Derby show review

Not much narrow gauge at this show, so I'll start there... This is my mate Martyn's fine collection of locos - note the FR/WHR Kerr Stuart 4415 in grey and the Turtles - nice!


and a 009 layout in a pizza box - that's style!

Burcroft Colliery - DCC in OO gauge modern image. They used NCE Power cabs.

Moorton Bottom Yard by Paul Windle. I've commented on this before - it's fantastic apart from the bridge to nowhere coming at you on the left hand side below. It just looks odd to me.

Loughborough Midland - cracking station building, but blue platform faces - blue??

An N gauge layout in a suitcase - cracking stuff.

I was looking for some Larches (Like you do) - some bloke tried to sell me this, but it's just not a Larch mate.
ZTC decoders - how small can they get?


Port Foxdale (Isle of Man railways) - very nice if somewhat packed in!

Sea moss trees (see through!) - I must have a go at some of these for a few strategic locations.

Red Rocks railroad - what a layout 10/10!

Some extremely clean ballast - they must clean it in between trains you know! This is Yarborough, great stock, nice layout but come on lads, just a little weathering on the ballast would help immensely.

The traders were pretty good, venue was central but thus expensive to park and get in. Can't comment on the food as we took our own (wells Greggs).

Colin

More progress

Some progress on the actual layout:

The corner piece has been finished off with some overlapping modroc to give a good edge.


My ballast choice has been decided - woodland scenics grey, but a home mix of small and medium particles (more small than medium). A test piece was completed below:

Milliput was used to fill the gaps on my recent white metal Conway Castle kit. That is seriously weird stuff - two parts that you mix together into a putty - way weird!

A 2+1 seating section was made up and will now be posted to a resin moulder to create the internal seats for my FR/WHR cars.

My Lyd2 kit 'Eryri' is coming along nicely:

I finished off the random base in the far corner of the layout and painted it with acrylic burnt umber. The rising ground behind has yet to be finished.

I wasn't happy with some previous 'modrocing', so that came up and new was laid. Also I started to model the area between track and car park by adding 2 culverts and creating a 'mound' with polyfilla. No photo unfortunately, but will post again when I've done more of it.

The 3 WHR saloons are now placed on the track ready for the weekend test train.



It's coming together.

Colin

Digital Command Control system review

Right so DCC...what's the craic...

This is a review of the major systems on the market:

Bachmann Dynamis: big screen, well laid out, intuitive controls, wireless and with the pro box (not yet released) you can have multiple handsets. Very nice, and it was to be the system for me, but after consulting various DCC people at recent shows and the DCC forum at http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/ the issue is the infra red wireless. To be honest, when this system was first announced, my brother and I were dubious, and experience in the field suggests we were right - big problems when you have a 'L' shaped layout, or someone walks in front of you etc - when that happens you can't stop crashes etc - not good.

What we really need is a radio wireless system (see the ecos version below just made available on the continent, but not in the UK just yet - that's radio wireless!) or bluetooth or perhaps even wi-fi, but infra red is a no no for me.

Hornby have the elite, which has a good screen and interface and is now NMRA compliant. However it's just too plasticky for me, you can't program routes (multiple points/signals at same time with one button etc) and the walkabout select is even more basic. It's ok, but not for me.

Lenz set 100 - all the features you need, but it's like a remote control - buttons not knobs for accelerate and decelerate - not my view of a decent model railway experience!

The Lenz compact: now this does have a knob, but is very basic in terms of display and is limited to just a few functions- no good for sound, so it would get out of date quickly I feel.

The set 90 does have a knob but is also low on functions and the screen is very basic too.

Gaugemaster prodigy advance - super system, but very expensive at £225 for just the basic set.


Digitrax have a good name and the features are good too, but I don't like the weird little knobs to control the locos.

Their zephyr system is much more like it, but the screen is basic and difficult to understand when programming, as it can only show 4 characters.
The roco multimouse has the best name (!) but again has a basic screen with few characters visible.

The NCE power cab is super, well priced and has a good screen/interface but the bizarre thumb wheel puts me off it.
The ZTC 511 is a super piece of kit and their is a handheld to go with it, the screen is good, controls are wonderful (like a real regulator) but it is way expensive at over £500 for what I would need. Shame.

The 505 is similar and chepaer, but loses some of the functions that make the 511 so good.

So, what to go for? Well, the gaugemaster would be great if it was cheaper. Well, look at this...below is the MRC Prodigy advance - gaugemaster just rebadge it!!!

So let's have a look on ebay, oh yes here's one, imported from the US at £159, not £225! Get in!

