big jim

Couldn’t be bothered in the shed tonight so I decided to finish off 37423 Fitted the extra light on the roof, wired through the cab light tabs, I’ll have to adjust the decoder CVs so the cab light comes on with the headlight After I fitted them up using the supplied LEDs and fibre optics I found a pair of Bachmann class 66 top light assemblies in my stock box which I could have used instead! Added the last of the decals, Fox 2 and 3 and railtech 3D nameplates which are very very good indeed, also added OHLE flashes and multi working sockets to the ends, I was going to add all the pipes and couplings too but they kept fouling on the ploughs I’m gonna have a go at weathering this one at some point

It sure is!! Also on the old bit between rugby and nuneaton flask trains weren’t allowed to work wrong direction on the up fast

The bi-di between shrewsbury and nantwich is the latest hi-tech set up, obstacle detector crossings, computer control etc the only thing is to get on to it from the shrewsbury end you need a pilotman to get you out of the station to the first signal!

I did an IM train 30mph ‘wrong direction’ from rugby to Lichfield a few months back, that was certainly a strange experience being as trains were passing me on the down fast and slow lines as well as the up slow!

The line between crewe and Wilmslow and crewe and shrewsbury are both bi directional and the ‘wrong direction’ signals are a mirror of the ‘right direction’ ones, the wilmslow line has the same line speed on both lines (100mph) but the shrewsbury line is slower on the wrong direction line The chiltern mainline is bi di between anyhoo and risborough hutvthe bi di line only has 1/2 the signals as the right direction line, once you enter it at risborough it’s a good 8 miles to the next set of signals at ashenden jn

Some from today, more class 70 training which we incorporated with a rescue mission Wrexham Where we set off to crewe to collect 60002 which upon arrival at chirk last night they discovered the points were frozen so it had to run to crewe to stable, however by the time it got there it was almost out of fuel, certainly not enough to get back to chirk again where it would normally refuel We dropped onto the loco and pulled it out into the mainline before changing ends and using it to head back into From there we went into LNWR for fuel Where while the 60 was fuelling we ran the 70 to the other end so it would lead off the yard into the station, meaning the 60 was then leading back to the train As we were putting it back on the opposite end to the one we took it off in readiness for it heading to chirk via Chester Detached the 70 and took that back to coleham before jumping back in my van to crewe to do a brake test on the log train! Final day of training tomorrow with the 70 then a week off using up my annual Leave

Another days training, in Wrexham again, was hoping to get a trip out but points failures here and there meant we just had to trundle up and down the neck getting used to the controls etc, did lots of static work, played about isolating stuff etc In the bay in Wrexham Then at the end of the day I had to leave it right up the end of the neck next to croes newydd crossing Tomorrow is definitely a trip out to bescot and back to coleham

Here is the cab printed on its back with its support, could do with being able to reduce the support as it wastes so much material, 3M worth compared to 1.6M printed the other way

For whatever reason photobucket is still having a wobbler so I’m gonna try the site image uploader First up today was a trip to Marylebone to refresh the route for my Christmas Day job I’ve got from old oak common, had a ride into the terminus before heading back out to Oxford via the new chord at Bicester, funny that since I drove the first ever train up the chord when building it I’ve never been over it since! It was also the first ever time I’ve done the line between Bicester town and oxford parkway as I only signed it as a single line as far as banbury road from one direction and Bicester town station from the other! Oxford Then over to Hinksey to collect 70803 to take to shrewsbury, however the points into the yard at coleham are frozen up so we had to quickly get it rerouted elsewhere, unfortunatly everywhere in shrewsbury was the same so we ended up taking it to wrexham and leaving it there until tomorrow, to be honest I can’t see the points unfreezing tomorrow so I’ll have to work the training around wrexham! Hinksey

the 67 is a great price for stripping the sound chip out of to fit in my 2nd colas 67 and use the loco as a basis for respraying into pullman livery, think i may indulge when it goes live on tuesday, the NSE 50 is still showing at £99 if you search for it, may well flog a couple of unused locos from my stock box and get that too to renumber to 50017 if it stays that price until tuesday

I don’t know the area at all or what the story behind the boats is but if a load of similarly adorned ‘colourful’ ex ambulances, post office vans, buses etc turned up en masse in a field and set up a new age camp they would be moved on in days by the council, how are (some of) those boats allowed to be moored there looking the way they do

What an eyesore those houseboats are!

He’s with us now! He was my classroom instructor when I did my driving course at first north western back in the early 2000s too

I know nothing, I from Barcelona, sorry crewe! back in work on Monday morning but I’m having photobucket problems so I don’t know if I can update any piccies

I’ve printed the cab on its back at 0.06 thickness and it’s come out really well but with a heck of a lot of waste Unfortunaly photobucket is being a d!ck at the moment telling me I’ve used all my storage and I need to upgrade to a pro account despite I’ve been on a pro account for 8 years, paid monthly through Apple, and as it recons I’m now a free account I can’t get hold of customer support as the free account doesn’t have any support Once I get it sorted I’ll post a pic up

When I had a job in Prestatyn the other week I came over gwaenysgor Hill into town from the A55 singing kettle junction, I always go that way as I think it’s quicker than going via the old road into dyserth and back in yourself through melidyn, it’s such a good view from the top and the coast road is now ruined with the old dual carriageway bits all down to single lanes and 40-50 mph

Look what happens when I have a week off!

You could always just come along the coast road I probably won’t make it tomorrow now unfortunatly

That’s the limit on the machine

0.06 is the thinnest

only had a brief flick through the first 2 pages, interesting plan so far ref simons signals in the depot, wembley chiltern has them on every road 'coming off the fuel line onto the mainline', the north end of bescot is like that, you either go into the shunt neck, (1 and a bit locos long) or out onto the mainline to change ends after fuelling to get back into the yard or goods line, either option stuffs up the goods or main while the shunt happens

the 0.06 thickness "fine" print wasnt successful, the window frame snapped on one side while building by the look of it (i wasn't watching) as the top bit was originally still attached but the right hand column had not formed its currently printing off a 0.1 thick copy as i type, just getting to the crucial columns, heres hoping!

here is the result of the first part of tonight’s experiment, a class 323 cab printed off a file that someone sent to me to experiment with this one is ‘draft print’ quality, 45 minute print with layers set to .15MM, Not touched it at all, photographed as it came off the printer, will fettle it up tomorrow As I type this there is a ‘fine quality’ print running off, 2 1/2 hours and .6MM per layer, interesting to see how it compares to the draft one (if it prints ok!)

Yeah, our merl should be back out and about early in the new year hopefully

We did think that, too small though, good for holding scissors though...