Matt

This rings a bell with me too though I think there were 20 pilot scheme 26s and none of them had plough brackets was what I recall reading. M

John, I've recently had issues with my bach 70 getting stuck on grad less than 1in 50 with 10 hhas on. Initial thoughts were ballasting out the 70 which is a bit light. However, decided to see if could make the wagons more free rolling and the answer was yes. Good clean of bogie sides where pin point enters and then adding a spot of electrolube and the 70 now storms up the hill with no issues. I was surprised the difference made! Have also just purchased a reamer to try improve things further on some other wagons. On otas I would recommend fixing the articulation solid as removes a lot drag. I've found that can traverse even 2nd rad curves with fixed wheel sets. I've also cut couplings off the articulated wheel sets and gone frame mounted with big improvement. Just some thoughts if you have any issues on the helix. M

I've never heard of but you can get other decoders for similar price eg hattons own - I have a number of these and they seem to be fine. M

Success! Although I couldn't get the gear tower covers off I found that all 3 locos went immediately silent when a drop of powerlube was placed on the bearing at each side of the worm drive in the gear tower which sounds similar to your experience. Thanks for help - the children can sleep soundly now! M

I'll try that later this week and see how goes. Cheers, M

Yep seen this - one of 56s from ebay (the one that doesn't squeal!) was picked up for £30 as spares or repair and all it needed was 4 new screws with the remains of the threads still in the bodyshell but critically sticking out so that easy retrieve. After some time trying to get replacement screws including unanswered queries to Hornby I finally dawned that same screws used in hsts and the dummy cars don't really need them being both light and having substantial body clips :-). Since then been v careful not overtighten. Pj10 any chance of tips on how to dismantle to get to work drive? Am game to have a go especially as the wife is complaining the noise is carrying through the house and might wake the kids up... M

Thanks Alan, anybody have a step by step on getting into these. They are not accessible without at least taking some of chassis apart which always scares me... M

Funnily enough I have the same problem with 2 x 56s and a 60 with the 60 the worst and have just been battling this one this eve. I've lubricated the axles where the leaflet shows, lubricated the pickups with powerlube, lubricated the carden shafts and tried to drop some powerlube into the motor bearing and bogie gear tower. Both 56s have had the fan drive belt snipped off. Guess what? They all still screech. My models have all been unrun for at least 5 years due layout construction but I've no problems on my 80+ Bachmann, Heljan and vitrains machines but with 1 of 4 60s, 2 of 3 56s having this issue I'm wondering whether there is a difference in grease used by Hornby. My locos have all been stored on shelves in my centrally heated hobby room - wonder if might have been better boxed or stored somewhere cooler? If you solve the issue please let me know. I've not really stripped parts off the locos to get proper access to gear towers or motor yet but am thinking this could be next... M

I've gone for a double deck fiddle yard under one section of scenic layout (three layers in all). 70 mm between each board so little chance of access. Track laying has had to be meticulous to try and avoid derailments. Since I can't fiddle with the stock in there have adopted a dumbbell on each level to reverse trains before hitting the storage loops. Each loop has a dead section to stop train in right place and to compensate for non fiddling I have lain 30 tracks each long enough for 2 trains. Broadly I agree with suggested gradients by Ray but if you are running diesels of modern bach / Hornby stable then most will pull a lengthy train up 1 in 40 without much grief (8 coaches or 20 ish wagons). Final thing you may want to consider is some type of tracking system for the yard if not visible easily. I've gone for mini magnets with loco number on each to track contents of each siding. Hope of help, M

Picked up a copy in WHSmith yesterday and was charged right price! On glancing thru have to say this looks superb - possibly best mag I've picked up for years with plenty of material relevant to my d&e era, detailed articles and excellent pics. If only this level could be sustained for a monthly mag but I fear there is not enough feedstock out there for this? Or am I wrong? Would be an immediate subscription for me.... M

I guess it would be fair to say progress has been slow but that's life with a young family... All track is now down for all sections and all is tested independently albeit not yet linked up. I've had trains running briefly and suffered no track problems on the section working which was basically the lower greenhill to Cumbernauld line and through both fiddle yards. Recent weeks (months) has been focused on wiring up the fiddle yards to get stock in there and out of the way! Diode matrices for 15 lane fiddle yards take a bit of fiddling but tonight has seen me testing the upper FY entrance and exit successfully and get first batch of trains in. Frustratingly my dynamis has been giving me grief with uncommanded manoeuvres and some issues with loco roster though think I've worked latter out. Next steps are to get the lower fiddle yard diode matrices knocked up and then start bringing each section of the layout to life... Each module is fully wired but nothing linked back to main panel or supply as yet... The room looks a tip just now but will take some photos when I get the stock stored down in the FY and do a bit of a clear up. M

Wow Dave your output will soon be overtaking the big boys! Good luck with these and I'll be onto kernow to order some. Matt

To be fair to MR it is in the form of an advert and there's a good chance the editorial team don't review all the ads, possibly even handled by a different department who may know little amount model railways. It's also not that prominent - passed me by until I read on here and went looking for.

Just been to nrm website and 87001 is not listed as part of national collection. Interestingly Wikipedia suggests it is but references nrm list of items in national collection - on clicking link you get to a blank entry. Has 87001 been taken out of national collection as I gather there has been some rationalisation? Am I going completely o/t now...?

funnily enough I was just thinking the same... How similar are the chassis between 87 and 90? There was definitely an 87 at York on last visit - think was 87001 but not sure on that count. Could the 87 have been under development for some time with nrm and the 90 was an obvious extension to reuse the chassis tooling? Mind you with the APT-E maybe nrm would go with steam for next release? We will see soon enough!

Dave, don't want to take anything away from your modelling which is superb, but at least in part, it is your lighting which sets many of your pics apart from so many others. Whether a dusk setting, or low setting sun effect or just the clarity of full day light - they all look so natural. How is this done? - my layout lighting is nothing short of poor and am thinking about what to do to better it... M

C&m opted to produce n gauge scotrail mk3s. Durham trains of Stanley were thinking about this in OO and displayed mock ups at Glasgow one year. When asked recently was told project on hold amidst belief another manufacturer was on brink of releasing a new mk3 And they didn't want to run risk of being left holding stock of lesser std ltd eds. personally I don't think it's a case of "if", rather "when" a new mk3 comes along which, as the owner of an extensive fleet of mk3s leaves me with mixed feelings... Guess I should get on and detail those rakes of mk3s in meantime - I'll finish just before the announcement of the new model :-) M

When I first met the wife she was assistant curator at the bovington tank museum. If I'd only paid attention to her work... Just asked her about the Cromwell and she said they did have one but that was about all she could remember. 5 years clearing up baby sick and it's all gone.

I prob should know this but I don't... I'm assuming this is eastfield and it looks like the depot in background is being rebuilt / re roofed. How extensive was the rebuild. The later depot that I knew to early 90s didn't look like a steam depot but didn't exactly look modern purpose built. Was it case of re clad of old steam depot in corrugated or was it a complete rebuild?

My layout took an unexpected direction when Bach announced the 85 with a new high level electrified viaduct added above. If other electrics do arrive they will also be finding home with me.

surely at tick over the track voltage on dc is nil so I don't understand how that works? I can see basic functions working as you drive the loco but not at tick over?

Well if the 128 made it to Waverley then it must have ventured to Glasgow Queen st too... :-)

I held off buying one for a bit but the attitude of Bach staff at the Glasgow show prompted me to buy one there and then. Top marks for admitting a problem and offering advice for an immediate solution or option to return for them to do. M