Colin

Testing, testing

Hi,

Well I said in October 08 that this winter I wanted to move ahead with carriages and by the Spring I wanted to at least have a short test train to check clearances etc. As you will have seen in the images I have posted, not only have I soldered together a number of WHR(C) cars, but also 2 FR sets have taken shape and so has heritage WHR and WHR(P) cars.

I'm a bit short of brake vehicles, but Worsley are working on that once we can get the drawings of 100/102 etc and I'll need to wait to see what alterations are made to 2090 after it goes into the works for the addition of a loo and other changes. I wouldn't bet against them altering the beading for example!

But none of these have couplings... you'll have seen a post a while ago where some Lilliput bogies had bemos attached, but I'd been struggling for washers to set the ride heights. That was until last week when I won this box (below) on ebay: 99p for 25,000 8BA washers - yes 25,000!


Using these I have been able to get a test train ready - the 3 largest cars I will operate 2043/4/5 are now ready for some testing as is the SAR brake (the tallest vehicle I reckon).

That occasion (the first test train on the layout) will wait until the weekend though when Mum and Dad are here to see it! The first train to move on the layout must be a Beyer-Garratt and so it will be, but I also expect Blanche and others to have a go too. Should be fun.

On the DCC front, I have solved the potential issue with graham farish chassis I had. Again via ebay the below kit allows you to isolate the motor from the pickups - cool.

Another post is imminent on DCC systems as I have changed my mind (again)....

In the Cheltenham works (Dad's workbench) Merddin Emrys takes shape: more on this soon...


Colin

Images of progression

OK, so progress this weekend was as follows:

Conwy Castle is now complete from the kit (except horn and exhaust), but needs a recess building for the doors as the FR had altered the loco from that depicted in the kit, so I've sawn off the doors ready...

A Mercian 2 ton coal wagon - nightmare kit to construct as there is just too much detail for its own good and half etch lines are etched the wrong side etc etc - back in its bag until I can be bothered to sort the rest of the details out - not fun.

Much more fun is a plastic parkside quarryman's - easy.

Really pleased with this - FR iron sided bogie No 15

2 more WHR saloons - the solder needs tidying up, but they are materially complete.

and finally the curly roofed van, complete with parkside plastic FR bogies (which need the spring detail adding yet)

Colin

Hold your wagon! (well, waggons!)

Good progress to report, including:

- Curly roofed van now complete (save for handrails) and on bogies, now ready for spraying.

- 2 WHR saloons (2040 and 2041) with the new beading style were started and as of tonight I have completed the floor, steps, underfloor cabinets, bogies and sides. Tomorrow I hope to complete these 2 by soldering the ends to the sides and adding the buffer beams. Happy days!

- A Parkside plastic Quarryman's coach was 'mekked' together as were 2 rodney stenning Talyllyn 3 bar slate wagons, 1 of which was converted to FR style. 2 more of these (converted to look like wooden FR slate waggons) were 'won' on ebay and are pictured along with an image of the real life waggon, which is where I got the conversion idea from. Finally I also completed another Hudson steel bogie - a LOcoal in FR parlance: http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/Locoals

- Further tidying of the garage ready for works to commence and the purchase of ballast - I have finally decided to mix woodland scenics grey (gray) medium with the fine and get the best of both worlds.

- Worsley now have a Lyd2 kit available - might have to get the cheque book out!

Colin

Back from Wales

Back from that all important top left hand corner of Wales - too late to say much now, but I have uploaded a load of images here:

http://colin-lea.fotopic.net/c1488827.html

A fantastic weekend!

Colin

Amerton Railway

Hi,

Yesterday (Sunday) we took a trip to the Amerton railway, which is a small but friendly line situated on a farm that also serves as a children's playcentre (soft play etc), craft shop, bakery, animal rescue centre (including birds of prey, snakes, rabbits etc), farm animal display, garden centre, restaurant, hand made ice cream shop, jewellery shop and farm food shop - including some great real ale brews - including FIREBOX by RCH! Oh and it got even better when I stumbled across a model shop! Yes a model shop on a farm - how cool is that!?! I was able to get some sheet brass, some more peco 009 track for the hidden sidings and a wild swan book on etched brass loco construction secondhand (£5.95 was an amazing price!). wow! http://www.amertonfarm.co.uk/

Anyway, the railway's star attraction 'ISABEL' is in bits for a major overhaul at the moment, so we had the visiting loco (built in 2006) 'Emmet'. A 10 minute ride (no stops, just a continuous loop of about a mile) was £1.80 and as it's a continuous loop, trains depart about every 15 mins (5 mins for crew to layover, shovel some coal etc). The fireman was especially friendly and took us on a tour of the sheds, where I found a vertical boiler De Winton style loco. Definitely worth a visit! Images below:



Back to modelling then, well nearly, cameras first... Unfortunately my camera refuses to flash anymore and makes some odd sounds on focusing (don't worry, dodgy images will only be seen on this entry - a new camera is in the post - check this deal - http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/search.asp?RecId=panca274).

