jivebunny

This was my immediate thought on seeing the e-mail from Rails. Took one look at the photos of the samples and could immediately see the colours had at long last been corrected (14 years...?). Pre-order is in, looks like my existing Swallow DVT will be living out its days in "early privatisation awaiting red paint" state at the end of my Virgin Mk3 rake! Alan

Excellent photos, I spent many an evening on that same footbridge watching trains come and go and the locotracteurs go about their shunting business with my grandfather, who was French and was a manager at the SERNAM building adjacent to the station (SERNAM was the French equivalent to Rail Express Systems, for the uninitiated). The whole area has completely changed now, however. Gone are the 72000s and EADs... The line was electrified in 1983 and the red lattice road bridge in the background was removed and the cutting covered with a two-storey car pack at around the same time. The TGV Atlantique arrived in 1990 and the 1956 station building was entirely demolished and rebuilt in 2001, the huge SERNAM depot was knocked down a few years later and finally the footbridge, which was admittedly rather uninviting in its later years and particularly dangerous in wet conditions thanks to its yellow PAINTED deck and steps, was replaced in 2019 with a more modern counterpart (never thought I'd be sad about an ugly concrete structure being demolished). Funnily enough I also lived in Reading when I was young, although I moved back to France in my late 20s and decided to settle in Angers. A few off-topic photos of Angers in the early 2020s for comparison: A general view of the station from roughly where you were standing with your brother (with British weather to boot). The "Les Gares" sign hides the car park and overlooks a tram stop that opened on the bridge in 2011. A pair of TER regional services wait on platforms C and D. From the same vantage point a few years later, a TGV Atlantique about to depart for Paris from platform B with a (more modern) TER service on platform D. The replacement footbridge. Your photos would have been taken approximately above the furthest support. Same bridge, opposite direction. A TER service sets off to Nantes. In the background, the 1950s industrial units have gone and a dozen high-rise buildings are under construction to breathe new life into the area, which is going to become a new business district just 90 minutes from Paris Montparnasse. I know a number of people who have left the Paris suburbs and now commute 300km from Angers as it's quicker and more reliable than taking the metro and RER (and housing is cheaper). Nicely weathered TGV Atlantique set 392, one of only about 25 of the 105 sets still in service. No longer in this livery though. Sunset over the station approaches and the "Poste 1" signal box, still in use. The signal box used to be attached to the SERNAM building of which only a little piece of wall remains (still attached to the back of the signal box!) The 1950s footbridge - or what remained of it - on its final day of existence to make way for the new one. Alan

Ah, proper trains. Nice photos, looking forward to seeing more of these. I also started to visit France in the late 80s and early 90s so this is right up my boulevard. Alan

Thanks for the pointers re: MTA stock. I'd seen the MTH offerings but not the Proto stuff, although I'd be interested in more modern kit such as the R46 and R62. I did see a limited run of R46 cars at a model shop called Red Caboose in New York but the less-than-delightful owner wanted $1200 per (unmotorised) car, which would explain why they were covered in a thick coat of dust... Anyway, veering massively off-topic here. Picked up a pair of ESU LokPilot decoders from my local supplier yesterday so my S8 (S4?) is now happily and smoothly running around my test track. Suppose I'll have to order some of those nice light kits next! Speaking of lighting, does anyone know the London Underground regs around light setups when shunting or parking up stock for the night? Such as markers both ends, tail lights both ends, etc. Cheers, Alan

I'll dig up this old thread as I've just acquired one of these (2022 edition) and I must say it's a very nice-looking piece of kit. Should turn a few heads at my club's next show considering we're in France :D Other than adding digital sound at £240 (😭) and sorting out the light bleed behind the cabs, are there any other areas for improvement on these models? I'd love to do something with the gangways to reduce or close off those gaps, but presumably their width is the reason Bachmann couldn't get them any closer. Has anyone attempted anything with this? Perhaps just darkening them would reduce the visual impact? Looking forward to running the set anyway, all I need now is for Bachmann to produce some New York MTA stock... Alan

