SRman

I am saving your incredibly useful photos to assist me with finishing off my own three-quarters finished tadpole (from DC Kits). 3R Tadpole DEMU - 1 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Many thanks for posting them.

Definitely not a HAL, Rick. I would go with the 3/4 SUB or 2 NOL, and I don't think it looks right for a 4 LAV, although it wouldn't take much to mak it suit that. For the trailing end I would go with Geep7's asessment as it has a distinctly BR standard side profile.

Psst! Better not tell Phil B that the sleeper is just a tad overscale. We don't want to put him off the excellent modelling job he's doing on the 22.

You could try a spot of gauge widening on the offending joint: in the direction of travel where the wheels meet the track on the trailing side of the gap, just flair the rails very slightly to catch the wheel flanges as they try to go off the rails - so gauge on the leading side is 16.5 mm, but on the trailing side maybe 16.8 mm or something like that. Doing this may also allow for movement due to temperature and moisture changes. I did this where my lifting section meets the fixed bits and it works for me. It is important not to overdo the gauge widening: just enough to catch the wheels, no more. You could also round the inner corners of the rails with a file at the joint so there are no sharp edges where the flanges go over the joint.

One of our members here in Australia had one of those first release models with the duff motors ... or were they duff? He found there was a simple assembly error with the bearings in the tops of the gear towers, where they had not been seated properly (there are flats on the bearings to correspond with the sockets they sit in), causing the whole shaft to be too tight, and overloading the motors. Heljan's solution was to offer complete exchange chassis, again suggesting it wasn't really the motor at fault, but the driveline - simply offering replacement motors for customers to fit would not have fixed the problem. My friend dismantled the bogies, reseated the bearings properly and had no further problems with the model.

For practical purposes, Rick, I countersink the pots so the third rail sits at or below running rail level. It's not prototypical, but does allow for easier track cleaning and also for out of scale clearances on some models. As such, I don't have a problem with breaking 0.5mm drill bits (at least, not for laying third rail!). The drill bits that match the pot diameter are somewhat larger and more robust.

My Golden Arrow Z: it sits a little high on the chassis, and I have not done anything about the cylinder shape (yet), but it captures the right look, I think. GAP Z class - 33 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Connect the black and white wires to the uncontrolled outlet (12V DC or 16V AC, from memory) and the remaining two wires to the track.

The police had it on CCTV, but they still didn't even book the roo for crossing against the lights!

The other currents were more likely to damage your NCE system. From the sounds of it (no pun intended) your system has survived, and if you are getting responses from your locomotive, it may well be as Suzie has suggested. Does the decoder respond to interrogation on your programming track?

It was the Embassy. I'm not sure when it ceased to be used as a cinema though. My personal knowledge of Petts Wood stops at 1966. There was a strip of shops further back towards the London end, including a Woolworth's, and a toy shop (which was of great interest to me as a child!), plus a butchers on the other side of the road - my grandparents' next door neighbour was one of the butchers. The bus route 94 terminated in a cul de sac just beside the cinema, between it and the shops, where the footbridge gave access to the station and also the otehr side of Petts Wood, where there were more shops. That brought back some memories for me as my grandparents also lived on Queensway, and the house would be on the left of one of the blue and grey units in the photo.

As per Woodenhead's video, I also have the blue CEP with full yellow ends in OO scale, unit 7119. I would question your preference for unit 7211, as this was one of the very last batch of units with some differences compared to the Bachmann and Farish models. If you look at the Wikipedia photo here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_411#/media/File:1602_at_Dover_Priory.jpg, you will notice the shallower headcode box and also the angled outer edges of the cab windscreens.

I'm going to have to find an alternative to Flickr soon as I am about to hit the 1000 image limit for the free version. Either that or delete some earlier photos, which means those will not be visible any more.

The DSB IC3 and IR4 units go up to 180 kph (that's around 112 mph). My own experience with rides on two different IC3 units between Copenhagen and Hamburg were that they were quiet and smooth (underfloor engines notwithstanding), and a whole lot faster and smoother than our Australian trains.

