect this this may drive some folks to other suppliers especially since the original version of their price promise was (understandably) amended. Imagine it still stood for these coaches, I can't even remember what the original estimated price was on their website. Perhaps I fell into the trap of assuming Hattons and Rails were always the cheapest, but have tended to go to Rails anyway as Santa has often got me tokens for there, or to Cheltenham due to them attending a lot of exhibitions up here. All this is slightly academic for me at the moment as I am waiting for ScotRail livery DBSOs. Where Hattons will still score is when they further discount items further down the line, now while I was never going to hold back on DBSOs in case the sold out, at the moment I have parked any ideas of the TSOs etc at the moment. Looking at the Hornby Mk2Es, wonder if the Bachmann MK2F be available in next year's "sale of the century" are £12 for DC. and £14 for DCC! No I doubt it either. We may though end up with a repeat of the pattern we saw with the pre Hornby MK2Ds where Hattons were practically given the ex Airfix BSO and FOs away or a similar pattern we saw again with the Bachmann Mk2a and z where down the line TSOs were commanding v high prices c.f. to the FO or FK and the BSOs and BFKs. Interesting.....

That's good news then, Hattons are almost giving the Mk2Es away at £12 or £14. That will save you a few pound. https://www.hattons.co.uk/StockDetail.aspx?SID=98159

Well done Aberdeen. And well done to all the finalists. Five excellent layouts. Great show, looking forward to the second series. And not a dinosaur in sight!

Three excellent layouts again tonight. Delighted to see Euan and the guys from Aberdeen win. Well done. Interesting the order they ran the episodes with the more traditional layouts dominating the final weeks and the dinosaurs etc appearing in the earlier weeks. And whilst there were comments about appealing to non modellers when the first episodes were shown, the viewing figures in my house (very scientific) have gone up from one in week one to me and 4 wee girls aged 13 to 8, glued to the TV tonight, with a big cheer when the winners were announced. Will be very interesting to see how teams approach series two in light of what we have seen, learned in series one so far. Can't wait to the final.

My comment re the old technology to provide lighting was simply pointing out that it is possible to provide directional lighting without the need to a £24 chip, just in case people suggested that as the reason for the DBSOs only being available as DCC. I have no problem with them being progressive etc that was not my point. I am happy to see the improvements in models. As I say I am really looking forward to the DBSOs. My point is that unlike the rest of the range where they are offering DC and DCC versions they are only offering DCC DBSOs. Not only will it cost me an extra £48 for two of them, there are other potential issues, will it result in all the lights being on, headlights and tail, as well as interior when operating on DC? How will it react to my high frequency track cleaner? Will they include a blanking plates or will I need to spend more money on a couple of blanking plates!!

Unfortunately the DBSO only comes with the "whistles and bells" and as a result having ordered two DBSOs I end up paying for two DCC chips I don't want or need. Going by the prices quoted above these unwanted chips have added around £24 to each of the two DBSOs (that's the price of a non DCC coach!). Given Hornby and Lima managed to fit working lights to DC dummy HST power cars decades ago I am sure a DC version of the DBSO with working lights would have been possible. Anyway still looking forward to the arrival of the DBSO.

Well done to all three layouts. Interesting to see an authentic layout win the day. Really struggled to guess what way the judges were going to call it this time.

Like the look of all three layouts tonight so far. Dinosaur free zone tonight!

My take on it was a repeat of my thoughts on last week. I think that as a result of running issues the judge's made the correct decision. Had there not been running issues I'd had gone for the blue team this week. Although Santas, Elves, dinosaurs and aliens are not my thing on a layout I thought all three layouts were well put together. Had they been at an exhibition I'd have walked past any layout with dinosaurs, aliens or elves and spent most of the time at Watford from last week and the blue team this week. That is not a comment on the modelling ability of the others simply on my personal taste. I guess I would find it hard to be an objective judge because I'd be drawn to a type of layout, the more traditional type. The other thing I've been thinking about is how competitor's may approach this if there is a second series. An example would be the third rail on the Watford layout. I totally get why they did it, I'd have done the same for a modelling challenge, however thinking about the time constraints and the fact they did not seem to have got any credit for their authenticity I'd imagine next series others may take a different tact. Still enjoying the show, well done to all involved and looking forward to next week.

Scottish Region Carriage workings winter 1964-65 Courtesy of Robert Carroll's excellent website. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7wNtUp2bp_eZDRsRXFrOURZeFU/view Includes 3 hour expresses. In case you are interested full list of what's available, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7wNtUp2bp_eZDRsRXFrOURZeFU/view

A trader was trying to sell 4 x SO and a CO Lima ScotRail coaches at Dundee MRX on Saturday for £30 each. I assume someone has offloaded them in anticipation of the Oxfords. Even though at the moment due to the livery issue my plan is to stick with my flushglazed Lima ScotRail coaches and I could do with two more, I thought £30 was a bit much esp when the new Oxfordshire will sell for less at the discounters.

