SRman

Interestingly, they picked D5017 for the next one that was Southern-based for a while; this is actually a better choice than D5016, which only spent a matter of a month or two on the SR, whereas D5000 and D5017 (among others) spent close to three years based at Hither Green. When I bought D5016 (an excellent model, BTW), I set about renumbering it to D5017, coincidentally.

Further to that, I have run the powered car around on its own, under test for the sound decoder and speaker I fitted. Obviously, there are no headlights or tail lights to work when like that, but interior lights worked as well as the motor and sounds. A three car set is quite feasible, or if you go the other way, a five car set is also possible (using the unpowered trailer from another set).

I did what I usually do with Heljan models, and fitted straight tension lock couplers from Bachmann or Hornby. They seem to be correct height, at least against the Airfix/Dapol class B tank wagons I have built as well. I have yet to test against anything else, but watch this space (as the saying goes!).

While I haven't yet done this, my plan is to have a 'floor' of plastic card with only the seat backs and partitions projecting above ... from the waist up. so to speak. I did something similar with a bus I converted to the Faller system, where the motorised chassis sat just a little below window height, in much the same way as the Replica chassis. This applies to the three units I have fitted the Replica chassis to so far: a DC Kits 4 EPB, and Bratchell Models classes 455 and 319.

Blunebontle!

Adding my thanks to those who have already done so: thank you for a wonderful afternoon of running trains and swapping stories. Very enjoyable. I forgot to take any photos too, so we''ll have to recreate the setting when you have the final fling for Penhayle Bay. The day was completed afterwards when DougN and his family joined me and my other half for a meal out at Sofia's in Burwood East.

I still intend being there, Rick. Waiting to hear from Doug and Rob as to how many of us will arrive together.

Correct, but the coaches did escape later and became scattered. There is a photo in one of the colour albums I have at home of 'Flying Scotsman' leaving Brighton with a rake of coaches, where the first coach is a green Bulleid with a roundel. There are other photos from various sources and publications which show odd coaches with roundels in rakes of plain green ones.

Progress on the A Stock train. There was a delay while I awaited the delivery of some new wheels with shorter axles (25mm) but those have now arrived from Steam Era Models. In the meantime I managed to find a flat aluminium paint I was happy with, so painting has continued apace, with only a few extrnal retouches needed, but complete internal painting is still to be done. The bogies have been assembled and mounted on the underframes. Being all metal, with metal wheels and metal couplings, there were a few shorts until I isolated various components and made sure no wheel faces could touch the bogie frames. The bodies have been set loosely on the underframes to get an idea of how the whole train will look, and I am fairly pleased with the overall result. It has moved a short distance under its own power, although the power bogies are not yet seated properly. There are still many adjustments to make and extra parts to fit before it is anywhere near complete, but I feel encouraged to continue.

I know this is keeping us off topic for the class 71, but another Goon Show line i always loved was when asked what sort of vehicle they were using, the reply was. "It's the new carriageless horse."

Answering for Bif (maybe out of turn!), you can read your decoder on the LokProgrammer to get the details - the most important ones are the version number and the serial number. Bif can supply the sounds locked to that serial number, which means you can reblow it as many times as you like, but only to the correct decoder. This can have its uses as you could possibly order two different sound sets both locked to the same decoder, and reblow it every time you want the alternative sound set. Even with only one sound project for a decoder, the facility is particularly useful for those of us living overseas, where we don't have to worry about sending an expensive and delicate decoder through the post, also saving on postal and insurance costs, and avoiding the possibility of losing it altogether.

Hattons offer a 'bargain pack' of four wagons at a reduced price. However, the wagons in each pack are all numbered the same, so I have sent a suggestion that they could possibly mix the numbers a bit, particularly for the Esso versions, where they could offer packs of four different numbers. I'm sure that would appeal more to most modellers wanting these wagons. Anyway, we'll see if they take the suggestion on board. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the bargain packs they offer as they do reduce the price of buying enough wagons for block trains. It's just that having different running numbers appeals even more, I think.

Hey Dave; is there any chance you could divert the horse-drawn Zeppelin via Australia and parachute the models in?

Dirigible or blimp? Or perhaps, a horse-drawn Zeppelin! (With due acknowledgement to the Goon Shows).

