Has anybody got a spare NGF hopper wagon?

Quote from: GrahamB on August 20, 2026, 07:39:06 AMElectra is very much missed. It appears they won't engage with anyone which is a loss to them and the modelling community.

Indeed a loss - I have some old Grafar MKIIs here that I rescued from the auction and have adopted - some have damaged paintwork for which I had hoped to acquire vinyls.... Ah  well, they will have to wait for another solution...

I tried to place an order but they tried to charge me £25 for international post to uk. Tried email twice, no reply, even tried to phone their phone-box says it's Full. Not surprising when they don't answer the phone.

Electra is very much missed. It appears they won't engage with anyone which is a loss to them and the modelling community.

There must be value in the design work alone. If, as has been suggested, online printers can do the job from a file, surely there could be a downloadable option?

I may still have a set of Electra NMT vinyls if that's specifically what you're after. I'll check my stock.

Quote from: Steven B on August 18, 2026, 10:39:43 PMI've not used them, but thus ebay seller might do what you want.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/chriscodethrees

You're not getting the answer you want (vinyls for Dapol coach) as they won't work as well as on a smooth sided Poole/early Chinese Farish model. The seperate windows and raised detail doesn't sit well with a vinyl overlay.

Try a repaint and Railtec transfers - if you don't like the result switch to vinyl.

His vinyls aren't particularly good and are undersize for Dapol and even some Farish items.

Experience of other modellers.

GE

I've been slowly building more of the fiddle yard. Today, between showers I put the full length of the fiddle yard up. Whilst it is certainly missing a few tracks at the moment and not a single bit of wiring has been done, there is certainly a lot of potential there. The yard totally swallowed a 5 coach class 800. I also got a moment to place a couple of the scenic modules next to the yard, using the same trestles.

Yes, indeed, it was a sad, ignominious end for a type of motive power that had served this country well for 150 years. But, at the same time, what else could you do with them? Better that the steel should be re-used than that they sat rusting in a siding somewhere. Arguably, it was the unseemly rush to get rid of steam that spurred the heritage railway industry into being that at least preserved enough to give a taste of what the railways used to be like.

Cheers,

Chris

Quote from: Papyrus on August 19, 2026, 03:13:02 PMI've just come back from a short trip to our local Sainsbury's, where they are now stocking chocolate advent calendars...   

Understanding that the UK is rather warm these days, I guess they may want to be getting the stock shifted before it all melts.... 

Thats a very good shot of how a superheater header and tubes fits into the smokebox on the N7....I wonder if the numberplate still exists.

As a youngster, I wasn't that interested in real railways, just models, but I do remember on our roughly monthly trip to see family in Kent whole rows of locos being broken up at Stewarts Lane (?) just outside Victoria station.

Martyn