Matt

To offer an alternative perspective on steel rail... I agree that if it is a damp environment (shed, loft, basement), or if the layout to be used at exhibition (where humidity is a problem often) then steel rail will rust. However, for a home, house based layout steel is fine and has some advantages. True it is more difficult to solder BUT the material looks more realistic (no yellowish hue) and the material is naturally less "slippy" so that your locomotives can get more grip. I use steel code 82 rail in my exactoscale track and it does seem to help with my full scale length trains on slight gradients. Its not for all but I wouldn't just write steel off... As far as Code 100 track concerned - I have used both extensively in fiddle yards and, put it this way, I will only buy Peco points going forward. The difference on straight / curved track is minimal in my experience and I normally pick up whatever is cheapest / available. For rail joiners and track pins though - Hornby every time - their rail joiners are tighter so hold the rail more secure and seem not to slacken off over time which Peco can, reducing electrical continuity. Matt

John, this is quite a common problem with Kadees in NEM pockets if there is a bit of "slop" - the cure I've found normally is to wedge a small sliver of plasticard (10 thou) into the NEM coupling socket either above or below the offending coupling (depending on height adjustment - note I find usually needs to be under) to reduce the amount of up/down movement possible. Quite a few of Bachs coaches are even worse as not only is there slop in the NEM but also in the cam arrangement... Good luck M

I would say most 37s lost their cowlings in early 80s, I suspect as part of a heavy overhaul, but there were some that retained much longer. Certainly my Scottish 37s book shows no late 80s blue 37s with cowlings, but a few at start of decade. 37116 seemed to keep her cowlings much longer than most, at least into early 90s and I'm sure I've seen some of her in more modern liveries still retaining cowlings. There were still quite a few banger blue 37s around in late 80s but not many with cowlings by that stage. M

is the blue not inspired by Caledonian blue - the colour applied to the pre-grouping company's steam locos? I've seen photos on here of Mk3s with the darker blue band originally applied, mixed in with coaches with a more normal blue band which tallies with what said previously. As you say the blue band is provincial blue but was it applied to Scotrail first and then used more widely on provincial (i.e. Provincial adopted the colour from Scotrail?) - that was how it felt at the time as Scotrail were a pretty early adopter of new livery at a time when most things were blue/grey. It seemed like sometime later that Sprinters started to appear with a similar livery but could be wrong... M

How big are the differences between an E & an F? The D's had different window arrangement but I was always under impression the Es and Fs were more or less the same apart from a module on the underframe (air conditioning unit?). If so then presumably the conversion to an E would be straightforward unless there are other differences I am not aware of? I keenly await the 2F from Bach but am now wondering how much use they will be to me on my central Scotland layout... M

I am so rubbish at posting here... anyway the update is that the house is done and we moved in a couple of months ago. Last 2 months have been spent trying to get my head around all this eco kit that we had to have in the house to satisfy the planners - heat pumps, MVHR... however i have had a few eves in the new hobby room and have got 16ft of Greenhill set up together with a new 8ft frame which will replace the previous curved section (the new space is more linear so the curved sections of last layout were scrapped). So far it appears that most of the layout has survived without much damage despite being stored for 7 months in a garage. Am still in process of working out how will all piece together but looks like following: 1. greenhill upper and lower junctions survive but the curved section between them has been scrapped and replaced with a straight 8ft section (frame only at the moment). Track will need realigning to work with new board 2. castlecary viaduct will go and be replaced by a larger 8ft board also encompassing the lifting section for entrance door - i could re-use the old castlecary section but think i could do better than previous effort and set on a more robust 8ft board rather than add a 4ft board to the original slightly rickety 4ft board 3. Eastfield depot and Glasgow Q St boards will remain as was except will now be in line with each other with a new section between depicting Cowlairs carriage sidings 4. fiddle yards will be totally relaid to make most of the new space - current thinking is will go back to "underground" FYs but this time 1ft gap to layout above... will i regret this? 5. i seem to be left with a 8ft x 2ft corner near entrance unused - this may yet become a little electric terminus station to feed the high level electric line i never got around to building on last layout - most likely this will now extend around entire room running behind scenery for some sections The new space is great but i did make a blunder in the drawings in not realising how high the ceilings are... in one part the ceilings are 20ft high which has got me thinking about what this space could be used for... but maybe I am already biting off more than i can chew? I am a one-man band after all... Matt

