mike morley

Could it be the Bachmann handrails are as bad as the Mainline? Or is that my Mainline version was one of the very first and that they were later improved?

Handrails would need replacing on the Mainline version. They stick out an extremely long way.

There are some things the current version does as well as always and other things it doesnt. One of the problems is, though, that they are bringing out new formulations so frequently that whatever you Google could be the version before last and the one on the shelf in the supermarket a version that might not evenhave been mentioned on Google yet. A few years ago there was a thread on here that evolved into an attempt to keep track of which version was best suited to what (it was there that I found out about its ability to secure ballast and glaze windows) but the thread soon broke down and was abandoned because Klear evolved so rapidly it became impossible to keep track of the various versions or identify which version you'd got. In the end, you just have to by a bottle and see what it'll do, secure in the knowledge that it will do more than you would ever expect!

There used to be a line that picked its way around the back of Feltham town centre, across one end of the high street and into the ordnance factory beyond. When we moved there in 1969 most of the stretch between the main line junction (a quarter of a mile or so west of the recently-defunct station level crossing) and the High Street crossing had been taken up in order to build the then new-ish Highfields estate. Highfields Road has since been remodelled again (and possibly renamed?) but judging by its original route I'd say the railway probably ran along it. The extremely wide and never gated crossing of the High Street - right across the heart of the crossroads at what until recently was the Red Lion on one corner and Barclays Bank on another - lingered for many years afterwards and was horrible, the track being on a concrete raft that was a few inches lower than the road, causing all kinds of odd slopes. The concrete also had an extremely high flint-content, making it as slippery as glass after rain (which, because of the height differences, used to collect on it) and causing numerous accidents. Once past the Red Lion the line entered what used to be the ordnance factory but in my day was called Browells Lane Trading Estate, a rabbit warren of narrow lanes, access roads, yards and other nooks and crannies, many of which still had track to be seen. There has been a constant piecemeal development of the area ever since but it wouldnt surprise me in the least if there isnt still the odd forgotten corner with rails to be seen.

The nature of which were undefined

I asked the question a week or two ago. It has gone out of production because of technical issues and won't be reintroduced. Edited to add that the Mainly Trains etch is mostly aimed at DCII's with clasp brakes.

At about the same time as I was using Klear to stick down the ballast on the layout I was building a few years ago, someone on an earlier incarnation of RMweb was revealing that Klear could also be used to glaze cab windows. As a friend of mine remarked incredulously, "Is there anything that stuff can't do?"

Jonathan, please tell us more about the varnish. About a year ago I was doing a PO wagon for a friend (Powsides on Slaters) that the waft of Humbrol varnish I used to fix the transfers made them crinkle badly. Not nice when its your own wagon, but far more embarrassing when it's someone else's! I only got away with it because the friend had exactly the same thing happen with the last wagon he'd built using Humbrol varnish, so he was prepared to forgive me. I'd already agreed to do an identical wagon for another friend and a bit of investigation on here revealed that no one had a good word to say about modern-day Humbrol but that no one could speak highly enough of Testors Dullcoat. I soon discovered that its not the easiest stuff to get hold of but I eventually obtained a tin, only to then discover that when it was first used it had exactly the same crinkling effect as the Humbrol varnish! Even worse, within a couple of days the transfers began to yellow badly- which the Humbrol wagon, despite more than a months head start, has still not done. So, what varnish did you use?

Related question; How long did it take for the shades of chocolate and cream and what was painted which to become standardised after Nationlisation? I know buildings ended up where what used to be dark stone became what was undeniably chocolate and what used to be light stone very definitely cream, but I've also seen pictures of buildings that where almost everything was very nearly white except doors that were so dark they were almost black. The Forest of Dean was one area where this style seemed to be particularly widespread, but I know I've seen photographs of other areas that used a similar approach.

One story I've heard is that Swindon's sheet rail was so superior to everyone else's they frequently got nicked before the wagon to which they were attached was returned to home metals, and that the GWR got so fed up with supplying everyone else with sheet rails they took to removing (or not fitting in the first place) the things themselves.

They look very archaic for something built that late. My knowledge of the Midland is extremely limited, but when I first saw one I assumed there were early Parliamentary thirds that had been given a new lease of life with the PW dept. Is 1888-1899 not more likely to be a conversion date? PS. I'm still struggling to get the handrails straight on mine. Is it simply a case of perseverance or is there a trick to it?

