Jack

Did anyone who visited the Dapol stand at Telford see any news on this? I wasn't able to go this year

Anyone out there got experience of the N-Fine track? Is it any good?

Are you sure? I purchased one from the current batch for a project (R3565) and it had the traditional, and optional, screw-in coupling on the front. If you have a close look on the Hornby website pics of this you'll see the lack of pocket. There is an NEM socket on the tender though. AFAIK this has been the setup for a number of years now.

This is looking and sounding awesome, but then, I think all of Minerva's products are sound ... unlike my jokes ... btw Chris, will there be an announcement at Telford?

... no, really, it does

An update! I purchased some Tim Horn baseboard kits for this project. Tim made the boards to size for me and I have to say they are amazing ... they even survived my ham-fisted attempts at carpentry. The camera is on holiday with the rest of the family, but I will take some pics when they get back. I still haven't made a decsison between Peco Code 55 or the N-Fine track. The baseboards do have plenty of depth, so I can use the Tortoise point motors left over from the layout which got destroyed in our garage in Andover.

Still in the "Far East", although we're a few yards further west than we were last time we spoke! Now Dougal, these trains are small ... and these trains are far way ... Nice! The O guage layout has stalled whilst I attempt not to build some kits. In particular the next job I really do need to get finished is a Meteor P tank. Last of the required tools arrive next week, then I need to get off my elbows and get on with it. Look forward to seeing your O gauge efforts. Are the locos kits?

Thanks all. I was asking because in the recent magazine updates Dapol had posted progress on most of their products, but not the 14xx, which I thought was unusual. My apologies, I thought Dapol were a model railway manufacturer who would want to keep their customers informed, not some jilted ex-lover Really, I was rather hoping it would be out sooner than that

All seems to be very quiet on the 14xx front ... the 14xx entry on the Dapol digest hasn't been updated since January and I've seen nothing in the magazines recently updating the project. Does anyone know anything about this project?

What has the Men's Roller Derby Association got to do with this??? Are they going aorund sabotaging Lenz chips

That's what I thought, which is why I changed the decoder. Like I said, I'm not that bothered as I only own a few O gauge locos, so always use them on DCC, I was just curious really. If another 8pin decoder passes my way I'll swap them round and see what happens. Thanks

No problems, thank you for the apology. I was on the motorbike, hence no satnav or map. Its not normally a problem, but for some reason I have never quite got my head around Chatham's road system! Like I said, it was a really good show, and worth the effort of getting there.

Well, the loco is back together and working as it did in the 80s ... i think it will need some improved pickups and some way of taming it a little ... it can easily out pace Percy, pure Scalextric joy, but on full power there is no way it will make it round R3 curves Thanks for your help everyone. Pics will be taken the next time we have a running session.

I have one of these panniers and they are awesome, really nice model, well done However, I put a Lenz Silver+ chip in it and whilst it ran brilliantly on DCC, it would not go in reverse on analogue. I thought it may have been a duff chip, so I swapped it for a shiney new Lenz Gold chip. This is better, but the pannier still won't go in reverse from a standing start under analogue. It will reverse if its already running forwards. Not a major issue as it rarely gets used on analogue, but I was curious if this is a chip thing, or a pannier thing? I have loads of locos with Lenz silver chips in, but this is the first which exhibits this behaviour. The Minerva Peckett and Ixion HC don't appear to perform like this and are fine under DCC and analogue.

Thanks all. A good scrub with hot water and an old toothbrush got the worst off, then i went over the metal parts with a wire brush. All running fine now

Yes, we'd like to keep it as near to original as possible. I need notice at a recent show that we could probably pick up a replacement for about £10-15, but that isn't really the point. Thankfully it is complete, aside from needing a clean. Thats it, at the bottom of the page labelled "Tri-ang R852T 0-4-0 'Continental' Tank Locomotive", although it is from a red box Hornby/Triang trainset. Thanks for your help everyone. Scrubbing with a toothbrush should certainly be OK, and lubricating properly, I was just wondering about the cleaning agent (if any).

Our son has been given an old Triang ATT 0-4-0 loco by a relative. The loco has been stored for the last 30+ years in a damp garage and is thus covered in crud (not rust, it just seems to be corrusion and dust around the wheels etc). What is the best way to clean this off and get it moving again? I've already removed the motor, which was fine after a drop of oil, but the wheels are pretty solid and seem to be rivetted on! Why am I spending time on this, which has a financial value of probably 0? Because the last owner died of leukemia aged 11, hence it being stored in a garage. His mum has only just been able to face clearing the stuff out, and thought our son might like the engine. I thought it would therefore be really good to get it working for the next time she pops round. Any help owuld be greatly appreciated.

Managed to get to the show on Sunday afternoon. A real corker and definitely worth the aggro of getting there ... with no SatNav and no road signs to the show finding it was a complete pain in the ****. A good selection of layouts. I had been drawn to the show by Arun Quay, but there were plenty of other really good layouts there too. Thanks.

So, just ordered the base boards ... I love laser cut kits, gone are the days of me filling the Swear Box to over-flowing whilst simultaneously proving that it is possible to mess up cutting a piece of wood square, even with a mitre saw!! Now the question is, is the N-Fine track worth the extra effort? Could my glacial production line cope with building 5 points and a trap, or should I settle for Peco Code 55??

Am impressed by Hattons service with returns. There was a very swift turn around with the BR P which arrived with the quartering completely out. Its replacement arrived this morning and is now happily running in. In the end I removed the keeper plate from the Southern loco and it was very simple to put wipers where they should be. I've also chipped them up using Lenz Silver Mini chips, very straightforward Happy days.

My attempts at fixing this without removing the keeper plate failed. When I ran the loco again yesterday the pickups were not making contact. I should have time on Friday to take it apart and fix this. Thanks, hopefully i won't damage anything!

If you're careful you can tweak the pickups without taking things apart, I used a fine pair of tweezers and went very slowly ... did the job as my SR one only had two wipers touching the wheels.

No sign of big cats, little cats or wailing bouys on our visit. Some quite impressive shire horses grazing on the estuary wall at Shornmead though.

Did I hear correctly that Sheerness also now has a resident population of scorpions thanks to escapees from cargo vessels??

What happens at Hothfield?