Tallpaul69

Hi Folks, A point of interest to me is when and where did the Distillers Company use the red and black lettering on a buff tank colour as depicted on Hornby 20 ton tanker R6122? Many thanks Paul

Well Folks, It's been a funny old week so far! Monday and Tuesday were down days with the sad announcement that Hattons, whom I have had dealings with for many years are closing down, admittedly offset by this being an orderly shutdown , not a business failure. Also, the annual Hornby announcements were not very uplifting, but at least will not put more pressure on my wallet! The upside for me has been the purchase of my first Rapido wagon, reference 906010, an example of their SECR r plank wagon in departmental black livery. I have also , a little reluctantly, decided not to purchase any of Hornby's 78xxx 2-6-0 locos. These were always a bit of a Rule 1 item for my GW&GC layout, but the realisation that there was going to be little change from 400 notes for one fitted with sound and weathered, put them on the back burner. I think the funds so released will be held back for the upcoming exGWR toplight corridor coaches due later in the year. I will finally make my mind up on these once I have the preordered toplight suburbans in my hands. I also have the Accurascale GUVs and 16Ton minerals to look into further. The ex GWR GUVs look supurb, but perhaps weathering to 1960s condition would be a waste of such fine models. Maybe I will weather my Limas, which I still think look good, and buy just one Accurascale to run in pristine condition. I have a lot of Bachmann 16Ton minerals, and I have yet to be convinced of the improvements the Accurascale version will give me on a running layout, again most would need to be weathered. Cheers for now, Paul

Welcome to 2024 dear readers, and here's wishing You and Yours an enjoyable, healthy and productive New Year. Our family have now all departed and this afternoon we have started to return the house to normal! Hopefully later in the week I can get to some modelling activities, if only to give the Railway Room a tidy and hang up this years calendar (A BRM one, of course)! Cheers for now, Paul

Hope it stays flat Mike, you don't want a tumblehome in the wrong place, or worse still, in the wrong direction!! Christmas Cheer to all, Paul

Well, Kevin, I expect we will all Muddle along in the coming year, as is our Want! Meanwhile, I wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas, Cheers, Paul

Good afternoon everyone, Apologies for the lack of input over the last two weeks but this time of year gets very busy for us and unfortunately, the railway is well down the order of priorities! Today is a "catch your breath" day, a pause between the getting of presents and sorting of what happens each day over the holiday phase of Preparations and the wrapping, distribution , and food preparation phase. I have managed to get a 57xx on order, but there is still the "inspection saloon", "toplight suburbans" and 78xxx orders to sort. In case I don't get to do another posting before Christmas, here's wishing you all a great time, and as someone said to me this morning "I'll see you on the other side"! Best wishes Paul

Good Afternoon, one and all, Doing some research after my posting here yesterday, I realised that I had got my LNER tank engines muddled! It wasn't the ex NER G5s, which were 0-4-4s that were at Aylesbury, it was the ex GCR C13s which were 4-4-2s. Never mind, that's one off my wish list, which makes room for the one I forgot yesterday, which is much more likely on the GW&GC, namely the BR 78xxx 2-6-0s as just introduced by Hornby. I think there were examples at Cricklewood and Neasden, so one could appear on trains like the 2.38pm parcels from Marylebone to Aylesbury which picked up the empty morning newspaper van from High Wycombe and returned it to Marylebone via Aylesbury and Amersham. I also omitted yesterday that the ex GWR inspection saloons are a Dapol product. I have made a start on revamping Bradenham's timetable. Luckily I have room to manoeuvre as I have the fictitious High Wycombe to Bradenham and Wycombe End to Bradenham and return freights that I can slot in where I like! I also intend to extend some of the workings from Oxford, Aylesbury and Banbury to Princes Risborough and their returns to and from High Wycombe. So, onward and upward! More musings anon, Cheers, Paul

Well folks, it looks like my efforts to find a way to partially automate my layout have come to nothing. It seems that iTrain cannot at present do what I need for my partial automation without me doing everything for complete automation except for buying some of the track current sensors! Not a good use of my funds I have decided.. Train controller can do what is needed but is older technology than iTrain, so long term is probably not a good idea. Never mind, at least I have only committed time to this endeavour, I haven't spent any money on it. my thanks to @5BarVT for his efforts on my behalf including spending some of his time at Warley discussing it with iTrain experts. Moving on, the next few weeks up to the New Year, are never very productive for me on the modelling front, there is too much Family and Seasonal activity to get through! My main job will be recasting the Bradenham timetable to take account of shunting activity needing to be broken up into smaller bits than I had been planning, because there will not be the longer periods free for me to shunt while trains circulate automatically. I will also be finalising which of several recent model announcements I will be purchasing. These include the Dapol "city toplight non corridor coaches. I am thinking of buying a set of 4 of these, (two brakes, a composite , and an all second), yes, i know they ran in 6s but I don't have room for more than 4. I will use them (under Rule 1) as a workman's train running between Banbury and Wycombe End , stabling during the day at Bradenham. This is a copy of the workman's train that ran between Banbury and Morris Cowley via Oxford, stabling in the day at Oxford, although this did not use a special set of coaches. I plan to order an Accurascale 57xx. It will be the 81A allocated BR early loco version. I consider Bradenham as a sub shed of 81A so this is reasonable! I am considering also a G5, as one or two of these did reside at Aylesbury for a while, but that was in the mid 50s rather than the early 60s. Other possibilities include the new Rapido GWR and LNWR wagons and the ex GWR Inspection Saloons, especially the BR chocolate and cream version. More thoughts soon, Cheers for now, Paul

Cheers, I had just found it before your posting! The software wasn't clever enough to sort out that a search with Accurascale before Pannier was the same as 57xx etc., by Accurascale! Us humans are still in control (just about!!) Regards Paul

I'll have to look again, didn't find one when i searches an hour ago!

Hi Fellow GWR/WR modellers in 00, Its great that Accurascale have decided to give us an up to date panier. Shame we have to wait until 2025, but hopefully it will be worth the wait? Cheers Paul

I have bad news but also good news! The bad news is family things prevent me getting to Warley, the good news is that I can put my ticket and travel money into a new savings pot called "my new 57xx"!! Let's hope there is more good news this weekend? Happy modelling everyone, Cheers Paul

Ray, The first thing I did was to look and see, but there is nothing that I can see that looks wrong, even looking at the underside with a powerful lamp! Cheers Paul

Yes Nick, I agree! I just remember someone suggesting it on another thread for binding valve gear. Cheers Paul

Good evening everyone, I finally got to my sound fitted 7810 which arrived 10 days ago! I delayed opening it until I had a decent period of time available to do it carefully and do some running. The loco looks great and the matt black smokebox is first class! The only glue spot I have found so far is hidden on the underside. I am happy with the sound, although I agree it is a little on the quiet side. Fiddling with the CVs may improve the volume. Initially the running seemed odd. I put it on my test track and it didn't move although chuffing heartily! I then realised that the driving wheels were whizzing round, it was slipping mightily. I put it on the test track in order to change the code. While doing so I realised it had a 4 digit code set in as well as the usual 003 code. So I decided to run it on the layout under the 4 digit code. On the 4 digit code it surprisingly , given the slipping on the test track, seemed very stiff, running best in reverse! It also stalled at places no other 4-6-0 has. After some running it has started to run better, although still has some way to go, but I am persevering with it. Should I lubricate it, I wonder? or maybe WD40 on the motion? I have been lucky with my new steamers over the years, this is the first one for a long time that has needed much coaxing! Others experience in this area would be appreciated? Cheers for now, Paul

And the cure is???

