DavidLong

Anyone had a chance to look at my email from Sunday about the width of daily digest emails? If it can't be resolved I'll have to update my preferences and stop receiving them. David

Next up is not one from the North West but one that I came across at Hull Paragon last July. It is the solitary Class 144 that had an extensive refurb by Porterbrook in the hope that it might meet the PRM-TSI standards and possibly mean a future for some of the Pacers and if not in the UK, possible elsewhere. More details here: http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/porterbrook-unveils-refurbed-class-144e-evolution-pacer I've always thought that the Barclay Pacers were better looking than the Class 142s, more rounded shape than the rather severely angular lines of the latter. David

Snow! We don't get much of that sort of thing these days. One day this winter and, I think, the same last winter. I suspect that the only replacements for Pacers through Atherton will be 150s and 156s which we get now. I was hoping that we might get some of the ex-Scotrail 170s (Air con! Luxury!) but the Yorkies seem to have snaffled them. The 319 conversions (Class 765) will probably run the via Bolton services to Southport to get some more value from the electrification and I'm not holding my breath for any of the new Class 195. By the way, Bob, that list of different classes were those that I saw on the circular jaunt which was Atherton - Wigan - Liverpool - Bidston - Wrexham - Chester - Bank Quay - Wigan - Atherton. The Class 66 was light engine at Bank Quay. There is a freight that comes through Atherton, in fact it ran yesterday, which is one of the twice daily turns between Teesside and Knowsley Freight Terminal. It follows a variety of routes during the week but the Tuesday return to Teesside seems to pass Atherton just before 14.00 if running to time. Must get out and photograph it! Finally a small reminder of what we used to have on Southport - Manchester trains. Not a great photo but about what you would expect from a Kodak Brownie pointing into the evening sun. No date as I was never good at noting dates but probably about 1966. David

Living in Atherton I have become more than familiar with Pacers these many years. Here's a few snaps that I took on a day out last August: 142053 resting in the bay at Wigan North Western. One of the batch with larger, centrally-placed destination indicator. 142030 had the head of a 'lash-up' of its fellows at Lime Street 142031 in the bay at Chester General under that odd disconnected piece of overall roof. Probably be heading for Piccadilly via the Cheshire Lines. And finally 142037 is about to depart having deposited me back at a verdant Atherton station at the end of a grand day out. Apart, that is, from the seventy five minute wait at Bidston due to the cancellation of a Wrexham service which caused me to cancel the Wrexham - Shrewsbury and return leg of the day. Apart from the Pacers I also photographed the following classes on the day: 150/2, 390, 319, 185, 350, 158, 507, 175, 221 and 66. A varied collection. David

Neil, A true classic of the genre. David

Andy, The only issue that I've had with the new format is that my daily digest emails are now three times the width of the space in my gmail screen. This makes them pretty unreadable as the bottom bar has to be moved three times for each individual line of entry. This is the same for both the desktop and my laptop. They are both running Chrome in Windows 7. All the other emails that I receive fit the screen and no tabbing is involved which seems to indicate a problem from the sending side. David

I would disagree. With the EMT 158s that provide the North West - East Anglia services it is like travelling in a small tube surrounded by all those tombstone seats. The big windows in the 185s give them a much more light and airy feeling. The fact that that can be counter-balanced is due to them being generally overcrowded by not gaining the extra car which the DfT denied them. I think that Iarnrod Eireann (!) would be most satisfied with their purchase. David

Quite so, Colin, but then do we normally refer to Scotland as Alba, Wales as Cymru or even Finland as Suomi? Not usually. Outside of the uses that you have mentioned (or probably in the Gaeltacht) it is unusual in Ireland to hear the country referred to as Eire. The Irish language seems to have a strange position in Ireland, everybody learns it but I have hardly ever heard it spoken. In my experience the most common languages heard in Tesco Waterford originate in Eastern Europe . . . David

John, That's the same model that I bought from Circuit Specialists a few years ago. It's been ok but the up/down temperature controls can be irritating. It has been discontinued by CSI so this may be a re-badged product from a different supplier. If I was buying one now I would buy the model suggested by Snapper, above. Three pounds more and has a knob control for the temperature which is much preferable to the push buttons on the old CSI product. CSI do have some excellent products with good back-up accessories. David

Tom, I suspect it may be done via the circuit board. Replacement sound boards have been available for US diesels for some years. Example: https://tonystrains.com/product/mrc-0001955-n-scale-drop-in-sound-decoder-for-atlas-gp7-gp9-gp30-gp35 I appreciate that there is rather a difference in size between most US diesels and a Class 14 but these sound boards are available for smaller locos than the example. I've no idea what the quality of the sound is like but it does say that the sounds are from actual recordings so are not 'generic'. Could be the way to go. David

Good idea, Jamie. How is it done? David

A new missive has arrived from the East West Rail Consortium: https://mailchi.mp/b25587a778e1/bedford-cambridge-route-options-announced?e=ddca3c6ce6 This considers the route options for Bedford to Cambridge and it seems that a route via Sandy/Tempsford is preferred. Not strictly Oxford to Bletchley but I can't locate a thread for the whole route. This project has another good ten years still to run so we either add to the existing eighteen pages or start a new one! David

