LesXRN

Thanks for the advice 96RAF. It's certainly worth having a go in this case. Watch this space.

Hi folks. I was recently gifted an unused Britannia, Western Star, after a friends husband passed away. It lived in a glass case and has never been run. As it's a super detail model, combined with the fact that it would be nice for my friend to see it running, I am thinking of converting it to DCC sound. I would most likely use a Zimo decoder with a cube speaker mounted in the loco body. I also would prefer to remove the tyres from the tender wheels to prevent track contamination. So, have any of you done this mod' & if so, was it worth while. Many thanks. Les.

I bought a brass replacement axle cog for a Duchess from Ultrascale products. It might be worth checking if they can help.

This was the control panel from my last layout from the early 90's. It's been stored in a barn ever since. For the track, I just made it up as I went along. It was 20' x 15' but should give you some idea of what you can acheive. Good luck.

Other points raised by Sam were the misaligned smokebox door and the problems with the lights. Not a good example really.

As the man said, sad & frustrating, especially as he is way over the pond in Canada. I hope my smoke Black 5 is perfect when it arrives.

I watched a video on the tube yesterday and yes, it has the new loco to tender connection.

96RAF. Wow! That's some technical stuff you're involved with there, it does answer why you are so knowledgeable about Hornby though. Well done. Funny about the rich kid in the street, I bet we all had one of those. P.S. You forgot rule No1. Never volunteer!!!

I'm from a Railway family, my Great Grandads, Grandads and Dad were all on the footplate, so was I eventually. My uncle was a signalman and my cousin was a Shunter at Longsite. Whe I was young, back in the mid 50's, we had O gauge live steam running around the garden and in the winter, we laid O gauge track around the house in a big loop from the lounge, through the hall, kitchen, dining room then back to the lounge. Only when my Mum was at work though. Later, my Dad sold the O gauge and bought OO, then TT when it first appeared, but soon went back to OO. Needless to say, I was hooked. My Dad also used to take me to work with him during the holidays. By the time I left school in 1966 I had driven a lot of steam loco's at Trafford Park sheds and also some of what then were new diesels, Peaks and type 2's. The ultimate loco I drove up and down the shed was the Flying Scotsman when it was on shed during an Alan Pegler tour. I'm still a lover of steam, especially LMS/BR Stanier stuff and my next layout will be started very soon. Can't wait.

Pity we can't have 5 digit addresses too, as thats what the vast amount UK loco's, both steam and diesel, usually have. For my steam loco's I use the last 2 numbers, apart from a couple which end with 00, they use the first 2 numbers. Any loco that had the same last 2 numbers have been renumbered for simplicity.

I can still remember the old exploding amunition van that I used to have back in the fifties. Little did I know then that I would end up working with real explosives in the Royal Navy.

5 Litres of distilled water from Halfords is £4.79. Seems a good price and that amount should provide a lot of running time.

We have them in the UK too. The main difference is that a hot box detector being triggered would alert the appropriate signalbox and they would then inform the driver, either by radio or stopping the train at a signal. Can't say it ever happened to one of my trains though.

The photo's were indeed to help the OP. Interesting about the bracket, I'll get it sorted.

I also put the main Hornby page into favourites, so that's much better. I do wish that I could alter my username to get rid of the numbers though. It doesn't seem possible in my profile settings.