Regularity

The original cassette fiddle yard, or at least the earliest published example, had separate cassettes for locos. For trains arriving in the fiddle yard, these were at the far end. Locos were detached from the train, both via uncoupling (3 link, or whatever) and decoupling (the cassettes). The loco could then be turned, and the cassette it was on was either moved into storage to be replaced with another, or put back on the train. The train itself might be re-used, or more likely put onto the storage rack. At no time were trains “turned”, just locos. Brakevans on goods trains were manually moved to the other end of their trains, but this was the only manual handling of stock, except for maybe making up a new goods train. The original design by Chris Pendleton was an extremely well thought out system and executed with what is approaching engineering beauty. Very few modellers have though about the system design, and have bits of the concept without thinking it through - not wishing to be rude, but it isn’t as simple as just having long cassettes. I have seen operators turning 2m long whole-train cassettes at an exhibition. It is not an easy task, and is undertaken with the all the nervous trepidation that leads eventually to a horrible accident. You might consider have two 1m long cassettes joined together, though. Besides, on may railways passenger train formations for specific services were organised with particular vehicles in certain spaces: turning the whole train removes this part of operational authenticity.

I don’t intend to do a lot of shows each year (3-4): not sure I can afford the time and energy, which is a shame as they are enjoyable. So far, there are provisional bookings for the following: Biggleswade, February 2020; Kettering, June 2020 or 2021; Cardiff, October 2020. I will announce confirmations and other invites as they happen.

I was excessively grumpy back there, Martin. Apologies for that. Saw Rosedale in the flesh yesterday for the first time. All the hallmarks of a classic in the making.

I’m guessing, but carefully...

You don’t hang about, do you?

Different number if spokes: 12 on a Terrier, 14 on an ugly. Also, flat-faced rectangular spokes. If these things don’t bother you, then fair enough, but there is a lot more symmetry in a 12 spoke wheel than virtually any other, and I think the flat face is noticeable even when the wheels are going round (at slow speeds).

Don’tknow If a change was made, or the indexing has completed, but it is like excrement off an agricultural digging implement now!

So use the tube-in-pins method. No switches required.

Putting it where it is in your photo meant coal could be shovelled directly into the bunker of the branch loco, by simply stopping next to the wagon. Run rounds can pass through the loco shed: there won’t be anything going on inside it during the day. Using the coaling stage requires shovelling the coal from wagon to stage, then stage to loco. Picture yourself as the fireman having to shovel twice, and you’d want to put the loco coal wagon on the loop close to the main...

Do you get out much? (That’s a superb piece of modelling, by the way, and no different to us trying get the details right within the railway fence. In fact, such attention to the prototype should extend outside the boundary fence.)

Looks a bit like a little Black, Hawthorne. There is so much more about this layout and the stock that we are yet to be told...!

How much does it actually move? You only need to allow a little omega loop in the wires to absorb this. If you feed the wires through when the travers is lined up on the middle road, you only need to allow for about 2” movement either side. Alternatively, use tube and pins to align the roads and transfer power. Tube both sides of the joint, with a sliding pin on the layout side to engage with the traverse road once lined up.

I think there is a general point there: ExMen looking for layouts should make use of the PM facility.

Is that the sausages, or the vans, which were company owned?

He’ll be building a bridge next. And to avoid producing a straight copy, someone else will build a tunnel...