Philou

Just caught up with your thread and to let you know that tomorrow (Monday) my first materials are due to arrive for rebuilding the floor - together with other materials that Mrs Philou has decided that she would like me to use for her . I'm sure you'll still beat me to post tho' Cheers, Philip

In the beginning, I was a Trix-man - that's what my father bought on the day of my birth (so the family legend says) and that was in 1950. An 'LNER' blue 0-4-0 loco with the really 'shorty' coaches AND the 'double-declutch' reversing switched transformer - still have them all. Stock was added to by means of an American black 0-4-0 tender loco (probably a switcher) and three verandha coaches (with lights!!!). Freight stock was increased via H/D - couplings innit. I moved from the 3-rail bakelite to the fibre-based rail and electric points. I moved from AC to DC on receiving 'Barnstable' at Chrstmas 1960 - as it was 2-rail, it was simply a case of not using the centre-rail. The 3-rail stock was quickly discarded (but not thrown away) and revelation came when the AL1 'E3001' was introduced by Trix as with the overhead, as 3 locos were able to be run by using an ex-3 rail H/D with centre pick-up and insulated one side (I was already looking ahead to complete 2-rail running), 2-rail and overhead. I had fun! However, I never, ever bought a single item of Tri-ang nor Tri-ang Hornby as to me it looked cheap and unrefined compared to the detail on the Trix locos (AL1, Warship and Western) and the weight of the H/D locos. Their stock just didn't do for me when you could by the Trix CKD coaches and wagons at a reasonable price too (which I still have). Absolute scale wasn't so much of an issue when there wasn't really much else to compare back then. Another negative for me was the use of solid wheels. I suppose if it was cheap, representative of the original and worked out of the box, then it was going to sell. My first real 'new' Hornby purchase was made in 2012 and I have to say that it now looks really, really good. It's only with hindsight (and we've all got 20/20 vision in that department, haven't we?) that I now see things in the old stuff (under scale (Trix), missing detail (H/D)), that is of course no longer acceptable. @GoingUnderground Ah, the EM1 - THE loco from Trix that I really wanted. There was one a few years ago at a swap-meet, but I declined to buy as it was - well, a bit care-worn. Just my musings. Philip PS: Just went to have a look at my E3001 and I was amazed to see that the wheels are detailed with what appear to be bolt-heads. Quite extra-ordinary for a loco that was issued in the early 60s.

@Chimer Unfortunately, this is what has held up any start on Dymented itself due to funds always being on divert for something 'else', the 'else' being able to be used by everyone and not just me. Insofar as the plans above are concerned, I've done very similar timberwork when I did the sun-deck 18 months ago - except I was on ground zero! This time, I'll be 4m up. I have some good sectional scaffolding and plenty of it so I should get off to a good start. The worst of the job (after clearing some floorspace) will be the taking down of the existing joists. Most are about 200 x 200 and in oak. If they've rotted, then they'll be that much lighter . Your comment regarding heights is good - I had worked out the rail height is about 270' AOD - give or take a couple of feet. I shall need to compromise somewhere along the way as the 1:1 viaduct is at about 225' AOD with the river 60' below and is in reality about 1/2 mile away from the station whereas on the model it's almost on top of it - hence my earlier question to those who do landscaping on their models, whether they use any vertical compression. Anyway, thanks for the comment and coming to have a look - things are finally on the move! Cheers, Philip

I will confess that my remark regarding 25kV was rather tongue-in-cheek! Sorry if this is leaving HS2 (again!) but I was very surprised regarding the amount of leccy required for fast charging EVs today. I'm not sure if the commentards over there were exaggerating or not, but it was seemingly in lots of kWs!!! Cheers, Philip

I have a question for those that may pop by regarding landscape. There is always the question regarding whether the train is part of the landscape or the landscape part of the train. I'm not over bothered if it's one or the other as I shall be landscaping as there are little or no prototypical rural/town buildings in the vicinity of my three stations. What I should like to know is if any of you that do landscaping, use vertical compression? My one station is a representation of Ledbury as was c.1950 trackwise. At one end there is a viaduct that is 60' above the River Leadon which gives us 240mm scale height - not an issue. however, at the end is a tunnel that bores through the Malvern Hills and at one point the ground is 450' AOD, that equates to 1800mm. In my earlier plan (now lost) I went for it, but do you think it may be TOO much? Less is more and all that? Cheers, Philip

@Re6/6 Indeed, not too expensive around these parts either. 24 month matured Comté is excellent. Arbois red is good too! Cheers, Philip

@Stubby47 You're right! The barn does cool down in the winter - but it is totally uninsulated and the walls are not completely closed. This latter matter will be attended to once I have my new floor in place. I can put my sectional scaffolding up on that and work from there. I don't want to close it off too much so as to avoid damp and eventual mould. I'm not sure about heating. An imponderable until put to the test. I had thought of a 'turbo' wood burner, but it would have to be placed in the lower part of the barn and the heat fed up somehow. In the summer, it doesn't get too warm - but if the room is closed then I suppose breathe vapour could accumulate. I shall remember to put some hit'n'miss vents to allow for some natural airflow at least. I shall reconsider my 'no Veluxes' as they would give natural light AND aerate via the trickle vents. (Mrs Philou did ask if I was going to put in some Veluxes). Good observation - thanks. Cheers, Philip

@melmerby That would seem to be the case under current (sorry!) thinking. The part-inventor of the Li cell seems now to think otherwise _ just indicating what was mentioned in the article. Cheers, Philip

Here are some pictures of the inside of the barn - it is mucky and dusty due to there being tons of old hay and straw that has been removed. The flooring was rotten - how do I know? The photos show what's left of the the old hay loft. The joists I'm keeping so that I can lay some crawling boards from which I can work to set up the new wall plate. Once that's done, most will be removed, the last one or two being retained so that the existing beam doesn't fall over! I don't trust the existing beams as at sometime they must have been exposed to leaks. The one has no core - it's completely hollow! A new beam will be laid above the old one suitably packed so that it's horizontal, the old one being on a fall. New timber columns will be placed under the old beam to give additional support to it, and the new beam, via the packing pieces. Once the new beam has been stabilised with the new joists, any remaining old joists will be removed - if they're too far gone, they'll go to the burner for winter fuel. Next up is a very precise drawing of the barn done on Google SketchUp. I have no idea how accurate it is though until I get a new floor in place and remeasure. My tape measures to the nearest cm but the drawing is to nearest 0.01mm! Go figure!! It'll all come out in the wash as my timberwork is not up to much and I can only cut to the nearest 2mm or so anyway. The large vertical post is the main column supporting the barn roof and is immovable, the other three are proposed supports for the new beam (on the left) and the edge joist that will need to be cut to allow a new stair access from the barn floor and into the railway room. The next picture shows the wall plate, beam and joists in place. This shows the general arrangement with the cut-out ready for the stairwell. The joists will be 220 x 100 spaced at 610 centres for a span of approximately 4800mm. The free ends cantilever to the wall opposite - the maximum cantilever will be approximately 1700mm of which any load will be at a maximum distance of 1400mm of which 900mm is taken up by the layout boards anyway. The usable area will be approximately 6.28m x 7.81m: Here's a view with the new access stairs in place. They'll have to be made-to-measure. primarily it'll be just me in the room, though the club members have asked if they can come and play too! Using 610 centres between joists, means that the 22mm OSB sheets that I propose using can be laid with the minimum of cutting - some waste will be inevitable. In this shot I've shown a cellar type door as to avoid falling back down the stairs once in! The layout boards will over-fly the doors wall end, hence opening in two parts. The walls are proposed to be mounted in metal studwork: The walls will be made up of Rockwool mineral insulation (other makes available) with a vapour barrier and finished with 12.5/13mm plasterboard. The feather-edges will be taped and scrimmed. I might give a basic white paint finish as the boards are prone to 'yellowing'. Did you know that? I didn't until I read about it on the Knauf website: I'm going for a partially suspended ceiling. At the one end, the height of the room will be cut into by the existing roofline and the metal lathes can be fixed onto the existing rafters. For the rest of the area, about 2/3rds, it will be suspended. Knauf now do special steel fittings - but I have no idea of the cost! Finally, the ceiling will be finished off with insulation and scrimmed and painted 9.5/10mm plasterboard. I haven't done an electrical circuit but there is a mini-consumer unit that will deliver 32A max. I shan't be having any natural light as the Veluxes would be out of my convenient reach - but I say that at the moment. Otherwise, it's going to be LED ceiling downlighters and possible some LED pelmet type lights over the layout itself: As for the layout, due to a hard-drive failure, I lost everything (no, no, no violins required - a lesson learnt the hard way), so I'm redrawing it in SCARM again and I may have a go in Templot as I do have some non-RTP junctions with which to deal. However, as time is running out (biological clock an' all that), then most of the trackwork will be RTP. You can see the general scheme if you follow the link in the very first post above. When I've redrawn the plan (it shouldn't take long as there won't be any major changes) I'll post it up. Later, I'll post it up also in 3D via SketchUp (lost the originals too). I enjoyed that, but it did take a long time to do (3 weeks) but it was useful as I could do a virtual tour. The first effort did show up things that just didn't hang well, and I was able to amend it on-screen, rather than doing it 'live'. Any ideas of how to construct the cellar doors would be good and how to secure the room too. Let me know what you think - especially if there is something technical that I may have got wrong! Cheers, Philip

