SRman

If you are running a Q1, Kelly, then the Maunsell shunters sort of edge into the time slot - they were around from approx. 1938 until 1964 (for the last survivor of the three). [Thinks: I wonder if i can get a commission from Golden Arrow Productions for pushing his products!]

There doesn't have to be a large number of people to make a successful running session. I'm glad the weather was kind for both gatherings, yesterday. It seems a good time was had by all concerned.

That brass ladder you used looks considerably better than the recycled Bachmann plastic one (from the donor 08) that I used on mine. I should change it to match yours, I think.

My second class 24, D5016, arrived today. There was very slight transit damage - one of the fuel tank assembly ciips was damaged, allowing the tank assembly to drop when I removed the loco from its packaging. Other than that, it was a little spluttery at first when I put it on the rolling road with my NCE Power Cab to run it in. Turning the sound volume down assisted the power draw and smoothed things out, until the wheels and pickups settled down and bedded in a bit. Having run it for a couple of hours in both directions, it seems to have settled down now and is just as good as the original D5000 I bought. I will try them in a consist soon; sound-wise, this could be very interesting, and probably very loud, even with both volumes reduced somewhat!

So your poor fireman gets catapulted over the tender if he's standing on the fall plate, every time your Q6 rounds a bend??

I find Photoshop (full versions I use at work) unnecessarily complicated for normal, everyday requirements - it has a lot of features aimed at professional usage. Elements would probably be more suited to hobby uses - we even use it for our students where I work. For my own home use, I am using a very old version of Paint Shop Pro - it does everything I need so why upgrade it? As the expression goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

You have made amazing progress with the layout. It looks really good now.

Just let us know who the objector is, and we'll muster the Blackburn hijack team to wring the cash out of them ensure fair play. 3:)

I believe it was, indeed, prone to self-immolation!

Sorry to be pedantic, but isn't that a 121?

Many thanks for that information, Paul. There was one pic of D5017 on SLW's blog page, but on that one the front is obscured by the coaches. John Isherwood (cctrans) has PM'd me and is also sending some photos (thanks also, John), so between you and him, I should be able to make that final decision. The renumbering itself should be pretty straightforward. D5016 seems to be a slightly odd choice for SLW to make, seeing as it was only on the Southern Region for around a month, although that also means it is a more versatile choice for modellers of the other regions involved; maybe that was what they had in mind. Whichever way, the class 24s are superb models and the sound projects are also very good. While I look forward to seeing what their almost certain class 25 development of this looks like, I won't be in the market for one of those as 25s were only occasional visitors to the SR. Notwithstanding that, I have just about completed detailing a Hornby 25 body and mounting it on a Bachmann 25 chassis, numbered as one I have photographic proof of having visited SR metals. But that's digressing. Keep up the excellent models, SLW, and also the excellent, and cheerful, customer service.

Penhayle Bay and all the photos and updates we get will be sorely missed. We'll all remember it years down the track, while we're saying, " I wonder how Wotsizname is getting on in the old country!"

In moment of weakness/madness, I phoned up and ordered a second class 24 to go with my D5000; this time, D5016, also with sound. St least the exchange rate is favourable at the moment I also asked for two sets of the extra SR lamp irons, although after digging through all the photos i can find, it seems that D5000 kaept them right to the end, while D5016 was never fitted with them (it only spent one month or so allocated to the SR). With that in mind, I am thinking of renumbering it to possibly D5017, which had the extra grilles and Athermos axleboxes, and spent considerably longer on the Southern. However, I don't know whether this locomotive had the extra lampirons fitted at the one or both ends. Can anyone assist me with that information, please? Of those with Athermos axleboxes, D5010 to D5012 are out because they lacked the extra grilles, while D5018 is out because it had the extra grille on one side but not the other. D5015 and D5019 were never allocated to the Southern. That leaves possible candidates for this model's combination of features as D5013, D5014, D5016 and D5017. All four of these seem to have been a bit camera shy, whereas some other members of the class, like D5004 seem to appear in every second or third photo I find!!

Jokes aside, that is supposed to be correct> Dave, you'd better get cracking before this happens!

I thought it was only 4 and a half billion years!

I'll be attending the BRMA meeting, particularly as it is Rob's first meeting as host, and also because it is local to me. Thanks for the invitation, and I will try to get there for the next one.

