My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

[reddragon]

Wow.
That’s a really nice thing to do @reddragon, and knowing Peter he’s going to very much enjoy using all of that.
I think I see a railway extension looming...

Yes, loads of coaches, wagons & some Peco flexi too. I don't have the time to do them up and thought he'd enjoy them!

 

[Cowley]

Yes, loads of coaches, wagons & some Peco flexi too. I don't have the time to do them up and thought he'd enjoy them!

I recognised quite a lot of stuff that I used to have as well!

 

[Peter C]

Wow.
That’s a really nice thing to do @reddragon, and knowing Peter he’s going to very much enjoy using all of that.
I think I see a railway extension looming...

It was really, really kind of him - I'm trying to work out the best way of using all of the track I've got now as well!
Negotiations for a model railway in the garage are under way as we speak...
(Current status is Car 1-Peter 0)

Yes, loads of coaches, wagons & some Peco flexi too. I don't have the time to do them up and thought he'd enjoy them!

I recognised quite a lot of stuff that I used to have as well!

There's a whole load of stuff that I've not posted yet and there's plenty to keep me going with restorations/servicing for several months. I've filled the depot with HSTs and realised that the railway centre I've planned isn't big enough anymore...

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Update 15
--------------------------------------------------
I've been meaning to make an update post on my layout for ages now, and I hadn't realised it was August when I made my last post! Anyway, let's have a gander* at what I've done with the layout in the past month.

I've spent most of the time between my last post and now doing nothing on the layout - it's only in the last fortnight I've got anything done. One of the things I've done is add a new station onto a loop coming off of the innermost running line. At one point, I had a small goods yard here, but I don't think I ever shared anything about that. The long and short of it is that there was a small yard, formed of two sidings, with a loop. One of the sidings has now cut short, and now starts after the platform (where Tornado is sat in the below photos). The other sidings are their original length.

I realise my explanation may not be amazingly helpful, so hopefully this little diagram will help:

The light blue rectangle shows where the new station is. The lines to the top of it are the sidings housing the Mk3s, HST power-cars, and Tornado in the photo above. The platform is long enough to hold a Class 110 2-car unit or a GWR/BR Autocoach and small engine.
The history of the station is that the sidings used to serve a small factory in the suburbs of the town of Oldmoor, and the railway was a private venture by the owners of said factory to move their goods around. The station was added to allow for easy transfer of products from factory trains to mainline trains, and was built in a loop as it was cheaper and more convenient for both the GWR, which owned the mainline, and the factory, as it meant mainline trains were not affected by slow cargo transfers. The factory closed in the 1960s as demand for their products decreased, and the railway was mothballed for a few decades until, under Network SouthEast in the early 1990s, the station was reopened to serve the growing suburbs of Oldmoor. The sidings were brought back into use by Railtrack as a convenient place to store engines and coaches and have been used consistently since their revival in the mid-1990s.


I've been running DC trains recently, and having a lot of fun seeing what different engines can do. I plan to start work on the repainting/restoration/insert term here of the engines I was given by @reddragon as soon as I've decided what I want to do! I've got some ideas of interesting liveries/projects...

Thanks for reading,

-Peter

*(this being a technical term)

 

[Cowley]

Nice. Gives you the option of running branch trains as well.
How are you getting on with the stuff you got from @reddragon Peter? It’s quite different to the new motors you get in modern models isn’t it?

 

[Peter C]

Nice. Gives you the option of running branch trains as well.
How are you getting on with the stuff you got from @reddragon Peter? It’s quite different to the new motors you get in modern models isn’t it?

Definitely - I think the new station has almost a Barrie Davis feel to it, if you watch his YouTube videos; very basic yet charming.
The engines I received from @reddragon have been excellent - in fact I ran some DCC engines today as well and found them much more stressful: I was scared to run them for fear of an engine's detail breaking! In actual fact, I did manage to make quite a large accident scene through a lack of concentration but my phone won't let me upload my image of it - I'll post it later.
There's definitely a much more hands-on feel to the DC engines, seeing as I think I can probably fix them if they break!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Definitely - I think the new station has almost a Barrie Davis feel to it, if you watch his YouTube videos; very basic yet charming.
The engines I received from @reddragon have been excellent - in fact I ran some DCC engines today as well and found them much more stressful: I was scared to run them for fear of an engine's detail breaking! In actual fact, I did manage to make quite a large accident scene through a lack of concentration but my phone won't let me upload my image of it - I'll post it later.
There's definitely a much more hands-on feel to the DC engines, seeing as I think I can probably fix them if they break!

