jivebunny

Hi all, If my experience running a 12-car TGV Atlantique produced by Jouef 20-odd years ago is anything to go by, four powered axles should be more than capable of shifting the weight of a (mostly) articulated set. As long as Hornby fits the NDM with an appropriate motor and the non-powered vehicles with wheels that turn relatively freely, those who don't wish to purchase a second powered NDM for the extra boost will no doubt get on just fine. Remember these are articulated sets so, as per the real world, the powered vehicle will have much, much less resistance to overcome than it would with conventional wheel arrangements. On a full 14-car APT set you have: 2xNDM with 8 wheels each = 16 wheels 2xTBF and 2xDTS with 6 wheels each = 24 wheels 8x intermediate trailers with 4 wheels each = 32 wheels That's a total of only 72 wheels in contact with the rails rather than the 112 you would have in a conventional loco + 13 coach train formation. Whereas a locomotive would have to contend with 104 unpowered wheels on its train, a single NDM will only have to shift 64 of them, which is quite a bit less work (assuming Hornby don't make the trailers out of lead). Alan

French eBay can be quite interesting for eye-wateringly ridiculous prices. In many cases sellers calculate their prices using the assumption "old = expensive" Here's an SNCF BB9200 from 1976-1981, worth about 10-15 quid but courageously listed with a BIN price tag of £50. https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Toy-Jouef-Locomotive-BB9288-wagon-restaurant-ech-Ho/164036958221?hash=item26315d580d:g:n0cAAOSwJVBcXtjg

Hi all, I have an A4 which I take to my local club on a regular basis, but the insert it was supplied in (new) is Hornby's older polystyrene type with separate slots for the locomotive and tender. With the DCC-ready models this means every time you take it out or put it back you have to connect and disconnect the fiddly, barely-accessible micro-connector between loco and tender and run the risk of damaging the wiring, the detailing, or both if you're really unlucky. I've noticed Hornby have, at various times, supplied A4 models in polystyrene or blister packaging designed to allow you to keep the tender and locomotive connected. Does anyone have such packaging for an A4 that they want rid of in exchange for a few quid + postage (to France)? I've thought about modifying the existing insert but the contents would move about quite a bit if it's not a snug fit... This is the sort of thing I'm after (pic from eBay) Thanks! Alan

Wow, looks incredible in 60fps. I somehow doubt it would have the same effect on people in the cinema as the original did though

I sent Dapol a message via their website a few months back but never got a reply: has anyone seen or heard any news about a rerun of the existing HST liveries? It seems BR Blue / Grey is in particular demand on eBay and the like... I currently have a bunch of Mk3 trailers in this livery that would look great with some power cars

Nope, apart from fitting the supplied close couplers (Fleischmann "harpoon" type), they're straight out of the box. They went down a treat and everyone came to take a close look at my "strange wooden coaches"! ()

Yes I remember looking at the previous model and thinking they looked quite off in terms of the wood effect. Took them down to the club last night along with 4468, they blended in quite nicely with 1950s France 

Nabbed a couple of firsts and a brake composite from Rails last week and they arrived today. I can hardly say I know these coaches inside out (in fact I'm not even sure I've ever seen one in the flesh, actually), but I must say I am very impressed and that's good enough for me!

A good move IMHO. I think the original 80's APT was possibly the only articulated model ever made with bogies split into two halves. All the articulated models I can think of from the 1970s onwards, be they Jouef, Lima, Mehano, Trix, Fleischmann, etc all use a complete bogie onto which you clip the adjoining trailer. The close-coupling on the mide-90s Lima Collection TGVs was particularly well-designed, offering prototypical spacing between the trailers whilst allowing you to run the train on a kid's roundy-roundy layout JB

Some nice installations there, thanks for all the replies! Looks like there's quite a difference between TTS and more advanced sound solutions so I may go down the motor-only route to start with and save digital sound for a rainy day! Cheers, JB

HI all, I bit the bullet and went down to visit my local model railway club last night. Got to play with DCC for the first time (yes, I know it's 2020...) and it would seem I have somehow accidentally become hooked. I'm therefore looking at adding a chip to a few of my own locos so I can use them on the club layouts, and having seen a lovely SNCF pacific equipped with sound I'm quite tempted to try out a sound decoder on my first candidate. I don't want to shell out £100+ to convert a locomotive that I'll only use occasionally, so naturally I'm steering towards a TTS decoder for my R2339 Super Detail "Mallard" (the model's DCC-ready). What are your thoughts on these decoders for the A4? Reading up on the forum I see quite a few issues with reliability and compatibility, have these generally been resolved? Any particular restrictions I should be aware of in terms of CVs and running these chips on DC layouts? (I'm aware the sound functions for these don't work on DC) Thanks in advance ! And here's a photo of 4468 at a small terminus in the French countryside Cheers, JB

Not much trace of the tramway these days. The port at Granville still has some standard-gauge track in places but the station in the background of the above postcard is long gone (replaced by a rather ugly post-war Gendarmerie) Nice part of the country though! This postcard shows both the standard and narrow-gauge systems at the eastern end of the harbour. JB

The link above relates to the old Jouef model from the 1990s, the bogie setup of which was pretty much copied by Mehano (the trailers can be made to fit with a bit of work, I've done it myself with a Jouef AVE and a Mehano AVE bar trailer (never produced by Jouef). The newer Hornby/Jouef models use the old Lima tooling which has a completely different and far more complex bogie, you'd probably struggle to adapt a Mehano trailer to the mechanism, although the other way round may be a possibility. JB

