Silver Sidelines

It was not so very long ago that I discovered that I could get digital sound on analogue DC . A chance purchase at a bargain price had given me the opportunity to run a Bachmann Digital Sound Class 40 on my analogue DC layout. You don’t get all the ‘bells and whistles’ but you do get great sound. Full Digital Control seems to me to be a step far too far, for what I ask myself? Well I was perhaps a tiny bit envious of ‘sound’ on Digital Control. However my recent excursions successfully running Bachmann Digital Sound locomotives on analogue DC confirm my long held view that I can keep my simple analogue DC system and that I do not need Digital Control for my kind of sound. First a little bit of history! D12 at Carlisle August Bank Holiday 1961or 62 I have childhood memories of train spotting at Carlisle Citadel and being mightily impressed by D12 in near ex-works condition. It would be 1982 before Palitoy / Mainline made available their Class 46 model of D52. Mainline D100 Sher...

This Post is well over due, but then so is the repainting of our outside paintwork - the white house walls. Hawksworth County Class engines were designed during wartime conditions for handling difficult work in Devon and Cornwall. The locomotive Power Classification was 6MTwhich fits neatly between 7P for a Castle and 5MT for a Hall. The engine’s main purpose was ‘fast mixed traffic’, hence the Counties’ 6’- 3” driving wheels, smaller than the 6’- 8 1/2” of a Castle and larger than the 6’- 0” of a Hall. Altogether a very useful engine that no ex GWR layout should be without. County of Dorset – ex Dapol D4 from 1984 with added detail and tender drive Over the years my model railway layout has hosted a number of County Class engines of the Dapol / Hornby variety. My original model, County of Stafford - Dapol D4, dates from May 1984. It was purchased from the Oxford Publishing Company for the then not inconsiderable sum of £34.50. I think it was the first ready to run engine...