Steadfast

Idea for your next project... ...shrink that lovely 56 by approximately 50% Perhaps include an older Colas machine and an ex Fertis plain white DCR one, if I'm being really greedy! Jo

Revised Hyundai livery from Sweden on. Definite improvement for me. Simple colour blocks, styled to match the panel lines and shapes of the car. https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/hyundai-makes-surprise-wrc-livery-change/ Jo

Forgive my dopiness there, I had the headcodes back to front earlier, thinking it was the Alpha you were referring to. Unless one has sprung up since last Wednesday, I can confirm there are no TSR/ ESRs on the Down in that area. IETs are definitely not speedy on diesel. When road learning in them, one driver likened the performance on diesel to a 158 if you have a good IET. Jo

The time loss at Newbury in Up direction currently is because everything is being routed through the platform instead of using the centre road, dropping to 40 mph as a result. Jo

On BR locos its pretty much standard that the radiator is no. 1 end. More recent builds from overseas tend to be the reverse, with 59, 66, 70 etc having the radiator no. 2 end, as is the American standard. Jo

Nice catch. 66097 has it, one side only. 66111 had it on the gold band both sides, I'm not sure of the remnants remain or if its all peeled off now. Jo

Certainly word doing the rounds down here tallies with it going onto the bulky (6M40 / 6V14). I can't see the logic of hiring it over a 66, unless GB did it for a really good price. A standard 66 can do 6M40/ 6V14, or cover something else freeing up a 70. There's driver training and fitter training to consider, and it's hardly the most reliable of things either. Here's one of 003 after being shutdown over the weekend, on a cold Monday morning. 59003 does its best impression of a class 56 as it attempts to smoke out Westbury. Sat in the New Sidings, the loco would later work 0O41 to Eastleigh. 005 back in September Since Freightliner took over the Mendip contract, Class 59s on the Avonmouth stone have been a rarity. 59005 is seen dodging the shadows at Newton St Loe, working 6C68 Avonmouth - Whatley, having taken another train load of stone for the construction of Hinkley Point power station. A couple of years back, the Mendip wagon fleet was largely silver or grey, the silver, maroon and blue mix still takes some getting used to. Jo

66s are both headlights together, with the markers remaining steady. Don't know about other types. Jo

As @Wheatleyand @stewartingram said the flash is to prolong battery life. They flash at 2 Hz (so twice a second) and are only lit for a small portion of the half second cycle, so would have a significantly longer battery life than a steady battery lamp. Most model tail lamps fail to replicate the distinctive look of the the flash. Once you've noticed it, it makes many models look wrong. Jo

As daft as the name is, the livery isn't terrible and the blue harks back to the Toro Rosso days, a livery I liked. Jo

Nice progress to date Rob, the trailer is definitely looking a lot less European now. As mentioned, I've been doing the decals for this project for Rob. I always find custom projects like this a bit of fun, and a step outside my comfort zone! The will be going off to print shortly, Rob supplies me with a research pacakge which I work from, with back and forth discussion through the development. I look forward to seeing them applied, especially seeing how that grill comes out for real. It is hand rendered from scratch, with graphic effects to create the shadows and recesses. Jo

If you do some more green sleepers Adam, can you take a look at the artwork please. Relative to the green HST, the printing is vertically stretched meaning they don't match. Very noticeable if you put them side by side, say if you wanted to use a TGS vice BFO, or a buffet with the sleepers. Jo

You have my sympathies! Having seen how bad the Bristol starters are at Bath, I can well imagine what something from further south west was like. 1A77 is another one that loads rather well. It was cozy as a 9 car previously, but now seems to be booked 5. A Plymouth starter, every time I've used it the last few months it's been standing from Westbury. It feels a little ungrateful complaining about something I'm on many occasions not paying for (travelling on a duty pass for work) and it feels bad enough travelling on some of these services, but I can't imagine how it feels having spent potentially hundreds on a ticket to travel sat on your suitcase in the vestibule or getting cozy with a stranger stood 6 inches away, but some of these crush loadings are an accident waiting to happen. There is definitely a contrast between busy and quiet services, and obviously a train does more than one trip across its diagram so a 9 car that works a peak crush loading could come back with mostly fresh air, however when they are busy, these things are ridiculously busy. The more I travel on IETs, the more I dislike them. Hard ride, hard seats, harsh overly bright interior lighting and luggage racks you hit your head on for starters. It's been interesting to hear the views of drivers when I've been up the front road learning, and it sounds like a set with no faults is a noteworthy event! Jo

