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I've done some modelling recently and here's some of my output: 1. Rail blue Bachmann 47 no. 47 701 Saint Andrew, as originally running in 1979, re-numbered and modified from 47 035 and fitted with a Bachmann sound chip. I own some Jouef Mk3s and a recently purchased DBSO to accompany the loco. I wanted a companion to my identical sound-fitted Bachmann 47 470 Glenloy which was unofficially named in Oct. 1979 for only a few weeks, the only proof of its existence is a close up shot of its name: http://www.class47.c...ame=443&index=G 2. Large logo Bachmann 37 424 Glendarroch, sound fitted, this still awaits its etched nameplates, this loco was re-numbered from Bachmann's 37 425 limited edition with Eastfield's scottie dog emblem. 3. Chipped and weathered a Hornby 101 blue/grey DMU, it had its outer couplings removed and its bufferbeams painted black. No prizes for guessing Glen and Andrew being my names. A future project will be to model 37 326 Glengarnock in its large logo livery as named in 1986, I already own its later incarnation when it reverted to 37 111 in Railfreight Metals livery.

I have two cousins, Lisa and Debbie, I know 73 206, owned by GBRf, is named Lisa, but haven't unearthed any locos named Debbie or Deborah, so far I haven't done anything as they may think I'm favouring one of them over the other, I'll have to pretend that another GBRf loco was named Debbie and commission a special nameplate.

Last Tuesday afternoon I travelled down with a mate to Dover via South Eastern Trains' highspeed service in unit 395001 Dame Kelly Holmes. One nice touch was their signature on the side of the carriage, not just a vinyl or cast nameplate. The "Javelins" are being named after well known British Olympians, so, I thought, could I imagine more units named after some of my former school pupils who excelled at sports? I knew three pupils who excelled in track and field athletics and have provisionally allocated names and numbers in the series 395 030-032 ... names will be withheld. The late Don Jones' Birmingham New Street OO layout had 47s and 87s named after friends and family who helped out on the railway, and quite often I've seen photos in the media of live steam locos on garden railways named after their partners.

Over the past year as part of me going digital, I've chipped many locos fitted with DCC sockets, and also giving me the opportunity to sort out what I really wanted to keep. As part of that process I've invested in new locos at the same time and replacement chassis for ex-Lima 37s, 47s, 73s and DMUs. The situation is now what to do with my remaining non-chipped, non-DCC fitted locos, for which there are no current state of the art replacements planned, the biggest group being my 86s, 87s, 92 and my Triang's EM2. I'm considering several options: 1. Chip all those remaining by hard wiring them, as they have no DCC ready sockets. 2. Spend at least £95 each on new Heljan 86s, as liveries and versions become available, pre-order a new Heljan EM2 for £150 and buy replacement chassis for my Lima 87s for around £50 each. 3. Keep and run them as a discrete fleet of DC (analogue) locos, to show myself and other modellers the sort of technology what we had to put up with in the past. These locos can traverse first radius curves and generally have few fragile parts and I bet over the long term, subject to availability of spares, that they'll be more easily serviceable than today's offerings.

I agree that diesels are much better, my Black 5 is likely to be my only sound fitted loco for quite some time yet. There are a lot more variables such as chuff rate and volume in steam sound compared with diesels and the current ESU chips don't quite have enough programming and memory capacity to bring all that together.

Last year I started going into sound fitted locos in a big way, starting with buying a Bachmann 47 using some of my Xmas money. This has been a rapidly developing theme and I decided from the outset to only equip a small number of my fleet due to its cost. I see the most expensive part, the hardware, as buying the chips and speakers, because the ESU chips can be reblown as often, now as little as a tenner plus postage, as needed, bearing how fragile some of the wires and challenges with installation. I'm not afraid, within reason, to switch chips between locos, to meet changing wishes and requirements. Tonight I transplanted an Olivia's Trains DMU chip and speaker from my Hornby blue/grey 101 unit to my Bachmann green 108 3-car unit in order to provide company with my Hornby Black 5 (45377) The night before I transplanted one of my class 37 chips and speaker into my 4CEP unit so I could arrange to reblow it with EMU sounds as I remember them from my youth down south. Once my Hampshire unit arrives from Kernow next year, I'll redeploy and reblow another sound chip from my existing fleet, don't know which one yet until nearer the time, again to relive childhood memories. You could argue that this is all just a novelty but for me it gives a fourth dimension to my hobby.

