northendboy

Thanks Keith, much obliged. I had a spare 8-pin one with the harness and it is possible that where the harness plugs into the actual decoder is a bit bulky for the space.

Evening all. Could I ask what decoder people haev used on the 87's? I am using a Hattons 8 pin harness and am having real difficlulty in positioning it so that the bodyshell fits back on.

That's fab!! Thanks for that. Good to see my old office in County Hall from the rail side, and interesting how long the platforms are at the West side of the station.

Slight issue with my 10202. Tested it on analogue, perfect. Took the body off, fitted the decoder, ran perfectly. Refitted body and put it back on the track and it behaved like an analogue again. Buzzing on the track and reacting to address 0000. Took body off, everything fine again DCC-wise. Having tested it, it appears that tightening the body pulls down on the PCB and shorts something out making it all analogue. So I will investigate further and see if there is an easy fix, or just not screw down the body. Hmm...

Received mine yesterday, I really like it a lot. But can I add my voice to the comments around the detailing bag of bits? Refitting the minute screws back into the tender floor were hard enough, but some of the other bits were just too fiddly for me. Also, having fitted the tender brake rigging, this and the wires attached to the drawbar make it an absolute nightmare to relocate the drawbar into the peg on the tender. As my locos come and go from the layout I can see this really getting on my nerves.

Another vote of thanks to Phil Parker for the MREMag stewardship, I really liked his comments and he occasionally nailed one or two people who may have been a bit unruly. I found it a slightly more pleasant environment than this forum can be, particularly in the reviews where one or two very dominant personalities really force their opinions onto review threads which stopped me contributing my two penn'orth. Thanks also to Brian for his polls and discovery of some lovely film segments to watch with my tea. Cheers chaps.

Couple of Merc related items. Firstly I found some AMG alloys to replace the original 8 hole wheels on my 300CE coupe. What's the verdict boys and girls? I love them but my girlfriend thinks that it has given the car a bit of a 'trendy vicar' look. Secondly, here is my 1990 500SL having made it to Mireille in the Champagne region of France. She behaved perfectly (the car, not the girlfriend) for nearly 2,000 miles, then refused to start at the front of the queue on the shuttle at Dover, holding everybody up with hilarious consequences.

Hi J, Ta for your reply, but no, I haven't tried the Eurostar. My layout is pretty much West Coast 'transition', so the APT is a bit out of era, but I really, REALLY fancied owning one!! Had to make a few changes to run DP1 which is the longest diesel in my fleet, but the APT is just too unwieldy. I appreciate that my track laying is pretty average, but every model I have bought works fine, with the slight exception of DP2 which runs like a dog, but the APT genuinely fouls the lineside furniture at every single turn. It's fine, I will put it away for a bit, and if I make some changes I'll come back to it, but a bit 'meh' about it at the mo.

Afraid that mine has gone back in the box. I have 3 stations on my layout, all on curves and fantastic model that it is, the APT fouls every one on the inside line, or collides with oncoming trains. Oddly it isn't necessarily the long nose, but the centre of the TC coaches that causes the issues. It will only run on one line without hitting scenery and derails at the same two sets of points every time. I'm sure that it is my dreadful layout building that is to blame but not rebuilding my whole layout for one train. Bit hacked off with it, but hey, that's the way it goes.

Morning all. Assembled mine, having fitted a decoder, but after a brief period of running with both power cars working, PC2 now refuses to move and the lights don't work. Obviously there is a gap in the DCC signal getting from one end of the train to the other, but is it possible to check which joint is at fault? There seems to be nothing DCC controlled in the coaches as the lights stay on all the time. To be honest, it's a bit of a moot point as the brief period of running proved that it collided with pretty much every bridge, platform and passing train, so if I get it running it will be confined to a 'test track' on the adjacent line. Edit: And it turns out that for once in my life, I was right! A tiny bit of contact cleaner on the TC1/TC2 joint fettled it and now it's off and running. As you were chaps...