I have been doing a little further work with the LT lineside cabling. This is also temporary in nature - the arch will remain in this position, but the ground cables are actually intended for wall mounting, and are there for show at present, until I set up the proper cable support posts (white metal items from Radley Models). Still, I think the overall effect is good, if a little rough. P_20200404_161613_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr In the meantime, on the upper level, this is purely experimental at present, but I have decided to try a less labour-intensive method of adding third rail. I still have a heap of Peco code 75 rail salvaged from my old layout, where it was used with the Peco third rail insulator 'pots'. Those 'pots' are very fiddly to slide onto the rails, and tend to ping off into the distance or break just as one is trying to feed them into the pre-drilled holes and glue them in. For this experiment, I am dispensing with the 'pots' altogether, and gluing the code 75 rail directly to the sleeper ends. This meant clearing a little bit of stray ballast that had stuck to some of the sleeper ends. It also means bending the rail to match the line profile, and setting the distance out by eye, although if I adopt this method for the rest of the layout, I'll make up a spacer template. For the glue, I am trying out a Tiger Grip glue, which resembles a PVA but promises to bond all materials including plastics and metals. So far it seems to grip very well, but I'll have to see how it fares for durability over a longer term. The appearance is not too bad, as the lack of 'pots' is barely noticeable at normal viewing distances. P_20200404_154721_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I can't remember whether the Zimo requirement is for an MX634C or MX634D - the difference is whether those aux outputs are logic or full ones. The good news is, you can switch the Zimo decoder between the two settings at will with a simple CV change. I am going from memory here, although I did document it in the DJM class 71 topic: program CV 8 with a value of 3, for one setting, or 4 for the other. This does not change the actual value in CV 8 as it is a fixed one, but something in the Zimo decoder's internal code recognises this as the switch.

I have been doing a little further work on the London Transport lines on the lower level, mainly involving the cabling that is so prominent along LT's lines. I recently purchased a couple of the typical arches that carry cables over the lines from Shapeways. They aren't cheap but I have not been able to figure a way to scratchbuild them myself that isn't also incredibly labour intensive. I also posted a video on YouTube showing a couple of the LT trains from the late 1950s and early 1960s period running. In this video the cable arches are unpainted, but in the photo that follows, I have started painting. They still need a little light weathering, and some minor variations in the cable colours to really bring them to life. P_20200401_110445_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Some (or possibly all) of these were originally in the Varney Transport Replicas range, which may assist in finding examples for sale if searching online for these.

I have all but catalogues 1 and 3. They do make interesting browsing, to see what 'was', and what 'is'. Also, the artwork styles hold their own fascination. :)

I know this is spoilt by the sudden background change, but otherwise I was pretty pleased with the overall effect. P_20200327_171204_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

One of mine shed its buffer beam at one stage. Easily cleaned up and re-glued.

I have been gluing down and blending some grass mats with various textures along the narrow bit of wasteland between the tracks at the front and the fiddle yard at the back. I will add a few low bushes and shrubs later, but I don't want anything too tall as that would impede access to trains when I am reaching across, and also for track cleaning purposes. The mats are from Modelscene, bought from Modellers Warehouse in Brisbane, and I have used some Woodland Scenics scatter material and bushes/foliage to fill gaps between mats and along the sides adjoining the tracks. The glue is still drying in the photos. Also in the photos are the Ratio yard hut which was a freebie from Railway Modeller magazine (not its final position, but I still need to work on the engine shed area where it will end up if all goes to plan), and the workman's caravan from Oxford Diecast, which I have weathered and dulled down somewhat, but forgot to treat the steps! As always (this is almost a mantra!) there is still much to do to complete the effects properly and get rid of bits of bare boards or cork sheeting showing through. P_20200327_171140_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20200327_171204_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I haven't tried this with my two Met Bo-Bo locos, but it applies to several other Heljan models I have done maintenance on: the top plastic cap on the motor bogie tower should unclip by releasing the loops at the sides from the projecting tabs on the lower mouldings. You can then access the worm and bearings easily before snapping the top cap back on. Likewise, I haven't checked the Met locos, but Heljan motor bogies are usually of one of two patterns. The first type has separate sideframes that just pull out, allowing the base plate to be removed in similar fashion to the top caps (as I referred to them). The second pattern has the side frames moulded as part of the base plate, but removal is still by levering the side loops away from the bogie chassis to release the baseplate complete with the sideframes.

Hence the jester at the end of the sentence, yes.

I don't know if these will help a bit, but a couple of photos showing existing models of Bristol MW buses and coaches, and a Bristol LS bus, albeit none are in Essex liveries. The MW buses are from Little Bus Company resin kits, The early LS 1951 coach is Little Bus Company resin kit, the later Royal Blue LS coach is an ABS Streetscene white metal kit, and the LS bus (actually representing a dual-purpose vehicle) is a repainted EFE diecast. All had ECW bodies (from Lowestoft). The LS dates from 1951 onwards, the MW from 1957 onwards, just to help with timeframes. Note the Hants & Dorset Tilling green with cream is virtually identical to what you would need for Eastern National, while the Wilts & Dorset Tilling red in cream would easily represent Eastern Counties (a little further north and east of Eastern National, with some overlap). Some of the EFE-style coaches were demoted to bus work later in their lives (1960s). The Oxford Diecast MW coaches with later style ECW bodies with the wrap-around windscreens are probably getting a bit late for your requirements. LBC Hants and Dorset Bristol MW some Transfers Added - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr DSCN2516 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Bristol LS coach cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr LBC Bristol LS Coach in Newton Broadway cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Wilts and Dorset Bristol LS Experimental - 4 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr