Allegheny1600

Hi Ian, While I’m by no means an electrical expert, I am confident enough to say that object plugged onto the 21 pins - is indeed a blanking plug. The various electronic gubbins are probably there to reduce voltage for the lights and so forth. All the best, John

It seems to me that eBay is FULL of what I call Charlatans or chancers - all of them trying to fleece the unwary. The numbers of people who are asking “new” prices for secondhand goods is frankly, astonishing. I do watch some items though and they do seem to sell, occasionally. Which just goes to prove the old saying “there’s one born every minute”

That’s a nice little video, I wondered how you could have done it - now I see! Well done and all being well, I am getting a lift into Manchester and will be able to visit. Cheers, John

Oh no! I was only playing “The Chain” yesterday. Very sad now. RIP

Hello Jack, If you’re wanting to use Kadees with European stock, yes - the ferrous metal is a pretty major problem. I only got halfway through solving it with my Prussian layout before I moved abroad and back but I bought some brass or at least, non-ferrous axles from a supplier in Germany. That was back when we had no problem importing stuff from our near neighbours of course. Because everything is still packed away, I can’t recall who it was, sorry but it was a lot cheaper to only replace the axle, the wheels not being ferrous. That still leaves the wagon weights but being a US outline modeller, I guess you might have some sheet lead available? For the same job with older US vehicles. Hope this helps, John

A bit more Americana for you! If Trump had been the Captain of the Titanic; this would be the record of his pronouncements. - “There isn't any iceberg - It’s a fake iceberg - There was an iceberg but, it's in a totally different ocean - Many people are saying it's the biggest iceberg - The iceberg is in this ocean, but it will melt very soon - There is an iceberg, but we didn't hit the iceberg - We hit the iceberg, but the damage will be repaired very shortly - I knew from the begining there was an iceberg, long before people called it an iceberg - The iceberg is a Chinese iceberg - We are taking on water, but every passenger who wants a lifeboat can get a lifeboat, and they are beautiful lifeboats - Look, passengers need to ask nicely for the lifeboats if they want them - We don't have any lifeboats, we're not lifeboat distributors - Passengers should have planned for icebergs and brought their own lifeboats - I really don't think we need that many lifeboats - We have lifeboats, but, they're supposed to be our lifeboats, not the passengers' lifeboats - The lifeboats were left on shore by the last captain of this ship - Nobody could have foreseen the iceberg - I'm an expert on icebergs, I've got lots of friends who deal with icebergs, some of the best, really good ice people who know ice - Summer will come and the iceberg will disappear, it will go away, you watch.”

A college football coach walked into the locker room before a game, looked over to his star player and said, "I'm not supposed to let you play since you failed maths but we need you in there. So what I have to do is ask you a maths question, and if you get it right, you can play." The player agreed, and the coach looked into his eyes intently and asks, "Okay, now concentrate... what is two plus two?" The player thought for a moment and then he answered, "4?" "Did you say 4?!?" the coach exclaimed, excited that he got it right. At that, all the other players on the team began screaming, "Come on coach, give him another chance!"

When Gandhi was studying law at the University College of London, a professor, whose last name was Wilson, disliked him intensely and always displayed prejudice and animosity towards him. Also, because Gandhi never lowered his head when addressing him, as he expected ... there were always "arguments" and confrontations. One day, Professor Wilson was having lunch at the dining room of the University, and Gandhi came along with his tray and sat next to the professor. The professor said, "Mr Gandhi, you do not understand. A pig and a bird do not sit together to eat." Gandhi looked at him as a parent would a rude child and calmly replied, "You do not worry professor. I'll fly away," and he went and sat at another table. Professor Wilson, reddened with rage, decided to take revenge on the next test paper, but Gandhi responded brilliantly to all questions. Professor Wilson, unhappy and frustrated, asked him the following question. "Mr Gandhi, if you were walking down the street and found two packages and within one was a bag of wisdom and another bag with a lot of money, which one would you take?" Without hesitating, Gandhi responded,"The one with the money, of course." Professor Wilson, smiling sarcastically said, "I, in your place, would have taken the wisdom, don't you think?" Gandhi shrugged indifferently and responded,"Each one takes what he doesn't have." By this time the professor was fit to be tied. So great was his anger that he wrote on Gandhi's exam sheet the word "Idiot" and gave it to Gandhi. Gandhi took the exam sheet and sat down at his desk trying very hard to remain calm while he contemplated his next move. A few minutes later, Gandhi got up, went to the professor and said to him in a dignified but sarcastically polite tone, "Professor Wilson, you signed the sheet, but you did not give me the grade."

Wow! Thanks for posting this, he was a remarkable chap, bless him. Sadly, it’s not really something that seems to be conscious to a lot of people - that there was enemy occupation of nearby British territory. I dare say it’s much more conscious for the islanders though. I believe it was quite late on in the war that the Channel Islands were liberated.

Two babies are sitting in their cribs, when one baby asks the other, “Are you a little girl or a little boy?” The other baby shrugs. “I don’t know how to tell the difference.” “I do,” says the first baby. He carefully climbs out of his crib and into the other crib, then disappears beneath the blankets. After a few 
seconds, he resurfaces. “You’re a little girl, and I’m a little boy,” he says. “How can you tell?” . “Easy. You’ve got pink booties, and I’ve got blue ones.” What were you thinking?

Hi Jack, I don’t know how old your model is, it may well be older than illustrated here; https://www.roco.cc/static/version1662032330/frontend/Casisoft/Roco/en_GB/doc/ET/1/DE/63862_10740.pdf If it is, then page two, item 10 = 95449 Hope that helps, John

More from Australia! Some years ago two aliens landed in outback Australia near a gas station that was closed for the night. They approached one of the gas pumps and the younger alien addressed it saying, "Greetings, Earthling. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." The gas pump, of course, didn't respond. The younger alien became angry at the lack of response. The older alien said, 'I'd calm down if I were you.' The younger alien ignored the warning and repeated his greeting. Again, there was no response. Browned off at the pump's haughty attitude, he drew his ray gun and said gruffly, "Greetings, Earthling. We come in peace. Take us to your leader or I will fire!" The older alien again warned his comrade saying, 'You don't want to do that! It will make him angry.' 'Rubbish,' replied the cocky, young alien. He aimed his weapon and opened fire. There was a huge explosion. A massive fireball roared towards him and blew the younger alien off his feet and threw him in a burnt, smoking mess about 200 yards away in a cactus patch. Half an hour passed. When he finally regained consciousness, he refocused his three eyes, straightened his bent antenna, and looked dazedly at the older, wiser alien who was standing over him shaking his big, green head. 'What a ferocious creature!' exclaimed the young, fried alien. 'He darn near killed me! How did you know he was so dangerous?' The older alien leaned over, placed a friendly feeler on his crispy friend and replied, 'If there's one thing I've learned during my intergalactic travels, you never mess with a guy who can loop his pe*is over his shoulder twice and then stick it in his ear.'

Well, the Silver Seal motors were made by Fleischmann! Hornby tried to copy them and they used inferior materials and production and guess what? They weren’t so good! Then (I guess), Lima copied again and made an even worse job through even cheaper materials.

Tangent. H0 IC Centralia Shops Steel Wide Vision Caboose https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/ic-centralia-steel-wide-vision-caboose/

Hi Keith, Might it be possible to attach a batten to the wall next to the bed and above it? I’m thinking even as slim as a strip of 2”x1”. Am I right that the bed is approximately 40” wide? What I’m thinking would mean you could only be set up for operating - with the door closed but; . You might use the batten as above and a removable framework on the room side of the bed, then you could build three or possibly four boards that span just above the bed and fill the gap “behind” the door, giving you a roundy-roundy of roughly 10’ x nearly 4’. That’s for a larger roundy-roundy. If you could be happy with an end to end, maybe arrange boards in an inverted “L” to start over the sink, come along the wall towards the window, then turn to either end over the radiator (allowing the door to still open) or go into where the door space is and the door either stays open or closed - while you’re operating, not all the time, of course! That way, only one board for the door, needs to be readily and very removable. Is this a room that is frequently used as a bedroom or just earmarked for occasional use? Every night or once or twice a year! Hopefully, that’s some food for thought for you. Cheers, John

While I do agree with you especially with regard to Alfred Nobel’s enhancement of same - just think! If it hadn’t been for these substances, humankind would have vastly overpopulated this planet, maybe centuries ago. As it is, we do now have the capability, if not the political will, to work out what we need to do as a species to survive.

Hi again! I’ve been thinking about my buying habits over the past thirty years as described above. It might sound like I’m “wealthy” to splash out on numerous different things but I’m actually quite small c conservative! I admit, after I inherited some money from my parents, I did go a bit wild but by then, it was Euro focused. Back in the 1990s, I only bought one or two locos per year, new and maybe the same again secondhand from swapmeets, shows, NMRA meets etc. My very first new loco cost just £26 in about 1991. By the mid nineties, a Proto 2000 loco was £49.95 and Kato were out of my reach at around £80 - £100. Into the early 2000s, I had a better job and could start to afford Kato but they were always better if I could find them secondhand. I think around 2005, I bought my first sound fitted loco, an SW9 or similar from Broadway, for around £120. I didn’t even have a digital controller for another year. All I’m trying to say is that US outline was a very reasonably priced means of modelling. I have bought some secondhand models for around £20 - even fairly recently. Sadly, new prices have followed the rest of the world in going quite high, RRP of such as Scale Trains and Rapido etc are over $300 and more for the full fat versions - which translates pretty evenly into pounds sterling at the few remaining US outline retailers in the UK. At those prices, one would have to be pretty focussed and not do any swapping and changing.

