It's progress Jim, but not as we know it.

It's been a slow month on the model railway front all in all. All the other jobs around the house and garden, plus a busy time generally and the death of my Granddad have all absorbed my time and energy.

But still I have managed to get a few things done. Firstly I have fixed the problem on the fiddle yard and the trains now pass each other without clipping. Secondly, I have ripped up the town level ready for putting back in AT THE CORRECT SCALE height! Thirdly I have cut a new backboard to separate the fiddle yard from the layout.

I had trip to the Nottingham Model Railway Fair the weekend before my birthday where I managed to get an early birthday present in the form of a new loco - a Class 42 Warship in Maroon called Hermes (Graham Farish) - late 50's early 60's era. Strictly speaking it is not the correct region in comparison to the other loco's in the fleet, which caused much ummming and arrring about whether to get it. Then I remembered I liked it and didn't care that much... and it was the right era anyway! It looks great with my rake of chocolate and cream coaches. It's been fitted with a Digitrax 6 pin chip. Fitting of this diesel was a much easier affair than the Class 108 DMU (which is still functioning by the way). However, the loco does seem to exhibit some erratic behaviour sometimes, especially when the speed is changed gently. Sometimes there seems to be a lag between commands taking affect, even with regards turning on and off the lights. I can say I ever noticed this with the Bachmann chips but then again, I never saw the momentum effect using Bachmann chips either and its definitely evident with the Digitrax chips. I think I need to look into programming the chips to different settings. I will experiment with a Bachmann chip at some point to see if the problem goes away.

Speaking of Bachmann chips, good old Rails of Sheffield have continued their excellent customer service and will replace the blown chip once they have more in stock. Plug and play chips should not blow.

And now, bed....