big jim

ive got some of those that i got from maplin that i use in my fishtank i may well look into using them in the shed, thanks for the suggestion

right, i've decided im going in the shed later! got a few major things i want to complete so i can get the last bit of track in place...... 1: get the 4th accessory decoder up and running, i can get it in programming mode but it wont accept an address for some reason 2: wire the remaining 2 mainline point motors to the decoder if i get it working! 3: wire up point motors for the yard area, possibly fit them up too and wire to the 5th and 6th accessory decoders up i've also bought myself a thermastatic convection heater that i want to get mounted up on the wall in readyness for the electrician early in the new year, may even go out and get some lights too and fit them up ready for him to wire in, cant decide whether to go for a couple of strip lights or 4 way spot lights though?

according to gen groups the ships eta is saturday 4/1/14 at midday into liverpool

Yes i wonder! The coal was cancelled in the end, luckily i was only a couple of miles from home when i found out so i juat turned round!

something a bit different tonight, a portbury to ratcliffe coal, diverted via the welsh marches so getting on at hereford (after driving a van there, what a swine of a place that looks to get to from crewe) then running to shrewsbury, round the avoider (first time for me doing that), through wolverhampton station to walsall and onto ratcliffe via leicester (but getting off in toton to drive home) looking forward to it, not done a coal on the marches before, then when thats over its a couple of days of landor st to ratcliffe and return and then a refresh of the liverpool area

i came in to uttoxeter with the distant on so had to crawl round to the signals as i need to treat them as all being on hence why it took me a while the loco was 56094 btw i had a nightmare of a journey last night, 68 early out of derby but 180 late into carlisle due to flooding and multiple signal failure between shap and carlisle, ended up sitting in penrith from about 0025 to 0200 only one pic, a bit blurred but again, no tripod the train i was booked to work north never happened either, it wouldnt have run with me on it anyway as due to the problems i ended up doing 15 hours anyway, thanksfully the last 2 and a bit were asleep in a taxi

yep, colas move it in TTA wagons they also move aviation fuel to sinfin in derby in TEA wagons

im going to measure them up when they arrive in the country and get precision decals to add them to the existing set there doesnt look to be as many on the colas one as the FL version but whats not to say they wont add more when they arrive, i noticed the data plate is on the door on the colas one rather than on the cabside

Just got back from chirk and 56302 is sat in the cripple siding, dont know whats up with it though, the schenker 66 left with the carlisle set about an hour before i got there with the baglan train with 66848 up front Been a crazy busy week, had 3 nights of the logs with 56302 which WAS running like a dream! Then i had a night of bescot to hinksey with a freightliner loco, 66510, last night (thursday) was the baglan logs (maiden voyage from hereford for me), tomorrow (friday) is over to sinfin to work that to carlisle and then all being well the trip back should be a 47 with a load of FGW mk3s and barrier coaches! Hopefully saturday off to recover!!

and im working it back to carlisle tomorrow been a hectic couple of days for us few drivers with wide ranging route knowledge i can tell ya! even drove a freightliner 66 last night

none of the class 70s (fl or colas) are buckeye fitted, not much point as the wagons are not fitted either!

i know alex's looks stunning (pic in the next batch of class 70 thread) mine was rushed, i think i will lightly weather mine at some point to hide the roughness!!

brilliant news must admit the first thing that struck me looking at the model was the windscreen rather than the repaint, it looked different (and 100% better) but i couldn't put my finger on why! i'll give brian a ring for a set later on i'd not noticed the black triange either, got to get the paint out to do under the windows anyway i'll measure up the cooling fan when i get my mitts on the real thing too

to those who have done or are planning on repainting a colas 70, when they arrive i'll get the rest of the dimensions for the decals measured up and send them to precision decals to complete the set the reason they are not in the current decal pack is when i went to measure up 70801 a few months back all the decals were in turkish!

nice!

There is already somone on another forum asking which route the colas 70s will take out of the docks!

i had the advantage of having the official paint spec and drawings and still got small bits wrong such as the black under the side windows as its actually finished different to the spec! the biggest help was having the dimensions for the logos, writing, numbers etc so they are spot on size wise on mine (they are a different size to a 56, 66 etc)

the only problem we have with the extra black under the windows is on the picture of the real thing the ends are covered in snow so i can't make out if the black goes straight under the window or follows the contour of the body, ie the black is deeper below the centre of the windscreen

you can do me a couple of those units if you like!! i won the "yellow ends" competition though

yeah, funny how the decals are exactly the right size and in the right place

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1476020_10202622141101426_1642167943_n.jpg sweet!! i think i got my Bachmann one pretty much right, just need to add a bit to the black under the windows you wouldnt believe how much of a swine it was to get the line straight between the black and orange/yellow, it looks rougher than it is as the handrails are black

found this in the waiting room at our local hospital yesterday, only 9 1/2 years old! ulrika-ka-ka hasnt looked that youthful for a long time

not me guv, i only work 66s on the MML!

you can have as fast linespeed as you want but get stuck behind me pootling along at 40mph leaving wigston towards leicester and its all immaterial