Interesting. I typed that post on another forum, then copied it before posting it. I can't see any hidden code in the normal editor, but I'll check the code if I can get at it.

Hi Peter. All posts are showing normally at my end. Unless anyone else reports the same problem, I would suggest it may be a local setting on your computer and browser.

I recently stumbled onto a long-stored Ratio GWR Iron Mink wagon I built back in the 1970s. It was reasonably robust but had lost a portion of its brake lever and one coupling had snapped off. I decided to refurbish it and paint it into GW livery to join the pre-grouping train wagons. Refurbishment consisted of fitting top-hat bearings and metal wheelsets (I used spoked wheels but disc wheels may have been a better choice - any useful comments, please?), cutting off the ratio plastic couplings and cutting away part of the mounts to allow the Parkside NEM adapters to be glued in place, using part of a spare Parkside brake lever from another underframe kit (leftover from the SECR 6-wheel brake van conversion), and replacing a missing buffer. For the latter, I didn't have an exact match in the spares box, but the one I chose is a pretty close match but with a thicker spindle. The roof has had several coats of Humbrol acrylic matt white. The lot was given a coat of SECR wagon grey (a colour described as being very close to GW wagon grey), and lettered with HMRS transfers. I haven't put the tare weights on yet as they are fiddly and my eyes were hurting from doing the rest. Another project that is much closer to completion now is my hybrid class 25, using a Hornby body and a slightly adapted Bachmann chassis. The chassis came from a non-boiler fitted loco, and a good friend, PCM of this parish, recently offered me the boiler water tank from one of his conversions, which saved me scratch-building replacement tanks.

Agreeing with you here, David, the potential contacts are why I always leave an empty terminal between each wired one, and choose switches with more poles than I actually need.

Hmmm. I have a completely unbuilt kit of one of these, bought cheaply because it was missing the cab backplate, which I'll have to scratchbuild. I don't have any chassis for it yet, so your build is of great interest to me, Richard. You've made progress with it in leaps and bounds.

I wonder if they come with correct colours and livery details. They did promise that the lights will work in the correct directions on DCC and the cab lights would be able to be switched off. I'm not going to be the one to buy one and try it to see.

Hi Peter. I'm not sure of the CV off-hand. If you can't find out with a quick online search, I'll try to find out for you later.

As I suggested in an earlier post, you could try turning off the BEMF on both locos/units. I have read somewhere that some US modellers report having to do this, although many of them run more than just two locos or units together. I have had the odd problem where turning off the BEMF has helped, but those were related to individual locos and units, whereas I have also quite successfully run four EMUs with Lenz Standard decoders together in consists with no problems at all.

Did you notice the sound-fitted Dean Goods with plough for £22.95? That has to be the bargain of this century! Obviously a misprint. Speaking of prices, their prices are creeping up to Hornby and Bachmann levels for equivalent items. That's not a complaint, but my observation is that it also means they will have to be a little more careful with featuring correct details and liveries as they will be competing more directly with the big boys rather than selling cheaper but slightly less detailed items.

Yes, those curved door tops were featured on the Dreadnoughts, T Stock (MV/MW Stock) and Ashbury Stock that I know of, and probably others as well. I have painted the outer ends of the brake coaches in red, with black painted on lookout windows. Later on I may drill out those windows and add some at the sides, and add the pipework on the ends and shoe beams on the end bogies. I think that may be the limit of the work I'll do on them, as no matter how much I do to them, they will still be generic representations only. While I think they look the part, almost every single detail is wrong!

If anyone is interested, here are a couple of photos of No. 8, Sherlock Holmes, on a rake of five repainted Graham Farish coaches. All of these coaches have had only one coat of paint so far, and I have experimented with different shades of brown. The Brake ends are in a correct LT brown but look a bit dark to me, whereas the intermediate shade looks more like I think it should, especially once I can weather it. These coaches are by no means accurate: in fact, they are distinctly 'generic' and represent almost no real coach designs at all! However, they do seem to capture the general character of the Dreadnought coaches, at least at normal viewing distances. I have improved them all by fitting metal 14mm wheels. LT Bo-Bo Sherlock Holmes with Farish Coaches - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr LT Bo-Bo Sherlock Holmes with Farish Coaches - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr