SRman

I have to say that, at its best, the BR blue could look sparkling when fresh and in bright sunshine. On the other hand, on a grey day in the dead of Winter, after numerous trips through the chemical washes BR were using, it could look deadly dull! I liked the blue/blue and grey livery but after nearly 20 years where everything was uniform, it got a bit boring, which is where the new executive livery started to add a bit of colour and variety again, followed by some of the other sectorisation liveries. The first Provincial blue livery on Sprinters and Pacers was quite startling to the eyes after the BR blues we were used to!

If it is of any help, there were some 2-car departmental units converted from 2 HAL units, but even those used two motor coaches, so may be a little extravagant, even at the reduced prices Kernow Models are offering.

DC Kits use an ABS plastic, so only certain glues/solvents will work. I don't know the Revell product but someone else may be able to offer a more definitive answer for that.

Here's one that might interest DougN: we had a friend drop over for a visit the other day. She has a G gauge garden railway but decided she rather liked the Model Rail 4mm LNER D11, so bought one and as a result, Newton Broadway had an unusual visitor. This was the first time it had been out of the box, but it ran beautifully when placed on the tracks (on DC analogue power). I have to admit that apart from cropping the photos, I have "photoshopped" the third one to eliminate the baseboard edges.

I have previously used MJT brass sides and driving ends on Lima mark 1 coach chassis, all motorised with a Lima class 73 motor bogie. It ran OK and looked the part in plain BR blue, but I never got around to adding all the door handles, grab rails, door hinges, and bump stops. I did eventually add silver window frames, using a silver gel pen ... wasn't that a tedious job! No, the Hornby one has its faults, especially at full retail price, but at the reduced prices I have always paid, I can accept that the face is not right but the hard work of detailing and painting the complex sides is already done for me to a very high standard. The running qualities are not up to the Bachmann CEP/EPB/MLV standards but are not bad either, and a good deal better than my old Lima based unit. I have a spare Hornby motor bogie lined up for installation in the MJT/Lima unit eventually. I'm certainly not saying everyone has to accept the shortcomings of the Hornby VEP, just that some of us are prepared to accept more compromise than others. Each to his own.

Email from Kernow says mine has now been packed and is ready to start its long journey to Australia. Nice photos Ron. They do highlight that the Hornby corner pillars are too wide. At the price, I can live with it until I get up the courage to do something better, but it does still annoy me just a little.

Many thanks for all that information - most useful. It will take me a little while to digest it all but it will allow me to finish them with just a little more accuracy. I know that many of the earlier batches had the handrail at the second plank level, but later ones had the handrail one plank further up. Some may have had later modifications moving the handrails up or down but it isn't well documented. I have chosen the numbers on the grey one to be on the grey background as per earlier BR practice. Even so, many grey wagons received the black backing patches before the boxed-in numbers and details came into being. The one clear pic of the ballast brake I have (Bygone Surrey, K. McCormack, 2009, Ian Allan Publishing) is in black but with later style boxed-in number panels.

Hopefully I'll get to try this in the near future, Trailrage. However, as I'm on DCC, it may be possible to tweak the settings to match the running characteristics anyway.

I thought the red on the PD1 and PD2 models was a little bright as East Kent tended to use a deeper, more crimson colour. I agree that the 'cream' is a little too white, though. At one stage the EFE East Kent Leylands were available for very low prices due to printing/finishing errors, so made good starting points for modelling 'hack' jobs and repaints.

My memories come from the next station up the line, Petts Wood, again as a child in the early '60s. My grandparents house backed onto the line at Petts Wood station, but one could see bits of Orpington and the carriage sheds from there. I went to school for a short time in Crofton Lane but at that stage I didn't see anything of Orpington station. I also used Orpington station in the '80s and '90s occasionally when visiting an aunt and uncle in Orpington (actually right on the 'borders' of Orpington, Green Street Green and Farnborough!), so there are some nice memories stirred by those photos. Thanks for posting them.

71: straight electric so not as versatile as E-D types - most of their work dried up or could be easily handled by 73s. Used on eastern section only. 74: had the versatility of the 73s and more power but proved rather very unreliable. Used on western section only. 73: versatile, reliable and more of them than the other classes. Also used region-wide so better known at all the major maintenance locations. The above may be an over-simplification but is my attempt to sum it all up in a nutshell.