Afternoon All, My sound fitted 7810 arrived a few days ago but I delayed opening it until I had a decent period of time available to do it carefully and do some running. The loo looks great and the matt black smokebox is first class! The only glue spot i have found so far is hidden on the underside. I am happy with the sound, although I agree it is a little on the quiet side. Fiddling with the CVs may improve the volume. Initially the running seemed odd. I put it on my test track and it didn't move although chuffing heartily! I then realised that the driving wheels were whizzing round, it was slipping mightily. I put it on the test track in order to change the code. While doing so I realised it had a 4 digit code set in as well as the usual 003 code. So I decided to run it on the layout under the 4 digit code. On the 4 digit code it surprisingly , given the slipping on the test track, seemed very stiff, running best in reverse! It also stalled at places no other 4-6-0 has. After some running it has started to run better, although still has some way to go, so I am persevering with it. Should I lubricate it, I wonder? Others experience in this area would be appreciated? Cheers for now, Paul

Best of luck with your endeavours! My current thinking is in the direction of Roco and the black Z21 (not the white z21!). Be careful, you really need the Z21(coloured Black) for its features and your layout's future. Purchase of a z21 would IMHO be short sighted. Unless finance is tight, you could keep the Powercab for a separate testing/setting up track. Cheers Paul

As someone said in an earlier post, its your layout, so Rule 1 is the key! Also, unless a lot of very knowledgeable folk are going to see the layout (for instance if you exhibit it), you are the only one who has to accept and live with compromises. I started out with a room 12ft x 8ft and a plan for the two slow lines and the High Wycombe branch junction at Maidenhead, and a line down to a lower level with a big fiddle yard to enable me to run near length trains in the right configurations and quantities. Then Covid came along and the company building the layout for me said that they were only going to build simple layouts that could be built quickly as they did not want to get stuck mid way through a complex project. So they offered me a simple plan which I tweaked and looking around for a suitable prototype found Thame (I am a GWR/WR man). Then I realised the traffic pattern was not what I wanted, it was too simple, I needed a mainline. After a lot of fiddling around I came up with the notion of Bradenham, a village beside the GW&GC north of High Wycombe that never had a station. My model world turned this into a wartime relief station and yard for High Wycombe and gave it a small MPD which High Wycombe never had despite having a WR shunter out stationed there and ER light engines running there to power suburban trains to Marylebone! This location had a lot of trains that were Tank engine powered which suited my compresses layout. So, I am happy with the compromises, the layout is fun, and I have no knowledgeable visitors, so rule ! works fine! Hope this helps? Cheers Paul

Hi fellow enthusiasts, I am seeking to add realistic variety to my GW&GC layout featuring the lines around High Wycombe in 1960-62 by replicating unusual special workings or diversions. Personal observations are the best, but details of relevant photos or magazine entries would also be welcome. Many thanks Paul

Hi Folks, My Accurascale Manor, 7810, arrived today. Have yet to unpack it, hope to get to it this weekend. I was pleased to see the Rapido announcements today, and I am tempted by the O1, despite it being used well outside my layouts Buckinghamshire area! Work continues to finalise what might be installed on the "Automation" front. @5BarVThas been doing sterling work on my behalf. Currently I am looking at how the six "automated" trains might be integrated into the "hourly" timetable that I posted a draft of here in August. Siding capacity is testing but I have managed to work into loops a couple of the fiddle yard sidings in the new board that will link the two layouts, and that will help. The jury is still out on the iTrain/ TrainController decision, but things are perhaps tipping back in iTrain's favour. Next week I need to work out the logistics of getting to Warley mainly by train, and if they suit, to get my ticket booked. More updates soon, Paul

