SRman

With Bachmann's old-style 3-car units (classes 159 and 166, and some of classes 158 and 170) the powered vehicle is the middle one - they have a metal chassis, while the non-powered driving coaches have plastic chassis. With their 2-car units, there's no avoiding the metal chassis on one of the cars. Even so, I have managed to get all fired up ready to start converting the driving ends to allow multiple operation (with Kadees), only to lose momentum and put them back into the 'too hard' basket again. I know it's not all that difficult, but it is too easy to find other projects that also need to be completed.

Another 'quickie' kit-building project: a Parkside ex-GWR Beetle prize cattle wagon. I started this last night and finished the basic construction this evening after work. It will be painted in BR maroon, with a coat of undercoat to be applied first, very shortly. There is a small amount of brake rodding still to apply, and, of course, the window glazing, which has to wait for the painting to be completed first. exGWR Beetle - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr exGWR Beetle - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I am sort of hoping that Bachmann will produce the functional BSI couplings as spares, so I can add them to my classes 158/9/66/70 units. I have long had them on the back-burner with thoughts of using Kadee couplings between units, but the BSI ones would be even better, if they can be obtained.

Nice. I am considering buying that one myself, but the electrical issue you referred to is common to EVERY Dapol class 73 released so far. Also an issue is the permanently on cab lighting. Dapol's suggested solution for that was to put insulating tape over the contacts. I eventually rewired the cab lighting so it was switchable from the decoder. I may be banging on an old drum, but we should not have to do this with such expensive new locomotives. The Hatton's bargain prices make it only mildly more acceptable, to me.

More horse boxes! The Parkside ex-LNER one again, with a few extra paint touches, together with an ancient Lima ex-GWR version that I have just tarted up a bit. The Lima model was in BR(S) green - a livery I'm not convinced it would have worn in real life - and has had its roof upgraded with new torpedo vents and new wire end handrails (mine was missing one anyway), plus better wheels and a complete repaint into BR maroon. The original model had some strange pointy conical roof vents arranged in rows of three across. A study of some images in Google showed a variety of vent and gas/oil lamp top combinations, so I just picked one such arrangement, although I believe mine should have an extra lamp top of some sort in the middle over the groom's compartment. However, the whole thing is really a compromise that I have tried to make a little more convincing, if not actually realistic. The underframe is not 100% accurate either, but I haven't done anything about that at this stage, except to replace the horrible oversized Lima couplings with some Parkside NEM pocket holders and Bachmann NEM pockets and couplings, and replacing the crappy buffers (one of which was missing) with some turned brass examples that looked right to me. Probably the source of greatest dissatisfaction now is the brake blocks being in line with the 'W' irons. They are in the 'too hard' basket for now. Anyway, enough rambling: here are a couple of photos, showing the LNER and GWR boxes together, and in the 'race special' train with the Bachmann BR mark 1 horse boxes from TMC. LNER and GWR Horse Boxes - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr BR and LNER and GWR Horse Boxes - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

As far as the grilles go, I think the old Lima, current Hornby model's grilles are more finely detailed than the Dapol etched ones, even though they aren't 'see-through' on the older model. With a little careful painting, the moulded grilles come up very well indeed - the photo doesn't really do it justice. Class 73 E6012 Detail - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr I have bought some of the Dapol jumper cables/air pipes to add to the Lima/Hornby model, particularly the 73/0 with its extra jumpers. Where the Dapol model scores most, IMHO, is in the underframe and bogie detail.

As a small diversion from layout building, I did a quick build of a Parkside LNER horse box kit. It is finished except for a few very minor paint touch-ups and the transfers, which are on the way from Cambridge Custom Transfers as I type this. LNER Horse Box with BR Horse Boxes - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr LNER Horse Box with BR Horse Boxes - 1 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Also visible in those photos is my first attempt at using some static grass. This evening I set about levelling the track over the joint between the lifting section and the fixed level near the church hill. I then tested the DJM class 71 through the track where I knew it had derailed a couple of times before, and that worked nicely. I then tested the outer track with the consisted class 450 units, which had shown a tendency to derail occasionally exiting the loops and crossing that joint. That was tried slowly at first, watching every bogie as it travelled through the points and joints, then a few high-speed runs, culminating in a flat-out run, with no mishaps at all. After that, I enhanced the class 33 and 4 TC set (416 in plain BR blue) by adding blue and grey set 404, then propelling that around at high-speed. Once again, all went well, so I am well-satisfied with my efforts. Class 33-1 D6520 propelling 4TC Sets 404 and 416 After High-Speed Tests - 1 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I am eyeing off one of the First GBRf ones, but have so many reservations about the electrical properties of these models, I'm wavering.

