Steven B

18 hours ago, westernviscount said:

To think how lovingly and skilfully kids TV was crafted then.

It still is. Whilst a lot uses computer generated animation, you'll still find many of the old skill alive - the new Clangers is still stop-motion animation as an example.

Steven B

1978:

27011+27032* n by Steve Thorpe, on Flickr

May 1995 was when Motorail was stopped by BR:

(6089Gardener on Flickr)

If you want to ride on a train with a CCT, head to the North Norfolk Railway - they attach one to a train during the summer months when it's used to carry prams and pushchairs belonging to the youngest of their passengers.

Steven B

22 hours ago, Calnefoxile said:

The Lima Syphon is actually a pretty good model although you'll need to change the Bogies for the Dapol B-Set ones

Using the Dapol Siphon chassis (2A-000-020) is an alternative - for around the same price as a pair of B-Set bogies you get a nicer underframe.

Steven B.

16 hours ago, adb968008 said:

working in the ticket office, bar, cafe, shop, gateline, accounts, dealing with banking the revenues, santa, group and diner bookings, event organizers etc etc dont require shed, lineside or footplate access.
They have managment hierarchy but dont need safety critical training, pts etc… maybe first aid training.

This is somewhat disparaging to those not actively involved in operating the trains. Safety critical training goes beyond track/footplate access and is needed in many roles. Would you want to eat at a cafe/buffet where the staff don't have food hygiene training? 

Steven B

1 hour ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Short-cutting processes was actively encouraged by some very senior managers in the 80s, especially those 'boil in the bags' who had been catapulted from graduate training into management jobs where they were moved on about every two years before they could make a serious mistake.

It's called gaining experience - not uncommon elsewhere; Most military officer's posts are of a two year duration before they rotate into another posting.

Steven B

3 hours ago, adb968008 said:

can you describe to me the process to qualify a litter picker, does he start with chocolate wrappings and graduate with  empty cans of coke ?

 

 

Replace coke cans with drug paraphernalia and you're not far off the truth. It's worth knowing how to safely deal with some of the nasties you can find whilst litter picking or clearing derelict areas...

Steven B

Here are some of the ones the Yorkshire Area Group of the NGS built earlier this year:

Some were built as pairs (including gluing them together!)

Steven B

Class 93 plus some extra CAF coaches to make the soon to be spare Transpennine Mk5s sets up to 10 vehicles?

Loco (37) should have been sent back to the shop - not having all the marker lights working with today's prices is unacceptable!

If you mean the Mini Dioramas (28-888 and 28-889 or 24-051/24-052), then yes; As part of the N Gauge Society's show at the NRM earlier this year the NGS Yorkshire Area Group was asked by Gaugemaster to build a few. They've since been seen at TINGS and will be on the Gaugemaster stand at Warley/NEC at the end of the month.

Being around 6" long and 4" wide they're very small and it's quite hard to produce something to fit in the space available. Many of my ideas just wouldn't work without adding extra length or width. Being so small, there's no where to hide any mistakes. A couple of mine were a bit rough around the edges which would have been lost amongst a layout size module (or even T-TRAK), but on the mini-dioramas they stand out.

They are great fun to make. Expect to loose yourself for several hours on each one you build!

Watch out for the 124mm curved radius (4.8") on the curved modules - you might struggle to get some of the longer wheelbase models around them.

See:

https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2023/09/kato-at-tings-mad-but-i-love-it.html

for some of the UK based modules, and 
https://www.kato-dioramakit.com/

for a whole host of modules ranging from the exquisite to the completely wacky! (some-times both at the same time)

The best ones (in my opinion) as those that are those that stray away from what might be called "serious modelling".

Steven B

You'd need to ask the guys at Heaton Park!

Metrolink's minimum radius is 25m if Wikipedia is to be believed. A quick look on Google Earth suggests this isn't far off what the minimum radius is on the current track. I think the problem with Metrolink tram on the existing track is the depth of the flange - older wheelsets manage on regular rail at Crich so suspect they wouldn't have too much trouble with Metrolink standard track.

Steven B

On 10/11/2023 at 17:28, 009 micro modeller said:

That sounds interesting. Do you know where the new branch would go? I understand they also have ambitions to extend towards one of the nearby Metrolink stops at the side of the park but I don’t know if such a branch would follow that route.

It's a while since I was last there, but I think they hope to extend beside the shed at the boating lake and head west towards Bury Old Road.

From memory the old trams would be able to use the new line, but the Metrolink tram wouldn't be able to get to the museum end of the line.

I could of course be completely wrong....

Steven B

From a visit last year, I think they're hoping to lay a new branch to run the Metrolink tram on. There's also some issues around supply voltage.

Steven B

14 hours ago, woodenhead said:

They've hardly touched UK N so far and the Co-bo was an example in what happens if the dangly add ons are too fragile, but on the other side they didn't try and do early variants with the wrap round windows which I guess in any other scale would be expected.