Vans that were vacuum fitted had the bracing rods, to counteract the greater power of the brakes forcing the W irons apart. The only vac-fitted exceptions were the few that had clasp brakes

Funny what little things can trigger memories. When I was about 11 or 12 we had some new neighbours whose father drove an E-type Jag and children wore designer everything. Feeling sorry for myself, I whinged about having to wear supermarket own-brand jeans and was put very firmly in my place by my father (born in 1925 and spent the first few years of his life living in the Elephant and Castle) curtly informing me than when he was my age, half the kids in his class at school didnt even have shoes. Looking at those two barefoot lads sitting on the wall reminded me instantly of him and made me smile ruefully.

Might that scrap pile be just a little bit too high and precarious? The tiniest slip might make the crazy train go off the rails . . .

There is a danger that the head of the rail will be a tight fit in the slot on the tread, locking the motor and causing it to burn out.

When I first moved to Milton Keynes in the very late eighties I worked for a few months at Newton Longville brickworks, right by the line as it comes out of Bletchley. Every day the gung-ho USAF pilots (from Upper Heyford?) used to entertain themselves by threading their F15's between the chimneys as fast as they dared, with the plane usually standing on a wingtip. I once saw a Hercules do it . . .

Not long before the first scheduled replacement of the semaphores (there were several stays of execution and they ended up lasting several more years) I inflicted my company on the signalman at Ridgmont for most of one dismal winter afternoon. He told me with some pride that on the entire railway system, the down starter was the only remaining signal with a timber post and that the up starter had the longest pull (I'm assuming that, being LNWR originally, Bletchley would have been at the up end). With the block instruments in the bay window of the station house, the levers out in the rain on the platform ramp and the level crossing gates operated by shanks's pony, there was something distinctly Colonel Stephens about the whole place that still influences my modelling to this day.

A change of club and the consequent raising of the bar (by a considerable distance) combined with a visit to the oncologist and the consequent lowering of the life expectancy has resulted in the bits I'd taken off Pentrefan being nailed back on and exhibition invitations being accepted. At the moment we will be attending the Olney Show on Saturday 5th September 2020 and Risex 2021 (Date to be confirmed, probably last or second-to-last Saturday in February). Please don't let anyone get too carried away by this news. I withdrew Pentrefan from the exhibition circuit just as the standard of stuff available for anyone modelling the Cambrian skyrocketed and Pentrefan is now distinctly second division (some might argue it always was)

There have been lots of problems with the level crossings twixt Bedford and Bletchley over recent years. I used to be a postman and for a while my delivery took me across Fenny Stratford level crossing every day. Twice I saw 66's trundle across the crossing with the gates still up and no warning lights going. The first one happened not long after dawn, when there was no road traffic about, but on the second occasion I could see a car coming and hear the train approaching together. Fortunately the train arrived when the car still had just enough room to make an emergency stop. The following day I mentioned it at work to someone who happened to live in one of the villages further down the line and was assured by him that it was a regular event along the line. It was the era when Forders was still in use and apparently on one occasion a hopper train broke down half way across one of the crossings (Stewartby?) It was there all day and the crossing gates were up the whole time. Another Fenny Stratford problem was that for well over a year the train sensor on the Bletchley side of the crossing was incapable of picking up light engines or single-car units. That meant whenever one went across in the Bletchley directions the level crossing gates stayed down either until whoever was monitoring the CCVT happened to notice (and they rarely did), another train big enough to be detected followed or a train of any size passed in the Bedford direction. That was frequently the original train making its next trip, by which time the gates had been down for 20 minutes or more and traffic was tailing back an extremely long way! That had been going on for a while when I spoke to a hi-viz crew (They might have been from Railtrack, that long ago) who were working on something at the far end of the station and was told that until the refurb of the WCML was complete (which also dates it) nothing that wasnt a safety issue would even be looked at.

Are they still available? Eileen's Emporium lists the 7mm version, but that is all.

Yes please.

I've tried various alternatives to cork in the past but have always ended up going back to cork. One major reason being that most of the alternatives give off extremely noxious fumes when you go anywhere near them with a soldering iron.

The conversation I had with Adrian during the door hunt lead me to believe they began with him, went to D&S then came back to him (not that it really matters)

Not long before Adrian's health forced him to stop trading we went through his range of doors but they appeared to all be intended to convert Minks and none were quite the right size and/or shape. Most were a bit too tall and narrow, IIRC.

Another picture of it under construction Eek! Dates from 2011!