Steven B

I'm looking forward to the red-stripe version! One minor point, the Coal sector one has a wonky buffer (first and third pictures). Is this a production problem or damaged caused my miss-handling? Happy modelling. Steven B.

HEAs are instanter couplings and air-brake pipe (no reservoir). TEAs are more complicated - some have screw link, others instanter. Most appear to just have the brake pipe and not the reservoir pipe. If you haven't discovered it already, Wagons on the Web is a good place to start for photos of the modern wagons. Paul Bartlett's site is worth a look and has many older wagons. Happy modelling. Steven B.

I very much enjoyed seeing your layout at the NGS AGM. It was smaller than I'd expected. Couple of minor points, HAAs usually have just the one brake pipe (red one). The yellow main reservoir pipe isn't fitted on the wagons I've seen (link to someone else's picture). They have instanter couplings rather than screw-links (but I'm not sure if these are available in N Gauge). Happy modelling. Steven B.

Given the choice between a Railmatch of Phoenix aerosol that bungs up within seconds of using it, or a Halfords can that works down to the last drop but isn't quite the right colour, I know which I'd choose. Colours varied hugely on the real thing. Different depots made up the colours to their own variations of the official recipe and after a few months of use outside in the sun and rain colours changed again as did the number of coats of varnished used. Go to a preserved railway and you'll see most of their coaches in varrying shades of maroon, crimson, green etc. There is no such thing as an exact match unless you're modelling a specific vehicle at a specific moment in time. Some freight colours: BP Green - Ford modena Green Tiphook dark blue - Rover Nautilus Blue Tiphook white - Peugeot Arctic White RMC Orange - VW Brilliant Orange and: Isle of Sodor blue (Thomas, Edward, Gordon) - Rover Pageant Mid Blue Happy modelling. Steven B.

The short isolating section at the head of the fiddle yard roads is a great idea but you'll need to be careful with its length. If a motorised unit/loco or dummy with lights bridges the two sections then both will still be live as the dummy unit will act as a bridge. In the track plan in post #22, the right hand car of train 3 would bridge the gap if it's fitted with lights, meaning trains 3 and 4 couldn't be isolated from each other. I'd suggest making the short isolating section the length of your longest DMU. Happy modelling. Steven B.

Unless your mine was linked to another you'll need a second set of pit-head gear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Colliery_Disaster Following this disaster all mines had to have more than one way out. This could be a second shaft including pit-head gear, an underground link to a second mine or a drift mine type tunnel dug to the workings (this became common in shallower mines as it could be used for bringing the coal out on conveyer). Happy modelling Steven B.

It's only a fundamental flaw if you want to control the signal automatically or be able to interlock it with point motors or other signals. The number of people wanting to do this will be tiny compared to the market as a whole. For the vast majority who are going to add them to a normal control panel it's not an issue - train drivers will be looking at the state of the signal arm, not which direction a toggle switch is pointing. If your layout is advanced enough to need positive control of the signal then you're likely to be capable enough to swap the drive circuit for the one MERG are developing or build the MSE kits and motorise them yourself. It must be really frustrating being a manufaturer at times. For years modellers have been crying out for working ready to plonk signals. Now they're here we're grumbling that the control mechanism isn't perfect. Either way they can't win. Happy modelling. Steven B.

Looking good. I'm glad I'm not the only one to have problems with tranfer carried film. You might be able to get away with just overcoating them with Klear. Transfers sit best on a gloss finish - the carrier film shows up less. If you've got spares, I'd be tempted to remove the new numbers. Apply some Klear to the area and leave to dry. Reapply the numbers and leave to dry (over night). You can then coat over with matt/satin varnish to seal them before weathering. Where did you get the buffers from? I'm converting the coal sector class 37 to Petroleum sector 37 273 which had oval buffers rather than the round ones the model has. Happy modelling. Steven B.

What construction have you used for the lighting rig for the layout? Compared to many others there are very few supports compared to the length of the layout. Happy modelling. Steven B.

This week three of the boards have moved house to allow more work to be done on the electrics. Last time the main track feeds had been fitted. Over the last couple of evenings we've tidied up this work by using self-adesive cable-tie bases and cable-ties. Hopefully this will mean that we don't snag wires as we're moving the boards around. We've also mounted a covered distribution box in each corner. These will act as junction boxes between the cables that link the boards together and the track feeds on the boards themselves. One board is now complete appart from the connections to the neighbouring boards and a couple more evenings should have the remaining four boards up to the same standards. Hopefully the 20' scenic portion of the layout will have trains running the full length of it at the next N Gauge Society Yorkshire Area Group meeting in just over a week's time. The baseboards for the fiddle yard are now almost complete so the track laying gang will be in action again before too long. Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll have a complete loop of track. Happy modelling. Steven B.

