SRman

... except on DC!

If you place a point (turnout) and a Toad at the bottom when you do jump, you could be said to be hitting the frog and toad! Sorry, I'll get me hat and coat ...

In northern Queensland and New Guinea there are also tree kangaroos (yes, for real). These are considerably larger and heavier than possums, and also very ill-adapted* to life in the trees. They frequently fall out of the trees and woe betide anyone, or anything underneath them when they do! * Poor adaptations include claws on their back feet that don't actually point downwards enough to grip the branches they are on. They are big and heavy, have stiff tails and short front limbs (proportionally slightly longer than 'normal' 'roos) and sort of shuffle along branches. Their faces and back feet are shorter than their ground-dwelling cousins, but that only assists their arboreal life style a little. They would probably have died out long ago if it wasn't for the fact their are no other animals competing for their habitat. Here in Melbourne there are a few in our zoo (which is well worth a visit if you are down here). Edit: one other adaptation I almost forgot about: they can move their back legs independently, unlike 'normal' kangaroos and wallabies, which all have to move both back legs together. I find tree kangaroos fascinating simply because they are such unlikely creatures.

That's another thing to be afraid of!

Some of the double-ended diesels were released in Australia (locally made too) with VR notations on the nose ends - Victorian Railways. The colour scheme was a fair representation of the VR scheme, and the shape was a fair representation of the B class, but the bogies were totally wrong for that; the B class had a Co-Co wheel arrangement! Whatever the faults as a scale model, they seem to have been very popular and are still very commonly found in all sorts of conditions at swap meets over here in Oz.

I have the "full" Holland-Afrika Line on the way from Rails at the moment. I figured that even if I don't like the sound in the MN, it might suit something else I already own - an easy swap if required.

The definition of DMUs could be a little flexible in the past. As Paddy said, the HSTs were initially lumped in with DMUs. Likewise, the Blue Pullmans were counted as DMUs, even though only the 6-car WR sets could work in multiple, and even then, only after they were modified after their transfer to the WR.

I gave this some more thought, and I'm not sure how well this would look, but how about BR locomotive green up to the grille trailing edges (perhaps at the rakish angle of the original divide between yellow/blue and blue/grey). The band where the original blue ran around the cab front and along the sides would now be Sherwood green (as on the class 47s), ending at an angle before the side grilles. Past the grilles, joining the locomotive green at the angle described, the remaining sides and all mark 3 coaches in crimson and cream.

Maybe swept back in a stripe along the sides, ending in a lightning flash on or near the grilles?

I deliberately didn't post a pic because I didn't want to hijack the discussion too far off the op's question, but since you asked so nicely ( ) here is the maroon Hymek as it might have appeared if the WR had continued its policy of painting the main line locos maroon and blue had not taken over when it did. P_20190101_172715_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Maybe, but what about those of us who live overseas? How much extra is that going to cost us?

Model photos: P_20190102_234344_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 73/0 P_20190309_121823_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 52 P_20190101_173331_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 42 P_20181227_113801_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 33/0 P_20190101_171802_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 14. For fun, but really outside the scope of this discussion, I did a Hymek in a might-have-been maroon livery with grey skirts and the coach stock roundel.

Perfectly correct; I didn't mention them as they aren't main line locos, whereas the 14s were. For completeness, though, it was certainly worth you mentioning them.

... and their 73, which was even worse! At least the Janus can be fixed by simply swapping the brush wires over.

There have been a few compliments over time, but thank you for yours too. I have detailed some of the improvements way back in this topic, but post 268 is probably a good place to start (although there were some earlier posts about it too) - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/27719-srmans-current-layout-newton-broadway/?p=1306325 Still, for my $AUS25 investment at a swap meet, I think I did OK.

For a long time I have had a part-built Ratio provender store sitting on the layout near Newton Broadway station - a location it doesn't actually belong to at all! Anyway, I decided to start building again. However, I can't find the instruction sheet at present, so I have had to wing it a bit. I decided to replace all the printed wooden floors and battens with Wills wood planking. Any inaccuracies in the positions of joints will not really be visible unless someone inspects the interior with a strong light and a magnifying glass. I have simplified the wall battens a bit too but, again, it won't really be visible. There is more to do and the roof is currently just sitting perched loosely on top, but it is taking shape. Does anyone out there have an instruction sheet they could scan in and send to me, please? In the meantime, here are some photos of the progress. the right-hand door is hanging a little crookedly, but I might just leave it like that; the effect is actually not bad.

In addition to the WR locos mentioned above: One or two class 33's received them, although not from when they were new. D6570 was one in green with full yellow ends, as modelled in OO by Heljan. Class 73/0 electro-diesels were delivered new in green with coach stock roundels.

The 8 VAB did run with TC units - just what extra arrangements it had I don't know, but it could, and did, run with a TC attached. The buffet car was a locomotive hauled one adapted with through cabling for the EMU controls, so it is quite possible other extra supplies were also arranged for the unit as a whole. http://www.semgonline.com/proto/8vab.html Edit: Further information on this at - apparently a class 33 was added to the formation to provide the ETH requirements when working the 8 VAB with a TC. 1q (sorry - this was typed by a kitten seeking attention!)

Hi Bif. Do the directional sounds work as you described when in a consist, but as normal when not using the consist address? Or have I misunderstood that a bit?

It looks absolutely amazing, and also very professional. Stunning!

A pity they haven't offered replacement shells for all the class 73 owners with incorrect liveries and colours.

Back Electro-Motive Force (BEMF) is the electrical "back-pressure" that builds up as an electric motor spins. It results in the motor "fighting" speed increases or increasing loadings, or surging as it tries to balance the feedback, with sometimes erratic behaviour as a result. The DJM class 71 has a coreless motor which doesn't generate much BEMF, whereas most decoders are set up to balance out BEMF by default. In the case of the DJM model, this setting is not really needed, hence you can reduce the effect or turn it off. Just how you do that depends on the decoder, with each manufacturer having their own CVs and settings. Some decoders have an auto-sensing adjustment - the LokSound has something like this - but even with that, you may have to override the settings manually. In my case, the LokSound with Legomanbiffo sounds and settings was already set up perfectly to control my sound fitted E5004. The Lenz Silver+ 21 in my E5003 needed the setting turned off. Before doing that, E5003 was chattering and surging at low speeds, but was fine at higher speeds.

The LokSound decoder should be already tuned to suit your locomotive when it arrives, but in the meantime, you could try turning off the BEMF on the decoder you have used. That was the answer with the Lenz decoder I used on my non-sound-fitted example.

Back again: Ian's Bus Stop site (http://www.countrybus.org/rf/RF3.htm) has the following information (direct quote), confirming that my memory wasn't entirely faulty after all: "In 1960 two lighter shades of green made their appearance, on RFs from Reigate (RG) and High Wycombe (HE) on the 711, with black relief on the wheels. It didn't catch on generally, but the lighter relief colour gradually spread through the class. Coaches with the light green were: RF 33, 36,41, 42, 51, 52, 55, 58, 69, 71, 72, 86, 126, 271, 309, 313."

There was an experiment on a few Green Line vehicles using a lighter base body colour and lighter relief lining in LT days. The upshot was that they used the lighter lining green for new repaints but reverted to the darker green body colour. I have a feeling that a few RFs were involved too, but don't quote me on that - I am at work and don't have access to my reference books right now, and my memory on this could very well be faulty.