Claire RJ

What was "Non-public domain info removed" Please explain, as I do not remember anything that I sent other than the message.

The Bristol show cost a lot of money as a result of having to be cancelled in 2020 and the deal with Warners was a way of ensuring that the Bristol show at Thornbury would continue.

Having accurately surveyed and built scale models of Okehampton's station buildings, I have studied the history of this particular railway line fairly extensively. I very much doubt if anything will happen with regard to the second platform at Yeoford. That they have done as much as they have towards Okehampton I see very much as an exploratory move with a view to going on in the distant future to connect back up to Bere Alston, which is not going to please my friends who own Bridestowe station very much!

I am currently building a model of Yeoford station and I'm at present drawing up scale drawings for the signal box. Now I have actually been in the signal box here in 1964 but I cannot remember as to how I got into it. It is possible to find photos showing the front and two side elevations but not the back one, those who know this area will know that Yeoford signal box was on a very high plinth so as to be able to see over the road bridge adjacent. If anyone can shed any light as to how the signalman actually accessed this particular signal box I would be very interested in hearing from you. The adjacent embankment raised to enable the road over bridge to pass over the tracks might just have had a walkway from off it but I have found nothing to help me on this one. The comment with regard to the number of sidings at Yeoford is correct in that marshalling took place here day and night at its peak because for a start it saved goods from Illfracombe and on down towards Yeoford having to go on down by the Great Western railway mainline if it was for example going to Plymouth or Bude or Padstow.

All four of our bells have different tones.

Seing that Ian has posted concerning the block bells which he has made for my loft layout, you will probably appreciate that it was only once we had both lofts available and joined together as one integrated railway that block bells became very desirable. The whole layout is quite a complex system featuring a total of five stations, four junctions and a motive power depot, all based on actual places in the West Country. It was necessary for me to run two 12 core cables through the cavity wall from the original loft into the extension loft, of which 4 wires of the 12 on each side of the lofts are for the block bells. Many years ago my two sons and I had dabbled in a crude form of bell system in just one big loft, which was something which had appealed to me as it would add an extra layer of reality to running a layout based on real places. I had acquired some bells with this sort of installation in mind and these are now in use in Ian's units. The other wires are for section isolation and for the colour light signals which control and give permission for trains to run from one loft into the other. When I first installed these bells with no one in the other loft to hear them I was not sure that they were working because I could not hear the one ringing from one loft to the other, so I said to Ian that I did not think they were working. So when I discovered that they were, it was a most rewarding thing, because it would be unrealistic to be able to hear them ring from one loft to the other, and is the reason why there is no point in us putting bells in between all the other stations,

Thanks to both! Much food for thought here. I have other locos so may put this one aside for having a go at a repair on a cold winter evening.

A long time ago I bought a Mainline Mogul and it is only recently that I got it out to run. After only a little running the front driving wheels came apart on this split chassis . Does anyone have any tips as to whether it is possible to repair / rectify. eg is it possible to perhaps cement them back together?

Well it made for some interesting reading but did not really solve my problem! I shall carry on with my solution of a tiny drop of evo stick carefully applied which does seem to work for a while and can be renewed over and over as necessary. I have just too many vehicles to make it practical to change them all to one style of coupling. Often the coaches run as sets in any case, on a loft layout of the size that we have which is designed mainly for the pleasure of running a really big layout, it would really not be worth all the time and effort to change the couplings that would be involved. Strangely my operators do not seem to be all that interested in shunting wagons (which we on our O gauge vintage layout Templeford find a most enjoyable experience), they seem to be quite happy just passing trains on down the line to the next station!

With some 60 years of accumulating various stock, wagons, coaches and locomotives from a variety of manufacturers, and having "standardised" on the tension lock coupling, I have also looked at a previous post some 3 years ago on the subject. I wonder whether anyone has come up with any solution to the fact that all of the various coupling hooks seem to be able to drop off at some stage. Despite the fact that tension lock is regarded as a standard , it is in practice no such thing; as was pointed out in the previous posts on the subject, different manufacturers have different ideas as far as the size and shape of their various tension lock hooks. It is impractical to change every single hook on every single vehicle and I have tried various ways of refitting the hooks in a way that they will remain in place and do the work that they are supposed to do. This has included trying to solder a tiny washer onto the coupling hook (not very successful), or using a tiny drop of evostick, slightly more successful as it allows some upwards movement. Does anyone else have any solutions please?

I do not recall how I came to have these McMurdo kits but I have 3 Mcmurdo vans which I must have made up when I was a teenager. It was only as a result of going through and re-cataloguing all the stock that I seem to have somehow amassed that I came upon them. With a dad who was an electronic engineer, the name McMurdo rang a bell, and it is good to know that the firm is basically still in existence or was as far as I am aware. I do not think they make 00 vans any more!

I have a Peco medium radius electro-frog point which I think is the new pattern as there is no extra plastic lump on the top of the sleeper. However the point spring prongs are both sticking up above the rail height and the point is not working satisfactorily with the Peco PL 10 point motor attached to the underside, is this as it should be? I have never come across this as a problem before.

We are seriously concerned about bringing Templeford to the show. All our operators are in their 60s and 70s. Several people do not feel able or willing to sign the self declaration form. I am wondering whether in actual fact several of the layouts have already pulled out given that their builders are often well into retirement. Reading the various other posts on the forum, a lot of people are thinking to not go in any case. If most of the traders and most of the layouts were to say they do not want to attend because of the Coronavirus situation, which is far more serious than some people are trying to suggest (they are probably the ones who have the most to lose financially, or to put it another way to not make financially), then there would not be much point in having the exhibition in any case. I personally think that the show should be cancelled, the risk to everyone who goes is just too great especially given the general ages of those who do go to shows of this nature. Is it worth us all putting our lives at risk, just for someone's financial gain?

When my dad died in 2014, I rescued his many magazines, mostly on the subject of railways. As a result, I brought back with me to my home, copies of The Railway Magazine from as early as 1921 and going right up until about 2001. There must be an absolute wealth of information contained within these magazines, and I am wondering whether there is any form of index anywhere to be had, and if not whether a group of volunteers might like to, along with me myself, produce an index for all of these magazines for the benefit of the railway fraternity as a whole. If a group of people were to be prepared to take a year each, it would not be too onerous a task. I do not particularly want to keep all of these magazines, but at the same time I am reluctant to throw them out for fear that they could be of use to someone somewhere.

Rambling Rich, regarding Bodmin General. Somebody drew my attention to the fact that I was mentioned in this particular post. I'm just back from the Spalding model railway exhibition having exhibited our vintage gauge layout Templeford at it last weekend. Thank you for your kind words with regard to helping Nathan run Bodmin General for a while (it is not my layout, but I know the owners of it, which is partly why I was there running it myself!) If you look at this link, you will see that what I did with Nathan, is not exactly unusual! My sister also does the same, as do some of my brothers. https://templeford.myfreesites.net/page-17-bessels-green-week-2019 Claire Sheppy