I long ago decided that I wouldn't buy any more old style Athearn 'blue box' models. It's not that they're intrinsically bad, as such, it's just that there are a lot of better products around these days. Whilst these older models might eclipse the entire Hornby UK wagon range, they're very definitely entry level kits as far as US products go. A bit on the chunky side, but cheap enough to be a useful introduction to US modelling without being a deterrent.
Unfortunately I bought some by accident back in 1997, as a returnee to US modelling I'd spotted a new (to me) name in a magazine advert and ordered a dozen or so kits to see what they were like. As it turned out they were custom repaints of Athearn cars and have sat on the shelf ever since.
However, I recently fancied building some wagons, but wanted a change from my normal Parkside fix, so the Athearn pile was dusted off for a few evenings' entertainment. Being pre-painted and pre-lettered, there's not an awful lot to these kits, in fact it takes longer to replace the wheels, couplers and steel weights than it does to build the actual car itself. The models shown have just had the coupler pockets upgraded - as supplied they're not especially reliable, with a metal clip that inevitably falls off even if you manage to get it to stay put in the first place.
Actually, there's a place for these older kits on my layout in the short term. It's a relatively hostile environment whilst under construction, and a carelessly placed claw hammer can remove a lot of stirrup steps and grab irons from a passing train as I've found to my cost.
The US 'switching plank' layout-withing-a-layout, tacked onto my main layout in front of the fiddle yard/return loop area, has grown steadily. It now snakes under my photostage/workbench before turning through 180 degrees (behind the photographer) and ending up in another fiddle yard. This other fiddle yard is actually platform 3 of my UK layout where a crossover has been added to facilitate running round. To my mind this is a very effective shared use of space - I don't know why this solution didn't dawn on me earlier.
The wooden framework supporting the photostage was originally intended to be the base for a detachable shunting plank, something to be taken down into the warmth on cold winter nights. However, I'm gradually removing the frame and opening out this area as the plan has evolved somewhat. Changing the shunting area to a longer, thinner configuration and lowering it by six inches has enabled it to share the main fiddle yard (cheaper and quicker) whilst a dedicated test track has catered for downstairs requirements for some time now.
Initial thoughts are that this section will be something of a 'rat hole' with the industrial trackage being dwarfed by buildings which will also hide the rails from other areas of the layout. A friend suggested a diamond crossing and an interchange just behind the first car in the Kato SD70MACs' train and this is something I'm considering. I'm not entirely convinced, but a couple of Peco offcuts mark a possible location while I think about it. The return loops behind the train will ultimately be hidden and are not part of this schema.
This area may or may not evolve over the bank holiday weekend. Normally I'm quite productive at such times, opting not to join the national picnics on motorway hard-shoulders, but I must confess I've been playing trains a lot of late. This switching area has seen me doing a lot of operation using car cards and waybills, something I've not done seriously for eight years or more and thus a refreshing change.
Also refreshing are the first signs of UK N gauge being taken seriously by manufacturers. Dapol's diminutive Class 73 (seen here sheltering beneath a Kato AC4400CW in 3.5mm scale) is very Class 73 shaped indeed. With the odd exception, the lack of basically correct bodyshapes in the 4mm field has seen me fiddling more and more with UK N in the last six months. 73s, 170s and 158s are taking over the office here, along with cartons of track and assorted coaches and wagons, whilst the 'innovatively' shaped Hornby 31s have gone back in their boxes.
All isn't rosy in N gauge land, of course. The recent V2 is a major step backwards with it's 1960s retro toy train styling and is unlikely to appeal to anyone beyond the die-hard remainder of the N gauge market. But I don't have to buy a V2, what appeals to me is the possibility of a new wave of UK N products that might just appeal to more discerning buyers who would previously have laughed all the way home if you'd suggested they take the typically crude N gauge blobs seriously.
But if the rumours are anything more than just spin, Dapol have been a touch underwhelmed by the sales of their Class 73 so far. This is hardly suprising when you consider they've initially released the model in all of the obscure and one-off liveries. Expecting volume sales from niche one-offs is unreasonable at this stage. Where is the bread and butter corporate blue?
