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Should I assume from the lack of recruitment on this forum that there will be no series 3 of GMRC later this year? Given it would have been filming at the moment, it looks like the next series will have to wait until the autumn of 2021.

At the rush the best bet would be a SECR C class sound file, as they have the same designer and nearly same size cylinders. I’m sure the manufacturers of sound files will create one by combining the sound files for the N, H and C classes (which of course have all been taken from live recordings).

Also if Heljan and RoS pull this off I think it won’t just win diesel/ electric model of the year, but herald a new interest in pre-1947 d&e traction and railcars in the same way the Beattie well tank kick-started all the manufacturers to produce more small take engines. All of the big 4 and most of the pre-grouping had them, just with varying degrees of success

I’ve got 3171 on order now to go with my J72 and G5. How are Heljan preparing it for DCC operation- will it have a socket and space for a speaker? With such large windows it is crying out for passengers and a driver to be fitted. Can anyone confirm whether the trailer was painted in NER maroon or the same Carmine and custard of the autocar? From a brand perspective I’d have expected the NER to paint them to match.

Does anyone know what work would be required to backdate one of these into an NER T2? I wouldn’t plan to repaint one into NER green (I thought their freight engines were black anyway), just want to know what would be required beyond renunbering and rebranding.

Many thanks to you both as you’re correct they are Pressfix. Just getting to grips with the process, it would have been nice if they supplied more ‘guard’ and ‘luggage’ signs, but I should have started with the numbers I guess. Final question- are pressfix strong enough to weather and varnish? Many thanks

Hi All I’m nearly finished with my Ratio Bogie B van so it can (incorrectly) run as a tool can with my crane but I’ve hit a snag. The pack of transfers which came with it I assumed acted like normal transfers in that I skied them in water and they would separate from their backing paper. However this didn’t happen despite me leaving one in for an hour. Can anyone advise where I’m going wrong? I was going to use my HMRS sheet but they don’t have the right words in the gold font. Thanks Oli

Does anyone know if the Southern used Borail wagons with cranes for placing loads on? If so I’ll make a train for mine using a Cambrian kit and a Ratio Bogie B utility van. Ps- when typing Borail in with my phone, the only alternative word my phone could think it was was Anorak. Clearly Apple bias against railways!

While these engines are undoubtedly stunning examples of what can now be achieved in OO, I felt that none of them appealed to me as a pre-nationalisation modeller. One quasi-accurate GWR option wasn’t going to appeal to everyone, so when half the engines belonged to nationalised industries they were doomed to gain many admirers and fewer buyers. Hornby’s model of releasing 3-4 per year might have helped create a sense of urgency in buyers rather than flooding the market in one go.

Have you ever wondered how you could hear those two interests combined???

Mods- feel free to move this where required. I found this flattering article in the Sunday Times this morning written by one of the hosts of the GMRC. One of my complaints after the first series was the lack of joined- up communications plan between the manufacturers and magazines to promote the hobby- it seems like this lesson has been learnt this time around. Last week’s news that the tartan rocker Sir Rod Stewart has spent 20 years building a model railway has caused widespread surprise in our troubled nation. Models we knew he enjoyed playing with. Railways, not so much. Still, it’s true: while Rod’s passion for miniature trains has been no secret, it was a surprise to learn he has spent more than two decades building an extraordinarily detailed 23ft by 124ft layout modelled on a 1940s American city. As the BBC’s website breathlessly informed us — in a piece headlined “I am railing” — the star “has released 13 studio albums and been on 19 tours during the time it took to build”. While some may marvel at him wasting his time in this manner, others do enjoy his music. I wasn’t shocked by Rod the Modeller’s pastime. Two years ago, I too entered the shadowy world of the train enthusiast when I became one of the hosts of Channel 5’s sleeper hit The Great Model Railway Challenge. Modellers are keen to let you know how Jools Holland, Roger Daltrey and Phil Collins all have layouts. How David Hasselhoff and Bruce Springsteen are also said to dabble. And how Neil Young is not only an enthusiast but part-owned the Lionel trains brand in America and has helped develop its product line. What makes them do it? What attracts men who in years gone by would happily go off the rails now to spend their evenings fettling them? Perhaps it’s that Proustian quest to recapture the certainties of their childhoods. Perhaps it’s the sheer delight of making little trains go around and around. What’s certain is that they’re not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of modellers in the UK — and the numbers are on the rise. Our television programme featured a broad selection from this parallel world, building layouts in a Great British Bake Off-style competition in a big train shed near Henley-on-Thames. Not many were international rock stars but they came from almost every other walk of life: struggling actors, steampunk enthusiasts, railway engineers, oil-rig workers, biochemists, pensioners, students and gutsy Scottish grandmothers. Some were incredibly skilled modellers. Others stuck two woks together and called it a visiting spaceship. What they all shared was a desire to fashion a better world, if only in miniature, one tabletop at a time. It’s a passion that elsewhere in the world finds expression in such noble pursuits as saikei, the Japanese art of creating miniature landscapes. In Britain, we think of attics and anoraks, rather than artistry. This is wrong. What we found in that shed in Henley — and what Sir Rod doubtless enjoys when, after a hard day’s rocking, he turns to his flanges and fishplates — is a Zen-like dedication to detail, coupled with a chance for some remarkable creative expression. I’ve had many surprises in my two summers filming with the modellers. One was those woks. Another is the broad mix of genders involved in the hobby, both binary and non. Perhaps the most unexpected, though, was how social the pastime is. Some of our teams made vast layouts with family members, and built common ground in the process. Others had taken up with local clubs as a means of making friends. Community is a key attraction, particularly for older male modellers. Connecting to a network isn’t just for train lines. Clearly, railway modelling is a force for good, and any rock stars or TV shows highlighting this should be encouraged. To get your own sense of the vast scale of this miniature movement, why not take a tour around one of the shows that take place up and down the country. The Warley National, the UK’s biggest, is on next weekend at the NEC in Birmingham. There you’ll find everything from painstaking recordings of British branch line journeys to exquisite Japanese Z-scale models — at 1:220, small enough to put a layout in your suitcase. There’ll also be some of the best modelling from the UK — including the winning layout from our most recent series. A final thought on the power of this unheralded hobby. In 2008, it was reported that Phil Collins was so incredibly busy building a model railroad at his home in Switzerland, that the album he was supposed to be recording had to be put on hold — at enormous benefit to the wider community. It’s time to give all modellers, not just Sir Rod and his fancy layout, some respect.

I’m a little surprised no-one has covered how to turn the Bachmann Thomas range’s Henrietta into something a bit more detailed and authentic, given its the only semi-accurate passenger stock for these engines.

Can anyone advise me on the best way to fit kadee couplings to the older Bachmann carriages which don’t have NEM pockets? Im a big fan of the Hornby close couplers- I have them fitted on my Pullman and maunsell rakes where they are reliable and discrete. The biggest problem I have is that when I put carriages back in the box they sometimes push the plastic lining and get distorted, sometimes to the point where they can’t be used again.

It did change but only one week to the right, to during my holiday to America which meant I couldn’t watch it. I was told last time it took 6 weeks to edit an episode of 2 crews filming for 24 hours into 45 minutes (for the heats, the final had 3 crews and 36 hours of building), so they just have been a lot more disciplined on what they filmed and what they knew they needed to film. Unless they’ve given it a longer episode run... I’ll be watching for sure!

I recently fitted a TTS chip to a Bachmann engine using a 21-8 converter chip. Are there points on the standard 21pin plate where a stay alive could go?

Why not wait until Hornby’s Q6 TTS chip comes out- they’re both 8 pin, and the engines had the same sized wheels and boiler pressure. The cylinders of the J27 were 1.25” shorter stroke than the Q but who will notice that....

I was advised to use a zen as mine (the LMR one) didn’t run too smoothly. I would advise taking the wheels out and cleaning the axles- these are part of the circuit so if they are gunned up with lubricant the engine won’t perform well. Any chance from DJM of another LMR one? There are certainly plenty to choose from.

The amazing thing is that this is a well-stocked model shop covering a range of hobbies in a prime city location, with no shortage of clientele to keep it going. What it needs is an owner to take it into the next 72 years of operation. It has recently featured on local television which apparently brought in a number of new clients, which in conjunction with GMRC should have given it a future.

I was in there yesterday, it was looking very sorry for itself but the shelves are not yet bare and there are plenty of bargains left over. Apparently the original owner has been running it for 72 years and is now 88, the doors are expected to close between the 15th of January and the start of February. I went in and took advantage of their 20% off everything- I could have spent even more if I wasn’t trying to keep my engine numbers down.

Our timetable during filming: Thursday and Friday- 12 hours of railway modelling Saturday- judging day, found out we won, Malcolm articulated his enthusiasm to the camera Have the London Olympics idea Sunday- 3 of us go to Gaugemaster to see what little figures can be bodged into an Olympic scene Monday and Tuesday- design the layout whilst doing our day jobs Wednesday evening- drive to High Wycombe ready for the final We never thought we were going to win before we started as we had so little preparation done before we left. It wasn’t until we were told Missenden were as good as disqualified that we realised we might be in with a chance and started thinking about the final. They cut quite a lot from the final- Basingstoke’s broad gauge deserved a mention and the (slightly rubbish) wagon bashing competition wasn’t featured at all. We would have had far more buildings on our layout but we didn’t have the man-hours to get all our kits built with 5 down to 4 during the second day.

Funny then how we had one 17 year old, and the Railway Children were all 17 or 18... I thought the rules said no under 16’s.