Actors have the Oscars; Musicians have the Brits & Grammy; What do railway modellers have? How do you know when you've made it as a railway modeller? Personally I see it as being responsible for the main picture on the cover or Railway Modeller (or perhaps being the inspiration for a Railway of the Month). Happy modelling. Steven B.

Highclere's far from mediocre from the photos I've seen of it. Looking forward to catching it at a show before too long. Happy modelling. Steven B.

Never mind different liveries. What about different mechanical layouts? Maybe a Pacer running as an articulated unit on three bogies? Happy modelling. Steven B.

I really liked Sprinters when they first arrived. They were clean and modern, not like the old locos & coaches that were old and tatty round the edges. I was only 8 or 9 at the time though! People model an era because it's what they find fasinating. It might bring back certain memories or they have an interest in a particular time and place. I model mid-late 1980s - I get the tired old Peaks which I've come to appreciate and the shinny new Sprinters which helped get me interested in railways. Some are obsessed by picturesque GWR branchlines. As a lover of urban grot I can't think of anything more dull - a tatty looking loco struggling to haul a train up an industrial South Wales valley is much more appealing. Fortunatly we all like different things otherwise life (and railway modelling) would be rather dull. Happy modelling. Steven B.

But that's the whole point. Seeing locos less than ten years old looking uncared for and as though they're about to fall appart is sad, but to me at least it makes them much more interesting as a result. It's an interesting period of railway history if you can get over the trauma of loosing well loved locomotives. The two need separating. Just because something might be thought of as being bad doesn't make it any less interesting - just look at history where death and destruction are studied much more than the nicer time. Happy modelling. Steven B.

I disagree. Seeing locos looking long past their best is far more fascinating than seeing one train after another being haulled by very similar looking locos all painted in the same colours. Many people grumble about the lack of variety with todays railways but to a certain extent the GWR were for-runners of it. Due to using common parts many of the locos looked very similar to each other and they were all painted in the same basic colour - green with copper bits fitted to the top. Towards the end of the 60s you had the last days of steam - all looking sad I agree but much more interesting and challenging to model as a result. There's still a few of the early diesels hanging on whilst the more successful designs were running along side the newer class 47 and 50s. Much of the steam era way of operating was still going strong. Sounds like the best of both worlds to me! Happy modelling. Steven B.

I don't think I've ever seen the mid-late 1960s modelled. As you say, very interesting period. Plenty of variety in stock and trains. Working methods were very much steam era based. Doing a decent job of weathering the steam locos would prove very challenging though. Happy modelling. Steven B.

Don't forget to put Compo, Clegg and Foggy on the towpath of the canal. Many scenes from Last of the Summer Wine were filmed near Standedge and Marsden. One episode recently repeated on Yesterday showed 47 475 in Regional Railways heading towards Leeds with 8 Mk1s in tow. Happy modelling. Steven B.

What about cream as the base colour? If it was good enough for the Southern Railway... Happy modelling. Steven B.

Why remove the point springs for wire in tube operation? Happy modelling. Steven B.

What spares would you want? Replacement buffers and windscreen wipers are available from the likes of TPM. If you're talking about needing spares to repair mechanical faults then try contacting Dapol (or your local model shop). Dapol Dave swapped the chassis on my 26 with a working one and has done the same on a friends 9F. Neither model has had a problem since. Happy modelling. Steven B.

Do the Dapol couplings (which I don't have yet) work with the Microtrains magnet (which I do have)? Happy modelling. Steven B.

What scale are they?

Lots of variety in locos & trains (and plenty of pre-nationalisation stock still around). A lot of steam era operating methods were still around yet there was the excitment of new air-braked wagons, mk2s and even the HST. Happy modelling. Steven B.

The minimum radius for the full sized class 52 is 91m (4.5 chains) - this will be at dead slow running speeds. By my reckoning this is about 4 feet in OO. If you want your loco to run on something less than this then there will be compromises with wheel size, ride heights & brake details. Happy modelling. Steven B.