Hi all, Thought I'd try to bring something new to this subforum by starting a thread for us all to post our latest (or even our not-so-latest / favourite) acquisitions, in the hope of getting some new discussions going. In any case it's always interesting to see what others are doing and buying, especially in slightly niche areas of the hobby (niche outside of France, of course), and often this sort of thread allows others to discover manufacturers and suppliers that they weren't aware of. I'll get the ball rolling with some photos of my recent purchases and hope that others feel motivated to contribute their own! Most of my childhood summers were spent in western France, specifically around Angers where my (French) mother's parents lived, and so I'm very firmly attached to the rolling stock my railwayman grandfather used to take me to see at Angers Saint-Laud in the late 80s and the 1990s, such as the below. First up is this EAD X 4630 "Caravelle". EAD for "Element automoteur double" - double self-propelled unit or "EAT" for the three-car versions. These 1970s two-car DMUs were lightly modernised from 1985 onwards and 21 of them were repainted into the rather obscure "Pays de la Loire" livery (nicknamed the "ambulance" livery for obvious reasons). Anyone who's been to Nantes since December 1984 is likely to recognise the TAN livery that adorns the trams there, which has evolved little in the 38 years since it was introduced. Having never been produced by a manufacturer, this livery is a limited series of models based on the recent Hornby-Jouef production, professionally repainted by TEC Aura and sound-equipped with a Yohan Delage Loksound v5. Sold exclusively by Train de France and - because of me - now sold out. Next up is this Z 9600 EMU (of the Z2 family), in the slightly later Pays de la Loire livery, which should sit nicely alongside my other Z2 which is in original livery. I'm particularly fond of these colours which remind me of trips to the seaside Digital sound ones are very hard to come by so I jumped on the opportunity to acquire this one last week. Same supplier and once again I purchased the last one (sorry). And finally some proper traction, in the form of this first-series BB 66000 in the classic "Arzens" livery (named after its designer, Paul Arzens). These were often to be found trundling through Angers on freight moves or parked up in the bay platform waiting to shunt wagons in the nearby yards (long overgrown now, sadly). Cheers, Alan

Hi Roddy (ex-just-outside-Leither here too) The insulation trick sounds like a good option, less permanent and less terrifying than taking a flaming hot screwdriver to a tiny plastic model 😁 I'll give it a go, thanks for the quick reply! Cheers, Alan

Hi everyone, Mine had its first run a few days ago on the club layout. I had to put an end to it fairly quickly as the tender coupling kept detaching from the tender side, leaving only the flimsy wires to pull its weight and that of the three coaches behind it... Having looked underneath, it would seem the mounting under the engine isn't flush with the underside of the chassis and drops down, which in turn causes the bar coupling to droop so low that it's barely catching the peg on the tender. Has anyone had this issue and found a way to fix it without causing damage to the engine ? There's so little space that I'm worried about putting pressure on it and damaging the nearby wires / solderings, let alone getting glue anywhere near those wheels 😑 Alan

Hi everyone, For those of us who purchased the non-sound versions, there are a few third-party DDC sound suppliers who provide decoders for the 812 but does anyone have any recommendations as to who to go with? I'm struggling to find any YouTube footage of sound-fitted version other than the out-of-the-box ones. I'm having a hard time loving this engine, probably because of the price vs quality ratio when compared to the vastly superior J36 which I obtained new for... £89, and I'm hoping the addition of sound will encourage me to use it a bit more (been sitting in its box since I received it other than a quick test run). Cheers, Alan

Well, less than 24 hours after my previous post it looks like my Rocket has now shipped. Remains to be seen how good Hermes are at shipping parcels internationally, but if their domestic deliveries are anything to go by then I expect to have issues. Why any organisation concerned with its image still uses Hermes is beyond me 😑

Has anyone received their order direct from Hornby yet? I'm among those who missed out the first time and had their retailer preorder cancelled the second time, so ended up having to reluctantly place an order on the Hornby website. I received a e-mail on June 1st informing me that my order had been "released", but it's now the 9th and it's still "processing". It's a good job our go-to internet retailers don't take that long dispatching orders or they probably wouldn't be around... Alan

The coupling in the photo I posted is from a 66400 and is equipped with a NEM pocket fitted with a standard loop coupling. I found an article with photos of someone taking apart a 66400. It looks you need to unscrew the bogie baseplate before you can fit the coupling to the peg. Then when you screw the baseplate back on it will presumably trap the coupling between itself and the bogie frame. This is only guesswork though as I've never seen the underside of a 66400. Photos here: https://lestrainsdemarin.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/la-revision-de-la-bb-66000/amp/ Alan

Hi, From your description it sounds like you have something similar to the coupling below, which may or may not be equipped with a NEM pocket (most modern ones are). I have a couple of locomotives and TGV power cars equipped with such NEM couplings, the "ears" on the side push against two ridges on the locomotive and act as springs to force the coupling to self-centre. This sort of coupling usually fits onto a peg (which you seem to have located) and is then screwed into place to ensure it doesn't drop off, so it sounds like you may simply be missing the screw. Photos will no doubt help us to find a solution for you though :D Alan

In sharp contrast to Parisian underground stations then

If a mod (or the OP) wanders through here, it might be worth changing the subject of this 2013 thread to indicate that it's about the 1980s model and not the new tooling Alan