Mike at C&M

Many thanks for the various comments received to date. The layout is indeed 'HO' scale with the attic having an area of around 20' by 20'. A track diagram will follow in due course, once I have reconstructed the one I did some 10 years ago. The track is indeed the old Rocoline system, and it is a brilliant settrack system - I will make further comments on this later. Because the layout has been in place for some 10 years, and I have no intention of changing the trackplan, the discontinuing of Rocoline is not a problem. The reason for choosing the time period of late '70s/early '80s is because this is when I was charging around Europe on InterRail tickets. Since 1987, when I did an Austrian All Line Rover, I have only visited the Tirol in 1994 and 2002. You won't find a 'Taurus' in Bayerndorf!

My layout is based somewhere on a double track mainline in the area bounded by Munich in Bavaria (Bayern), Innsbruck in the Austrian Tirol and Salzburg. The time period chosen is the late 1970s and early 1980s, which allows me to indulge my passion for the older, often pre-war electrics, and is when I did much of my travelling around Europe on Inter-Rail tickets. With part of my family living in the Munich area, including my Grandfather who worked on the DB out of Muenchen Ost, I became very familiar with that area up until the time that I was old enough to travel further afield. A trip to the Arlberg Pass in 1976 whetted my appetite for the older electrics common in the area modelled, and the rest is history – literally! The layout has been work-in-progress since the 1990s, but family and employment circumstances have seen the layout effectively dormant for the past 10 years. The occasional burst of action in the 2000s has since little progress, and as such, to start with, this has to be considered a restoration project, rather than a building project. With an early visit to the attic this modelling season, the intention is to resurrect the project through the winter with a view to get the whole layout running and to tidy up that which has deteriorated over the past 10 years. Hopefully, by putting the layout on RMWeb, this will apply gentle pressure to keep going! So, to start, a quick photographic tour of the main part of the layout as it stands prior to work re-starting. A track level view from the exit from the fiddle yard. The pointwork in the foreground is part of that exit. From slightly higher up, the view down the countryside section. The dark triangle at the top right is the kingpin in the attic space. The attic space in our Victorian terrace house splits roughly 2:1, the scenic part of the layout is in the larger section, whilst the fiddle yards (to be looked at later) and the access hatch from the landing below are in the smaller section. A track level view from about half way down the straight. A level crossing just before the curve will see a small farm lane cross the tracks. The circuitry to make this automatically operated is one project that requires completion. The level crossing is in the bottom right hand corner. The wooden bridge on the left hand side of the shot may find a home, but I am unsure whether this will be over the stream that enters the culvert (Currently white) in centre shot. To the right, there is a gap between the layout and the wall that may see extra scenic baseboards added to give the layout further depth. A track level view from the corner. Obviously there is some levelling required on the bridge over the farm track, although then again, we are in the Alps! Coming off the curve and into the station throat. The signal is the entrance signal for the station. To the left is the warehouse The overhead masts require some work here! The carriages to the right are typical of those used for DB maintenance crews round the network, often providing accommodation as well as storage of tools. From roughly the same place, but seen along the siding that serves the warehouse. The houses in the distance are purely there for storage, and are not in the position they will ultimately appear. Having passed the warehouse, this is the view back along the way we have come. Reverting back to our original direction of travel, the view towards the station platforms. The track is permanent, but just about everything else will be moved in due course. An elevated view of the station platforms. Plenty of work to do here. Down the opposite side of the attic to the countryside section, the station area heads back towards the Kingpin in the attic. Beyond that are the fiddle yards Amongst the projects for the winter is the checking of the signalling. Aspects (pun intended) requiring attention are whether the signals even still work and then to sort out those signal arms which currently sit at peculiar angles. Another elevated view. The station throat will pass underneath a road overbridge, which will provide the scenic break. Some tracks in this area need to be put back in place. To the bottom right of this shot is an uncoupling ramp to allow pilot locos to be detached from trains that have reach the summit of the climb, although even my joinery does actually mean that most of the baseboards are relatively level. All being well. Further progress will be reported soon. Mike

Mark, the gentlemen a few pixels high in the picture in post #17, took a few photographs whilst at Plattling. Hopefully, these might solve a few mysteries. The webcam is somewhere within the clutter on top of the warehouse. The 2 shunters are indeed in original DB livery and seem to be there in conjunction with engineering work at the west end of the station - that furthest away from the camera.