Now admittedly this was over a year ago but whilst holidaying in Dorset I came across an art shop with quite a few model railway items from Hornby which included (I think) 3 Clans all brand new in box. All of their Hornby stock was years old and priced at the price for when it was first released - I got a couple of 08s for £60 ish each if I recall correctly - brand new. I think the Clans were about £120 but could be wrong - I considered buying to shift on given I hadn't seen any for years but decided not to. The point of this ramble... I didn't get the impression the shop in question turned over their stocks very often so they may still be there... I don't know the shop name but is in Dorchester opposite the Egyptian museum - if anyone in area and looking for a Clan might be worth a look? M

Can strongly recommend led strips for lighting. I built a simple gantry from sections of skirting board glued to create an L and then used self adhesive led strips in the corner of the L. You'll need a transformer to drive but great even light and the overall setup is very lightweight so needs only small support brackets. You Can get various lux levels and light colours too - I went natural white which I think was circa 4500k. M

And of course the Hornby model was in addition to a very good kit from Parkside of clam and rudd...

I would say depends on your kitbuilding skills... Cambrian kit finer sides but less detail on chassis though this could be added quite easily. I have many of both and like both but they are best not mixed in same train.

Not this one but used their mas sequencer for signals which has same inbuilt detector. Great little units. Only issue I could see would be if installed on a low level hiddwn fy as the sensors would get tricked by upper level (I tried install under a bridge and has this problem). As standard the detector is directly soldered to the circuit board which I found fiddly to retrofit. Latterly I requested detectors on a wiring loom which is much easier and I think no cost extra. M

Sorry - I can see that now. Looked grey in one of earlier shots...my mistake. M

As always love your modelling and photos. One small thing and I definitely could be wrong but I always thought Andrew Carnegie was one of IS 47s with a blue roof, together with 550. Apologies if I'm mistaken... M

Andrew i have a feeling that 37429 is one of the original Bach 37s which has some shape issues. As the later releases were heavily reworked I would not have complete confidence that the bodyshells will be a straight swap - the chassis went from 4 axle drive to 6 axle drive and there may have been other changes... can anyone comment who has swapped? Matt

New hobby room starting to take shape... A few more days work maybe? Builder reckons complete by Jan but I didn't ask which year. ..

And its upside down again... No idea why...

Layout in storage... large empty room as hand over keys

I can see from the video what you mean about the noise. None of my 557s in Bachmann locos make this noise - I'm sure would have noticed and would have annoyed me too! It sounds like the noise you get when you short circuit DCC - any chance the chip is pushed home too far and caused a minor short? Agree with your comment but puzzled as to how this hasn't affected me. M

Hi Ken. I've not had those issues with 557s. I'm using an NCE procab. Could this differ between controllers? I have a lot of 557s... M

Packs at Perth today of 1990s cars all had same cars in each pack (even same colour).

A trader at Perth show had several reworks available. I think it was jdm models or similar. They seem to have a website. M

I seem to recall there is photo of oca in RFD (grey sides with yellow ends) in Chenoas modern wagon series books if you have access to them. Maybe not a common livery but believe there was a least 1.

Well house went on market Thursday eve last week. 6 viewings - all were complimentary of my "train set" but no one made me an offer to leave it behind... One viewer said "I bet your wife don't know how much you spent on this" (correct). Upshot is that house sold on Tuesday this week with relatively short exit date... time to panic and packing has started immediately with self storage beckoning for the layout. New house won't be ready until at least December... all this to get a better view and a larger garden - it had better be worth it!! M

If I recall correctly Oxford sought views on whether they should a) produce Mk3 coaches in correct colours, or b) produce them in colours to match other manufacturers earlier releases. I think this was a survey on here and consensus was to go a). Whichever way they went there would be some not pleased... There has been much debate over the years about Hornby's colour of the lower bodyside of its intercity liveried releases. I think most think the colour is too yellowy but not all... Hornby have always said they have used the correct colour code and there has been suggestion that perhaps it is a colour that doesn't scale well - i.e. is the right colour but looks wrong in 4mm scale. I'm in no position to pass judgement either way but personally prefer the colour used by Bachmann and Lima earlier which is less yellowy than Hornby's version. M

I use kadees and had same issue. I actually cured by gluing the valance in position with an appropriate fillet such that the balance supports the coupling to prevent droop. Looked like the mount was about right for height once droop corrected. If couplers are cranked you could try fitting an unranked one from say Bachmann?