SRman

The cutting and hacking continues! I found I had rather more pieces than I originally expected to cut down on the piers because of the brick overlay panels on the sides. I worked out that I needed to remove eight courses of bricks from each panel and side to get the correct height. However, I did stuff up one of the inner sides by miscounting and removing nine courses! Still, it doesn't seem to have weakened the structure at all and I can easily fill the gap and weather it as it will be mostly hidden anyway - it can be seen on the far side of the pier in the first photo. Of course, I will have six more arches to do this way when the main viaduct kits arrive - I ordered another two from the Miniatur Wunderland shop to follow the first two, making a seven arched viaduct in all, when I'm done!

Beaten to it!! I was going to suggest Blu-Tack or equivalents. I used a black equivalent to hold all of mine in place; it means they are less prone to getting dislodges when handling the loco. I also copied what someone earlier did; that is, I scored the back of one of the panels one of the central ones in my case) and bent it outwards slightly to resemble a panel that has just got left at an outward angle a little, like those I have seen in a good many photos.

For the viaduct section I have bought some Scalescenes print-it-yourself viaduct files but I am never entirely happy with the lack of relief in paper/card kits, at least for the longer term (I happily use such things for place holders). Recently I spotted a Vollmer HO kit for a brick arched viaduct, single tracked with three arches in the kit. What's more I found some in Miniatur Wunderland's online shop for half price so ordered two (after ascertaining that postage was reasonably priced too). I then ordered a couple of the extension arches from another German dealer, with a view to hacking these into a four arched double tracked viaduct. The extensions arrived first, today, so I set about experimenting to make a singe double tracked arch, just to see if it could be done. This has only the basics in place and none of the extra walls or the supporting piers yet - the piers will need their height cut down a little to suit my location. I would deem the experiment successful! The German kit comes with parapet railings but I will make some brick walls up to replace those, in due course. The arches are a little narrower across than I really wanted but the brick texture is so much better than printed paper can provide. I may well order another couple of the three-arched version to extend this one. As I haven't done the supporting piers yet, a couple of recently constructed containers are providing support, coincidentally, at just the right height!! Because of the way I have used the side walls/arches, I will end up with one spare from each arch (I'm using three walls per double track set). The spares may well provide arches further down the track.

Further fiddling with the bridge and its near environs: I am reusing second-hand components at the moment but will buy new stuff once I work out what I need. The plate girders are, I think, the Peco Wills vari-girder kit(s). I have broken the existing ones down a bit and reassembled the bits into something nearer what I need, and for the moment simply Blu-Tacked the bits into place. The lower girders will probably have to be a bit deeper than the depth of the MDF forming the bridge base. I have also added a little of the Vollmer embossed brick sheet to lead into what will be brick arched viaduct. As I envisage it, there will be a small rise in the ground to the foreground and up the base of the brick wall, making the area of brick shallower than in the photos. For the last one I removed the ProCab to improve the view. The controllers will eventually be moved to a lower and different location when I get the control panels in place. This is intended to give some impression of what I have in mind.

Ha ha , yes that might be pushing the friendship . I do want to get the upper level running but there is still way too much to do, in particular the carpentry, track laying and presently nonexistent wiring! Maybe another year or so will see trains running there! B) p.s. I'm not sure if we'll get to catch up this weekend but hopefully we will do so on the long weekend next week.

I like the comparisons, Rick. The Heljan model is not bad at all and the dreaded 'peak' is easily fixed with a file and some paint. The Hornby one looks a bit like a caricature when placed side by side with the others. I do like the Dapol model but not sufficiently to replace my Heljan maroon 'Western Talisman'. Kernow have just posted on Facebook some pics of their weathered maroon Dapol version, which looks very good to me.

At the same time as the new CEP unit arrived, I had also ordered three of the Bachmann 1930s semi-detached houses, to complement the Hornby Skaledale detached houses already in the village. Things are starting to gel for the village layout. The contours are still to be refined and adjusted but the basic plan is almost there now. There will be a level crossing in the foreground of the first pic. Note that everything is still just planted and posed - the tracks in the foreground are pinned in only a few places to show the approximate alignment.

CV63 controls the master volume on ESU decoders. If it is a v4 chip then volume can go between 0 and 192; if a v3.5 volume goes between 0 and 64.

Ooops! I wondered about the Clayton!! Still, I haven't heard an 08 with sound 'in the flesh' yet either. Coincidentally, I have just ordered a class 33 biffo decoder from DC Kits. That will give me four 33s with sound from three different suppliers.

