Christmas 2012 additions.

Well Christmas came and went and with it a Fairburn Tank Loco (see next blog) purchased at Warley Model Railway Show in November. I also has some money off Mum. I wanted a 'Black 5' and after a few searches I found one in a set with three pullman coaches.

 

Much searching on the internet finally revealed that The Model Railway Loft has the best priced version of this and furthermore would fit a DCC chip free of charge if I bought it from them. They were very efficient, I ordered it on Saturday and by Wednesday it had arrived, all in one piece and well packaged, I shall have to watch them for bargains in the future.

 

I have extended my storage shelf slightly so I can keep this model on the shelf in my Study when the railway is away.

 

Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

November 2012

After a whole summer with no railway, due to my Daughter moving back in with us, I have managed to get the layout down for a while, and ran a few trains to clean the track.Here are a few pictures, including Jubilee class "Drake" which arrived during the summer (a special price from Hattons) and the repainted ex Somerset and Dorset Loco now a BR Jinty. A Wolverhampton Corporation Bus is seen on the bridge near the brewery, and a Ford Anglia 105E is waiting at the level crossing.Layout is staying down until after the weekend just in case I buy anything at the Warley Model Railway Show at the NEC and need to test it, but it will then have to go away so we can have more visitors to stay. I wonder if a bigger house is the answer?

Itching to update the layout

I have the components now to replace the manual points in the sidings with electric ones, so I need to get layout down soon. I just have to wait until after our next lot of visitors. I also need to add more ballast, and clear up the loose ballast that moved last time the layout was folded up.

Putting the layout away.

In order to put the layout away, folded up against the wall, anything tall has to be removed. Anything that is low enough to remain on the layout is now glued on so it can be left there when the layout folds away. The pictures below show the layout ready for folding up against the wall.

Visiting loco

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A friend came to stay last weekend, and as is normal he brought a visiting loco, in this case 46521. It is an analogue loco but can be run on my DCC layout using address zero on the controller.

Here's a link to a short video, which shows I have a few running issues with jerky motion which have yet to be resolved Click here for video

A wall for the brewery yard.

Making a wall for the brewery yard

I have been running a couple of trains recently, the track really needs a clean after it's been folded up for a while as the trains sometimes stall unecpectedly, I think I need a track cleaning truck, but they are very expensive, unless I can design one of my own. Here is the link to the latest video of the trains in action, the GWR is one I have been trying to repair for my Nephew, but I failed so the motor has been removed allowing it to be pushed round by another engine. Click here for the video