For the last few weeks, as time permitted, I've been replacing the Peco point motors on my layout with the Tortoise equivalents. What started as just a 'fix on fail' exercise soon snowballed into mass replacement, on the grounds that it was as good a time as any. While up was being heaved, I also took the opportunity to tweak track alignments here and there, add the odd siding, reinstate the much-missed four track main, squeeze in a few more DCC track circuits - generally render my train set inoperable, in fact.
Although there's still a lot to do, today was the big day when full services could at last be test-run on three out of four lines, so I eagerly sent a DMU rattling on it's way from the staging yard to platform 3. Unfortunately it approached the station somewhat indecisively, running quite happily but straddling two adjacent lines in a manner I've not experienced before.
Caused, no doubt, by a combination of new track-circuit blocks that I've not correctly incorporated into the existing routes and the much slower response time of the Tortoise motors, a crossover seems to have moved under the passing train. This should be easy enough to rectify, in theory, but so far I've only managed to alter the problem, not fix it.
At times like this I'm glad my loft has no windows. Otherwise the unfortunate DMU would have been thrown out of one a couple of hours ago.
Currently On My Stereo: Spock's Beard - Octane
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Just off the workbench and sitting in the loft waiting to be fixed into place - another one of those lumps of wood with bits on. As I'd already got some track up to fit Tortoises I thought I might as well revamp some other aspects of the UK part of the layout. As well as slowly Tortoising every point, I've added a few extra track sections and some connections for a local control panel. The latter just lets me trigger random trains if I want to sit and watch the trains go by. I've been putting this off for ages, as the 'serious' side of operation took precedence.
I've done so many of these planks now (no, there's not a GWR BLT on the back!) that I'm thinking I should go into business manufacturing them. Rustic Electrics, perhaps, or Digital Driftwood...
Currently On My Stereo: Rush - R30
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I've fitted a good number of Tortoises over the last week or so, and have just made a start on the latest batch. Mind you, when I say latest batch I'm conveniently forgetting yet another bundle that arrived this morning. I'm slipping behind.
Thanks are due to fellow Telfordian Ian Morton for inspiration behind the title of this piece.
Currently On My Stereo: Rush - R30
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At long last Heljan's Cargowaggon is in the shops, and if that's not enough to get a chap excited there's a choice of 8 different livery/number/weathering combinations into the bargain.
In the past, modellers have resorted to pressing a variety of manufacturers' HO models into service to represent some of these common prototypes, so it's good to be able to pick up a proper 4mm variant after all these years.
Oh dear. Barwell syndrome.
Although the model is fitted with the traditional European pivotted/extending NEM socket arrangement allowing easy negotiation of curves...
...there's a little too much slop in the mechanism. The result is that, when fitted with typical close-couplers such as Rocos, the wagons aren't actually coupled that closely on the straight. You're not going to get buffer-to-buffer closeness with this arrangement.
Finally, a few shots showing a comparison with a Roco HO model.
A fairly pointless comparison, admittedly, as the Roco 3.5mm example is a model of a slightly different wagon, but it's a comparison that a lot of modellers are nevertheless bound to be making over the coming weeks.
If nothing else, it shows why many modellers have found these things acceptable on 4mm layouts - there's not such a huge size difference with these specific models as you'd expect.
Currently On My Stereo: Rush - Counterparts
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I don't, by and large, indulge myself in the special run or limited edition market. In fact, if truth be told, I'm not even aware of what's available most of the time - since I discovered moist wipes I no longer take 'Railway Modeller' and the like. However, I caught sight of this pair of Harburn Hobbies special run bitumen tanks on the BRM web-site two days ago and felt The Need.
The models are based on the old Airfix GMR tank wagon which has been part of the Hornby range for many years now. I must admit to a soft spot for the old Airfix gear, despite any shortcomings, as we're both of an age. The printing on this particular pair is first rate, as you'd expect from Hornby these days.
I'm afraid I'd cut the tension lock couplings off before I thought about taking any photos - old habits die hard.
Typical of the genre, the models feature authentic lettering applied to a 'nearest match' commercial product. The real thing can be seen in plate 90 of Cheona's 'Railways in Profile Series #14, British Railway Private Owner Tank Wagons' if you're interested.