Autumn has arrived in Plattling! This is the third morning in the past fortnight that I have been greeted with this sight. Soon be winter, and lots of lovely snow!

I have just received a phone call asking me to go on to the Plattling webcam. In the attached picture, standing on the left hand island platform and waving to the camera, is my friend Mark Abbott - the things some people do to appear in front of the camera!

As Clouseau might say "The old AFC Bournemouth ploy", well done Accrington Stanley! Most customers usually do see it that if Hattons have it, then your supply will come in the immediate future. I actually find it as infuriating when you hear that it is advertised in the magazines, so you must have it. The concept of press samples being flown in for review so as to stimulate demand ahead of a model release is one concept too far for some people Grumble over!

Not everyone has got their first Hawksworth coaches yet! Even though I posted that there are already in the country, it proved very frustrating on Saturday when one person called into the shop after a lengthy trip to have a look at said model, and then promptly accused us of not trying because Hattons had got their models, and we had not!

The website set up be Hornby for traders gives the following dates: NOTE! These are the dates that the items are expected to arrive at Margate, and are not set in stone! Allow a few days for deliveries to arrive at your local shop. However, as it is the end of Hornby's financial half-year at the end of September, they will look to get them out of the door at Margate as quickly as they can, so as to help their financial figures! R4404 20/9/2010 R4405 20/9/2010 R4406 30/9/2010 R4407 30/9/2010 R4408 27/9/2010 R4409 11/10/10 R4410 already arrived R4411 27/9/2010 R4412 30/9/2010 R4413 30/9/2010

If you require plenty of loud bass, tons of atmosphere and a spectacular free light show, Plattling station last night would have been the place for your gig! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/15166-favourite-webcams/page__p__181514__hl__Webcams__fromsearch__1&?do=findComment&comment=181514

Not quite true that there are no more R4381s left on the shelves of this land. C&M Models in Carlisle have one set left which we will sell at £99.99, plus postage, upon quoting RMWeb. We also have 1 of R2819, the Bournemouth Belle set with the Britannia loco at £169.99, plus postage. Phone us on 01228 514689 during shop hours.

For the BR Blue models, part of the reasoning behind doing 2 different numbers was to give people the choice of which they would like. It also has to be said that we hoped that some people would then buy both numbers so encouraging additional sales, and some customers, such as Lee, bought further examples to renumber themselves. Because of the need to do an additional printing plate, the cost of the locos to us from Dapol was slightly higher than the other version Dapol did, but this has been more than justified by the resulting sales. If anyone wants any BR Blue 86s, we still have supplies of both available from stock. Mike Parsons C&M Models

The border at Brenner (Brennero in Italian) lies across the middle of the station. Therefore to change running lines from the Austrian side to the Italian side would simply require the correct setting of the points at either end of the station. No fancy flyovers etc. needed here. In the days before open access working, there was almost always a loco change here anyway from the 15kV a.c. of the Austrian Railways to the 3kV d.c. of the Italian Railways. Apart from the 5 units of the Austrian Class 1822, there were simply no multi-voltage electrics used on the route. A similar situation to that listed above with a shunter removing the electric and pushing back to its home territory was used. Sometimes, the new train loco would perform the task, and I have regularly seen the removed electric fly-shunted back to its home territory with the pantograph down! These days, multi-voltage electrics regularly work straight through for many of the open access operators.

The Aachen situation is changing as a new tunnel has had to be built at the border, coupled with the introduction of TGVs and ICE units over the new high speed line. However, I can remember the original situation. The flyover was on the Belgian side of the tunnel, but if you did not know it was there, it was far from obvious. However, the operation of heavy night-time trains west of Aachen into Belgium carries yet another twist! Between Aachen Hbf. and the tunnel is a steep climb of about a couple of kilometres. The SNCB electric that had just dropped onto the front of the train could not cope with anything up to 18 coaches from a standing start, so a banker is needed. I remember these as being Class 215s. The summit lies just on the Greman side of the border, so the diesel drops off the back on its own territory before running light engine back to Aachen Hbf.

