Steadfast

Try Bachmann spares website, and if its not on there, send them an email? They normally reply quickly. Jo

In 2019, 60055 was fresh out the box and so were the wagons. DCR did run with silver ones mixed into their bright blue ones, until the rest of their batch was delivered. As Mike says, the DCR blue ones are brighter than the "standard" navy blue VTG general lease boxes. Jo

When I did similar to a 47, I used some scrap brass etch fret, maybe 6 - 8 mm long, drilled one end to take the PCB mounting screw. The wire was soldered to this brass tab. Jo

Good spot! The lift and B.O. is on the wagon, but in a different position. The Balanced Maintenance should be next to the Lift and B.O., as the Balanced Maintenance replaced the annual dates. These wagons have lots of variations in sticker positioning, but the Lift/ B.O. and Balanced Maintenance should be together, so one of the two elements needs moving Jo

Adam, just noticed on the samples the Balanced Maintenance sticker on the Hanson wagons is too wide. It's nearer to square on the real things. Is it too late to adjust that? Pic linked from Flickr. Other than that, those samples look rather tasty! Jo

Absolutely. That's the light orange rust colour after a day or two of inactivity. Brand new cheek plates can be a red oxide or black colour depending on manufacturer, but this coating wears off quickly, much like surface rust, after an application or two. Jo

Well, it gave me something to do while travelling on the 165 getting back from today's job. Jo

And don't forget NR's favourite phrase when something goes wrong... "Lessons will be learned" So superficial, it makes me squirm whenever I hear it. Jo

Should you need to bolster numbers, don't forget pairs of outers in the middle of a set, coupled buffer to buffer are common to see Jo

66001 and 66002 both have screw couplings and class 59 style buffer beams, including the different position of the front tie downs. Both were delivered with maroon grills. 001 lost then when it went red. 002 retains them to date. The reflective stripe on this pair is also different to the other EWS locos. The only difference between 001 and 002 as delivered was the position of the lamp bracket, which on 001 was in the class 59 position, but moved to match the others. 66001 shows class 59 style dragbox with vertical holes either side of the coupler aperture. This is the same as 002. 001 lost the top two tie downs when it had the tripcock pipework for the Met lines fitted. 66002, still got all its tie downs and maroon grills. Not a particularly recent photo, but they were still maroon a week or two back. The front tie downs on the rest are in two styles, 66003 - 66200 are wide spaced, 66201 - 250 are narrow spaced. The narrow spaced locos had buckeyes fitted at the factory, the wide spaced were modded in the UK. Wide spacing on 154. Left pair cut off to fit the buckeye, and area patch painted. Once the spacing changed to narrow, all other 66s also had the narrow spacing. From memory it's only the early Freightliner locos (501 - 505) that have the narrow spacing. Everyone ordered their locos later so got the narrow spacing. 66533 illustrates the narrow spacing. Hope that's of interest Jo

It's a support wagon for a Volker Rail livery Kirow crane. The container is in matching livery. This picture from flickr shows the sort of thing. You'll have a container flat or two each side of the crane, carrying counterweights, lifting beams etc and the maintenance container. Each crane has its own support wagons, that unless on a worksite are never split from the crane. The whole lot stays together. Jo

Wow that looks fantastic Rob. I'm glad I did the 3 different grills, because on the computer I'd have gone with darkest one, but it shows how there's an element of art and experimentation to see how the colours come out. I'm sure it says in the instructions, but I recommend several light coats of varnish over the transfers. I've been known to rush and be heavy handed, ending up causing them to react slightly. Moral of that story - don't rush things! Jo

Yeah that's 66105. 66086 was down in the depths of the Up Yard yesterday night. It started the day outside the driver's cabin though, next to the station. From memory I think the 70 outside the Elephant House was 803 yesterday. 67027 is the other end of the Elephant House, and 67023 is inside. Jo

I'd love to, I'll have next week's numbers and you can have the week after. I know night shifts make days merge together, but I've got no excuse other than fat fingers in this case sadly! Jo