As an aside to all of the above, Newton Broadway was a completely fictional name I thought up. However, a search on Google maps has revealed there is a Newton Broadway in Suffolk ... purely coincidental!!

Yes, the parcels train did split for that reason - it was one of the Bachmann BR horse boxes, but those weren't the cause of my frustration when filming on Sunday. The couplings tend to pull down as a result of sudden stops from the stock behind, so are an effect, rather than a cause. Thanks for the compliments; I'm glad everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. As usual for the host, it was harder to mix with more people on the day.

Well, many of them were green!

Marzipan P class locomotives??

True, but the class 21/29 had other issues besides the engines. From the 'Modern Locomotives Illustrated' series, the generators were at their limits when coupled to the high-speed engines (which is where the class 22s with the same engines fared better, because the high-speed diesels suited the hydraulic transmissions much better).

I use Krystal Klear: intended as a glazing medium itself, it works fro small apertures, but for larger jobs, it works well as a combined glue and filler that dries clear. For railway coach glazing, just use it as the glue, although it can be used for the sliding vents on its own. For road vehicles with curved windscreens, it is great for filling any slight holes and gaps where my cutting out of the glazing material (Coke bottles and the like) has been less than perfect.

I have had the problem with some ESU decoders. I put it down to the newer lead-free solders being more brittle than the old stuff.

I had a quick running session today, just for videoing purposes. There are six trains running at any one time, but, as usual, Murphy's Law kicked in: all ran perfectly for a while, but the moment I started the camera, the parcels train played up by derailing one of the coaches. I removed that one, then another derailed instead, then when I had replaced that with a different coach, the locomotive derailed at a different location. That train features in some of the footage, but after that I ran the Brighton Belle instead. What this means is that while there are six trains running, seven different trains may be seen in motion during the video - I have also mixed up the order a little, just for fun!

Well, the meeting was generally successful,and the layout mostly behaved as it should. I think we had around 20 people visit. Peter Beckett's Garratt ran beautifully, apart from a couple of minor hiccups that I am sure were caused by the dodgy track alignment where the lifting section meets the main boards near the church. There is a little bit of a hump and twist there, which I will try to fix properly very soon. Most of the trains ran reliably, although the class 450 consist (two units) caused a couple of dead shorts when the second motor bogie derailed at the same place that gave the Garratt problems. When I needed to have a break from concentrating on the running of trains, I put some 'safe' choices on: MLV 68009 + 4 CEPs 7128 and 7119, 2 BIL + 2 x 2 HAL units (2134 + 2636 + 2694) on the upper level, and No 8 Sherlock Holmes + 5 pseudo-Dreadnought coaches one way, and either pannier tank L89 with two brake vans and three low-sided wagons or the 5-car CO/CP train. All of these ran faultlessly and continuously for long periods of time.

This evening, I sent the track cleaner around the underground just to ensure decent running tomorrow in the tunnels. I then sent Sherlock Holmes and its imitation train of Dreadnought coaches around (they're actually old Graham Farish suburban coaches), and the CO/CP train the other way, while on the upper level I got brave and had three trains running (two on the one track). I had done this earlier but without all the other trains running, so it was easier to keep tabs on them. The Hornby S15 was running on the outer track, with 23 wagons, while on the inner track, the Bulleid diesel, 10201, had a mixed set of Bulleid and BR mk 1 coaches in crimson and cream, and a 2-set of non-gangwayed ex-LSWR stock in plain crimson on the end (through coaches from a branch, perhaps?), and that was followed at a safe distance by a BIL/HAL//HAL combination. Doing that was slightly more fraught for me because I was driving five trains with four controllers! I do have a couple more NCE cabs which can be attached, so, in theory, I and some other modellers could drive each of the trains individually if we wanted. In use are two Power Cabs and two Power Pros, with another Power Cab semi-permanently allocated to the programming track, but easy enough to swap to the coiled cord and plugged into a spare socket. Additionally, I have a Cab 04p and a Cab 06e, which are available if any visitor (e.g. some of the younger visitors) prefers or needs a simpler controller. Those latter two don't get much use from me at present, but are useful as spares or, as I said, for visitors. All of the full controllers have six recall memory slots set, so, in other words, each of them can store and recall six separate locomotives, units or consists for instant recall when needed, without having to select the loco/unit and punch in the numbers repeatedly. I'm still tidying up tools and boxes in the train room, but the worst is done, so hopefully all will run smoothly tomorrow for the BRMA meeting. The usual Murphy's Law will probably manifest itself: I'll run the trains for an hour before anyone is due. They'll run perfectly, until the doorbell rings and that first guest comes through, when something will derail or lose a coupling or short out ... the usual rule for any layout where visitors are due!!

