big jim

These may be of some use to you, the sidings in banbuy at dusk with the lights lit, took them last night during the station stop with the 67...

as usual, done nothing for ages then got a bit more done over the weekend basically the 2 units at the start of the thread are dead, i have salvaged the etches off them and reused them on a new pair of units, the chiltern one is as above however the london midland one has been restarted completly managed to get this off ebay for a decent price which is going to save me a lot of hassle painting and decaling, ok the body colour is famously wrong (should be silver not white) ut its a damn sight easier for me to modify! basically i needed the modified chassis off the original conversion but the underframe in the LM one was the correct colour with better painted detail so i swapped the underframe plastic sides over as well as the coupler and deflector, you can see the difference in colour etc here and after the chassis swap but with the original windows next up, remove the glazing, surprisingly on the new 170 the glazing wasn't glued in at all so it was easy to remove test fit of the etch another cab was obtained from james makin which has had the mods to get it fit the 170, basically cut off the bottom of the faring, filled the side window and removed the rear view camera, really the side faring needs to be longer to go below the cab door, i could remove the whole faring and replace it with the removed Bachmann piece but im happy with it as it is im going to prime and paint the new parts off the units and fit them up afterwards, i think i may well reuse the Bachmann glazing on the LM unit too, cut down to fit into petes etches as he intended still got the 2nd casting to grind the skirt off though i also now have a painting list: prime the castings and etches yellow ends on the castings yellow ends on the chiltern 172 (yellow to add below the window) yellow end on the 2nd completed 168/0 coach centro green on the castings matt black on the LM etches chiltern blue on the 172 etches, im actually going to completly repaint the whole blue area as the humbrol paint doesnt quite match bachmanns blue, it will however once painted match my 165! then i need to rewire the units following the bogie swaps and put the spare chassis on ebay

iced over at 04:30 this morning in crewe, very little heating on the train into birmingham at 5 too currently sat on tyseley depot on 67013 while one of the mark 3s has its wheels turned, doors closed, seat back, heaters on, lovely!!

ive just done the same, even though i only had a flat in aylesbury for 6 months and had never actually visited there til august 2010 they are a great set of pics to view, so very different to how it is now!! the railway section of the gallery is good... (aaaargh, ive just posted a link to facebook, after expressing my displeasure of the whole thing in another thread!)

looking at google earth it looks like they are still there, they definatly aren't in use though, clipped out, when units are parked in the cattle road they do sit foul of the points right up to the blocks. i'll grab a few pics next time i'm there.

fantastic, only just spotted this thread, the view looking north from the royal mail depot is stunning!! one observation, the points you have going into the "cattle siding" from platform 1, i dont think they are there now, if they are they are certainly not in use, i'll have a look next time im there, i think the ground frame is still in situ though but the points may have been cut back. i dont get into the sidings at banbury very much anymore now im based in birmingham, when i was in marylebone we had regular jobs into the yard and sidings, im sure ive got some current maps for there too from when they reopened the yard nearest the chiltern control office

if fox dont have the decals try getting in touch with "classic train and motorbus" (i think thats what its called) in leamington spa, he has drawers full of discontinued fox decals, you might be lucky

Just passed under the rail Bridge on gresty lane and 70014 was shunting above, first if the new ones ive seen

the new bridge in aylesbury always makes me think of star trek, its called "the borg bridge" or something similar loving geoffs pic of the 47 in risborough during resignalling, especially as its taken exactly 20 years back from the latest resignalling

took this in crewe just before christmas, could well have been taken back in the 80s!

In the class 33 pic linked to above is that a derailed bauxite breakvan sat at an angle behind the breakvan and 08? Also is the 33 a hastings one?

sound chipped sentinel video here... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49493-howes-dcc-sound-fitted-model-rail-sentinel/

 In response to the catch 22 question, I am hopefully seeing Jim this week and will give him the Sentinel so he can have a play with it over the Holiday and maybe make a short video clip of it for people to decide if they are interested, by that time  Howes will have it listed it on their website. if there is sufficient interest shown that warrants I do a Pukka version later on I am more than happy to reblow a previously purchased  generic version FOC. Obviously it goes without saying that Howes would have to charge for the return postage. Hope that answers the question.  Bryan

funnily enough there is a temporary AA road sign just over the railway bridge near the new college that says "access to hartwell sidings only", no sidings to be seen though D826, what night were you at the panto? if it was saturday it was my lad up on stage with johnothan wilkes

here we go, direct from bryan...... The Sentinel Loksound Micro sound fit fit actually took me 10 minutes once I had chopped the 6 pin lead and wired it to an 8 pin one. I didnt have an 8 pin one to hand, ESU now do the micro with a 6 or 8 pin so that makes the fitting very easy. All I had to do, was to cut back the plastic sleeving where the wires are joined to the decoder, this allows the decoder length to be a push fit along the back windows, The oblong speaker fitted nicely up against the front windows set in a bit of blacktak facing downwards and the 8 pin plug inserted into the socket. I left the wires the full length to facilitate plugging the connector in , the wires can probably be hidden a little better but I was not interested in the cosmetic side only to see if the fit was possible.Sound gets out through the two open windows I have done a semi generic sound based on what I have seen and heard on youtube, Howes heard it and They are happy to put it on the website. if it generates enough interest I will record the one at Quainton next year and do a pukker version

Already done, ill get in touch with bryan and get some more info on it

bryan at howes was telling me he has fitted sound to a sentinal, a V4 micro all fitted into the cab he has done some pics but not a video as yet unfortunatly

ive walked past those machines hundreds of times but never spotted that

have you shut the passenger doors on it, no interlock, no power!!

was this the one that was being demonstrated in warley, not the big stand with lots of screens but a smaller stand off to one side? if so i was impressed by the voyager simulation they had running, the 67 looked good too, just needs a seat that every so often bottoms out when riding over rough pointwork and they have cracked it!!

morning everyone, here we go again, currently sat on a 158 heading through norton (no) bridge en route to work, in at 6 then got the express to london first with the 67 and stock then a class 165 on a stopper to stratford upon avon back to leamington and onto moor st, first bit of the job great, last bit no so!!

its a cold one this morning in birmingham... the bullring is orange today as well

answered the door naked to the postman earlier.... dunno what frightened him more, my naked body or the fact i knew where he lived

not so much a sign but this always makes me smile when i see it.... 169001 is parked next to it, wonder if it will make the platform 5 books

Thats In nantwich, pointing towards the hack green bunker