SRman

Thanks, John. That jogs my memory now.

Hard to predict: on the one hand, the livery should prove a very popular one, but on the other, the price may put people off. I hope they last on the shelves long enough to be discounted a bit, but if they sell out, so be it. That's good for Bachmann, then.

Unusually for me, I bought something non-British. I have always loved the New South Wales Government Railways (and successors) V set interurban double deckers. Auscision recently released them in several different liveries, some of which lasted for quite a long time. Mine is in the so called 'blue goose' livery that they were delivered in right from the first units in the late 1960s. A few still wore this livery in the early 1990s, I believe. The real ones were built and delivered in several batches over quite a long period of time, with the first ones in approximately 1968, and the last in 1989 or thereabouts. This one depicts the slightly later guise, with blue guard's indicator lights and ditch lights at the front. This was an extravagance/indulgence on my part - a quite expensive one - but I have had quite a few memorable trips on real ones of these smooth-riding, quiet and comfortable units to destinations in the Blue Mountains and to Gosford and Newcastle to the north of Sydney. Auscision say that the fitted couplings are only suitable for 24" radius curves and above, but a quick test showed they could just scrape around my 21" curves, but it was a little too close for comfort, so I fitted the longer couplings (supplied in the box) to one end only of each coach, retaining the shorter ones for the adjoining ends. I have fitted a Lenz decoder to the powered car, and a basic Bachmann (ESU) decoder to the unpowered driving car, after first testing on DC. Running is good, and they *just* clear my tunnel mouths on the underground section (these being HO where my normal stock is OO, the clearances required are not much different). They may not get a lot of running in the future, but will be on display at other times.

If memory serves me correctly, there were three XAs in the country area, which had to be brought back to join the central XAs so that Hong Kong could buy the whole batch of 50. I can't remember the exact back story to this though.

With the DJM class 71, there is a similar problem with the headcode lights, dealt with in more detail on the relevant thread. However, I found that the ESU LokSound could work the headcodes, but I had to alter the function allocation to get it to use aux 3 (the headcodes), using JMRI Decoder Pro to make the task easier.

Further to what Andy said, in my conversions from class 350/1, the pantograph well needs a little tidying up work (which i haven't yet done!), and some of the underfloor modules and bits and pieces needed removing. There may well be other details I missed but Bachmann will have picked up in doing theirs properly.

"Compatible" EMUs would technically include just about any of the EPB stock, including EPB, CEP, BEP, CIG, BIG, VEP, REP AND MLVs (and any of their ilk I have missed). In practice, because the TCs were unpowered, none of the above except the REPs would run, because the power to weight ratio would not be sufficient to keep time. The exception to that was the specially formed 8VAB unit Rick mentioned, which had three VEP MBS vehicles in its formation, and therefore had sufficient traction motors to cope not only with its own 8-car formation but also one unpowered TC. It also had a specially through-wired buffet car in its formation so that it matched the catering facilities of the REPs (of which there weren't sufficient numbers at that time).

I have pre-ordered an SECR liveried set of three, but budget constraints mean that I have not ordered my planned BR liveried set. I'll have to take pot luck on those still being available when I decide I can afford them. I am looking forward to having a decent set of coaches for my two SECR liveried C class locos and also the forthcoming Hornby H (yes, I have pre-ordered one of those too!). Incidentally, I looked up the definition of 'lake' as a colour, and it is described as a translucent coat usually with a reddish base. On a different but slightly related tack, I was researching details for my London Transport F Stock and Q Stock sets and apparently the earliest (pre-LT) liveries included trimming of the panels and doors in what is described as lake. The sources went on to say that the exact shade of lake was unable to be determined from any of the material available - no colour photography and any artistic representations are just that, representations. Existing preserved stock couldn't provide any clues either, at least at the time of printing. I would imagine that the same would apply to the SECR livery to a large degree. Any paint samples that have survived would still be suspect after this amount of time has passed.

We can only hope. In the meantime, if you are prepared to do some modelling, you could buy one of the £90 LM 350s and some vinyl overlays from Electra Railway Graphics for £35, and create your own class 450 for less than £130 plus your labour.

I built two of the Kirk Bulleids, but they used the Maunsell coach profile. I have a third one still to build, but am seriously considering using Comet brass sides instead and rebuilding the other two to match. I bought quite a few of the Maunsell kits many years ago; once again, I have built some but still have a few unmade ones. The Restaurant car is part-built and is probably the only one i will finish now, seeing as Hornby's Maunsells are far better than anything I can make, much as I enjoy the kit-building experience. I'm sure there must be a few other modellers around who have unmade Kirk kits still lying around, like me.