-Peter

Right. Remind me tomorrow that I’ve got an interesting (ish) story about my dad’s old controller that you might like.
My phone screen is completely destroyed at the moment so it’s difficult writing things out but I’ll do tomorrow evening.

 

[Peter C]

Right. Remind me tomorrow that I’ve got an interesting (ish) story about my dad’s old controller that you might like.
My phone screen is completely destroyed at the moment so it’s difficult writing things out but I’ll do tomorrow evening.

Ooo - I look forward to hearing this tale
Sorry to hear about your phone - I know a few people who seem to have damaged their phones recently. Easily done, hard to get fixed when there aren't any specialist shops around!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Ooo - I look forward to hearing this tale
Sorry to hear about your phone - I know a few people who seem to have damaged their phones recently. Easily done, hard to get fixed when there aren't any specialist shops around!

-Peter

Phone fixed and here’s the story.

When I was growing up my dad built a lovely model of Machynlleth (Corris Railway) station in 0-16.5 gauge (which is basically 0 scale but with narrow gauge trains running on resleepered 00 gauge track).
It was lovely, all scratch built well researched buildings and kit built stock. Really impressive, but he only had one locomotive which was a kit built steam tramway locomotive.
He also had a controller that had two dials on it - one of which was standard control, and the other one was more like a simulator in that if you turned it right down from fast the loco would coast to a halt in a prototypical way. It was dead cool...

So after school I’d often creep up into the loft as the hatch was usually open with the ladder down and shunt a few slate wagons around without asking permission because as long as I put everything back dad would never know.
That is until the fateful day when I set off from the station with a rake of wagons, forgot that I had it on the simulator controller, turned it down to zero and the whole lot drove off the end of the layout, fell two feet and crashed onto the floor whereupon the chimney and roof snapped off the loco!

In a childish panic I looked around for some glue but all I could find was some of that awful UHU stuff and although I did my best to glue everything back together it was probably instantly obvious what had happened to it the next time dad went up there to do something.

The loft hatch remained firmly closed for a good few weeks after that...

 

[Peter C]

Phone fixed and here’s the story.

When I was growing up my dad built a lovely model of Machynlleth (Corris Railway) station in 0-16.5 gauge (which is basically 0 scale but with narrow gauge trains running on resleepered 00 gauge track).
It was lovely, all scratch built well researched buildings and kit built stock. Really impressive, but he only had one locomotive which was a kit built steam tramway locomotive.
He also had a controller that had two dials on it - one of which was standard control, and the other one was more like a simulator in that if you turned it right down from fast the loco would coast to a halt in a prototypical way. It was dead cool...

So after school I’d often creep up into the loft as the hatch was usually open with the ladder down and shunt a few slate wagons around without asking permission because as long as I put everything back dad would never know.
That is until the fateful day when I set off from the station with a rake of wagons, forgot that I had it on the simulator controller, turned it down to zero and the whole lot drove off the end of the layout, fell two feet and crashed onto the floor whereupon the chimney and roof snapped off the loco!

In a childish panic I looked around for some glue but all I could find was some of that awful UHU stuff and although I did my best to glue everything back together it was probably instantly obvious what had happened to it the next time dad went up there to do something.

The loft hatch remained firmly closed for a good few weeks after that...

Haha - that was definitely a funny story - sounds like something I'd do honestly. I've heard a lot about those simulator-style controllers and how they're very good but it seemed to play against you that time!
I've had a couple of engines which have fallen off the layout but luckily I've been able to fix them. Was the engine which fell of your dad's layout fixed properly in the end and did you ever play with the layout again?

-Peter

 

[43055]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Update 15
--------------------------------------------------
I've been meaning to make an update post on my layout for ages now, and I hadn't realised it was August when I made my last post! Anyway, let's have a gander* at what I've done with the layout in the past month.