Currently On My Stereo: Marillion - Marbles By The Sea
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Another pile of DCC goodies for the layout, ordered yesterday from Mackay Models and received first thing this morning in the manner to which I have become accustomed.
As well as the distinctive LRC120 display module, postie delivered a couple of Lenz LB101 block detectors and LR101 feedback modules. I'm using the LR101s largely for connecting push buttons to the system in this instance, which explains the small number of corresponding LB101s.
Currently On My Stereo: Boston - Walk On
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While model shop shelves are littered with Hornby's Lima re-issues, informed shoppers will be digging deeper and hunting out the products of the seemingly ever-active Bachmann. Latest from the industrious Barwell firm is another 100% brand new release, the Freightliner HHA bogie coal hopper, and it's a monster. I've just got to have more.
The continued economic feasibility of products such as this serves to underline the almost total fantasy world popularised by some of the hobby's more visible representatives over the years. These things form block trains, the kind of things that don't fit on layouts that are little more than sector plates with one end dipped in flock. They're bought by people who expect to run trains, not build yet another P4 test track. Above all, they not only sell in quantity but also sell out. The hobby, it seems to me, is a very different shape to that outlined by the etched brass horsebox contingent. Far from the end of the world being neigh, sorry nigh, releases like the HHA, HTA, JGA and intermodals speak of a very vibrant market as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway, time to look at couplers again. If I don't, who will? Those lengthy articles about assembling whitemetal kettle kits that have been out of production for fifteen years are clearly far more important.
Oh dear, just when I thought Bachmann was getting the hang of coupler socket positioning, this one is a bit of a step backward. The height is not good...
...and neither is the distance from the buffer faces. These wagons won't go around curves if coupled with the Roco close couplers, I'd suggest using the Hornby equivalent if you're after something along those lines.
Nevertheless, aside from a few niggles such as couplers and a fuzzy edge to the green paint, this is another cracking release for my money and I'm sure an awful lot of these will be running in homes throughout the country before long. As they carry coal, of course, weathering will be a high priority for many modellers. If you're in realism mode, don't forget the battering the internal partitions can take!
Currently On My Stereo: Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny
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Few model railway enthusiasts can have failed to notice that it's a time of transition for DCC in the UK. Having long since achieved critical mass in the high ground of the dedicated enthusiast sector, DCC is now poised to sweep across the plains and take the capital, the traditional train set core market. In broad terms this puts DCC not just in your local model shop, but also in Argos and Marks & Spencer, making it just another commodity item.
I've long been looking forward to this because, although I'm already in deep and don't want the train set items personally, I do want the other benefits that mass market penetration brings. I want the ability to easily pick up DCC items in local shops. I want the ability to buy sound-equipped UK products off the shelf. I want cheaper prices on core kit plus a proliferation of the more esoteric, not so cheap items that a larger market will encourage. But now it's finally happening here, I'm not so sure.
DCC is a stable, tried and tested solution that's been around for ages. It's built upon a bedrock of standardisation and interchangability that, apart from the odd rogue brand, we've always been able to rely upon. I've been using equipment from a mix of manufacturers for over ten years now and I've never had any problems. Yet, all of a sudden, problems are out there.
Bachmann releases supposedly DCC-Ready locos with a non-standard socket that you can't actually plug your decoders into. Hornby's Select system doesn't get on with some other manufacturers' decoders. Bachmann releases a decoder that won't even take the basic four-digit addressing that I've been able to rely upon ever since I started. Hornby upsets a large number of it's customers with a premature 'DCC only' policy on key new releases. I could go on. These things aren't teething troubles, DCC sorted it's teething troubles out more than ten years ago. This is just the UK market doing what the UK market always does. Come on guys, pull your fingers out!
Unfortunately, I think the battle is already lost. With my Electric Nostradamus hat on, I see a tide of proprietary products heading this way that are high on styling and feng-shui but low on core functionality and interoperability. I see mobs of brand-loyal fan-boys fighting it out online, in a Mac-versus-PC, Nintendo-versus-Xbox kind of way. Forgive me if this seems cynical, but I've spent a decade watching ZTC users blaming their own unique problems on every other manufacturer out there - I think I know how it works by now.
