P.C.M

Thanks Mate, The platform tractor is a bit of a beast. I was quite pleased when Bachmann said they would bring one out. Your yellow van is on the bridge. You are going to park up the road and come back to the bridge for a pic of D200. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Rick it's all pretty new to me but I think I have sorted it. Cheers Peter.

Hi Geoff, I had a Praktika back in the day, I would have been off down to the depot to get a few pics then back for a bit of haulage on a class 45. Cheers Peter.

Hi Ken, Always good to hear from you, As I said to Geoff the fan wasn't touching anything. I have turned the speaker upside down and it's a lot better. It is the newer chassis and did come with round speaker but wasn't as good as the base speaker I put in. Mine has Bifs sound which I quite like. Thanks for your help. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Geoff, I fired up the sound with the body off last night and it doesn't touch but it is close. I have turned the speaker upside down and used bluetak to stick the fan to the back of the speaker. It is certainly better than it was. Cheers Peter.

Hi Grimley, So we have gone fro Scottish class 26s to Western region class 50s, all you need now is a class 33.lol Cheers Peter.

Hi Guys, I need some advise re my sound class 40. The pic below shows how I have fitted the speaker and it sounds pretty good but a bit fuzzy if that makes sense. While it was sat ticking away on my layout last night I covered the fan grille with my fingers and the sound improved. I am thinking maybe I should turn the speaker upside down, or box in the top. What do you think. Cheers Peter.

50036 what a beast, and with ploughs too. Not many class 50 had them fitted. I remember 50018 had them back in the day. Cheers Peter.

Hi Alex, Sidings yes. If you have the room. Nameplate. Very nice. Did any class 50s turn up at Toton back in the day. Cheers Peter.

A few more pics from the other day. Cheers Peter.

Hi Ian, The layout is looking very good, The detail is really coming on well. I must agree with Alex that the older style NSE livery does look very good on the class 50. Best of luck with the first Exhibition I am sure it will go fine, and don't worry about the layout not being finished it already looks better than some I have seen at shows over the years. Best advise I can give you for the show is clean all your wheels before you go, take your time setting up and get it as level as you can. Get your joins lined up and give the track a good clean. Cheers Peter.

Hi Merf, It is, you get two in a pack. I think it looks pretty good. I will take a few more pics if you want. Cheers Peter.

The first new traction for 2015 arrived last week. It looks quite good sat on the platform with a couple BRUTES. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Will, It's getting there, slowly. Cheers Peter.

Definitely Campbell Road bridge. Stood their many times, lines to the left lead to the depot. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Jiny, I know the spot you mean I have a nice pic in a book showing a class 25 about to leave with a couple minerals. 25059 is an old Hornby body I did years ago now running with a Bachmann power unit. It's one of my favourite models at the moment. Cheers Peter.

A few more from Yesterday. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Andy, It wouldn't be North Wales without a few Rats. Cheers Peter.

A couple more from today. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Andy, I am always looking at peoples pics of Eastleigh taken in the early 90s just in case I see myself in a cab or walking around. For a while I was down at the station most mornings as we were dragging trains from the Carriage sidings over to the Romsey branch due to the Groundframe being out of action. I remember seeing plenty of spotters on the platform back then I just wish I had my camera some days as there was some very interesting stuff around. I do remember walking out of the shunters cabin one day to take the Ex Dinton MOD train up one of the reception roads and to release the loco. The surprising thing was that it wasn't the normal class 47 but an NSE liv class 50. Cheers Peter.

Hi Ian, Sorry to hear the signalman gets a hard time now and then. Most of the EH drivers were pretty good back in the day. Cheers Peter.

Hi Dave, A great set of pics, I really like the class 40 and 26004. I had a quick look on flickr and didn't see any of 004 with ploughs while in coal sector livery. Maybe your next 26/0 could have them. I think if you have ploughs on too many loco's it doesn't look right. Have a look at your class 40 too Dave, It doesn't look like the body is right down on the chassis. I had the same problem with mine, and found it was a wire caught under the bulkhead. Cheers Peter.

Hi Ian, I worked at Eastleigh East yard and then the depot for a few years and most drivers were ok if asked to do a quick shunt. It would normally save time and we would do our best to get the driver and loco out of the yard ASAP. We did get the odd driver that would say no. I had a Westbury driver go off at me because I asked him to set back up the yard to save me doing a run round move in the carriage sidings. The train was a class 37 and 3x Salmon bogie wagons. I explained all we had to do was ring the panel and get the road then set back up the yard and straight into the PAD and that the road was set. He said that wasn't the way they did things on the Western region. So I said ok then we will run round. I explained it might take a while as we would have to get the road from the panel at each end of the run round move which could take a while plus time for me to uncouple then hook back up again. This was a bit of a lie as their were hand points at the portsmouth end of the carriage sidings. Anyway the driver saw my point of view and we pushed back up the yard and they went back to Westbury LE. It's possible the driver at Llanbourne is a local so doesn't mind helping out. You never know he might be booked on the yard shunter next week and having the fuel tanks shunted would save him some work leaving more for drinking tea. Cheers Peter. Thanks David, Glad to see you still dropping by for a look. Cheers Peter.

I had a visitor from the UK last week so cleaned the track and ran some trains, while the track is still clean I thought I would run some more and take a few pics. 20s 154 and 032 wait in the headshunt for 08695 to arrive with the oil train from the near by terminal. A 108 waits in platform 4. 47515 has arrived on an Inter City service, before going onto the fuel point the shunters have asked the driver to pick up a couple of empty fuel wagons to make less work for 08695 once it has been released from the block oil train. Cheers Peter.

Tell you what Kev that looks pretty good. Thanks Peter.