Hey, if I can run a Co-Bo on my Southern-based layout, you can run a Cravens 112 anywhere you like!

The Mike King book referred to in post 138 also deals with the Ironclads. This book is a mine of information and well worth having in your library if you can get hold of it.

Agnes helped me to prop up the lifting panel while I taped the wires up out of the way. Found one where I boobed - looped the point polarity wire through the track feed wires, so I simply cut the wires to the buses from the polarity-switching pcb, fed it through behind the track wires, then reconnected the two cut wires - another advantage of using those suitcase connectors as I didn't have to fire up the soldering iron and all the paraphernalia to go with it. I also took the opportunity to vacuum up all the wood shavings and sawdust from the underground tracks, from drilling all the holes for the wires to pass through. I have been switching the points using my tunnel retrieval pole - a longish piece of wooden dowel with a brass hook on the end. I will add a strip of heat-shrink tubing to prevent any accidental short circuits while pushing or pulling the point blades. All tested OK again, including the underground tracks, where I ran No 8, Sherlock Holmes, one way and a CO/CP stock train the other, with no incidents to report, apart from a small amount of track that needs cleaning. I'll send the works train through before Saturday afternoon. There is one point on the upper, inner circuit that has not been modified, so is relying on the point blade contacts to feed power to the frog. It works fine at present, but I wouldn't rely on that for the longer term. The new batch of Gaugemaster polarity switches arrived this afternoon from Hatton's, but I won't fit that last one on the main lines until some time after the meeting. Also in the package from Hatton's were a couple more code 75 3-way points, a catch point and some code 100 to code 75 adaptors, plus a Gaugemaster auto-reverse module, intended for the Fleischmann turntable when I get that fitted. The latter was £10 cheaper from Hatton's than from Gaugemaster themselves.

No worries, Mark. I'll forgive you, but just this once!! Enjoy your event, it sounds like it will be very interesting. You are, of course, welcome to call into Blackburn South at any time you are in Melbourne, not just on meeting dates.

Thanks, John. That was the sort of thing I was trying to capture the atmosphere of. I did want to run the underground lines too, so there would be glimpses of moving trains on the lower level too, but I haven't pinned all the wiring back out of the way yet, so there is a danger pf trains in the tunnels snagging on the odd stray wire. That's a job I hope to complete this evening after work, with a little assistance from my wife to prop the lifting section open while I work on the underside of it. At some stage in the future, I will work out a hinged prop that can fold away, but I don't really have time to sort that out before the meeting on Saturday (that's the all-consuming deadline for me at present!). Having got things running, though, it does inspire me to keep going and get things like point motors and signals up and working too. I need a control panel next!

I finally completed the essential wiring yesterday evening. Even so, a quick test revealed that I had missed two feed wires, so I had to hastily reassemble the necessary tools to do that. Further tests have now been carried out and trains have been able to run on every loop line and through every point on the main lines - the engine and carriage sheds will come much later! To celebrate, I had a quick tidy up of all the tools and extraneous materials along the tracksides, and cleared some trains off the layout, and assembled some suitable sets for running on Saturday, then put the video camera onto the Hattons Warwell that I bought specifically for that purpose. I have run trains in both directions, edited the footage then uploaded it to YouTube. I have a high quality cut of the video too, but the YouTube one is still a rather large file size (a warning for anyone with limited bandwidth). Here is the link;

I remember those Austin Metropolitans well too - not very common in Britain, but they seemed to be very popular in Nigeria. They tended to be rather brightly coloured when compared to their more staid contemporaries.