Currently On My Stereo: Judas Priest - Stained Class
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Ever since I was knee-high to a train spotter, ballast trains have been an integral part of the railway scene around me. From a modelling perspective, the hobby has been reasonably well-served for much of this period by the Cambrian range of plastic kits, although I don't think I'll be upsetting my usual quota of people if I suggest putting these b*gg*rs together isn't everyone's idea of quality time.
On the RTR front, the prime contender for your historical beer-tokens has always been the Lima Sealion. This is the point where, traditionally, I'm supposed to say how it was "good in it's day" and studiously fail to add "only if you dreamed of living in a shoe-box in the middle of the road and thought nothing of immediately replacing the bogies on a brand new purchase" - but I really can't be bothered today. That's ancient history as far as I'm concerned.
Ballast train modelling has been revitalised over the last year or so. The real star for me has been Hornby's Seacow, a generally excellent product that, I'm pleased to say, is entirely inconsistent with the rest of Hornby's wagon range. Apart from some relatively minor detail errors, the Seacow's main faults are operational. It's too light, doesn't have NEM coupling sockets and represents the less common welded body-style - you really need the rivetted version in quantity rather than this one. But as an individual product out of the box it's still a cracker and very, very recommendable.
On top of this landmark release we've had the Heljan Dogfish (far too chunky for my tastes but still a worthwhile alternative to struggling with Cambrian kits) a whole host of related modern 4-wheelers from Bachmann plus Hornby's own second attempt at the Coalfish. In recent weeks Hornby has also regurgitated the old Lima Sealion, with upgraded bogies and the finely-moulded (but not quite right for Sealions) end details grafted on from the Seacow. In fairness, this latter item isn't a bad product per se and will certainly offer variety to the brand-loyal hobbyist. But in the more 'serious' parts of the market this will inevitably be seen as little more than a spoiler for...
... Bachmann's all-new model of the common or garden rivetted Sealion. Available so far in three different liveries and three different end-platform configurations, this is the one many of us have been waiting for. Personally I'm well pleased with this new product, this is what Bachmann does well.
Another thing Bachmann does well is 'chunky', but fortunately this release is sufficiently fine that it's a worthy partner for Hornby's welded Seacow. Although not without a few detail errors of it's own, it's generally a more accurate model than Hornby's re-issued Lima rivetted item which it's now going head-to-head with in the shops. You can see which manufacturer has got my money this time around, but the choice is yours. Good news all round for those wanting to put together some authentic rakes.
In the minor quibble department, Bachmann has once again provided a bag of detail parts with no instruction as to where they're supposed to go. For those without a doctorate in wagonology, the four sets of white steps press into sockets on the four corners of the wagon, and the two handwheel assemblies fit into similar sockets at one end only - see the above photo.
Mr Thicky here couldn't work out what the black, hose-like thing was supposed to be, but I'm told it's a hose. Oh! Yes! It fits into a hole in the buffer beam, as hoses do. I wouldn't worry too much about the bag'o'bits, however, as bogie and coupler swing on typical layouts is going to prevent most users from fitting these parts.
I'm especially pleased with the presence of a NEM coupler socket on these wagons. It's even at the correct height, something Bachmann frequently doesn't worry itself about, although the coupler does droop a fair bit in the oversize socket. This isn't particularly visible in the photo as the trip pin is resting on the height gauge, but the usual plasticard shim in the socket should see things right.
Alas, the socket is set back too far behind the buffer faces, making it impossible to use Roco close-couplers if you've even the slightest of curves on your layout. Use the longer Hornby equivalent instead.
The Bachmann and Hornby wagons make an interesting comparison in this area (see here, here and here for previous mutterings) as Hornby simply hasn't bothered with a NEM socket at all. I don't know who started the feeble "can't be done" excuse for Hornby back at the time of release, but I hope they're feeling suitably embarassed at this point.
Time for a look at a couple of prototype photos, methinks, before I go off on a rant about crawly-bumlick apologist morons...
One thing that seems to be causing a small amount of confusion amongst modellers planning their purchases is the protective mesh above the end platforms on those models with the older olive livery. In actual fact the model would be correct either with...
...or without this detail. Indeed the above photo shows a prototype without this as late as 1987.