I hope Dapol hang in there long enough to see what the real market for these models actually is. I don't think the existing N gauge sector will constitute much of the potential market, ultimately. Better quality models will sell to people who previously wouldn't have entertained the idea of N, whether they be modelling in different scales (like myself) or returning to the hobby. It's no good Dapol surveying the existing N gauge sector to find out what the old guard want - the real market is 'out there' somewhere. It'll take a while for word to get out...
... by which time let's hope someone has had the b*lls to tackle the issue of those monumentally awful legacy couplers that still plague the N gauge market to this day. They really do the models no favours at all.
Bach in the 4mm world, I eventually got the lid off my Bachmann Class 66. The problematic screw was locked solid, and I should have returned the faulty model for exchange. However, I was let down badly by a supplier who sold all of his second batch despite knowing I was waiting for a replacement, so I decided it was make or break time. I applied ever increasing amounts of force until, eventually, the screw itself sheared off. The main thread is still embedded in the body and nothing will shift it.
Fortunately the loss of one screw isn't critical. The body is also held on by six clips, three at each end forming part of the glazing. I've at last been able to get the Bachmann shed into revenue earning service and performance under DCC is excellent, the Lenz Gold decoder I chose proving to be an ideal match.
If you've got a problem with the screws on your Class 66 then take it back for replacement - don't apply ever increasing force until something breaks. This perfectly illustrates the importance of buying from a dealer who you can trust not to fob you off with excuses about nobody else having the problem - this issue with these screws has been widely reported.
Finally, I've been throwing out a large number of junkers lately, in an effort to tidy up a little. Obviously anything that could raise a worthwhile price has been sold, and other items cannibalised for spares where possible. But ultimately I was left with the dregs that could only go in the wheelie bin and, in many cases, should have gone that way years ago. Quite why I kept all the donor Mainline bodyshells from long-dead Peak projects, I don't know. When I was young (and was going to live forever) I used to make one Peak out of two, with twin power bogies, flusher grilles and raised noses. The remaining carcass is of no value at all.
Of course, when I foolishly let this slip online there was an outcry from the shallower end of the gene pool. How could a real railway modeller possibly throw anything away? One raving moron was particularly obnoxious about it. An Icelandic gentleman, I believe, from Reknaw. A very backward community...
Currently On My Stereo: John Fogerty - Blue Moon Swamp
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I've just finished sticking the fiddly bits on to my most recent Kato SD70MAC. I must have almost a dozen Katos still awaiting full assembly and I'm trying to do a bit of catching up. Although the parts fit where they're supposed to (unlike Heljan's Western, for example) it's still a fairly time consuming job. Not the end of the world, but a waste of good, layout-building time. Irritating, rather than wildly annoying - or at least it is until one of the little blighters pings across the room onto the carpet...
You know how it is. It's always a critical part like a windscreen wiper, rather than one of the grab-rails they give you spares of. It's always the same colour as the carpet, even though it's not the same colour as the area of the model you were trying to fit it to. And you can never see it, so you end up sweeping your hands across the floor in the hope that you'll feel it or see it move. Of course, all you find are a few dozen rather painful strands of fibre-glass from your burnishing pencil and you end up with hands like pin-cushions. Still, at least it stops you m*st*rb*t*ng for a few days.
I'm getting the hang of modern superpower, at last, although it's taken me a while. Having always been into the 60s and 70s scene, with glorious Alcos and the earlier EMDs, the garish liveries and brutish looks of more recent years seemed a trifle sudden for my tastes. But it's different once they're in model form and on the layout. Some of these modern machines are truly awesome, and I can even tolerate the BNSF Heritage II livery in subdued light.
Finally, some photos of a couple of recent US HO releases that have visited my layout, not particularly newsworthy now as they've been on sale for a good while. I didn't upload the photos originally as Chris Collins beat me to it - he'd got the first of these pics on his Fotopic site before I'd even finished cropping the last ones.
Chris has recently set up a Yahoo! group for anyone interested in American Railroad Modelling in the UK - well worth joining. Is nothing safe from the hands of this guy? Certainly not donuts or single mothers...
