Foden

Just thought it'd be useful to update this for anyone who searches it in future. Buffers at both ends slot into the chassis through the body, so to separate the two you must carefully pull the buffers out, this will then release the body from the chassis.

In this instance the dates are actually 1994, and include a Mossend - Warrington, and another to Healey Mills in the same year.

If I may creep in with a sub question (apologies Rob, no hijack intended), would it be a case that a Regional or Freight service that would normally use slow lines stay on the slow lines even during quiet periods where a path is available on the main line? Because a deviation onto another business sector's line would incur additional costs? And equally, if for example an Intercity train had to use the slow lines, lets say funded by Regional Railways, would the Intercity train then fall down the priority order when it came to pathing? It would seem harsh for an RR service to incur delay over its own infrastructure due to an Intercity foreigner. Would signallers have clear instruction when this scenario were to present itself?

Just watching a class 37 related DVD and I’ve noticed that a couple of workings mentioned were Speedlink, but after 1992. I thought Speedlink ended entirely in 1991 and trains that could not be formed as block traffic lost? Think the dates were both 1993 so would be before the later ‘Enterprise’ workings post privatisation.

Give said abrasive or instrument to the mice. Work smarter, not harder!

Can't see any other fixing underneath other than the pivots for the two axles. With these removed and some persuasion the middle of the chassis does want to come away from the body, so I'm sure it's possible. It just feels stubborn at the two ends. I've levered and pulled as much as I dare without confirmation from someone who's done it that this is the way.

I bought a load of Bachmann ZDA ex OBA bauxite wagons quite cheap when they weren't shifting off shelves some time ago, with the aim of repainting the majority of them into the (often faded) dutch colours. I was hoping to be able to remove the body from the chassis to repaint by masking and airbrushing, but after a few minutes pulling and gentle levering they don't seem too willing, I thought I'd seek council on here first, do they even separate? or are they moulded as one, and I'm into the rather more tedious approach of hand painting around the chassis detail?

Lovely nostalgia! Funny you should note the lack of urgency to some of the Pullmans, it had come to my attention that some of these were a little less direct than I'd assumed they would be. During this time period I was only a fascinated young boy, watching at Nuneaton in awe as these trains roared by, but with no real knowledge of what was going where, it's so nice decades later to piece it together. Thanks for sharing!

Indeed, it's struck me just how many Pullmans and named services were scheduled to run on the WCML in '91 when the timetable I'm working from was published. Several Manchester Pullmans per day, also Merseyside Pullman, Lancashire Pullman, then various named services, Royal Scot, Devon Scot, Cornish Scot, Sussex Scot, Wessex Scot, Midland Scot, Clansman, Welsh Dragon!! Timetables now by comparison are a rather dull affair

Interesting, what might be the reason for this? Is it that London - Manchester was the flagship service, and the most lucrative market, thus being given the 'best in fleet' as it were?

Excellent info in here, many thanks. The great thing about model railways ofcourse is we're not tied to a specific point in time, maybe a window of time, but not one particular point. Without changing much atall fixed to the baseboard, I could play trains in the late 80s one day, early 90s the next, and then mid-late 90s the day after, with all the colourful variations and train formations that offers.

Quite, but alas with the way of these things, what you gain in one hand you lose in the other, by shuffling forward a little I'd lose my beloved 60s in regular service. However, I'm not glued rigid to a particular date, there's nothing to stop me merrily picking a running date roughly in the era as the mood takes me, I do love a good roarer. Now this is very fascinating, I'd never even considered this. Gives me an excuse to grab a toothpaste hoover for that 'one off' scenario every so often!

Thanks guys. Yes indeed it's a really interesting point on the line to model as there's such a diverse flow of Intercity trains between Stafford and Norton Bridge junction for the Stoke-On-Trent line. Classes 86/87/90, and HST both WC and XC sets, as well as XC 47s can all be seen with various variations of Mk3, and Mk2 coaching stock, and that's before any regional passenger traffic, freight, and engineers trains. Certainly makes for a very diverse and intense traffic flow over even a four track line. Originally my plan had been to model part of the Trent Valley line, possibly around Nuneaton, but my interest has been diverted northward for this very reason.

Cheers guys, so using Stafford as a reference point (Please correct me where I'm wrong) these would be the common formations Euston - Glasgow = Cl87/90 + Mk3 set + DVT Euston - Manchester = Cl87/90 + Mk3 set + DVT Euston - Liverpool = Cl87/90 + Mk3 set + DVT Euston - Chester/Holyhead = Electric as far as Crewe, Diesel onward (unsure on coach stock) OR HST Depending on year Euston - Blackpool = As above, except Preston rather than Crewe Paddington/Bham - Manchester = Cl47 + Short Mk2F set (No RFM, No DVT) Paddington/Bham - Liverpool = As above, except Cl86 from Bham Plymouth - Aberdeen (Devon Scot) = XC HST Set (FO, RFM, FO x4, BG) Poole - Manchester/Liverpool = Same as Paddington services, 47 stays on if going to Man, 86 added if to Liverpool My confusion is differentiating between some of the Mk2F hauled sets I've seen in photos and videos on this stretch. Some are longer sets with a Mk3 RFM, and a DVT, most of them under the power of a Cl86. What services are these likely to be on?

