SRman

I was fiddling with the function settings on my Kernow class 41 A1A-A1A Warship a couple of days ago, and while I had it on the test track, I drew a couple of silver arrows with a Sharpie pen under the battery boxes indicating which way was forwards. While that won't help me when the loco is on the tracks, it will assist in getting it the way round that I want while setting up a train. Of course, for normal viewing distances, the tiny numbers or letters near the cab doors are not readable, even if they are there.

I don't know why the aerial at one end of my 56 120 seems to have been more vulnerable than the other, but I kept knocking the #1 end and bending it. It ended up with a break, not completely through, and gluing it repeatedly failed as I kept bumping it again, so I cut it off flush, masked the surrounding cab roof and drilled a hole where it had been. Some brass wire of the same diameter as the aerials was stuck in with superglue, and any gaps filled with Glue n Glaze, which had the added benefit of strengthening it. Once it was all set properly, a quick coat of Humbrol RC422 grey nicely matched the roof colour. The aerial at the #2 end has remained unsullied and pointing up, exactly the way it should. I'll have to be more careful now as any accidents with the #1 end could now be rather painful for me. 😬 😂

Yes. I still have trouble with those! 🤣 In those cases, turn on the lights if it has them and see which end lights up. I can think of quite a few classes of diesel that are difficult to tell. Sometimes there is one asymmetrical feature, such as a boiler port, but I still have difficulty remembering which way is the #1 cab end (or the 'A' end on Western Region locos). Such classes include class 41, 42 and 43 Warships, class 52 Westerns, class 53 'Falcon', and Class 55 Deltics. There may be others I have missed.

Those Øresundståg trains are quite comfortable. We rode quite a few of them in 2022 while staying in Copenhagen. They are used as local and regional trains in Denmark, and become almost Intercity trains in Sweden. We were staying in Ørestad, on the Kastrup Airport line which continues over the bridge into Sweden, and using the trains for the one stop trip into Copenhagen Central, and in the other direction into Sweden to various destinations, some of which are almost two-thirds of the way to Stockholm. Mostly they were running as 3- or 6-car units, but we did see one 9-car set (i.e. three units) on our very first arrival into Denmark at the airport station. I have strung the Danish train footage together into a video on YouTube - the 9-car set is in the very first scene. The Swedish video is here: This photo of our Øresundståg train was taken at Alvesta. We actually went to Växjö then back to Alvesta, where we changed trains and hopped on one of the SJ's X2000 units to Stockholm. The pale grey and silver livery really doesn't do much for the X2000s, although a new scheme with a darker grey on the noses and doors is coming in on refurbished units. With the livery on the photo, they remind me just a bit of the Ice Warriors from Doctor Who! All in all, I found the train travel in Denmark and Sweden very enjoyable. Mrs SRman was reasonably impressed, so that's really saying something!

Back to the Cavalex class 56. For some reason I keep knocking the aerial at the No. 1 end of the loco. I haven't quite broken it completely, but it had a distinct break in the middle so it was only a matter of time. I reglued it a few times but as that wasn't working (you can see the bend in the video I posted earlier today), I decided to cut it off flush and replace it with a bit of brass wire of the same diameter. I used some masking tape to protect the cab roof around the base of the aerial before cutting it and then drilling a hole to stick the wire into. It was superglued in, then the slight gaps around the bottom edges were filled with some Glue n Glaze. Some Humbrol Acrylic RC422 was used to paint the aerial and the touched in areas. the results are in the photo below, together with the untouched and undamaged aerial at the No. 2 end. This does mean that if I try to damage the aerial again, it will be somewhat more painful for me! 😬 🤣

The two C-Rail containers I have been decorating and weathering are all but finished now. The weathering has had a coat of matt varnish to seal it and the transfers (which had already had one coat). The varnish has dried slightly glossier than I really want, but it is still a very dull satin sheen that seems to sit well. I'm not sure if the roof hatches on the Bulkhaul container should be a different colour though. maybe a grey rather than the blue?

I have posted a video of the Cavalex 56 running on Newton Broadway.

