Les Bird

Charles Roberts based in Horbury built many different types of wagons including tank and hopper wagons from the early says of railways. They were taken over by Procor in 1974. Along the way they built bus bodies too.

I've used Pressfix transfers many times and I've never found the need for a softener.

Not the same as yours but a good model. It's from Atlas and lettered Suffolk and Ipswich Fire Brigade. It claims to be 1/72 but is clearly 1/76. Purchased on ebay some years ago.

After reading all the helpful hints on here, I managed to remove the body (why are manufacturers so obsessed with clips when screws are so much easier?) Certain parts are still not easily accessible for lubrication and putting it back together (the drive shaft) tried my patience a little.

Now why didn't I think of that? Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I recently acquired a Bachmann Derby Lightweight dmu which is fine in most respects but a little  noisy and probably needs some lubrication. It came with no instructions so, before I break something, can anybody tell me how to do this? Thanks

That Roket fluid may be the answer. I'll certainly give it a try

I must admit I had considered using Mk1 side frames. That may yet be the solution.

I'm attempting to attach the Lima side frames from a Metro Cammell dmu to a Replica Railways motorised chassis. I'm grateful for the replies. I'll keep trying.

Can anyone suggest an adhesive that will stick to Lima bogie sideframes? So far I've tried polystyrene cement, superglue, epoxy resin and UHU, all without success.

Thank you both for that. I just wish I could remember why I bought it!

While sorting through a pile of bits and pieces I came across this motor. i must have bought it for a specific purpose but I now can't remember what. It's clearly never been used. It is five pole and runs very well. Can anyone identify it?

Definitely agree with the use of settrack curves. I have R3 and R4 in my shed and they survive all temperature changes.

True enough and I have some already but it's a shame Oxford don't look at that period.

Well spotted, thanks for the tip

A slightly different aspect is the availability of suitable vehicles. My layout in set in the mid to late fifties when a lot of cars on the road would have been pre-war models. There are hardly any of these.

Good point! I'll leave mine blue.

A rather obscure question perhaps but one related to a small corner of my layout featuring one of these call boxes. Does anyone know what colour the light on the top was which flashed to advise the local beat bobby to call? I know the obvious instinct is to say blue but, for some reason, i had an idea it was red.

I've built several of these kits over the last few years and have been very pleased with the results.

I've just read through this thread again and I noted that there's no mention of the Fyffes warehouse at Goodmayes on the GE. An opportunity for modellers of that area to include some banana vans.

If masking the green, I'd recommend Tamiya masking tape which is kind to the paint being covered.

That's a very impressive result

I have a layout based in East Anglia which has 2 B12's, 3 N7's, 2 J69's, 2 J15's and 2 D16's There was a time when there were 4 J15's and 4 D16's but I was running out of room! Oh, I forget, there are 3 J17's as well.

I have recently applied some Pressfix transfers to a kit built ex-LNER 4 wheeled pigeon van. I've had the transfers for a good number of years and they were applied to a surface sprayed with a Phoenix aerosol. I had no difficulty in applying them or getting them to stick firmly. Maybe some users are just unlucky. One important point is that the transfers need to be stored with the backing sheet and preferably in the original plastic sleeve. When cutting out the individual characters, protect the surrounding area with the backing sheet.

The longer wagon is 178mm over headstocks and the bogie centres are 132mm. The body mouldings are quite reasonable although the underframe detail could be finer. The wagon's appearance is greatly improved by fitting Ratio bogies. The original bogies are sometimes cast and sometimes plastic. The plastic ones are better but fitting the Ratio ones means you can use finer wheels and lower the wagon to scale height. You also get to ditch the Triang couplings.