SRman

New item: a new venomous snake discovered. https://pickle.nine.com.au/2018/07/17/08/40/new-venomous-snake-australia-weipa

Do you get Cornish pasties in Devon?

The early BR blue 73 deliveries with full yellow ends retained grey roofs for a while - I seem to recall E6039 was one of these. The one in the photo is well documented as an experimental application with the wrap-around yellow ends but the number escapes me right now - I'll edit later when I find it. There was a contemporary 4 CIG unit with a similar wrap-around yellow treatment on its green livery. Apparently someone high up saw these liveries and ordered them repainted in the 'correct' corporate schemes fairly quickly. Edit: The relevant Modern Locomotives Illustrated issue shows the wrap-around end loco's identity as E6012. I had it in the back of my mind it was E6015. Will have to dig further to check this.

I'm pretty sure most of the green ones did gain small yellow panels before going into blue, but you are absolutely correct about some 33s never getting the yellow panels while in green. It is possible to find photos as late as 1967 with class 33s in green no yellow panel side by side with blue full yellow end examples. I can't find my references right now, but I suspect you are right about E6001 losing its yellow panel after the initial enthusiasm died away. The early livery changes for E6001 - 6 don't see to be well documented, either in text or in the photographic records. By contrast, all of the 73s seem to be well photographed in all of their livery variations from the 1980s onwards.

If you mean Southern Railway by "in SR days", then none of them did because they weren't actually in service until BR days (1951 and 1954). Otherwise, there is evidence of such plates being carried at one time.

They're modelling the foam and froth from the Dawlish sea wall!

I can't give you a correct answer, but my old MTK kit (also too high!!) has the four exhaust ports. However, even though it was labelled, and built, as 10203, the side grilles are wrong for 10203 and more correct for 10201/2. MY MTK one uses a severely cut down Mainline Peak chassis, but I have it in mind to see if I can get a cheap Hornby RailRoad class 40 to use - that would also enable me to convert to DCC, which is not worth the effort for the Mainline chassis. I may have posted this pic before - apologies if I am repeating. Kernow 10201 and MTK 10203 - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I did two more name/number/works plate fittings today with the Narrow Planet etched plates. Featured this time are Hatton's Andrew Barclay 14" 0-4-0ST No. 14, 'Avril' (ex-Caledonian Railway livery), with large works plates added, and Hornby Sentinel 0-4-0 diesel No 12, 'Alberta'. I have added a little weathering to both, and managed to dislodge a little of the lining on the other side of the Sentinel, which I'll have to fix again before varnishing it. The 16" Andrew Barclay No. 15, and Janus No. 16 from yesterday are also in the pics. P_20180714_190705_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180714_190613_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180714_190629_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180714_190644_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180714_190808_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180714_190726_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Sorry for the lack of sympathy here, Ian, I wanted to click the 'funny' icon as well as the 'friendly/supportive' one! Don't worry, though. I can afford to laugh at you because I have done equally silly things by not keeping track of what I put down and where I put it.

I was tossing up between the location I chose and the other side of the level crossing - logically, the trains then don't block the crossing. However, that then leaves me less room for the distant signal before it. Even so, I am also considering whether I should put an additional signal before the crossing, one acting as a repeater for the other. Always a bit of a dilemma with model railways because we simply don't have the distances to really signal things accurately. Nothing is wired in yet, so it is quite easy to haul the signal out again and cover the hole. My cogitations will continue! One other consideration in that, though, is the accessibility and clearances for the working signal; the side of level crossing is almost directly over the Underground tracks where they go into their tunnel.

I have also received some new etched plates from Narrow Planet. I named and numbered two more industrials into my private series: red Andrew Barclay 16" 0-4-0ST is now No. 15, Abigail, and blue Janus 0-6-0 diesel electric is No. 16, Amadine. P_20180713_183515_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180713_183503_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Having lost most of the school holidays with a virus and lung infection, I have finally done a little more on Newton Broadway ... not much, but it's a (re)start. I drilled holes for the working Dapol Semaphore signals and planted two of them. Both are upper quadrant Southern Railway types, with one having a lattice post and the other a rail-built post. I may have to get another lattice post one as the location looks to require a taller signal because of the curvature and buildings in the way. I also have a couple of distant signals but I need to consider their positions carefully. One should be on the viaducts but I haven't figured out a way to fit it there, yet. Neither signal is wired up yet, so they are permanently at danger at present. P_20180713_160536_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180713_161017_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180713_161244_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180713_161251_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20180713_161301_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The weeping willow tree was only loosely planted, but fell over while I was trying to take the photos! This was also a good test of my new phone camera (an Asus zenfone 3 zoom - camera seems good and the battery life is remarkably good).

