teaky

Great work Tom. Good looking train there. What a glorious sight that must have been in the 30s with an A4 at the front.

Would working yard or street lamps help?

Yay, 100 pages. It's OK to lay track now Ducky!

Your lift test does provide a good comparative test but I was simply seeking a method of translating Tony's 70 wagon train into a weight which anyone could then translate into a number of wagons regardless of what they were made of. As I said, it was an aside and merely served to satisfy my curiosity.

Hi Tony, I think you've answered my question about weight and it is reasonable to assume around 30g per wagon. Quite a train! On the other point I would level exactly the same criticism at other models and I think others have done just that. Note that nothing I said related to the pragmatic limitations made in the design which Grahame has articulated in earlier posts. I find these acceptable. However, I do think Heljan have some issues with quality control at the moment which means that people need to buy with care which is exactly what I expect to be doing once the O2/2 comes on the market. Regards, Rob

As a slight aside, what would you estimate the weight of those 70 wagons to be? I'm curious since there is a big difference between a RTR wagon and, say, a whitemetal kit built example and it might help to have an idea so that people can translate. I've just weighed a Bachmann 5-plank and it was 30g, so 70 30g wagons gives a total train weight of 2.1kg. If one's wagons are bult or modified to what I believe is a commonly adopted standard of 50g that would suggest a train of 42 wagons (still a long train). Back on topic - Whilst the price compares favourably with kits, it is around the top end of RTR and really ought to justify this by being better made than the competition. I can put up with a bit of re-glueing of small details, slight paint flaws in areas that will be weathered anyway, one-off tweaks of metal parts and adjusting back-to-backs slightly but there are some faults like the mis-moulded chimneys that would not be acceptable even at the budget end of RTR. I am waiting for the O2/2, so I am hoping the production gremlins will have been sorted out by then. I have not been put off by the problems so far but it has inclined me towards collection in person so I can see what I'm getting up front.

Show off!

I hope someone else is including our regulars in their count! 2 wood pigeons 2 dunnocks 1 blackbird 1 robin 2 great tits and nowt else! No doubt the garden will be innundated tomorrow and the feeders will be emptied

Eaten by the dog?

Thanks for the reminder. The garden has been getting quieter all day in preparation.

So has a goshawk. The fan shape is always obvious in level flight. It's just that you say it is pigeon sized. Goshawks aren't that common and both goshawks and marsh harriers are larger than pigeons (nearer in size to buzzards). What about a merlin? (I still think it's more likely to be a sparrowhawk than anything else.) There isn't a wildlife sanctuary nearby is there? My in laws live near one and have had all sorts of exotic birds in their garden over the years including, I think, an eagle owl at one point!

Are you confident you can rule out a female sparrowhawk? Larger than the male and greyer.

Thank goodness I missed that one too.

From what I recall of the kits our kids received that aspect was a bit of a mixed blessing. The paint was in little plastic pots which dried up too easily and only covered a few of the main colours. The paint brushes were rubbish. There was no modelling knife (for obvious reasons) and nothing to sand things down with. It would be better if each kit came with tokens to exchange for Humbrol paints and tools. Come think of it, didn't Airfix used to do something with stars?

The dimensions of the model appear to be on the side of the box but I cannot make them out.

The "Show us your scratchbuilt buildings" thread has an impressive model of Brent goods shed done by Gravy Train.

That should guarantee fewer birds in the garden than usual then!

Thought I'd, ahem, kill (more than) two birds with one stone. Yep, that's what I have but thanks anyway. We do. I agree but see below. Feeders are close to shrubs as I too have found this to be the case. The sparrows in particular like to swap backwards and forwards whilst maintaining noisy contact with the group. Tits, robins etc. always seem to like to fly across to a shrub before the short hop to the feeders.

I do keep meaning to extend the range available but I only have two feeders at present: a stainless steel mesh peanut feeder (squirrels have fed from it but not damaged it) and a Droll Yankee seed feeder with Haith's wild bird mix, a stainless steel tray underneath and enclosed within a squirrel cage (more to keep out woodpigeons than squirrels). Very little waste reaches the ground. Food scraps (not that there are many in our house) either go on a raised metal tray feeder or get scattered on the lawn (always during the day which seems to ensure there is none left for rodents, although I have seen mice and voles around so they probably get some). In addition, I occasionally put dried mealworms into the tray under the seed feeder and in a few spots around the garden favoured by robins and blackbirds during the breeding season.

To be honest, yes but the important thing about Grantham is the over all effect. The fact that you use Peco becomes irrelevant as it flows so well and one's eye isn't drawn to the rails but to the complete scene and the stock running through it.

Careful. You can't start laying track before your thread qualifies by passing 100 pages.

I feel that it goes so far beyond logic that you have to laugh at the total stupidity of it all. It has strayed into Yes Minister territory. I wonder when BBC Question Time is next near Coventry?

Wickes and Travis Perkins (along with Toolstation) are part of the same group. B&Q and Screwfix are also linked. They seem to be concentrating on opening more Screwfix branches than B&Q stores. I have not considered Homebase to be a DIY store for several years. Their focus appears to have moved towards furniture and decor with DIY materials, tools etc. as complimentary to these rather than as the core of their business. Even with several discounts added together their prices are usually higher than elsewhere.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-city-fc-wasps-rfc-9920187 Opening today.

It would be great if the penduline tits decided to stay and built some of those interesting nests. Presumably they have moved west a bit to avoid some of the recent cold weather in central/eastern Europe. (I've never heard of them either but then that probably goes for lots of other continental birds.)