gordon s Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 (edited) Morning guys, the first sign of frost today, so winter is not far away and that may slow down my golfing enjoyment. We're just four games into the regional Winter League competition and hoping to win our group to go through to the knockout stages, but inevitably the club competitions will be tailing off until the Spring, so what to do with ET? It's still in place upstairs, but little has been done since golf took over. What's stopping me? We I hit 70 in the summer and suddenly you realise you are surrounded by stuff.....and it's not just me...:-) My dear lady has her share and whilst we're not tripping over stuff, it's very much out of sight and out of mind and the thought of anything happening to either of us and leaving the other to deal with it, has certainly been a talking point. Between golf, a few bits have been sold. My planer/thicknesser has gone from the workshop as it was rarely used, as have around 20 items of rolling stock that seemed a 'must have' at the time, but in reality would never run. Thankfully prices have moved up, so a break/even was achieved on most items. One thing that has happened is an awareness of physical limitations. I really wanted to improve my game, but knew I couldn't without some fundamental changes to my golf swing, so a 45 minute lesson was booked with our Pro. That was great, but he had me using muscles in my lower back that haven't been used in years.....:-) It has helped my golf swing, but two days later I was laid out with my physio whilst he tried to unlock the psoas muscles that said I've had enough. One expensive lesson that made me think about the future... I'm not about to pop my clogs and think I'm reasonably fit, but if golf tails off, then I have to have something to do and railway modelling still holds an interest for me, even though it is far less energetic. ....anyway I digress. Apologies, it's taken a while to answer you Bob, but I hadn't seen your post from earlier this month. The weathering I did on my 9F used my very fine loco oil, applied with a soft brush. When I say 'applied' it was a drop on a piece of wood that was virtually dry brushed onto the valve gear. The amount was miniscule and simply gave an oily sheen to the parts. Is it still running? I don't know as little has run for months. What I will do in the next week is locate the loco and see a) what it looks like now and b) check how it runs. I'll get back to you on both counts. If anyone else is wondering what we're talking about, details can be found here. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18339-eastwood-town-9f-gets-weatheredstage-3/?hl=%2Beastwood+%2Btown Edited October 27, 2018 by gordon s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Gordon Good to see you back Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted December 31, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 31, 2018 Gordon Good to see you back But now you've gone again.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted December 31, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 31, 2018 But now you've gone again.... The weather has been too good to stop Gordon from playing golf! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted December 31, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 31, 2018 The weather has been too good to stop Gordon from playing golf! Fair enough: let’s hope that’s the only reason. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold pirouets Posted December 31, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 31, 2018 Looks like he poped on the site this morning before heading out to chase golf balls and why not. I played this morning and its like spring at the moment so why not make the most of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post gordon s Posted December 31, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 31, 2018 Guilty as charged, gov...... New Years Eve comp with 28 of us. Pleased to say our team came in 1st with 92 points and I personally had a blinder and won the individual with 42 points, 6 under my handicap. Of course this was gracefully received by all who entered..... Yes, you had the kudos of winning, but from the £112 winnings, tradition says you have to buy a round of drinks for 28 and you get to organise the event next year.... I now understand why it's better to come second.... Having spent a while with Iain of Camden Shed fame, there was a tingle in the loins for a few days and I have ventured upstairs. Once tonight is out of the way and BiL has returned to Spain, I may well revisit ET and get something running. After all, the clock of life is still ticking and there's much to be done.... A very Happy New Year to one and all..... 21 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold pirouets Posted January 1, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 1, 2019 My congratulation on ending the year in style. I too was lucky enough to have the golfing gods smile as was part of the team that won a texas scramble and I don't have to organise next year, nor were we expected to buy the drinks. :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 I thought golf was a type of car........... Welcome back Gordon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 1, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 1, 2019 I thought golf was a type of car. In which case, I’d hate to see you put a polo in your mouth... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Dear Gordon I have, at last, read through all 150 pages of your ET thread. I feel like I have lived your layout with you, and must add my voice to the many others who have thanked you for sharing your ups and downs over the years. As a returning modeller at the stage of shuffling some second hand medium radius PECO points around to find an interesting combination to "play" at shunting, your hand built trackwork seems beyond reach and yet your instructive text and photos makes it all seem achievable, if not now then in the near future. I will continue to follow with keen interest and, in the meantime, wish you good health and happy days. Regards Steve S PS My friend introduced me to golf and I found it a perfect antidote to stress, as all you can (must) concentrate upon is that little white ball. However, my idea of a "good round" is to return with same number of golf balls I set out with! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 20, 2019 Author Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) Evening one and all.... It really has been months since I ventured upstairs to face the mess of ET and it's construction. Funny how having tools, screws, lumps of wood and general junk everywhere all seem to conspire until you reach a point when you would rather do anything that work on your railway. I have no idea why, but this morning saw me wake up and with absolutely nothing to do, I suddenly realised life was moving on and if I didn't get up off my backside and wander upstairs this ET would probably go the same way as all the others. I braced myself and made a start.... Several hours later a pile of rubbish was taken downstairs, the hoover was started up and slowly but surely ET came into view. I'm particularly keen to start laying track in ET station itself as that is the last piece of the jigsaw as all the other boards are laid and wired and just need the joining tracks to link each board together. Once that is done, I will actually have a complete loop and a train will be able to run. It's only taken 10 years.... Those of you who have followed ET will know that I'm addicted to Templot, but it's one of those programmes that key strokes become second nature when you are using it regularly. I was horrified to find that after months away from my Windows PC, I had basically forgotten everything and when I switched on, my software was out of date and has just been updated to 2.19b. No problem at all when you're using it every day, but with a gap of many months it has taken all my powers to even recall the F3, F7 and F6 keys.... Of course all that is temporary and within a day or two I'll be back up to speed, but this one has me foxed and if that nice Mr Wynne is around, I'm hoping he can point me in the right direction. I wanted to change part of the station approach and managed to get through it all, but it appears the view of the templates has changed with the sleepers in a much heavier image than I'm used to. I'm sure it's a simple click somewhere in the settings, but after months away, I'm a bit lost. This is what it looks like... Martin, I also recall there was a change to the snap on templates via F7. I managed to get it back to my old way of doing things, but can't recall how you save your preferences. Sorry to be such a pain, but trust you understand this old boys faculties aren't what they used to be..... Perhaps it's the onset of really cold weather or the possibility of snow. Maybe it's a realisation that I was becoming a couch potato when not golfing. Either way, I want something to do when I'm at home and really hope ET will be the answer. No promises, but at least it's a start after all these months. Edited January 20, 2019 by gordon s 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted January 20, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2019 Sorry to be such a pain, but trust you understand this old boys faculties aren't what they used to be..... Have you thought about a Hornby trackmat? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted January 20, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) it has taken all my powers to even recall the F3, F& and F6 keys.... Hi Gordon, Long time no see. I knew you would be back eventually. In your clear up, you obviously lost the sheet you printed years ago -- help > print F key chart menu item. It even lines up with the keys if you place it behind a standard Windows keyboard. has changed with the sleepers in a much heavier image than I'm used to. Only one template is ever in bold -- the most recently stored template. It's that way on the screen only, it won't print that way. It's a useful memory aid when working on the track plan to know where you've got to, but if you don't like it, it is easy to switch off: Untick this box: That dialog is at trackpad > trackpad background options > trackpad background templates detail... menu item. Those settings are included in your saved program preferences, if you use them. Martin, I