37114

I watched it and thought it was one of the better "railway related programs aimed at normals" that I have seen, I thought Chris Tarrant did an ok job, although I got annoyed about the attempt to hype things up before each ad break (along the lines of the Eddie Stobart program of "will Dave get to Tesco Doncaster before 12:00 or will his 28 tonnes of chicken be gong in the bin?") I am not an HST expert so didn't pick up on some of the finer historical events being out but will watch part 2. I guess it was inevitable they would put down the Deltics as the story they were telling was how revolutionary the HST's were to what went before....

Hi, have you looked at Langley Models, they do quite a few kits from the era you describe? You may need to do some scratchbuilding otherwise but Langley may be able to provide useful wheels/bogue components. That said it was pretty unusualnto move locos by road in the 50s and 60s.

I was talking to a dairy farmer about foreign milk imports yesterday and he also said the rumours about Polish milk are untrue, the reality is the tranaport lead time and cost do not make it viable.

Good work Grizz, I did something similar when I first put a Hornby mechanism in a Lima body. The chassis will eventually break but mine has been fine for 5 years and when it does eventually give up the Ghost I will stick the mechanism in a Lima frame as per my latest build.

I presume there has been a new IET diagram gone live yesterday, IET on 05.54 ex Chippenham today but only a 5 cat set, which will inevitably be full before Reading....

Don't forget the Hachette ones, solid underframe aside, they were effectively knock off's of Bachmann TSO.

Slow progress of late, due to various other things. The layout is buried in the garage at the moment so most modelling has been focussed on the work bench. The class 31 is in the paint shop, so hopefully won't be too long although to make the most of having the blue paint out I have made a start on the steam heating van. This is based around a Parkside PA10 20t mineral wagon chassis and bits of a MK1 BSK. The old adage of never throw anything away, I had just enough bits left over from my 2 x Bachmann MK1 BSK's into 1 x BSO conversion (pre Hornby days) to provide the bodysides for the steam heating van: Next step is to fit the griles under the bodyside windows and other details then make the ends. The roof detail will be a challenge, the photos on page 4 being the best guide I have. The container trailer is now finished and I have weathered the container, last bits to do but it has come out nicely, the trailer needs a bit more weathering as they weren't kept quite as clean as the tractor units. Weathering the container was fun but hard work, there is no chance of me ever building a container terminal if I need to weather 40 - 50 boxes...

No probs Pete, signs of the times used to do a billboard kit with a Ford Cortina advert, I think the range passed to Ten Commandments.

I can send you the images Pete if they are of interest

Never thought about the legality but I have had cigarette billboards on all of my exhibition layouts, I never had any negative comments over the years, in fact most were positive as they were a key part of the 1970s advertising scene:

FAQ section of the website says no plans to.... Yet....

When I bought a self destructing one recently the going rate was £35 - £40. I would personally keep them and chuck the mechanism in a Lima version

There is plenty of reminders to it's past in it still!

I just had a couple of nights camped in this with my family: It is an amazing experience and the conversion featured on a George Clarke TV program. It sleeps 6 (you need to be friendly!) and has a wood burner, camp fire, wood heated hot tub and (for those not worried about their modesty) an outdoor heated shower. It is located in Sussex in a reasonably secluded wood ideally located for access to the Bluebell Railway and Lavender line. The bus is an ex WMPTE MCW Metrobus 2464 (NOA464X) and is still driveable although it hasn't moved for a couple of years.

Thanks, I thought you did a good job with your Leyland/BMC wagon on your thread, especially starting with a base toys D series which is not their finest hour.

I got over 200k miles out of a Renault 21 but that was with a lot of cash, care and gentle nursing. The Engine was generally ok but had a couple of head gaskets, gearbox was fragile, electrics were crap nothing worked and the interior trim fell apart. The body was very solid and it still ranks as one of the most comfortable car I had. On the subject of post 200k mile cars, a 2010 Mondeo (WR60FON) I had from new until 2015 is racking up the miles according to the MOT history website, pretty amazing as it was hanging when I handed it back at 125k miles.

About 2 years probably Geoff. The same thing happened with my MK1 BSO as well. I look forward to someone announcing a Steam heating van now I have the bits on order to build the one pictured on page 4.