This is of particular interest for me as I've been neglecting my 1970s interests of late and the olive green models are just what's needed to restore the balance. In fact, if Bachmann could manage an olive version with the mesh as a future release, I'd be very happy indeed, although I'm not entirely sure I've ever seen the configuration as depicted on my lone 'Dutch' example.
Currently On My Stereo: Jethro Tull - War Child
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Despite an overwhelming lack of BR Blueness, I eventually purchased one of Bachmann's sound-equipped Class 20s. Hurrah!
Unfortunately the sound decoder is kn*ckered, so it had to go back. Oh, I said, you naughty, naughty train...
Currently On My Stereo: Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous
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I'm currently in the middle of a rolling point-motor upgrade programme, with Peco offerings being replaced by the ever-reliable Tortoise.
It's not the Peco point motors that have precipitated this upgrade, however, but the Peco points themselves. The little cover at 'B' in the photograph works loose, reducing the effectiveness of spring 'A' until the point no longer throws reliably. Although the offending items can be adjusted/replaced, they're never quite the same again.
Ironically, I used to use the Tortoise motors in the past, but after the last house move I went for Peco purely to get things running swiftly. There's nothing quicker than clipping a Peco motor directly to the point and cutting a hole in the baseboard, so I thought I'd trade a little sophistication for speed. Unfortunately, although I'd used the Peco ensemble without significant problems in the past, this proved to be an unwise choice.
My current layout has been used a lot more extensively than anything I've ever built before, and I've found the Peco points start to fail after a year or two's use. A lot of this increased usage is a result of my discovering computer control, even if I'm working out a shunting puzzle in a couple of sidings there's generally at least 5 robo-trains active elsewhere at any one time. This gives points much more of a hammering than they've ever had before, which is probably why I've never previously experienced problems on this scale.
All points on the scenic part of the layout are being upgraded in-situ over a period of time, springs being removed and Tortoise motors fitted. In the short term I'm leaving the staging yard under Peco motor control. This may sound perverse, given it's pivotal nature, but as it's not scenic I'm willing to put up with an obtrusive bodge to keep things operational. A chunk of C&L 7mm scale sleeper wedged between the spring housing and the previous sleeper stops the cover working loose!
Currently On My Stereo: Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
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Another shed. It's not a Freightliner one. It's not EWS. It's not even Nigel's Wendy House. This is actually the 'Lower Skaledale Office' from Hornby's plonk'n'play Skaledale range, and mightily impressed I am too at the price charged. I can see this not being too out of place on anything from an LNWR mainline layout to a Scottish branchline, personally I thought it would be just the job for my yard offices.
When I first got it home from AP Models and plonked it on my layout, I thought it looked way too big. It probably is a little big for what I had in mind, if truth be told, but that's my fault for wedging it into an area occupied by a Cooper-Craft p-way hut. Placed alongside an LNWR station building panel (an excellent but lesser-known 'Grand Junction' product from the Parkside wagon people) it can actually be seen to be quite modestly sized.
I have no doubt at all that these will sell out fast.
Currently On My Stereo: Pineapple Thief - Variations On A Dream
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So, there's to be a new manufacturer in the UK 4mm D&E arena, something that enthusiasts will no doubt be contemplating gleefully in the coming days. ViTrains is entering the market with a Class 37 - see the Rail Express website for the scoop and a downloadable flyer.
It's too early to speculate as to whether this model will be any good, regardless of Italy's poor track record. I'm not going to try and second-guess the wisdom of going head-to-head with Bachmann's umpteenth generation model. But I already know I won't be buying any as traction tyres and a lack of all-wheel drive are problems I've long since eradicated from my loft. I hope it's not too late for whoever's advising ViTrains to get the company to do it's homework properly.
Come back when you're serious about the project...
Currently On My Stereo: The Flower Kings - @Live Recording 2003
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I've got a lot of time for the Bachmann Class 66 as it represents one of the better diesel efforts from the firm and, along with Hornby's similarly top-of-the-pile Class 60, offers a solid basis for a modern layout. Not a situation this hobby has been in before in my lifetime.
