cctransuk

Nowadays, it would be kids for energy credits! I bet that most of us could nominate a few local candidates. CJI.

Thanks for that - it seems that my aging memory is not as poor as I thought! Sixty-three years after the event is not bad going! CJI.

Fine by me. CJI.

..... and beware of lagged tanks, such as the Berry Wiggins example above. The tank diameter was greater, the ends were often flat with overhanging sides, and the anchor mounting was recessed into the lagging. CJI.

That was all that Red Panda ever produced - to the best of my knowledge. CJI.

At the end of the day, most of the world seems to manage perfectly well with identity cards - as did the UK during and after WW2. CJI.

If you are stopped when driving at a police checkpoint, you have to produce your driving licence. You are not being treated like a criminal; simply being asked to eliminate yourself as a person of interest in the investigation being undertaken. I simply cannot understand the objection of an innocent person. CJI.

Depending upon which site is advertising them, they are usually described as being for toys, and rated at anything up to 6V - though such ratings are merely nominal. Whatever - they can easily be had for under £2.00 each, which offers a significant saving over the price at which DJH sold them! CJI.

The N20 gearbox motor is easily converted to take 1/8" axles, and can be fitted between OO frames - as I found out during a recent project. CJI.

All of which casts no light whatsoever upon the reasons for your abhorence. You are perfectly entitled to your viewpoint, of course - but your reasons are incomprehensible to me; (which is as you would wish, no doubt)! CJI.

All of which casts no light whatsoever upon the reasons for your abhorence. You are perfectly entitled to your viewpoint, of course - but your reasons are incomprehensible to me; (which is as you would wish, no doubt)! CJI.

All of which casts no light whatsoever upon the reasons for your abhorence. You are perfectly entitled to your viewpoint, of course - but your reasons are incomprehensible to me; (which is as you would wish, no doubt)! CJI.

All of which casts no light whatsoever upon the reasons for your abhorence. You are perfectly entitled to your viewpoint, of course - but your reasons are incomprehensible to me; (which is as you would wish, no doubt)! CJI.

Would they still couple / negotiate curves if the chain was a couple of links shorter? CJI.

As a newborn in 1949, I was required to have an identity card - which I still have! I cannot conceive of a reason why I would have objected to the requirement having continued until the present day. Why would I not wish the 'Old Bill' to know to know where I am? Being able to prove who I am could, in the event of my being mistakenly suspected of some misdemeanor, avoid being detained whilst my identity was established. If one does not transgress the law, one has nothing to fear from compulsory identity cards. CJI.

What I can't get my head round is - if you are law-abiding - why anyone would care about their whereabouts being known to the authorities. In fact, for anyone in any way 'vulnerable' it could be positively beneficial! I know some people have an objection in principle, but I've never really understood why. CJI.

I merely repeat what I'm sure that I read in 'Modern Railways' at the time. Moreover, look at the wagon broadside on - heavily-framed doors with all their fittings over one wheel, and a mere panel of cross-braced plywood over the other. If that didn't produce unequal axle loadings on opposite corners, nothing would! No doubt lazy loading didn't help, but a quick look at the wagon screams 'bad design' to me. AFAIK, the imbalance was never really resolved by the suspension experiments - yellow-painted springs denoted these, I seem to recall - hence their demotion to internal users / static stores. CJI.

I would observe that, IME, we tend to be good at what we enjoy doing, and vice versa. Unconsciously, we fail to put in maximum effort into the tasks we do not enjoy - with predictable results! I am the exact opposite to yourself; enjoying wagon building; tolerating coach building; and finding loco building a chore. I put this down to a short attention-span - wagon building produces quick results! CJI.

In which case, Mr. Ascott has my sincere sympathies! My wife was in a similar position for the best part of a year, and was totally incapacitated. Relief came at the hands of a very skilled surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. She has been restored to full functionality for many years now. I wish Mr. Ascott a speedy recovery. CJI.

The application of a hot soldering iron tip to the two recalcitrant crankpins may release them - if you can devise a way of turning them. A sawn slot into the collar may permit the use of a flat screwdriver. CJI.

I think that the brass appearance is just the lighting - I'm pretty sure that the product is cast whitemetal. CJI.

Tended to be used in block trains - until it was discovered that the diagonally opposite, very heavy doors made them unstable at speed, and they bounced off the track! Cue a mandatory speed limit; experiments in modified suspension; and eventual sale to the Army. CJI.

That is encouraging - but akin to reinventing the wheel! There exists - in theory if not in practice - the best range of user-friendly wheels, plus a massive range of incomparable fittings, that has ever existed. The problem is that, for whatever reason, availability seems to be NIL - and no-one is saying why! I find this to be immensely frustrating, and must be a serious disincentive to the kit and scratch-building hobby. SOMEONE must know what the problem is, and I cannot believe that it is beyond the whit of man to find a way of putting all the immense skill and work that went into the Markits range back on the market. After all - brand new, 1:1 steam locos are being produced - what we are talking about here is fine miniature engineering; very skilled, but not beyond the ability of many suitably trained persons. If the existing proprietor cannot, or will not, sort out the supply problems I would suggest that what appears to be a conspiracy of silence is not serving well the greater railway modelling community. CJI.

Bodmin Moor? If so, it has been a VERY wet winter, but we rarely get such threatening cloud formations down here - just an endless conveyor-belt of grotty greyness off the Atlantic! CJI.

Ex-CONFLAT L. CJI.