Hi Keith, That’s an interesting thought, the “two loco rule”. I have acquired several one or two locos specific to one railroad or other, I have two for the Bangor and Aroostook, two for the Pennsy and Southern Pacific, one for the EJ&E and also for the KCS. I get interested in a particular road, search the internet for details about it, if the interest lasts beyond a week or two, I may order a book or DVD. If interest is sustained beyond the arrival of said media, then I might start to acquire stock. This happened in the past for the Chesapeake and Ohio, KCS, New Haven and Minnesota Commercial. Media of all sorts started flooding through the door, then models until I had substantial collections of each road but layout building didn’t really get going. Then I got interested in European modelling and almost all the latter collections of models were traded in. In the case of the C&O, it was a 12 to 15 year collection that went - quite painful. The one stable road that I have maintained an interest in all this time is the Chicago and North Western so I guess this is “my” road. I believe it was nearly thirty years ago now that I first took an interest in this line but even so, my interest waxes and wanes. The interest took a BIG hit in 1995 when it was taken over (badly) by the UP and interest in all US railroads has taken hits depending upon how I perceive their levels of national sanity! Sorry, that’s veering into politics but I do find it hard to take an interest in a country that behaves in a certain way. I guess for this reason, I could never model Russian outline!! Influences, eh?! I am flattered that you cite me as someone whose witterings have had even the tiniest effect on your own thoughts, honestly. All I have ever wanted to do is to basically, get the thoughts out of my head and into the written form. I can then look back and re-think those thoughts. If they still make sense, great but sometimes I may wonder what was going on! I do try and use the “notes” app on this iPad but sometimes, as now, my thoughts come out in public, sorry. Just going back to influence’s - mine usually come from the media. I used to buy the magazines every month and keep them but a couple of house moves in fairly rapid succession showed that I had way too much stuff so they have been knocked into touch. Now, I find there is more than enough to influence and inspire me on the internet and YouTube. US forums keep me up to date with modelling going’s on, new products and so on. I am a life long modeller and have been in this hobby for approximately fifty years now (I started young), I hardly have any other interests or pastimes outside of family and friends, well, pets and a little exercise! Maybe this explains my wandering mind? My wife tells me that I shouldn’t beat myself up if I change my interest, I should be thankful that I don’t get bored. Sure enough, I’ll be back on European outline before too long but in the meantime, I’m really enjoying my resurgence of interest in the C&NW. Long or short may it last. Cheers, John

Hello Rob, The Piko locomotive you pictured earlier is a Kof I and I think their model is of a previous generation (code for not such a great runner!). Note the much shorter bonnet in comparison with the Kof II. The V15/BR101 pictured by Johann is available in H0 from Brawa and is exquisite - running quality, details, weight etc. I’ve never had a Sik (goat) which is the Dutch shunter by Roco but I have recently acquired a new Roco Kof III or BR335, complete with sound, lights, digital couplings, stay alive - it’s quite amazing, all that in something three inches long! If you pick it up off the track with sound and lights on, they stay on for nearly 30 seconds which is enough time to put it in it’s box. John

Seeing how I went and got us back to elephant jokes and for the benefit of a younger audience; How do you get four elephants in a mini? Two in the back, two in the front. How do you know when an elephant has been in your fridge? Footprints in the butter. How do you get two whales in a mini? Get the elephants out first. How do you get to Wales in a mini? Follow the M4 west. I’ll stop now!!!

You don’t necessarily have to do German! Balfour Beatty actually used an admittedly slimmed down (widthways) version during Channel Tunnel construction. They’re so small, I wouldn’t bother trying to make one narrower, it would be quite difficult if not impossible but you would pretty much be forced to go H0 - which I guess you’re trying anyway. I have two of the Trix models and they are excellent runners. Welcome to the Continental section by the way! John

Oops! As a former student of that establishment, I forgot about that! Either it was from the polytechnic or it was from a different university.

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Derby University . On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later, Peter was walking through Chester Zoo with his teenage son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter's legs and slammed his stupid **** against the railing, killing him instantly. Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Had we been able to avoid that, it would have been better!