I was trying to work out when I pained that and came up with 2001. It needed a freshen up. I didn't do the board fronts black as per the usual style. I just stuck to what I had in my hand. All the best, and I hope this coming year the weather is good enough for me to play golf than spend days upon days building the layout. I want to do it but I don't want to do it quickly. Cheers
Greetings Simon 👋 So sorry to hear Santa 🎅 brought you the flu 🤧🤒 a piece of coal would have been preferable 🤭 Dapol does an NEM conversion kit that might help with your DMU carriage spacing 🤔 Elvenhome Episode 149 has a detailed how to on installing them 👍 Looking forward to seeing the landscaping begin 👀 Very best wishes for a fantastic New Year from the Emerald Isle ☘️
Hello Paul, now you know why I haven't been keeping up with your videos. I've looked at the bogies on the DMU and they are very old and very crudely made. Not sure I can do much with them. I will have nother look in the future with what spares I have. Cheers
Oh dear.....the best Christmas gift ever 😬🤣 looks so much brighter now it's been painted....totally lifted the space!. Hope you all have a speedy recovery and All the best for 2025 Lloyd
Morning Lloyd, feeling grim this morning. Glad we have a day off. A freshen up helps. I will be fiddling with the lighting today if I can. I wasn't sure exactly where to put it over the board and I feel a change is in order. Cheers
@ngaugeonashelf4417 yeah bit of railway therapy may help. As I've got a hip roof I've dangled a light on a small piece of chain at either end to maximise more central and even distribution
@@Avondaleandhalshawmoor I moved both sides last night and the lighting of the board is a lot better. One side I'm going to move further tonight. When I first put it up it was a bit of a guess.
Hi Simon, glad you are on the mend, that can't of been much fun. It is amazing how many people get ill on holiday, it seems the immune system takes a holiday as well. Great video keeping us in the loop, and my gosh did that DMU travel fast, Great stuff. Have a great 2025. Ron
Hello Ron, I've been to work the last couple of days. Pushed a few buttons and showed willing but not very enthusiastic. We are out of bed obviously but not very well. It will be a while as yet. That thing is a bullet, wont be running it at that speed! Cheers and take care.
Happy New Year to you Simon! I hope Santa's gift of flu didn't spoil your Christmas too much! Painting the rafters white has made quite a big difference to how the loft space looks! That was an impressive amount of static grass! Those wagons are about £25 each now, so well done on picking up a triple pack of them for a similar price! It was an ingenious solution to the missing valve gear of the Large Prairie! Lol! All the best for 2025, Ian.
Still grim this morning Ian. Today we will have to go out forraging for food in the cold. Refreshing the white has helped and doing the board fronts white instead of the usual black has helped. I'm moving the lights today as the first location was always 'experimental'. I simply didn't know. I'm tempted to apy a visit to Hereford Model Centre as they said they had a lot of N gauge stuff. It would be nice to find a treasure trove of second hand stuff cheap. Cheers
@@ngaugeonashelf4417 - Sorry to hear that you're still suffering Simon! Good luck with the food hunting! :) TMC had a pre-owned sale last week, which I think is still on, and I picked up a couple of wagons and a coach at very reasonable prices! I also spent a small fortune on Bachmann's website, for either a late or very early Christmas present! :) Cheers, Ian.
Hi Simon, bad luck with the flu, you look like you're over the worst of it now. You know I got my Fleischman set out this Christmas to make a winter scene. Unfortunately the loco was struggling so I took it apart to clean and lubricate it ... and promptly broke the hidden fixing screw in the chimney which wasn't in the booklet. It too is now running without valve gear!! That DMU set runs like a bullet. If you can couple them a bit closer it will really transform the appearance!! All the best and wishing you ang family a very Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year David, we are over most of it but it lingers. The hard part is sitting up in bed trying to sleep when you can't breathe! Bad luck with the train. Yes they do like to hide a screw somewhere, in fact they are very good at hiding things away. Something tells me they don't want us poking our fat fingers in! The DMU fix is on the back burner for the moment. I'm fiddling with the lighting position and have a lot of card kits to make. I will be borrowing the wifes clothes pegs again to hold them all together until the glue dries. Cheers
Hi Simon. Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh when I read the title of this video. I know, it's absolutely no fun when you have the flu. I hope it didn't spoil your Xmas too much. Ailing Prairie: If you get really fed up with the disable loco, I can think of a couple of options. 1) Peter's Spares or Ron Lines could probably replace the broken parts (if you think you are up to making the repair - eyesight permitting). 2) The loco could always be used as a static model somewhere on the layout - best foot forward, of course. All best wishes for the New Year.
