Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.

[DickBrowne]

Mrs. Browne and I are currently enjoying a well-earnt (in my humble opinion) break at Lyme Regis, where the local antique shop has a reasonable selection of model railway bits at unreasonable prices, and the town is only a 20 minute jaunt to Pecorama. That’s Thursday sorted, btw.

On Saturday we did venture into Sidmouth and we visited a different antique shop, because we do like old stuff, and found a good selection of OO gauge die-cast models. Perfect for bringing a layout to life, when I get to that stage and as they were only £3-£4 each, I picked up half a dozen which should fit into the theme of “random timeslice”.

Whilst picking out my models, I got chatting to a chap who seemed knowledgeable and it turned out that he is a railway modeller and also it was his stock I was plundering.

As we spoke, I noticed a box in the corner - it turned out to be an opened, but never unpacked Hornby Tornado set. Now I know I’ll need way more track than I already have at home and I’m quite a fan of the Battle of Britain/Merchant Navy class with the smoke guards at the front giving them a distinctive look.

I wasn’t aware of the history of Tornado, however, and that all came as a pleasant surprise. We chatted, numbers were mentioned and I ended up walking away with an absolute bargain!

The entire set for about the same cost as the loco on its own, and all the cars and books thrown into the deal. I was happy with that. I now it’s a budget model and as my knowledge increases and my tastes evolve and become more discerning, the Railroad series won’t seem as appealing, but for now, it suits me fine.




The best thing is… trains on holiday!!

All set up and running happily around the living room of our holiday cottage. I must resist the temptation to static-grass the carpet

[dtb]

forget the static grass, you will have enough fibres in your loco' s soon enough

[DickBrowne]

I know! I shouldn’t be running it on carpet, but it wouldn’t fit on the table and I’m planning a full strip down and service when I get home.

As a watchmaker I’m aware of the fun that small bits of fluff can cause, and have the magnification and tools to resolve the incursion of the smallest particles (I’ve seen movements stalled by particles invisible to even x25 magnification)

Even though the loco seems to not have run, I had already planned a strip, clean and lube, but here’s a serious question - should I also clean and lube the carriages, or just the loco? Having run the layout on carpet, are the carriages likelyto have picked up anything which could affect the running? And finally, what about the track? Is it enough to brush the track down after having it on carpet, or will more serious de-contamination be needed? I have a large ultra sonic bath which I use for carburettors etc, is that a good idea?