GraemeWatson

Regarding R1282M Mallard Record Breaker Train Set - Era 3. Lots of room in the Tender. Here, I'm fitting an older DCC concepts decoder with basic stay alive (direct fit). Hope this is helpful. It's a railroad spec model, albeit with a decent application of printed details (BR early crest, Speed record plaque on the side). The box art however incorrectly shows the super detail model, drawing the buyer to lamp irons fitted on the front, as well as a super detail coal tender (devoid of the large coal hump formerly used to hide the tender drive motor in the earlier models). The box art is therefore misleading.

Useful to know. The potential attraction with using the Hornby Power Bank is that it is a surprisingly useful size, compared to Gaugemaster's own stay alive. If it turned out to be a like for like replacement, that would be useful.

Esteemed RMWeb members, I wonder if anyone has tried fitting the Hornby power bank to a Gaugemaster ruby decoder? The Hornby product has the same plug arrangement as the Gaugemaster stay alive designed for their Ruby decoder range, but I wonder if anyone has tried them for cross compatibility (all the documentation says not to, of course).

You are absolutely correct and right to point this out. I was actually aware of this, ironically enough. It's even described in the Accurascale paperwork that comes with the product with typical traction allocation information if I recall correctly.

Delighted to update my thread following the arrival of some Accurascale Siphon G coaches in their guise as Newspaper NNV stock.

A few of the NNV variants have turned up to work Newspaper duties on Beasley Street. As I unboxed these, and the first time seeing them in flesh, they felt worthy of a standing ovation. Top marks Accurascale!

Obligatory beauty shot of R3973 Hornby Dublo 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley

"Happy No Year" A quick hello from me and best wishes to all RMwebbers and visitors to this thread. Though we have now moved into 2023, the year remains unchanged as a glorious 1979 in Beasley Street. Remember also too that this was built in a few months before the end of 2022. It is essentially a four lane track plan, no points, and with only the centre lanes connected to a continuous loop. It hides these limitations very well. Be reassured too that anyone starting out in model railways can find their own way too.

On a cold winter's evening, I have dug out some old hard drives with photos and restored this thread as best I could (the previous ones were lost on the preceding iteration of RMWeb). Thank you for your patience whilst I have done this. The good news: this layout continues to serve well and operate as intended, though the events of the past few years have kept its feet firmly planted in the ground regrettably. It is my intention to re-make this layout in a smaller format for the exhibition circuit by simplifying the track plan to make it easier for me to carry about. The buildings are not stuck down, so that's a plus! I may even treat myself to a modular laser cut baseboard system, as wood butchery is getting more difficult, though I can equally see myself with the saw horse making one from timber...

Fleet Focus: Express Dairy

Fleet Focus Wilts United Dairies

Fleet Focus

Construction Photos Restoring this RMWeb with some legacy pictures

Many thanks. I've got these on the bottom of my list, I just wasn't certain what the Alphabetic coach designations were. I presume modern image GWR is popular because (including the 2023 ones) that's five batches. The livery has also been well represented on the train packs too.

Having been lost to the mists of time on the old RMWeb, I have restored my Hornby GWR Mk3 coaching stock almanac to this thread, now including sliding door releases. They have been grouped by batch of issue for completionism's sake. I've also added a list of all the Hornby Class 43 HST releases in the modern-image GWR livery. I will add the coaching stock alphanumeric number for the new 2022 castle set once I get my hands on some.

Postman Print The Royal Mail Depot was improved this week with the arrival of some ModelU postal figures (Postman Checking Mail 1370, Postman checking bag 1371, Postman Collecting Mail 1372 and Royal Mail Worker Bundle 9025). As per the disclaimer I have no personal connection to ModelU other than being a very satisfied ongoing customer since happening across their body scanning service pre-COVID at Warley. The suggested colours for the depot workers on the ModelU site feature modern image reflective jackets which isn't correct for my time period, but in my opinion, painting them in 1970s/80s overalls, donkey jackets and overcoats look just as good. If anything, it shows how adaptable these sturdy figures really are.

The Letter the better The Royal Mail Letters era from 1974-1989 was very much my favourite era of Royal Mail corporate identity. A completely different service to what is offered now in privatisation. The post bus system allowed for Post Office services and transport to be provided in isolated locations, and The Royal Mail even had a dedicated Rally team. I was very fortunate to be a passenger in a Royal Mail livery Ford Sierra Cosworth in the late 80s. You will be hard pressed to find any information about this other than scant photos online. The Royal Mail also provided free educational resources for kids at the time, including supporting schools with pen pal projects. In the era before email this really was a window to the world. The service we have now is completely different, and I'm personally grateful to the postal workers we do have. I really hope the situation improves for them and for us all soon. Anyway, for this depot annex I have used two Wills Modern DPD kits sprayed with Humbrol acrylic rattle cans. Sea Grey (roof), Grey 64 (outer) and Desert Yellow for the brick. The Wills DPD kit comes with red embellishments which are suitable for Royal Mail use. The sign was printed with a colour laser printer. There is still much to do with it, but I like how it is progressing.

Absolutely. My wife and I are both longtime followers of The Bard of Salford and have seen him live on many occasions. He's a refreshing window to the past who has stood the test of time.

Under the wire Just some generic beauty shots today. Doing an OHLE layout had never really entered into my thinking, but I'm really glad I did it now.

It's outrageous and I love it. Special guest appearance on Beasley Street with HM The Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

It's outrageous and I love it Special guest appearance on Beasley Street with HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. With something special for those who like their works of fiction to stand side by side.

The 2022 Royal Mail postal strike at Beasley Street. Downstream of Beasley Street station is the Royal Mail depot. Here it is, dressed for the modern era with workers on strike. Much today like the winter of discontent that the layout was built to remember.

Excellent. You are absolutely right. Thanks to you and to everyone here for casting some light on a state of confusion caused by product packaging! I'm very grateful for everyone's time and responses here.

To further expand about the prototypical nature of the Bachmann Scenecraft 44-185 Grain Loading Hoppers, the box art on the back of the product shows two such hoppers in use for loading COVHOP wagons, evidently not the Whisky type. With this is mind, does anyone know of a prototype that this is therefore based upon by Bachmann?

Many thanks for sharing this Bob. This looks to replicate the prototype correctly. The mistake I was at risk of making was trusting the Bachmann box art on the Whisky set, because I could not find any real life example which bore resemblance to it . Much appreciated.