The comment about having electric cars charging on a motorail may not be so far fetched. In The Register a day or so ago (an on-line IT magazine - free to read), there was an item by the inventor of the graphite anode in the Lithium battery saying how he was working on a way to extend EV batteries by not overloading the charging rate in terms of amperage but by using high voltage and that you could recharge an EV battery in 10 minutes. Would 25kV do the job? (If anyone wants to read the item, here's a link: https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/14/rachid_yazami_the_future_of_ev_batteries/ ) Cheers, Philip

Hello any new readers to this thread - I have changed the title from 'Dymented? I must be!' on 4th March 2023. The title change reflects the fact that as from this date the long-awaited layout starts. If you want to read all about the work that went into the design of the layout with the help of the RMWeb collective and the creation of the room within which to construct the layout, then start here - otherwise skip forward to page 18. Philou Hello chums and chumesses, I'm not sure that this topic should be in this thread, and I didn't want to do a blog, so here goes: There is a link to my layout topic below, wherein the RMWeb collective were kind enough to give their thoughts on the proposal. After much toing and froing, and perhaps of a primary importance, a lack of general funds to get the layout underway, the good news is that this week I has mainly been ordering timber and ironwork the get it underway, oh yes! . The commencement of it will be slow, as I have to extend a sundeck and the materials for that are arriving next week too. Mrs Philou has her priorities. As I have four blank walls in our barn to play with, it is a blank canvas for me - however I need to create a new floor (mezzanine) as the old one was rotten and not at all level. The first job will be set up some sectional scaffolding so that I can rawl-bolt a new wall-plate to the one wall from which I shall then launch new joists onto a new supportingbeam 3/4 of the way across. I don't want to put a new wall plate up on the opposite side as the wall there is very irregular. In any case, the joist would be of an unsupported span of over 6.2m which really falls outside of simple engineering. I can therefore keep the unsupported length to about 4.8m. I'll post a general plan next of the existing barn and the proposed flooring with some photos. Cheers, Philip

We've gone for white everywhere and added colour via soft furnishings - it made a change from the shower-room that had been tiled in black when we bought the house - fine - except that the shower-room was windowless!!!

I think @Edwardian is offering a visual clue - the research was done by Oxford (Rail), not Oxford itself (but perhaps you knew that already - if so, sorry). Cheers,

Even I'd have one of those ^^ ...... As an add-on, if you're considering models of an age gone-by, would there be mileage in doing a small range of working trams (or dare I suggest trolleybuses) with operating booms and simple overhead? I realise they probably wouldn't come cheap, but there aren't a lot of small detail parts either. Thinking further along - UK outline buses built around the Faller road system with rechargeable batteries on board? Cheers, Philip

Over here, they do seem to go a lot for external insulation - I'm not sure what the material is (probably extruded polystyrene or similar) - that is retained to the existing wall and then rendered/painted. I think a lot of it is being done via the €1 CO2 off-set scheme. That would prevent further water penetration into the rebar. To me, it would seem that there is insufficient cover of concrete in the original panels. It was (when I was in college) a minimum of 25mm. You could with some effort probably break the panels by hand using a lump hammer (been there, done that) or a cheap Kangol from Lidl/Aldi + skip if you can't recycle the rubble at home. The roofing material will be the major problem regarding disposal. Good luck whatever you decide to do. Cheers, Philip