Unfortunately, I don't have the space or resources to actually build a foreign layout, but I have a weakness for trains I have ridden in or been close to, so have accumulated quite a few Danish, Swedish and German models. I also have a few Swiss models (I've never actually been there, but it's on the bucket list), and also some Australian models for the same reasons. These all make occasional appearances on my British-based Newton Broadway layout, and I just have to accept the compromises that involves for realism, including wrong-line running for most of those. Sweden does still have left-hand running, a legacy from when they also drove on the left; they decided it was too expensive to change the railways over when the roads swapped sides (1968, from memory). I do like to see a good Continental layout at exhibitions or in magazines, although I find quite a lot of exhibition layouts for Australian subjects have a certain sameness about them (sorry guys, to the ones who do put a lot of effort into building those layouts).

The radiator area was more boxy, but that wouldn't be beyond several of the modellers in RMweb. https://www.derbysulzers.com/cuba.html

Having now seen the prices in Kernow's newsletter, it looks like they'll be very competitive, although to be fair, Accurascale's model promises a working fan, whereas to get that feature on the Bachmann model, one has to pay a premium for the deluxe model. Likewise, from what I can understand in the specifications, the auto uncoupling feature in Bachmann's model only applies to the deluxe model. Still, it will be interesting to see how the sales pan out. Personally, I have only one 30/31 on order, and that is an Accurascale model with LT tripcocks.

From Phil "John McEnroe" Bullock! 😜😂

Checking the photos in my post, I agree. I hadn't really noticed that before.

I tend to buy my decoders locally here in Australia then for sound decoders, buy the sounds I want - most suppliers will email the files locked to the serial numbers for ESU and Zimo decoders. For non-sound, the settings are not really copyrighted like sounds tend to be, if you purchase an ESU LokPilot, once Cavalex have sorted out their settings for that decoder, if you ask them very nicely, they might send you the settings to load into the decoder. I did exactly that with an accurascale class 92, and they were very obliging in sending me the necessary settings to work everything properly, including the servos for the pantographs. I would suggest that having the working fans on the Cavalex model would fall into a similar category in needing the extra bit of programming.

A few more photos. The Cavalex 56 has had its end details fitted, with only the red air pipe at one end having to be snipped to keep it clear of the tension lock coupling. The coupling links at that end at that end are also lightly glued up a bit to keep it from tangling with the TL coupling as it swivels. The Bulkhaul container has had a heavy application of weathering powders. I used the same combination as the Xtra container first (chalky white, dark rust and dark earth), followed by some grey and grimy black (the latter only along the base channel and door grooves). I had to wash a bit of it off again with a damp tissue. I'm not sure if it is still a little overdone, but being powders that haven't been sealed in with varnish (yet), it can still be cleaned up further.

As posted in the Cavalex class 56 topic, my 56 120 arrived from Rails today, together with some of the new-style Peco loco lifts. The 56 was tested and ran fine, so was set up on the rolling road for a running-in turn. As usual, I left it for over half an hour before reversing it, with sound on so I could hear it screaming away in the distance. After that, I placed it in front of a passenger train - maybe an excursion or an emergency replacement for a failed train locomotive - where it really didn't look out of place on the NSE and blue and grey liveried coaches. I posed a Hornby coal sector class 56, 56 127, next to it for effect. Now, to the loco lifts. I bought two double packs knowing I would need at least three for the purpose I intended them for. I knew that for the loco and train I wanted to store would have difficulties with clearances, mainly in height ... Stephenson's Rocket has a tall, out of gauge chimney. Coupling and uncoupling the coaches is a right royal pain, especially if one has shaky hands. With the old-style loco lift, I could fit Rocket plus only two coaches, whereas with three of these new ones, I can fit Rocket plus four coaches, which is as many as I dare ask it to pull. Both styles of lift required modification to clear the chimney. The old one had a narrow slice taken out of the centre of the top support at one end, connected back together with some stout brass wire. The new one has had a chunk milled out at one end. In both cases, this requires me to reverse the loco and train on to be able to drive it straight off later.