Or, even better, the glue Dapol used on their class 73 models in OO!

Just stand by your window, CK, and keep an eye out for the nice men in white coats I'm sending your way.

Well, I have had a change of mind and put myself down for a GBRf Europorte version, DCC fitted. This may have been asked before, so forgive me if it has: What decoder is fitted in the DCC-fitted versions, please, Dave? (Reposted from my erroneous entry in the N gauge model's thread).

Well, I have had a change of mind and put myself down for a GBRf Europorte version, DCC fitted. This may have been asked before, so forgive me if it has: What decoder is fitted in the DCC-fitted versions, please, Dave? EDIT: Ooops!! That should have been posted in the OO model's topic. Please ignore this post and I'll repost it in the correct section.

I'm still waiting for my lined green 30064. At my last check on Kernow's website newsletter, they still had well over 200 to process, so I shouldn't panic. I did email them before the shipments arrived to check my order currency and also make sure my MR subscriber number was on record, and they assured me all was in order, so I have been resisting the urge to phone or email again. I really don't want to miss out on this one, but I also don't want ot duplicate the order by jumping in and ordering another one ... mind you, judging by the popularity of this particular model, I could make a killing on eBay later by selling the duplicate (if I wasn't quite as moral and ethical!). Getting jealous of those who have received theirs. but I would like to say thanks to all who have posted the photos of their models to whet our appetites.

Yes, the variety of liveries is one of the reasons I hung onto some of the older Lima bodies. I have eight operational chassis for the 12 bodies!

While awaiting paint drying and vinyls settling on the second Bachmann class 450 conversion (to be described in a future blog entry), I was giving one of my oldest class 73 models a run, and noticed how crappy my painting of the roof grilles for the electrical compartments was. I had weathered them early on, but never tidied it up, so the grilles were indistinct and just a grey-black blur. Now the Lima class 73 body mouldings have some of the finest moulded grilles you'll find anywhere. So fine that, with careful painting, they can actually look better than etched see-through grilles, such as those on the much newer Dapol class 73, or Heljans newer class 33/0 efforts. All I needed to do in E6002's case was to dry brush some roof grey over the grille mesh and surrounds to tidy them up to my satisfaction. I also noted that E6002 actually needs to be renumbered to one of E6004 to E 6006, or else I need to replace the buffers with oval ones, as sported by E6001 to E6003 when new. I think the round buffers were fitted at the same time as the first three went into BR blue. E6002 started life as a Lima model of 73 005 in BR large logo blue livery. Unfortunately, while all the livery elements were nicely done, the blue had a surface finish like fairly coarse sandpaper. I repainted the loco into green with grey roof and skirts. Much more recently, E6002 was the first of my Lima models to receive a Hornby DCC-ready chassis, from one of Hatton's bargain-priced class 73 models in Dutch livery (I bought several more of the Dutch model to re-chassis some other Lima 73s as well, over a period of months). Next, it received Howes' class 73 sounds on a LokSound v 3.5 decoder, fitted with a large, bass reflex speaker and a standard 23mm round speaker in parallel. When taking the photos, I realised that the replacement Hornby chassis still had black buffer beams, so they have had a coat of red in the last photo only. Having mentioned the wrong buffers for the locomotive number, I decided it would be easier to swap the buffers than to renumber E6002. I had some rather nice brass oval buffers in my bits boxes, so removed the Hornby round buffers (they were a good force fit only) and glued the replacements in, then painted them. The paint is still wet in the second pic. Looking at the close-ups, it is obvious that these models would benefit greatly in appearance from the fitting of separate handrails, but that is a job for another time ... I only have 12 of the Hornby or Lima bodies to deal with! I have already fitted the extra jumper cables to both of my class 73/0s. E6002 received some noce white metal cables, while 73 004 got the 'discarded' cables from E6002 to supplement the existing ones.

As the previous posters have said, it was a class 114, also known as a Derby Heavyweight, unit. These were built on the long 64' underframes, unlike most of the lower density units (i.e. the ones that didn't have doors to every seating bay). The colour scheme was based on the buses also run for the South Yorkshire PTE, and used entirely different shades of paint than the Western Region chocolate and cream, or the later pseudo-western livery used on the Pacers sent there (known as Skippers in the west).

I dunno ... I would have thought there would be twice as many rain drips in the UK! ;)