Dave Holt

You're knocking them out like shelling peas! Shouldn't take too long to do the other 186. Seriously, the re-wheeling RTR route appears to be the solution to populating the layout. The track on Barrow Road is obviously smooth enough not to need working suspension on locos, despite the scale flanges. Are you planning the same approach for Black 5's? I presume they were also a mainstay of the services past the shed? I believe the Hornby model to be very good, subject to a couple of bodywork improvements round the front end. Dave.

Looks like some excellent progress being made. The 3D printed details are very impressive. Dave.

David, You're quite right to be pleased with the way things are going. The running is excellent and the track holding exemplary and a wonderful advert for P4. Wish mine was always that good! Just a couple of thoughts. Are you intending to put any edging strips on the runs round to the cassette yard - a derailment on those sections would end in catastrophe. It looks as if the glazed central portion of the main station building has distorted somewhat, compared with previous photos of it. Or is that just an optical illusion? Dave.

David, The clamps look very useful and you've obviously put them to good use straight away. The station building is coming along nicely. I take it the facing point lock is going to be hidden under a protective ramp, or are you going to use the detailed Ambis locking unit? Dave.

Good luck with the conversion. The brake gear will presumably need some adjustment, especially with the outside pull rods? Dave.

Wow! Cover of MRJ - some accolade. I thought there might be an article about your magnificent 9F but it turned out to be the shed building - still very impressive. Dave.

Looks very impressive, as the basic structure. I'm sure the time spent in creating the Turbocad files has been more than offset by the speed of production and accuracy. Looking forward to seeing it develop into the finished article. Dave.

Lovely modelling, Andrew. Must have been one heck of a rough shunt, though. Dave.

Mmm. I think the running line point into the loop should have a facing point lock and blade detectors, too. Possibly also a locking bar? Perhaps you already have this planned for when you do the point rodding? Ambis do a nice etched representation of the FPL and bits for the locking bar. Here's how I used the Ambis bits to represent an ex_LNWR arrangement on my layout. Dave.

Very nice, David. I think details like working ground signals really help bring a layout alive. Just a couple of observations, if I might? Can you alter the speed of operation using the MERG servo control? The movement from seems a bit abrupt in the video. Also, there appears to be rather a wide spacing between sleepers just in advance of the ground signal. Dave.

David. That's looking very nice indeed. You must be well pleased with how it's coming along. Happy new year to you, too. Dave.

Looking good Robin. I do like the LM sprung tender chassis. Dave.

Don't know about different rivet head diameters, but I found on my P4 pointwork (constructed by someone else), I had to grind away all of the exposed rivet heads to get the (Exactoscale) chair haves to fit snugly up against the rail. Dave.

John, A small change but a big improvement. Dave.

No idea what it is or what it does, but looks suitably complicated. Dave.

David. The layered static grass looks very effective. The shots of the layout are wonderful and you are certainly capturing the atmosphere and look of a country railway. Does look like a bit of vacuuming of the track might be required. Dave.

I built a High Level chassis (in EM for Pendon, body by Guy Williams) for a pannier and can say it went together very well indeed. Dave.

David. I see you managed to pick this model up at a very good price, but I suspect it was originally much more expensive. Bearing that in mind, the Bachmann locos stand up pretty well in comparison. Dave.

David, Those are pretty cruel enlargements and, to my eyes at least, it looks a very fine model. I was very impressed by how well your re-wheeled Jubilee ran on Barrow Road - better than my Brassmasters based version, much to my dismay. It goes to show that provided the track is well made and laid, simple conversions to P4 can work reliably and smoothly. Dave.

All looking very impressive, indeed. I had been wondering if the walls had a plinth, seeing the stone work finish short of the bottom of the door openings. Looking forward to seeing further progress, Dave.

Can't be a WD - the eccentric rod has a roller bearing at the return crank. The expansion link support is wrong for an 8F. Something Eastern, perhaps? Dave.

Very nice, Robin. I didn't know those brackets are called holderbats. Never too late to learn something new. Dave.

Dave. Yes, you're right. The twin beams rest on top of the axle-boxes when they are in their mid position. I would reduce the parts of the beams which rest on the boxes to slightly less width than the axle box and radius the bearing faces so that the beams do not try to tilt the axle-boxes in their horn guides when the beams tilt. You may need to put a slight set in the beams so that they just clear the inside face of the horn guides and do not rub on them. Use a spacer tube to hold the beams apart and close to the frames. You need a very small amount of clearance to minimise friction, but not so much slop that the ends of the beams can come off the top of the axle-boxes. I hope this doesn't sound too complicated because you'll find it fairly straight forward in practice. Dave.

Dave. I have two 2-6-4 tanks - a Fairburn (DJH) and a Stanier (Gibson) in P4. The Fairburn, one of my first locos has a fixed, driven (Portescap) front axle and a single compound rocking beam arrangement for the rear two coupled axles and the centre of the rear bogie. The Stanier has a better, and in my view, simpler arrangement of twin beams for the front and centre (driven (Portescap)) axle and a single beam for the rear coupled axle and the bogie centre. In both locos, the front truck is sprung. If I were to make another 2-6-4, I would definitely use the same arrangement as the Stanier tank although, to be fair, they both hold the track as well as each other. The fixed axle on the Fairburn does make it lurch on bad rail joints, whereas the fully floating Stanier glides over. Hope this helps. Dave.

David, Your trial post and signal assembly look very good. Being able to print the lamp and bracket integral with the post must be a great advantage of this method of production. Signals are yet another aspect of railway infrastructure that helps place a layout, both geographically and in time, even when no stock is present. Mind you, it wouldn't help me place your layout as I have no knowledge of railways of that area. Looking forward to seeing further examples as they come along. Dave.