Bachmann stepped up a gear with the release of it's Shed, seemingly paying attention to the demands of today's consumers rather than just those happy with the products of yesteryear. Furthermore, the speed at which the recent DCC-Sound version vanished from dealers' shelves seems to have had a marked effect on Bachmann's thinking, if the 2007 catalogue is anything to go by. Clearly it pays to make sure you're listening to the part of the market that's going to be handing over the cash. If the "punters won't bear more than thirty bob a loco" brigade had had their way we'd still be wallowing in first-stab 37s and crude Deltics with no lights, yet alone sound.
Which makes it all the more difficult to fathom what Bachmann was thinking of when it started fitting the new 21 pin DCC connectors to models. Currently, you can't walk into the average model shop and walk out again with one of these locos and a matching DCC decoder to plug into it. Neither can you fit any of your existing decoders. I'll repeat what I said a week or so back, as it stands these things are not DCC-Ready out of the box.
Personally I'm keen to see something like the 21 pin connector catch on (as long as somebody uses it to give me more flexible lighting options rather than merely to lock me into a proprietary range of decoders that I don't want) but that isn't going to happen overnight. What is happening now is a lot of customers aren't very happy. They're not very happy about a product being labelled as DCC-Ready when it demonstrably isn't, and they're not very happy about the need to buy a separate adaptor (when it eventually becomes available) to upgrade to a DCC-Ready state in the future.
It's important that Bachmann listens to it's real customer base on this one, not the toadying minority who'll tell it what they think it wants to hear in order to stay in it's good books, bending over backwards to make out these things are DCC-Ready using bizarre semantics that are of no value to the consumer. Hornby have bowed to market pressure on a DCC issue in recent weeks, it wouldn't be good PR for Bachmann to appear to value it's customers any less.
Come on, Bachmann, do the decent thing. Make sure the appropriate adaptor is included in the box ASAP so people can use these things right now. This will cost pence at most, but the PR value is inestimable. Making sure you're giving the customers what they want is, after all, what made the 66s and sound sell in the first place.
Currently On My Stereo: Kate Bush - The Sensual World
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Here's a gizmo that doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves in the UK market. The Viessmann 2-pole coupler will take two electrical connections from vehicle to vehicle, handy for those multiple-units or coach-rakes where you fancy continuous current collection. As I'm firmly in the 'more pickups the better' camp, I've through-wired most of my Bachmann 158s and 170s the hard way with excellent results. The string-of-sausages effect is a little unwieldy when it comes to maintenance, but it's an inconvenience I'm happy to put up with in the interests of maximum reliability.
My Bachmann 108s, on the other hand, are such pigs to get the bodies off (not all samples are so afflicted, I'm told) that I didn't fancy struggling with hard-wired sets, so it was time to order some Viessmanns. The end result is the same, with reliable pick-up from every vehicle in a set, but they're easily uncoupled. The down-side is the £8.25 per pair price-tag, which is why I prefer to hard-wire where possible. The couplers are available from Express Models - search for product reference V5048.
The Viessmann couplers are a classic example of why the NEM 362 standard for coupler sockets is so important. European enthusiasts can just plug these things in, solder on the four wires and be in business. UK stock, on the other hand, is a little more of a struggle...
Currently On My Stereo: Guy Manning - A Matter Of Life And Death
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I've been trying to clear some of the debris that's been littering my workbench since the day-job workload went through the roof a few months back. One such example is the Bachmann DCC-Fitted Jinty, where the supplied decoder was so poor I'd removed it fairly swiftly. At long last I've got around to fitting a replacement, a Lenz Gold Mini in this instance. The decoder's not hanging-off, by the way, I stuck it in place diagonally to make fiddling with the wires a tad easier.
I did mean to straighten the coupling rods before I took the photograph, but typically I forgot. I also broke a couple of sanding pipes off when wrestling with the keeper plate, so there's some maintenance to be done already. But with a decent decoder now installed, the Jinty (like my other 3Fs) is an excellent runner, contrary to popular 'finescale' folklore.
I approached the Hornby/Lima Metro-Cammell with some trepidation as, although one of the better Lima releases, on the world stage it was still a bit of a dog in it's day and things have moved along tremendously since then. Absence certainly hasn't made the heart grow fonder, that's for sure, but despite the crude underframe, comical buffers and dangly bogies I wanted to have a look at Hornby's newer drive unit. Who knows, if I can find any rebuilding time in the future, this could still be a useful route to a clutch of Metro-Cammells?