My biggest takeaway would be to use the 4-track DC controller- ditch any idea of showing off your collection of sound fitted engines- the judges have seen it all before. Instead minimise the opportunities for things to go wrong by getting the track down, wire in a few wiring breaks and get trains moving. The editing will mask out any good ideas you have about synching sound, smoke and movements, as long as something goes around in circles you’re in with a chance.

Hi Everyone, Oli from The Strangers team here. Been following the incredible number of comments that have gone up on here. It’s certainly very flattering to read so many people saying ‘the best team won’ or words to that effect. I’ve only just seen it as I’m on holiday at the moment so decided now to respond. The strangers team were put together by the production company, we all applied individually and then tried to rope in any modelling friends. The team went through a number of incarnations before the last 5 survivors came together- I hadn’t met Jack (incorrectly named as me) and John before we started filming. Advanced filming was done at Malcolm’s house where some preliminary work was done, but there wasn’t space in the final edit of the episode to include this. Some of us met to plan the ideas we had and we settled on ‘The Longest Day’. Someone asked why there weren’t more WW2 vintage engines on the track- in the end we used our budget to get an E4, Adams Radial and Q1, but we later checked with other teams who had used their own engines, if we had known this we would have had way more appropriate stock. Jack painted the ambulance train on the first day and we all thought it really looked the part. Harry (aka Skrillex) created an amazing soundscape which synchronised to the Spitfire and parachuting pilot, but unfortunately the final editing meant this wasn’t demonstrated as well as it could have been. We didn’t really know what Missenden we’re doing until towards the end of the second day as we were so frantically busy. I can believe that Missenden asked in advance, and a combination of a team knowing exactly what they meant and a production team with limited understanding of railway modelling meant the answer got lost in translation. It was an education for everyone, but rules are defined by precedents and the judges decided that the rules weren’t being followed so took action. I expect the rules to be clarified in future, and for the production team to improve their handling of queries about them. On that subject the production crew really were fantastic- the exec producer apparently used to do the same job for Top Gear- and they all were always trying to put the hobby in the best possible light while making great television- something I think they succeeded at. They did film excerpts on different elements of railway modelling (I saw one presenter push to film one when a contestant explained what he was doing) but the time pressures of cutting 3 days of filming down to 45 minutes meant this wasn’t shown for this episode. One day when the ‘extended directors cut’ dvd is released these will be seen. Or maybe when the second season gets a 90 minute running slot.... Speaking of second series, plenty of well established TV series’ ended up looking completely different to their first episode, so don’t be surprised if it has a few issues. The exec producer had lots of ideas for how to improve it going forward so if you like it, watch it repeatedly on catch-up to take viewing figures even higher so channel 5 commission a second series. The layouts which didn’t win could be taken home on completion, the winning layout was moved to a store room in case any further filming was needed during the filming. ‘Normandy Road’ was saved and there are plans to exhibit it (we had to run a saw through the back scene to get it in a van) but we need to dedicate some time to it first. It’s incredibly heavy so we need to make it a bit more portable and the wiring and electronics will need upgrading. But we have lots of ideas for how to improve it which we want to look at. I’ve seen a lot of comments about how the hobby has been trivialised or the technical elements rushed through. The only TV show I had seen before about this was ‘The joy of (train) sets’ on BBC 4, where it was never going to attract new and young followers. When the production crew approached me at the Ally Pally show I thought it sounded like a great idea which worst case scenario might attract a few new people while not changing opinions of the hobby for the most people. Everyone I know who saw it but isn’t into modelling really liked it and I’m sure after Christmas this forum will have plenty of new members whose first posts look like ‘I watched every episode and then for Christmas I was given a train set’. New hobbyists are what the hobby needs and this is the best recruitment tool we have at the moment and I’m proud to play a small part in bringing them in. If you’re sceptical then look at how much more popular baking became after Bake off, same with ceramics after the pottery throw-down. More followers creates more demand and choice, which increases variety and drives down cost, which everyone (including manufacturers and model shops) benefit from. In summary, I’d recommend it to anyone who thinks they could do better, and to those who think they’re not at competition standard (that included me). It is a test of teamwork and planning as much as experience, techniques which require weeks to deliver the desired effect are useless- our grass mat is the epitome of the phrase ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough’.

I’ve just spent the evening trying to fit the DCC concepts zen 6 pin without luck. I bent the pins to get a better angle in the smoke box but still no joy. I think it could be the hardest steam locomotive with a socket I’ve ever had- why would they make someone remove the base of the chassis thus exposing the axles to unscrew the body? My leading axle fell out immediately, along with the piston rods from the cylinders.

Would this vehicle be suitable to work in conjunction with Gladiator? HO scale but would struggle less with loading gauge and look effectively the same. http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=MPW98665&style=&strType=&Mcode=Model+Power+98665