Joining in with the "Me too" brigade, my 56 120 arrived from Rails this morning. Like others have reported. one of the bogies was off its track and at a slight angle, but when I popped it on the test and programming track, it ran perfectly straight out of the box. It is a lovely looking machine. I put it on the rolling road and left it screaming (sound on!) for over half an hour in each direction, then put it in front of a passenger train for a gallop around the layout (must be a special excursion or emergency replacement for a failed loco). It doesn't look out of place on NSE and blue/grey stock. Behaviour on the layout run was perfect as well, with no problems through any of the points or curves, even at some speed. I also posed it beside a Hornby coal sector loco, 56 127, just for effect.

From what others have posted here, the class 11 model looks very good. I was waiting to see how it came out before I committed to buying a class 12, and I am convinced already. However, Model Rail haven't actually put the class 12s on the website yet. Well, at least I know I want to order one when they do announce them properly. I don't want or need a class 11, though, nice as they are.

Gwiwer (of this parish) had the Heljan 128 hauling 36 coaches around his layout in Australia, with some gradients and sharpish curves to contend with as well. Impressive for a vehicle that usually hauled a maximum of two vans in real life!

A small update on one of the C Rail containers I have been working on. The 20' Xtra livery has had a coat of satin varnish, followed by some weathering powders brushed on, starting with 'chalky white' to fade the red a bit, then a thin brushing of 'dark rust', followed by an even smaller amount of 'dark earth'. The Bulkhaul container is awaiting final settling of the transfers before I varnish it.

The Heljan Co-Co and C-C locomotive models all have floating, unpowered centre axles with no springing whatsoever (effectively, they are A1A-A1A), and have no problems with haulage or track-holding. I have been known to say that these Heljan locos would pull the side out of the house. I think that having the tractive power and weight all concentrated on the outer axles of each bogie actually benefit the tractive effort. Hornby's "super-detailed" class 30/31 has 6-wheel drive, and a smaller centre wheel size on each bogie. I think I read somewhere when they were first launching them that they had to do a bit of calculation to get the gearing correct for that.

And yet more decorating with transfers, this time the class 74, which has been sitting patiently on the turntable for ages. I found the acrylic paint I used took a long time to harden properly. Even before I took the photos, one of the data panels went missing (on the grille side), so I'll have to find a replacement in my stocks of transfers. Welcome to the fleet E6102. The photos show some of the rough bits rather cruelly, I'm afraid, but it looks okay at normal viewing distances.

Interesting comparisons. I have only caught up with this topic a bit late, but appreciate it. i have a few Vectrons here but haven't done any direst comparisons, yet. I'll have to dig them all out and have a go. What I can say is that all of them run very nicely, with very little to choose between them. The Trix one has a metal body, and from memory the detail is a little cruder than the others, but it is still a good model. I also have Vectrons from Roco and Piko. I can't really do a livery comparison as no two of mine are in the same livery, or even from the same railway company. The Piko Vectrons (x 2) are a Danish DSB EB class and an MGW private operator dark blue livery. From Roco, I have a Vectron in FlixTrain green livery. And the Trix one is a Swiss one in BLS Die Alpinisten livery. The Danish Piko has sound from Hobbykaeden, and Trix one has their factory-fitted sound as well, although the Trix one has fewer functions on offer.

I have something like the OP described on my layout, Newton Broadway. The main lines run at a higher level than the London Underground lines, but parallel each other along the front of the layout, before the main lines slew over the Underground and then swing around, crossing over the Underground lines which are, at that point, underground in tunnel. My biggest problem with this is not the running, but the fact that the viaducts partially obscure the Underground. I have tried to use fairly open bridges and viaducts to allow views through the openings and arches, but some parts are still more hidden than I would like. I am contemplating replacing some parts of it already.

Additionally to the above, in the Bulkhaul case I want it to look a bit battered so I used a larger brushload of Microsol on it, and a stippling motion, pushing a bit harder in places to actually break through the transfer. This can, with care, give the effect of flaking paint. I've only done this fairly subtly, but I'll try to get a decent photo of it once I have progressed with the weathering a bit more.

A little at a time, using a soft brush, then leave it for a while, before applying a bit more.