Although I enjoyed last weeks episode I thought tonight's was better. Think the judges summary was spot on. Not sure i would have spent time installing a third rail for a time limited competition! Shame the Watford one had running issues as it looked the best layout visually and that may have made the difference. Spot on Terry it a model railway not a train set. My wife laughed at that as she has heard me say the same often enough. A good advert for our hobby, well done to all involved.

Falkirk is one of those shows I always look forward to each year. Haven't missed it since the year I got the dates mixed up and turned up a few weeks too late!

I enjoyed the program and was delighted to see our hobby being portrayed in a positive light. It was also refreshing not to have the usual references to train spotters / anorak etc being banded about. Our local paper ran a positive article on a young guy who is a student in Aberdeen who was originally from Perth who I think is part if an Aberdeen based group which will appear later on. I think the best layout was the Middlemess one, but the best layout which appeared to stick to the rules was the Strangers one and so I think the judge's were correct. I can see why Middlemess thought 5 rows of houses were one item and I imagine there was not really much they could do once they were told it wasn't. To have removed them would have left them with very little. Perhaps the TV producers should have been clearer about the rules. Anyway all made for a bit of drama. I personally am not a big fan of dinosaurs etc on layouts but thats maybe just me. The other thing I have been thinking about recently is just how much TV coverage all things railways have been getting recently. Between documentaries about Paddington, Kings Cross, walks on old railway lines, last Friday's two hour worth of programs about 125s on Channel 5 and now this. Anyway I for one will be watching this program next Friday.

Thanks to some absolutely first class customer service by Fox Transfers, the latest arrival 47716 Duke of Edinburgh's Award is ready for action. The longer nameplate and Haymarket logo being unusually located to the right of the nameplate rather than above it made 47716 stand out from the others. Here it is with number 1 end leading. Most photos and video I have seen have no 1 end leading for this particular loco rather than the more usual no 2 end leading. Cocktail stick used to remove the old number and the Haymarket Castle from above the nameplate. Numbers and nameplate, Fox Transfers.

Let's hope you are right......

A bit of an update, All of the track is laid and I am just making final alterations and levelling the boards. Once this is sorted, I can start on the new scenic section. The double track main line with passing loops at one end. The plan is to keep the scenery simple and uncluttered. The problem is that because trains can now run round and round and round and round and round (you get the point) I go up to the loft and before you know 3 or 4 hours have gone and all I have done I watch trains go round and round and round and round and round……….. Some news about new arrivals to run round and round and round and round and round. One new arrival is a Tamper, may be very useful when it comes to ballasting!! The photo is of it lurking around on the Club’s Laurencekirk layout. Once the nameplates arrive a recent purchase 47710 Sir Walter Scott bought at Ayr MRX will complete its transformation into 47716 Duke of Edinburgh Award. I am reliably informed by a former driver that 47716 was the fastest of the ScotRail 477s. This will bring the ScotRail 47/7 fleet on Waverley 85/86 to 10 (11 if I can find the blue one hiding away in a box somewhere). 47701 St Andrew, 47702 St Mungo, 47703 St Cuthbert, 47708 Waverley, 47710 Sir Walter Scott, 47711 Greyfriars Bobby, 47712 Lady Diana Spence, 47714 Grampian Region, 47715 Haymarket and 47716 Duke of Edinburgh Award. 708, 712 and 716 are Bachmann, the rest are detailed Lima. Now a prediction, each time I renumber a Bachmann 47/7, someone does a Ltd Edition, this is what happened to 47708 and 47712. So am now just waiting for someone to announce a Ltd Edition 47716. The imminent arrivals are two ScotRail DBSOs. When I turned 40 my work colleagues got me Rails vouchers and I had almost enough to buy two DBSOs, now I am nearly 50 and have just used the vouchers toward one of them.

Have ordered two DBSOs (including 2 x DCC chips I did not want or need ), just hoping the match the height of my Lima Mk3s. Have 10 x 47/7s ready and eager to get paired up with them St Andrew, St Mungo, St Cuthbert, Waverley, Sir Walter Scott, Greyfriars Bobby, Lady Di, Grampian Region, Haymarket and the latest addition Duke of Edinburgh Award. The latest was according to a former driver I was speaking to at Ayr the other weekend, the fastest of them all.

Yip one of the younger lads in our club had a problem with a Bachmann coach he bought a few years ago, he had tried to get it sorted but had not got anywhere. I spoke directly to Dennis about it at the Glasgow show and he managed to sort it out for him.

Also missing from the job description is the ability to keep a straight face and say September each and every year when asked when the DBSOs will be released! All the best to Dennis who has always made time for a wee blether when we met at shows.