Some of the images below have thus been taken with no flash, just household lighting and then altered in photoshop, so the noise is bad, the focusing even worse - it's just plain horrible - sorry!

But the point is that considerable progress has been made. The SAR brake has had its details (hinges etc) added and has been soldered together (just needs a roof now). Also FR Bug box No1 (the zoo car) was completed - the images below were supposed to show the huge difference in size, but the camera problem ruins the point- oh well... One of my wife's cakes and a cup of tea sit ready to be devoured by a tired modeller!

FR Bowsider No 19 was completed - need to get some bogies for this yet (and a roof plus the handrails at the ends).

WHR ex C&U Admiralty brake (1001):

WHR Buffet car (with half height sides), the other car I have already completed will become Ashbury 25 as the WHR(P) propose to make their replica a full height version, thus I had misled the blog reader previously in stating I had soldered together the buffet car. A good article about these cars is in Heritage Railway magazine this month (near the back).

and the crowning glory - the Romanian coach 2060 - really pleased with this, the folds around the doors are complicated but make for an accurate kit - well done worsley works again.

An order was posted today for 2 more WHR saloons (2040/1) with the new beading style [why oh why did they need to alter it?] and FR straight sided iron framed bogie 15 - another 3 to solder up then!

and the hour changed (BST) so work on the layout itself will recommence soon too. I have started tidying up the garage ready!

Colin

Carriages update

Progress as of late Saturday night - full update with photos tomorrow:

Now complete and ready for primer:

- FR Flying bench http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/The_Flying_Bench - a bit of fun!
- WHR(C) Romanian Carriage 2060 (a beauty!) http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/Carriage_2060
- FR Bowsider No.19 http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/Carriage_19
- WHR(C) 1001 Admiralty brake van ex Chattenden & Upnor http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/Carriage_1001

Bogies were soldered up with bearings added for the first ex SAR 'B' wagon and the ex SAR Brake van.

and most of the Zoo Car bug box No.1 http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/Carriage_1 with final assembly tomorrow...

It's all good!

Colin

Short update

Hi,

Some varied news at Easter time: firstly we visited the Golden Valley Light Railway today for a trip up the line behind the yellow simplex (pictured). A nice run, a bit short but friendly and despite the hailstorm that hit us 5 mins from the end of the trip, it was pleasant.


On the modelling front, I tested a section of hairy carpet underlay to see how I got on. I had bought the necessary strong PVA (febond) earlier in the week, and using an off cut of ply, I glued down small pieces of the Burnley (see earlier posts) underlay. When dry overnight, nail scissors were used to cut off the excess and then a hair trimmer to literally mow the grass down to a sensible height. The results are good and I am confident that this procedure, with extra detail added later of course will deliver the results I hope for. PS The image shows the underlay before trimming!


Below are 6 bogies with bemos glues on (the bogies are ex liliput - the coaches went for about £8 each on ebay with the 'replacement' bogies so I'm happy) - note the long length necessary to keep the bogies in the prototypical situation under the carriage, but also to place the couplings in a sensible position too! I also wanted to make sure the couplings were attached to the bogies as these huge carriages will need all the help they can to get round my 12 inch radius curves (even though my curves are transitioned).

The clock behind the bogies also has a story - I showed a guy from Yarra trams around the NET tram depot last week and he gave me this as a thank you gift - it is crafted from an original tramway block used in the early days of Melbourne trams - cool! Best corporate gift I've had in a long time.


Tonight, I've also tidied up various boxes and found loads of little bits and pieces I had forgotten I had but which will be useful in the months ahead and I also soldered 3 Ffestiniog wagons together using low melt - 2 covered vans and a coal wagon.

I won a model of Jerry M (Mills class Hunslet) on ebay last week, it even has outside frames - well one side's finished and the other needs some work...ho hum. The other Jerry M (or Cackler) I have is sat half finished, so it might be time to get that to a state where it could be sold.

and finally, the additions to the Bachmann dynamis have been announced: the pro upgrade (to allow multiple controllers) is just £14 and an extra infra red receiver (to help avoid the coverage problems I have been hearing out) is just £17 - all good and it now almost certainly means that dynamis is the way forward.

Happy Easter

Colin