I've spent most of the time between my last post and now doing nothing on the layout - it's only in the last fortnight I've got anything done. One of the things I've done is add a new station onto a loop coming off of the innermost running line. At one point, I had a small goods yard here, but I don't think I ever shared anything about that. The long and short of it is that there was a small yard, formed of two sidings, with a loop. One of the sidings has now cut short, and now starts after the platform (where Tornado is sat in the below photos). The other sidings are their original length.
View attachment 84912View attachment 84914
I realise my explanation may not be amazingly helpful, so hopefully this little diagram will help:
View attachment 84913
The light blue rectangle shows where the new station is. The lines to the top of it are the sidings housing the Mk3s, HST power-cars, and Tornado in the photo above. The platform is long enough to hold a Class 110 2-car unit or a GWR/BR Autocoach and small engine.
The history of the station is that the sidings used to serve a small factory in the suburbs of the town of Oldmoor, and the railway was a private venture by the owners of said factory to move their goods around. The station was added to allow for easy transfer of products from factory trains to mainline trains, and was built in a loop as it was cheaper and more convenient for both the GWR, which owned the mainline, and the factory, as it meant mainline trains were not affected by slow cargo transfers. The factory closed in the 1960s as demand for their products decreased, and the railway was mothballed for a few decades until, under Network SouthEast in the early 1990s, the station was reopened to serve the growing suburbs of Oldmoor. The sidings were brought back into use by Railtrack as a convenient place to store engines and coaches and have been used consistently since their revival in the mid-1990s.


I've been running DC trains recently, and having a lot of fun seeing what different engines can do. I plan to start work on the repainting/restoration/insert term here of the engines I was given by @reddragon as soon as I've decided what I want to do! I've got some ideas of interesting liveries/projects...

Thanks for reading,

-Peter

*(this being a technical term)

I like the idea of a little station and the story behind it. I suppose you could also use it as a staff halt for the sidings behind say a loco comes in and drops a member of staff off and picks someone else up. I think SWR have a staff platform at Wimbledon next to the depot.

 

[Cowley]

Haha - that was definitely a funny story - sounds like something I'd do honestly. I've heard a lot about those simulator-style controllers and how they're very good but it seemed to play against you that time!
I've had a couple of engines which have fallen off the layout but luckily I've been able to fix them. Was the engine which fell of your dad's layout fixed properly in the end and did you ever play with the layout again?

-Peter

I actually inherited that railway in the end complete with repaired locomotive.
It finally got the Beeching Axe in the 90s after about 15 years of use. I kept the buildings for a while though...

 

[Peter C]

I like the idea of a little station and the story behind it. I suppose you could also use it as a staff halt for the sidings behind say a loco comes in and drops a member of staff off and picks someone else up. I think SWR have a staff platform at Wimbledon next to the depot.

Thanks very much
That's a really good idea which didn't cross my mind - I actually thought of having access to the sidings from the station but didn't think of having it as a staff halt some of the time. I know the one at Wimbledon you mean from Train Simulator - I believe that one's pretty much a bit of wood next to the track but I might be thinking of another one!

-Peter

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Oct 2020 ==

I actually inherited that railway in the end complete with repaired locomotive.
It finally got the Beeching Axe in the 90s after about 15 years of use. I kept the buildings for a while though...

Ah OK
I've thought a bit about making a small layout in a gauge like that to see if I could do it but I've got enough going on with my main layout at the moment!

-Peter

 

[43055]

Thanks very much
That's a really good idea which didn't cross my mind - I actually thought of having access to the sidings from the station but didn't think of having it as a staff halt some of the time. I know the one at Wimbledon you mean from Train Simulator - I believe that one's pretty much a bit of wood next to the track but I might be thinking of another one!

-Peter

This is the Wimbledon one on Street View in 2017. I haven't seen them anywhere else but this probably gives you a option to run anything from the station including freight for a driver change for example.

 

[Peter C]

This is the Wimbledon one on Street View in 2017. I haven't seen them anywhere else but this probably gives you a option to run anything from the station including freight for a driver change for example.
View attachment 85016

Ah OK - looks to be quite an interesting platform! I have actually been using the loop the station is in for freight wagon storage tonight

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Update 16
--------------------------------------------------
I refuse to believe it's pretty been a month since I last made an update on here! Quite a bit has happened in that time, so let me update you on my OJMR progress...