Hello Paul, we went down with it boxing day. We have identified the culprit from christmas eve and he has been chastised on whatsap! I have worked on the prairie before and it's a nightmare. It's not a good design so I will just run it with the good side on show. Cheers
We haven't had anything like this for 3 years. It's a pretty strong one. I've been to work the last 2 days and pushed some buttons butthen work is only going downstairs into my office. If I'd had to go to town I would of stayed in bed. That 7am alarm call almost got armed response! Cheers
Looking really good Simon!!! It didn't miss you're tender care that much during your holiday!!! The loft looks good too. Are you available for hire (Judith asked)? Can't think what she means!!! Love the speed of the single track train. "The 09.31 from Gloucester will be arriving at Bristol at 09.29!!!". Happy New Year!!!!
Judith can ask all she likes. I would say yes but it's the number of coats to cover plain timber. I would have to stay for 3 days and play golf while it's drying. Now there is an idea.......... I think I've found the original bullet train! Hopefully today I'm moving lights. Cheers
Hi Simon. Sorry to here that your Christmas was ruined by the flu. I,ve been lucky so far as I have not had it.Static grass. Now there is something that I need , I am working on a military model project and I am sure that I have some but I,m not sure if I have enough , we will see. The Prairie is an old loco so maybe if the next time your at a show you might want to look out for a non runner and take it for spare parts. There's normally one knocking around. Its good to here that you,ve eliminated the drafts but now lets see how hot it gets in the summer. Maybe you should consider a couple of fans and put them at each end of the room. Nows a good time to buy them as they are cheaper at this time of the year , just a thought. The green DMU is ok but it is not really a train that I would run with my fleet but hey if your happy with then thats all that counts. Those 3 pack wagons look good , I have loads of wagons. I used to buy the Peco kit wagons , they were cheap so I built a lot of them , van wagons too. I never thought that the tunnel looked right so I am glad that you have removed it. Another thing that has crossed my mind is what you said about storing complete trains. Now my idea isn't storage but it is a way of putting complete trains on the track. After the train comes out of that tunnel mouth it goes through a set of points with a short siding on the anti clock wise direction. Well maybe put a cassette space on the end of that siding. Its at the front of the layout and can be made to look as if it is partnof the scenery. Two small copper clad pieces under the ends of the rails for the cassette to lay on for electrical connectivity. Place the cassette on the copper clad sleepers and then run the train straight onto the layout. Now you can have as many of these cassettes as you like under the boards ready to go. No more fiddling with couplings. While your running your trains load up a cassette with your next train and have a empty cassette for the train that is coming off the track. You get the gist. If you do it now before you start doing the scenery you can save yourself a lot of work. Have a think about it. Best wishes to you and have a happy new year. Good luck fella.
Hello Brian, the tunnel was fine right up to the moment I made other changes. Then it didn't make sense at all. I'm going to make a mock up over the section above the loft ladder out of cardboard. Leave it there a week or two and make up my mind. The DMU will fit in on the branch line. It's an ugly duckling but will get run along with everything else. I wont be using cassettes. All the sidings are in and it wont be possible now to change what I have done without major disruption. I can store 12 trains on the main line and 7 on the branch. That's my total to work with. Best of luck with your static grass. Cheers
Hello Simon. I get the feeling, like me, you are not that impressed with DCC. I like to drive my trains and operate my own points and signals and not listen to the amplified noise of diesels and shovel scraping footplate floors. I have a 3 car dmu and it is the same as yours. I bought it second hand 20 plus years ago and it still worked then. I shortened the gaps on the centre coach which made it look better bur then the motor dies. I sent it to some one to repair and when it came back it did work for about 3 minutes and has now been in a drawer for a few years. Your Tomix chassis could be a solution if I new what one it was and where to get one. Might be cheaper to buy a brand new one if a long lost relative passes on and leaves me a few grand. Be aware that your window will allow sun light to bleach your scenery in summer and also any rolling stock in direct light. Lesson learned from a garage layout that had windows. Nice video and nice layout.
