SRman

Way back in the last century, as a teenager, my first large steam loco was a Triang B12. Fast forward to the last few years, and Hornby released a rather nice, but expensive new super detailed model of the B12. I wanted one purely for the nostalgia, but wasn't prepared to pay full price. Saw one on Amazon, which was still a little dearer than I wanted to pay, so I put it in the shopping cart and left it there. A few weeks later, the price suddenly dropped significantly, so I bought it on the spot. 61576 turned up on the doorstep this morning, and after a quick test on DC, was fitted with a Zimo MX600 decoder. I also fitted the detailing parts while I had it on the workbench. It runs very sweetly and smoothly, and has had a bit of a trundle around the layout, so I am very happy with the purchase. So how did a B12 find itself on the Southern Region? Well, when the Eastern Region was loaning various B1 and V2 locomotives to cover for the temporary withdrawal of the Merchant Navies, it goes like this: Shed master: Hello Eastern, the other Southern sheds like your B1 locos. Could you send us a B-1-too, please? ER manager: Sure, no problem. (To the Shed Master: Hey, Fred. Send the Southern a B12, will you?).

I have lettered and numbered the LSWR D.1541 10T brake van, using the number of a preserved example on the Bluebell Railway. I started to add the tare weight as well, which goes on the lower right of the sides, but my hands were too shaky today, and I gave up in disgust. There are a couple of bare resin patches where I scraped off paint blemishes, and these and the handrails will be touched up before I varnish everything. Also in the photos is the 13T Medfit wagon, on which I have overpainted the green triangles with a better shade of green, which means I'll have to "restore" some of the rust again.

Interesting that the roof has changed colour here. It really does appear as if it was painted a different colour, but it could just be extreme weathering.

It is on a slight incline but the point itself is flat (i.e. not bowed or arched). The problem showed up with short wheelbase locomotives only, but with four different locomotives, so the problem was with the point electrics, not the loco pickups. As I said, it worked perfectly if the loco entered from the toe end, any road. It was only if it entered from the heel end via the first "division" with two frogs activated by one frog juicer, and only going to the left-hand branch that the problem manifested itself. All the other 3-way points worked perfctly with the same setup as I originally had with this particular point, and at least one of the others is also on a slight incline - the incline is produced by my deliberately not having any underlay for part of the engine shed yard, also to cater partly for the slightly different overall height of the bullhead track against the code 75 flat bottom points.

I had a small win today. I pulled out the 3-way point leading to the turntable and goods shed because there has been a repeating glitch with the polarity switching of the left hand frog. I tried a better frog juicer from Tam Valley (previously using Gaugemaster examples), but that oscilated between polarities, but only when the loco approached from the heel end. Behaviour when the loco entered from the toe end was perfectly fine. I resoldered every piece of wire bridging the rails towards the heel end, then added more bridging wires across the crossing "vees" at the toe end, including one where I pared away the sleeper webbing. I then added a fillet of solder into the "vee" in the middle of the point, just to be sure there was maximum electrical transmission where it was needed. After replacing the point in its location, and screwing the wire ends back into the various terminals, using the Tam Valley dual frog juicer, I ran the Heljan 07 shunter through from the heel end into the siding. It hesitated slightly where I had previously had the problem, but it continued through the point to the siding without prodding or poking, or any other assistance. On a completely different track (pun intended!), I have had a Smallbrook Studios resin LSWR D.1541 brake van on my workbench for quite a long time now. It has received a great many coats of satin white paint on its roof in that time, and the rest of the painting was all but complete, so it was really awaiting the fitting of handrails and transfers. Handrails have now been done, and were painted brown shortly after the photos were taken. If I get a move on, I may actually have it finished before the Kernow models arrive on my doorstep.

It was a bit plain. As Neil said, Triang made it look much better with white (or sometimes grey) roof and white stripes. I believe I read somewhere that Brian Haresnape had some input into the colour choices, with the golden ochre essentially being Stroudley's Improved Engine Green, and the blue was supposed to be a Peacock Blue but the final shade used was darker. I also bought a repainted Hornby super-detail class 31 in a lighter blue (possibly electric blue) with grey roof and yellow panels. Maybe not accurate, but it looks really good in this livery. It was a worthwhile purchase at a reasonable price (with a couple of minor problems declared) as it also had sound fitted. Photos for your interest: the Triang 2nd blue version (the first was plain blue with eggshell cab window surrounds), followed by the eBay purchase.

I have done a little further painting and weathering on th Medfit wagon. Posed here with a Dapol B4 0-4-0T, which is also fitted with the Hatton's 3D printed loco crew. I do like these figures.