also recall there was a change to the sand on templates via F7 Sand??? If you mean the auto-snapping to background templates, that is now ON if you use the top SHIFT & JOIN F7 button, but OFF if you press the F7 key on the keyboard. You can reverse both of those to work the opposite way by holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard (after starting F7). This is the best I can do to accommodate those who love the F7 snapping, and those who hate it. It's useful for beginners on a simple track plan, but a damn nuisance to more experienced users working with partial templates. Welcome back. cheers, Martin. Edited January 20, 2019 by martin_wynne Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Hi Gordon, Long time no see. I knew you would be back eventually. Martin. Martin Gordon has cleared out the bank accounts of his playing partners and has enough funds to continue and finish ET Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 20, 2019 Author Share Posted January 20, 2019 Many thanks Martin. Much appreciated! I didn't realise just how much info would simply disappear when you don't use a software package for months. It's staggering how your brain works (or doesn't sometimes) and what used to take seconds suddenly takes so much longer as few things are really intuitive, once you stop doing something on a daily basis. I'm sure I'll be up to speed again very shortly, but really appreciate the support you have provided over all the years. Are you managing to get some time to yourself these days? It's always hard to get right the balance of hobbies versus work and family commitments. I found competitive golf just took over and I realised I was thinking more about golfing to the detriment of everything else. My wife is an absolute wonder, but as we both get a little older, we are trying to simplify our lives by getting rid of clutter. I have boxes of records that will never see the light of day, not to mention all the DVD's and CD's, both of which are redundant with on demand TV, Netflix and Spotify. The records are probably the hardest to part with, even though they never get played. They all have fond memories attached to them, but once I get my head round the pleasure they may bring to others, they'll go. Where on earth do we get all this junk?..... ....and don't start me on model railways or drivers and irons for golf...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Many thanks Martin. Much appreciated! I didn't realise just how much info would simply disappear when you don't use a software package for months. It's staggering how your brain works (or doesn't sometimes) and what used to take seconds suddenly takes so much longer as few things are really intuitive, once you stop doing something on a daily basis. I'm sure I'll be up to speed again very shortly, but really appreciate the support you have provided over all the years. Are you managing to get some time to yourself these days? It's always hard to get right the balance of hobbies versus work and family commitments. I found competitive golf just took over and I realised I was thinking more about golfing to the detriment of everything else. My wife is an absolute wonder, but as we both get a little older, we are trying to simplify our lives by getting rid of clutter. I have boxes of records that will never see the light of day, not to mention all the DVD's and CD's, both of which are redundant with on demand TV, Netflix and Spotify. The records are probably the hardest to part with, even though they never get played. They all have fond memories attached to them, but once I get my head round the pleasure they may bring to others, they'll go. Where on earth do we get all this junk?..... ....and don't start me on model railways or drivers and irons for golf...... Gordon I have recently been told vinyl is back in vogue, get a turntable added to your sound system, or do as I have get the hifi back out Good to have you back, also the copper traders need sales to pick up again 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted January 21, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 21, 2019 Are you managing to get some time to yourself these days? Hi Gordon, Thanks for asking. Yes, in fact my escape is very similar to yours -- in the fresh air, wandering green places, searching. In your case for a little white ball, in my case for an image. The difference is that you know when you have found yours, I'm never quite sure about mine. Unlike yours they won't win any prizes, but they give me great pleasure to look back through, and to remember their taking. Here's a few: http://85a.uk/photos/ cheers, Martin. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jukebox Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) Welcome back, Gordon - great to see you finding your mojo again. I know you have previously committed to "less posting, more modelling" , which I fully support - so I will just leave you a couple of thoughts, which of course you can contemplate, or feel free to simply ignore! 