My take on this: a powered pantograph on the 92 makes more sense than on the 71; the 71's panto was only used in a few yards and only at low speeds, so the poseable one on the 71, as produced, makes sense and is all that most of its purchasers need. For myself, I don't need operating pantos because my layout is based on third rail territory, but the 92s were quite wide ranging locomotives, so for many of the potential modellers, operating, sprung or even powered pantographs could be of use (forget my joke about operating shoes - that really was a throwaway line).

Hi Roy: I think that should be class 74, 33/1, etc., not class 71. Typo?

Mine doesn't squeak ... it groans horribly!

Thanks Colin. I must admit the orange and the blue are as rough as old bags, but the red came out very well.

That reminds me of the incident involving an Albion Nimbus of Rockhampton City Council (in Queensland), one of six they had in service at the time. The empty bus was being driven across one of the major intersections in East Street towards a lay-by bay in the centre of the road just beyond that intersection, when the driver had to slam the brakes on to avoid a car. The rear axle stopped completely, but the rest of the bus continued on, nose-diving into the road surface. Apparently, the axle shackles snapped under the strain. The Nimbuses continued in service for some years beyond this incident in the late 1960s or early '70s (I can't remember precisely now) ... horrible things, they were!

Thanks, stadman. They are looking slightly more complete, livery-wise, and have had the black roofs and ends added.

And again, this time with the orange 'swooshes' added. Both the blue and the orange are very crudely done at the moment. When Adam (Electra Railway Graphics) comes up with the vinyl overlays, I'll see what needs to be tidied up to get minimum 'show through' of the base colours.

Some blue bits added to the Bratchell 455/9.

Continuing progress with the Bratchell Models class 455/9: the body shells have now had a couple of coats of grey primer, then a couple of coats of flame red (all from automotive aerosols) to approximate the final base colour for the South West Trains suburban livery. The driving ends remain unattached (except for a couple of spots of Blu-tack!) and unpainted at this stage. The bogies have been assembled, although the motor bogie sideframes remain to be cut down and fitted. I have adjusted the ride heights: I found that Hornby's valve gear spacer washers worked well, with one thick and one thin washer added to each of the trailer bogie mounts.

I always used to love those cover pics on the train sets and in the catalogues. Of course, they were posed, as they were almost unworkable with those layouts and positions. Maybe if they had had DCC in those days ...

Continuing with the Bratchell class 455/9, I have built all of the unpowered bogies now, but will need to adjust the ride heights of these upwards slightly, and the powered coach downwards slightly. The Powered bogies will have to be cut and shut to lose 1mm from the wheelbase but, as with the previous class 455/8 and 319, the blank sideframes on the Replica Railways motor bogies can be used to reinforce these, using the Bratchell sideframes as cosmetic items only. Bratchell Class 455-9 Under Construction - 7 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bratchell Class 455-9 Under Construction - 8 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Once again I have had a little difficulty with poor light and the black ABS plastic Bratchell used for the driving trailer sides. I have used local manufacturer Steam Era Wheels (10.5mm dia., catalogue ref WH6) for this build, as Bratchell had run out of wheels when I ordered this kit.

My new camera wagon arrived today. The old Mainline/Bachmann bogie bolster wagon was very good in all but one respect; that one exception was the couplings, which were the old Mainline-style medium fittings, not easily changeable to anything else. The new Hattons/Bachmann Warwell has come, and I selected the type with the bolster extensions to provide a level platform for the camera. The wheels run true (like my previous wagon) and the wagon is heavy for good stability. Hattons Warwell Camera Wagon - 1 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

It's not a hill; that's just the Earth's tilt you are seeing!

Another new project, but one that will take a little while to complete: I have an unpainted Bratchell Models kit for a class 455/9 unit, which will eventually be in South West Trains red inner suburban livery. The unpainted shells are very dark and my lighting was poor, so these first two shots are only just sufficient to show the initial construction. The clear plastic driving ends will need a little modification to the lights to match the later, refurbished condition, and are not glued in at this stage. They will also be easier to mask off for painting while not installed. The instructions advise to remove all of the moulded-on door gutters and add new continuous gutters from microstrip. A quick look at some photos online of 455/9 units proved this correct and also showed at what height the new gutters should be mounted - I found that the height suggested in the instructions looked too low, so mounted mine at what looked correct to me, based on the photos of the real things. The ends of the gutter strips at the driving cab ends need to be cut back slightly, but I thought it better, and easier to correct, to have them too long rather than too short. The MSO (Motor Second Open) coach has already been test fitted to the Replica Railways chassis that will power the whole unit. This had to have the continuous footstep moulding cut off, and a minimal amount filed off the width, then slotted securely straight into the assembled body shell. Bratchell Class 455-9 Under Construction - 1 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bratchell Class 455-9 Under Construction - 3 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Before I paint anything, there are also roof vents to make and fit. Four per coach, except for the MSO, which only has two. These were unique to the 455/9 construction.

How do you know he wasn't escaping?