After hours of 'power bogie evaluation tests' I'm not hugely impressed, to be honest. I can't deny it's a colossal improvement over the original Lamer pancake, what wouldn't be? But, if anything, I don't find the newer power unit quite as smooth as the short-lived Hornby 5-pole pancakes. I'm not going to form a final conclusion based on just this one sample, but so far I prefer the competing drive in the Bachmann Class 108 by a large margin.
On the plus side, the Metro-Cammell is now DCC-Ready, which saves a fair bit of prodding around. I've fitted my customary Lenz Gold, activated Railcom and pressed the unit into service on my layout. The lack of pick-ups in the unpowered vehicles needs rectifying, though, as stealth vehicles b*gg*r up my track-circuiting set-up comprehensively.
Currently On My Stereo: Yes - Tormato
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Most of my precious and limited modelling time today has been squandered on hard-wiring a Lenz Gold decoder into the latest version of Bachmann's Class 20. DCC-Ready my arse!
The current versions have a non-standard 21 pin connector on board. I appreciate Bachmann has one eye on the future of light and sound here, and somebody needs to make a move sooner or later, but as it stands these things aren't DCC-Ready out of the box. A major pain in the proverbial, you've either got to make a second trip to the shop and buy a special adaptor (assuming you can find a retailer who'll sell you one) or revert to soldering iron mode. Not exactly welcoming for the new DCC convert, is it?
The internal layout has been substantially revised to facilitate the fitting of a speaker, which gives you a little more scope for fitting a decoder or lights. Unfortunately, as part of this process, the flywheels are now much smaller.
Here's my finished version, Bachmann's circuit boards have been consigned to the bin and the space used to accommodate the decoder. I've soldered this to a scrap of circuit board, as I normally do, so I can more easily fit lights at some point in the near future.
I welcome Bachmann's involvement with sound in UK diesels and can't deny we've reached a stage where 8-pin plugs are a limitation. But equally it should be remembered that the majority of sales will be to non-sound users for a long time yet, these folk will expect a product labelled as DCC-Ready to be fit for exactly that purpose. I think Bachmann needs to re-think it's strategy pretty quickly and make sure an appropriate fitting is included in the box. Otherwise there will be a lot of unhappy punters...
Currently On My Stereo: Joan Osborne - Relish
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This is embarassing. The only reason this pair of Kato SD40s saw the light of day over the weekend was that I was looking for some older DCC decoders to power the lights in Bachmann Class 108 trailer cars. My database (OK, so this is embarassing and sad) revealed that these beasts had Lenz 1035s fitted, so I though I'd whip 'em out and replace 'em with Lenz Golds.
The embarassing bit is that I've had these locos for years yet hadn't even fitted the supplied details - if I'm this slow with RTR, what hope have I with kits and layouts?
The SD40 was Kato's first in-house US HO release back in 1991 and is somewhat dated now. The relatively sparse and chunky detail doesn't match today's standards, but the drive is still second to none. The locos aren't DCC-Ready, which dates them tremendously in the overseas market. In the UK, unsuprisingly, when I bought these we were living in the Pancake Era.
Currently On My Stereo: Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses
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Having been unable to find them locally, I've picked up a few missing Bachmann items from Hattons. The maroon RMB I wanted for the odd time I fancy a BR green era running session...
...and the 5 rib version of the PNA will introduce some variety into a rake.
Currently On My Stereo: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
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I spend far too much money on DVDs, I must admit, and even more time on watching them. I guess I could get a lot more modelling done if I didn't indulge myself in this way, but the fact of the matter is a bit of relaxation is good for me. Especially late at night when tired eyes mean I'd probably mess up anything I was working on.
A recent title I picked up at the end of last year is 'Mississippi River Main Line' - product ref D332 at Steam Powered Video. I was watching this yet again last night and it's definitely one of my better purchases. Footage is excellent throughout and the image quality is top-notch, especially if you go for the widescreen version as it's anamorphic. The DVD concentrates on what is now Canadian Pacific's mainline from the Twin Cities to Chicago and features a varied range of motive power and roads.
