ian b

Fantastic! Brings back some great memories of north east rovers! PS more vids please- I could sit and watch this for hours!

Just to awkward I prefer the plasticard version- it seems to add more depth to the background where the painted version looks too flat and lost...

There is some real railway character beginning to show through- beautiful work. Keep it up!

I tried to remove a medium length to replace it with a short arm but the superglue wouldn't give! Ended up removing it with a knife unfortunately!

It's simple and reversible! You need to pop the bogie frame off then, using a craft knife or similar, take a tiny sliver off each side of the front of the frame to allow the Dapol coupling to sit in there squarely. Put the coupling in and secure (I used superglue which is fairly permanent but pva would hold it in place and be easily removed to revert back). Let it dry and pop the frame back in place- job done!

Not necessary! You can convert the non-nems really easily by slightly opening out the slot at the front of the coupling box, twisting an easi-shunt into place and securing with superglue. I've converted old Farish coaches, peco box vans and older non-nem locos by doing this with no probs at all!

Hi Paul, Did you get this sorted? I've got three n-gauge locos fitted with the speakers blu-tacked to the bodyshell and they all seem ok, although one of the 37 's took a bit of fettling. The tac has to be well secured to the body but it only takes a tiny amount to be on the face of the speaker itself and you can get crackling. I push the stuff into place with the flat of a small screwdriver then pop some insulation tape on the back to help prevent shorts. My clumsiness has blown two decoders when a wire from the speaker has come loose and touched the back of the speaker!!! Hope you're sorted! Ian B

I think the box you are referring to is for the dunnage- the wooden battens that sit between new layers of sleepers. You can just make them out sat where the rail will be sitting once the sleepers are in place. The gantry automatically picks them up once the new sleepers are on the conveyor and drops them into there when its into position on this wagon, Ian B

Now the TRT is fantastic! Incredible stuff!

Looking good! Enjoying seeing your layout develop! Ian B

A track renewal train?! Would that be one of the TRS systems? I'm working on TRS4 tonight and spending next week with TRS2 at Grantham and will certainly be interested in seeing that develop! Don't think I'll have room for the full 23+ wagons plus 2 66s tho! At half a kilometre long I'd struggle to fit it on Jedburgh!!! PS I'm lucky enough to work with Kirows from time to time and the model looks fantastic!

Brilliant! Definitely my time of layout, both in location and size! I'm intrigued by your fiddle yard- do you use a piece of flexitrack to access the sidings? If so, how we'll does it work? Kind regards, Ian B

I've looked at Par a few times- has loads to offer and looking forward to see this develop! Totally agree with oldlugger- is it a cjm 50? Ian B

Hi Lash, unit looks good! My occasionally updated layout is Jedburgh- probably around page 5 or 6 ish at a guess!

That livery combo was certainly possible. Additional services running out of Paddington used to regularly have NSE, Intercity and blue and grey combos of mks 1 & 2 stock! Summer Saturdays in the West used to be extremely colourful!!! Although I've seen photos of that same combination in Scotland too...

The track will look grand once its ballasted! I'm more than happy to overlook the fatter rail providing my stuff runs well! I love the snowy look you've gone for on the hills and the white-out on the backscene too- very Scottish Keep up the good work! Ian B

Thanks for the info- 26010 seems to have haunted me everywhere!!! And yes, it was the 1985 open day. I'd forgotten the 150 was kicking around- that would make an unusual addition in that livery!!! Fantastic to see Waverley back in one piece- been too long!

Hello! Came across these today- don't think they'll show anything you haven't seen before but you never know! If anyone could ID the 26 and 27 it'd be much appreciated! Ian B PS forgive the fingers- I was only about 8 or 9 at the time!!!

Hello! To back up your thoughts about the bodyside grey shade I found this photo of 47595 arriving at GQS on 24th Feb 1990. Its passing 47701 which is handily coupled to an Intercity mk3! Its not brilliant but I was only 12 at the time when I took it! Ian B

I'm there at the moment too! Half the layout is ballasted and glued and everything that ran beautifully now struggles thanks to glued points and short circuits! The other half now has loose ballast applied but cannot bring myself to secure it and knacker the rest of the railway... I'm sure we'll get there in the end

Hi Les, Get Carter is one of my favourite films but I think of the blue deltic speeding up from London at the beginning and I'm not sure it instinctively sets the scene as north-east coast. Perhaps a body travelling in one of the buckets may be a subtler nod! I would say your plans, along with the stock used, shout the area as much as the poster does! Perhaps too much detail but afficionados of the film may also know the book upon which it was based was based in the Scunthorpe area! Keep up the good work, Kind regards, Ian B

On the wcml there is every possibility you are in an axle counter area which does lead to more cabling and troughing. The signal containers are called location cabinets (or 'lokey boxes'!). The axle counters are at each end of the signal section on each line so need lots of secure, safe cable runs to keep it neat. Hence it being on both cesses! It's not unusual to have troughing disappearing into a pile of ballast that's been over-zealously dropped or even buried under part of an embankment. On older bridge structures with tight clearances the cables can reappear, be strung up on hangers along the bridge, and drop into more troughing the other side. Also a more modern version is made of a kind of plastic which is lockable to stop sticking fingers trying to nick the cable inside! It's a darker grey than the concrete and has a textured top, making it also suitable to walk along. When you do your PTS you are told to never use troughing as a path as the concrete can be in shocking condition! Difficult to resist the urge when walking a couple of miles on ballast!!!

Fantastic stuff! Normally the concrete troughing runs alongside the line (usually one side or the other), the cables then come out of a junction, through the orange tubing under the track, and then run over or slightly under the ballast to point motors. The usual exception to the rule is if there is a distance between the junction/ location box but this doesn't happen very often. Even on four track main lines it would be unusual to get troughing between lines- 99% of time it is on an outside edge (cess). It's a heavy job installing it and its only worth doing if there are a number of power/ signal cables that need protecting. As a thought troughing lids often get dislodged/ damaged/ left off exposing the cables inside... Hope this helps! Ian B

Spot on Les! Having fun converting old farish stuff which is so proving worryingly easy... Ian B

Hi Les, following this thread with interest! Today I fitted an easi-shunt coupling directly to an original farish MK 1 and got a fair result opening out the vertical gap by a mm on each side and securing a medium length coupling with a dab of superglue. At some point I've got some peco box vans to attempt and I'm not looking forward to that! The original farish locos look like they should be straightforward too and easily converted back should I need to sell. Magnet-wise the neo magnets do a fine job of uncoupling but I can't get the delayed action to work even using Dapol magnets! Ian B