I succumbed and ordered a VEP from Kernow Model Railway Centre on Sunday ... or at least I tried to. Their website shop authentication kept rejecting my usual credit card details. I tried a different card, with the same result. Next I copied the shopping cart details into an email using their 'contact us' link and asked if they could reserve the items pending a phone call from me, with the intention of calling on Monday evening (Australian Eastern Time) and catching them in the shop on Monday morning (UK time). Well, on Monday morning I checked my emails as usual and there was a reply from Trevor of KMRC, asking if I wished to use the credit card details they had on record for a few pre-orders I have with them. I replied yes please and confirmed some details (but never sending the credit card number on an email - that's not secure!), so all is rosy and well with the world!! That was really excellent service from Kernow, and quicker than I expected as it was started on a Sunday, and their response must have come on the Sunday at their end.

I would agree with all of what Phil has said above. Personally, I'm not a fan of the SPUD motors but I have used all of the methods mentioned above. The Replica chassis represents the best "bang for bucks", is smooth, powerful and DCC-ready. The only downside of that is you cannot fit a full seating unit for the whole coach, whereas the others allow for full seating (Black Beetle and SPUD) or for seating in all bar one small section (Bullant - ideally, fit it in the brake van). I have bought the Replica chassis from Replica themselves, using the phone, and from Charlie at DC Kits. Both are very helpful and can take credit card payments. I have now used three of the Replica motorised chassis: one in a DC Kits 4 EPB, and two in Bratchell Models kits for classes 455 and 319. They are well thought out and use plastic bits for most of the areas you are likely to need to glue things to. The dummy side frames allow you to easily glue whatever design of bogie cosmetic frames you need as well. Black Beetles and Bullants are manufactured locally here in Victoria (Australia) but are easily ordered in the UK through Charlie (Black Beetle) or on the Hollywood Foundry website (Bullant and all the other variations he offers). A nice touch is that Hollywood Foundry's site allows you to see where your order is in the 'stack'. I have used quite a few Black Beetles over the years, plus one Bullant (in a 3H unit from DC Kits). Single Black Beetles struggle a little with a three-car set if there is a gradient but otherwise are very smooth running with adequate speed and power - one BB powers my DC Kits 3R 'Tadpole' unit, and another powers an EFE four-car LT underground set. The latter struggles with four cars but manages better with three, and this will improve when I get around to fitting the Metro Models pin-point bogie frames. Of course, you can use two Black Beetles, as I had to do with all of my white metal kit-built underground sets, but that gets a little expensive, especially when compared to the Replica chassis.

The ex-SECR brake van kits are very nearly complete now. Just a few minor paint touches to fix up and some varnish and weathering to go, and they will be finished. I have used the Cambridge Custom Transfers sheet 2b/c to add the lettering on the two vans, although some of it was just guesswork as to where it should go as there is a distinct absence of good photos of them in BR days (non-preserved state). They have both ended up as van S55476/DS55476 but I can doctor one of those numbers later.

Ha ha!! I have a few partly done projects lying around that have been even longer in the making, if that's any help!

Does anyone remember the two Cambrian Kits SECR 'Dance Hall' brake vans I started sometime in 2009 (or maybe even before that)? No? I posted a few photos of them sitting on the old layout at Middlehurst, minus glazing, couplings and handrails. Here's a reminder: I have had them sitting on a shelf above my workbench, reminding me every time I sit down there that I need to finish them. Well, I finally fitted the glazing, added the handrails and added couplings, utilising the Parkside NEM adapters packed up with a piece of 60 thou plasticard to eliminate the requirement for Bachmanns cranked couplings, and allowing for alternate couplings to be fitted at the correct height if I so desire. The first two shots show the standard brake van finished in BR light grey (slightly faded) with the handrails unpainted. The Ballast Brake conversion behind still awaits its handrails. The third photo shows the handrails painted white. Both vans will be lettered appropriately to complete them. And here are two photos of the Ballast Brake Van conversion, the first with the handrails just fitted, the second with them painted white. Edited to add the last two pics.

Nice vids, Slipstream. Bif's sounds are very good, aren't they? On a different note, I couldn't help noticing that the 3-car 4 CEP unit on one of the lines behind the locomotives has the composite coach marshalled the wrong way round. I say this not to nit-pick, but just in case you have difficulties with the lighting, as the connections are 'handed'. The coaches should be marshalled with the SO's toilet nearest the driving motor and the CK's first class section towards the SK (i.e. the centre of the unit).

Nope! That fly sitting on one of the window panes is just not realistic, John. You'll have to do much better than that!! With tongue planted very firmly in cheek.