On Post 74, I showed a photo of one of the lorries from a container haulier I used to work for which were based in Parsons Street. While the Seddon Atkinson tractor unit has been on hand for years, the trailer was more problematic as most of the trailers available from Corgi, EFE, Oxford etc are either much more modern combi trailers or the older trailers are flat beds. By the late 70's most of the trailers on the fleet were skeletal trialers (i.e. just a chassis without a floor) and were either 20" or 40" versions of which there is no rtr version so scratch building was required. I was initially tempted to make a 20" trailer (in reality 26" long) but based on the photos decided to go for a 40" trailer but with a 20" box so I can model some of the chassis detail. The 20" box is fitted on the middle set of twistlocks, the trailer being fitted with 12 in total so it can carry either 2 x 20" boxes, 1 x 40" or a single 20" box. If carrying a single box then it is located on the middle pins for weight distribution reasons as putting it on either the front or rear pins would overload an axle. I purchased an RTI 40" trailer chassis in the hope the bed and chassis would be separate but this proved not to be the case so in the end used the wheels, axles and suspension block. First off the chassis rails were secured to the suspension: Then the cross members were added for the 12 twistlocks as well as the landing legs to support the trailer when not connected to a Tractor unit. The RTI legs are not great so I cut the wheels of the bottom and made my own legs. I decided to add a fair bit of detail as it is likely I will keep this trailer and unit for prosperity when the layout gets sold at some point in the future. I added a winding handle for the legs as well as the handles for the twistlocks from brass wire: Final job was some mud guards prior to primer and painting, the wheels are only loosely in place as they will be fitted after painting. The box needs a lot of weathering, James Makin has done an excellent job on a Genstar box on his workbench so will try and do similar.

Lovely layout, I look forward to seeing it finished in it's new guise.

Holiday time this week and a great opportunity to make some more progress with the layout. I have made most of the Fiddle Yard today. I wanted the fiddle yard to incorporate a table area of some description for storing stock and cassettes at exhibitions. Due to the length of the longest siding which can accomodate 3 carriages and a loco, I have decided to separate cassettes for Loco's and for the carriages. The locos and shorter cassettes will then be stored on the table area when not in use: Mandatory area for Pint glasses/mugs, a bit smaller than ideal but not the main priority in the design The end of play for today. A hinged cover and the cassettes to follow. The controller will also be on this board as well.

I am fitting the motor from the Hornby super detailed model to a Lima shell and chassis, it is about 2 hours work and runs well. The bits are quite cheap as you can get a chassis unit from one of the models suffering from Mazak rot for less than £30, I cant find a Railroad chassis that cheap (Photos on my Parsons Vale thread) Converting the exhaust from the Mirrlees to EE is straightforward, you can touch the paintwork up and hide with weathering to avoid a full respray, there are some photos of one I did years ago on my Pallet Lane thread.

Hi Andy, The model you have is of a 110 Land Rover, the earliest that can represent is 1982. Oxford Diecast do a series 1 Land Rover which is from the Mid 50's and would be suitable for the early to mid 70s although a Series 2 would be most appropriate and were common place throughout the 70s and early 80s. I know Oxford do a Series 2 in 1:76 so they may do one in 1:148 at some point.

I am about to block a bidder as they have bid on 2 items of mine for the item not working on arrival as I suspect the issues are caused by buyer and I am getting fed up with Ebay's return's process which is weighted highly in favour of the buyer: Item 1 - Fully working loco. - Eventual buyer emails me while auction is live offering a lot less money than the price they paid. Also asks if it DCC ready (it was) as they use DCC - Buyer wins auction, then on arrival says loco is not working and their is a problem with it. - I offer to repair and send back to them which buyer says they would consider - I receive item and buyer then instantly requested a full refunc - I check the loco and the underframe tanks are loose which they weren't when dispatched suggesting buyer has removed bodyshell - On removing the shell I find a wire loose near PCB with the hallmarks of being dislodged during the attempted fitting of a DCC chip I managed to resell the loco for similar price but at the cost of 2 lots of postage to get item to buyer and back Item 2 - Loco parts - Email exchange during the auction, buyer asks if 2 parts are the items for version A or version B of the loco (Mine are version A). Eventual buyer's questioning leads me to believe he wants version B, so I tell them so accordingly and which version of the loco to buy from. I am then surprised when they win the auction - Package dispatched and buyer leaves positive feedback on delivery day, I reciprocate - The next day buyer says the 2 parts in question don't work and they want to return them. I am yet to receive them but will test on return, if they are working then I will be refusing a full refund. My only regret is not banning this bidder earlier as they are costing me money. Ebay's return process basically means they will take the money off you and is weighted very heavily in favour of the bidder, even if there return request is suspect..

Unfortunately I couldn't get to Cheltenham today so I am gutted to have missed seeing this, in so many photos posted from the weekend you would struggle to tell this isn't 4mm. I hope Andy takes this in the constructive way it is is meant but the Land Rover in the picture is way too modern for the layout, that type of Land Rover is from the early 80's so wouldn't be seen near a Hymek or D6300. As both a blue diesel and Land Rover fan it detracts a little on what is an excellent layout.

Thanks for sharing Neil, the Malago Vale one is of interest for my current layout, the lighting is very different to most of the photos I have seen.