New engines
It was my birthday (somewhat) recently (I've been very busy and completely forgot to post on here!) and I was given three lovely engines, amongst other things; the new Hornby 66731 Capt. Tom Moore, an older Hornby Class 91, and a Mainline Class 45. They all run really well and the 66 has been fitted with TTS sound and the weight from an old Hornby HST power car to allow it to run reliably. The Hornby Class 66 is brilliant in my opinion, especially in an engine with so much empty space for the sound to fill. The fairly tinny sound of the speaker is completely removed when you put the bodyshell back on and it sounds wonderful. As I do not plan to sell the model on or anything, I've decided to fit it with sound (to make it a bit more special as well) and a weight - it is really light by itself and it kept stopping on the starts of my superelevated curves. The Hornby Railways Class 43 weights are a perfect fit in the Hornby Class 66 and so if you've been having issues with the engine not pulling enough, or not staying down on the rails properly, try putting one of these weights in.
I've attached some photos below to show the engines.


Christmas lights
Yes, yes, you may think November is too early for Christmas decorations, and I'd agree with you, but after seeing how the Rothwell Haigh model railway used Christmas lights to light up their trains and station (https://www.instagram.com/p/B55nK1dHOCZ/), I decided I wanted to have a go. And quite honestly, 2020 has been bad enough that I think we can all agree time might as well not bother anymore and Christmas can begin now The lights are probably going to stay up through until late January/early February, but I might change my mind. I quite enjoy Christmas

New platform
I've made a new platform for one of the two small stations on my layout - Little Piddling-on-the-Wold. I found I had a Metcalfe platform kit from a while ago and decided to finally get on with it this evening and make something. The platform is slightly wider than the placeholder which was there before, and I think it's slightly longer as well, but looks the part.
Here are a couple of photos:

In the second photo, the red circled area shows where I'm planning to put the entrance/exit for the station; the idea is that the signs and other station furniture will allow for the station to be run in GWR Country Halt (1920s), Network SouthEast (1980s), First Great Western (2000s-2015), and Great Western Railway (2015-present) forms, so I'll probably include a NSE clock, FGW signs (with GWR branding, as seen at various Cotswold Line stations), and old-style running-in boards (such as at Kingham and Charlbury on the Cotswold Line). The entrance/exit will be a ramp cutting across where the track would have once continued and will provide access to the rolling hills of Little Piddlingshire.
The area between the station and the mainline curves is going to hold a small farmhouse and shed, with a couple of sheep (as seen in the photo), called Trevor and Doris. They like to have intellectual conversations about world politics and the like inbetween trains.

So that's that really! There are a few smaller bits of work I've done on the layout, and some things I've got planned, but I'll leave those until there's something more substantial to show for them (or in the case of the ideas, I'll wait until I've got something to show for them!).

Thanks for reading,

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Ah fairy lights, very atmospheric.
Im interested in your 66. What sort of motor has it got in it? Was it easy enough to fit sound too?

 

[Peter C]

Ah fairy lights, very atmospheric.
Im interested in your 66. What sort of motor has it got in it? Was it easy enough to fit sound too?

They are quite nice, aren't they?
The 66 is the standard Hornby 66 and has a motor on one bogie only, with pickups on both. The model comes with an 8 pin decoder socket and so it's easy to fit a TTS decoder into it (which is what I used).
Hope this helps,

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

They are quite nice, aren't they?
The 66 is the standard Hornby 66 and has a motor on one bogie only, with pickups on both. The model comes with an 8 pin decoder socket and so it's easy to fit a TTS decoder into it (which is what I used).
Hope this helps,

-Peter

I've just ordered a class 66 and sound. It is worth changing the TTS speaker for a base speaker as the sound will be so much better!

 

[Peter C]

I've just ordered a class 66 and sound. It is worth changing the TTS speaker for a base speaker as the sound will be so much better!

I've had a bit of a look into that and I'm definitely interested. There were some iPhone speakers going fairly cheap online somewhere the other day so I might try those - are they any good, or is there a different specific brand you'd recommend? I've never really done much with sound before

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

I've had a bit of a look into that and I'm definitely interested. There were some iPhone speakers going fairly cheap online somewhere the other day so I might try those - are they any good, or is there a different specific brand you'd recommend? I've never really done much with sound before

-Peter

I am only just starting off in sound too.

I have learnt the Hornby TTS Sound is rubbish for Steam. Steam is a challenge to get right!

I have a ESU sound Dapol class 52 and it is stunning.
Next I got twin TTS for a HST. The sound is awful & tinny and it is the speakers I need to change for base speakers.
Next I acquired a Lima class 156 on the cheap with ESU sound fitted. The sound is great but it doesn't time with the old motors, so it will move to a modern DMU one day when I get one.
Then I got ESU sound for a Garratt. Sound & works great, but as steam you have to drive it carefully for it to time well.

