johnb

I got two through Hattons, No 1 and No 8. Both have the nameplates on square and all the other bits are fixed on. Yes the hoses are delicate, but seem quite robust for their size. Some gentle poking hasn't caused anyhting to drop off or break, the pickup shoes are pretty fine also but all are there on my two. The only thing that have noticed is that the lights are 'white' white whereas the real things had tungsten lights that were a 'yellow' white and not not very bright at that. The brightness of those fitted is not excessive and commendably steady over quite a wide voltage range. All in all very pleased with my two. John

Sorry, no photo, but I'm running in No 1 (the grey one) as I type this. It's on rollers and running very sweetly at about 8 volts. It is certainly all wheel drive and so I would expect it to be all wheel pickup. It's been on for around 15mins so far in each direction and has speeded up slightly. I can't test it on track at present, but it starts at a bit over 3 volts, at full speed it doesn't seem over quick but until I get it on the track I can't be sure. Hope that helps. John

Not unless running light engine, when they MAY have had a red filter over one lens. I don't recall ever seeing one running light thro' Pinner though. Certainly they would have had a red oil tail lamp if not hauling anything. From the photo that I have seen I think that the red filter was mounted externally over the light housing, There seems to be a slot/holder on the pic of John Hampden (No 5) in Covent Garden. The Dreadnaughts in the time that I knew them (1950s) used to show both a lit electric tail lamp and and an oil tail lamp. John edit: to add more info

I also rode behind them in service. I lived in Pinner as a kid and we had a view from our flat directly onto the Met, just north of Pinner station. That fact probably got me into liking trains!!!!! They were an everyday sight and quite often on weekends we would go to Chorleywood. We rode T stock to Moor Park (the Aylesbury bound loco hauleds did not usually stop at Pinner) then wait for the loco hauled on the wooden platforms, off to Ricky, wait through the loco change and on to Chorleywood. Saw the grey ones and much approved the change to maroon with NAMES! I recall coming back one afternoon and on seeing a trap point asking my father "Why does that point go nowhere?" Fortunately there was a driver 'on the cushions' in the compartment and he spent quite some time drawing a diagram and explaining their use. Apologies for 'going on' but it must be an age thing as Ian says above. John

Definitely still in business, Charlie was trading at the Leamington show.

It's looking raher good Steve. John

It's at one corner of the EL Loop where the the elevated line completely circles the part of Chicago, known for obvious reasons as 'The Loop'! I am not sure which corner but I have been over it twice(!) during an architectural tour of the loop by special train that circled the Loop twice. One circuit the guide was talking about features on the inside of the loop, the second circuit those on the outside. A brilliant trip, but don't think they do it now. It started and finished at Randolph Street and took about an hour.

I do like the fourth down in the photoset. Looks like it's a case of "Oh buffer! How do we get round THAT corner?" The answer by the track laying foreman was "Like this guv!!"

That's trading and HMRC are likely to take an interest if clubs start doing that. Some years back the grapevine indicated that a club that bought in items to sell for a markup on their second hand stand, and didn't tell HMRC, had some explaining to do. It can be a complex area, and I am not a tax expert, so what I am saying is CHECK the tax rules first!!!!! John

Excellent service from our friends in Cornwall or should it be Kernow???????? Order placed for Bachmann Scenecraft low relief Underground station via their webpage at lunchtime on Friday, email confirming ready to go within two hours, package arrived in Saturday's post. That's brilliant!!!!!!! John

What a great selection of liveries, love the bright green ended 'bis' one!! John

See that every time I walk to the shops. John

I am just an occasional internet/mail order buyer from Kernow and must agree that their service is first class John

You are into 'computer speak' here. Real people see 3, 03, 003, 0003 as the same thing, a simple 'three'. Computers, (which is essentially what DCC is) unless programmed to ignore leading zeros, don't. They see the leading zeros as a 'something', hence why 'simple systems' see 0003 as different from a plain 3. Just part of life's rich texture, which does pong a bit at times regards John

If I am disposing of a DCC item I always set the address to the SHORT address 3 which is easily done with the NCE Powercab. See the instructions on page 2 of the manual. Or if I have the instructions for the chip being used I reset the chip to the factory default which is usually (but not always!) done by entering 2 into CV8. That will always set the address to short 3 as well as sorting out any other changes that you may have made. Short address 3 can be read by any DCC system. I use both short and long addressed locos on my system at the same time and just work as normal. A short addressed loco I enter the number only. If I use a four digit addressedloco with number under 99 then I have to enter the number with a leading 0 The Powercab also has a facility to reset the chip directly to it's factory settings, see the Recovery Mode paragraph, it's on page 54 of my manual. Some controllers can only read 1 -20 and have NO WAY of reading or reprogramming a 4 digit address. The only way your buyers can get things sorted is to find some one with a 4 digit capable system and get them to reset the number to short address 3 Also the NCE system automatically sorts out CV29 for you if you follow the programming section instructions. Hope that helps John

Looking at all that chainage holding the loco to the flat car, someone was making sure that it didn't move !!!!

I once had a lady friend navigating who would always say things like "In a little while you need to turn left down the little yellow road."

Because when I got restarted in modeling, the trains running past the kitchen window of my new flat were all blue. I started with a blue Airfix 31 and a blue Mainline peak because that was all that was available at the time. John

Looking very promising Steve! John

Now that looks very good, I'd want a grey one and the later LT maroon. Better start saving then

Brilliant service from L& B. Ordered their Ltd Ed 416 EMU via ebay BIN yesterday morning. Dispatch was confirmed in a couple of hours, goods received this morning by Royal Mail Special Delivery. That is excellent by anyones standards. First time I've used them and am well pleased. John

That's huge progress CK. Bearing in mind that you must be restricted in hours of work due to tides and storms. Also in getting concrete to 'set' between the various soakings of salt water. Many thanks for your efforts in taking time to show us all this and the Somerset Levels too. Much appreeciated. John