Atlas's model of GE's Dash 8-40CW has a few cheesey bits (the outline of the radiator fan and the low-slung chain on the trailing truck spring to mind) but all-in-all it's a gobsmackingly good model. For those not up to speed with US railroading, GE stands for General Electric, one of the two big manufacturers of the real thing. The 'W' in 'Dash 8-40CW' denotes the wide cab version of the preceding 'Dash 8-40C' which is also available from Atlas. You've probably guessed that the 'C' denotes 3 axles per truck (bogie, in English) as opposed to the 2 axles of the 'B' models. The 'Dash 8-40B' is, yet again, available from Atlas.
The model has a commendable level of very fine detailing pre-installed, a very refreshing chance if you're used to frittering away an afternoon on a Kato. It should be noted, however, that there are still extra parts supplied for the user to add, although these have not been fixed in place in these photos.
As well as being available in regular DC flavours, the model can be bought off the shelf with not just DCC but sound as factory installed options. Excellent value for money, whichever variant you choose.
Athearn's SD60 is also a very impressive model, if not quite up to the standard of it's Atlas rival. Personally I find the paint finish on Athearn products a little lumpy and the drives variable, with a hint of a metallic sound betraying the Athearn heritage on even the better examples. But from a UK modeller's perspective I'm nit-picking here, these items are so far ahead of all of the UK diesels I own that I'm not going to worry. I'll certainly end up owning a large number of Athearn's more recent SD45T-2.
The SD60 comes from the other big US manufacturer, GM's Electro-Motive Division. GM also provided the Class 59s and Class 66s familiar to UK enthusiasts, note the 3 axle trucks that look suspiciously similar to those found underneath the Class 59s. EMD have always referred to their 6 axle locos as 'SD' or 'Special Duty', as opposed to their 'GP' or 'General Purpose' 4 axle designs.
Part of Athearn's 'Ready To Roll' range (as opposed to being a stick it together yourself number) the SD60 is well worth considering if you're in the market for some relatively modern 6 axle power.
Currently On My Stereo: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
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Time flies by, when you're the driver of a train. It's almost two years since I decided a crossover would be useful at the exit of my fiddle yard, but it's only now I've got around to installing one. The photo above was taken on 31/05/03 and shows a few spare pieces of track lying on the running lines whilst I pondered this addition.
In truth, the crossover was never essential, which was why it wasn't installed when the layout was built. The fiddle yard was designed to be 'self staging' as our US cousins would have it, with trains leaving via reverse loops to provide totally hands-off running sessions. But at other times the complete isolation of the fast and slow lines was an irritation - when pulling stock from one half of the yard for track cleaning purposes, for example. Furthermore, when I started planning for a US 'layout within a layout' switching area at this point on 11/09/04, the crossover became an actual operating requirement.
So, over the last week, most of my train time has been spent grafting an extra section of baseboard onto this area and installing new trackwork...
With the extra couple of inches of board installed, space has been found for two sidings as well as a crossover. When operating in UK mode, this is the exit from the lower fiddle yard and all trains leave to the left of the photo. The Class 47 is on the fast line and the Class 25 is on the slow - both will double back using the return loops, just visible through the forest of timber on the upper right.
The newly installed crossover can be seen between the two locos. Bear in mind that this is the fiddle yard - the track formation isn't supposed to be prototypical. In fact none of the new track is used at all when running UK trains.
Play American trains, however, and the new trackwork comes into it's own. Firstly, it should be noted that US trains flow around the reverse loops in an anti-clockwise direction and enter the fiddle yard from the opposite end to that normally used. The line upon which a GP20 and three GP30s (1960s super-power!) are arriving is simply the 'main' and trains can enter any road in the fiddle yard thanks to the new crossover. What is the slow line in UK mode becomes a yard lead, as US trains do not use the outer loop for reasons detailed in the 11/09/04 entry.
The two new sidings in the foreground become part of the 'layout within a layout' for US switching, and will be used in conjunction with the existing siding seen in the top right of the picture. Switching puzzles will thus be interesting as they straddle the main line and the sidings face in oppposite directions. With no local run-round at this end of the yard, switchers will either have to run around the reverse loop or travel the full length of the main yard, a journey of about eighty feet there and back. This is just a thinly disguised excuse to use two locos for these operations, as you might have guessed.