It wasn't so much the fragility of the dangly add-ons that were the issue with the class 28, but the tolerances of the fit. On my two examples the brake pipes only just clear the bogies as they rotate. Other owners of the model weren't quite so lucky.

I think I agree with the comment above that we've probably reached peak detail in N. I can't see the need for more separately applied parts. The current Mk1 was a big step up from the old Poole era one, but other than adding lighting the only thing missing is the lamp irons (frustratingly molded as part of the gangway cover).

To my mind Farish, Rapido and Revolution are perhaps a little way beyond what my ideal level of detail would be. Kato's Eurostar and class 800 are someway below. Dapol aren't far off but need a little more finesse - their Collett coaches aren't quite up there with the Farish Hawksworth; They'd look odd in the same train I feel.

Steven B

17 hours ago, adb968008 said:

i’m not sure how well a Voyager, Adelante, Desiro etc would do on a preserved railway… bespoke units, more IT Centric etc..

It's not just heavy rail where modernisation causes headaches for preservationists.

Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester are hoping to have a first generation Metrolink tram running. Whilst their existing fleet can be mended with a hammer, I suspect that after a few years they'll be left with a static exhibit despite the large number of spares they've aquired.

Other areas have similar issues. It's easier to keep a Lancaster bomber flying than a Vulcan for example.

Steven B

Nice that the livery issues with the Mk3s sleepers (blue/grey & Intercity for me please!) have been corrected.

I'll probably replace my existing four and potentially add a second rake. 

@Adam1701D have you given any thought to doing the white roof Mk3 Sleepers used on BR's Land Cruise trains? Ditto Pullman branded Mk3a FO?

Steven B.

17 hours ago, Wheatley said:

Paint the Pacers green with speed whiskers - problem solved. I'm only half joking...

They look rather smart in crimson and cream (even if someone had the paint diagram upside down!)

144011 at Haworth by West Yorkshire Bus Spotter, on Flickr

Steven B

HST power cars were certainly classes as locos by 1987 as you'd find them in the loco diagram book:

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/Locos/Book_No_100_EK_N2_web.pdf

The HST Mk3 trailers were to be found in the diesel-electric multiple-unit diagram book. This technically implies that they're not loco-hauled coaches, but they are hauled by a loco...

Steven B

16 hours ago, bluedepot said:

It just seems a bit unlike Bachmann to release two units in the same livery at the same time. 

Bachmann did something similar with the second run of class 90s - most of the liveries were a copy and paste of the first batch but with running numbers changed. Hence we've seen 90005 Financial Times and 90006 High Sheriff, both in Intercity Swallow rather than a release in Intercity Mainline livery.

At least they're now upping the number of models per release which has to be better than everything selling out on pre-order.

12 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

2) Should Pacers be used instead of steam-hauled services? 

      No. For goodness sake don't be silly. The punters want steamers. Or HSTs.

     

I'd much rather ride a Pacer on a preserved railway than an HST, for much the same reason I'd prefer a class 2 or 3 than an A4 on the same line - one's much more in keeping, the other's being kept on a tight leash and really needs to be out on the main line with a 60+mph speed limit.

I'm quite happy that there are folk who don't want to ride on a preserved Pacer - means more chance of me getting a window seat!

Steven B.

I've used the ESU 21MTC - NEXT18 adaptor without any problems. ESU's a reliable make, and Coastal DCC are a great shop so I suspect you won't have any problems with the Next18 to Plux12 adaptor..

You should have control over sound, drive, F0 and the green & violet Aux1 & Aux2. The Next 18 has a couple of extra outputs that aren't supported on the Plux12.

SB.

On 03/11/2023 at 18:43, Smudge617 said:

WOW, I see it's not quite as easy as some people have made out, this is going to take me a while to get my head around JMRI, apart from Loco addressing and the three-speed steps, I don't mess with any other CVs, I always leave them as per factory.

It might take some time to get your head around JMRI, but it's infinitely better than tinkering with CVs manually.

Steven B

6 hours ago, tiger said:

How about a run of Mk2a TSO, FK and BSO in Provincial Trans Pennine livery, to go with that regional special 47475?

if you're doing the TransPennine version of Provincial then you'll also need a matching BG:

47475 by Dave Jolly, on Flickr

Mk2 FK and BG as a twin pack with the matching TSO being available on their own might work.

Steven B

15 hours ago, s7r4nge said:

So, plenty of reason for Farish to make the BSO, perhaps aong with some more of the TSOs as well.

Would be nice wouldn't it!

Bachmann have made the Mk2a BFK in OO in Regional Railways - shame they've not matched it in N (yet!?). No Regional Railways BSO though.

It's frustrating for anyone wanting to replicate actual formations - I've found very few photos with Regional Railways Mk2a TSO that don't have a matching brake vehicle. I have to squint at my rake as it runs with Regional Mk1 BSK.

Steven B

20 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Shame the two-tone grey with "Southern Electric" flash never left the works !

That shouldn't stop it being made - it'd be perfect for all the models that never leave the display case!

SB.