I can certainly recommend this one if it coincides with your interests. It certainly hits the spot for me as I've long had a fascination with the Twin Cities area and also the SOO line.
Currently On My Stereo: David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World
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Also picked up today from my local purveyor of life's essentials was the new Bachmann PNA ballast and spoil wagon. Two versions are available, covering both seven and five rib sides, but I've only managed to get hold of one type so far. The model is very nicely finished and is definitely a 'useful addition' to the range, as magazines like to say, but has a few printing errors, not to mention that infamous TTA chassis with persistently incorrect springing.
Bachmann is clearly investing in a lot of new tooling for coaches and wagons, something for which I am truly grateful. But I'd be more than willing to sacrifice the odd new body to get a new and more appropriate chassis tooled up instead. We need to leave the 'one chassis fits all' era well and truly behind. Is that too much to ask?
Currently On My Stereo: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
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After what seems like an eternity, Bachmann's Mk1 RMB is finally here, quite an important vehicle if you're interested in assembling even vaguely prototypical passenger rakes. I whizzed off to AP Models as soon as I heard, as I've got quite a few holes in rakes waiting to be plugged by these coaches.
If you're familiar with Bachmann's Mark 1 coaches to date then you'll know exactly what to expect. The specification is unchanged, apart from the absence of those intrusive and unprototypical roof-ribs that plagued earlier releases. As far as I'm concerned, Bachmann should be commended for this upgrade, as no doubt a lot of folk will complain that the new coach doesn't quite match their old ones. The trouble is the old ones were wrong, plain and simple, and I don't see why we should be condemned to suffer the same error until the end of time purely in the name of backwards compatability.
At some point things have to move forward, that's the price you pay if you want to yell WeveNeverHadItSoGood from time-to-time.
Just when the mountain of over-priced, re-issued Lima tat was starting to get me down, I'm starting to get quite a buzz from the hobby again. This is largely down to Bachmann and it's dedication to things that hang off the back of the loco. I can think of another manufacturer who needs a damned good slap in that department, in fact.
The breadth of Bachmann's Mark 1 coach range is unrivalled in this sector of the hobby, as far as I can work out. If anyone at Bachmann fancies making this achievement even more worthy of crowing about, then I'd like a BSO please.
Currently On My Stereo: Uriah Heep - Conquest
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I snapped this heap of Lenz goodies on 26/10/06 for an OMWB entry and it's been in the pending pile ever since, I blame the day-job for that. I've managed to plug the Gold decoders into locos during the intervening months, but the Mini-Golds and the block detection gubbins have lain untouched in the loft.
Intended for a new area of my layout, both the LR101 feedback encoder and the LB101 block detectors have been upgraded since I last bought any, but their overall function is unchanged. One LR101 can connect to four LB101s, giving a total of eight track detection circuits. If you don't fancy connecting this little lot together then the RS-8 from LDT is Lenz compatible, cheaper and all-in-one.
However, the all-in-one nature of the LDT product limits it's flexibility, in spite of it's other attractions. As the above photo of today's work shows, I've only used three LB101s with this particular LR101, leaving two inputs (numbers 7 and 8, if you look at the terminals where the orange wires are connected) available for other uses. In this case I'm wiring them up to buttons/switches that will trigger/delay the despatch of trains from a particular staging yard road.
It's this compatability, flexibility and choice that makes DCC so appealing to me. I only hope some of the more recent entrants to the market 'play the game' and don't throw this advantage away.
Currently On My Stereo: Nazareth - Play 'N' The Game
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No sooner have I fitted couplings and wheels to Bachmann's much appreciated OBA (see here for details) than another version is released. This differs from the earlier release in that it has the higher ends, but otherwise all comments about the original apply equally to this variant.
I can't stress too highly how important Bachmann's attention to wagons is for the modeller, without this we'd be well and truly jiggered.
This one has been fitted with Hornby's R8220 close couplings. Whilst no oil painting in close-up, these couplings are less obtrusive when running in a train and do a good job of keeping the wagons reasonably close together. My preferred Rocos won't work, unfortunately, as Bachmann has got the socket position wrong once again.
Currently On My Stereo: Styx - Equinox
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