Neil

On 06/12/2023 at 16:30, Neils WRX said:

.... Do want to get to the bottom of the WiFi issue as that was a bit annoying. ....

 

 

I'm sure that I have read somewhere (on the internet) of others experiencing wifi issues at exhibitions where home use was faultless. The thought was the cause might be interferance from other layouts in the hall also using wifi. Sorry I can't offer any more as I'm no expert in either dcc or wifi.

Likewise here in Wales. Next week Mrs R and I will roll up at our local station, get on the train and buy returns to York from the guard/conductor using our two together railcard. 

I wonder what other TOCs which serve unstaffed stations do? 

I recommend Night Trains by Andrew Martin available from Simon at Titfield Thunderbolt here, with a review by the Guardian here in case you need further persuasion.

Ah a wishlist, could I have peace and justice in the middle east, that rather aggressive Mr Putin to wind both his neck and troops back in and governments the world over to get serious in combatting climate change so the lovely Fairbourne Railway doesn't need to bulk buy snorkels for its passengers. Thank you.

17 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

.... Given the alternative, why should anyone even bother to look any further at this?

Bernard

Because it's always a good idea to keep an open mind. It does seem a bit silly to jump to a decision before both models are out there and a fair comparison can be made.

15 hours ago, john new said:

With card you often need to put paper onto both sides to stop the warping.

Ah yes, I was a bit surprised to find it happened on plasticard too.

A false start and a bit of a rethink have happened over the last few days. Using PVA to stick the paper print outs of the DVLR station building to plasticard set of some warping, pesumably as the paper shrunk.

I remembered that years ago I bought in some self adhesive printer paper so after some difficulty (printing on the backing rather than the self adhesive paper) I got a full set of print off that I could peel and stick to the plastic. Result, all has stayed flat and level.

Cutting out the tracery is a bit of a faff requiring good levels of concentration so I only do a bit per session. It's difficult to see if the cut out panels are level and in line from the front but turn the sheet over and checking is much easier.

I'm about half way through the process now so it's not a rapid technique but it is very satisfying seeing the characteristic design emerge. The walls will be good practice for the doors and windows which will be even more fiddly. It strikes me that this building would be a natural for laser cutting but the customer base would be pretty limited.

Finally on Friday night's running session the new Thomas based loco was paired with the two carriages hacked from Tomy trackmaster Annie and Clarabel. Really quite please with the ensemble.

Oh dear, wrong sort of pannier tank.

You're most welcome, Elaine has always been really helpful and pleasant to deal with.

On 05/10/2023 at 18:57, kelsh003 said:

Hi folks, hope everyone is well.

 

Looking to try and get a body for a Bachmann J72 of my fathers. Loco runs fine but the lining and numbering is peeling off, and would love to surprise him with a fresh body. If anyone has one they are willing to sell then please let me know.

 

The loco is 31-050A, a split-chassis model, not the earliest example though, from the old-style Bachmann blue box and the image of the loco in the window. It is LNER 8680, although if someone has a body in the Joem/BR Apple Green livery I would not be adverse to that.

 

My preference though is for the LNER green as 8680. Will attach images of the loco in question.

 

Thanks to anyone that can help.

A bit late, you may already have sourced a body, but there's what looks to be a tidy example (poor runner) for sale at Elaine's Trains here.

It's the backscene that's causing difficulties with the colouring. Looking at the painting that inspired the colours and the photo that accompanies it, the sky is pale, lighter than the buildings, whereas in the model the background is significantly darker than the buildings. I would want the drama to be in the buildings, so would alter the sky but as ever these things are a personal choice and it would be a dreary world if we all thought the same and made the same choices.

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Glasgow/Edinburgh! ....

Quite, if structured properly they could pick up in the North and the Midlands on their way to the continent. Obviously it would all be far easier if we were still in the EU and Schengen, or like Switzerland just in Schengen. Save lots of faffing around, red tape, queues and the loss to the economy. Ah well, a chap can dream .....

15 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

....   Stratford might not be a bad alternative within London but could they run to/from somewhere out of London?  ....

Regional Eurostars back in favour? Leeds, Manchester and/or Birmingham?

On 10/11/2023 at 23:05, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

Looking at the loco above, I think it may be better to ditch the body altogether, hang a 4 wheel bogie off the back and build a new body (freelance) A nice mid Victorian 0-6-4T, Along the lines of a Southern 'J' class.

 

manna

Yes I can see where you're coming from but this was always intended to be a quick and dirty project. I wondered before I bought the raw materials whether I could use a cut down chassis (to a four coupled one) as the basis for a sort of Metro tank look-a-like using a Triang Nellie/Polly/Connie body. This is unlikely to happen now and the red one has gone off to ebay.

Well, I'm going to call it done or at least I will once I fix the couplings back on. Again here it is in the company of an unmolested version of the Bachmann 'junior' loco.  

Here's its more likely companion, my attempt at taking away some of the toy from Hornby's ever popular Smokey Joe. Though pictured on my Belgian layout this pair are destined for the light railway section of Northern Town.

This thing started off as one of those Bachmann Junior locos which in turn were spawned from their Thomas. I managed to take 2.5mm out of the height of the body which (I think) has improved the proportions of the loco. There's a separate thread here about how it was done.

I've done a little more finessing and faffing particularly around the bunker top so thought it maybe time to post a before and after picture.

More filling and sanding has happened, the rear cab spectacles now have bars protecting the glass (a Mainly Trains etch) and an Airfix pug coupling pivot now forms the base for safety valves which will now line up along instead of across the boiler. Left to do,  fabricate a mount for the front coupling and apply some paint.

Well the the t*rd progresses. Actually t*rd is more than a little unfair when you consider that for twenty quid you end up with a nice running loco albeit one with slightly bizarre proportions.

So why have I spent money and time on this when I could be making more structures for Northern Town or fashioning further rolling stock with greater scale pretensions? Well there's something rather satisfying in taking an item that on the face of it has little going for it and by effort, ingenuity and sharp knives turning it into something moderately presentable. While it will always score zero for authenticity, freelance creations can have charm and whimsey and I think the world is a better place for such stuff. 

So what have I done since the last update? I've concentrated the plastic surgery to the outer ends, nose and booty if you will. At the front I've shortened the smokebox back to the saddle and at the rear the coal rails have been cut off and the cab rear spectacle plate extended down.  Still a way to go but I think all the big stuff is done.

4 hours ago, n9 said:

Good stuff! It is similar! I might have to try soldering the rails together, although doing it on a smaller scale fills me with trepidation. .....

I don't think it should do; the rail section will be smaller and you'll need to put less heat into the joint and there'll be less heat to dissipate after the joint is made.

I do something similar in OO for things like diamond crossings or sharp radius (set track) points where there is no live frog alternative.

I can't say I'm a fan of unifrogs, I haven't used any but the appearance of the insulated sections leading away from the frog grates quite a bit. 

Good grief, what's happening here?

Some time ago I bought a pair of Bachmann junior locos the demobbed Thomas ones, one green, one red. Why? Well I was rather taken with George Dent's model of Bess, based on one of these critters and I rather fancied having a go myself. This weekend I introduced the green one to a variety of sharp and abrasive implements with the results seen above. Though I liked George's model I felt it still looked a bit like it was on tip toes so I wondered if it would be possible to reduce the height of the thing. There's also a low bridge on the light railway section of Northern Town where this little blighter is destined for. To do this the motor has to be fixed to the chassis rather than to the body, as Bachmann designed it.

In the end this turned out to be fairly easy to do by building up mounting blocks on the running plate and fixing the motor and gear casing to them. Quite a bit of the motor casing had to be chopped and ground away to clear a lowered body. The dropped section of footplate was cut away and the buffer beam solvent welded to the remains; there are splice plates underneath.

The body was set out on a plate glass slab and a line 2.5mm (ish) scribed around the base which was then cut and filed away. The tank cut outs and splashers  were cut out and replaced with sections of 40thou plasticard.

You will notice that I've opened out the cab sides and filled in the strange slot between cab opening and spectacle plate. The cab front spectacles have been opened out too.

Inside the body moulding the motor fixing lugs have been ground away as has the mounting under the smokebox.

Finally for now, here's the result of all this butchery next to the full height red one.

A word of caution re. Halfords lacquer. I use it (satin and matt) I like it but it does seem to react with some early Bachmann lining and lettering where I suspect transfers have been used. It doesn't seem to cause problems with Pressfix, Modelmaster or my own home made waterslide efforts.

OOooo, a wishlist, how unexpected. 

Can I have a Furness Railway  2-2-2 well tank, Aerolite, a standard gauge Motor Rail Simplex and a Scenecraft DVLR small station building please.

Splendid.