I'll add my congratulations to those of Geraint. A landmark moment, David. I look forward to the continuing story! David

00 gauge garages, 00 gauge signals, 00 gauge oil drums and on and on and on. Driven me nuts for years , Stubby. Perhaps I need to get out more. David

Tweedale - a 21st century modelling classic. The ability to describe it in an entertaining fashion just ices the cake. A 'like' doesn't really do it justice so I've given it a 'craftsmanship/clever'! David

How about the hideous Paragon House that was inflicted on the G T Andrews station: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_Paragon_Interchange#/media/File:Paragon_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_603999.jpg Fortunately removed earlier this century. Referring to Euston, I've used it frequently since just after it opened and do I recall correctly that it was notorious for some years in not having any seats on the concourse? The tower blocks are about to be demolished. The taxi rank has been moved from underground to outside at the front near the gardens. Something to do with the foundations of the tower blocks being around the old taxi rank. The plans for the new Euston do involve improved access to Euston Square - fifty years on! David

The loco is an 8F. Wheels are too small for a 5 and the start of the number looks like 48. Always disliked that white painting on locos but there was a bit a vogue for it by enthusiasts at that time. They seemed to think it looked good . . . Cammell Lairds in the background, you can just make out the outline of the camel above the C L & Co. Always looked for the camel on the way out of Woodside! David

Tom, Have you been tipped off that the Mid-Hants is going to acquire one and repaint it in RR livery or is there another little project simmering in the background somewhere? Also would be pretty easy to convert to 2FS I shouldn't wonder . . . David

David, My original inspiration came from the purchase of Iain's book on building Finescale track. The problem was that there were no rivets and no chairs available for 2mm scale. Since the production of Easitrac and subsequent availability of chairs at least part of process became available. Still no suitable rivets so pcb had to be used in their place. The principal problem I have had is that both the Association pcb timbers and the ply are both a nominal 0.8mm thick, in practice the former tend to be undersize and the latter oversize. I now do some subtle thickening of the pcb sleepers with slivers of cigarette paper and pva to balance up the thickness. David

An interesting subject, Bob. I've been using this method in 2FS for the past few years, apart from the odd diversion back to pcb based systems. I took to it originally when I realised that solder blobs look exactly like solder blobs and nothing like chairs! Like you I have used mostly mek-pak for gluing the chairs to the sleepers and have had no problem with the strength of the bond. I do think we can worry too much about robustness sometimes as, once the track is laid, it shouldn't be subject to too much in the way of stress. I should emphasise that my layouts always live in a normal room in the house and haven't been exposed to being in the like of sheds, lofts or cellars and are in dry, equable conditions at all times. A couple of photos of the most recent work: You will notice on the second photo that there are some pcb sleepers in the formation. These are mostly there for convenience. the two under the crossing do help to ensure that this part stays sound but is also useful for the connection to the crossing for polarity switching. The one under the closures gives an easy electrical connection from them to the stock rails. The final one is at the switch ends and is there to provide a bit if security. In the latter two locations I have used brass chairs (plain or slide) instead of plastic. I build all the track in situ on the Templot plans and use the fewest amount of rail sections consistent with any gaps that are required and also governed by the actual lengths of rail available from the Association. As is also consistent with most of my recent layout building this particular layout is due for replacement with an improved version but the method of track making will remain the same. David

Only a polite sort of request, Andy. I'll appreciate the layout whatever Damian runs on it. David

Enough of the joshing and bantz! Back in post #7251 I was gracious enough to give BCB a completely unsolicited and illustrated eulogy on its expected passing. Now that it is to reappear Lazurus-like from its predicted demise, (which was greatly exaggerated), would it be possible to make your diesels a little more on the greener side? Sort of, ooh, mid to late 60s . . . ish. Just to bring a pensioner a little joy in his fading years. Not too much to ask, is it? David

Thanks, Nick. I'll be in touch. David

I am hoping to find a new supplier of 2FS ply sleepers. My previous supply came from Chris Dening who ran CD3D Model Making but Chris has now withdrawn from the business. I would require ordinary sleepers 1.7mm x 17mm and point timber strips 2mm wide. I could supply the ply via 4D Model Shop which seems to have the most reliable supply of 0.8mm ply. Some other suppliers are somewhat cavalier over the exact thickness which is claimed to be 1/32" but is frequently well in excess. As I use 2mm Scale Association pcb strip in four locations per turnout it is important in this scale to keep the thickness' as close as possible. I recently found some 1/32" basswood in Hobbycraft which I thought may be an alternative (1/32" = 0.79mm) but it turned out to be in excess of 0.9mm! The main problem with cutting my own, which I have done, is in maintaining a consistent width, especially of the plain sleepers and Chris' laser cut versions completely solved this problem. I have attached a couple of photos of track constructed using CD3D sleepering to show that it really is possible and results in very nice looking track. David

Oooh, a fireless! Shame we don't see more of them. This project is coming along just fine, David, with a lot of excellent work so far. David