Alcanman

I've been looking at these Cavalex EWS BBA & BLA wagons for some time. They are KMS Railtech exclusives and I was delighted to discover recently that KMS were offering a 15% price reduction. Looking forward to weathering them. Behind the wagons you can see a stone wall I added and some sea-moss bushes.

I think this is where the problem lies. I switched on the Power Cab this morning and it was working normally. I then started jiggling the wires coming out of the power supply unit and the red light went out. By jiggling the wires again the red light came back on again and the Power cab worked . So there must be a loose wire which is interupting power supply. Thanks for all the repies. Very helpful

My NCE Power Cab which was purchased over 10 years and has given very reliable service has failed for the first time today. The red power light is not lighting up and the handset display comes on for a few seconds only. Perhaps it has suffered a component failure? Any suggestions would be welcome. Or is it time to 'bite the bullet' and buy a new Power Cab?

Ballasting done over the weekend using Woodland Scenics fine grey with a little light grey and buff ballast added.

Yes. As I mentioned in my first post the plastic is too thin and requires bracing to the walls and roof. I would also recommend adding a floor to make a strong box like structure. In addition, if you are building a low relief structure then I'd recommend 60 thou (1.5mm) plasticard for the back wall. Despite the thin plastic used the Wills, the kit is very versatile and and useful for the modern era modeller.

A little more progress this week with track hand painted using Humbrol enamels. Next I'll proceed with ballasting. Gone back in time with EWS 37174.

After some fine adjustments to the track, I proceeded to wire the layout this morning. Tested locos this afternoon to ensure smooth, slow running for shunting. Nice thing about small layouts, you can have trains running in no time at all. Tonight I'll run a few trains.😊

Great photos at Winning. One of my favourite locations on the Blyth & Tyne. Winning signal box is still operational today, although sadly, not much traffic on the B&T at the moment.

Looking around for inspiration for a new small shunting layout, I came upon some photos of the Dalzell Steelworks terminal in Motherwell recently operated by DB Cargo. I've imagined 'Springburn Steel' to be somewhere in the Glasgow area. The photos provided the inspiration I needed and so a simple plan was drawn up consisting of 3 sidings. One siding serves the steel terminal warehouse with the other 2 being transfer / sorting sidings. The layout is my usual 9ft x 15ins. I decided to use Wills Modern Industrial units as the basis of the warehouse building. However, I found the plastic in these kits too thin to provide a rigid structure. so I added 60 thou plasticard to strengthen the walls and roof. A floor was also added. The structure has simply been given a coat of primer for now. Guttering, drainpipes etc will be added later. Track has been cut to size and lightly pinned in place. I'm pleased with the progress so far.

I made logs cut from branches of various shrubs in my garden.

Yes. Should look great. 37114 is the only 37 I managed to photograph in 3 liveries. BR Blue, BR large logo blue and EWS in 1999.

Same for me using Google Chrome on my PC.

Here are pics from my visit in August 1984 showing black lettering on white background.

Yes, It's the Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway. Sadly, this charming little line has been closed for a few years. http://www.heritage-railways.com/woodhorn.php

Sorry, you don't win a prize.

Lovely photos in the snow. As usual, we were taken by surprise to find that snow had arrived in the middle of january! As a resident of south east northumberland I know the location well. I'll give a clue. The name begins with W and and ends with N,

The gap indicates that the two tracks are not aligning correctly. Possibly the geometry of the points does not allow this configuration. Try 'disconnecting' all points and then start again by 'connecting' the the SL-89 to the SL80 slip. Then see if the other points will 'connect'. It's best to sort this out before trying to lay track.

This extract from my Dad's flying log shows his first op as an air gunner with 514 Sqdn. The target being a benzol plant in the Ruhr Valley. I asked dad why to explain the meaning of the letters 'D.N.C.O' and he said - ' Duty Not Carried Out'. He went on to explain that 25 minutes before reaching the target the Lancaster suffered an engine failure. Being unable to keep up with the bomber stream the pilot decided to return to base at Waterbeach, Cambs, flying at low altitude to avoid radar. Luckily at this late stage in the war only light flak had been reported and no enemy fighters. Nevertheless, this must have been pretty scary for a crew on their first op. The bomb load was jettisoned over the North Sea and they made a safe landing on 3 engines at Waterbeach. The next day they were back on ops in the Ruhr Valley and this time successfully carried out their duty!

I had noticed the 'Up Arrow' had disappeared from the bottom right of the screen but hadn't noticed it had moved to the bottom left of the screen. Thanks for the heads up.

As this thread seems to have gone a tad 'off topic', here is a reminder of what Lancasters were built for and capable of.... After releasing the bomb load of Lancaster PB426 of 514 Sqdn , bomb aimer F/O Walker photographs this scene of destruction at the German naval base at Heligoland on 18th April 1945. The pilot,F/O Allan, on returning to base at Waterbeach, Cambs reported a 1000 lb bomb 'hang up', which must have resulted in a nervous landing. However, the crew were all safe, including my dad, who was an air gunner on this op.

Received an e-mail today from SLW with a progress update. 'Class 25 expected soon Cutting to the chase… As we have said before, our deliveries have been delayed due to difficulties in obtaining certain materials and components as well as changed working routines. We are more disadvantaged than others because our small-scale manufacturing operation is less flexible. However, the positive news is that the first Class 25s are nearing completion and we are hopeful that shipping from our Far East factory will take place before Chinese New Year, towards the end of January. More specific details will be given when our logistics slot into place next year. Thank you for your patience – we are as eager to see the results of our labours as you are! All the DCC decoders required have been secured - despite global shortages of micro-processors - whilst also fine-tuning our sound project to make maximum use of the high-quality audio available from the new generation sound chips that have been specified. We are confident the Class 25 sounds will be even better than the Class 24 which is currently regarded as the best sound-fitted loco ever produced.'

As mentioned by Jordan, (F-unit mad) all my small US switching layouts are built are 9ft long (15ins wide) A couple of years ago I build this one which has only 2 switches and similar to your plan A and plan C. It has only 1 'large' industry capable of handling boxcars, hopper cars and corn syrup tank cars. I hope this is helpful and look forward to following your layout progress. Mal

A RAF operation much less well known than the Dambuster's raid was 'Operation Manna'. Conducted in the last few days of the war, food supplies were dropped in Holland for the people who had been left starving by the retreating Nazis. My dad, who was an air gunner with 514 sqdn, was involved in 'Operation Manna' This photo shows a Lancaster from 514 Sqdn, flying at low altitude, dropping food to the grateful Dutch people. Dad's entry in his log book states, rather amusingly ' Spam dropping - Rotterdam'

Reading & Northern MP15DC #1540 switching today at Humboldt.

I finally got round to finishing the layout after much deliberating whether or not to hide the staging track. In the end, I've simply gone for open staging. I still have a few details to add.