forest2807

A matter of opinion, possibly, but as a son of Inverness, being raised in the 80’s I saw this loco numerous times and my memories, photos, and the photos on www.Class47.co.uk don’t reflect this. The blue stripe was done as professionally as any other I’ve ever seen!

Thanks Claude, that’s what I thought too (the last digit being a 6, possibly 036) but I didn’t want to influence anybody’s judgement by mentioning it in the original post.

A friend sent me this and asked if I could ID the loco. It was taken (by my friend) in Dec ‘81 or Jan ‘82 from Chelvey Bridge just west of Nailsea en route to Yatton and Weston-super-Mare. (His description, I don’t know the area at all). Anyone have an inkling about which Hoover this might be? Sorry for the poor quality of the photo.

The extra weights are taken from a Hornby Class 25 - they have been in my spares box for ages. I have used overhead projector film for glazing rather than the excellent but more expensive Laserglaze product. I simply attached the film (cut to size, obviously) to the back of the cab windscreen etch with a smear of varnish and then attached the etch to the Lima body. I had to touch up the paint and it isn't as smooth as I'd like but I may smooth it with wet and dry paper (used wet) and cutting compound. The black rubber grommets around the windows were simply applied with a black Sharpie pen.

Does anyone have a pair of these going spare to save me buying a complete sheet? Happy to pay/make a charitable donation. Thank you!

I decided to revisit an old Lima Class 40 which I had resprayed years ago. I'm refitting the etched cab window surrounds as I was never happy with the 'not quite flush' glazing, and I've also fitted cab side window dividing bars. I'll touch up the paint and get the numbers on next. I decided to re-motor it after picking up a couple of suitable Bachmann bogies at a great price from EKM at Modelrail Scotland. I fabricated new bogie mounting points from plastic sheet and here's the progress so far:

Anyone have a pair of these available for sale, or able to point me towards some? Peter’s Spares is out of stock. Many thanks.

Looking forward to this show very much. It'll be the first time I have attended for many years since leaving Scotland to work in the SE of England. For reasons far too boring to explain here, I have opted to do the overnight National Express trip from Canterbury, arriving in Glasgow on Friday morning, and then I'll make my way to the SEC. I'm doing the return trip on Friday night after the show, probably after a curry and a beer to take the edge off the journey, so I'll be back in Kent on Saturday morning. If anyone wants to say hello, I'll be the one looking like a zombie. Oh, and apologies in advance but I will have a small rucksack with me - I know some of our brethren don't place too much emphasis on such trifles, but for me clean underwear and toiletries are essential on this foolish little escapade and have to be carried somehow.

That arrived in the mid 1980’s in the shape of a Class 58!

I sold a few small items recently and received the feedback above. You just can’t win sometimes...

This got me thinking about the length of some locos’ working lives, or the brevity of them in lots of cases, this being one of them. Can it ever be ascertained whether a loco has earned back its cost to build/purchase? I suppose many never did, whether that be a whole Class - Clayton, Class 29, Baby Deltic - or individual class members withdrawn early like the above loco.

What’s this one becoming Lee?

I’m not so sure. The black paint surrounding the cabside windows perhaps creates an illusion. To my eyes, the distance between the bottom of the cabside window frame relative to the top of the cab front ‘shelf’ looks ok. Only by actually measuring it will we get a definitive answer though.

I thought I recognised that old girl! Glad they are now all safely in your hands and that some tlc is imminent. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Thanks chaps, that is hugely helpful.

A rather battered 4mm scale Bachmann Class 04 diesel shunter bodyshell has recently come into my possession, and the moulded handrails along the top edges of the bonnet are damaged/missing in places, as are the cab door handrails. Does anyone have an idea of the best size brass handrail knobs I should use to reinstate them? To the best of my knowledge handrail knobs are available in short, medium and long, but are there any other criteria I should be aware of, or has anyone made a similar improvement to their model using brass knobs and wire?

Look on EBay - search for Class 31 buffers (they are the same) - there are some on there now, choice of red or black.

Thanks gents, that's the one.

Can anybody who was at the Folkestone show tell me the name of the excellent U shaped EM gauge (I think) layout based on a brewery - with single track main line and brewery yard with little industrial shutters pootling about? I didn’t buy a show guide and I’d like to look it up on t’internet. Thanks in advance.

Thanks JiLo, very useful. So to put it simply the live feed side of the bogie gets the non-insulated axle.

I am reassembling one of these locos after minor surgery to the bogie frame and I am hoping someone could advise me which way round to replace the wheelsets in the trailing bogie. The axles appear to be insulated at one end - there is a black bush/washer where the axles meet the wheel. On the other end of the axle is a silver bush where it meets the wheel. Which end of the axle goes to each pickup (+\-) please!?!

Use the code PLAYAPP at checkout and get 10% off all purchases of £100+ that are made through the Ebay app before midnight tonight!

I have a pair in my spares box but they aren’t blue so they’ll be fine if you are happy to repaint them. Any good?

How much???

There is a fantastic quote about the cultural connotations of this practice in the 1996 film, ‘Crash’. Google it if you are interested, I won’t put it up here for reasons that will be obvious if you are aware of the cultural and racial tensions that are depicted in the movie.