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Ray H

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  1. Take a look at my Puzzel Yard layout. The track plan was copied from one of Andy Peters' layouts and provides endless fun if you like shunting. I had about two dozen wagons and a couple of locos on it and operated it as a shunting puzzle (hence the name). A quick Excel spreadsheet to randomise the wagon placement is all you need for hours of fun.
  2. Ray H

    Little Muddle

    You can tell its a model as it hasn't been raining! Hat, coat & umbrella - I'm gone!
  3. We have a similar problem with one of the locos on the club's O gauge layout that's fitted with a Zimo sound decoder. We tried a few ideas out but as the only loco on the layout fitted with lights we eventually gave up. I only asked the make of yours in case it was similar to ours and might have provided us with a solution to our problem.
  4. Ray H

    Little Muddle

    Is that the final weathering job Kevin? 😄
  5. I shall probably have to duck for cover after saying this but . . . I think a lot of the trouble with the Circle line and the tracks it uses is with the computer control, although I have no knowledge of it these days, the previous system being just that, a system, couldn't work in the same way as a signaller could. The signaller could often see where the trains were when they were still some way away and could mentally hatch a plan as to the order in which the trains would merge together. Equally, smart platform work by staff and (often) passengers also cut platform dwell times. Modern signalling overlaps are greater than before too. Add all them together and even a minor glitch can have a large ripple effect. Even as late as the 1960s trains on the south and north sides of the Circle were running at or near to 38 trains per hour. As far as I am aware, they're not even scheduled to run at 30 tph these days.
  6. I lost my dad from kidney failure when I was just 12, 64 years ago. I know he was in a Railway Convalescent Home at Dawlish although I don't know if it was this one. We mentioned it at home recently to the surprise of some family members.
  7. Silly (?) thought. Close two adjacent level crossings and replace each of them with a footbridge that isn't too bike unfriendly and build a new road bridge between the two (now ex) crossings. Would that be an option anywhere?
  8. There was a short comment on this (early) evening news that there's some money been allocated in the budget (?) for work on the section between Bedford & Bletchley as part of EWR. It didn't say what the money was actually for.
  9. You don't necessarily need a computer but you do need to know which decoder make/model you are working with so that you can download the (free) manual for the decoder. Its then a case of working out, from the manual, which CVs affect which function, reading (and noting down) the relevant CV values and swapping them around. For example, each Zimo decoder (generally) uses 3 CVs per function. Find the three CVs that assign the sound you're interested in and note their value. Then do likewise with the function key you wish to transfer the wanted sound to. You can now swap the three CV values for each function so what was assigned to button F now plays when you press button G and what was assigned to button G now plays when you press button F. Obviously you can do several swaps at the same time but you do need to note what's where at the start and then decide which CVs the relevant values need to be transferred to. I'm not that familiar with ESU decoders so won't try to explain how you'd need to do them.
  10. The widder the supporting frame the greater the support towards the ends of the turntable board, especially when that is at 90º to the frame. I'd still be thinking of something thicker than their usual 9mm (?) baseboard top material. I have their boards on my static layout and can vouch for their build.
  11. I'd suggest something like 15mm/18mm thickness for the turntable with handles that fold down to prevent trains from running off the edge. Don't forget that you can only be at one end of the turntable as it turns so that could impact how much weight you can have at the other end.
  12. Ray H

    Little Muddle

    Did the signal finally change or did they creep past it in the dead of night and hope no one was looking?
  13. I've several locos that I largely bought on a whim albeit based around my Light Railway concept. Having more recently acquired the first Terrier and then the second and, even more recently, the Manning Wardle, I'd decided that the Hudswell Clarke and Kerr Stuart looked far too big against the smaller locos - I'd also bought (and built) an 0-6-0T saddle tank kit intended for the LR which, again didn't look right size wise. I "decided" that my loco stock was therefore complete as I (falsely, as it turned out) thought that there weren't any other small locos that would be comparable. I'm not a great fan of 0-4-0 tank locos because of my perception of the challenges of power collection if wheels & track aren't kept spotless - keeping the latter spotless under the high level station being a tad more difficult. So I'd ruled them out (apart for the Fowler diesel that potters around the Westbury yard where track cleaning isn't a problem). Winding the clock back some 60+ years ago, I'd been a volunteer on the Bluebell railway and remembered the little P class, No. 27, resplendent in its SECR livery - a favourite of mine although I hadn't really appreciated its miniscule size. I can't remember how, but I happened upon an advert for the P Class kit sold by Radley Models a while ago but took no further action save for thinking (again, incorrectly) that that was the only option for obtaining a P class loco for the LR side of the layout. A while later and when there was some doubt about the future of the Radley kits following Phil Radley's untimely passing, I saw a picture of a P class loco against some coaching stock and decided that it was probably of a similar size to the Terriers and, thus, wouldn't look as out of place alongside the Terriers as the other 0--6-0Ts did. Roll forward a bit further in time and the name Alphagraphix appears from somewhere as does their P Class kit. After the exchange of several emails with Roger at Alphagraphix I decided that I'd buy one. It duly arrived yesterday: It'll be a while before it speeds around the layout (and probably a while before work starts on it) but I'll try and document the build as it proceeds. Fear not, as much as I like the SECR livery, it won't get painted that way.
  14. Aside from a diagonal across the room to get the greatest length, I think you've either got to target a basically straight layout of around 9ft including the fiddle yard or a U shape with the curve being across the widest part to give you the best curve although. The L shape option has two variants: (a) using the longer room wall for the station/yard but with a fairly small fiddle yard, or, (b) the other way round with a longer fiddle yard but the station length will suffer albeit it could be partially built on a curve. Talking of curves you're unlikely to get much better than a 4ft radius and using either set track or home-made pointwork is probably your only option. I did once toy with the idea of a terminus with the buffer stop end largely "hidden" behind a building. Instead of the usual run round neck and point there would be a loco length sector plate to allow the loco to run round. The other end of the station could also be off scene again on a sector plate of traverser. Take a look at my garage based layout to see what I've managed to squeeze in without filling every space with track.
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