I wired one more signal in today, a small two-aspect signal in the tunnel mouth. After that, I had a short running session. A Western interloper was seen passing Newton Broadway on the loop line. The green cab interior is actually just the green signal shining in and reflecting off the light cab interior walls! All of the signals and the signal box interior lights are being run off a dedicated 12V DC supply. They are all a bit on the bright side, even with the correct resistors in line, so I will experiment later with an extra resistance at the source to step the voltage down just a little.

My 'normal range' P2 has had no problems running through my code 100 medium radius Peco points or my 20" radius curves. We did try it out on DougN's layout where it had difficulty on a double-slip right on a gradient transition. Doug's Bachmann V2 also exhibited the same problem, caused by the rear cartazzi axle lifting the rear driver off the track momentarily as the locomotive transitions onto the rising gradient.

Yes. It is really a case of fitting the train to the proportions of the layout. 30+ wagons would cause a sort of gridlock on Llanbourne, I think!

The green was way too light for any of the SR greens, more akin to Adams LSWR pea green but more insipid! It was difficult to realise what they were when they were sitting in the bin of wagons at the swap meet, until I extracted them and looked underneath - the "Roxey Mouldings" legend etched into the base was a bit of a giveaway!! I knew Roxey do a lot of SR or pre-grouping coaching stock so grabbed these and then looked them up on the Roxey website to identify them further. I doubt that many of the swap meet customers would have recognised them for what they were. There are many items at swap meets that are not really bargains, but in this case, I think I really did score some bargains.

Fairly recently, I bought three pre-grouping vans from the local swap meet, all Roxey etched brass kits and well made, although a little battered from unsympathetic handling. Each cost me $20, (compared to the £27 each, or approximately $AUS55, for the flat kits, still currently available) and was fitted with EM gauge axles and wheels. I have slowly regauged or replaced the wheels and axles, with two of the vans retaining their compensation at one end, while the S&DJR van had to lose its compensation unit as it was too wide to fit within the OO gauge wheelset. I fitted NEM pockets from Parkside, with a 60 thou packing piece to negate the Parkside requirement for cranked couplings, and plugged in some tension lock couplings. The S&D milk van is in a blue colour, which I may retain, while the other two LCDR/SECR luggage vans were in a rather insipid green colour. One, the SECR Grande Vitesse luggage van, is now in EWS red (a reasonably close match to what I can ascertain is SECR red/maroon), while the other, an LCDR luggage van, is in Humbrol leather colour to represent a teak finish, as used by the LCDR. All require further work before I can add transfers, and two of them were rather stiff runners, so more work was required there too. Making up a rather unlikely combination, I have posed my two LSWR M7 tanks with the three vans plus the previously worked on SECR (ex-LCDR) brake van. It does make for a colourful combination, although the purists are probably screaming in the background! Looking at Roxey Mouldings' website, I cannot decide whether the LCDR van is an 1878 or 1880 design; Roxey offer both but they look the same to me! Neither of the built up examples on the Roxey website has the torpedo vents, so mine is either wrong or represents a later modification. Either way, they will have to go! As per the above photo, I started by painting the whole body in Humbrol leather colour. I have now dry-brushed some Revell dark brown on all panels, vertically streaked on the main panels and horizontally streaked for the waist and cant level panels. This was followed by a coat of gloss varnish. The first photo shows it before varnishing, the second, after varnishing. I think it's not too bad for a first attempt at a wood grain finish.