1). Make getting a loop of track finished and operational your first priority. I have found that nothing calms the soul, or spurs you on getting more done, than the simple pleasure of seeing a train run. 2) .Variety is the spice of life, especially when building a large, long-term project like ET. If down the track you feel your mojo slipping, then change tasks; or put an lp on. Play a round of golf. Sometimes getting bogged down in one aspect of the layout can make progress seem slow, and if you don't seem to be making headway, you can start to lose interest. Looking forward to seeing your construction updates whenever they arrive. Regards Scott Edited January 21, 2019 by jukebox 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted January 21, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2019 Hi Gordon, Glad to hear that you're getting back into the fray! I looked forward to photo's of the first train to do a lap. Has your nephew built his own trainset, now? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 Thanks for your warm welcome back. I can't promise to be posting every few minutes, but if there is progress, you will be the first to know. Just heard that I have all day tomorrow to myself and for the first time in months, I'm looking forward to pottering about upstairs. Martin. Thanks for the info. Sorted out the template issue and all is well. The one thing that is puzzling me right now though, is how to save my programme preferences. I'm sure I did it once before when the F7 snap (sand was auto correct... ) change was made, but right now I've combed all the obvious places and can't find the save programme preferences option. Started to look through your pictures before dinner and am now around 1/3 of the way through. You live in a beautiful part of the country. Judging by the quality of focus etc, you have a pretty decent camera with some good lenses. You must be really pleased with the results. Warren. Hope you and yours are well. Hopefully we'll share a beer or two again in the not too distant future. John. I was golfing again today with our own Seniors for a change. We played Medalford and you need the mind of a 20 year old to keep score with two from four to score, Medal on the front nine and Stableford on the back. We did our best, but didn't make the winners frame... Just back in time to listen to Mrs May after an hours chat in the clubhouse with every opinion represented. Nothing like a couple of beers to get the conversation going... Scott. Thanks for your note. Your layout is really taking shape now, so you should be very pleased it is turning out so well. SS. My nephew lives a mile or so from Peco, so we only get together once a year or so. I hear he is still enjoying his layout but like every youngster these days, he has so many other hobbies competing for his time. I suspect he will end up like most of us. Enjoying railway modelling but taking a break every so often. Tomorrow will see the two halves of the station boards aligned and bolted together. I'll have to fetch out the station buildings again to finally check the track spacing and length of the two bay platforms, then it's time to get some track down. I suspect I will lay just the two inner tracks first. Get them wired and connected to both approach ends, which will just leave the bridge section over the shed approach lines to connect. I'm really tempted to forget all about building the bridge at this stage and simply just get a loop fully connected to run a train or two. That will be a huge step forward for me and need not be months away. Once that's done I can then return to the station board and lay the other 6 lines, all of which are just plain track. That could be pulled out to work on as a self contained board and ballasting and platform construction can then be done away from the main layout with much easier access all round....but one step at a time.. It's good to be back, but I mustn't let RMweb take over again or nothing will get done... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted January 21, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 21, 2019 Martin. Thanks for the info. Sorted out the template issue and all is well. The one thing that is puzzling me right now though, is how to save my programme preferences. I'm sure I did it once before when the F7 snap (sand was auto correct... ) change was made, but right now I've combed all the obvious places and can't find the save programme preferences option. Hi Gordon, Here you go: Click the screenshots to see them better. Ask again if it's not clear. Sorry you couldn't find it. One day the help system and A-Z index will be finished... cheers, Martin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted January 21, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) Started to look through your pictures before dinner and am now around 1/3 of the way through. You live in a beautiful part of the country. Judging by the quality of focus etc, you have a pretty decent camera with some good lenses. You must be really pleased with the results. Thanks Gordon. Yes, I am pleased, more so with some of my recent pictures. 