Hello, I think DCC is a good idea. However, it comes at a cost. Chips, controller and of course having to convert all my old locos. I'm not prepared to spend the money or chop up my minitrix. For me the expense simply wouldn't be worth it. I shall also use the hand of god to move points. I'm not planning on having a schedule for running trains and although I appreciate a shunting layout I'm not really into that either. I'm not sure what a tomix chassis is. However, when searching on ebay Tomix is a manufacturer. Somebody has taken a loco the right size and shoe horned the grafar body onto it. Got one loco out of two. I will be aware of the window, thankyou. I shall have to make a cheap blind out of cardboard just to shut it out when I'm not up there. Thanks. Simon
Hi Simon, the white painting has made a huge difference to the space, very enjoyable video, all the best for 2025
I was trying to work out when I pained that and came up with 2001. It needed a freshen up. I didn't do the board fronts black as per the usual style. I just stuck to what I had in my hand. All the best, and I hope this coming year the weather is good enough for me to play golf than spend days upon days building the layout. I want to do it but I don't want to do it quickly. Cheers
Greetings Simon 👋 So sorry to hear Santa 🎅 brought you the flu 🤧🤒 a piece of coal would have been preferable 🤭 Dapol does an NEM conversion kit that might help with your DMU carriage spacing 🤔 Elvenhome Episode 149 has a detailed how to on installing them 👍 Looking forward to seeing the landscaping begin 👀 Very best wishes for a fantastic New Year from the Emerald Isle ☘️
Hello Paul, now you know why I haven't been keeping up with your videos. I've looked at the bogies on the DMU and they are very old and very crudely made. Not sure I can do much with them. I will have nother look in the future with what spares I have. Cheers
Oh dear.....the best Christmas gift ever 😬🤣 looks so much brighter now it's been painted....totally lifted the space!. Hope you all have a speedy recovery and All the best for 2025
Lloyd
Morning Lloyd, feeling grim this morning. Glad we have a day off. A freshen up helps. I will be fiddling with the lighting today if I can. I wasn't sure exactly where to put it over the board and I feel a change is in order. Cheers
@ngaugeonashelf4417 yeah bit of railway therapy may help. As I've got a hip roof I've dangled a light on a small piece of chain at either end to maximise more central and even distribution
@@Avondaleandhalshawmoor I moved both sides last night and the lighting of the board is a lot better. One side I'm going to move further tonight. When I first put it up it was a bit of a guess.
@@ngaugeonashelf4417 brilliant will look forward to an update
Hi Simon, glad you are on the mend, that can't of been much fun. It is amazing how many people get ill on holiday, it seems the immune system takes a holiday as well. Great video keeping us in the loop, and my gosh did that DMU travel fast, Great stuff. Have a great 2025. Ron
Hello Ron, I've been to work the last couple of days. Pushed a few buttons and showed willing but not very enthusiastic. We are out of bed obviously but not very well. It will be a while as yet. That thing is a bullet, wont be running it at that speed! Cheers and take care.
Happy New Year to you Simon! I hope Santa's gift of flu didn't spoil your Christmas too much! Painting the rafters white has made quite a big difference to how the loft space looks! That was an impressive amount of static grass! Those wagons are about £25 each now, so well done on picking up a triple pack of them for a similar price! It was an ingenious solution to the missing valve gear of the Large Prairie! Lol! All the best for 2025, Ian.
Still grim this morning Ian. Today we will have to go out forraging for food in the cold. Refreshing the white has helped and doing the board fronts white instead of the usual black has helped. I'm moving the lights today as the first location was always 'experimental'. I simply didn't know.
I'm tempted to apy a visit to Hereford Model Centre as they said they had a lot of N gauge stuff. It would be nice to find a treasure trove of second hand stuff cheap. Cheers
@@ngaugeonashelf4417 - Sorry to hear that you're still suffering Simon! Good luck with the food hunting! :) TMC had a pre-owned sale last week, which I think is still on, and I picked up a couple of wagons and a coach at very reasonable prices! I also spent a small fortune on Bachmann's website, for either a late or very early Christmas present! :) Cheers, Ian.
Hi Simon, bad luck with the flu, you look like you're over the worst of it now.
You know I got my Fleischman set out this Christmas to make a winter scene. Unfortunately the loco was struggling so I took it apart to clean and lubricate it ... and promptly broke the hidden fixing screw in the chimney which wasn't in the booklet. It too is now running without valve gear!!
That DMU set runs like a bullet. If you can couple them a bit closer it will really transform the appearance!!
All the best and wishing you ang family a very Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year David, we are over most of it but it lingers. The hard part is sitting up in bed trying to sleep when you can't breathe!
Bad luck with the train. Yes they do like to hide a screw somewhere, in fact they are very good at hiding things away. Something tells me they don't want us poking our fat fingers in! The DMU fix is on the back burner for the moment. I'm fiddling with the lighting position and have a lot of card kits to make. I will be borrowing the wifes clothes pegs again to hold them all together until the glue dries. Cheers
Hi Simon. Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh when I read the title of this video. I know, it's absolutely no fun when you have the flu. I hope it didn't spoil your Xmas too much. Ailing Prairie: If you get really fed up with the disable loco, I can think of a couple of options. 1) Peter's Spares or Ron Lines could probably replace the broken parts (if you think you are up to making the repair - eyesight permitting). 2) The loco could always be used as a static model somewhere on the layout - best foot forward, of course. All best wishes for the New Year.
Hello Paul, we went down with it boxing day. We have identified the culprit from christmas eve and he has been chastised on whatsap! I have worked on the prairie before and it's a nightmare. It's not a good design so I will just run it with the good side on show. Cheers
Sorry you spent Christmas under the weather. That was me last year!
We haven't had anything like this for 3 years. It's a pretty strong one. I've been to work the last 2 days and pushed some buttons butthen work is only going downstairs into my office. If I'd had to go to town I would of stayed in bed. That 7am alarm call almost got armed response! Cheers
Looking really good Simon!!! It didn't miss you're tender care that much during your holiday!!!
The loft looks good too. Are you available for hire (Judith asked)? Can't think what she means!!!
Love the speed of the single track train. "The 09.31 from Gloucester will be arriving at Bristol at 09.29!!!".
Happy New Year!!!!
Judith can ask all she likes. I would say yes but it's the number of coats to cover plain timber. I would have to stay for 3 days and play golf while it's drying. Now there is an idea..........
I think I've found the original bullet train!
Hopefully today I'm moving lights. Cheers
Hi Simon. Sorry to here that your Christmas was ruined by the flu. I,ve been lucky so far as I have not had it.Static grass. Now there is something that I need , I am working on a military model project and I am sure that I have some but I,m not sure if I have enough , we will see. The Prairie is an old loco so maybe if the next time your at a show you might want to look out for a non runner and take it for spare parts. There's normally one knocking around. Its good to here that you,ve eliminated the drafts but now lets see how hot it gets in the summer. Maybe you should consider a couple of fans and put them at each end of the room. Nows a good time to buy them as they are cheaper at this time of the year , just a thought. The green DMU is ok but it is not really a train that I would run with my fleet but hey if your happy with then thats all that counts. Those 3 pack wagons look good , I have loads of wagons. I used to buy the Peco kit wagons , they were cheap so I built a lot of them , van wagons too. I never thought that the tunnel looked right so I am glad that you have removed it. Another thing that has crossed my mind is what you said about storing complete trains. Now my idea isn't storage but it is a way of putting complete trains on the track. After the train comes out of that tunnel mouth it goes through a set of points with a short siding on the anti clock wise direction. Well maybe put a cassette space on the end of that siding. Its at the front of the layout and can be made to look as if it is partnof the scenery. Two small copper clad pieces under the ends of the rails for the cassette to lay on for electrical connectivity. Place the cassette on the copper clad sleepers and then run the train straight onto the layout. Now you can have as many of these cassettes as you like under the boards ready to go. No more fiddling with couplings. While your running your trains load up a cassette with your next train and have a empty cassette for the train that is coming off the track. You get the gist. If you do it now before you start doing the scenery you can save yourself a lot of work. Have a think about it. Best wishes to you and have a happy new year. Good luck fella.
Hello Brian, the tunnel was fine right up to the moment I made other changes. Then it didn't make sense at all. I'm going to make a mock up over the section above the loft ladder out of cardboard. Leave it there a week or two and make up my mind. The DMU will fit in on the branch line. It's an ugly duckling but will get run along with everything else. I wont be using cassettes. All the sidings are in and it wont be possible now to change what I have done without major disruption. I can store 12 trains on the main line and 7 on the branch. That's my total to work with.
Best of luck with your static grass. Cheers
Hello Simon. I get the feeling, like me, you are not that impressed with DCC. I like to drive my trains and operate my own points and signals and not listen to the amplified noise of diesels and shovel scraping footplate floors. I have a 3 car dmu and it is the same as yours. I bought it second hand 20 plus years ago and it still worked then. I shortened the gaps on the centre coach which made it look better bur then the motor dies. I sent it to some one to repair and when it came back it did work for about 3 minutes and has now been in a drawer for a few years. Your Tomix chassis could be a solution if I new what one it was and where to get one. Might be cheaper to buy a brand new one if a long lost relative passes on and leaves me a few grand. Be aware that your window will allow sun light to bleach your scenery in summer and also any rolling stock in direct light. Lesson learned from a garage layout that had windows. Nice video and nice layout.
Hello, I think DCC is a good idea. However, it comes at a cost. Chips, controller and of course having to convert all my old locos. I'm not prepared to spend the money or chop up my minitrix. For me the expense simply wouldn't be worth it. I shall also use the hand of god to move points. I'm not planning on having a schedule for running trains and although I appreciate a shunting layout I'm not really into that either.
I'm not sure what a tomix chassis is. However, when searching on ebay Tomix is a manufacturer. Somebody has taken a loco the right size and shoe horned the grafar body onto it. Got one loco out of two.
I will be aware of the window, thankyou. I shall have to make a cheap blind out of cardboard just to shut it out when I'm not up there. Thanks. Simon