This is a direct copy of an item on my workbench blog, so apologies to those who have already read all this. I hadn't noticed this section in the forum as I usually go straight to the "View new content" link, but I think this is very relevant to the section and may be seen by more people as a result. In response to a request from Mallard60022, after fitting a decoder to a Bachmann Lord Nelson with split chassis, here is a step by step guide to how I did it, using my second LN as the example (I didn't take any photos for the first one!). This one is no. 850, Lord Nelson, renamed and renumbered from no. 864. Some of the photos are a bit blurred as I was trying to hold the model and operate the phone camera at the same time, but I think the results are sufficiently clear to show what I was doing or what I am talking about. To start with, remove the body from the chassis. This is retained by one screw under the cab and with a tab on the chassis slotting into the body under the smokebox at the front. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 3 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 4 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Next I removed the two remaining screws holding the chassis wheel keeper plate / spring and brake block detail (I'll refer to this as the base plate from here on), after springing out the brake rodding (note that I actually took the screws out before lifting the body off - this doesn't affect the process). Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr After this, I removed the cylinders, which are simply a force fit on metal extensions from the chassis. Then I levered the motion supports off; these are also simply a force fit, like the cylinders. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 5 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 6 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr There are three screws holding the chassis halves together. One of them also holds the solder tags on to the front end of the chassis. Before we remove the base plate / axle retainer, I prefer to remove the front screw, pull out the plastic plug from the other side and release the two solder tags. I didn't do this on the first conversion and ended up breaking one of the wires coming up from the bogie. You might wish to mark which tag is on which side, perhaps with an ink marker pen. This will assist identification for reassembly and connection of the decoder wires later. If you have a later release LN from Bachmann, these tags may not be present as Bachmann quietly dropped the extra pickups from the specification. In that case, you may wish to add some brass or copper tags later when reassembling the chassis, to ease the job of connecting the decoder track wires. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 7 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Now lever the front end of the base plate up, just behind the bogie, lifting it and moving it backwards slightly to unhook the rear part that hooks over the chassis end. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 8 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 9 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr This leaves the wheels, axles and valve gear free to be lifted out of the chassis. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 10 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The remaining two screws can be undone to allow the split chassis halves to be separated. Watch out for the plastic spacers: two white rectangular ones at the bottom and two black plastic washers around the upper two plastic plugs (that the screws go into). Also ensure you don't lose the plastic gear. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 11 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 12 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr I actually use a little black-tack (or mastic material) to retain the spacers in their places so they don't get lost and don't shift when reassembling the chassis. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 13 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The motor just lifts out, but keep an eye on the two black plastic cup washers that go over the end bearings. Also, make sure the thrust bearing stays put (it is wedged into the chassis where the worm gear touches it). Note also that the motor has a small red spot marking the bottom which was connected to the right-hand chassis side - this brush will get the orange wire from the decoder. As an extra precaution, I chose to wrap the motor in insulating tape but this is not really necessary. Remove the two copper/brass (or whatever!) springs that bore on the brush tags. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 14 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 15 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Now prepare the decoder. This one is a TCS M1, which is very compact yet able to handle over 1 amp loads. These give reasonable running qualities at good prices and are covered by TCS' 'goof-proof' warranty, which means that if something goes wrong with this installation, they will replace it with no quibbles. I bared and tinned the grey and orange wires. Don't forget to thread on some heat-shrink tubing before soldering the wires to the motor brushes: orange to the red tagged brush, grey to the other one. Slide the heat-shrink tubes over the bare wire ends and brush tags and apply heat. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 16 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 17 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 18 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Now resite the motor in the chassis half. The decoder wires are only just long enough and are routed through the gap between chassis halves. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 19 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The chassis halves can be reunited, ensuring all the plastic spacers are in place (a bit of black-tack stops them moving or dropping out during handling, as mentioned earlier). I replaced two of the screws but not the one at the smokebox end (yet). I did temporarily push the plastic plug into the smokebox end hole to align the spacer washer. Next I replaced the wheel sets in the chassis and clipped the motion supports and cylinders back in. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 20 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 21 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Next I clipped the base plate back in, hooking it onto the rear of the chassis first then sliding it up and pushing it home at the front, and replaced the two screws. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 22 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Now for the final connections. I shortened the black and red wires from the decoder, stripped the ends and tinned them. Note that I have also cut short the function wires (white, yellow and blue - green and purple additionally if using a TCS M4 decoder as I did with Lord Anson) and "tied" them up with a section of heat-shrink tubing. If you are going to fit lights or firebox glows, or other extra functions, these are the wires you will need in addition - that's beyond the scope of this essay. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 23 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Solder those red and black wires to the solder tags attached to the bogie pickup wires. Make sure you identify the right-hand wire (as you look from the back towards the front of the loco) and solder the red wire to that. The black wire goes to the left-hand tag. Now you can pull the black plug back out of the chassis at the smokebox end, insert it through the left-hand solder tag and then through the chassis. Insert the screw through the right-hand tag then screw it into the plug through the chassis. Finally, add a section of double-sided tape to stick the decoder to the very front of the chassis. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 24 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Now test on the programming track. Mine read back properly so I reprogrammed the decoder to number 850, tweaked the inertia and momentum settings (CV3 = 20, CV4 = 15 as a starting point for my tastes - yours may be quite different), then gave it a track test. Again all was well, so it was back to the workbench to refit the body. Note: I also used the opportunity to lubricate the motor bearings and gears while everything was accessible earlier. Here is Lord Nelson hauling a test goods train under DCC control. Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 25 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bachmann LN Decoder Fitting - 26 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr I hope this helps somebody and hasn't been too boring or laboured. Edit: I have had to reload all the images into Flickr after suspending my Photobucket account. I hope I have got the right photos in the right places.

The 'Godstone' STLs were the usual vehicles on the 410 until replaced by the RLH class. They lasted on this route from 1934 until approximately 1952.