18 months ago I ditched my SLR and heavy bag full of lenses and spent far more than could possibly be considered sensible on a quirky retro-style fixed-lens camera which I can fit in my jacket pocket. A Fujifilm X100F. People tell me it's a beautiful camera, and I suppose it is. It seems to have generated something of a cult following. But I'm not really interested in any of that, my only interest is to enjoy using it to make pictures. For example I use a sturdy and easily replaced jam-pot lid as a lens cap when scrambling through bushes and climbing over gates and stiles: I can use these lids easily wearing gloves, which is not the case with the fiddly clip-in type of lens caps, or the original Fuji cap. The rubber lens hood is over 40 years old. The outer ring split badly so I removed that part completely. Which allows the lids to grip tight over it when collapsed, with a bit of resilience if it gets bumped. Perfect. I can't think why Fuji didn't do it that way in the first place. I could spray the lid black, but no need because I have built up quite a collection of similar-size lids in different colours, some bearing scratches to prove their usefulness (the black one is Tesco own-brand pickle -- don't all rush to Tesco at once). The X100F has a brilliant hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder which appears to be unique to this camera (and was the reason I chose it). For the first time in years I can properly see what I'm photographing. The X100F has completely rekindled my interest in photography and I do so enjoy using it. It's well on the way to becoming an old friend. I'm back to the days 50 years ago with my first serious camera, this one (spot the similarity): linked from japancamerahunter.com Konica Auto S2, my first proper camera in 1969. I loved that camera, and I'm not the only one: Lomography - Top-notch rangefinder I've put a 49/55mm adaptor ring permanently on the X100F so that I can use all the old stuff I kept from Konica days -- coloured filters, close-up lenses, polariser, slide-copying bellows, etc. Even the original Konica lens cap is a nice fit directly over the 55mm adaptor ring if I want to use it instead of the jam-pot lids. I can't understand why I ever bothered with SLRs and a heavy bag full of stuff. There are very few photos from those years that I'm really pleased with. Not many good days recently. This was a couple of days ago -- half an hour later it was raining: I could write some flannel about the angle of the light, and the texture of the grass, and the converging lines of the tree tops and the footpath leading the eye to god knows where. And I did actually wait a few minutes for the clouds to arrange themselves. But in truth I know that my pictures will never win any prizes. I'm used to hearing "what did you take that one for?". But I like them. Here are a couple from the WDYTTOF folder, there are plenty more in there: Sorry for a long ramble off-topic. cheers, Martin. Edited January 22, 2019 by martin_wynne 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 No problem at all. Jeez, if all we spoke about was model railways, then it would get pretty dull after a while... I think it's the light balance of your shots that is the most attractive. You certainly manage to keep the detail in the low light sections without overkill in the bright areas of the pic. The last pic shows that only too well. Hats off to your ingenuity of using a tin lid as a lens cap. I have the baby brother of your camera, the X10 and I'm always putting the plastic cap down and then spending a minute or two to find it again. Someone did tell me once that the Fuji lens cap was very expensive, so now I know the answer..... Photography is one of those hobbies where artistic ability greatly outweighs technical expertise. Understanding depth of field and exposure etc is one thing, but composition beats it every time. It really is a special talent.. Jackie is off to see her mother in a while, so I've got the whole day to potter around. Looking forward to making some progress at last.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) OK, back to ET.... Spent the morning laying 4m of track and have now had the opportunity to check all the track spacing against the buildings and all appears OK. Wherever possible I try to avoid straight or parallel track to the baseboard edge, so ET station was designed on a shallow 20' curve. One thing is bugging me though and as always, I appreciate your views as to whether or not this would be prototypical. As you know I'm not a slave to prototype practice, but I do have a compulsion bordering on OCD, with alignment and symmetry. Having a 20' curve satisfies one of my 'red lines' but seeing a straight building next to a shallow curve doesn't sit comfortably with me right now. Where you have curved track, would the building or overhead canopy follow the same gentle curve as the track or would it be simply left straight? I'd rather deal with this right now before laying another load of track and I'm sure within Templot, there is a function to flatten out a curve, but I would still want it to gently flow without obvious 'corners' where the curve met the straighter section in the middle. Any suggestions Martin? I'll sleep on it overnight and see how I feel about it tomorrow. Here's a few pics showing the curved track and straight building. Apologies for all the dust, they've been away for some time... Edited January 22, 2019 by gordon s 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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