neal

Sorry James, I appear to have deleted the second image. Hope this helps, Neal

This was the original LNWR shed near Bridge St on the Blisworth to Peterborough line built in 1845, before the Northampton Loop. The triangle came later with the loop and Northampton Castle station connections to Rugby and Market Harborough. When the loop was established this became a coach shed, with a goods shed the other side of the running lines. N

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-61974881 This was Northampton’s oldest engine shed, then carriage shed. Sad news. Neal

Sadly the Network rail building based at Cotton End is currently well ablaze. Another piece of Northampton railway history most likely destroyed 🙁 Neal

Have to agree, these are stunning, and compared to the latest Dapol guards van, very good value. Beautiful packaging Ellis. Took me back to the old Hatton’s parcel and string days!!! Getting into TSW2 steam with the 8F and Jubilee, I am now really looking forward to your Stanier Black 5! Neal

The pcb is identical to the new 47, so for DCC fitting I would suggest referring to that thread. Point of note, the wires connecting bogie pickups are very tight to the aperture in the chassis. One of mine was severed, and was a bit of a faff to re-solder. Worth checking when test running or DCC fitting. When run in, these do run very well! N

These do get dirty very quickly.

Oh I see what you mean now, but I think extending the black onto the ledge disguises the fact the the windows are not angled sufficiently where meeting the ledge. Whether this was deliberate might be open to debate. N

Hi Odin, I can’t see that ‘line’ on any prototype picture - is it not meant to depict the edge of the window ‘ledge’ on what is essentially a pretty basic artwork? It was also not on Heljan’s pre-production models. 099 should be with me this week and I will judge for myself first hand. However from images viewed, the black window surround extending as a chevron onto the window ‘ledge’ appears to lessen the impact of the window ledge/angle issue. N

Rails suggest £126 N

At pushing £300 for the O Gauge, let’s hope it runs well at least! N

Delay in deploying DRS which would probably have got Leclerc past Perez was very peculiar. I am increasingly disillusioned by this sport. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but when the race can arbitrarily be controlled by the race director (i.e.FIA) this is not racing. The FIA ‘s fawning to the ‘Oil States’, and lunacy like ‘Drive to Survive’ might as well have promoted Joey Essex to a Ferrari seat - Trash. Rant over, N

Hope the roof fit issue is resolved… N

I stumbled upon this image from 2013 where the atmospheric conditions exposed the following on the slide-bars of Sir Keith Park, then at the SVR… magical:

Occasionally you find an unexplained part or piece of metal/plastic on the p-way, and have no idea from whence it came. In this case, around 3 months ago I found a chromed metal pin, around 1mm diameter and 7mm long. Convinced this was an axle for a lay shaft from some drive train, I have been waiting for one of the locos I have to grind to a halt. However, upon receipt of a new SO, one of the corridor ends was stuck in. Once fixed, I noted that the magnets which retain the bottom of the corridor connector when not in use are kept against the carriage end by two such pins. Checking my other Dapol coaches, I found one where the pin was missing, and another where the pin had come loose and was stuck on the connector magnet. Both were refixed with cyano. Little victory! The new SO is another great model. Neal

Piano man at Euston concourse playing ‘everything I own’ by Bread. Put a broad smile on my face for the first time in weeks. Will now be singing it for days….. Neal

I have a couple of 122’s and a 121. All Dapol dcc fitted. All have had lengthy sessions on the rolling road, and generally sound and run smoothly when running on rollers, however none are great when on track. When on the rollers, start at the lowest speed and see whether wheels start and rotate similarly as you accelerate. If this is not the case, the bemf will most likely cause problems. Lengthy running in did improve matters for me, but still does not result in perfect running. Wheel clean and lube check also worth a go, one of my 122’s was bone dry… Sadly, Dapol’s support for their decoder is not great. There is scant information with the model, and pdf’s on their website are ambiguous. There appear to be 3 versions of the imperium decoder but there is no definitive CV list posted for the newest version (which appears to be the one installed). It would be useful to have a run with bemf turned off. There is really no need for this model to have had 2 motors fitted, it’s a shame that this feature appears to have caused issues for several owners. I have one issue which is that one of the 121 head code box lights does not function. Given the fact that Functions work differently between 122 and 121 models, I am struggling to fathom whether this could be a decoder issue. Neal

Has this model quietly been shelved following recent unpleasantness? N

That thought had crossed my mind. I asked Chris, but the original cabs were sent back to Hong Kong such that detail parts could be removed for the replacements. I think my order is nearer the end of the queue, so I may have to wait a while for the one I ordered. Still looking forward to it arriving. N

Having just contributed to the Titgate thread, I feel like it…

Sorry, that should have said ‘inspired by the film ‘The Ladykillers’ box set’. I assume that others already have the rights for this one… N

How about a Ladykillers box set, a massive box of run down Northeastern loco types (most of which are already in the Hornby range) with some badly moulded figurines including a wheel barrow, some parrots and a horse and cart (with sounds including Victorian street organ and man shouting ‘where’s my ‘orse?’) I am sure they could pass off some old Skaledale as the lopsided house. Ample opportunity for their new loco smoke system. N

Perhaps they took legal advice from Mr Jones….

In my advancing years, I now celebrate my birthday in terms of diesel Loco TOPS codes. This year is my ‘Western Class’ year and my present was a Manning Wardle from Minerva. This is a little gem, and was delivered in good time as a gift from my wife (with a couple of wooden Minks). I went for DCC ready and, with a GM next18 decoder in hand, unscrewed the three fixings holding the body to the chassis. The body loosened but then wedged tight, requiring significant force to release it. I had to very carefully lever the chassis from the underside of the running plate at either end. The soft handle of my trusty long-nosed pliers was ideal for this. The tight spot appears to have been caused by the two pipes passing through the footplate which run from above around the tank and underside of the boiler (these can be seen above). When I got the body off, these could be seen to be slightly squashed with witness marks on the chassis casting (to the underside of the boiler). Thankfully, the only damage caused by this extraction was the reversing rod, which had become unglued from the side of the footplate opening (there is a recess for this attachment such that this is clear of the chassis block) - this was simply re-glued. The decoder was a simple fit, however in refitting the body shell it was clearly going to again be a tight squeeze, with risk of breaking the pipes as the chassis fitted through the hole in the body running plate. I considered cropping the pipes clear of the hole, however first tried filing the pipes flatter, such that some clearance would be gained. This proved successful, and with a satisfying pop, the body was re-fitted and no further damage occurred. As others have noted, this model runs beautifully, and was great with default decoder settings. I now have to search out my stash of nameplate castings from Hudswell and Victory to see if there is a suitable candidate for this model… No doubt this is a great model, and whilst my life would have made been easier if I had clicked on the Dcc fitted or sound versions, I am very happy with this loco. Having seen Paul Chetter’s video of the class 14, I am sorely tempted to pre-order one of these (if there are any still available). Thanks to Chris and the team at Minerva in getting this to me very quickly after the Christmas break. Neal

With the final models now in stock, that for Mallard appears to have ‘polished’ rims to all wheels. These look great. Does this mean that the front bogie wheels are (part) painted, or of different design. I remember Hattons saying that the plastic used on the A3 bogie wheels could not be painted. From Hattons website: I have one on its way via the North Pole. Neal