Thanks for the advice regarding the gears - I'll have a look next tiem I have the bodies off. The Deltic has got smoother with time - I suspect it hadn't even been run in when I got it. Cheers, Rich.

@@richardhiggins6471 Very often unused. All of mine were when they came to me. A thorough overhaul remove the old grease) and polish the contacts again before 3x 10 mins each way (if you do 30 mins each way it beds in better one way than the other). Once run in they are fantastic performers!

@@richardhiggins6471 As long as the gears, the spindles they sit on and the wheels, wheel axles and pickup contacts it'll run sweet for hours and hours. I left mine running overnight by accident and it was still cool 8 hours later when i got to the layout! It had sped up considerably too. Yours is rare, take care of it!

Thank you - I didn't know about the LNER being abbreviated to NE on coaches (though I've seen it on locos). Painting over white roofs certainly sounded like a good wartime move!

Slow progress, as it has relied upon keen school pupils to work on it, and they have tended to prefer doing their own little projects (which is fine by me). I really must post another video, since there's quite a bit more scenic work completed (including backscenes), and we have gradually acquired more rolling stock and locos that can cope with 9" radius curve.

The Peppercorn A1s were clearly very good express locomotives, but I suspect that by the end of the steam era, the A2s with their slightly smaller wheels were more useful. I've seen photos of A4s (in the early sixties, I think) hauling fitted freight trains over the Waverley route to/from Edinburgh, not something they would have been well suited for. An A2 would have been a much better choice for that job. In terms of models, both of the ones shown are by Bachmann, and are excellent. A1s go for quite a bit less money on ebay, possibly because some of the earlier ones had a faulty motor. Both locos are certainly more handsome than Edward Thompson's A1 and A2s.

@richardhiggins6471 Couldn't agree more regarding the Thompson locos, although his tenure as LNER CME is - as you no doubt know - a hot topic in rail circles. I think Peppercorn was the "spiritual successor" of Gresley, although he did steer clear of some of his more "innovative" ideas. Thompson's B1s were reasonable machines, both aesthetically and performance-wise. There's a chap on YT called Flying Scott, who is a Thompson fan and puts up a very spirited defence of Mr T. To be fair, he was thrust into the role very unexpectedly and had to carry out an overhaul of stock with minimal resources, not just for the sake of his employer, but also his country. Yes, I've seen photos of A4s hauling freight trains in Scotland, too. I guess once the Deltics had taken over their primary duties, the A3s - whilst very capable machines right to the end - were not up to the task, and 9Fs couldn't do everything, so BR used their talents for that inglorious job. I have 2 Hornby Tornado's, which are both superb runners, and can haul immense loads. Then"flywheel effect" is astounding. I also have a Bachmann A1 that - touch wood - is currently running well, but doesn't have the pulling power of my mighty Hornby models. My A2 is a reasonable performer, and looks great pulling a rake of teaks (it's wears LNER green livery). I bought both the Bachmann's from Clark Railworks, who I've found to be an extremely good supplier of pre-owned locos, although they have very few for sale for under £100. Great to "chat". Looking forward to watching more of your videos. PS: I realised that I'd watched your tutorial regarding upgrading LNER teaks some time ago: excellent job!

@@stephendavies6949 My blue A1 was also from Clark Railworks - and I agree 100% about their pre-owned range, having bought a few others over the past few years.

@richardhiggins6471 Yes, I'm sure I'll invest in an Express Blue example at some point in future. The livery may have caused serviceability & maintenance difficulties on the "real" railway, but it looks superb on OO Gauge railways.

I can receommend both the Hornby B1 and the B17 - really good runners. I've got an older B12 and one of the newer versions, and although the newer one costs way more, is more accurate, has 12 wheel pick-up and is DCC ready, it doesn't really run much better (in my experience).

@richardhiggins6471 I'll keep a look out for a Hornby B1. Not seen one in a while. I have several B17s (Inc 2 Norwich City's/Cities - I plan to rename/ renumber one to Hull City). I replaced the original traction tyres with Marklin items and they seem to have made a big improvement in performance. I also have a couple of split chassis V2s, but they're not great runners, although the LNER livered version is better now I've changed the tender wheels from the awful original plastic items to metal examples.

Hi Adi, I've been very busy with work until recently (which is why I haven't posted any videos for ages), but now that I've got a bit of free time I will have a nice relaxing watch of your video. Best wishes, Richard

Thank you for your very kind comments - I'm pleased you enjoyed watching the layout. Still lots to work on (and too little time!). I grew up in LMS country but have lived in East Anglia for 26 years so now I'm well and truly an LNER fan.

Very impressive - you've got to love an A4!

Hi, Thanks for that information. Yes, the composite is very obviously a composite - as it has the different width of compartments. I hadn't realised about my firsts actually being thirds. I cannot remember where I read it, but I seem to recall that the thirds originally had 8 compartments, but then the LNER reduced it to 7 to give more legroom. I hadn't realised that the firsts only had 6 compartments. Thanks for that feedback.

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it.

