Pete the Elaner

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?

I travel to work on the WCML so have been observing this since reading the above post. Every 350/1 I have seen has the 3rd rail collectors fitted. I have not seen 350101 for a while though.

Fantastic. More wallet pain

I would rather it be delayed for corrections than rushed out with errors. I've been waiting about 20 years for an AC commuter unit too, so 4-5 months is nothing. Maybe Howes will have a loksound chip ready by the time these get released?

Out of my era too, but sometimes a model comes along which is so good it has to be bought. I have been wanting an AC unit for some time so I'll support Bachmann's venture into this new part of the market by buying 2. If it sells well, then hopefully more AC units will follow.

Fair point but it takes away the anonymity & it is much easier to add a name than remove one.

I travel in 350s every day (so will check for the shoebeams on the 350/1, which were there last time I noticed) so I welcome them very warmly. I am building an early 90's WCML layout so am very tempted to make it convertible to 2005-10 just to run these. Just ask yourself 'Why produce the 350?' Because it is a suburban AC EMU, which is hopefully a gap in a market. It can cheaply be converted to produce a 450, which will enter a proven market alongside the popular CEP & EPB. With those 2 points in mind, I have no doubt that a 450 will be available soon. I am disappointed they chose a named S/L 350. Units are fairly anonymous so you can run the same one up & down a layout all day & nobody will notice. You can't do it with a namer. This has stopped me buying one of these. I have an LM 350/1 on order & after the positive comments on here, I may well add an LM 350/2 as well.

I've worked with Colin for some time on South Pimlico & have helped out at most exhibitions. We were continually amused by comments of disgust by those who like clean layouts I have enjoyed the shows we have done together but sadly it was time for it to be retired. It has ran well & very badly at times but the final show was not a black mark. Colin has plans for a replacement & we will start work on this soon. Colin & I have both learned from this layout. From what we have discussed, I know the replacement will be an improvement in many ways See you all on the exhibition circuit (although as a viewer for a while)

I completely agree. A modern BLT would have some houses where the yard used to be & the run round loop would have been lifted. That would leave a platform to be served by a solitary 2 car DMU which would continually run in & out. Not very interesting to operate or watch. Most off us have to compromise on space so a small TMD is often considered a decent compromise.

That thing made me give up for a few years.

Just 3 layouts? Ok. West Coast Main Line (where I live now) Anglia Main LIne (which I used to commute on) Colchester-Clacton line (which I could see from my bedroom window until the age of 13 when I moved). Ok, so if you don't count the real thing, then no layouts at all. I do take a little from many layouts when I see what can be/has been done. So obvously I am building a West London layout