woodenhead
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Blog Comments posted by woodenhead
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I remember as a 9 year old my first layout - secondhand 009 on a baseboard that slid under the bed, later expanded into an L shape in the bedroom. A big single line with loops and some sidings a few of which were covered by a Metcalfe or equivalen OO engine shed. To me it was the West Coast mainline and the trains would zoom around it going from London to Manchester.
Imagination was in full swing and I had no qualms that what was before me was nothing like the WCML, it was fun and I loved it. For some reason I also really wanted a 6 wheel milk tanker and it had to have the red United Dairies words. My dad tried to steer me away from OO, telling me I did not have the space until I was given the spare room and an OO layout, first as end to end, later a loop. Again I was quite happy with a Royal Scot alongside a blue class 45 and a J72, LMS livery wagons alongside BR and strangely liveried Lima stock alongside more accurate Mainline. All was good until somewhere around aged 11/12 I lost my imagination, probably the same time toy soldiers no longer seemed to make sense in my imaginary battles.
Now as an aging adult I long for those carefree days rather than the need for a model railway to exist in some sort of realism which has plagued me since - though perhaps recently I have managed to allow myself some freedom which will let me run blue and green diesels alongside a limited roster of steam engines that might have lived a little longer than reality at the end of steam.
Having too much stuff is a curse for many of us, though I am sure there are also many who don't have everything they want having to make financial choices about what to buy and when. I've cut back, my urges to purchase new items that will not see immediate use curtailed and learning to make the best of what I have rather than keep striving and changing plans that suddenly make a large chunk of my railway stock redundant. There is a second railway I will build alongside the main and I have all the stock for it, the fact that Dapol and Rapido are offering newer versions needs to be resisted as currently that second railway is in my imagination and the current stock boxed up.
We just need to learn to enjoy what is in front of us as all too soon our time will be up.
PS I did get the tanker, just it was in N gauge and then I learnt that they never existed like that under BR......
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I really like that view up the hill where you only see the top of the train
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On 21/04/2023 at 17:48, Mikkel said:
Interesting and informative post and discussion. I am one of those who have been wondering what a GWR shunting (micro) layout in N would be like, but feel uncertain whether the quality of running would be satisfying. I am too involved in 4mm to go 2FS, so will leave that to masters like Ian. But a nice little N micro on this IKEA cutting board might be fun. So this is good info for further contemplation, thanks Al and all.
I thought that you were proposing using that to encourage the locos to work. 🤣
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12 minutes ago, Silver Sidelines said:
Thanks Phil for the advice. The web was set up as a glorious place where people could freely exchange information - a bit like RMweb used to be. Facebook and YouTube still appears to be 'free' and I do believe that if you set it correctly you YouTube even pays per view. 'Blogger' also appears to be 'free' whilst Flickr comes at a cost. I guess it comes down to how much you value a web site.
Regards Ray
Nothing is free Ray, you might think it is, but it isnt.
Facebook owns the data it gathers about you and profits from it massively, YouTube is Google, it does the same. You can make money on YouTube, but you are still the product and you're just helping them bring more people in from whom they can profit. Ditto Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, there are even adverts within Messenger.
Behind all these sites, RMWeb included are people earning a living, admins, IT infrastructure to maintain, wires going all around the world carrying data - none of that costs pixie dust.
Blogspot / blogger is Google, you use a Google account to access it, so they are giving you something in return for data about you and your visitors.
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@melmerby Can you also you use yours for de-waxing ears?
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When I look at that now I see a really interesting 80s freight yard, not a station.
Maybe it is the position of the 37, but it looks like it would have been more fun without a station.
A 33, 37, 47 and a 73 plus maybe a shunter would have been all it needed, and some wagons of course.
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Whilst you have it in bits, don't forget to insert the prototypical capacitors in the window.
I'll bet you're finding it much easier & cheaper to source bits for your model now.
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I like the fiddleyard arrangement!!
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I'd be half inclined to make it possible to fit the locolifts within the roundhouse - so you can swap out locos in there without handling.
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It's a lovely mix of older Farish stuff with kit built stock and it really evokes the trains of my youth on the WCML.
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I share @Harlequin's view on the coal storage - would the GWR have employed two pilots to handle getting the coal to the coaling stage - very inefficient unless the shed was big enough to warrant having more than one locomotive assigned to pilot duties as well as simply moving coal. Looking through my Historical Survey of GWR sheds they didn't do it*, the sheds were designed to be efficient - perhaps keep the single track that goes behind the stage to reach the current three tracks would be enough to store your coal wagons, that would be similar to Westbury. Closest to your main shed layout is Exeter, is that by plan or chance? It did use a kickback but the sidings were in the same direction as the stage so one locomotive could be used to feed in wagons from the coal stack.
