Denbridge

since this is in effect a commercial undertaking, i wonder how far it would proceed if his spanish boss were to learn of his low opinion of the country, its people, their education system etc.

Looks like 71000 has thrown another achoolboy tantrum and taken his toys home

Ive been gradually reading this thread. What a superb layout and stock roster. Oh for the space. Would love for my Southern stock to stretch its legs on a line such as this. Beautiful.

you are wrong on so many counts. DC DOES allow fully prototypical operation if the control system is well designed. This has been proven by thousands of layouts long before DCC was ever thought of and since. One of my gripes with Dcc is the amount of movements one sees that would never happen on the real railway. Once complete, my layout will be controlled through a correctly interlocked frame. Sure i will need a few isolating switches in the loco yard but no big deal. Im not knocking DCC BUT it is not for me.seen too many digital layouts that operationally destroy the impression of the real thing. But seen afew good ones as well. Why do zealots have to continously ram their chosen control systems down everyones throats? My layouts have always run just like the real thing. That is what matters.

a loco at each end was an operational necessity in the Bluebells early years before gaining entry into horsted keynes. They terminated at a makeshift halt with no runround. Nothing to do with pleasing punters it was a requirement. Propelling a passenger train four and a half miles would never have been permitted

it isnt just grime. The smokebox heat will soon dull the bronze casting the cock is made from.

a P1?

personally, i think the 'face' of the 47xx has been captured very well. Getting it right can be a proverbial pain in the wotsit as ive discovered many times when turning doors and the smokebox front.

im not sure you really need those storage sidings at Dymented.they make it look a bit crowded. For operational purposes a train leaving one main line station can simply change identity at the crossing point, then proceed to the other as , in effect, a different train.

Congratulations. What a difference!! You have created a plan that not only be intetesting, but has a real chance of being built successfully. The only point i would make echos the one from Gordon. Transposing the 2 return loops to keep the levels correct then youve pretty much cracked it

Hi Paul.You must be a mind reader . I have one of these kits kicking around as well. Many,many thanks

Hi all. Ive recently been fortunate enough to purchase 7 slaters clerestory kits at a really good price. Some have been started and i think there may be odd bits missing. All are missing instructions. I wonder if any of you good people may have the instructions for these that you would be willing to sell/lend/copy? I would be most grateful. Thanks in anticipation:)

Regular articles by yourself were constants throughout my formative years. I well remember Pipers Mead and was thrilled to see it for real at Central Hall (1975 was it?)

Interstingly, when developing my layout i experimented with curves, never having ised less than 3' radius before. Of the 11 rtr locos tried only 5 were happy on 5 coach trains @ 2' rad. The rest slipped on 3 or more. This was at scale speeds. Fortunately for me, most of my locos are kit and scratchbuilt and will pull the house down. I am not being argumentative, but if i were building on that scale, the curvature and access would be no no's. Most of that branch is inaccessible . Wheres #72 is more maintainance friendly. One or two lift out scenic portions and you can get at everything from above Even the branch behind the viaduct is more manageable. Believe me, having built several large layouts i speak from experience AND mistakes

having been involved in preserved and miniature live steam i have yet to hear a 4mm sound fitted loco that sounds convincing. And a well wired DC layout will enable ALL prototypical movements under the control of signals and indeed yard movements.

#102 has a number of issues that would be potentially disruptive. The tight curvature of the branch is one. Another is the long hidden area along the back. These and others have been covered in earlier posts. Both of these break cardinal rules. Especially as we get older, we need to keep everything easily accessible. Even my small layout which has boards just 32 inches wide is a pain to work on at the back without damaging stuff at the front. Yhat long hidden branch behind a backscene would be a nightmare to clean and maintain. Imagine getting to a broken dropper wire or a bad joint. Derailments happen no matter how good the initial tracklaying. Just a couple of brief impressions.

i love the finney kits always, along with those by Malcolm Mitchell are always so well designed.

ooooh err. What happened to my replies? It wouldn't be appropriate to say too much at this stage. Just be assured that the 4mm kits will be back, including the Toplights. I urge people to be patient and not hassle Slaters. Due to the debacle with Dunn, there is a fair bit of work involved.

Wouldn't be appropriate. The 4mm kits will be re released including the toplights. Please be patient. Slaters will get them back into production hopefully fairly soon.

my concern, with the sheer complexity of the track layout, would be access to even do track cleaning.

More than rumours. Ive played a dmall part in getting the toplights back into production.

i'm sorry Phil, but for me this plan would cause so many potential problems that were highlighted in previous posts. The turntable layout is good though and could easily be incorporated into #72. I'll elanorate when im home and on the laptop.