John Isherwood

Chances are that the loose gear has split - not that easy to detect except by very close inspection. If this is the case, and Bachmann cannot supply a replacement, I understand that replacement brass gears for some Bachmann models may be available from Ultrascale. CJI.

I think that it would not be unreasonable for potential purchasers to expect that you had undertaken a test-build before offering the kit for sale. CJI.

IMHO, a little attention to the markings would be beneficial - just to tone them down a tad. CJI.

The rounded bits were plates with holes for locking pins. They were removed over time - I'm guessing safety issues with trapped hands. CJI.

This is the old Airfix 20T mineral wagon, flogged over the years in a myriad of liveries. I seem to recall that it is not accurate for any specific prototype, but is close to an LNER 20T nine plank loco coal wagon. ..... unless someone knows differently! CJI.

True - but we are all human! If only I had never made a mistake whilst working! CjI.

Thanks for that - most reassuring. I don't mind waiting - just so long as it arrives eventually! John Isherwood.

OK - I'm going to break my own rule re 'Are we nearly there yet', as I am getting a little concerned. I have 7810 'Draycott Manor' DCC Ready on order and paid-for, directly from Accurascale. Simple question; has anyone received one of these yet? CJI.

Do you have a note of the vendor's Ebay identity? If so, Ebay should be able to put you in contact, or otherwise arrange for you to make payment. CJI.

Shame that all this 'customer service' was necessary in the first place - quality products shouldn't need 'customer service'. CJI.

I'm afraid that whoever relaid them had not been apprenticed to someone who knew how to lay setts! A semi-random laying pattern with widely variable joint widths is NOT a recipe for durability or long life. They SHOULD be laid on a compacted stone bed; with minimal joints racked-up (filled) with fine stone chippings and dust. Finally, the joints should be sealed with hot bitumen poured from an old watering-can (without a 'rose'). John Isherwood.

Thanks to a very generous member of RMweb, I now have a lifetime's supply of the above shouldered rivets. It will be see that, with careful attention to component thicknesses and hole sizes, it is possible to rivet a fully articulating joint between to valvegear components with just one press of an automatic centre-punch, or a light tap with a small hammer. I am not aware that these rivets, or anything similar, are available nowadays but, if any producer of 'bits' were to reproduce them, I am sure that they would find a ready market amongst those of us who assemble valvegear. John Isherwood.

Having built the Dave Alexander kit of 10800 - complete with two Black Beetle motor bogies - I would say that the Heljan model - even sans a short length of beading - is a bargain! CJI.

Oh dear - not unconvincing / unpainted red plastic housings, too? How could this have happened? CJI.

Precisely! CJI.

You may well be correct! I have to say that I prefer the printed operating wheels to etched ones - the latter are very two-dimensional. CJI.

Very nice indeed - but the silver paint on the buffers highlights the fact that Bachmann really need to look more closely at the real thing! CJI.

This is total tosh, I'm afraid. Any RTR steam loco - preferably a cheap non-runner - can be converted to free-running simply by removing the motor and worm. The connecting rods can be removed very simply. The GBL locos would be useless for this project as the wheels are a solid casting and do not revolve. CJI.

Metal wheels are pretty much obligatory - but the wagons are still too light unless loaded. CJI.

Any bowing is undoubtedly printer / material in origin; the prints kindly supplied to me by the designer were free from any distortion. The provision of a solid rather than an open-framed chassis is, IMHO, scarcely noticeable, and is desirable from the perspective of robustness. The hardest part with these prints would be to operate trains of empties - they are very light and have nowhere to hide any weight. CJI.

Far from it!!! I started modelling at age eleven, and am now seventy-four - but the layout that I have created in the past eighteen months is the FIRST in all that time. Nothing at all fancy - substantial baseboards, cork underlay, Peco Code 75 track and Electrofrog points, and heavy-gauge ring main wiring. I'd never done any of this before - I simply relied upon the best practice that I'd read of. People assume that, because others get good results from traditional DC layouts, they must be experts - not true!! CJI.

There is no secret - simply stout copper feeds to EVERY single rail length - no matter how short. Rail-joiners align rail ends - they are not reliable for conducting electricity. Live frogs are also obligatory. CJI.

It's amazing to see the trouble and expense that some people will go to in order to avoid careful tracklaying and well thought out wiring. CJI.

Until relatively recently, the mass-concrete bufferstop blocks within the former munitions dump remained in-situ. CJI.

Certainly bridge rail - to be found in remarkably frequent and widespread locations, used for this and many other purposes. CJI.