SRman

If you use a VPN, disable that temporarily. I find that mine sometimes interferes, but it's not every time.

Subsequent to my previous post, I looked at the SEMG site and there was a pic of a BFK in NSE livery. Thanks go to all the posters with the information on the types and formations too. Currently I have a mixed set based on nowhere in particular, with Bachmann Mark 1s in NSE livery (FK, CK, BSK, TSO), a Hornby Mark 2A TSO in NSE livery (flush glazing improved this one a bit), and a couple of Bachmann Mark 2A TSOs, one in NSE livery and the other in unbranded blue/grey. I realised that adding just the one Accurascale 2B TSO was going to stand out because of the lighting, with a Mk 2C TSOT pre-ordered to come later, meaning I would have to add lights to all the others, or make sure I always turned the lights off on the two Accurascale coaches. Hence, I put in the order for four more Accurascale coaches from AJM, so I only have two Bachmann Mk 2As to add lights to, and maybe the Hornby one, although I may retire that one and sell it. I'll have to see about getting another BFK now, preferably in NSE livery.

I very recently ordered some more of the 2Bs, from a retailer who could still supply certain of the models. I wanted a Brake 1st, but the only one they have is an Inter-City branded version, whereas I want NSE branding, so I'll be doing the reverse of what you intend. 🙃 I'm not sure if NSE had Brake 1sts or downgraded them to Brake 2nds, but that's something I'll worry about later.

I absolutely agree. Again, it is exactly what I did later on when I converted to DCC. There was no change to the existing cab control wiring needed, with each section simply switched to the DCC cab, which replaced one of the DC analogue controllers.

Back to the new viaduct: I have been painting the brickwork and weathering a bit (more needed), and painted the main girders. It is looking close to completion now, so once I have weathered the bricks a bit more, I can cut it into the existing layout, replacing the Wills viaduct and part of the adjoining girder span. trimming the latter will be a little tricky but with care I should achieve a good fit.

In my ignorance, I have put the grid into the front NEM pocket on my 56 120. I'm not all that concerned as it fills the gap better than having the coupling pocket open to view.

I have one of the steam railmotors running on my layout at present. It isn't mine! This one actually belongs to a friend who is in the throes of planning his own layout, so he brought it and a Dapol 43XX around to run on Newton Broadway. He decided to leave them both with me to be run-in and get further running time. I have to say, I find it to be a beautiful model, and a well-running one at that. I posted the video link on my own layout thread, but it is relevant here as well. The sound is pretty good also.

Exactly what I did on my old layout, using cab control, with the double slip being its own small section.

Ahh yes! That's the other Heljan bugbear, at least from out of the box. I usually find that the bogie diesels only pick up from four or five of the eight wheels with pickups, initially. It is very easy to adjust them, however, and then there are rarely any problems after that. Most of the diesels have side frames that simply pull off horizontally from the bogie chassis, which then gives easy access to the pickups to adjust them so that they all contact the wheel backs. The exception I found was one of the diesel shunters, the 07. For that, there is so much side play on the leading axle that the pickups lose contact at the extremes of the travel, and no amount of bending keeps them in contact as they are a little soft. My solution was to solder a strip of phosphor-bronze to the outer end of the leading pickup on each side, with the new strip going back to the trailing edge of the wheel (see my photo below). No matter how far sideways the axle travels now, the wheels will now always stay in contact with the pickup strip. The other possible solution with the 07, and also with the class 14s, which also have excessive side play, is to add plastic washers behind the leading and centre wheels and the chassis, to reduce that side play. If you cut a disc of black plastic sheet with a hole in the middle slightly larger then the axle diameter, then cut a slit from the centre hole to the outer edge, you should be able to persuade the disc to slip over the axle without having to remove the wheels from the axles.

DO use the insulated joiners on all the rail ends. Then, as per Butler Henderson's response, solder track feeds to the two outer rails - that's just two wires needed.