The other thing is, if you do make a mess of it, just repaint it as new then start again.

Lledo Vanguards did do something like that with their 1:43 range at one time. They are now a part of Corgi's ranges.

There is a bit of an art to weathering, but the only way to get better at it is to practice. I recommend finding (or even buying) some very cheap wagons to use for this practice before trying with the more expensive (and personally valuable) examples.

More power to you in doing that. It is amusing in itself that to model something whimsical, one has to resort to some serious modelling. I recall many years ago a local modeller here in Melbourne chose to make a whimsical layout based on the Emmett cartoons. There was a lot of detailed modelling that went into everything to capture that whimsy ... very successfully too, in my opinion. Personally, I'm not so keen on the TV models, having grown up with the earlier books, but I do know what you mean, having tried (successfully, I hope) to capture the character of the Harry Potter Knight Bus. At least, with that one, I think I did a better job than the commercial model from Corgi. I do agree that when doing anything like this, even 'ordinary' railway modelling, one needs a sense of humour and a reasonably thick skin. Let's face it, the general public have tended to treat all railway modellers and enthusiasts as being somewhat odd, as objects to mock and deride.

Absolutely. In the specific case of the OP, the Bachmann and Hornby Pullmans use LEDs and light guides, so the current draw is not great at all, but as you said, if anyone is using older coaches with bulbs, the current draw could easily become an issue.

With so many moving and meshing parts, it is possible for there to be differences in each direction. If the axles move back and forth even slightly, the amount of friction could vary, the gears may have slightly different meshing patterns on each side of the teeth, and so on. With a good deal of running in both directions, one would expect these things to even out eventually, as John suggested above; the lubrication becomes better distributed and the gears wear in to better mesh. Going back to the original post, it used to be very common for things to run better one way than the other. This was particularly noticeable with 'single-ended' items that are run in one direction far more than the other (express steam locos would be the classic example of this). Even with double-ended items it could be noticeable though - my preference with the old Triang diesels (class 31 for example) and electrics (EM2) was to run them with the motor bogie trailing, so they always tended to run better in that direction because they hadn't been run-in (worn-in??) in the other direction.

The lights should stay on permanently on DCC tracks - they should come to no harm in doing this. The same applies to the Hornby Pullmans too. I have quite a few of the latter, running on DCC for a number of years with no ill effects. Edit: p.s. it was definitely a good idea to ask, though, not daft at all. If in doubt, there is a wealth of knowledge here, so much safer to ask rather than potentially blow perfectly good items up.

There was certainly some sort of tie up. Canberra bought a whole heap of Renault PR100 buses for their public transport system: all were badged as Macks.

Agreeing with several of the previous posts, if a product is not up to scratch, for whatever reasons, you are entitled to ask for a fix, a replacement, or a refund. Hatton's have always been excellent in this respect, with no quibbling or complaints from them. As Captain Kernow said, they are professionals and well versed in customer relations. I have nothing but praise for Hatton's and their staff. Sure, they can make mistakes too, they are human, but aren't we all?

There's also Cambridge Custom Transfers do whole sheets aimed at various kits, including the Cambrian ones. https://www.cctrans.org.uk/ I have used both CCT and ModelMaster - all excellent products (no connection, just a satisfied customer).

Quite a few, John, but most have switched to resin for the main material used now. I have recent kits from Little Bus Company and TiNY, but there are several others currently producing kits. I'm not sure if Pirate Models is still going (white metal kits), but ABS Streetscene seems to have gone into hibernation - most of the older white metal kits from other previous manufacturers ended up with those latter two.

Even older models have done this in the past, although it is not a common feature. I'm thinking of the Hornby class 110 DMU, very good at the time it came out but not up to current standards. Quite a few of the opening vents in the main windows are modelled in the open position. One down side of leaving windows open is the dust can get in, but it is much more difficult to get out again. I found this on a semi-scratchbuilt coach (a Maunsell open 2nd for a pull-push set) I did many years ago, where I left some of the large drop windows open or half open.

The model does look superb in BR green, even with the primrose (read 'lurid yellow'!) roof. I find all these recent photos are making it so-o-oo tempting, but I simply cannot justify a green one for my SR-themed layout. If (a big 'if') I was to get one, I think I'd retain the yellow roof but try to tone it down somewhat, then weather it.