The various variants of the 86s will be a one-off production run of any particular number. So, if 86.213 in InterCity livery proved popular and sold quickly, another run of InterCity 86s would probably be produced, but with a different running number. However, considering the timescales you are talking about, any decent model shop will hold a model back for you for a few weeks, possibly against a small deposit.

C&M Models is now packed to the rafters with N Gauge Class 86s. As well as our BR Blue ones, the InterCity, Virgin and Freightliner versions are also now with us. Many thanks to Dave and everyone else at Dapol for making our project a reality. ....now to pack a few parcels!

Stu, Our intention is to get all the pre-paid orders out of the way as soon as possible, so that includes yourself. We have Dumfries show on May 15th/16th, and our usual help is away over that time, so orders where payment has yet to be made might have to wait a few days longer. Needless to say, we will be as quick as we can. I suspect that Dave will also send us a rather large bill to pay, as well as the locos!

If you are running the 86 under the Dapol catenary masts, you will not want the raise the pantograph to its full height, or you will demolish the masts, or the pantograph. The height of the catenary masts will be known when they are released, presumably they will arrive in the shops at the same time as the standard range Class 86s. A very rough and ready test with one of our 86s and the pantograph as supplied, i.e: so it will not raise to full height and whilst standing on Peco track had an overall height from track base to top of pantograph of just under 40mm.

If all has gone to plan, the chassis units should have docked at Southampton yesterday (21st). Allowing for unloading from the boat, customs clearance, transport up to Chirk, assembly, packing and despatch, we are hoping to get our Blue versions in the 2nd week of May - just in time for the chaos of getting ready for the Dumfries show!

We received the 2nd half of our order of Silver Bullets yesterday, so if you have missed out so far, now is the time to get them in whilst you can.

In post #23, it was asked if a picture could be shown of the mechanism, so I hope the following will suffice. In the centre is the motor with the two flywheels to either side. On the left is the circuit board, whilst the item to the right showing "Top" is the DCC blanking plate with the actual socket being to its left. In the top left of the picture is the wiring to the lights which is permanently fixed. But as shown in the picture, there is more than enough 'play' in the wiring to allow good access to the chassis. Also visible, just above the DCC socket is the bodyside clip that needs to be loosed to drop the chassis out, there are 2 of these on either side of the body and it does not take a lot of movement to release these - be warned! I hope this helps

So having seen the pictures, many of you will question the pantograph, so this is the reasoning for what has been fitted. There is no 'off the shelf' Stone-Faiveley pantograph in N gauge, so a generic single arm pantograph has been fitted. This is not wired for current pick-up, the loco will drive off track pick-up only. As supplied, when the pantograph is in the raised position, the lower arm actually rests on the floor of the roof, whilst the upper arm only raises slightly. This way, you do not demolish your Dapol 'N' gauge catenary masts as you go by, or worse still damage the pantograph. This is a result of the screw holding the pantograph on being screwed up into the spring mechanism, therefore surpressing it rising any further. This screw can easily be accessed from inside the model to loosen it, which will then allow the pantograph to raise higher, but be aware, it also loosens the pantograph on its mounting. Getting into the body is very easy, the lugs holding it into place are by the inside wheels of the bogies and simply pulling the bodysides out will drop the body, BUT BE AWARE, the chassis will not fall out due to the wiring for the lights, so be careful. Despite this, there is plenty of room available to work to loosen the pantograph screw, or fit the DCC 6-pin decoder which fits on top of the chassis.

This week, we received samples of both our limited edition BR Blue Class 86s. So it is time to post some pictures. For those of you who wish to see these pictures in hi-res, please go to http://www.candmmodels.co.uk/Dapol_Class86.htm and click on any of the pictures you wish to view.

We have been contacted by Dapol to say that our (large) order for 'OO' scale Silver Bullets has been split into two halves, the first batch arriving in the next few days, with the balance probably being delivered in mid-April. This is a fair indication that there is a huge demand out there for the wagons.