StuartMc

1. That's my understanding, too. The regions were basically the original 4 railway companies who had their own set of rules for various aspects of signalling. 2. I haven't seen that in the UK but it wouldn't surprise me if someone here has! 3. On our line, yes the Line Clear is required to clear the signal to allow the train to leave the section - but the other signal boxes can be switched out which disables this lock. 4. On ours, I am not 100% sure, but I think the staff is not interlocked in this way. It's hard to tell as the token is never in the machine when I'm working the frame! Obviously this would protect against some of the mistakes (forgetting the token entirely) but not from others - such as the Abermule disaster where there was a mix up of tokens.

That's genarlly optional; it is only required by regulation 46.2 during the initiation ceremony; otherwise the point grease gets everywhere - this, like most safety regulations was brought in after a tragic accident, in this case an incident in 1893 at Bangor where a newly qualified Signalman tried to cycle home without properly removing all of the grease. He lost traction on the bike staddle, wobbled, and fell under an ex-Taff Vale 0-6-2T.

Odd question, but is the shade of green on these models correct? I saw one at a show and it looked very bright. To be fair, the rest of the stock on the layout was weathered (brilliantly) to a very grotty state, so it would have stood out anyway! I wonder, has anyone weathered one - how does it look then? Stuart

Saw Henry today whilst laying some track which is much harder at full scale than on a model.

The next task was to cut an entry hole from the fiddle yard. I don't know if you are like me, but I find it a bit daunting cutting holes in or otherwise modifiying (and therefore potentially ruining) any expensive and lovely model. This is why, even though I was pleased with my weathering on some wagons, I haven't yet built up the courage to tackle a locomotive yet. I mean, I know most things that go wrong can be sorted with a bit of work, but there is a feeling that it might all go horribly wrong. And in this case it sort of did, but, as I said, even a wobble can get fixed and I was happy with the result. Anyway, the baseboard may be a lovely but of craftsmanship, but it's not much use without access to the fiddleyard, so off we go. Firstly, I cut out a cardboard arch to get an idea of the size, and drew round it onto the end of the layout - making sure it was dead in the center of course. I planned to use a big wood screw to cut the corners and then cut up with the electric jigsaw. I worked out carefully out the centers so I could drill the hole in the right place and thus I would get a nice neat hole (well, that was the plan). The wood drill did try to drift a bit as the blade parts stareted to cut but it was was fairly cooperative and I was quite happy. However this miscreant, whether because it's a cheap nasty or because I haven't used it more than twice ever, decided not to cooperate. What a mess! All of poor Tim's hard work buidling this thing and I go and do this outrage to it! The shame! Anyway these guys came to the rescue. After a bit of work tidying up, it's now looking at least presentable. In actual fact it will be hidden, but I do want it to be at least presentable. While I was testing the size, I used the Peco track on top of a spacer to repsent the track height - with the foresight of using a length with a buffer stop to make sure it didn't run off the end. I wouldn't necessarily be able to put it right if it smashed into a thousand pieces, I guess incidents of that nature are why modellers so often have grounded bodies as stores etc on their layouts.

Thanks, Keith, I have a book with some pictures of Hemylock, I will definitely be checking that out now that you mentioned it.

Well I didn't know about the colour system. In fact the brown looks black and it took me a while to notice one of the sections!

Tyler's No 6 Tablets sounds like some patent medicine you'd see in an advert from an early 1900 magazine! Our new No 6 Table has added radium to give vitality and vigour to your infant - that 12 hour shift down the mine will be no trouble to a Tyler's child!

We have a tokenless block in the Up direction from the box, to Nunnery Junction (i.e. controled by track circuit detection) and a Key Token machine for the Down direction (Drawell). Stuart

1. Yes, that's very interesting to see, some things are very different, some hardly changed at all. 2. I haven't been passed out for either of the other boxes, but I tend to do midweek turns when only Heddingham is open anyway. 3. I as for Henry I haven't seen him although he's listed on the web site so I guess he's out of the way hibernating under canvas somewhere. Stuart

Michael is correct, you are right about this. It's not connected though and at some point it will be removed - either through the door (deliberately) or perhaps the old, old wooden floor...!!!! Stuart

You are correct about the wheel. With regards the lever colours, our diligent engineers are making regular upgrades to the whole setup (I think 3 major improvements since I started a year ago), including to the frame configuration so the colours don't always get repainted at the same time. In fact since that photo lever 2 is now a stop signal so correctly coloured - the levers are grouped more logically in sequence now, which helps my job. I think the "new" spare on is now the one that's the wrong colour. Stuart

It's just coming up for a year from when I decided to pop down to the nearest preserved railway to me (The Colne Valley Railway, just over the border from me in Essex) with a view to volunteering in some capactity. I ended up meeting a lovely chap, Derek, who showed me the signal box and after a few months of practice and study later, I became qualified to run it myself. I would heartily reccomend anyone with a railway interest of any sort should also pop along to their local preserved line and find out what you'd like to do. I am thinking that (although I'm by no means an expert), I have picked up a lot of insider knowledge that might be useful to modellers. So, ask away. Don't be afraid to speak up if you think your question might be too basic or obvious - if you are thinking like that then you are exactly the person I want to help out the most. Stuart

I originally wanted to build a photo/shunting plank, if you've seen "Jinty's" YouTube video (such as the 08 sound decoder demo) you'll have seen how fantastic a straight piece of track can look with sympathetic scenery. Well, I thought I'd better put a couple of points on the track so at least the trains can shunt about a bit. Something like this: But then I thought if I'm going to bother doing that, if I put two more points in, I get an actual "station" with run round loop and two sidings. So I came up with a layout that would fit the baseboards, with about 3 wagons on the left hand siding, four on the right, and a loop that can fit 4 and a brake van. The first thing I did after the delivery of the baseboards was to lay out some Peco track on the templot track plan and some stock to see how it looks. The first thing I didn't like was the siding in front of the run round loop release on the far right. I don't know why, but when the loco was behind the stock, it just looked wrong. So I think I'll change the crossover direction so the loco release is towards the front, and the siding is behind. Not really typical, but not really a howler either. This also means I can extend the left hand siding. (I won't keep the end dock from that picture as that's not really how they would work).

Some of you may have heard of Tim Horn, well it turns out as well as a skilled craftsman, he's also a lovely chap (with a lovely dog, Arnie who came along too). Tim kindly agreed to put together and deliver the baseboards. They are very nicely put together, probably twice as good, done three times more quickly than I could do. One thing I hadn't quite twigged is that even a small baseboard in 7mm, if it has the facia and backscene is actually a huge item! Well, actually two items as that's only half of it. Plus the turntable. This is now the second largest item in the house after the couch, I think. Maybe microlayout is a bit of a stretch...