gridwatcher

We are off on our travels with the new and extended Waddon Marsh. Appearing at ModelRail Scotland 2023 24-26th Feb at Scottish Exhibition Centre,

The scenic section has doubled in length, we have new lights, new panel and far more operational interest with coal and coke sidings, 

Hope to see some of you over the weekend. Please say hello.

The 'White Stork' has landed....Campo De Leste has migrated south of the Border to less inclement surroundings and has taken up residence (not on a cart wheel mouted on the cimney) in a prpose built railway room in Sunny Norfolk. We are still available for shows and more news and photos will follow.

Thanks

S

On 26/02/2022 at 17:25, 159220 said:

 

 

You legend @sjp23480! I have sourced S1019 for a mere £140! I would have been willing to pay £500 or €600. Picked up several other CP items at bargain prices. Temped to sell to the various shops in PT now, as the prices they command for second hand is insane! Thank you! 

we were bidding against each other..... nice to know we are all a bit mad!

Well that went errr. well? I ended up with more stuff than I bargained for, probably bid against myself at one point?? Total online auction novice and others (well known in these parts) have ended up with a truckload of bargain German/Austrian etc stuff too. Auctions are dangerous places but I am happy that I got stuff that I wanted and didn't overpay for the specific items. The stock was absolutely MINT and BOXED and in many cases RARE too. 

Campo is getting a new home in 2022. Purpose built too!. Expect a lot more action shots 'soon' including the 1550s in action. Roof is on, windows in, floor about to go down.......

I know many of you who drop in here occassionally will be sick of the 'will they ever happen' MLW messages but here we are, conclusive confirmation that in the next few weeks the MLWs will arrive and our two will be sound fitted for a mere €100 extra!? 

Meanwhile here is José's lovely picture from yesterday on the Douro. I can heartily recommend to anyone a weekend trip to Porto with loco hauled up and down the valley and plenty of super food and drink to be had. Flights are back on (Riotscare) and seem pretty cheap?! 

INCOMING....notification that the 1550s are finally nearly here. 

On 12/03/2021 at 08:37, Pillar said:

 

SLW and Accurascale are the gold standard when it comes to locos, but this Bachmann effort looks pretty impressive to me. The bogies and underframe especially look excellent and much better than the old model.

How can you say Accurascale are 'the Gold Standard' I sincerely hope they are and it all looks promising, but nothing has been delivered to UK modellers in the way of locos yet. 

16 hours ago, Waverley47708 said:

 

Sadly (I think) my mum threw out my 1985 combined edition so I lost all my records.

 

The underlined book was bought second hand, Judging by the underlines it looks to have been owned from someone in tbe South West but who must have visited Scotland.

 

I believe you! (probably) 

On 30/08/2021 at 09:40, Waverley47708 said:

Great news, have been hoping for these for a while. 

 

Bit of discussion earlier on about how often they were seen in Scotland and about allocation.  I think there was a reference to some being allocated to Scotland.  I've had a look at my 1985, 86, 87 and 88 Platform 5. There are 5 or 6 TSO allocations to Scottish locations in the 88 one.  Possibly 5 at IS and 1 at PC.

 

I've attached photos if it is of interest to anyone.

 

I may get a couple to include in my 1985/86 Cross Country portion trains as I'm sure I've seen 2b or 2c amongst DE and Fs arrivimg at Waverley back then.  And (if produced) a couple of Mk2c coaches to include in my internal Scottish services.

 

I've included the 2c in eager anticipation.

 

1985

 

 

1986

 

 

1987

 

 

1988

 

 

1988 continued

 

There's evidence there Callum, that you were taking coach numbers back then...... I can get you help if you need it! 

37 minutes ago, uk_pm said:

Latest samples from Heljan: https://www.Heljan.co.uk/post/national-grids

 

Sadly, I'm sure there's something wrong with the front end - but I can't put my finger on it.  

I was always told by my gran. "If you have nothing useful to say, say nothing"

Only just picked this up thanks to Lee. Very interesting, as this is really 'where we are at' If you know Scottish Diesel and Electric Group and layouts in OO HO and O gauge you will know that we would have 95% of all locos renumbered, detailed and generally not out of the box. Have a look at threads on Airthrey Park, Wellpark, Dalnottar Riverside, Hazelbank etc This is where the interest in the hobby lies for me, the minutiae, differences between lamp iron positions, data panels missing etc etc. I really don't want 'what everyone else has got' by and large, and will continue to renumber, detail and weather stock regardless of what it costs. I actually take a perverse pleasure in removing numbers from what is essentially a £300+ sound fitted loco to make it unique and suit our chosen location and time period. Big shout out here for the late and irreplaceable Andy Elliot and to the the thankfully still active Andrew Donnelly for being my inspiration for years..... 

1 minute ago, charliepetty said:

Now let us change this subject, as its about the new, and in my opinion brilliant Class 47 from Bachmann. 

 

The model to me is well thought out, tooled up for multiple variations, the subject and detailing differences on these locos is complex all, of which Bachmann seem have taken on board, so in my honest opinion the model and ambition of Bachmann is excellent. Its a tough world out there, so anyone with a spare One Million to waist, then get on and bring out a loco yourself.

 

This industry needs inovation & enthusiasm to move away from the Lima days, to put things in perspective I look back to when I had just started work, and steam locos were still at Holbeck (55A).  My wage was £5 Pounds, 10 Shillings & 6 Pence per week, the bus to work was 8 Pence and I started my journey into model trains.  I called at the Trainshop Supermarket in Bradford and saw a Triang TT Britannia (With spoked wheels) !!! for the same price as my wage was, so  I put down a deposit and eventually bought it.  To sum up, What is todays average wage, as the bus fare is £1.30

 

Well done Bachmann for announcing the Best loco so far (Even pegging with the SLW 24)

They should be thanked, as at the end of the day, IF its too expensive then it will not sell, but try to find a New Bachmann 47 wtth working fans, they seem to be all sold out.

 

Charlie

Best loco, after your 156 Charlie? Surely.....? 

2 hours ago, MrB said:

At least I know with the Heljan offering, that I will be able to have fitted miniature snowploughs and bufferbeam details. This doesn't appear to be an option with the latest Bachmann model going with the instructions, sample locos and accessories provided.

....add to that the ploughs are likely to actually look like the protoype unlike the £400 loco.

22 hours ago, Krieghoff said:

Does anyone know where there are any Class 47 sound deluxe models left. Rails have all sold out and i cant locate any other suppliers who have them available to pre order. Thanks. 

Try Hattons 

24 minutes ago, 61661 said:

Afternoon All,

Been busy with other projects this week, so haven't had time to get too deeply into all the various discussions. However, there seems to be some uncertainty about the spec of our new OO Class 47, so here are the headlines...

 

- Factory fitted twin speakers with sound-fitted option on all versions

- Separately switchable headcode panel, cab, tail and engine room lights

- Twin flywheels and powerful motor

- Floating centre axle (as per the old model) and outer axles powered, an arrangement renowned for its smooth running qualities

- accurate ride height on bogies

- 7x boiler roof panel options (Spanner, Clayton and Stones with plated versions of each) 

- 9x main body/end combinations initially with more planned for later batches

- Original or Serck radiator roof sections with more recent fixed rad grille designs planned

- Class 47 and Class 48 body/roof variants

- Locos with Res TDM control cables (both standard and crash repair ends) 

- Original headcode panels, 2x plated headcode panel inserts and crash repair end designs

- Original or cutaway bufferbeam cowling options for all the above

- 3x underframe tank options with more planned (with/without water tanks and with long range tanks)

- Cab front mounted or bufferbeam mounted ETH parts

- Pantograph or single arm wipers

- Round or rectangular buffers

- NRN aerials fitted as appropriate

- Intricately layered bogie detail scaled down from our O gauge model

- Highly detailed deco with individual elements for specific locos (formal and informal) where appropriate

- Plus all the other features that customers expect today - wire handrails, LED lighting, 21-pin DCC interface, speaker connection wires, etc. 

