teaky

Broken Mamod repaired with Meccano ?

Well, if you get that wiring wrong ...

Flippin' 'eck! Weeds grow fast in your neck of the woods Allan. And an engine shed has popped into existence too. Like it.

Interesting choice there Pandora. Toyota have recently recalled several million vehicles for assorted problems (seat belts, electric windows, ...). Perhaps they need to bring their efficiency experts back from reviewing other companies?

Does it contain shortbread biscuits?

I like the look of the bridge but I wonder if it has sufficient bulk and if the parapet is tall enough? It might look OK on its own in countryside but next to a station your question caused me to compare the platform and parapet heights. Perhaps you could just disguise it with ivy and buddlea to add to the dereliction?

We wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't worth looking at and wasn't so entertaining.

No, it's the other way around now.

Ratio 8' LNWR bogies are reasonably inexpensive and easily obtained. They might work. http://www.peco-uk.com/product.asp?strParents=3340,3344&CAT_ID=3350&P_ID=17895 You could almost do with the top half of the sides mounting the other way up to get the proportions right (plus moving the glazing bars) but it would a challenging bit of sawing. The inexpert vertical bar removal doesn't look to bad to me. It needs some fettling but looks like it might be fixable.

Is the X9108 a simple swap or are other adjustments required?

Thanks David. Just the ticket! I already use the first website to find out about steam specials but it was the live information I was after and the second website looks like it will do the trick.

Apparently, it was late starting from Preston and this just got worse as the train was required to pull in to loops to allow other scheduled trains to pass. Some people amongst those waiting appeared to have inside knowledge of where the Tin Bath had got to. Were they just friends with contacts in a signal box or is there a website with live times for steam specials? Does anyone know please?

You'd better hurry up. There's a bloke over on MREmag doing a very similar project. Don't want him finishing before you do.

Great photo. Langley do a detailing kit. (Although you'd need more than one to match Dave's photo!) See: http://www.langleymodels.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_OO_Scale_Accessories_F1_to_F76_inc_Canal_Boats_etc_10.html - ref. 75c towards the bottom of the page

The J72 is 4' 1.25" at 6' 8" + 7' There's also an HO Electrotren 0-6-0 with wheels that equate to 3' 6" in 00. I don't know what the wheelbase is.

Ah ha, so you've obviously purchased from cheerful chap who runs the fish & chip shop then?

Flyford Flavell

C1905?

Lovely. Thanks Jonathan. They certainly kept those Coronation coaches cleaned and polished. Plus some Stirling single shots as a bonus.

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.