Just to complete the set, here's 66004 for a third time, here waiting to go to London, as mentioned in my previous post. Not quite live from the scene, but not far off! Loco of the week, 66004 in its green Climate Hero livery sits on Westbury's Up Reception at W207 waiting to go to Acton with 6M47. The traffic comes from Whatley, and serves the Quattro concrete plant at Acton. Jo

It arrived Saturday on 0O12 from Margam. It's had varied week of ballast, yard shunts Tytherington and road learning and is Acton bound on 6M47 later, well technically early hours of tomorrow. From there, it could end up back here, on the Severnside bins, staying in the London area or going north on the Tinsley mud train, plus probably other options I've forgotten! I'm hoping it does the bins Monday or Tuesday next week. Jo

Thank you Phil, definitely glad I had the proper camera with me that night as I knew 004 was in. Don't think the phone would've managed the same. Jo

A couple from the Up Yard of 66004. 24/2/24 The yard lighting is taking over as the last of the day's light from the sun fades away over Westbury. Sitting in the Up Yard is green 'Climate Hero' 66004, which after a week in Wales working steel trains arrived on 0O12 with 66112, just in shot to its left. 66004 would next work 6W03 to Keynsham, which after running round at Bristol East Depot DGL would drop ballast between St Anne's and Oldfield Park. 27/2/24 Making the most of the green machine with another shot while it's down here, here's Climate Hero 66004 sat atop 4C95 for Tytherington. There's another twenty odd wagons out of view behind the weighbridge cabin, it's not quite the lightweight train it appears. The train will load for Appleford and run there as 6A08, before returning to Westbury in the evening. Jo

24/2/24 59003 is seen about to depart Westbury Down Yard with its first train while on hire from GBRf to Colas. The working, 6C21 to Truro, was taking 3 Kirow cranes to Cornwall for use in the resignalling works that would see a large number of the county's semaphore signals consigned to history. The 59 would return light loco as 0C21 the following day. Jo

Big day for the future of the WRC today. Hybrid will be gone from next year, leaving the Rally1 cars to be engine only. Rally2 cars can be fitted with a kit to make then faster and be Rally2+. How close will the 2 classes be I wonder? 2025 could be very interesting indeed. https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/unraveling-the-wrcs-big-decision-day/ https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/hybrid-ditched-as-part-of-major-wrc-regulation-change/ Jo

Didn't the Horner story first leak out in the Netherlands? Talking about this at work tonight, since Dietrich Mateschitz died, there have been rumours of a Red Bull power struggle and the Verstappen camp not being happy. Has Jos been feeding the trolls press? Jo

One from Sunday from me. Quick race down to the local station as I'd forgotten about this and remembered at the last minute. Screaming well as the driver gives it some more power, 56113 passes Keynsham working 6C97 Llandeilo Jn - Westbury with an empty RDT. 70803 was on the rear. Jo

Hi Rob, They look great in place, really pleased they fit well. It's always exciting seeing the little part I've helped to make other people's projects come together. I like Tamiya sprays a lot. So long as you don't go too heavy, and keep the can warm to keep the pressure up (do you know the warm water trick?), they're super reliable. They're varnishes are my go to these days, much easier than trying to clean clear paint you can't see out of the airbrush. Jo

Well since you ask... ...Please shrink it to a sensible scale 😉 then: A long lived Colas machine (maybe 094 or 087) since they cover most of the 2010s as well as 2020s up to date modellers. Also there's renumbering potential if you pick the right loco. 56091 or 103 in debranded white livery as used by DCR. Jo

I believe (and my Scottish geography is patchy at best) that the Weat Highland line is one of those that requires RETB signalling equipment. If so it'll be a loco from the GBFM pool, 66733, 736, 737, 739, 740, 743 and 746. None of these match the GB model being done by Revolution at the moment, as they have the second style "bug eye" round head lights. I believe some, if not all, the ex DRS 66/3s now with GB have RETB fittings too, certainly 66304 did when I was on it a few weeks back. Whether there is portable kit that can be used to allow other locos to venture up there I don't know, it's not something we use round here. Jo