But then there is always the exception isn't there! Penzance, it's coal stacks were in the opposite direction and did require either a second loco or the use of the turntable to run around the wagons.
So carry on please, as you were, nothing to see here.
*read on as I am about to contradict myself!
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However, I will say the DCC+ box you've created does look cracking
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Think I will stick with my Sprog that's enough for me.
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All the while Tom Cruise is directing the latest Mission Impossible (except they're not are they, Nathan?)
Will be interesting to see how a film created with social distancing appears when complete, he's certainly in cars with his main co-star.
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My school was once buzzed by a couple of Starfighters back c 1980.
I guess if you were in Germany this may not be that unusual, but I was in the middle of Manchester when they screamed overhead. Turns out they were West German and had been over the UK on an exercise, gotten lost and were using railway lines as a guide but ended up low level over Manchester following the Styal loop.
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12 minutes ago, AY Mod said:I do like these transitory misguided elements of putting lipstick on pigs in your 60s/70s municipal wastelands; a bit like the Hepworth statues that stood in the Mander Centre for snotty kids (like me) to clamber all over when Dad had popped into Tesco.
Where I live now people still reminisce about two fiberglass sea lions that used to be located in the town square outside the run down Gateway supermarket.
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Not seen it yet, saw it advertised so all set up at 8:55 last night to watch it, first time I have put the TV on in weeks and the wife goes I am not watching that cr*p!!
What followed was ten minutes of frantic resetting and retuning the TV box as it had frozen so I could record Red Dwarf and then ended up watching Groundhog day for the umpteenth time as she had not seen that.
The wife dislikes TV but oddly whenever I actually switch it on to watch something she wants to watch a film on Netflix and then moans when there is nothing she likes.
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To be fair, many of the UK cities could be described in a similar vein once you step outside of the (shopping) centres
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"It seemed odd, seeing the big names absent - all second and third-tier operators working small fields and decommissioning works, now. Definite feeling of the good times having left town for the last time. "
Which is not how the Scottish Parliament would have you see it, they would have you believe the best times are still to come.
Did the UK really waste all the oil and gas?
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Not sure about the voice effects but I like the locos.
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13 hours ago, rockershovel said:
A small bouquet for a recent “find”, Travelodge at Bristol Filton. Hard to find amid a tangle of new development and temporary works, inadequate parking and a sweltering stairwell with two external glazed walls, but large rooms, WITH aircon ... also catering morning and evening, not something usual in Travelodge plus Costa and Subway adjacent.
I’d suspect that it owes its development to the RR Engines works, directly opposite. Probably intended to serve visiting reps and engineers.
I once stayed in aTravelodge - it's evening dining came courtesy of Dominos and breakfast arrived in a box with one of those cereal/milk combinations.
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I think there are two types of Premier Inn -
- The family type: in town, air conditioning
- The white van man type: cheaper, industrial areas, no air conditioning.
I was just checking out one I use on occasion when in outer London which is definitely the latter and just noticed it doesn't advertise air con either and is on a ring road.
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A bit of comedy but a very accurate description of how things get subverted
sorry it's on a Facebook link but is public viewing
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Facebook is just a means for people to go 'look at me', mostly it is vacuous content but there is some interesting content within groups if you can avoid the politically charged echo chamber groups. I haven't posted anything to Facebook other than responding politely where I have been tagged in photos and I feel much better for it. Facebook is designed to trigger dopamine rushes like all the online games that exist (candy crush et al),, this rush keeps you on the application which is what they want in order to secure advertising revenue.
Instagram is all about selling 'your best life', again not a real representation of life.
I haven't done Twitter but I guess it works in the same way
Forums like this though you don't want to see lots of posts going 'I like this', it will detract from the content, using Dave F 's ongoing photographs thread, each post can get tens of likes, it would be impossible to digest the thread if those showing appreciation for the images had to type out a response.
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Experiments in non DCC sound effects
in anroar53's Blog
A blog by anroar53 in RMweb Blogs
Posted
Not bad at all if you ask me.
On a big layout DCC sound can become a bit odd because it's only the loco sounds that are apparent when on the real thing it is also the coaches, wagons, wildlife and general hubbub of a railway environment you hear.
So using real sounds on your videos synchronised with appropriate train movements is perfect. Just a pity the sorts of trains you are running are from so far back that the high quality recordings we have of modern trains aren't so available. But nice to hear the clacking sound again of an EMU sat at a station.