So how might the operation of my six trains run with iTrain? As I see it:- We will assume as a starting point that the details if the six trains and their locomotives are in the iTrain memory, and that a program to run the six trains is in the appropriate system memory. The Man/Auto switch is in the Man position. So we would need to move(drag?) Train 1 icon into the Down Loop 3 block above, followed by the same action with the other two down trains. Then we move Train 4 icon to the Up loop 1 block above, followed by the same action for the other two up trains. Next we need to check that the points in the up and down lines other than those at the ends of the six loops are set for through working and correct any that are not. If we now change the Man/Auto switch to Auto, train 1 should start to move out of Down Loop1 block clock wise round the down track. The Train 1 name will stay in the Down Loop 1 block until Train 1 is detected at the Down arrival block, when train 1 will appear in that block. As the train moves on, Train 1 will disappear from the Down Arrival block and appear in the Down Platform block. It will stay there until Train 1 returns to Down Loop 1 when it will disappear from the Down Platform block and reappear in the Down Loop 1 Block. As I prefer the up and down trains not to pass each other in the station platforms, Up train 1 will be appropriately timed in the system to depart the UP Loop 1 block just before Down train 1 returns to Down Loop 1 Block. This train will then proceed round the Up track with indications in the Blocks appearing and disappearing according to whether the train is inside or outside a block. During this sequence manual operation will take place in the areas beyond the red bars The speed of the trains will have been set in the system according to the type of train it is. When all six trains have taken a trip round the circuits , the Man/Auto switch can be returned to Man to allow manual working to resume or the Next switch used to repeat the sequence (?) Depending on what the next action to take place will be, we may need to remove the six train icons from the six loop blocks before changing from Auto to Manual. I have probably forgotten something, so please tell me what I have left out? Cheers Paul

Hi All, In my last post I said I would look back through the thread to locate other things raised as issues:- A few posts back, I identified some issues myself, but things move on and i think these can be removed as issues:- So I raised these Problems:- 1) Need to have sidings dedicated to holding the "automatic" trains while the loops on the continuous run are used for other trains. Answer:- Those trains will need to be somewhere when not on the continuous run, but that would be true in wholly manual operation. However, these sidings need not be part of the "automated" zone, so these trains will need to be run to the continuous run loops manually before "automatic" operation commences. 2) Impracticality of the need for a large screen Laptop that can be operated from my operating position, because of the complexity of the iTrain screen, and the need to read and take action from a number of drop down menus; rather than using a handheld mini. Answer:- I need to flesh out the details, but essentially:- Wall mount a large screen. This to display schematic of "automated" continuous run and fiddleyard loops. Use laptop to enter details necessary to run trains (layout, locomotives, trains, etc.) before running trains manually or automatically. Use handheld for throttles. 3) cost of implementation - including installation of feedbacks, cost of feedback multiplexers, doubling of labour costs if I change builder to a suggested builder. Answer:- stay with current builder 4) Possible delay in building from above? Answer:- no delay if I stay with current builder. So together with my comments in my last posting, I am now a lot more positive about a way forward to give me the degree of automation I need using the blocks put forward by @5BarVT, bearing in mind there will be no movement along the tracks which his diagram showed with a red bar, during "automatic" operation. Cheers for now, Paul

Andy, Life is full of issues, but which are important to me in my part automated railway? These are my off the top of my head suggested Issue, which would be important to the person raising them if they were operating my system:- 1) Difficult to expand system, without major expense, lack of feedbacks means work under baseboards. Answer:- By the time I have the current expansion completed and the system up and running, it is unlikely that I will want further automation. 2) Likely that points in the middle of a block will be by mistake changed causing failure. Answer:- apart from testing, system will be worked to a timetable, which will include checks of settings before automatic operation starts. Automatic operation will account for some 10-15% of operating time. 3) Trains will disappear out of automated zone and in the system display be stuck in last block on zone. Answer:- The automatic zone is a continuous run. Trains will only be moved out of the zone in manual operations when the automation is switched off. Manual operations of trains during automatic operation will only be in areas outside the zone. In the next couple of days I will go back through this thread to identify and answer other issues raised by contributors. Cheers for now, Paul

But, price of iTrain is immaterial if it will not do what I need and TC can!