You certainly put in the work, and it is good to hear advice like the use of 4th radius curves from someone who has had time to reflect on his choices. I'm sure you seen the relay board hit each and every car on the 2nd radius helices of the downward path at the upper level so send in the grandkid with a wire tie, lol. What an amazing layout you should be proud. Jersey Bill

Very informative and thank you for the update.

Nice running session.

It's a great improvement, may encourage me to have a go at my original APT I've had since a boy.

Great painstaking work...and patience..hats off to you...

Came here after the review of the latest tooling APT review video on Little Wickets channel. Certainly a great improvement. Seems a lot of manufactures go to a lot of trouble to make locos in fine detail but then skimp out on things like coach interiors... Now all you need to do is paint around 200 people so the train is populated rather than an empty coach movement 🙂

What a transformation Chris. They look brilliant. Why can't Hornby do the correct interior in the first place. I know what great job you do, from when I came up from Milton Keynes model railway club at Pete Watermans place. 👍

I have the 5-car set from the 80's - purchased my from Beatties model shop, Maneage street in Helston, Cornwall. The only problem I had was the motor which was replaced. I went to a local club, where I live now, with a friend who also had the early 5-car set and we were given the okay to race each other. By god did they go - we actually got them to run at full speed (having checked station and other clearances) and they both ran exceptionally well with no derailing. Unfortunately, I am awaiting a move before I can start on my layout, so it will remain boxed till then.

WOW 😯 beautiful work

Looks most impressive. Well done.

Superb. Do you fancy making me some seat covers. I would like to do my APT. For a profit naturaly!! Great job.

Fantastic work, you must be so proud - would love to know how you calculated the helix and built them.

One thing about helixes with the threaded rod and nuts. No matter whether you are using just nuts and washers or tube spacers between levels. If the tubing is cut square or with the nuts the clamping if the sections fan cause the section to distort so that it is twisted slightly at each riser. One way with tubing to avoid this would be to dut the ends of the tubing at an angle that matches the helix angle. For just using nuts and washers the use of spherical washers would eliminate any twist. If using eood spacers cut to the matching angle. For wood risers l like the idea of risers that have dados cut at the proper uniform distance at the matching angle. Also the outer perimeter of the helix should have some sort of barrier. Just in case. Another idea l have not seen is the use of curved turnouts at a certain point to allow the exterior portion of the helix to be used for a special interest scene. Especially if modeling railroading in the mountains.

Hi Chris, I have wondered for a while who built the Cheshire Lines layout, now I know. I am jealous of your Prince Albert bridge but your layout is indoors, I am building my bridge out of wood and aluminium as mine is outside in the garden and as such it is not possible to make a 'scale' model of the bridge but it is a reasonable copy. I look forward to seeing you at Chester Cathedral with Watford station etc. and the rest of the 'Railnuts'.

Hi have you got page where I can buy or down load this decal seats covers. Amazing improvements

This is absolutely beautiful, Chris!! I would love to film your layout and see it one day! 😁 2:38

Hello This is an odd request, but do you sell the decals and head rests as a kit anywhere online ? Regards

I love the Brunel bridge!!!

WHAT A LOVELY LAYOUT YOU HAVE CREATED

Would you charge to make another?

I want to add a helix to my layout soon

Can you share the seat covers file you used and how to print them please? I'd like to do the same thing on my APT when I get it? Just ordered the R30229 set :)

Wow, that is very impressive.. did you notice the last wheel on the rear bogie axle on the loco was not touching the rails for most of the time?

This layout is fantastic.. I did notice that on the 1st helix inner track the carriages were touching an electronic board @5:42. You might want to watch the footage and see what I am talking about if you are not aware of it already. I would love to do something like this in my train room and as I mainly run steam loco's I would have to think about what sized radius I would need to lay the tracks at adn then work out if I have enough room to do so.. I would love to have a large fiddle yard either under the main layout like you do or something similar... time to put my thinking hat on and do some maths or at least consult anyrail. hmmmm food for thought tho.. thank you for a great video showing your layout which is fantastic as I have stated at the start of this comment. Cheers from Australia Tim.

Hi Chris how do i organise to get the decal set from you please😮. I cant find your about page, your APT is really a good looking model and the decals make a hugh improvement. Thank you. Guy😊

What colour did you use for the tan for the interior?

