SRman

The so-called Standard Stocks were anything but standard. Those different batches and years also came from several manufacturers, so there were a lot more detail differences than on the later stocks (1938 and 1959/62 types in particular). They could also be done in BR blue or blue and grey for the Isle of Wight. Having said that, I wouldn't mind some ready to run Standard Stock myself, even though I have no memories of ever riding in them myself (my memories of tube stock are of the 1938 and 1959/62 types).

I knew when I ordered it that you were still refining it and working on it, but I am very happy with it. Possibly the contactor sounds are a bit loud, but they should be able to be tweaked with a CV change for that sound slot - I just haven't tried yet. If you could do something like this for the SR and BR(S) electric units, I'd be taking quite a few to add to my units. All in good time, though. 🙂

I think the best electric sound I have heard so far has been this one from Underground Eric (obtained through Roads & Rails), for LT's ex-Metropolitan Bo-Bo electric locomotives. It isn't quite right for the SR electrics, but it shows that it can be done properly with the traction motor sounds.

They aren't inexpensive, but the Bratchell kits build up into nice robust units, albeit with some simplified detailing. The pre-painted versions take a lot of the drudgery out of finishing them properly, but another alternative is to use vinyl overlay sides on one of the unfinished kits. The body shells usually consist of sides, roofs and inner ends in suitable colours, and clear plastic fronts which do require painting. This means that it is easier to modify the fronts before attaching them permanently. I usually drill out the lights to add LEDs (which can be made to work later on), and add separate handrails and cables as appropriate. This unfinished 455 in SWT livery used an unpainted kit with vinyl overlays from Electra Railway Graphics. EDIT: I should clarify: the unpainted kits have clear plastic front ends, but the pre-painted ones have the clear plastic fronts already painted/printed to suit the individual unit. That doesn't alter what I was trying to suggest, which is that the front is separate and can more easily be modified before fixing to the body shell.

That's sad. I loved his music, and that of his collaborations with the likes of Jon Anderson (of Yes fame). R.I.P. Vangelis. Your music legacy will live on.

I have to say I don't like the purple chosen for this West Country loco, but I'm not against purple as a livery; I actually rather liked the Porterbrook purple Deltic, and their original silver and purple livery on 57 601. I just think the shade chosen here is a but lurid. However, as has been pointed out, if it brings in the cash, and a lot of publicity, then it can't be a bad thing, and after a while, it will get repainted again. The owners are entitled to paint it any colour they want to, any time they deem it is required.

I would wire the two motor bogies in parallel rather than series.

I agree with everything said here. I did a double-motored Hymek using two chassis cut and joined end to end (anyone need two unpowered ends?? 😂 ), and even converted it to DCC. It ran quite smoothly and quietly (not as quietly or smoothly as the Heljan version but still very good), and will also haul almost as much as a Heljan example. It has 8-wheel pickup and 8-wheel drive, with the pickups from both ends wired together and one TCS T1 decoder powering both motor bogies (the T1 has a good power rating as the Triang motors do consume more amps than most newer mechanisms). I would prefer this older 'spider' motor bogie over the ringfield any day, and I do like my much newer mechanisms, so I'm not saying that because I'm stuck in the mud of old things.

I love the smooth flow of the track you have achieved now. The old version was good, the newer one sensationally better still. I found that with my Underground stock and some of the SR units I had to file down or remove altogether the moulded pick up shoes from the shoe beams. Part of the problem lies in our gauge being too narrow so it upsets that relationship between third rail and shoe beam, part of it lies in the manufacturers not allowing sufficient clearances for a model to run without fouling lineside bits and pieces, and part lies with some models at least being out of (loading) gauge anyway.

That is coming on very nicely indeed. I like those shoe beams; much better than the ones in the Bratchell kits. I'll have to try to copy those for my two 455 units. For motorising mine, I used the Replica Railways motorised chassis which fit in nicely once the footboards are cut off.

I'm glad the BR blues are so much better. I might be tempted to get another one of these now. However, looking at the photos, those early BR blue (not Electric blue as described!) with the small yellow panels should not have the panels wrapping around the cab corners.

Something a little different, but using the Hornby Peckett chassis with only the slightest of modifications. One other mod I did to all of my Pecketts (I have three others from the earliest run) is to use a better decoder than the Hornby 4-pin one recommended. I have used TCS M1 decoders in all four chassis, although the mini decoders from the likes of ESU would probably be better still, but I utilise the 4-pin blanking connector to fit the decoders. Unfortunately for this latest installation, the body doesn't allow room for the decoder at the front of the chassis (where my photo shows it), so I had to move it around to the side, where it is a very tight fit and causes a very slight bulge in the sides of the tanks. Anyway, introducing my new Manning Wardle H 0-4-0ST, using a Hardy's Hobbies 3D printed body on the Hornby W4 chassis. This is a work in progress but is very nearly finished now, needing a whistle and some final painting and some name and number plates for my fictitious industrial fleet.

It certainly has some character to it, and it is instantly recognisable as a class 71. An interesting find.

As Nigel said, the instructions and CV settings for most TCS decoders remained the same for many years, apart from the number of functions available.

