SWT442

The suspension on mine was its biggest issue, but that was more poor maintenance by the previous owner. All the bushes and drop links needed replacing as they were badly worn and it banged over any bump. Wasn't too bad once sorted, but by God, was it a terrible handling car! Cruising down the motorway to work, a pleasure, but on a fast and twisty road it was definitely an experience! In the year I had it, there were a few other problems. A hot starting issue caused by a failed injector, and a common fault on the Mercedes engine. The gear selector cables fell to pieces, and were an eye watering amount for a new part, but luckily the garage I used were breaking a PT so had one robbed and put on for a nominal fee as well as having the thermostat replaced as it had failed and it always ran cold. It was a bit more fuel efficient after that one was done. But then, it was a 16 year old car, so age probably played a factor in some of the issues. So far the Mercedes A180 that replaced it has just needed an AC re-gas in the year I've owned it! A little Wikipedia browse shows that Chrysler and Mini did indeed share an engine, the Tritec 1.6 engine, until 2008. Developed, along with a 1.4 lump, in a joint venture between Chrysler and Rover in the late 1990's. I'm not sure the UK saw the 1.6 in a PT. Most I've seen for sale have been the 2.2 diesel, with others the 2.0 & 2.4 petrol. Always thought it was a shame the PT never got a bigger engine. Rear wheel drive and the 4.7 V8 that Chrysler had at the time would've been a laugh to drive! I mean, until it broke down, as Chryslers like to do... Andy.

Having owned one in the past, I take a little bit of offense to this unreliable moniker they have! Yeah, okay, never mind then... In fairness, and I hate to say it, point 2 does have some truth to it. Mine was the 2.2 CRD, which was the Mercedes lump, pulled well and alright on fuel, but the lack of a 6th gear meant the engine revved too high for my liking on the motorway. I didn't think it had a bad amount of equipment for a car from 2002, with cruise control, AC and heated leather seats. Plus, all the rear seats came out giving a decent load space. But, owning 2 Chryslers isn't exactly good for the wallet, so it went as was replaced by my Mercedes A180. I sort of miss its ugly charm! Andy.

The wagons are looking good! When the painted samples arrive, will there be samples of the weathered wagons? Seeing the picture you linked to of these on the Fawley to Holybourne working is tempting me to go for a triple pack of weathered ones to go alongside the rake of 7 Bachmann ones I currently have. Andy.

Love is for Losers - The Longshot

Spitting Games - Snow Patrol

I did ask nicely, and I don't think I got a no! (Well, what was said may have meant no though! ) Andy.

Do They Owe Us a Living? - Crass

I had my model of 66593 '3MG: Mersey Multimodal Gateway' arrive on Tuesday, was a quick dispatch too. Thankfully, it looks like I've got a good'un! No missing bits or details that fell off in the box. The bogie at the radiator end does seem to droop more than the other one, and when placing on a flat surface isn't 100% square. On the track it sat okay, but whhen running the leading axle of that same bogie could be seen lifting off the rail a fraction. There was also the bogie wobble, but after a good running in, it's all settled down. It's run through some of my less than ideal pointwork and hasn't derailed as yet. So far, all is good with it! Here's a quick vid of it on a Freightliner Intermodal working on the layout. Roll on my order of 66587 in ONE Pink! Andy.

Long Time Dead - Those Damn Crows

Dark Side of Night - Foxboro Hot Tubs

On the rake I made up, I found that #17 Kadees did the job. Pretty much run gangway to gangway on the straights, with the coupling cams taking care of the corners. Seemed to go round my layout fine, with 4th & 3rd radius curves. The rake runs with a Hornby Class 87 & DVT. The 87 uses a #18, while I think the DVT a #19. The 87 has couplings cams which help, but the DVT doesn't so needed a slightly longer Kadee to be used. Whole rake runs well (after some work!), but will not push without derailing on the corners unfortunately. One thing I did which is a cheap detail job is on the ETH cables. The inboard HST style ones were removed, and one of the receptacles repurposed as the standard loco hauled one on the coach corner. Makes a difference! A video of the whole lot running: Andy.

Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth - The Dandy Warhols

It'll sit where the current filter is, above where the stock intake goes into the filter, so in theory there should be some cold air getting to it! In most kits I've seen, the mounting creates a 'wall' of sorts between it and the engine block. I'll be honest, there is also a vanity aspect to installing one rather than trying to acheive any performance enhancement. It's a bottom of the pile job though, so not something I'm desperate to do. The kaput EGR valve on the other hand, is top of the pile! Andy.

Good spot, I'd not noticed that before! I think you might be right. And on the theme of FGW... Modern history at Paddington, with HST's on parade. From left to right are 43002 "Sir Kenneth Grange"; 43192 & 43018 - 27.06.2018 Heading through Monxton, near Andover, 43023 & 43053 work 1O38 Plymouth to London Waterloo during Easter time diversions away from Paddington - 07.04.2014 Long before OHLE & IEP's were in the frame for the GWML, 43140 storms towards Didcot Parkway - 22.12.2008 Racing over the 70mph crossovers at Moreton Cutting, East of Didcot, 43171 & 43037 form 1P37 Oxford to London Paddington - 16.09.2014 Trailing a service for the Capital, 43189 sweeps through Hungerford Common. On the front is 43172 "Harry Patch" - 19.09.2018 Andy.

A few from the last 6 months or so. Standing in for a failed DCR Class 60, 66086 still wears RHTT livery as it works a very late running 6Z90 Southampton Up Yard to Westbury Down TC through a damp Kimbridge - 18.12.2019 Easing into Eastleigh, 66100 "Armistice 100" is seen working 7Z52 Southampton Up Yard to Whatley Quarry - 10.09.2019 Not quite timing it right with the shadow and the sunny spot, 66142 "Maritime Intermodal - Three" rolls through Shawford with 4O21 Trafford Park Euroterminal to Southampton Western Docks - 20.09.2019 Just as the heavens opened, 66162 pauses at Eastleigh with 4xxx Didcot TC to Eastleigh T&RSMD, conveying a short rake of WIA car carriers, presumably for repair - 21.12.2019 Ambling through Lee, between Redbridge & Romsey, 66531 works 7V07 Chichester RFT to Merehead Quarry empty stone - 25.09.2019 Seen on the first day of this working, 66724 "Drax Power Station" heads into Eastleigh with 4M51 Southampton Western Docks to Trafford Park Euroterminal - 10.09.2019 Andy.

The car doesn't go out in bad weather, so I'm safe there! It should be in a better position, as the stock intake before the filter drops down to a similar level as the fog lights. The cold air inlet will sit within the engine bay, behind the headlight. In theory anyway... Agreed. Although it's no sports car, I personally think it's pretty agile through the corners for its size and weight. Andy.

Been enjoying the thread, there's some lovely cars being posted in it! Been considering posting mine for a little while, but didn't really think it contended as being a modern classic. But screw it, it may well be in a few years! My contribution is a 2007 Chrysler 300C Touring, nothing outlandish but also not quite mainstream. Mine, however, has the 5.7 V8 Hemi in it. I'm led to believe, but can't really confirm, that there's not that many of this particular combination of body type and engine in the UK. Punching the details into howmanyleft.co.uk showed that at most 72 were registered, and I've seen a figure of 75 cars banded around elsewhere, but who knows? I've certainly not come across another one in person in just under 4 years of owning the brute. I'm only the cars second owner, with the previous one apparently being a little old lady! It's got a few miles on the clock, it's spitting distance away from the 100,000 mile mark, but still drives very well indeed. Bar general maintenance, the only real work has been the replacement of the stock exhaust. It's been virtually straight piped, with just a pair of cats and a small back box on it, just to tone it down a little bit. Oh, it also had an engine rebuild after I ran through a flooded section of road one night after only having it 6 months, a very expensive mistake indeed! It sits on 20" Startech Monostar 5 spoke alloys, added after purchase but a legit option for the car. The Hemi is an excellent engine, capable of shutting down a bank of cylinders when cruising around to save on fuel. It puts out 340hp, not a huge amount but not bad either, and can do at least 20mpg on a run, if your bothered by that kind of thing. Power runs through a 5-speed automatic with Tiptronic, which is... pretty naff to be honest but does the job and drives the rear wheels. And, as it's a Touring, there's a good amount of space in the back for hauling model railway stuff about! Very important! Anyway, here's a couple of pictures: In due course, it'll receive a cold air intake to give the throttle response a bit of a boost plus a full tidy up of the bodywork to get rid of the swirl marks, dings on the bumpers and stone chips. The alloys will be given a refurbish at some point as well. All funds pending! As an aside, to balance out the big gas guzzling V8, I keep it sensible with a little, boring and economical Mercedes A180 CDI as the other car! I think it might even fit in the boot of the 300C... Andy.

Continuing the ECML theme, plus a few others. East Midlands Trains' 43074, still in 'Project Rio' Midland Mainline colours, is seen at Doncaster on the rear of a Kings Cross bound service. The train is made up of predominately EMT MK3's, supplemented with an East Coast buffet coach. On the front is EC's 43317 - 08.08.2011 Wearing National Express East Coast colours, but with East Coast branding, 43239 races along the Up Fast at Doncaster - 08.08.2011 Still in NXEC colours, rather than Government Grey, 43208 "Lincolnshire Echo" pauses at Doncaster with 1E13 Inverness to Peterborough - 18.04.2014 Storming along the Down Fast, Grand Centrals' 43480 leads a Sunderland bound service at Doncaster - 18.04.2014 Looking the part in their 'Inter7City' livery, 43129 and 43150 sit alongside each other at Glasgow Queen Street - 01.08.2019 Heading through Burton-on-Trent, 43357 leads 43303 as they work 1V52 Glasgow to Paignton - 30.05.2015 With Semaphores on display, 43064 sits at Skegness as it awaits to work 1S04 to Nottingham - 03.08.2019 Andy.

Not much Class 68 action in the South, but one did put in an appearance in September last year. Plus another shot I don't think I've posted before. 68017 "Hornet" thunders through Mottisfont & Dunbridge with a Pathfinder Tours excursion, running as 1Z56 Eastleigh to Paignton - 26.09.2019 Having just arrived, 68010 "Oxford Flyer" stands at Banbury with 1K45 London Marylebone to Kidderminster - 06.01.2017 Andy.

A couple of videos if you wish to watch. First is DCR's 60055 on the first working to Southampton Up Yard at the start of the 2 week stint of aggregates being moved from Westbury. The second video features a selection of Class 60's around the Southampton, Eastleigh & Romsey areas between 2012 & 2019. Andy.

Good to see plenty of contributions to the thread, and good to see the Class 60 is on the up! Here's a few from me taken late last year, all except one taken at Mottisfont & Dunbridge, a favourite spot of mine. Most were taken during the short spell when a trio of the class were based at Westbury to supplement the Class 59's. 60024 "Clitheroe Castle" rumbles toward the camera with 6V16 Fareham ARC to Whatley Quarry - 13.08.2019 60024 "Clitheroe Castle" seen again, this time with the early evening 7O40 Merehad Quarry to Eastleigh Aggregates Sidings - 23.08.2019 Seemingly stalking me, 60024 "Clitheroe Castle" is in the limelight at Dean as it again works 6V16 Fareham ARC to Whatley Quarry. The hazy exhaust had a distinctly oily smell to it - 02.09.2019 A change of Tug at last! 60044 "Dowlow" passes the gardening team as it works 7V16 Fareham ARC to Whatley Quarry - 25.09.2019 Ex-works and with a box fresh set of JNA's, DCR's 60055 "Thomas Barnardo" catches the early morning winter Sun with 6Z90 Southampton Up Yard to Westbury Down TC, a working that lasted 2 weeks. The last few days of this working saw a hired in DB Class 66 used due to the loco developing a TPWS fault - 17.12.2019 Here's to more Tug action for 2020. Andy.

Problem sorted, cheers guys! Andy.

Another No One - Suede

Destined for Nothing - Bad Religion

What Love Is - Mystery Skulls