I feel I should apologise for the loose wires hanging down below the board, this section isn't properly wired in as yet and has only been tested using crocodile clips. I did make a start on the wiring several nights ago, but realised I hadn't installed the uncoupling magnets - so up came the track for a bout of midnight chiselling.
Another view, taken from over the layout this time. This was never supposed to be a scenic area, so working something convincing in around those roof timbers will be challenging. However, only a small part of the area needs to be made presentable for a switching scenario and the operator will have restricted lines-of-sight. So things aren't as difficult as they could be and I have a few fairly good ideas that I'm evaluating.
In real terms this 'layout within a layout' is pretty much a freebie, utilising otherwise dead-space at the end of the existing fiddle-yard. Built using timber offcuts and track left over from the main layout, it's cost me well under £20 for one turnout, some insulating rail joiners and a couple of uncoupling magnets. I think I've already had more than twenty quid's worth of entertainment out if it.
The black-painted pieces of wood are temporary stop-blocks, placed to prevent enthusiastically driven trains doing a Triple Mortimore (TM) dive into space. Squares of brown paper are just visible covering the point-motor holes. In the distance you can see the train has just crested the grade where it emerges from the rat-hole and how the spur on the left is level track. As well as providing access to the two new sidings, this track will provide staging for a transfer freight during an operating session.
Finally, a birds-eye view of the whole area, crudely stitched together in Photoshop. The camera angle makes some of the turnouts look sharper than they actually are and everything looks an utter mess at the moment, but ballasting and urban scenery will transform things. The crazy paving effect cork underlay is a clear sign of a man running out of supplies at 2am and scavenging amongst leftovers...
Currently On My Stereo: Half Man Half Biscuit - The Trumpton Riots EP
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The latest addition to the roster: a pair of the recent Kato SD38-2s. Being in essence a GP38-2 on a longer, six-axle chassis for greater tractive effort, these machines found favour with some roads (including my favourite Southern Pacific) for yard work. These models aren't destined for my main layout, however, but for a side project. When using the US switching area shoe-horned into the dead-space at the end of my fiddle yard, these will handle transfer runs from another yard in the Chicago area.
The SD38-2's common ancestry with Kato's older SD40-2 is immediately obvious, but there is evidence of evolution. Proper wiring has returned - gone are the awful brass strips that caused so many problems on the SD40-2s. There is more chassis detail and the fuel tanks have a sound-ready void as seen on the recent AC4400CW, should you wish to install your own speaker and sound decoder.
Brake cylinders and pipes now come ready-fixed in place - not self-assembly as in the SD40-2 and not the half-hearted moulded attempts as seen on the AC4400CW. Extra sprues of detail parts are now supplied in various hues to accomodate those areas where the grab rails should be a different colour, and the hand rails have separate white end pieces.
The finish on both of my samples was poor, with pronounced overspray between colours. Not a major issue this time, as I intend to repaint into a slightly different livery, but it emphasises the need to check these things at the point of purchase.
For comparison purposes, the SD38-2 is seen next to a Missouri Pacific SD40-2...
...we don't get cab sunshades this time around.
Currently On My Stereo: Radiohead - OK Computer
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Bachmann's new 4mm model of the Class 66 comes as a very pleasant suprise indeed. Photos of samples displayed at the Toy Fair earlier this year weren't very encouraging, but in the flesh things are a whole lot better. A whole lot better indeed...
To say a model 'captures the look of the real thing' is a phrase that, in recent times, has been worn out to the point of worthlessness, used as it is on a regular basis by the WeveNeverHadItSoGood brigade to excuse any old piece of junk that barely resembles a prototype. Yet, to my eyes at least, the Bachmann 66 looks very much like a 66 and I offer this observation as genuine praise, not as the vacuous toadying it often is. Certainly the model looks much more like it's prototype than Hornby's recent slab-sided Class 31 managed.
The tooling is much finer than Bachmann are renowned for. This isn't a chunky. There are a lot of nice touches, such as the knuckle coupler swung to the side (one end only) and the lift bars.
Much of the criticism levelled at the first examples seen centred around the front end. The windows were the wrong shape and ill-fitting components left a vulgar chasm across the face of the loco.