To take one set in isolation, last night I travelled back from London on a 9 car, 18.36 ex Paddington for Exeter. Not standing, but very full in my coach. Think it's possibly the last west of England before off peaks can be used, which may affect how popular a service it is. Anyway, fine on electric, after Newbury losing a fair chunk of time, not helped by the fact it stops everywhere after Newbury. Announcement by the guard, only got 2 (out of 5) engines working, so it would terminate Westbury, with the following fast stopping additonally at Westbury to mop up the people needing to carry on west. Thankfully, Westbury was my stop. People for Castle Cary were miffed as rather than add an extra additional call on the IET that was picking them up at Westbury, they were told to travel to Taunton and come back to Cary in a taxi. No doubt a discussion for another thread! Back to the capacity comments, the mid morning starters from Bristol are regularly full by Bath, and full and standing from Chippenham or Swindon, and that's with the booked 9 car set. If a 5 turns up...good luck! Jo

As Bernard mentions previously, the shape of the Farish Mk3 is better than the Dapol one. If they'd have tooled new bogies, and done the sleeper in FGW blue I'd have bitten. Not a lot for me this time (thankfully he says, most definitely not a whinge!) allowing the wallet a rest. Though the WCRC FOs are handy to go with the previous releases, especially since one has the wife's name on it so hopefully that'll earn some brownie points! Jo

1L13 (09.5 something off Cardiff, forms the 10.24 from Bristol Parkway) and it's connected down working is booked a pair of 387s. There's also one working in the afternoon, about 15.30 at Parkway heading west from memory, that is a pair of 387s, or at least it was reliably a couple of weeks back. Both of these call at Didcot (hence me travelling on them vice IET - a more comfy seat and a less harsh ride), since the timetable change in December it seems less via Bath services call at Didcot, but more South Wales ones do. Jo

If what I've been told is correct (and I have no reason to doubt my source) they still produce the same number of locos, but do half with one number and half with the other, so other than switching some of the tampo printing setup, there's a negligable impact on manufacturing slots. It's why we've seen 'A' suffix runs of recent releases so close behind the initial releases in the last year or so, like the Farish 158s and 90s. Jo

Anywhere that remote wouldn't need one of these anyway, it'd be a shunt with the train loco type location. Any yard big enough to need a permanent shunting loco, would have grid connections for floodlights, cabin facilities etc already. Jo

Sauber ready for Audi in 26? Jo

Really interesting, thank you! Jo

Interesting about Southall there Mike, and the reasoning behind them. I was thinking I couldn't picture any at Southall itself, and checking the maps doesn't show any, but Southall yard has main aspects on certain roads so is this the fixed reds now upgraded to 3 aspect? Hanwell loops still have fixed reds, was this part of the same scheme? Its Interesting getting started away from there on the dots, with the next main aspect (that protects the Up Relief) at red and a unit whizzing past on the Up Relief. By the time we're rolling, the unit has long gone and the junction protecting red has stepped up, that process allowing us to get moving sooner and get into a smaller gap between units than had the fixed red been the main aspect protecting the Relief, if that makes sense. Jo

Peaks are well outside my modelling window, but an interesting discussion as it could shape future projects too. The best argument for having the handrails moulded as part of the bodyshell I can give is the Farish 66. The original 4 door bodyshell has beautifully fine handrails, approximately scale size. The later 5 door "low emission" locos feature wire handrails that stick out way too far, have a diameter no N scale hand could wrap round and just look crude by comparison. 2 pictures below, both linked from Flickr. Sometimes I feel models use wire handrails and etched components not because then end result looks more like the prototype, but because its an extra on the feature bullet points. The first releases of the new Farish 31s had chunky etched roof grills for example, but the later refurbished shells changed to moulded, which is much finer and in scale. I say look at each prototype on its merits and decide from there. As to the question of the Peaks, I'd go for moulded as they convey the correct flat appearance of the handrails on a 44. I assume they're a separate moulded part looking at the CAD. Would they look finer if moulded as part of the bodyshell, and picked out white in decoration? Just to remind us all what a 44 handrail actually looks like here's a picture linked from Flickr. To me that's the clearest evidence yet not to use wire on the 44s - the shape of the real handrails! Jo

Wow they look great Mark! Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed them. Good job hiding the damage - I can't spot it! I can't guarantee I'll have stock because of the short run nature of the product, but if ever anyone has an issue with damage drop me a message and if I can help, I'll do what I can. Sometimes I have bits of development sets knocking about for example. Jo

Yes, T1779 at Tilehurst is an example. Trains run into the bi - directionally signalled Up Relief platform in the Down direction up to the red, as normal the driver changes ends. The difference being the main aspect can only show red. It is to allow moves to access Reading depot by reversing in the station. The Down Main at Maidenhead has a similar setup, a fixed red in the Up direction of travel. As for shunt signal naming, definitely dummies on my part of the Western Region. I've only heard dollies used by drivers with backgrounds in the Midlands. Jo

The set back lights up the bank towards Dilton Marsh are still existent and certainly a year or so back were still functional, despite radios having taken over. When pressing the button outside the shunters cabin, a light illuminates for the shunter confirming W699 and W705 are both off, and the set back move can begin. At the same time the set back lights illuminate. These days the shunter then starts walking into the yard, calling the train back on the radio, though presumably pre radio they stayed put with their finger on the button. The set back lights extinguish when the button is released. Jo