jonhall

Looks like there will be a few of us at Intermodelbau, that Dresden Dampfloktreffen is the weekend before meant I could do both, and then as it happens I decided to go onward to... Hamburg! Jon

My point is, that I don't think that the various scale gauge societies should *expect* to get space (or as much space as some of them got) without also bringing something to the exhibition visitors experience. And I totally agree with your point about helping/inspiring people take the next step - which is only likely to happen *if* they get the inspiration and engagement. The York show is clearly *trying* to do this, with a very large number of both societies and demo's, but I felt as I wandered round, that the they (or more accurately a number of those they had invited) had somewhat missed the target, and were in fact just 'making up the numbers'/'filling the space', which I'm sure isn't what YMRS intended to happen. Jon

Frankly that isn't a display , and in *my* opinion should be missed out entirely. If its not worth doing properly, don't bother at all, I certainly don't want to pay to see it! Whilst I totally take your point about individual societies controlling what they put on show, I think the show organisers are acting as 'curators', they should be assessing what is in their show, and making choices about the societies that they invite, and perhaps a bit of competition for the space available might improve whats shown? Jon

I didn't want to post this too soon after the show, because I thought what I saw was overall really good, and don't want to be discouraging, when so much effort had gone into organising, but I would encourage the organising team to have a review of the demo's and societies stands. I felt there was probably too many of both, but more importantly, some of these demo's and a lot of the society stands weren't offering very much to me as a paying visitor. I saw a lot of the top of some demonstrators heads who didn't seem to be looking up to interact with visitors very much. The Society stands were often just chatting with the others behind the stand or their mates. They also seemed to be 'all the usual faces' that I've seen at York before. The show has a relatively high proportion of demonstrators and stands, and I'd like to see a bit more 'value for money', both in terms of engagement with the public, and perhaps turnover or rotation, so that there is something fresh each time. There were of course exceptions, I learns a lot about tree making from Gordon, had an interesting chat with the chap making wagon loads, and the another doing resin casting, and Tony W didn't seem to stop talking all day whenever I passed by. I'd suggest halving the number of both, and alternating them so it isn't quite so repetitive. Inevitably the subject being demonstrated will play a big part of whether an individual is interested in interacting with the demonstrator, so perhaps I've only sat down with those who were showing something that was of interest to me? I usually make a weekend of York, spending a day at the show, a day at the NRM, and a couple of days at the local preserved railways, from home in SW London, so coming to the York show is quite an investment. Jon

its either a Roxey tool hut https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/492/4b4-sr-tool-hut/ or I think the SRG did some whitemetal huts, it might be one of those. Jon

here you go DS cowans sheldon 15t crane instructions.pdf

Yes, I doubt most of the retailers have had a chance to sell out, at least partly because I have heard a number of grumbles because some still haven't had their deliveries! Jon

three out of three that were seen at my model railway club last Tuesday didn't sit on plain track properly, so it does seem fairly common. Jon

there is a nice photo of a BR VIX ferry van in sidings at Bad Shandau on the German/Czech border probably late 1960's https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/EKT543AXEECE3NVOWHHMFEG3YLZ7P6VH Jon

on the RhB a meter gauge barrier wagon, common rail dual a motor coach on the Aare Seeland at Langenthal - these are use to haul standard gauge wagons on rollbocks, so have unusual asymmetric buffers that seem to offer the option of shunting standard gauge as both common rail and 4 rail, and consequently have two conventional hooks and a narrow gauge type as well, but I might be wrong about that.

common rail dual or 4 rail dual gauge? - it makes a difference to where your buffers are placed, although I'm only really familiar with Swiss prototypes Jon

For an interesting gallery of Italian wagons I would point you in this direction https://www.flickr.com/photos/alcoalbe/albums/72157626296398927/with/6907663136 Jon

Roxey do the SR cast fogmans hut, tool hut and platelayers hut in whitemetal https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/category/72/4mm-scale-lineside-accessories-by-roxey-mouldings/ Jon

Can anyone point me in the direction of plans/scale drawings for a goods shed somewhat in the style of the one seen in these pictures? Technically I need something Austrian, and probably a bit longer. A half-timbered with brick infilled panels might be suitable as well. Thanks Jon

The bogie is unique to the LT wagons, you could probably file the top plank and bolster spring from a Gambrian Gloucester Jon

I seem to recall the 1980's built bogie HW wagons had the unusual Gloucester bogies that are a bit like a Gloucester mkII but with resilient blocks to the bolster rather than coil springs- a bit like the bogies on this GP wagon. I might have a square on photo of one fitted to a GP or RW, but not an HW - what do you need it for? Jon

A lot of the trains you see on the Rhine route are effectively 'company trains', so will be loads of the same type to/from the same operators ship either in the Med or on the North Sea coast, so they aren't quote as mixed as you might imagine. The number of LKWalter blue trailers an swap bodies is noticeable, they come all their way from Italy across Switzerland and Germany to France or Belgium on rail, before being off loaded, to clutter up the motorways of Britain. Jon

As I understand it most soldering iron tips have some sort of hardened surface treatment that resist corrosion from flux, however once the hard surface has been breached, I have had several bits that eat away like I see in your photo - they can be dressed back to shape with a file, but that's only really a bodge whilst waiting for a new tip to be delivered. If your bit was new perhaps it managed to escape the hardening step? Certainly the solution should be new bit, not whole new iron. Jon

https://flic.kr/p/2kDnTpj

Exhibition train on film

concrete beams on borails

Colin I do wonder if you might have been given the gold plated recommendation, when a more straightforward option may have been better I'd have probably recommended the MJT basic rocking type W irons as a first step, before trying the Will's workbench/Stenson sprung type. https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/2297.php https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/resources/MJT 2297-8 BR W Iron Compensation Instructions.pdf I'd also say that a 25w iron should be perfect for either type, 40w or 50w seems OTT to me! Is the tip of your iron OK? If slag has built up a wipe over with a brass-bristle suede brush (and then re-tin the tip) will help. In extreme cases, particularly if you leave flux on the tip a lot, it can eat through the hardened coating of the tip, and start to erode the tip surface so you end up with a concave face which doesn't transfer heat well. If that happens you can rehabilitate the tip by filing it flat again, but this is just 'end of life care' to delay the inevitable need to replace the tip, because the soft copper core will erode much quicker once the hard coating has been breached. Jon

Isn't this analogous to your bank reporting the interest earned on your savings to the HMRC so that they can deduct the required tax? In my example its a bit more black and white, as if its not in an ISA its taxable after £1000 (or whatever is appropriate tax band you might be in) then your 'income' is obviously taxable. The difference is that on an ebay sale will be if its a trading activity vs personal collection disposal, and I'm sure that the HMRC will start with the biggest values and highest frequencies, and if your toy train dealing activities end up in the top 90% of ebay transactions in the UK, perhaps you should consider what you are buying a bit more carefully! jon

I would think water would be better to re-disolve than flux, the phosphoric acid will be gradually concentrated-up if it drys out repeatedly. jon

there is a quite good argument put forward in favour of the Germans http://www.germansteam.co.uk/FastestLoco/fastestloco.html