Regrettably these errors have not been corrected in the production models, however they are not particularly apparent under normal layout conditions. Shoving a camera under the model's nose tends to highlight these deficiencies, but they're not something I'm going to worry about in reality. The Freightliner liveried release, however, might be a different kettle of fish altogether, as the yellow front could emphasise the window shape.
A selection of separate components add relief to the busy and exposed underframe area, although a lot of detail is absent. Something for an enterprising aftermarket manufacturer to address, perhaps.
Some fine etching is a major improvement on Bachmann's infamous 'fishnet fanny' and again, when operating under layout conditions, looks excellent.
The paintwork is a little fuzzy in places, something I've noticed on a lot of Bachmann DMUs recently. Bachmann can do much better than this, and need to take steps to regain their previous standards in this area.
The roof profile is pretty good, if not perfect. This was the main failing of the old Lima model, which had a very pointed look to it when compared with the wide and flatter appearance of the prototype. The outer slopes on Bachmann's model aren't quite as steep as they should be, which means the other planes have been adjusted to compensate. Combined with the too square windows (higher than they should be, in relation to their width) this still gives a the model a little bit of a 'pointy' air to it which looked odd the first time I saw it. But there's a big difference between looking a little odd and looking bl**dy awful - for my money I've seen a lot worse and it's not a show-stopper for me this time around.
The NEM coupler pocket is actually at the correct height for a change. The model is driven on all axles (unlike previous releases such as the 37) although pick-ups aren't provided on every wheel. A standard DCC socket is fitted, as are both front and rear lights. The front lights use blue-white LEDs rather than the much better golden-whites now common on overseas models. Unfortunately the much heralded day/night time running is controlled by a switch underneath and merely serves to deactivate one of the lights. As the side lights are just painted on you don't get the characteristic effect you might have seen when watching the real things.
While this model doesn't come close to US or European standards and isn't without it's own selection of errors, it is certainly a colossal improvement over previous Bachmann diesels. The trick, I suppose, is to produce a model which satisfies as big a chunk of the market as is possible at a given price point. I suspect Bachmann have done well in this respect with the Class 66, offering a model that is going to sell to a lot more than just the established and undiscerning collector and train set sectors. I'm really pleased with my 66135 and eagerly want to buy more - the exact opposite of the 'blue box blues' I normally get.
I strongly recommend you cast your eyes over this release and see if it takes your fancy. But one word of warning, the screws holding the body onto the chassis seem to be causing problems for many. I've not been able to remove the body from mine in order to fit a decoder. If you get a faulty one don't force things - take it back to the retailer for a better sample.
Currently On My Stereo: Shed Seven - A Maximum High
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I'm currently evaluating a few items of Roco HO Code 83 trackwork, including this double-slip. Intended for the hidden staging areas of my layout, slips are great space-savers but I've never been happy with the common or garden Peco product. Aesthetically they introduce too sharp a bend into the layout and I've always found them to cause a certain number of derailments - not good as I demand 99.99% reliability.
The Roco equivalent has a much gentler 10 degree crossing angle and comes with a user-friendly system for switching frog polarity. The only unknown is it's reliability in service, so a formation of Roco trackwork is being built into the layout to see how it copes with long, loose-coupled goods trains. The finer profiles of many of the wheels I use under UK stock are a world apart from the standard European pastry-cutters.
The double-slip is seen alongside a Peco long crossing for comparison purposes - sorry, I haven't got a Peco double-slip to photograph.
Although the Roco trackwork can be operated with my preferred Tortoise motors, in this instance I'm using Roco's own above-baseboard units. They're quick and easy to install and their lack of visual appeal isn't an issue in hidden areas.
Limited clearances under this triple-level area of the layout render Tortoises unsuitable and I was looking around for alternatives. In the past I've always dismissed Roco and similar systems as unsuitable for 'serious' use, but having seen them in service on Nigel Emery's layout I realised I was missing the obvious. I should have been applying functional criteria to hidden trackwork design, not aesthetic.