Mine arrived this morning and is pottering around my layout on a running-in turn. First impressions: excellent model, light years ahead of the Hornby re-motor, and tender pickups eliminate the occasional stutter which I experienced with the 3F. My example seems a trifle noisy, though hopefully the running in will cure that. Deeley tender is beautifully modelled with the exception of the coal noted by Nick above, but the wiring between the engine and tender seems to push the tender off line slightly, so that it crabs slightly along the line, but I have a lump hammer to deal with these pesky difficulties. And: Just run it as a direct comparison to the Hornby loco-drive version, and the Bachmann is quite appreciably noisier. The Honby 4F for all it's faults is a supremely smooth and quiet runner, though it does have those evil tyres. Just my 2 penn'orth.

Blimey! That's absolutely mesmerising...

I decided that I couldn't resist either, and Drake arrived today. Mine runs a little Jerkily as weel, and would appreciate anybody's definitive CV settings, as nothing that I do seems to work.

Looked out of the window last week, and this little chap was sat on a fencepost at the bottom of the garden.

Decoder fitted, though getting the bodyshell to snap back down was more problematic than getting it off in the first place. Headcodes fitted, about which I am quite pleased as I've fitted the correct ones, rather than what's left after I have dropped most of the little blighters. Fitted an NEM coupling to one end only, it is grim enough cutting away all the bufferbeam detail at one end, let alone both. But goodness, it is a slow old thing isn't it?

Mine has just been dropped off by a jealous postman, who is a bit cheesed off that mine has arrived and not his. Nice runner, maybe a bit noisy at first, but definitely low speed, though not a problem as they were generally stationary. Great model though, and I'm a chuffed bloke pretending to work as it buzzes around my home office...

A couple from me. This version of 'Inside and Out' by Feist takes a sloppy BeeGee's lurve song and turns it into a bit of a mad woman threat/rant song. And if it hasn't been mentioned before, surely Dizzy by Vic Reeves and the Wonderstuff works?

Hi Pete, I know exactly what you are saying, but my point is that at huge cost to taxpayers it is actually going to take high class sports away from much of the UK. It was just a personal, slightly selfish rant. We in t'North are well aware of London centricity, but fortunately clog sparking, ferret baiting and underwater soot juggling will remain in our Northern bastions for a little while yet. And the beach volleyball up in Blackpool is fantastic. Sometimes the more daring competitors undo the top buttons of their duffel coats... Whatever next????

My main annoyance about the 'Olympic Legacy' is that it will make sport even more London centric than it currently is. At the moment the UK's only world standard facilities in sports such as cycling and swimming are mercifully outside the capital, thus we provincials can get a chance to watch top quality competition without the cost and bother that London trips entail. The arrival of the Aquatic Centre and Velodrome in London almost guarantees that future World Class events will be held there, and sod the rest of you. Agree with earlier posters that the Corporate Tossage that is currently using the Olympics as a profile/sales raising vehicle is really annoying. Petrochemical giant BP using cyclinsts and wheelchair athletes to advertise their products? Surely the ASA should question the relevance of these ads?

There is a chapter in 'Lost Railways of Lancashire' by Gordon Suggitt about Central Station, including a splendid overhead photo from the 1930's. In the text he mentions that on Saturday 18th July 1936, 656 trains passed Kirkham en route to/from Blackpool.

Chinese lady goes into the bank. 'I want to change yen for pounds' 'ok' says the cashier 'you get 80 yen to the pound' 'Yesterday I get 100, today I get 80' says the Chinese Lady, 'why?' 'Fluctuations' the cashier replied 'Yeah, fluc you white people too..'

Thank goodness for that. I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Although, come to think of it, I have a Kestrel on order, so it may not be good news after all.

Hi. Must be missing something then, becase I think the Clan is pretty good model. Looks good enough to me, and runs really nicely, even using the standard Hornby decoder. I was a bit dubious at first, wondering if I could pick out the differences from the Britannia with my dodgy mince's, but it looks nicely proportioned and stands out from the Brit quite nicely. But then, that's just my opinion.

Evenin' all Dropped into Hattons today and had to practically clamber over the boxes from Heljan. Every pigeonhole for outbound post contained a lovely blue box, so if you ordered yours from Hattons, it is definitely on it's way.