Thank You Nigels!

[Super]

The Underground Ernie Rotating Billboard arrived today courtesy of Nigels all the way from the UK. And thank you Nigels for including the engine, Joella, that was a nice surprise. He is an unusual looking fellow and I look forward to getting inside of him to see his mechanics.

The Billboard is fantastic and in addition to the pictures below, you can see more of this set by visiting Nigels Thread here https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showth...ight=Ernie

The graphics on the 3 sided Billboard are great. I think it may be easy to print out my own graphics using the full sized Avery stick on paper, stick it on in one piece then slice out the gapes between the rotating bars. I also have some bright ideas about lighting the Billboard (get it....bright idea...ha)

Although regular Tomy tracks fit perfectly to the Station and PlaKids look pretty good in there too, I did have to make a very small modification to the female track connector to accommodate  either a Plarail Subway or Clear tunnels as they have small tabs at the connection points. I think some lights on the inside of the Station would look nice.

The Billboard can be used by itself but wouldn't automatically operate because the is a built in button in the track. The Billboard would work by turning the switch to the On possition as opposed to Auto or Off. I will be taking it apart to see if I can quiet the motor and gearing down. Its not really that noisy, but I may be able to quiet it a little with some White Lithium Grease.

Big thanks to Nigels for getting me one of these very neat scenic pieces, I owe ya one. I am sure that once it makes it into one of my YouTube videos it will generate much interest.

Super, you are welcome, I think the idea of adding the clear tunnel is just genius it never occurs to me to do that. As you say using a strip of smd leds to light it would be awesome, you might be able to use them for the Billboard too.

Btw, not sure where you got the train name for, but he's actually called bakerloo and is modelled to look like sherlock Holmes who allegedly lived at 222b Baker Street which happens to be on the bakerloo line - it all makes sense eventually lol!


N.

That is absolutely too cool! I’m looking forward to seeing your custom version.

[Super]

I got the word Joella from the bottom of the chassis and just assumed. whoops.

EDIT:

Upon further inspection, the Joella must refer to Joella Productions which I assume (there I go again) is the company that made the show? And...geesh...there is a sticker on each side of that engine that says Bakerloo...what a dolt I am, I am.

This is a pretty rad piece, gratz!

I thought that may be the case, easy mistake to make lol!

[Super]

easy mistake to make lol!

That I am a dolt or...the characters name? 

Mistaking the makers name for the characters name, I'm quite familiar with the sets but even I didn't know that Joella was the company who manufactured these toys

I've done similar with unfamiliar things in the past its an easy mistake to make!

BTW: I will soon (fingers crossed) be in possession of another of these gems, along with all the other parts from the airport set.

[Super]

The UK sure seems to have a lot of neat Ebay stuff. If it weren't for you, I would have never heard about these that use Tomy compatible tracks. Might there be more Underground Ernie sets that you haven't mentioned that use these same tracks?

Yes there is at least 2 other sets, one is pretty average with just some track, a tunnel and a platform. The other is way more interesting described as an interactive set, it has this special junction type piece which recognises which of the Ernie trains go round it and plays relevant speech for that model. I'll dig out some more info later when I've finished work :-)