OldNick

Hmmmm still listed on ukmodelshops too - where it could quite easily have been removed.

Great to see that you got back later and had the 'ballast train' pose done. I was behind you inth queue when you had the 60//66/70 shot taken. Really looking forward to seeing the 3D prints. I can see a few places I could place myself on the club layout.

Well, for me it was the highlight of an otherwise slightly lacklustre show. Very impressed with how much has been done in the last nine months even after reading about it on here during that period. It was also good being able to chat with some of the operators - one of the benefits of the forward control positions. Thanks to those I spoke with who were all helpful, informative, and friendly. Inevitably I took a few photographs.

Scalescenes have released some pictures of their station building and goods shed kits for this station. They do look pretty. From their comments I'd expect top t see them on their website this Friday.

Supplies - that's the easy bit. Lychett Manor - http://www.lytchettmanor.co.uk/mercontrol.html Now the trickier bits. There's three ways of varying the throw. Either an Omega Loop - the wiggle in the wire - or by using a hole in the operating lever closer to the pivot, or by using a crank, using a hole nearer the pivot for the point-side movement No problem with strength for working two turnouts - thw only thing to be aware of with a crossover is that when you pull one point you probably need to push the other. This is done using a crank to reverse the throw to one turnout Gunging it up. Keep it clean, mask the area around the end of the tube when using glue. You'll need to keep that part of the turnout ballast free as well..

Good to see mention of 'Mad' O ROurke's chain, even if at its peak it did spread ouf of the black country. As a student \at Wolverhampton Poly in the (very) late 70s - early 80s, I had a weekly Wednesday afternoon in Dudleyand used to catch the bus over there, and usually spend the evening frinking there, or in Gornal, or other points on the wsay back. I got to know of this chain back then, but it aasn't until a few years later that I completedthe set - not in a day as suggested but over a year. The deal y then was that they flogged a souvenir in each pub, which you bought when you got your card stamped (in my year it was a beer mat - not the absorbent cardboard type, but a solid, cork based thing, with a picture of the pub) and when the card was complete you could sent if off for that year's decent gift - in this case a framed and mounted print of the artwork from the mats - pictures of allt he chain of pubs. I still have them at home somewhere. I only had the cow pie twice on that tour - there was enough other good filling food that I actually preferred to it on the menu, and it didn't seem as large as it had done in my student days. I wsa mainly a mild drinker then, but the chjain was one place where I used to try other beers - encouraged byt he daft names. Thinking moddeling, would there be trroom to fit on one of their pubs - typically run down failing pubs in poor areas, cheaply decorated up, and tarted up with a lot of tat to fit a theme?

Will it come with a device to remove boy scouts from horses' hooves? Joking apart it sounds very useful.

A single rare earth magnet pulling down onthe trip wire will not operate this style of coupling. A pair, careful;ly placed might do so, by attracting the wire sideways..

Aquick experiment on a couple of scrap pieces of Peco track a few nights back indicate that hiding it will be a delicate job. The magnet is about as deep as a Peco sleeper, so there's not a lot of height on top to play with. My plan is to use thin strips of stained wood. and paint between them with a textured paint. The wood from a Camenbert cheese pack looks about right - it shouldn't be any thicker than the head of a rail pin.. Fitting it to Code 55 will be easy. The rails are well embedded into the sleepers, so cutting along the inside of the lenghwise plastic that holds the rail base gives a snug fit and leaves the rails well supported. Code 80 may be trickier. It's easy to strip the rail fastenings off the rail, and leave the rail and the outer ends of the sl;eepers floating in mid air. Care will need to be taken here unlesss the rail is already well fastened down and probably ballasted.