- Suggested retail price for a DCC Ready model is £219.00.

 

To give some indication of the options that will be available we're currently up to 36 different CAD versions with countless others possible just on the tooling options we have now. There will of course be others in due course, such as a Scottish 47/7. 

 

Don't forget that Heljan released its first OO Class 47s in 2001 and the model sold tens of thousands over the following 15 years, being available alongside Bachmann's 47 for most of that time without detriment to either model. Our old tooling was worn out, so we decided to replace it with a model fit for the 2020s. Our friends in Barwell have clearly come to the same conclusion and customers will have their preferences, as they did for a long time with the previous iterations. 

 

The latest OO Class 47 samples are en route to the UK now, so we'll have more information and photos for you soon, once we've checked them out. 

 

I also hope to have some good news on the Peaks shortly as well. We're as frustrated as you that these aren't out yet as most of the development work has been completed for a long time. In terms of spec, these will be similar to the Class 47 and the detail options mean we can almost customise them down to individual locos so it's a significant step forward from earlier models. 

 

Hope this helps

 

Ben

 

 

 

 

Great news Ben. I know where our money has gone in the past and feel that it's likely to be the same going forwards.... Denmark!

1 hour ago, JohnR said:

 

I'm surprised DCC uncoupling hasnt happened before now. 

 

It has. Several American outline manufacturers have dabbled with solenoid driven self uncouplers. But while that is OK for Knuckle couplers as per US outline (and a few 66 hauled wagons in UK - HTAs etc) those of us who prefer real couplings, hooks and 3 links/Screw links wouldn't thank you for increased costs and unnecessary gubbins where we don't want it.

22 minutes ago, The 158 Man said:

It's lovely to have a 'normal' Intercity Swallow 47 at last too. The previous two, whilst very nice, were clearly turned out for Royal duties and the colours weren't quite right either. So it's brilliant to have an everyday workhorse version for the front of IC XC MK2 trains.

Agree on that. Too often the tendency in the market is to go for 'Livery Tarts' & Ice Cream Vans! Makes them much harder to renumber to your choice too. I am all for bog standard un-named locos from manufacturers. That said I am sure they'll spin back and tell us that the namers, funny liveries sell better.....

Am I the only one who would like the 'purple' tints on my BR Blue 47 but couldn't give a monkeys about working fans? I am only hoping they haven't specced the purple tints on every Sound Fitted Deluxe Duff they are bringing out, because that would not be correct?

This is all good. Bachmann needed to do something to up the ante and get 'back in the game'  So  a big thanks then to Heljan, Sutton, Accurscale et al for pushing them along...... Cannot wait to see the dec samples. 

On 24/05/2021 at 07:17, Pandora said:

I'm thinking of buying  the recent Heljan 86.

Please may I enquire,

 

is there a side by side  comparison of the new retooled Heljan 86 and the original Heljan 86 or around 15 years ago, pointing out the errors?

Is there a comparison between the  35 year old Hornby 86 and the new Heljan 86?

Is the new Heljan 86  as good as the Hornby 87?

better..... the Hornby 87 has front cab shape issues and the internals are pretty hopeless for sound installation

On 21/03/2020 at 07:07, Chris Turnbull said:

Glad you like them.  Here's some more, North Elmham on 28th September 1985.

 

Chris Turnbull

 

 

 

Only 40 years ago and look what has happened since. Fingers crossed one day it will be relaid to Fakenham.

On 14/07/2021 at 17:03, Richard Croft said:

I've added a load more diecast models to my website for people who want to use something thats ready to run, mainly landrovers and small trucks etc. https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/collections/1-76-vehicles/military

 

Here's a video of some on my wagons

 

 

Rich that Desert scheme Landy Ambulance looks out of gauge to me?!