A Roco 10 degree turnout provides a smoother curve than the equivalent Peco large radius point. The above baseboard motor provides an almost completely plug'n'play solution, even catering for frog polarity switching, and I can't help wondering how much time I'd have saved if I'd used Roco products throughout my fiddle yard and staging areas.
Unless you're purely a collector, track is the critical foundation for any layout, yet the modeller is singularly poorly served in this area. Beyond the set-track end of the train set market, the new entrant to the hobby is presented with obstacles to be overcome rather than solutions to be used. I've long since ceased to view messing around with point motor alignment and frog polarity switching as 'modelling' - I just see it as p*ss*ng away a large part of my life.
Also in 'goods in' this week is a spare set of plug-in Lenz connectors from Mackay Models. Although in theory I have two Lenz Set 01s so I can operate two layouts, this rarely works out in practice. The temptation to nick bits from one system to use on the other is just too great. Matters came to a head recently when I bought an extra transformer to enable the downstairs layout to be entirely self contained - suffice to say the transformer got absorbed into the loft layout immediately and never once saw use in it's intended location.
So I've decided to give in. With a set of plugs permanently wired into both layouts, a system can be quickly unplugged from one and attached to another. In theory this gives me maximum flexibility. In theory...
Currently On My Stereo: Placebo - Once More With Feeling
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Hornby's new GWR Grange 4-6-0 is a breath of fresh air after the disappointing Class 31 and the extremely poor Gresley coaches. Not a perfect model, of course, but at least it's reasonably Grange shaped. I guess you can't get away with flattening the sides of a boiler in the same way you can with a diesel or coach body.
I have no idea why Hornby chose to make the cab roof so thick, it certainly doesn't sit well alongside the much older King - a strange step backwards. I'm not very impressed with the droopy slide-bars, either. All things that make a model average rather than a top-drawer product.
In truth I've not had time to give the model a thorough going over, or even fit a decoder as yet, but the running qualities of my sample are exemplary. All wheels are concentric and accurately quartered, thus avoiding that characteristic waddling gait, so reminiscent of George Cole as 'Flash Harry' in the St. Trinians films. It's seen here perched on a Roco double-slip, more about those another time...
Currently On My Stereo: The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
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These are a couple of recent Hornby coaches, based loosely on Gresley designs, displaying the infernal tension lock couplings that the 4mm modeller is expected to suffer. To my mind, tension locks are easily the poorest design I've seen in any scale and of any nationality. They cause derailments, they frequently won't couple, it's difficult to lift coupled vehicles from the layout and they look utterly dreadful. But perhaps their least endearing characteristic is the colossal gap between coaches - is this really the best we can do in 2005?
Fortunately improvements are to be had easily and cheaply. Hornby have equipped these coaches with the NEM 362 standard coupler socket, which means you can choose from a wide range of coupling devices and plug them straight in. My preference for use within rakes of coaches is the Roco close coupler, product reference 40270 for a pack of four or reference 40271 for a bumper pack of fifty from the usual Roco suppliers such as Mackay Models.
Not only do these couplers provide excellent visual results (the coaches in the photo are pulled as far apart as they'll go) but they also provide a rigid link between the two vehicles. This ensures the pivoting coupler socket built into the Hornby coaches works at optimum efficiency, something that most other alternatives simply don't manage. Despite the wedged-up-tight appearance, these coaches negotiate all curves on my layout, and are quite happy with the set-track curves on my test track oval, too. An added bonus is that the coupler, by design, allows you to easily lift vehicles from a train.
For rakes of coaches, these Rocos are my favourite by a country mile, and at around fifteen quid for a bag of fifty you'd have to be clinically insane not to at least consider them.
The depressing thing is that Roco have been making these things since at least 1976 to my knowledge, possibly longer, and you tend to get them as standard in the box - along with one or two other coupling types for your consideration. Yet over here we're still having tension locks force fed to us. Isn't it time that the likes of Hornby came to an agreement with Roco to provide this basic functionality with the product?
No rush, chaps, it's not until next year that you'll be 30 years behind...
Currently On My Stereo: The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium
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Faced with a form that asks 'Hobbies?' I get the overwhelming urge to put 'rebuilding my fiddle yard' and come clean. I'm on the tweak again...
