Turin60

Is this the current froth subject. Hat & coat time? John Bruce.

It is a cracking little engine! John Bruce.

Gone to a nice man who lives in Wiltshire, cattle wagon my way in exchange, thanks Andy. John Bruce.

As a former service engineer may I make a hopefully helpful suggestion...rather than hiding the pick-ups away somewhere in the back of beyond at least have them (of whatever pattern) where you can get at them for cleaning without removing locomotive bodies and so on. Trust me life will be so much simpler. John Bruce.

Here I am living the wrong side of the Irish Sea and being a builder of small layouts I confess to having a struggle with IRM's idea of "Triple Packs", I mean I won't need that many wagons (slight exaggeration!), however I have bitten the bullet and bought IRM Pack 1 with 3 nice Bulleid H vans inside and was wondering if anyone here in the UK would like one of these in exchange for a grey Palvan, mine are all as new, unused and can be your choice of wagon number. Let me know what you think. John Bruce.

Living here in North Hampshire I am quite lucky in having three model shops within easy driving distance (if you can afford the fuel!) plus a lively exhibition scene. As far as Heljan goes I had a Class 33 which all the "experts" told me had all the wrong curves on the cabs (nothing wrong with a few curves!) but ran like a dream even after I converted it to EM gauge, while currently I have one of their Class 07's in 00 which also is a superb runner so no grumbles from me there. But even as a 009 modeller I wouldn't touch the L&B loco's with a barge pole! John Bruce.

Seems to be about the going rate IMHO. John Bruce.

Some of those old tins might well surprise you with how long lasting they can be! John Bruce.

Scalefour stores are for members only except at Scaleforum (where you are teated as a guest) and so on, except if you have a friend who is a member and can do some shopping for you, hopefully I have some 21mm gauge axles on the way to me! Working to EM standards I don't mind doing some work on the W irons. John Bruce.

I must admit I am currently experimenting with a widened set of etched brass W irons to see about fitting them to one of Leslies earlier wagons, not for the possible advantages of compensation but for the look and strength of the thing! If successful then I'll get some proper old style RCH pattern to give a slightly lighter appearance. John Bruce.

For a small class of locomotives it seems quite a minefield, thank you all for your help and advice. As far as my G class (Worsley Works) is concerned we have a footplate and frames up together, angle brackets (footplate to frames) next and I'm not looking forward to those, vacuum pipes (lost wax brass) are sorted though. Must take some photo's before too long. John Bruce.

Leslie, are these for 16.5mm or 21mm gauge? John Bruce.

Thanks very much for that Paul, not sure how I missed the G class list. Cheers. John Bruce.

So, no snail on G class locomotives, but now I'm confused as I assumed (always a mistake!) that the plane(ish) black came before Black & Tan. Also I see the green G shown above is from the first batch....waiting for Silverfox to re-master their model unless anyone on here has an un-built one they don't need anymore . John Bruce.

I too had a list from him, nothing to interest me but I gather he is away for a couple of weeks. Hope this helps. John Bruce.

Just thinking ahead for my to be built G class. Given when the second batch of the G class locos were introduced, delivered from Deutz in a "green' but seeing no service in this colour, all repainted prior to service into simple black & white. My question would be given that at the time of their introduction the "Flying Snail" was still in use did the locomotives actually carry this? I know later the broken wheel logo was applied with Black & Tan livery from 1963 or 1964? Your thoughts would be most welcome

Hi Leslie, may I just say having helped Andy at a few exhibitions over the years I can honestly say his loco's do not de-rail unless something untoward happens, and that is despite the fact that unlike me he doesn't worship at the alter of "compensation" so his are rigid as a general rule. John Bruce.

So many exquisite parts that have seemingly gone from the market, indeed the work involved in making some of them is truly wonderful. I'm sure some clever soul could knock up something similar on his 3D printer but it won't shine like freshly turned brass and have the feel of something made by a craftsman. I'll get off my soapbox now! John Bruce.

If you're the wrong side of the Irish Sea and you're looking for a Murphy Models class 121 then DC Models would be a place to go with prices from £110.00 (with damaged handrail), grey livery at £125.00 plus P&P, actually they say on the website "No VAT to Eire or EU so perhaps something for everyone! John Bruce.

My unwelcome visitor is still hanging around like a bad smell, however I'm learning to work with him! Now given the space I have I could fall back on an Inglenook shunting puzzle but much as I enjoy a shunting puzzle I've been there and done that, and to be honest on this occasion I would like to have something where I can operate in a more railway like manner. So we are now having the back of a small signal cabin at the extreme front lefthand side as a view block with the platform and station platform deemed to be further to the left (thus off scene), so I am still hoping for my agricultural merchant/dealer by the rearmost righthand siding, the through line being deemed to have been lifted beyond the road bridge (steel girder with stone abutments), its former route being guarded by a redundant wooden signal post. Please ignore the mess/storage of valuable material below the layout! The abutment shown in the photograph I've borrowed from my EM gauge Light Railway to get an idea of the affect, the track is only sat in place at the moment while I contemplate manual point operation via a simple slide switch or by simple servo's, decisions, decisions! At this end of the model there will be a slightly skew roadbrige to help hide the actual end of the track, the girders will be a faded red oxide colour with grey stone abutments. That's the plan anyway. John Bruce.

It was good to see the layout and have a natter at Eastleigh on Saturday David, thanks for bringing it along. John Bruce.

Thanks for that Leslie, hope you're back up & running soon. Best given to both of the above even though Andy did not have his GWR broad gauge layout there due to a slight mishap when packing his car, so was running North British instead! Oh the life of the exhibitor! John Bruce.

Gosh, you've been busy over the festive season and into this new year, well done. John Bruce.

Thanks for clarifying that Leslie, might still bump into you at Southampton tomorrow? John Bruce.