The class 66 is a Hattons model with Legomanbiffo sound and EM2 base speaker. As a Christmas present it will be a while before I will get to test it! Apparently, I need to do driver training on this one!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Nov 2020 ==

As for speakers. I have watched many videos and conclude: -

Only TTS for diesel & change the speakers
Bachmann sound is fine
ESU based Loksound are the best but cost £120+

Someone tested a TTS loco. The TTS speakers were rubbish, good speakers were a lot better, twin base even better but they though that iPhone speakers were the best

I have hesitated on this as I have no idea how to solder / wire them up yet - but do a blog if you try it so we can see

 

[Peter C]

I am only just starting off in sound too.

I have learnt the Hornby TTS Sound is rubbish for Steam. Steam is a challenge to get right!

I have a ESU sound Dapol class 52 and it is stunning.
Next I got twin TTS for a HST. The sound is awful & tinny and it is the speakers I need to change for base speakers.
Next I acquired a Lima class 156 on the cheap with ESU sound fitted. The sound is great but it doesn't time with the old motors, so it will move to a modern DMU one day when I get one.
Then I got ESU sound for a Garratt. Sound & works great, but as steam you have to drive it carefully for it to time well.

The class 66 is a Hattons model with Legomanbiffo sound and EM2 base speaker. As a Christmas present it will be a while before I will get to test it! Apparently, I need to do driver training on this one!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Nov 2020 ==

As for speakers. I have watched many videos and conclude: -

Only TTS for diesel & change the speakers
Bachmann sound is fine
ESU based Loksound are the best but cost £120+

Someone tested a TTS loco. The TTS speakers were rubbish, good speakers were a lot better, twin base even better but they though that iPhone speakers were the best

I have hesitated on this as I have no idea how to solder / wire them up yet - but do a blog if you try it so we can see

I've got one steam engine fitted with a TTS decoder - a Hornby GWR 'King'. The sound is quite nice, though you can hear where the sounds loop every so often if you pay too much attention. I've also noticed there are a few times when the engine speed and sound don't match, though this may just be me. The only issue with my 'King' is that something's wrong with it and now it won't move. The sounds will play when stationary though.
I've heard quite a bit about these ESU decoders, but the only problem is that the ones I've seen are way out of my budget. I've not tried the likes of eBay, though.
I agree with you that the TTS sounds are quite tinny; I've got a Class 50 (Hornby) with a TTS Class 31 decoder (the man who sold it to me said it was the closest thing Hornby did at the time - they know do a Class 50 decoder but everywhere seems to have sold out!) and the sound is good but it just hasn't got the bass a real diesel engine would have.

With regards to the Hatton's 66, I've seen a few videos of them with sound with the speaker you describe and they sound really good. Better than the Hornby TTS decoder in terms of the characteristic engine sounds the locomotives make; with the Hornby speakers the sound is quite hard to make out. Maybe an iPhone speaker is the best option for my 66; it will definitely fit as there is plenty of room in the engine for a speaker of that size and it should be a simple case (I think) of cutting the wires which run between the Hornby TTS decoder and speaker before soldering the iPhone speaker (which I assume comes with some length of wire on it) to the cut wires. Although my electrical skills are comparable to that of a potato so how well I'd be able to do something like that remains to be seen!

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Advent Calendar 2020 - Day 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I rather enjoy Christmas and so I thought it would be quite nice to do an OJMR advent calendar showing all the engines in my fleet. I've amassed a collection of a size which will allow me to show an engine each day between now and Christmas (and sometimes two on one day). I've already done a meet-the-fleet before, but my fleet has grown considerably since then, so I hope you enjoy. I'll try to include a small description of each engine/unit when it comes up; sometimes I'll make a video, sometimes it will just be a photo. Let's get started then shall we?

Day one, then, showcases my only Hornby 0-4-0: GWR 101 no. 107!

This was the engine which started it all just over five years ago. I received this loco in the GWR Passenger Freight set alongside some extra wagons and coaches and it was amazing. This engine is one of the older 0-4-0s from Hornby in that it is one of the 'pocket rocket' versions - I've seen newly-tooled versions which can run along at a crawl which is really quite good. Some people have loads of these, but I'm quite content with my single one for now

Thanks,

-Peter

 

[43055]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Advent Calendar 2020 - Day 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I rather enjoy Christmas and so I thought it would be quite nice to do an OJMR advent calendar showing all the engines in my fleet. I've amassed a collection of a size which will allow me to show an engine each day between now and Christmas (and sometimes two on one day). I've already done a meet-the-fleet before, but my fleet has grown considerably since then, so I hope you enjoy. I'll try to include a small description of each engine/unit when it comes up; sometimes I'll make a video, sometimes it will just be a photo. Let's get started then shall we?