I know most of us model a chosen location and period, but how many actually model and collect stock on a particular theme? As an example, over the years, I've read in the Railway Modeller someone who modelled all 34 BR liveried A4s. In my case, I've modelled named locos based on where I and my family lived over the years: towns, cities and counties, in steam, diesel and electric. It's been very absorbing, especially during the BR sector era, I found it was possible, purely based on this criteria, to assemble a fleet that could handle nearly every prototype duty. I hasten to add, I also own 47283 Johnnie Walker and 86504 Halley's Comet, both surnames of former schoolteachers! It was harder to apply the same formula with steam locos as by and large only the more important locos were named. I'm also fascinated with wooden bodied private owner coal wagons for the same reason, currently I concentrate only on the Bachmann Blue Riband, and their Hornby and Dapol equivalents. Modelling in this way means one has very clear limits and one isn't tempted to stray too far.

Having only just bought a laptop and my own home broadband net access, I'll post occasional news about how my layouts and modelling philosophies evolved, especially about coping with my hobby living in a small flat. I haven't bought a digital camera or any scanning equipment yet so please bear with me not posting any photos to show you of some of my past efforts. I model in both N and OO, although OO has the upper hand by far now because of the wider range of models available, both new and second hand. It hasn't always been the case, when I had just graduated from what is now a uni, I stayed in bedsits where I only had room for tiny layouts, and N predominated, indeed at one time I could count the amount of OO stock I owned on both hands! My circumstances mean only small portable layouts are possible, and from experience, designed to be carried and stacked away by one person at the end of each operating session. Therefore, any fine detail that is likely to be knocked off is either omitted or removed, and any buildings or structures above a certain height removed before stacked away. I've settled on pre-ballasted Fleischmann Profi track (OO and N) as experience over the years shown I can lay and remove the stuff and reuse it many times, although it costs more than normal flexitrack, I've saved loads of money over the long term when I've changed my mind, high quality track is always a good investment. I've also evaluated Kato Unitrack in N and my favourite pieces are the sectional double-track parts which go together like as though it's Scalextric and can be assembled and dismantled in no time. The Fleischmann track (code 100 in OO, code 80 in N) can handle nearly every wheel profile except the very earliest Triang. I must leave things for now ....

I suppose Dapol couldn't deliver in a suitable timescale, bearing in mind they sub-contract the manufacture of the motorised chassis and electrics to the Far East and in the past have had severe delays with their N scale items. As Bachmann's already got a proven basic chassis (of course it'll need fuel tanks, etc) they should deliver quite promptly. Moreover I hope Kernow reduces its price as I was most reluctant to pay £149.99 for a two car unit!

Liked the photos of CoT with all its lining out, would love to see it produced in plain green as 3717, as worn by the loco in its final years, it's a shame to spend ??145 and then overpaint it all! Roll on the next NRM special commission, I would pay a premium for a J17 or EM1, if they're not already planned as a standard catalogue release.

I've no objection to NRM making money, if they were upfront and state "for every loco sold, ??XX will be donated to the NRM in support of its work". I think ??20 per loco would be reasonable, ??30 even better. It might attract even more interest if people knew how much they were suporting the NRM.

Great news from Bachmann and NRM. As my budget is already committed to buying both Heljan West Coast Rly's "Glen" 33s I'll have to pass on this release. In any case I only wanted a bog-standard model to re-name and re-number as City of Birmingham, there were ten in the class. By the way how much from each model sold will be donated to the NRM?