Another wagon kit, and some minor repairs to a Hornby Peckett. Continuing with the Parkside wagon kits I bought at a BRMA meeting, I wanted an engineers' wagon suitable for transporting pre-cast concrete items (as beloved by the Southern Railway and beyond). It needed to have drop sides to allow pallets to be loaded from the sides, and the 13T Medium (Medfit) wagon fitted the bill admirably, particularly as they were general revenue earning wagons that got taken into engineers' use, often with little more than the odd patch of paint and a letter 'D' added to the running numbers. The kit is seen here with the Peckett 0-4-0ST, and had to have a piece of plastic card cut to replace a part that pinged off into the carpet somewhere, never to be seen again. I have added transfers, but it is not yet quite complete for painting and weathering. The concrete loads are from Base Toys. I suspect I have overloaded the wagon a bit! I added lead sheet cut to fit into the various recesses in the underframe, but it was still a little light, overall, so the load also adds some necessary weight for good running. The Peckett has a Hattons 3D printed crew, which paint up really nicely. However, when I went to show a recent visitor how it looked, the fireman had obviously had too much, and was lying on his back. I have rescued him and glued him back upright. The Hornby Pecketts have a weakness, and that is the plastic roof-mounted whistles are very vulnerable to damage. I have replaced a couple before on other Peckett models, but this one was broken off almost flush. I had a Markits LNWR/LMS style turned brass whistle in my boxes of spares, and thought that this would suit perfectly. I cleared the remains of the old whistle with a file and drilled a new #77 hole for the replacement to fit into. It will still be vulnerable to knocks, but should not break off like the plastic ones did. And now for a little bit of pre-grouping fun. I have posed a few trains of pre-grouping stock for effect, using appropriate locomotives (or the nearest I have to that). The coaches include the Bachmann SECR birdcage 3-set, with a couple of brass Roxey Mouldings luggage vans, and two sets of Hornby 4-wheel coaches in LSWR and LBSC liveries. Locomtives in these photos are a Hatton's P class 0-6-0T 'Bluebell' (a preserved livery), a Hornby SECR H class 0-4-4T, a Bachmann LBSC E4 0-6-2T, and a Hornby LSWR M7 0-4-4T.

This attitude also applied to things like the faulty PCB design and dodgy livery colours on their first batch of class 73s.

While chatting to Doug yesterday, I looked on Metro Hobbies website, and not only were the existing coaches $AUS54, but the ones with lights are able to be pre-ordered, and cost just $1 more than the ones without lights.

Definitely a good way to go. I have done likewise with loco pipework, and also with the window frames on a Bratchell class 455 unit using a silver Sharpie pen. The silver is reasonably hard-wearing, but won't stand too much direct handling unless varnished. Painting the Window Frames - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I have a couple of the old Mainline ones too, and even though I know they aren't accurate, they are rather nice.

Dates in photo captions can be a little suspect. I have found the same photo in two different books of an early test train with a class 73 (as they became). One book has it in 1963, the other has it as 1965 (something like that - I am going from memory). I have no idea which was correct. All we can do is gather clues, such as the late crest on 'Clan Line', and do a bit of sleuthing to decide which date is the most likely.

True, but the coaches in question in the photo are loose mark 1s, so well within the c/c period of overlap. There is a pic in one of the many colour albums of a MN on a train in the snow in 1963 with a c/c mark 1 3-set, highly probably one of the sets you referred to.

Crimson and cream survived on just a few SR sets right into 1963. In 1959, it was still fairly common.

I am conflicted by this too. I want to support models like this, and want to encourage Bachmann to produce more (dare I mention a class 319 in OO?), but when I am facing a price close to $1000 Australian, I really do have to pause, take a deep breath, and ask myself if I can justify that sort of money for my hobby. I think that as far as my hobby goes, I am fairly well off compared to some other modellers I know, and I have a very supportive wife who even urges me to spend some of the money I have on my hobby, but there has to be a cut-off point somewhere. The BEP is very definitely pushing that point, especially when I, as a modeller, may be capable of adapting one of the many CEP units I have for a fraction of that price. Sorry for rambling on a bit. I know we don't really need another debate on rising prices, but that was my take on things as they stand right now. I'm sure the manufacturers are not making huge markups on their products, and are facing rising costs from their Chinese factories, but we also have to remember they are not charities, they do need to make profits, as well as having some spare resources to put into researching and developing their next models.