The end result for the handrail fix. P.s. I know the headlights are wrong for this type. I bought the model very cheaply as a hybrid with the later body on the earlier chassis. Part of the work I did earlier was to swap the fuel tank for the correct, shorter type. The WiPAC headlights aren't working at present, so when I go to fix them, it will be a good opportunity to modify the lights. In the meantime, more of the Redutex tiles arrived from Rails of Sheffield, so the roof tiling on the big hotel is now complete. I have made a start on the ridge tiling, using another Redutex sheet. I'm not sure if the result is quite right, but from normal viewing distances, it looks good. Only the two long wings on the left have had that done, so far.

How to fix a damaged plastic handrail on a Bachmann class 66 - a quick bodge. The straight parts of the cab front handrail at one end on my DRS 66/9 had bent and broken off the centre post. The plastic was supposed to be straight but had set into a curve, and attempts to straighten it before regluing failed, so I had to come up with another solution. The near-vertical side parts of the handrails were intact, so I cut the "straight" parts off just to the side of the support post at the top. The centre support had broken off flush with the cab front. I decided that I would replace the entire centre section with brass wire, but had to find a way to mount it. The answer was to drill new holes (#76 drill bit) for the ends immediately beside the original posts, plus a larger hole for the centre support. I cut a section of plastic rod to fit the centre then trimmed it once it was glued in, and bent the ends of the brass wire to 90 degrees, after checking that the straight section exactly fitted the gap. The ends were trimmed and filed slightly flat to butt up against the existing posts. I haven't painted it yet, but I hope the photo shows more clearly what I have done. I'll add a tiny amount of filler to disguise where the brass bends in, then paint it white to match the original.

Alter the behaviours very slightly: not enough to make them fight each other, but enough to alter the engine responses slightly. I'm thinking in terms of altering CVs 2 to 6 in very small increments or decrements to do this. I did something similar with two Heljan class 33s with LokSound v3.5 sounds from the same source.

I have bought a few second-hand Roco and Fleischmann locos in recent years, some DCC-ready, some not. Conversion of the ones without sockets was not all that difficult because the single layer PCBs they tended to use, so it was easy to follow the tracks and cut them where necessary to then solder wires. While doing all this, I replaced bulbs with LEDs and suitable resistors. 5mm LEDs usually sit nicely in the allowed space for the old bulbs. Finding space for the decoder was the most difficult bit, I think. The rest was just procedural, following connections carefully before connecting or cutting anything.

While talking to a friend, we chatted about the class 22 and 21 variations, so I posed my two Dapol 22s side by side with their class 21 model. I have a third 22 which has a Silver Fox resin body mounted on a Bachmann class 20 chassis.

In addition to the above works, I have been running a few trains again. I am moving the time period forward just a little, so crimson and cream coaches and the blue Merchant Navy are off the layout, while a maroon Warship and green mark 1 and Bulleid coaches are on (I intended to put a blue and grey mark 1 in as well, but that was when I decided I must do something about the mismatched coupling heights on the Bachmann versions. I must get some more of those Keen coupling replacements.

I have been reroofing the large Tudor-style hotel over a few evenings, using some Redutex vinyl roof tiles (actually to HO scale), replacing some printed card Vollmer tiles, and giving it a slightly more British appearance. I also covered the chimneys with Slaters' plastic brick sheet. I ran out of the Redutex stuff with a few small parts of the roof left to do, so have ordered more from Rails of Sheffield. Once I can complete the roof retiling, I can go onto doing the flashing and ridge tiles, but work has stalled for the moment. I think the appearance is much improved already. Note that the ground floor is still on the layout. Yesterday evening was spent fitting some Keen Systems replacement coupling parts to four Bachmann mark 1 coaches. the process was very straightforward. Keen intend them to be used with their own rigid imitation buckeye couplings, but I put NEM fishtail couplings in, replacing the cranked tension locks or close-couplings with straight tension locks or Kadee #18s, depending on the coach. These then required some small rectangles of plastic card cut to fit into the bottoms of the coupling pockets to prevent the couplings dropping out again - dimensions 7mm x 3mm. I haven't painted the assemblies yet. Posed here with the Heljan class 16, also with straight couplings fitted (why do Heljan fit cranked couplings when they aren't needed at all?). They all coupled up perfectly.

As far as I know, you buy the sheet with every wagon type covered in the one sheet. You have to order the regional variation of the sheet, though.

Cambridge Custom Transfers do specific sets for the Cambrian Kits wagons. However, I have only used them as BR Southern Region versions, so am not sure if he deals with pre-Nationalisation or pre-Grouping versions. In the cases of the LSWR/SECR/LBSCR ones I have modelled, I have used HMRS transfers.

As above, two motors one decoder can work fine. BEMF regulation hasn't been a problem for me, but if necessary, most decent decoders will actually allow you to turn off the BEMF on the decoder settings. For the record, I have three sets of London Underground trains each with two Black Beetle motor bogies under one of the cars, with one TCS T1 decoder powering both motor bogies. In a rather heavier duty application, I have a double-motored Triang Hymek (a detailing project) with two of the original style (pre-ringfield) motor bogies, also wired to a single TCS T1 decoder. If that latter doesn't trip the decoder overload, nothing will! In contrast to my Hymek, the class 153 motor bogies should use very little power, so a good quality 1.0 amp decoder would probably cope well with that, but a 1.5 amp decoder would be even better and totally safe. Many better quality decoders have a continuous rating and a short-term higher load rating.

More like he'll be doing the earthing!