Pete the Elaner

Me too. Track is already down but I need to ensure the tunnels give enough clearance.

That's mentioned a page or 2 ago in this thread. There will be 2 DCC sound shipments before the DCC ready ones. It sounds like it will take time to distribute them from Shildon too. We have waited patiently for long enough for Rapido to get these right (which we all seem to have preferred to them rushing a bad model out). I don't see how a few more weeks is going to make a great deal of difference.

Overhang was always going to be an issue because of how far back the leading bogie is on the real one. I'm sure you'll be able to fit DCC sound at a later date.

7 years is not much when you are developing new technology such as tilting & a new method of braking. The HST was not really done from scratch, it was an evolution of proven technology. The APT project started in the 1960s.

That's not quite what I read. ETR 401 was an experimental development, much like the E-train & it first ran in 1976, 4 years after the E-train. The first service train the E450 was introduced in 1988. If the APT project had been seen through, it would probably have been in service before then. I know its only wikipedia, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FS_Class_ETR_450 So it appears the Italian tilting train was later than the British one but not by enough to be a complete re-package.

I remember reading that they will ask for the balance to be paid once the models were ready to ship. I am happy to not be a part of the first 500 because my layout will not be ready in time. My target is to get it ready for when this arrives

I understand the way you feel. I have just dismantled my old layout because I have wanted to do something else for a long time (model a real location). What I was working on was just not giving me much satisfaction. There are lots of things I would like to model but would look silly all on the same layout. I had to accept that I cannot do them all & decided to concentrate on what I wanted most. I thought hard about it the decided that the only way forward for me was to dismantle the old layout & start from fresh. Each layout is a learning experience. There is always something 'I will do differently next time' & sometimes starting from scratch is the only way. Your layout looks great & you have obviously put in a lot of effort, but if you want to do something else then you must move on. It doesn't really matter about other people's opinions. It is there for your enjoyment so while others can make suggestions, the decision is ultimately yours. Before touching your old layout, make some detailed plans of what you want. Enjoy the planning process. It can be fun just to visualise it. Think about it & be certain you want to start again before touching the old layout. Make sure you take loads of photos/videos of your existing layout. You can't have too many. Once it is gone you will have something to remember it by & you will look back on it with fond memories but you will not have any regrets if you've thought it through. If you do decide to build a new layout, then your enthusiasm will return once you get started. I barely touched the hobby for years but now I look forward to getting home from work so I can lay some more track.

I have never been keen on PVA for ballasting. It gives the ballast a slight green hue (although this is not a problem if you are going to weather it very heavily) but my biggest gripe is that it is a resin so it makes the track base rock hard.

Thanks for the advice. I'll get in touch with Hattons & ask politely if they can arrange a replacement.

Received my LMS one yesterday. I have a few issues with it though: The filler cap fell off after a run-in session on the rolling road. Easily sorted. There is a pipe of some sort loose underneath the bolier. No problem on thr rolling road but it would have broken off if running the loco on a layout. The pony brake rigging is fine at one end, but at the other, it is bent far away from the wheel. Probably a scale 12"! Worst of all, the bunker-end chassis is not straight. It rocks on the centre axle so all 6 wheels can never be in contact with the rail. I'm not sure if I should or even can fix this??

Then realise why you don't do this anymore..... ..as you spend several hours cursing at yourself while you de-fluff the mechanisms.

I see what mean about the road grey. That's a difficult one to get right. Only 1 signal. Maybe I can motorise it at Taunton?

We need to have a chat about a sequence...what stock you want to run & what fiddle yard space is available. I'm not assuming that all 8 lines in your current fiddle yards will be accessible from the layout.

Another difference which appears to have gone unnoticed (& I can't see it from the pics either) is that the Streamline 6' way has been reduced by 5mm. This gives just about the correct distance between track centres. Hopefully this will be more appreciable from different viewing angles & especially when trains are on adjacent tracks. The river looks good from what I can see in the pics. I like the ploughed field too. Moving away from urban layouts seems to have provided an opportunity to do some really different stuff. I saw a comment above about operational interest: We ran South Pimlico to a sequence. This provided good coordination & prevented a continual 'ad-hoc' issue where a fiddle yard became full. Far from being a constraint, it ensured a good variety of movements & running a 20-30 minute sequence was much more interesting than working things out on the fly.

I'm pleased with the difference the modified 6' way gauge has made. It is only 5mm narrower than standard streamline (the inaccuracies of OO prevent it going closer) but I am happy with the compromise. I think it also makes the pointwork flow more nicely. I suppose I had better get my finger out & start on the control panel. Captain Kernow has given Colin a deadline & I don't want to slow the wheels of progress.

I have been told before that many modern motors like a nice smooth voltage rather than a half wave supply... But that still sounds very strange. I ran mine in on a rolling road with a small Beatties DC controller which I got given some time back. Mine did nothing unexpected.

Sounds about right.

Yes. The decoder socket is inside an underframe box which is held on by 1 screw (full marks to Bachmann for this). It is designed to hold a small speaker too but Olivia's recommend that a bigger one in its own case will provide better sound, so I went with their recommendation. The only drawback is that this needs to sit in the passenger compartment so you can see it through the window...just about. I had to cut the speaker box about a bit to fit inside. The body itself is held on by 4 screws then a sharp pull will lift it from the chassis without any danger of damage. Are they similar to those on here: http://actonwells.wikispaces.com/Desiro ? They are Hornby International HO scale Scharfenbergs which fit striaight into the NEM pocket. They sit a little low for my liking & each coupling is about 1mm too short. You can couple them together but the gangways touch, so I'll try to engineer a solution to re-position them slightly.

Odd that the publicity pics changed from 350101 to 350102. My 350101 has already had a run-in session & had its sound chip fitted. Shoes sit a little lower than my 2-EPB so I had to lower my conductor rail just a touch. I am well impressed with the model. It was worth the wait. It will look good on the AC layout (when I build it ) in multiple with the 350/2 when it arrives.

I have no idea where the original plans are & they were too big to scan anyway so I 'll re-draw them in a more useful scale. All the above posts are helpful . I am changing history a little by putting a station on this line so I imagine this would change signalling too.

The old Dudding Hill line from Cricklewood to Acton. My layout is based between Willesden Junction & North Acton, on the pretense that passenger services still run on the line & they built a station by Victoria Road. I'm modelling an AC/DC changeover at the station.

Oops, good point. I forgot to mention that. I am modelling early 1990s, 2 track main line with 4-aspect bi-directional signalling with AWS. Area is West London. If possible, I also want to make the layout easily updateable to 2010. I have 1 trailing crossover on the line with 1 siding.

Until recently, I've not paid any attention to these & I've certainly not used then on any of my previous layouts. I've been looking at these on the WCML recently to get some idea of where I should place them on my current project. I had assumed that 1 or 2 would be placed by each signal or point with a cluster of them at junctions, but this seems to not be the case. I have seen them on a plain section of track & I have seen signal gantries with none very close by. Can anyone suggest any guidelines for these regarding placement?

Why do you not like the Cinema? The back of it reminds me of the one in Ealing which was demolished around 2005. That place was falling apart. I don't think they had to do much to knock it down. Breathe on it possibly?

Beam. Didn't know that. As far as the model goes, surely the beams are the most important part?