BG John

Travelling as in living in it, not while I was actually driving. It's for a similar reason that I don't drink and drive, as I might spill some .

It's more fun actually trying to build a layout in a van when you're travelling, and building it at home to put in a van seems like cheating . Of course I never finished mine!

The ones I've got aren't bad, but all have faults. I study the photos carefully before bidding. They're not up to the standard I'd like to achieve, but for starting out in a new scale, and at around half the price of the unbuilt kit, they're OK.

It's a Parkside NB van, and their NB coal wagon that has a load. The coal wagon needs new wheels fitted as the axles bent in the post, so I'll go in underneath that one while I'm working on it. I don't think they bent under the weight, as it would have shown up in the eBay photos!

I've been buying plastic O gauge wagons ready built on eBay, and they range from having no added weight, to around 375g. Why anyone would want wagons three times the recommended weight is beyond me, but when I get round to cutting a hole in the floor to investigate, I hope to be able to remove enough to weight the light ones. The heavy one isn't free running, so a train of them must have needed a pretty powerful loco!

I've now seen enough evidence to show that the two K&ESR Terriers just had detail differences at the date I want to model, that mean it should be straightforward to convert Bodiam into Rolvendon. But with possibly just days to go before delivery, I still haven't seen a photo of the model, so don't know what Bodiam looks like, and exactly what I'll be getting. I've read that it's supposed to be in early condition, but have no idea whether it will need repainting or re-lettering, and how much work that might involve, or whether I've got the skills needed to do it. Ideally, I'd wait for Bodiam to arrive, then decide whether to buy a second one. But even if I decide the day it arrives, will they have sold out by then? Grrrrrr. Life's too complicated and stressful already, without having to worry about things like this!

Neither of those programs are intended for that sort of thing. I use GIMP and Inkscape, which are both free, although I haven't got as far as "painting" anything with wheels yet.

I can afford that one! The trouble is that there are only two I'm interested in, so I don't want to start collecting masses of information on the rest, as it might give me expensive ideas!

That's even more expensive than Brian Hart's book. Anything from £47 to £2,500!

I'm not planning to scrap it. It will only just have been delivered from Brighton in a nice shiny new coat of paint! I think I'm happy that it's practical, so I'll do more research if I decide to spend the money, but a list of differences would be very useful. EDIT: I see you've already done it!

Yup. The coaches were his as well.

I'd only buy one if it was as running in around 1905, or could be fairly easily converted, and if it's straightforward to convert to EM. I might also buy one in as built condition, if I could convert it to P4 and I have the urge to mix the gauge on my broad gauge layout. So that's probably me out then!

A bit of surgery to the traverser, and I've created a bit more length: But not quite enough! I'll cut off part of the end and add some packing to provide a few extra millimetres, so I can run two coach trains. Not sure if I'm going to use the Kaydees, as I've bought some Greenwich Couplings to try, but the solution is the same whatever I use.

I started on the wiring last night, but it looks as though I need to get on with laying the rest of the narrow gauge track (and building the sector plate) too, as the postlady has just delivered this: Apparently it's a Chivers Finelines Hunslet 4-6-0T that's been shortened, and fitted to an Electrotren chassis. So far it's just had a quick run up and down the fiddle yard, so I hope it can cope with my bodged up track! The traverser would be just long enough to take it with two Bachmann coaches, if it wasn't for the couplings, so I'll have to run one coach mixed trains. That's not a problem though, as the forthcoming narrow gauge layout will be big enough. I don't think I'll bother with the Smokey Joe conversion now, and will just build or acquire a body for the Hornby 0-6-0 chassis. I'll probably sell Smokey Joe to help pay for this one.

Except that Bodiam had condensing pipes and Rolvendon didn't, according to the photos I've seen.

I'd like to know the detail differences between Bodiam and Rolvendon, so I can make a quick decision on whether to buy another K&ESR one before they sell out! I know there are some early photos, but I haven't seen them, and can't spend much on books, as well as locos, at the moment.

That's huge! The standard gauge on my sector plate is 20 inches, to take an 0-6-0 tank and two wagons, the 3 wagon siding only needs to be about 18 inches (so 3ft 2in total, or 3ft with an 0-4-0), and Cheapside Yard is 12 inches wide and could be slightly narrower! 3ft 6in x 1ft 3in is a luxury version!!!

It's alive! Well sort of. I reinforced the track at the baseboard join, and fitted the check rails on the bodged Peco points today. Then I cleaned the track and wrapped wires from the controller around the rails on the traverser. I can push wagons across the baseboard joint, but the loco can't leave the fiddle yard - yet! I may do a bit of the wiring tomorrow, although some of the connections will only be temporary, but at least I'll be able to play operate it. I've been a bit distracted by other things for the last few weeks, although what I've been doing should make my modelling efforts a lot easier. Hopefully I can now make some progress on the layout. I need to get the rest of the narrow gauge track laid and working, as there will be a loco for it arriving in a couple of days. I need to fit buffers and couplings to the Peco open wagon , then I'll have the five I need to operate the inglenook properly. I've just discovered that the back to back is out on the Peco wagon too, as it bumps through the bit of O-MF(ish) bodged Peco point where the gauges go their separate ways. And I must glue the chimney back on the loco. It was lose when I bought it, and it's a pain having to keep propping it in place to stop it looking odd!

If you're using Peco track (or most of the other manufactured options), SCARM is quite easy to use. If you need to build your own track, Templot is worth the effort to learn, and you can apparently do clever things like bending maps, if you need to put a straight prototype station on a curve (or a tighter than prototype curve). This is one I did in SCARM, using a model track plan rather than a map, but it works the same: Otherwise, you can probably print it out on multiple sheets of paper from a photo editing program, which is what you'll have to do eventually with the layout design software anyway.

You should be able to import it into Templot or SCARM and scale it up to produce a track plan. It probably works with other layout design software too.

Like this one? http://maps.nls.uk/view/103670803

But no good for carrying dogs and various assorted stuff!

In my mid 20s I realised I could afford a new Porsche 924, but I bought a house instead! Or rather, I had the cash to buy a Porsche 924!

Minis were too small for me even as a passenger, so no substitute for an Escort!

Of course it was the first time I've used DCC or Kadees, and was only operating it for a short time!