About to embark upon some much needed maintenance and modification, I thought it best to tidy up the wiring first. This is the messy first stage of the layout, where everything was screwed to the nearest clear patch of timber in an effort to get something running quickly. So another of the inevitable drop-boards has been built today, and is pictured prior to being screwed in place under the baseboard. Final wiring-in will then take place and cable ties will make things look a little neater, but the bulk of this tedious chore was undertaken in the warm downstairs, sitting in a comfy chair whilst listening to music on the Hi-Fi.
The two white boxes on the left are Lenz LK100 reversing loop modules, simple gizmos that control the two reversing loops of the lower fiddle yard. Bottom centre is a Lenz LS100 module for controlling four points. Everything else is, strictly speaking, not required under DCC, but is there to cater for my track-circuiting and computer control fetish. The eight green things are Lenz LB100 track circuit modules (the older version of the current LB101) feeding into a Lenz LR100 feedback module, the predecessor of the current LR101. In simple terms you're looking at sixteen individual track circuits, around half of what's needed to run this end of the fiddle yard.
Currently On My Stereo: The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
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Some recent additions to the collection are these Roco locos. For many of us who've actually been resident on planet earth for a decade or two, models of this minimum standard have long been not a pipedream but a reality, something taken for granted. It's against this background that it's often difficult to understand why the NeverHadItSoGooders continually drone on about the great quality of UK RTR. It's against products such as these that the average Bachmann loco looks, frankly, ridiculous. So far behind in terms of standards that it's beyond the pale.
Although the typical modern Euro loco has fairly spartan lines, the typical model still manages to sport an awful lot of detail - to the extent that many of us can't see anything special about the recent Hornby Class 31 that the press are currently praising to the hilt. This BR 189 electric is a classic example, there's far more to it than any UK release. Four decent pantographs for a start - how many UK electrics have even one?
This OBB 2016 (commonly known as a 'Hercules') is plainer still, being a typical modern diesel without all the gizmos found on top of electrics. But it still exudes an air of quality. Even where Roco have used printed lines (the rubber seals on the prototype being almost completely flush) they're a world apart from those used on the infamous Bachmann Deltic. The model is not just DCC-Ready but sound-ready, too, and retails for around the recommended price of a Heljan's Western. Yet the two European-made products are like chalk and cheese.
Also recently acquired is yet another Kato SD70MAC, dependable performers in both prototype and model form. This one looks a little bare as I've around six million detail parts yet to add.
Every home should have at least one SD70MAC, in fact in some areas of Cornwall it's believed that local bye-laws require you to own a couple of dozen...
Currently On My Stereo: Jethro Tull - Crest of a Knave
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Some fresh scribbling on this site is long overdue, unfortunately I've started writing a number of lengthier pieces but failed to quite finish them. So a short, sharp OMWB entry is called for, and what better way to do that than with a handful of wagon snaps?
I've been catching up with RTR wagon purchases of late, as I'd fallen a little behind - partly because I'd been fiddling with kits and partly because most releases weren't quite what I needed for layout use. These Bachmann POA and PNA models are a case in point. They don't fit any layout scenario I can currently envisage (although this changes on a daily basis) and I'm not especially impressed with the chassis. But ultimately I couldn't resist a few for the collection.
The revised Bachmann MFAs, on the other hand, have a much more pleasing chassis following the recent upgrade...
...compare the chunky brake levers on the older model (closest to camera) with the much more refined versions on the replacement.
Also upgraded was the HEA family of hoppers, something we've possibly seen more models of over the years than anything apart from the mighty Gresley Pacifics.
The chassis detail is much improved and now includes various discrete components, not least of which are the separate buffer heads. Compare the much crisper spring detail of the new model with the older specimen on the left. One slight drawback with this upgrade is the fact that the gubbins from which the springs hang are now a little too far from the solebar, which is a shame.
Also a shame is the body tooling, which now looks decidely ropey compared to the new chassis. It's obviously taken a hammering over the years, and now sports various imperfections including a couple of holes in the middle of one side. But the model offers a worthwhile improvement overall, nevertheless - I was happy enough to buy in quantity.
Currently On My Stereo: Jethro Tull - Minstrel In The Gallery
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