Day one, then, showcases my only Hornby 0-4-0: GWR 101 no. 107!
View attachment 86642
This was the engine which started it all just over five years ago. I received this loco in the GWR Passenger Freight set alongside some extra wagons and coaches and it was amazing. This engine is one of the older 0-4-0s from Hornby in that it is one of the 'pocket rocket' versions - I've seen newly-tooled versions which can run along at a crawl which is really quite good. Some people have loads of these, but I'm quite content with my single one for now

Thanks,

-Peter

Great idea! I might do a 12 days advent calendar as I don't have 24 locos on my layout.

I think I still have two of the 0-4-0 locos somewhere in the freezing cold shed. I'm not sure where we got them from but have had them for at least 10 years now and both are in GWR green like yours (one has great western instead of GWR lettering). Both are little pocket rockets but nothing will beat the legend that is smokey joe!

 

[Peter C]

Great idea! I might do a 12 days advent calendar as I don't have 24 locos on my layout.

I think I still have two of the 0-4-0 locos somewhere in the freezing cold shed. I'm not sure where we got them from but have had them for at least 10 years now and both are in GWR green like yours (one has great western instead of GWR lettering). Both are little pocket rockets but nothing will beat the legend that is smokey joe!

Thanks very much - I'd love to see your own advent calendar - maybe you could do it for the twelve days of Christmas, i.e. 25th December - 6th January? Maybe not Christmas Day itself if you're busy (I'm not doing this on the 25th), or maybe you could do it every other day between now and Christmas?
I'd love to get a Smokey Joe at some point; probably the special anniversary version seeing as it's about £40, slightly more expensive than they tend to go for, and has some nice detailing.

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

My loco 1

 

[Peter C]

My loco 1

That looks a fine loco there. I'd like to get one like that (is it a 'Britannia'?) at some point.

-Peter

 

[43055]

Thanks very much - I'd love to see your own advent calendar - maybe you could do it for the twelve days of Christmas, i.e. 25th December - 6th January? Maybe not Christmas Day itself if you're busy (I'm not doing this on the 25th), or maybe you could do it every other day between now and Christmas?
I'd love to get a Smokey Joe at some point; probably the special anniversary version seeing as it's about £40, slightly more expensive than they tend to go for, and has some nice detailing.

-Peter

Thank you. I might do every other day between tomorrow and the 24th and maybe one after showing the new additions from Christmas.

That looks a fine loco there. I'd like to get one like that (is it a 'Britannia'?) at some point.

-Peter

Apparently not but based off the Britannia class.

BR Standard Class 8 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[reddragon]

That looks a fine loco there. I'd like to get one like that (is it a 'Britannia'?) at some point.

-Peter

71000 Duke of Gloucester. First time I saw it run, it was nearly struck by a bolt of lightning amidst a short sharp shower

 

[Peter C]

Thank you. I might do every other day between tomorrow and the 24th and maybe one after showing the new additions from Christmas.

Apparently not but based off the Britannia class.

BR Standard Class 8 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

71000 Duke of Gloucester. First time I saw it run, it was nearly struck by a bolt of lightning amidst a short sharp shower

Ah yes - I'd even seen a short documentary-style thing on it a while ago That sounds like a brilliant story @reddragon; I bet that was quite a sight!

==================
It's the second day of December, dear readers, and that means we get to see a second engine from the OJMR fleet. This time, it's 61xx 6110!



This engine is a lovely example of a GWR-condition 'Prairie' and was bought for just £40 at a local model fair a couple of years ago. It runs really well - I've never had any major issues with it - but it makes a funny noise when running smokebox-first. I expect this affects all of these models (this is an older version of the Prairie from Hornby). The engine is fitted with a painted crew and they make the cab a better considering a lot of it is taken up by a plastic box IIRC. I did swap the driver and fireman round when I last took the bodyshell off as I noticed they were the wrong way around for a GWR engine, but that's as far as I've gone in terms of detailing

Hope this is somewhat interesting.

-Peter