tramcard

I notice many of the replies relate to the accuracy and precision of layouts. Well, this might be fine for some but many of us, and certainly children would like to see trains running. I went to a show this weekend and one layout, a small Triang TT set up had three trains running simultaneously. On every other layout the grass was growing quicker than the trains were moving. In fact, I reckon full size railways run faster than most of the layouts. Now, I thought I was bit of a minority with this whinge, but I found a similar post on a Face Book page, and it seems i am certainly not alone in not liking the current fad for potential Turner Prize winning layouts. There also seems to be an ongoing 'how slow can you get your train to go' competition. I coughed up my £8 and was in an out within half an hour. Nothing I wanted on the trade stands and while the detail of the layouts was, I assume good and accurate, they were all so boring. Only saving grace was it being a nice day and had a pleasant ride there and back on my motorcycle. I have noticed this trend towards end-to-end layouts over recent years which might be an accurate representation of Sleepy Hollow station in the 1930s but the fact it probably closed when Beeching was still a lad due to lack of traffic does not have to be represented on the model! I suppose this is a bit of a 'rant' which is how the poster on Face Book referred to his comments. Maybe Hornby are on to something with their move to TT. People would like model railways that they can run rather than just look at.

At long last a scale that is the same for UK and contnental rolling stock. Also a decent layout in the confined spaces the modern world has moved us into. I have read a few replies where the presumptiion is that Hornby are bonkers. Well for once I think they have got it right. I mean 120 x 12 is 1440 and standard gauge is 1435! Modern manufacting means the detail will be fine, and train lengths can be more realistic. Personally I have reckoned this was the way Hornby ought to go. Not in a million years did I think they would. Looks like others are going to follow. Obvioulsy Peco had been tipped off with their announcement of gnuine 1:120 12mm track ahead of Hornby. N is just too fiddly and OO is a tight fit on 8x4. I might even think of actually buing new stock rather than current second hand approach. For once, well done Hornby. (although the ghost of triang must be smiling!)

As a child in the 1950s I regularly visited my Grandfather who live in Chopwell. Twice a day coal trains left full and returned empty. Sadly no one seems to have taken any photos of the locos, or the pit which was still working. I remember being fascinated by the lack of an external coal bunker. A regular walk was along the track to Chopwell woods, and we just stood back from the track as the train passed. Out of interest we lived down south so a visit up north involved SR assorted steam and usually an A3 or A4 to Newcastle. Only remember Dominion of Canada because of the bell!

Finally I have digitised this film. All taken last century and sadly the railway is no longer running after the death of the owner.

12mm track is 1/1/20 scale for all practical purposes. i know 12mm track is really 1/119.58. I strikes me as a gauge/scale ready to to be taken on by some upstart in the business. Many of those magazine non running models are I believe 1/120 and looks better than N but not much worse than ho/oo. Mostly like picking lottery number predicting future trends, and I have certainly not done well predicting those number. But one may dream of a lottery win, or plent of TT trains.

Just logged and while I certainly do not frequent McDonalds that often I have found them OK: Clean loos Quick Service Edible food - coffees are as good as anywhere else. Personal preference though is a Morrisons Cafe. Also the best tasting burgher I have ever had was at a McDonalds in France. OK the ongoing promotion was topdollar beef, and it tasted of it. Albert in France; nice little stand beside the railway for train spotters!

This is a list of links for railway related 8mm home movies I recently transferred to video. I treated myself to a purpose built scanner, well I think it actually has a built in camera. Results are far superior to the DIY method of filming off a screen. Most were taken early in the 21st century in the last days of Kodachrome. Some are in black and white and were home processed, so do not expect Hollywood quality. Blackpool trams https://youtu.be/2F14rYxuRac Over Pennines b&W https://youtu.be/PLsSdckDtXY Bredgar and Wormshill https://youtu.be/eh8nnkmICeE Embsay Yorkshre ~Dales Rly https://youtu.be/BDjDD6ClJbU Leeds and Airedale https://youtu.be/mTFCFPSqAp0 Kent, RHDR, Wenslydale https://youtu.be/m_hxXRhRRiM DMUS & EMUS https://youtu.be/GbPB5p_yzaI KWVR 8mm https://youtu.be/fnQyFtN6Iik Railways in France https://youtu.be/Y1pQBI2DBh4

After more than a year without using the Sihouette machine I thought it was about time I got it going and knocked off some more free-lance trams. I now have the large mat so can cut A3 sheets. This is the first time I have used A3 for a print and cut session and the first batch did not work. Cutter did not follow the print as it should. I reckoned it was probably software, but no idea what. However, my efforts were all with the screen on portrait for the paper, basically the same way it goes into the plotter. Well after I had switched it off over night the next session I used landscape on the screen. Lo and behold, no problems and it has cut around the printed image great. I have invested in an A3 printer as well. Old one gave up the ghost and the Canon was not much more expensive than an A4 printer. So I now have a selection of printed tram bodies to assemble and find chassis for. I have only been using 120g photo card so they will need backing with stiffer stuff. Basically I draw up the plans on CAD, DeltaCAD in my case. Save the outline as a dxf file making sure all the layers are easy to identify. I then load it into Serif DrawPlus 8. This accepts dxf files and keeps the layers. There new fancy serif software did not accept dxf files when I last looked. I have tried Inkscape but it is not so good with the layers. Colouring is all done by layers, basically outline and fill can be different colours. I can use two methods to get it into Sihouette Studio, the plotter softeare and controller. As an svg file it recognises the colours (but not always the text) and the line to cut around from the single file. As well as not accepting all the text it tends to inflate the file so I have to scale it down before printing and cutting. Anyhow once sorted I then print it it, including their guide marks. Transfer the print to the plotter/cutter and then cut it out. The alternative method is to save the image as a jpeg. This loads into the Sihouette software but cutting lines are not defined. In Serif 8 I seperate as one layer to have lines that can be cut. I then save this layer only as a dxf file. With the Silhouette software merging files is easy and lining up the line and the drawing is not difficult. Also they have the same dimensions as the originals. Printing and cutting is then straight forward. I think this method works without paying for the upgrade to use svg files. I would bypass the silhouette software if it loaded dxf files and retained layers as otherwise it is a drawing programme much the same as Serif 8. I have tried sorting different elements of a drawing using colour but is pretty awkward. Trouble I cannot see how to hide the bits I do not want to work with. I can hide those layers I do not want to work on in serif. I have tried Inkscape but really could not get to grips with it. Anyhow re-learning problems of making card models. David