SRman

Is it possible they are factory 'seconds' that were rejected but have been picked up on the black market?

I can't say anything specifically for the Britannia, but both DougN and I have used YouChoos for a few steam sounds. I have their sounds in a Hornby S15 and a Bachmann E4, while Doug has a couple of LNER types which I can't recall off-hand. I know I am happy with the sounds on both of mine, notwithstanding the limited space for a speaker in the E4 dictating the use of a 'sugar cube' speaker.

Of the buses I showed earlier, the Southdown Leyland/Duple coach and the ex-RLH uniform store got first prizes in their categories in the competition last week. The finished RLH was shown before, but I never posted the photos of the finished Southdown coach or the Bristol RELL, so here they are. The Bristol was never quite right and needed a tad more work done on it, but I ran out of time. P_20181208_190015_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20181208_190027_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20181208_190044_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr /urlP_20181208_190105_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Continuing on with non-railway items, I have picked up on another bus kit started over a year ago but languishing on the workbench; another Little Bus Company resin kit, this time an AEC Regal IV with Harrington Wayfarer II bodywork, as used by Maidstone & District. It is getting close to the glazing stage, but I am still to-ing and fro-ing a bit with fine paintbrushes and the cream and green paints, as well as the silver and black fine lining on the raised trim. I have used BR multi-unit stock green for the green on this bus, and Humbrol #41, ivory for the cream. I think it should be slightly more yellow in tint, but they did tend to fade a bit. As with most of the other buses I build, painting the black inside the window rebates to disguise the depth a bit is a right royal pain to do, but well worth the effort for the improvement in the appearance of the finished result. P_20181208_155336_vHDR_On cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20181208_155347_vHDR_On cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The M&D bus will go into our local modelling competition next December. Even if I build a heap more kits, we are only allowed two models per category.

The first of the Bachmann early FGA/FFA container wagons arrived from Kernow Models yesterday. I spent a while adding some (but not all) of the bogie cover plates and all of the locking/locating pegs. They could do with some weathering, but otherwise are near perfect. I started with a set of outer FGA and one only of the inner FFA wagons, with a view to adding to more inners later. I really want more of the Freightliner 20' containers, and am prepared to wait until Bachmann offer more variations and combinations of these wagons. Note the wooden wedges I have inserted under the lifting section of the upper level fiddle yard behind the wagons; they make it easier for me to access the section when wanting to lift it repeatedly while doing work on the underside (tidying and adding wiring). P_20181208_002609_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20181208_002544_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

What little evidence I have seen agrees with Michael Edge, that 11001 was black for its whole life. I would be surprised if 10800 made it into green before withdrawal and subsequent modification. One clue might be to look at the bogie colour, although years of grime, corrosion and neglect could possibly hide the aluminium paint finish of the early black liveries.

I seem to recall that when Dave started out on his own, he said something like the rate of delivery on projects would depend on the previous ones selling well enough to fund the next ones. While not trying to speculate on his cash flow, that does suggest that things were tight to begin with. The crowdfunding projects are separate in one way, but probably still would rely on Dave having some extra funds to push things on. While I had begun to wonder if the 92 project was going to proceed, it is nice to receive a bit of news. The delay actually works in my favour now, because I have been on long service leave on half pay for the last few months, so my own cash flow had to be regulated a bit too.

The easiest way is to use Decoder Pro from JMRI on a computer linked to the NCE system. Assuming you have a Power Cab, you would also need a USB interface from NCE. If it is a Power Pro system, there is a built in serial (RS232) interface; most newer computers don't have the serial connection any more, but a serial link that connects to a motherboard is cheap enough (for a desktop computer), or a serial to USB converter can be bought for a laptop. Decoder Pro is a freebie, but the other items do cost money, but will serve you for many more jobs than just the ones you are looking at now. Decoder Pro allows you to read the settings on the locos, and to switch the function mapping by simply ticking or unticking checkboxes on screen, with no need to work out which CVs are involved.

Contact Dave through his website and ask to be put back on the mailing list. I had to do this myself. It would seem that his list has gaps in it.

Thanks for this, and also to stephennicholson for the SEMG link. I have saved the page for ease of future reference. I have used the SEMG site for information on later headcodes, but missed the page on LBSC ones. Ian (Olddudders), a few of the images I found in a Google search (particularly from the Mike Morant collection) show No 39 herself, before naming, with the squares with horizontal lines, although it is difficult to tell if the livery matches the Bachmann one. This view was outside Victoria but is undated, so not helpful, but shows one of each type of disc across the three lower lamp irons. Another view shows her in circa 1910 with one disc with cross and one square, but again seems to be before her naming. It all seems very complicated, but I'll try to pick a 'safe' headcode.