I have two with Accurascale sounds, two with Bif's sounds, one with ESU hi-fi sounds, and one with Jamie Goodman sounds. I believe Jamie Goodman did the Accurascale factory sounds but the one I got separately seems different in subtle ways. I have experimented with speaker setups and am still doing so, but at present, I think the ESU passive speaker seems slightly better than the EM1 style speakers. I found very little difference from removing the sugar cube speakers from two of the locomotives, especially as ESU's updated firmware allows the bass and treble outputs to be tweaked (CVs 196 and 197). I did replace one of the sugar cubes again, but one loco still doesn't have that. I also tried a pair of 4 ohm bass enhanced speakers from Roads and Rails in series in one, but decided the ESU speaker was better. Of the sounds, all have their strong points. The idle is a little quiet on the Accurascale factory ones, Bif's 37/0 and 37/4 - 37/6 both have great turbo sounds and the thrash is good, the ESU hi-fi has a good balance (with a couple of quirks) and the Jamie Goodman separately supplied sound has great top end thrash and a good booming exhaust - I think this one is my favourite, but there's not that much between them, they are all good. These are my own opinions, and I am aware that sounds are very much down to personal perceptions and opinions, so I don't expect everyone to agree with me. Having tried variations on all of the above suppliers of the sounds, plus the different speaker combinations, I really like having the variety, and wouldn't swap any of them out. I will continue to try different speakers, though.

Three Bridges station (West Sussex) has Worth Park Avenue going below the platforms. I used to see various trains stopped on the western side of the station from the road below. Google maps shows it as Haslett Avenue East, but the road name sign for Worth Park Avenue was actually on the bridge support walls when I was younger. Maybe that was changed later on. On the eastern side (in Pound Hill, where I used to live in the early to mid 1960s), the East Grinstead branch train could sometimes be seen from the road. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@51.1184997,-0.1616781,3a,75y,84.38h,94.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snC9mrvq4wmGoiZbNcMpL8A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu https://www.google.com.au/maps/@51.1175833,-0.1611876,17.33z?entry=ttu

Just arrived this morning is my L&MR mail coach for the Stephenson's Rocket train. To keep the set to four coaches, I removed one of the first class coaches and swapped the third class coach (if you can call it that!) to the front of the train, partly to prevent the hoi polloi from climbing onto the mail coach and stealing from it (🙃) and partly so the lowest-fare payers get all the steam and soot from the locomotive thus preserving the sensibilities of the first class passengers. I glued the guard figure in, after first trimming a bit off the spike emanating from his backside so it doesn't project below the base of the seat.

The Anbrico RELL came with four variations: flat front single or dual door versions, and curved front singie or dual door (all separate kits). The Anbrico range subsequently went into the Model Bus Company range, then ABS Streetscene, and is now owned by the Model Bus Federation, which has an online shop, but you will have to become a member to use that. However, the Bristol RE kits don't seem to be available at present. The earliest Anbrico originals with flat fronts also had the shallower windscreens, and all had single rear wheels. I had to modify both aspects on my kit, 1. to reinstate the shallow windscreens, and 2. to install dual rear tyres. Paragon Kits (also from the MBF shop) are showing some separate doors of various configurations. They may also have their own website. This is my "improved" early Anbrico dual door RELL, modelled as a Hants & Dorset bus.

I can do that when I put it on the rolling road. I had to do the same thing to a Hornby 700 to which I had fitted a Zimo decoder with YouChoos Drummond sounds intended for a T9 (or maybe it was for the M7). The instruction from the ever helpful John Guymer of YouChoos: "You nearly always have to adjust the chuff rate with sound decoders as there is no way to predict the specific model’s gearing. This is easy to do with CV#267. I usually adjust it to sound about right at speed step 20, then everything else roughly follows."

I had a friend visit today to deliver some printed newsletters for an Association we are both in (I'm the Editor). He also brought along his two new GWR models to have a run on Newton Broadway. Kernow's Steam Railmotor No. 97 was first, then Dapol 43XX No. 5320 followed. He doesn't have a layout yet, so when he left later, he left the models with me to give them some more running in. As can be seen, both models ran very well straight out of their boxes. Both were also able to crawl very smoothly when we tested that aspect. The sounds are good on both, although we deemed the Mogul was a bit loud (we had already reduced the volume on the Steam Railmotor).

Successes and failures today. A couple of days ago I decided to reinstall Windows 10 on the old computer I use in the train room. The actual installation went fairly smoothly, and after that, the programs I need being reinstalled also went well. As this is not a work computer, and is not used for games or any high end stuff, it only has the minimum amount of software installed. I also installed Java 11, JMRI Decoder Pro and ESU's LokProgrammer software, all the latest versions. So far so good. The last two days have been spent frustratingly trying to get those last two programs talking to the DCC systems. The Power Pro wasn't talking to Decoder Pro through the semi-permanent serial link I have ... or at least, it wasn't talking to the programming track even though the NCE system was recognised and online. I tried the Power Pro talking directly to the track, and that also failed, even though the alternative Power Cab was able to see the programming track through the rotary multi-pole switch I have. That meant the track was connected, but the Power Pro wasn't so I checked for loose wires, and sure enough, one of the input wires from the Power Pro to the switch was a little dodgy. That's fixed for now, so Decoder Pro is now able to program locos on the programming track. Next problem - the LokProgrammer can't find the COM port because Windows can't recognise the serial to USB converter, even though I have installed the correct driver. Eventually, after the two days of trying, I found a useful hint online to download and install a VCP (Virtual COM Port) driver, and that then meant I could connect the LokProgrammer to the COM port and programme any locos on the programming track again. So that was the (eventual) success. The failure was a bit of a disaster. I had the class 74 on the workbench to give it a coat of matt varnish. I had done the sides and ends and was putting it down to do the roof, when I dropped it. It landed on carpet but there is concrete under that carpet. The cab at one end broke off and broke into pieces. I'm not sure how much rubbish has stuck to the still wet sides, but I just had to pick it all up off the floor then walk away. 😢

All of the strips I have encountered and used have sets of three LEDs with resistors, with cutting marks between each set of three and solder tags at each potential cutting point.

I haven't yet received my Accurascale Mk 2B, but mention of the old Triang/Hornby Mk 2A prompted me to take this photo of what is currently running on my layout - the Accurascale TSO model in NSE livery will slot into this train. The Hornby model has the crappy-looking later bogie mouldings, but with flush glazing and window rebates coloured in, it passes muster in the mixed rake of Bachmann Mk 1s and Mk 2As. I should add there are approximately 1mm shims attached to the bogie mounts on the Bachmann Mk 2A models to raise their body ride height slightly (there's another one in NSE livery just off-shot to the right). The Hornby coach could do with its interior being painted.

I have to say I use Sharpies for quite a few such jobs nowadays. Silver ones are also useful for picking out window vents, so black and silver Sharpies are essential components of my kit, now.

One thing I would say about the appearance of this version is that the yellow rebates for all of the cab windows make them look too small, even though they aren't, at least at the angles of the photos. If the glazing can be easily removed, I would be inclined to paint the rebates matt or satin black. Mind you, the lighting of the photos may also influence that effect and it may not be so obvious to the casual observer's eyes.

Work is proceeding on the bridge. I worked out that acrylic paints seem to work better on it, even after using a primer. I also tried using cotton wool to apply the paint to the brickwork and that worked much better than a brush, except for getting the paint into corners. I need to buy a couple more colours to supplement my limited range of colours for this, including a more brick red colour rather than the brown (burnt umber) I have used for now, and a blue-grey for the steel parts. Not sure what colour to do the track bed, but much of it will be hidden once I lay track and ballast it. Just tonight I filled in a few holes in the bricks, particularly at the bottom of one side of the centre pillar, where I cut the side too short. I have not taken photos of the current state as it is still on the workbench. The second photo below shows an intermediate stage of colouring the bricks, which looked alright at a distance but was not good close up. On an entirely different track (no pun intended), I have finally got around to wiring up the O1 0-6-0 loco I started ages ago. The body is a resin moulding from Golden Arrow Productions, running on a Bachmann chassis. Because the tender body is very narrow, I wasn't too sure what would fit, but fortunately the Lais 8-pin socket and breakout board fits very snugly one way inside the tender body. The vertical height is pushing the limit slightly when combined with the two lead weights I have in it - I may have to trim the height of that very slightly (we're talking around half a millimetre here!) - that can probably be lost from the plastic shims I have under the Lais board to keep the metal contacts under the socket clear of the lead. I used a 4-pin connector to join the electrical wiring from the loco to the tender, with the track feeds on the outer two pins and the brush wires on the inner two; that way it won't matter if they are accidentally connected the wrong way round. Ignore the massive decoder: I used an older, disposable decoder to test that it all worked. The "proper" decoder is an ESU LokPilot 5 micro, which fits with space to spare. I used some brass wire to form a crude but effective tender to loco coupling.

I wouldn't have thought so as so many of the early diesels also had a three windscreen design, mainly due to the requirement of having gangway doors in the middle. I do wonder why the gas turbine locos 18000 and 18100 had it because they didn't have any gangways fitted - possibly because they were one-offs and didn't have any abilities for multiple working.

Great, if you are in the UK. Peter's Spares postal charges for those of us overseas tend to suggest he doesn't want the business from us. Hopefully Railpassion, who had the problem, is in the United Kingdom somewhere.

That really does look the part. A lovely photo of what might have been.