I decided that rather than spend up big on a BEP, I have ordered a pair of brass BEP sides from Mousa Models to convert one of my CEP units. Looking at the CEPs, I suddenly realised that the only real problem will be to match colours. I can re-use the CEP windows in the brass sides, complete with their lovely silver frames, if I remove the etched window vents. It may involve a little resizing of the window openings too, but I won't fnd that out until the sides arrive. I'd like to do a green one, but the Bachmann green is difficult to match exactly, so a blue/grey one may be a better bet.

SWMBO and I went on another excursion a few days ago to the Yarra Valley, so getting around 50 km from Melbourne's centre, or around 30 km from our home in the eastern suburbs. I plotted a slightly less direct route to take in Skyline Road for sonme views over Sugarloaf Reservoir. The car's dashcam didn't capture the total spectacle of the view, unfortunately. By eye, we could see the city in the distance, but the bright sunny sky washed the image out on the camera view. Our destination was the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, which is, itself, set in some beautiful scenery. Anyway, here are some of the photos, including a couple from the dashcam.

One more, with the engine shed buffer stops in place, plus a different angle on the turntable end. I have extended the ballasting of the main lines here too, but it is only loose at present I mixed some Cascamite powdered glue into the ballast, so once it has settled a bit, I'll spray some water/detergent mix into it and let it set.

I have just a few more buffer stops completed now, two of the new bullhead version from Peco for both roads of the engine shed, and one new Peco sleeper built stop to go at the end of the turntable road, replacing some old and rather bashed about versions recycled from older layouts. The rail-built ones are shown on the workbench attached to a spare length of Peco bullhead track, which was a convenient way of painting them. I used some real ballast to overlay the plastic ballast on the sleeper-built one. Also visible is one of the Southern vans I have been refurbishing. One received a new Parkside chassis, the next received the old chassis after I had rebuilt it and repaired damaged brake gear and added brass bearings, and the one in the photo was a Dapol unfitted van, which now has a vacuum cylinder added and tie bars fitted between the W-irons. I really want to remove the very thick handrake levers, and replace them with much finer Parkside spares from the sprues in the chassis kits, but removing the Dapol versions is going to be tricky. Also on the workbench, progressing slowly, is Merchant Navy 35018 'British Inda Line', now with its nameplates and smokebox door number plate, from Fox Transfers. Still to do: reduce depth of cab side windows then glaze all windows, and add firebox / ashpan castings.

Here are a few of my thoughts. Please treat them as my own personal views and accept or reject them as suits your own views and expectations. It is possible to get some interesting operation into a small space, but there will always have to be compromises. One thing I would suggest of at all possible is to add a few inches onto the 4 foot width - that way you have room for radius 4 track with a little margin to spare at the edges. I worked on 4' 3" for the wider ends on my own dumbbell shaped layout for this reason. Also, as suggested above, curved points may help, but not the tight set track ones which are nominally radius 2 but actually a bit tighter in places. On a previous layout, I found some Roco curved points that bridged various larger radii, with the radius 3 to 4 ones being of particular use to me. They were code 83, but easily blended into my code 100 track with a little packing under them; for code 75 track, the packing would have to be under the approaches to the points on the plain track. If at all possible, use transition curves. These will help disguise the tighter radii and reduce the end throws of coaches. You may already have stock you wish to use, but again, if at all possible, try to keep to shorter rolling stock as this will reduce end and centre throws. Even the real railways had to do this on certain lines (thinking here of the Moorgate 'widened' lines, where 57' or 59' passenger stock or DMUs were the usual limit). Short trains would be the order of the day. If you are any good at gradients, a folded figure-8 formation allows for a much longer run, but will then cause compromises on the lengths and shapes of sidings.

I have a Southern Pride 4 BEP, built but unpowered. It presents the same problems as using the brass sides, i.e. the matching of colours and of those lovely silver window frames Bachmann do. The SP green is somewhat darker than Bachmann's paint colour. It would be easy for me to run it in my CEP formations as is, but the greens really don't match, and this is very noticeable. I have plenty of CEP units, all but one bought for £104 or less - the cheapest was a blue and grey unit at $AUS50.00 plus postage (approximately £25 - 30 odd). I can easily spare one for conversion, but that brings us back to those paint matching problems.

Preproduction colour samples. The primer grey example on their website shows the 4-4-4-4 wheel arrangement, appropriate to the loco in both later black and green liveries.

Voting for 6 and 7. Mainly for engineering train use.

Those look absolutely superb, Graham. As Morcambe always said to Wise, "You can't see the join!" p.s. Me want!!