As is the LT 'district' roundel although I can't make out which district it represents.

I followed your layout link, Hesperus; it looks very interesting too, and very amusing. I obviously missed seeing it at the time your originally posted, but better late than never. As to names, all we need now is CMOT Tom! I'm sure that one would be a stage beyond 'dodgy'.

It comes with quite a few discs but no squares. At least two of the discs have black crosses on them. I am still trying to figure out the LBSC headcode system, as every photo I have looked at shows a different combination, even when on the same train (the Pullman 'Southern Belle'). I definitely have to bring the Atlantics over, I think they'll do well on your gradients because of the flexible wheelbase. The last time we were over, it was Ashleigh's birthday so it wasn't really practical to bring "foreign" locomotives to run.

One more arrived today: Bachmann LBSCR H1 Atlantic 39 La France has been tested and run on DC then had a Zimo MX638D decoder fitted. She runs beautifully both with and without the decoder, but has not yet had any of the supplied extra detailing bits added. She is seen here posed with H2 Atlantic 32424 Beachy Head and Bulleid 1Co-Co1 diesel-electric 10203 (both seen in previous posts). P_20181205_141726_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20181205_141653_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Can anyone explain to me what the significance of the black crosses are on some of the headcode discs for the H1, please? With apologies if this has already been covered. Also, in looking through photos of the prototype in my quest to work out suitable headcodes, I noted that there also seemed to be some square "discs" (I know, they aren't discs but headcode squares doesn't sound right!), with a horizontal series of dark lines. The headcodes seem to vary even when on the same train, the 'Southern Belle'. All of this has me a little puzzled, but also means that I can pretty well pick any reasonable combination of the headcode discs and have a 'correct' model. In the absence of any other suitable coaching stock, I may put some Pullmans behind my La France, although even those may be too modern to be accurate for the period intended.

I went straight to the source, using the contact details on the DJM website, seeing as I hadn't received the email but had paid the original deposit. I got a quick response from Dave with the news update attached.

I would not recommend the Hornby TTS sound decoders for the reasons stated in the OP - i.e. insufficient support for the power drawn by the HD locos. Alternatives are dearer, but could include, in increasing order of prices, the relatively new Soundtraxx Econami decoders with UK-based sounds, Zimo decoders, or ESU Loksound decoders, all of which should have sufficient power-handling capacities.

Harry Butler never did: he would just thrust his arm down mysterious holes and pull out whatever nasties were lurking there with complete equanimity! Call yourself an Aussie Doug???

Who IS the PM today??

Which is exactly what I did in reverse with some of my Triang/Hornby Freightliners Limited containers, painting out the "Limited", taking them back to the earlier branding incorrectly until I could do something better with them ... something that never happened!

Mid-1960s to early 70s (the earliest ones date from around 1965). After that, they were rebranded 'Freightliners Limited' as part of the privatisation of the container traffic. I'm not sure of the exact date where the change commenced, but it would have taken some time to rebrand the containers themselves, so you could probably safely say they would have lasted with the original branding until at least the mid-70s.

Agreeing, at least in part, with Corbs, they don't really need to be read in strict order, but I like the idea of reading character arcs, although I would recommend starting with the first two books, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, as they introduce the Discworld itself and some of the characters that feature later. In particular, a few of the Vimes series and The Truth had me laughing out loud many times (just think of a Troll policeman who keeps knocking himself out when he salutes, or a vampire, Otto Chriek, as a newspaper photographer who can't survive a bright flash of light!), but there are hilarious spots in several of the others too.

Perhaps the film was upside down.

Just saw this on Facebook: definitely worth sharing here! The Mythic Australia website is worth a look too.

Australian camera??

I wanted a sort of manured effect for a diorama I did many years ago, only for some sheep. I ended up finding the solution by accident. I had used dyed sawdust for a field (an older product that has been all but superseded by newer products and, now, static grass). I had not brushed or vacuumed off the excess 'grass' when I painted the road surfaces. As I was doing this outdoors, a gust of wind blew some of the excess sawdust onto the roads. Once the paint dried, I had the effect I wanted. It doesn't show up terribly well in the photos I have, but this is probably one of the best I can find. Royal Blue MW - country lane 3 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr I have had a few other "happy accidents" with modelling techniques over the years too. Sometimes luck plays a hand in our modelling!