A couple of Parnhams photos from Wirksworth.

A small GEC battery electric waits outside the Malt Shovel. Has the driver gone to the pub?


One of the 3Fs comes bursting out of the South End bridge with a freight.

Little modelling since Wirksworth. I've rewheeled 1234 using the wheelset off the BR D20 and will try it out next week. My "spare" 2P is in the workshop for painting and detailing and, thanks to eBay there is another B17 on its way. This one is "Grimsby Town", which I think can run the milk from the same road as the express.

Home from Wirksworth

A good crowd on both days. "Parnhams" ran well today, with a temporary fix for the section that didn't work.

Trev's J11 has been fixed- I used the wheels and motor from my last J11 and played swaps. Oddly enough having exchanged mechanisms and driving wheels I ended up with two good ones.

I got some good photos this morning. Hopefully I can get them proc3essed tonight and get one posted in the near future.

Show weekend

Today was the first day of the Wirksworth show. Not a big show, but a friendly one. Plenty of layouts there, though no real blockbusters.

"Parnhams" has been running well apart from a dead section in road 8 of the fiddleyard- I think I've worked out a fix and hope Trevor has his soldering iron with him. We've had a lot of very positive comments and two more invitations to exhibitions. I don't know if there are any awards attached to the show, but here's hoping......

Of the locos Trev's J11 just doesn't want to run at all. I'm going to take a spare mechanism with me to see if that is the fault. I've had one failure of a UM- my G2 has split a gear and I've swapped the mechanism with a loco from the "yet to do" pile- that one can go back to UM for a repair.

Of the Farish mechanisms, the Jubilee has a broken drawbar and the L3 doesn't want to stay on the track. Apart from these everything is running well, though we need to keep on top of track and wheel cleaning.

weathering and repairs

Following yesterday's running session on Parnhams today was spent getting extra engines ready.

Trev's J11 and Q2 have had to have their power connectors re-done to improve their running, and I've been getting another D20 ready as 1234 is running rather oddly. This one is number 711.

I've also weathered my J27 65860, Trev's J11 and the two V2s for Graham Dean, 60807 and 60845. I found I had a smokebox plate transfer for the latter so it is completely renumbered.

This is Graham's 60845. I've been trying out the Tamiya weathering pastels. These locos are the first fruits.

Soak testing

Have spent the day round at Trevor's, setting up "Parnhams" fiddle yard with trains to create the standard load, and to make sure the layout works.

A full hour of delay while we traced a missing circuit, which turned out to be a wire that had come adrift inside a chocky block connector, then some delays due to a pair of fiddle yard points that wouldn't stay over, but eventually we got testing and fettling.

The afternoon did emphasise the need for a test track and wheel cleaner to be taken to shows. Not a major issue but one which we mustn't forget to act upon.

What we've ended up with is nine trains running clockwise with a light engine in the tenth slot, plus eight going anticlockwise with a light engine and brake in the ninth slot. the "missing" anticlockwise train is due to making a 27-wagon coal train, which is the longest that can fit into the central sidings in the fiddle yard. Since the clockwise circuit includes the passing loop that needs to have the extra train. Of the 17 trains ten are Trev's and seven mine, though I'll be providing more of the locos.

One thing we have decided is that in order to make the call-on system work effectively both trains in each road in the fiddle yard will have the same make (Union Mills, Farish etc) of loco on the front as far as possible. This means that the train being called forward will usually run at the same speed as the train in front of it.