Hi Chris, I've just seen John's (Piccadilly Model Railways) KZbin video on improving the Hornby APT interiors, I asked him the question about if he sold the decal sheets for the seats, which he said no, but he did point me in your direction. Is this something you still sell? As I'm looking to improve the interiors on my 14 car set (this may take some time). I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Antony.

What colors did you use? (Paint brand and numbers?)

Hi mate great job on the hornby APT

Hi, I realise Im quite late to the party on this. Ive just ordered an APT, and was re-watching videos from when this train was released. I had the thought of recreating the interior with decals and painting it up etc etc because the hornby interior is, well lets say incomplete, just as you said, well kinda, lol. Unbelievably I then discover your channel, doing EXACTLY what Im planning, truly unreal. So really enjoyed seeing the transformation, and indeed what a difference. I will definitely be doing this. Great to see. When I do mine, Ill shout out your channel so people can see the original work. Might be few weeks, see how time goes.

Hi chris great improvement 😊

Many thanks. A great video and superb layout. Seriously thinking about building two helixes and so this has been very informative thank you. Can I ask what gradient you used please and as I will need to use 2nd and 3rd radius due to space issues, do any of you diesel locos and freight wagons or coaches have any issues ascending or descending please? Thanks

Fantastic detailing - not sure I have the patience to water-slide a whole rake like that, but excellent tips for improving the innards! The finished result looks so much better.

Great to see the helix's in action . One point though , on the first helix shouldn't the outside track be the up and inside the down ? The physics of it mean the outer is a shallower incline

Excellent. But don't forget the 15mph speed limit...and gw King's weren't allowed over it until more recent years.

I noticed in your "tour" video that the Uffington White Horse as decamped to Cheshire!

All i have to say is AMAZING!!!! you have done the most amazing job. I currently do not have any model railways myself as a very keen aviation enthusiast, however.... interiors are my passion, especially 70-80s transport interiors. Brilliant you were able to create such a life like interior with actual colour photos, still a bit wierded out how BR decided 1st would be blue and 2nd red???? HST was almost other way round, albeit 1st orange not red. As a 70s child loving anythimg that was faster than my Dad's Mk 3 Cortina the HST original Mk3 coaches have always facinated me, and more so the interiors...............................which is why you video has captiord me sooo much. Has anyone...you know of, transformed, with your detail, any Blue Grey Mk 3 coaches? especially the catering stock, i was always baffled as a kid why Mk3 catering stock varied so much.....yellow red line..blue red line....buffet-bar....restaurant-buffet...3 windows...4 windows etc,list goes on. Always struggle to find any interior shots of BR's catering stock on line. Soooo many questions about coaching stock now i feel my passion for transport is in the detail 'YOU' have put in to this model. I need to know more about mk1 to 3 coaches :)

I would love the retooled APT and I'd definitely try this. It looks fantastic! I can also feel a visit to Crewe coming on!

Now that looks great. Would you consider selling the prints via ebay etc? I have 2 APT's to do and plans to make and APT-U which would have been the next step if it carried on in service. I painted an old APT-P which took hours but this is on another level. 😍

Absolutely amazing. The improvements are fantastic and lift the model to the flagship train it should have been

Gosh I've never realised just how badly wrong Hornby got the interior on the APT-P, even the Rapido APT-E fairs better. Having looked at the photos I took of the real APT-P set at Crewe I can see that Hornby got used basic shades of the moquettes as the moulding colour for the seats instead of the light cream of the panels etc which would have faired better in my opinion. Nevertheless you've done an excellent job there, bravo!

Lovely running. it`s good to see it when there`s no body about .you really appreciate the work that`s gone into it. Well done Chris.

Fantastic layout.

Very impressive, well done on your helix construction

I'm surprised you didn't populate your coaches before putting them back together. Or is that for later. Fantastic work really made such a difference 👏

That bridge is absolutely impressive. It is a great project on its own right. Congratullations on the achievement.

Hi, Great layout, thanks for sharing. I'm in the middle of building a new section for my layout, which includes, as well, two helixes with 2nd and 3rd radius. I did already some tests and it all runs well, including steam locos (even on the 2nd radius). However, it's always better to have some margin. Therefore I'm serious considering changing the helixes to 3rd and 4th radius. As I did them with flex track, I can reuse most of it, as well as the threaded rod, nuts, washers, etc. Plywood, would have to be scrapped. I have to think throgh it a bit more, but definitely, the change has to be done now, before the top level is built. Let's see if I have the courage to go ahead...