As an add-on, Au Pullman is a short walk from Gare St Lazare metro (several lines pass there) and they do do Trix locos. Saw a very nice Swiss triple articulated electric loco at an eyewatering €800+ .... fortunately for me, common sense prevailed ....... particularly as I do GWR. There is also La Boutique de la Vie de Rail in the Rue de Clichy parallel to Rue d'Amsterdam. I know its not the question asked, but at one time, La Citerne did have a small amount of Hornby UK stock. Cheers, Philip

@Fat Controller This is the one I was thinking of: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.4520437,5.5802448,3a,15y,307.59h,89.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUI_c6e2BE7Cz4UoVUci4hw!2e0!5s20130801T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en The bluey-grey Bo-Bo on the left. There have been some green ones too. I thought the site was pretty much static, but stock seems to move around, appear and re-appear. Clearly, Europorte must be busy too as there is one view with quite a number of modern units (Vossloh?) parked up. Cheers, Philip

@Fat Controller Well, I never knew that! The times I've been past, I've only seen a stack of post-war American(?) centre-cab Bo-Bos (think a double-ended Class 20) rotting away. Might even be Co-Cos. Cheers, Philip

@Spotlc Bonsoir et salut! I've only just come across your thread - love the photos! I happen to like old cameras but never have had the nerve (or need) to restore them. I saw a mention of Gray and Chalindrey. The line has long been abandoned though the track is still in place in parts despite rather large trees growing through the sleepers. The sister loco to 140C38, 140C27 was overhauled at Gray a few years ago before being sent to the Train à Vapeur des Cévennes, driven by the father of a friend of mine. Despite Gray being a somewhat rural backwater, it was at one time quite an important hub in railway terms. Steam locos are still overhauled there - there was a Pacific there in steam about 4 years ago in what seemed to be almost Southern Region green with brass banding. I didn't have a camera and I wasn't able to stop to take any details unfortunately (Madame Philou was in a rush to go to IKEA in Dijon - totally wrong priority - but there you go!). As an add-on, Chalindrey is my local station and where our railway club is based. Cheers, Philip

And here in France 'y' is classed as a vowel - but 'h' is rarely sounded - think 'otel and they just can't get their tongues around the 'th' sound, 'z' is about the best - beats the 'f' oft used in the UK though. @Regularity You've missed the mutations that can occur in Welsh. For those that don't know - as an example - under certain grammatical conditions Pontypridd could become Mhontypridd - oh yes, butti.

Oh yes! And if the wind was in the right direction you'd get the sight (light reflected in the clouds) and the smells! During foggy weather there'd be the dulcet sounds of the fog-horn too - and that was miles away on Flat Holm. Sorry, I drifted off again ................. These coaches ...... I can see why people tend not to go into too much detail in painting 4mm scale models - the challenge is there but I doubt if I would have the patience - especially the circular 'blobs' around the ducket! I know a chap though who probably could crack it seeing the very fine work he does on Castle Aching ............. Cheers, Philip

This is done prior to redoing the surface using an emulsion with chips - usually recycled materials - known as 'slap'n'dash'. I think it may have been developed by Colas - the same as the train operator. Cheers, Philip PS: Thanks for the photo showing the canal-side sign-post.

@Pacific231G The Rotonde 52 club here uses 10mm ply for the surface, edges and cross members of their 1200 x 600 x 100mm modules that are glued and screwed, giving a very rigid structure. However, I wouldn't want to carry two of them as one unit! BTW @Harlequin - great carpentry! Now, when you've finished that, I've got a little project ..................... Cheers, Philip

Returning on topic, there is somewhere on one of the Metro tank threads within RMWeb, a photograph of a Metro hurrying along on the SWML between Newport and Cardiff hauling what IIRC could well be a rake of coaches similar to those in the photos above - who knows - maybe a stopper calling at Roath (for Splott). Cheers, Philip

Yay @The Johnster ! See! I knew you would come up with the goods. Yes, I admit crossing Splott Road railway bridge daily to and from secondary school (St Illtyds seeing as you mentioned the Illtydians Club), but I was too short to see over the parapet and never really saw the railway itself! Cheers, Philip