I have a copy of a BR Passenger timetable for Summer 1991, I'm attempting to put together a working timetable for a fictitious point on the WCML somewhere between Stafford and Norton Bridge for the same time period. Cobbling together the WCML traction is quite straight forward, but it's some of the XC services that I'm struggling with, not with timings, but with haulage, which the timetable obviously doesn't give information on Services like the Poole - Liverpool/Manchester I THINK were all in the hands of 47s and Mk2s, and I'm also pretty confident the Plymouth - Aberdeen 'Devon Scot' was at this time in the hands of XC HST sets. What I'm unsure about is haulage and stock on the services between Paddington and Liverpool and Edinburgh, can anyone help? Also did any of these XC services that used part of the WCML switch to electric traction at Birmingham during this time period?

Fantastic news, just put my pre-order in for the engineers yellow examples. Very skint, but very excited now

And alas this is where the difficulty lies I fear, in the proof. As rightly pointed out above, proof of postage and delivery is not proof of contents. Unfortunately you’d have a hard time proving in any court there was an excess in delivered items if the buyer’s stance was to disagree. I think that unfortunately, in this instance, beyond being a pain in the arse to the buyer with constant barraging of messages appealing to their good will (which in itself could even have a detrimental effect), there’s little that can be done realistically. The OP is quite right that turning up at the door is a situation best avoided. Aside from the fact that he doesn’t know this guy from Harry, nor his temperament, and the obvious physical confrontation this could bring, it also opens up the possibility of being accused of harassment. As does the threat of it, or phone calls for that matter. A bitter pill to swallow, I know, but on reflection of the limited realistic options, maybe one to take and move on from.

I feel for you, having done something very similar. However in my situation I had for sale 3x TEA tank wagons, all identical listed individually. One buyer bought one, one buyer bought two. Silly b*****s here sent the two parcels to the wrong buyers, so I ended up with a double hit of having lost one to a buyer who wouldn’t return the extra wagon (or rather, as in your case acknowledge it), and refund the other buyer for the wagon they didn’t receive. Life lesson learnt for me, but the wife will concur it left me in a foul mood for about a week.

This happened to me a couple of years ago I seem to recall. I removed the payment card with PayPal completely and then re-added it, which worked for me. Never knew what the issue was that caused it. That’s not to say this is the correct or necessarily easiest way, or even that it would work for you, but it did for me.

Depends what your budget is for repair. Sometimes the DCR 31s come up on eBay for relatively cheaper prices than searching for a replacement chassis.

There’s no replacement chassis available, you’ll have to find (a non rotting) second hand one if you wish to swap it over. You’ll also not get any help from Hornby regarding warranty replacement if that’s what you’re seeking, I’m afraid that ship sailed some time ago, which is fair enough.

Condolences to the reported two drivers killed, and those injured I’m sure details of how and why will surface in due course, it’s a horrid thing to say, and I say it carefully in respect of the lives lost, but mercifully it wasn’t worse than as has been reported.

Hi Andy, looks like an ESU Loksound V5 to my eye. You’re quite right, the cube speaker is that attached to the brown wires. These can be lengthened with suitable wire as required. Looking at the remaining wires and the pads they are soldered to I would say this is wiring for a ‘stay alive’ capacitor. Not required at all to function if you don’t wish to add one, but can help keeping the decoder, and thus sound going over dirty track or dead frog points etc. Just be sure that the bottom of the decoder isn’t shorting on the chassis if it’s snug in. A piece of tape under the decoder works fine in preventing this happening

Bachmann are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea here. Carry on with the previous format of announcing items an age away from release and the mob from the left shout heresy for the long lead times and land grabbing of options. Do as they are and adopt a more conservative approach whilst they catch up after the well documented issues, and the mob from the right shout heresy for lack of news and excitement. However I’m certain they knew they couldn’t win on this point anyway, so I’ll say fair enough to them for atleast acknowledging and responding to well talked about dissatisfaction with the way releases have been so heavily delayed over previous years. For what it’s worth Heljan also announce new products on an ad-hoc basis, and I don’t notice any concerns about the way they’ve been doing it.

Braking performance and technology has increased tenfold in recent years on HGVs and coaches. You can’t fail to be impressed at how well a new fully loaded Volvo anchors up. Levels of braking performance that light vans of ten years ago struggle to achieve.