I know that the Quints weren't the same as the quads (with just another coach added) but I don't know what the precise differences were. I have one spare all third coach body which I may add to a quad set to use as a standalone quint, but I'm not too bothered if it isn't 100% accurate. I guess as an O gauge modeller you are used to the extra cost you have to pay!

@richardhiggins6471 I'm not a 100% accurate modeller either, as.far as cost is concerned I tend to have less. Most 00 modellers have way to many locos simply because they can and the rate they push them out is beyond belief. I remember both the Quadarts and Quints. ThexQuads eran out of Kings Cross and Moorgate the last set going in 1966. Originally pulled by N1 and then N2s, also outer suburban services had a Thompson L1. By the time I travelled on them whilst steam was still mainstream in KX the suburban services were class 105s but the quads and BR mark1 suburban were pulped by either classx24s, Class 31s or the short lived baby deltics class 23. Being a Tottenham boy I do remember steam on the Jazz, ie Liverpool St to Enfield town, it finished in November 1960 and were pulled by N7s with two sets of quints. The quints were a bit different and the brake end were recessed in slightly. The big difference was that Quints were airbraked as all GE services used air brakes. Both the GN and GE used Thompson L1s and also the GN had some N7 but not to many, but the GN locos were not fitted with Westinghouse pumps.

@@Steven_Rowe Thanks - that's really interesting information, and I always like to hear from people who experienced the real things, being a decade too young to remember the steam era properly. I have an N2 (in BR livery) but it's not a great runner, and also a Hornby L1. The latter has its rear coupling attached to the very light rear bogie, and I've found that mine derails too easily if I am pulling a moderately heavy load around my trainset curves. I sometimes wonder if Hornby only ever test these things on 3 coach trains!

@richardhiggins6471 The last steam hauled service on the London GE area was the North Woolwich to Palace Gates line, the line closed to passenger on January 7th 1963 but goods lingered on until 0ctober 64. Steam ran until September 1962 then was replace by class 31s and DMUs as Stratford shed close to steam . Here is a video taken in 1960s just before the new suburban service were electrified. This video will interest you kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGiVZmyCabyHY9Esi=VEwIXCpWU9M91EZD

@@Steven_Rowe Thanks, Steven, for that link - what a brilliant video clip. There's so much in it for a modeller to learn from. I've also got a few maroon Gresley and Thompson suburban coaches so I could model the train that featured in the video, and I've also got a complete Quint-art set yet to build. Plenty of evenings of modelling to help me through the darkest days of winter!

Thanks, Adi. Think of it like this: high tractive effort is like saying someone is strong. High power is like saying they are strong and really fit as well.

Thanks for your kind comments.😀

Cheers, Dave, I'm glad you found it intersting. I shall have a look at some of your videos too. All the best, Richard.

I think you are spot on about the variation in colour. I have used a Railmatch teak as my basecoat, then either a Citadel (Warhammer) "seraphim sepia" or, more often, a thin wash or two of GWR coach brown. I also use the latter over the decals to tone them down a bit. However, I've left these quad-arts as I bought them so far. They look a bit too uniform at present so I think they need a little GWR brown.

Thanks, Adi. The J27 looks good and I quite fancy one. I saw a review where someone said their's didn't run very well and needed the pick-ups adjusting, but hop[efully that was a one-off.

@@richardhiggins6471 yes tender pick up but it ok when warmed up

Thanks - useful information!

@@richardhiggins6471 They were more comfortable than you might think. Very upright seats, but good back support. The idea was to provide as many seats as possible. They didn't expect people to have to stand like nowadays. Mind you if people did have to stand, there wasn't much room.

Wow, you have excellent eyesight! Yes, it is indeed the Flying Hamburger, though my set was, I think, made by Gutzold (were they an East German company pre 1991?). It runs noisily and a bit slowly, but quite smoothly for its age. I plan to get it running in a video soon.

The problem you mention is very noticeable when running tender first. With the Hornby models that I have there is a spring in the linkage between the loco and tender. I guess that if that linkage was made more rigid (in the manner that Airfix and Lima did with their tender drive locos which were permanently coupled together) then the tender and loco would move off at exactly the same time.

Hi, I use a mix of the good old track rubber and a lubricant called INOX MX3 - used by slot car racers. It apparently forms a thin film on the rail that is thin enough to allow electricity through but repels water, so prevents any oxidation of the rail surface. It works a treat on DCC, improving running no end, but reduces the grip of traction tyres, so old tender drive locos and Lima/Hornby Railroad diesels don't pull so well with it.

Thanks, Adi. yes, I love the P2 as well - always been a favourite of mine, and I was really pleased when Hornby announced they were going to make it. And the model has turned out great. You're correct - the J50 is definitely Lima - I was probably thinking of the J83 which is Hornby.

Thanks for your comments. Yes, I've been keeping an eye on the Phoenix website too. Mind you, I've just bought a complete rake of Kirk Silver Jubilee coaches and some quad-art sets, all ready made to a good standard, and they just need a bit of modification to run on my train set curves. That was a hell of a dent in my wallet, so I may have to ease off any new purchases in the near future!

Thanks for you kind comments, and yes, I have viewed and enjoyed some of your videos too. Keep up the good work!