My second Bachmann green 4 CEP unit arrived from Hattons today - one of their bargains I couldn't resist at £69. This one is numbered 7128 while the previous one was unit 7126. I also purchased a Lenz Silver 21-pin decoder to go in the new unit so, after a quick test on DC, I fitted the decoder and set 7128 off in multiple (consist) with 7126, with the green Motor Luggage Van (MLV), 68006 bringing up the rear. Of course, this train is really too long for the Underground tracks but will look more at home when the main lines on the upper level are complete. This isn't the first time I have done this though: here is a much earlier shot of a similar train made up with blue and grey stock, this time with MLV 68009 leading units 7113 and 7114.

Here is my Bachmann class 70 fitted with an ESU LokSound v3.5 reblown with Howes' sounds. The container train has a mixture of wagons from Dapol, Realtrack Models and Hornby. Once again, apologies for some slightly shaky camera work as this was also a single-handed venture! At least I used the 'proper' video camera this time, with a tripod!

That Marina captures the look of one on its last legs very well indeed, Peter. All it needs now is a piano dropped on it!! ;-) I'll be very interested in hearing that Clayton too. Lovely modelling, as always, Peter. Keep up the brilliant work.

The Pinkenba line brings back a few memories as well. In the early '80s I was using it regularly to Airport station, when I was working the old Airport Director's Office. That was in the days of diesel-hauled Evans cars. Those 'American' cars attached to 974 used to be quite comfortable to ride in, albeit somewhat sooty behind a steam locomotive!! ;-) The station at Clayfield always amused me as the embossed enamel signs said "Clayfield" in paint but "Wynnum North" in the embossing!!

Nice. I have ridden behind the Brown Bomber a few times, with one memorable - and very long - trip up the Toowoomba ranges.

They get a few miles under their belts before I even take them out of the box!

My MRA set is now on its way from Hattons. I will have to wait a bit longer than most of you as I am in Australia but they will get here eventually.

Those English beach goers are a hardy lot! Even when they are turning blue they'll still go for a dip. ;-)

Thanks Peter. Yes, I hope to catch up then. We had visitors from Brisbane (a nice lunch and afternoon with old friends) at the last meeting time so I had to miss that one.

I decided to replace the temporary 'place holder' bridge for the upper level over the underground lines. I found a piece of MDF that was exactly the right width for what I wanted and cut it to fit the location. I also cut a new support to run parallel to the underground tracks. The next stage will be to cut the plate girders to suit the new configuration and mount some 'H' girders underneath those. There will also need to be a middle support and all supports will need to be covered in embossed brick sheets (Vollmer card or Slaters plastic - either will do but all support piers will need the same textures). Here are some initial views of the work in progress. The side girders are only propped there to gain a rough representation of the final appearance. This will lead on to a brick arched viaduct along the front of the layout, which will then join on to the embankments and viaducts at the other end.]

That is perfectly true: the Wickham trolley and trailer and the retooled class 40 are both due from Bachmann in OO ... eventually.

I'll believe you ... thousands wouldn't!

I have one pre-ordered. However, I'l be doing the opposite to you, Rick. You will be running a locomotive that 'belonged' in Cornwall but you occasionally run SR EMUs and DEMUs where they don't really 'belong', while I run the EMUs and DEMUs where they do 'belong' with a D6XX that probably never strayed onto BR(S) metals!! If the class 22s are anything to go by, the D600 warships should be a great model. I know there is still a bit of waiting to do but I am looking forward to getting mine when it does come.

I agree: the light LSWR salmon colour (or, as it is now called, Baileys SR Cream!) looks about right from pictures I have seen.

The replacement parts for the 22 arrived today, courtesy of Dapol Dave Jones and DCC Supplies and at no cost to me (even though I offered to pay since it wasn't a warranty claim), so many, many thanks to both parties. What is more, they didn't just send me the necessary parts to repair the existing damaged bogie, they sent the whole bogie assembly. What wonderful service! The process of swapping commenced - I had already fitted the new bogie in place when I thought to take the pictures, so the first one is actually of the damaged bogie. The chassis with its top circuit board and plate removed (four small screws, one of which I dropped even with a magnetised screwdriver!). The wires have been resoldered and protected with heat-shrink tubing. Note that I also took the opportunity to remove the capacitors from their position on the top of the motor. The top plate/retainer added back to the top of the bogie tower, after lightly oiling the gears. After testing on the programming track to ensure all was well, it is back in service, as good as new. Toby was always nearby, 'supervising' the repairs and never comfortably far away from the soldering iron!!

I think this applies to all of the Bachmann DMUs: the interior lights are wired with the marker and tail lights. Switching on function 0 in DCC turns on everything and switching F0 off turns off everything. It would have been nice if Bachmann had separated the light functions as they did with the 4 CEP units, where F0 turned on the headcode lights and F1 turned on the interior lights.