lapford34102

Hi, Chris many thanks for putting those photos up. Wayne, always good to chat. An excellent weekend at Showcase and thanks to Tim and Paul for helping operate. The antics with the 3 links seemed to keep people entertained and it was good to talk to people, many of whom seemed to be on here. The 08 performed impeccably all weekend, rather to my surprise, but did finally throw a crank about 15 mins before the end Sunday. Anyhow we have the technology, I hope..., and I think I'm going to treat it to a sound chip. Hopefully see some of you at Shenfield in Sept. Cheers Stu

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/mg/mg-zs-crossover-2017-review/ Stu

Families thoughts are with all those bereaved, injured or involved. This was a barbaric, futile act that will achieve little. Our people have to get it right all the time, "they" only need to get lucky once sadly. Stu

I'll throw this in, Revell's 72nd Jagdpanther Stu

This country has a lamentable record of managing large public sector IT projects. I assume as they've got many NHS systems back up quite quickly they've a solid back-up regime and used it. Doesn't mitigate the disruption to individuals but avoids giving in to these crooks. Worth reminding everyone they should back up their system regularly or at the very least have copies of what they can't afford to lose. Stu

http://www.hattons.co.uk/60184/Hornby_R3144A_Class_31_D5829_in_BR_green_with_small_yellow_panel_/StockDetail.aspx Something here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78482-Hornby-br-green-class-31-diesels-r3144-r3144a/ Hornby R3262 - in a word no. You might want to dig around a bit on here to get some more info HTH Stu

I'll bring some crayons to Showcase then DOMH..... ;-) Stu

Hi, This was a Hornby 08, not sure if you were referring to the Bachy one.Once the pickups were tweaked all wheels were picking up consistently. I'll see about getting a copy smuggled in, now who do you want me to get it signed by ?? Stu

Hi, Well Sheepcroft is due to appear in June's ModelRail just in time for it's appearance at DEMU's Showcase in June. The layout is due for a bit of a clean along with evicting the wildlife that has probably moved in. However in the meantime been adding to the roster though Lord knows it's big enough already for a 5ft layout. First up a couple of MK1 Heljan 33's. The green one was an attempt to backdate the exhaust so to give it a new lease of life has had a repaint to full yellow ends and renumbered to D6560 which was one of the few to get FYP without the exhaust mod. Converted to EM with Romford coach wheels. Cheap and easy though it's a bit of pain removing the chemical blacking from the treads and wheel backs. 6539 in Rail Blue was re-wheeled using Branchline wheels. Frankly not impressed. The wheels are NS with one side insulated and firmly on the axle, the other wheel is axle to wheel interference fit and as solid as a politicians promise. All axles were to some degree or other alike and I've ended up aralditing in place. Finally an 08 done with the Gibson conversion. Found it relatively straightforward for a first try at this sort of thing. Running is fine though it appears to picked up some camel DNA along the way. Suspect it's a conversion that's easy to do but difficult to do well. Anyhow it's adds another dimension. Some phone camera pics Cheers Stu

A lot less limited than the Ramsgate Habour site plus there's a large unrestricted car park opposite on the "B+Q" site. "Activities co-ordinator"- Interesting development now they've announced they are staying there. Stu

Hi, Thank you Luke and to everyone who've taken the trouble to hit the "like" button. Sheepcroft will be at DEMU Showcase in June, Shenfield in Sept and Folkestone in Oct, Also Loughborough Sept 18. The track power issue is now hopefully sorted with some replacement feeds. One possible issue that I hadn't even realised was an issue concerns stock wheels. The kit built stuff uses Romfords which are fine. The RTR wagons use their own wheels pulled out - cheapskate I know - but it appears whilst Bachmann are fine Hornby wheelsets are bouncing on the chairs of the C+L track, only just but it's there. May be nothing but there's been some frantic wheel swapping. Won't be ready for the weekend but there's a couple of ex Drewry Lane locos in the form Heljan Mk 1 Cromptons on the workbench for Showcase. Will post a pic when done. Cheers Stu

Hi, Luke, thank you and many thanks for that link, totally unaware of it. Very nice to get an honourable mention. I hadn't commented on the show as the weekend was bookended by helping No1 daughter and family move house and it took a bit of time to get over that. Always a very good show with almost too much to see but we had an excellent weekend though having Canada Street, amongst other excellent layouts, in the same block was something of a distraction.Not a totally glitch free weekend but a few more lessons learned and advice sought from the more knowledgable. Did have a track power issue when setting up Fri which seems to have been down to the low temps, a fix in hand for it's next outing to Biggleswade next weekend. My help for the weekend, Tim, went all Andy York on me Sat afternoon taking all manner of artistically inclined photos. Here's a couple.

Bertiedog, Having just noted your location have you contacted the Visitor centre to see if they have any stock. Just a thought. Stu

Hi Paul, Not my doing I'm afraid but as it's was on their pages and people were asking thought I'd post the link. There's an email contact under site map and I'm sure they'd be happy to advise. HTH Stu

EM conversion - http://emgauge70s.co.uk/ Click on January 2017 at top left, halfway down page Stu

Been keeping up with this though without much intention of getting one, however...... When digging through my Weymouth Tramway books with regard to the 1366's came on a pic of a Peckett, an 0-6-0 admittedly,being used there in the late 20's as a stand in for a regular away for overhaul. This may have been mentioned before but I'm not going back through 70 pages so apologies, but Andy Y has kindly informed me GWR had something similar absorbed from the Swansea Harbour Trust. I think I've just been handed an unlooked for excuse for a bit of "what if" :-) This thread has been very entertaining though seems to have undertones of "Where can I get a Tracy Island" that some on here may remember. Cheers Stu

Thank you, good to know people are still finding it useful. Was very surprised to be told it featured in the BRM calender and then a pic of it turned up in the BRM thread. As regards possible small layouts Neil's Shell island http://rushbys-railways.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/shell-island-at-tywyn.html has always struck me as a good starting point. Not necessarily a "copy" but just as inspiration. There are plenty of others of this ilk obviously but this one has always stuck with me. Blue 08 - weather heavily please. A clean blue 08 is about as implausible as the UK winning Eurovision Song contest. Have a good break (though I'm more of the Bah Humbug persuasion) Cheers Stu

Hi, Have a friend(!) who insists on calling it that and at times been almost tempted to change the name. After operating it for a couple of days it might well be more appropriate.......... Interesting you can do it in"O" in 12' though I can imagine how tight that is if you were using PECO points. Pity the smaller radius ones haven't appeared yet,or have they? is this on a single board because if not I would expect the baseboard join to be in a less than convenient place. Must admit I was tempted by the Dapol 08 but not sure I should be getting into another scale though that could well change when Heljan's 03 appears. Glad you and your friend liked the layout, got a couple more shows then it'll probably be retired. Cheers Stu

Agree, if they are going to do this they might as well do it thoroughly. Even Farish's Formoway from the 60's got this right. Stu

Sadly we seem to have something of a culture, Amazon delivery for example, where safety/common sense comes a poor second to "productivity", for want of a better word. Whether this was involved here I have no idea so will wait to see if there's a management aspect to this. Stu