Oh dear.... Wrong era, wrong area, wrong scale but I don't believe it's humanly possible to say no to one of these Very nice and I shall be preordering one

Hi Paul, From the thread title I'm assuming it's the older style of sign you wish to replicate, in which case common suggestions are Eurostile or a narrow version of LinoType Univers 820 (both free). They're not quite identical to the prototype but it's only really noticeable if you have the model and the real thing side-by-side, which is unlikely to happen unless you're displaying your layout in front of a preserved station in France The real thing was designed to be easily replicated using only a ruler and a compass, if you want to try more traditional methods! (although I suppose you'll need a very small compass...) Cheers, Alan

Could it have been an AKIEM Class 77? They can appear drab green when dirty and under certain lighting conditions... JB

Hi all, Thanks for your replies. Cheers for this, at £4.99 that seems like a reasonable investment Sorry to hear about your dad, Steve. A sad situation indeed. I have the feeling I may end up eternally adding bits too, starting with a bit of weight because it's far too light, particularly the tender which looks like it could come off the rails with a heavy shunt (not a problem yet as I don't have any wagons...). All in all it's a crude model but I think with a couple of improvements it won't stand out too much among RTR locos from viewing distance. JB

Thanks Chris, I can't seem to find the kits on eBay at the moment, if anyone has any further info I'm all ears! I did however find a second 7mm 4F which I somehow managed to accidentally purchase... Red LMS jobby which will also be getting a repaint. Gonna have to start a small O gauge shed layout I think! JB

Hi All, A couple of years ago I acquired a 7mm Lima 4F which was admittedly a cheap impulse purchase. It's not the most accurate or detailed of models, to put it mildly, especially as this is the dark green SNCF version we're talking about (never existed and I don't think any 4Fs were even exported during WWII). Nevertheless I was happy to give it a new home and see what could be done with it, although I don't think I'll be going so far as replacing the frames, wheels and various other bits that are available. After fixing a few broken parts and drilling an extra hole in the tender drawbar to reduce the gap, last week I bit the bullet and bought an airbrush so I could try my hand at my first ever respray. I must say I'm happy with the outcome since I was half expecting to make a dog's dinner of it, so now I'm just waiting for a couple of transfers to arrive from Railtec and then I'll finish off the final details. The old Lima motor still works but I'd be keen to replace it with something smoother and quieter. Has anyone ever done this on this particular model and if so what motor would you recommend? Here's a before/during/after photo of the little beastie, next to a Dapol 3F which I treated myself to last year. Looking forward to any advice you may have! JB

Dashboard cameras yes. even if they record your speed using GPS (might actually encourage people to slow down a bit knowing their own car could incriminate them for driving like an idiot) Anything else, as you say, no. JB

Sounds a bit dodgy... Was it his own vehicle or was it an import? And which country was the car coming from? I'm assuming this is a different driver you're talking about since you said the Polish guy hasn't had any bother. I can't see how your work situation would bear any relation to how long you get to register the car (unless of course it's being used for work). There's no reason someone who's retired and drives up and down the country for leisure would be allowed more time to register their vehicle than someone who has a work contract. It can take eight weeks just to receive the Certificate of Conformity from the manufacturer's UK head office, and then the DVLA themselves say to allow six weeks for your registration request to be processed, so I'd be interested to know how you're supposed to have your car MOT'd, taxed and displaying British plates within two weeks... It's not possible. What are people supposed to do if they start working in the UK but only bring their car over six months later? The second they got off the ferry they'll be over the apparent two-week limit before they can even get to a post office to pick up the forms! JB

It was 280 as standard but had a little remap to 305, goes like a rocket despite being a heavy estate with a gigantic boot! If your member of staff spends less than six months (total) per year in the UK then he's within the law in not registering his car with the DVLA, as his country of residence would be deemed to be Poland. The problem is with people who stay in the country for 25 weeks, then go home for two weeks before coming back to spend the remaining 25 weeks in the country, thinking that means they've spent less than six months in the country. They don't understand that 50 weeks does not equal "less than six months" JB

Double post from me too, sorry. That's an interesting scenario actually - I suppose the police would have to assume the car belongs to the driver, which is why when you take your car abroad you should really have your registration documents with it so that ownership can be proved quickly if needed (although carrying your car's registration documents around with you is something most people would probably be quite cautious about, I know I'd certainly never leave mine in my car unattended)

Agree, and considerably less legal... Many seem to be mistakenly under the impression that if you go home once every six months then you don't need to register your vehicle in the country you actually live in. They'll find out the hard way the day they get into an accident and their insurer politely informs them they're not covered because they haven't registered their car in their country of residence... (this includes expat Brits living in France who think it's fine to keep their UK plates). In France your plates have to be riveted on. It's supposed to prevent people from swapping plates over, but of course the police can only tell the difference between screws or rivets from fairly close-up... A car won't pass its French MOT without riveted plates though. The cost of registering is probably what puts people off and leads them to find "workarounds" that they think get them off the hook. I registered a 300bhp Vectra VXR here last year and it cost me about £700, not including the French MOT which at the time was compulsory (you can now register a car from another EU countries using its current valid MOT certificate, which is bound to lead to cases of people using fakes and, in the case of British cars, not getting their headlights reconfigured or changed for driving on the right because they won't be under any obligation to until the car has to pass its first French MOT two years later...) JB

Yes, that's a fair point. I should have said "from outside the EU except in certain countries with mutual agreements with the UK". I only found this thread this evening so I may have skipped a few pages in order to retain some level of sanity JB