Gopher

Another impulse purchase. Dapol top light mainline and city brake coach. Lovely little coach. I came across a photo in one of my railway books yesterday, of these coaches being used on an SLS Special in the early 1960s in South Wales. I knew they were used as rolling stock on some miners trains in the South Wales Valleys, did not realise they were also used on special trains. Not sure they ever reached the Welsh Marches, but who cares. I only have one of them so will use it as part of a mixed rake local passenger, or on a workman's train. I lightly weathered it - not really obvious from the photos. I fitted a Dapol decoder, and had quite a problem changing the CVs to alter the light functions. I wanted to dim the carriage lights and have the tail light and carriage light switched on/off independently. I also wanted the tail light and carriage lights to remain lit in both directions. Anyway with the decoder installed in the carriage - neither of my DCC controllers were able to programme the decoder. Which is really quite strange. I simply could not change any CV settings. I ended up installing the decoder in my decoder tester and programming it from there. I also found that when the decoder (Imperium) was fitted in the coach, it prevented the roof from clipping back on properly. Bit strange as this is a Dapol decoder in a Dapol coach. So a bit of surgery around the decoder socket, allows the decoder and the roof to be fitted properly. It is possible I bought the wrong size decoder (Dapol Imperium 4), but don't think so. It was simply a bit too long to fit into the recess underneath the roof. Be interesting to see how the Dapol toplight corridor coaches turn out. The non corridor versions really are beautifully detailed. I am becoming a big fan of Dapol, and despite some criticisms, think the Manor, Mogul and large Prairie are excellent, and run superbly.

The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix

He loves strong tea (and beer come to that) Great idea, I'll have chat with the head ganger Probably months (years) - he does not walk very quickly, either that or he is on his hundredth trip to cadge a cuppa, and I've not noticed

Guard still heading to the Goods Office for a cup of tea

A view of the other platform taken from the over bridge

All Right Now - Free

Peaking over the road bridge we spy the down platform at Harewood halt.

Another slightly dodgy photo of the station concourse.

Thanks Rob. The Hawksworth brake coach is my latest addition and weathering project. The Siphons are Accurascale. I like the mix of rolling stock you often see in parcels trains

94xx on a Parcels Train

Does anyone know if there is any leader board/record for trains travelling from Encombe Town to Little Muddle ? I was just wondering if any train holds the speed record for the trip. Of course by speed record I mean the slowest possible time. I think competition must be quite fierce, and I'm not sure whether false starts and delays (where the loco crew get distracted from actually driving the loco, or the signal man is having a snooze and fails to clear the signals), are included in the overall time.

Torquay Manor

Well I'm glad that's cleared that up

Well I'm over by there

Lovely shot Kevin and really shows the incredibly high standard of your modelling

WD 2-8-0- heads tender first through Harewood Halt with a coal train for the local power station (which exists in my imagination a few miles down one of the branches off the Dewchurch main line). I do like the basic brutish look of these locos. It is the re-issued Bachmann model with their sound project installed (which is very good). The loco had some factory weathering which I have added to, plus coal crew lamps etc Looking at photos of these locos in the 1950s/60s I could go much heavier on the weathering. I doubt they ever got cleaned in their whole working lives apart from major over hauls.

Stuck in the Middle With You - Stealers Wheel

Currans Back Yard. The grey Ford Thames van has my home produced transfer on the sides , not very creative simply "Currans Tool Makers" in white lettering on black background

Still waiting

Hot Blooded - Foreigner

Class 24 heads back to the Southern Region

Britannia Lord Kitchener about to reverse off the turn table

Another green DMU. Class 101 waits for the signal to clear at Harewood Halt

Are you sure this is the full load ?

Yes good points, I'll have to ask the driver what happened. He is a bit awkward, so no doubt none of this will be his fault. It is strange because the crew hate running tender first even in the summer with little coal on board. I bet he spent too long in the loco crew mess and ran out of time to prep and turn the loco. Joking aside - thanks for the comments and for reading my thread 😀