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As you have discovered, it’s Yes, except . . . Four track Euston to Rugby is known in the industry as having regular 6’ all the way across, in some places at least. All it means is for a fictional location you can do what you want! Paul.

Possibly too late for you now, but may I recommend the DCC concepts dowels. Very easy to fit and accurate with a little care. (I discovered the hard way that too thick an end panel can lead to misalignment if your perpendicular drill isn’t, but 12mm is fine.) Paul.

Priceless indeed. Was introduced to that by a friend over 40 years ago - remembered it ever since. Thanks for posting. At the same event I think he did a selection of phrases of foreign ‘advertisements’ for guest houses: “you will be well fed up”; “a french widow in every room”; equally brilliant and worth a listen if you can find it. Paul.

A potential ‘reason’ for you: “some time ago, the box was relocked, and to get the new frame in before the old was decommissioned it was installed facing the back of the box”. To stick in the ‘ideas’ box and come back to when you’ve run out of other things to do (if ever!). Paul.

Well done. Can I add an award for best mind bending signalling too? Somewhat belatedly I want to say thanks for the photos of the ’box diagram’: Arranged for operating the layout from the rear (tick), switch/levers numbered as they would be in the box with 1 on the left (tick), but the box is the opposite way round (my brain hurts!). Must take a bit of getting used to. I do like your use of the same switch/lever for both ends of the siding run round loop. Simple but effective. Paul.

Yellow shunt signals: Fun! I think the rules used to say you must stop unless you are going to the line for which it doesn’t apply. What it means is it will tell you when it is safe to go if you are going where it does apply. So at Helston, you shunt past it into the stone chute siding, when you want to come out through the siding crossover you wait for it to clear as that tells you the points are set correctly. It works when the signalman can see what’s going on and doesn’t try moving points under a shunting train. Not liked these days when the signaller can’t see where trains are because slack communication can lead to problems. Back to release crossovers: Minehead had a single lever (no FPL), Porthcawl had a 4 lever frame points, FPLs and two discs. I’ve also found a more complicated GF working sidings at Plymouth Millbay which also had shunt signals. So it’s almost the case that whatever you do it is right! Shunting out and back depends on what the rules say (need The Stationmaster for that!). Technically you could stop clear of the points and not go fully behind the signal. Operationally I would want the signal to be cleared so that you know the route is set properly, but the driver can probably see the signal. There certainly were shunters hand signals to tell the signalman that the train was clear of the points so they could be moved ready for the next shunt. Paul.

Diagram added above. I've shown the signal from the mileage siding as a yellow disc as it only reads out on to the mainline and I think that by 1958 it would have been yellow. (Too lazy to add your two bracket signals!) Paul.

Afternoon Tony, Easy one first: on a sample of 2 (Penzance and Newquay) a 2 lever GF for the release crossover is what you need. Lever 1 is FPL and 2 is points. No discs needed as instructions will be given locally by the person operating the GF. Back to Helston(ish): looking at photos I think your layout matches the 1958 new frame which makes life easier as I have the mechanical locking for that. The starting signal (with lower distant in your case) has an electric lock which will be for release by token. The shunt arm below has no lock so can be cleared irrespective of token release. The shunt arm would go below the distant if you were to add one. Photos of the Down Hones at Westbury North would show the arrangement (they have calling on arms but shunt arms are positioned the same). Disc signals were provided on the platform road either side of the run round turnout, on the mileage siding at the toes of the points to the stone chute siding and coming out of the engine loop/shed siding. Hope you can follow the description for the discs. Just say if a diagram would help and I’ll do one and add it. Paul.

Very nice. I’ve been resolving forces . . . should the angled girders go right down to ground level and thus be visible in the gap between the buildings? Maybe they are! Paul.

Enjoy the day, it’s too far for me to come unfortunately. Hopefully you’ll still be on the circuit (occasionally) when I’m closer. If I go anywhere on Saturday it will be the Newcastle exhibition. Paul

Since I last commented I have invested in the West Country SRS plans CD (and others) so I no longer have to guess from a hazy thumbnail. I see why you might be confused: there appears to be no point in the signal as you can’t get back anywhere else than where you came so why not ‘right away’ from the platform. My gut feel is that it is an engineering provision. It will have all the interlinking with the token which would otherwise need to be duplicated across to the loop/siding exit signals too. It also has a lower shunt ahead arm to allow use of the loop and sidings which may have different token interlocking to allow it to be retuned into the same machine (not quite sure on this - too young!). Doing that on a shunt signal is difficult as you cannot tell whether it is being used for a shunt out and back, or right away into the section. Paul.

How would you manage that in ‘Solihull’? (Said with the appropriate posh accent and pronounced completely differently to the New St announcer!) :-) Paul.

The available buttons aren’t really enough for a post like the above. Bold capitals are entirely in order. Congratulations. Paul.

‘Fraid not. The Down Relief (on which the castle is running) became reversible and the Up Relief became a Goods Loop to allow that. The Stationmaster had a big input to that scheme. Paul.

Does Jesse have the MkII body, or is the sophistication just 6 weeks in acrylic rather than plaster? Hope you get sorted well enough to manage the UK trip Jesse, acrylic is a lot lighter then plaster, sets a lot quicker and is more resistant to damage (experience based on daughter’s broken arm 25 years ago). Paul.