Allegheny1600

Hear, hear! I used to “do” some US 0 scale and had some lovely models, Sunset etc but I did fall prey to at least one of the 3 rail models, I think it may have been Lionel? It was in a mostly purple box iirc. While the body was reasonable, the underworks was truly awful! I swapped out the original bogies and wheels and still have them somewhere, they are hideous. I’m amazed at the American market that thrives on such things but then look at the European market in H0 with Maerklin! That’s surely even larger but at least there is almost always a two rail alternative there. I suspect that eventually, the generation that supports US 3 rail may well die off but what happens then? Is the US 2 rail fraternity sufficiently young enough to take over or are they a similar age? Could a resurgent US 2 rail attract many H0 scalers? It has happened in Britain and to a smaller degree, in Europe thanks to Bernd Lenz and a few others so it’s theoretically possible in the USA - in my humble opinion of course. Cheers, John

Bonjour Andy! Thanks for starting this thread, it’s good to see. Like you, I was much enamoured of Chlochemerle in the good old MRC back when? Mid 1970s or so. They were magazines I actually picked up in the UK in later years as I was living in France then. Hence the interest. I don’t keep up with all French happenings but I believe that REE have done some exquisite PLM coaches at some point, will we see these, perhaps? Cheers, John

Hi Bob, Fabulous! Many thanks for showing us your sequence pictures, I and I’m sure, many others, really appreciate the effort it takes. It’s also sobering to read your descriptions and realise all the conversions you have done, truly a labour of love. And so worthwhile. Cheers, John

It’s just a joke - no one expects this to happen. At least on here, I hope. If you’re a huge cat lover, like me - then substitute “dog” only that won’t work because most dogs do go “woof”! Maybe substitute “rodent”? Maybe the cat is bilingual? When I was at school in the 1970s, the subject wasn’t “cat”, it was a human being from a part of the world that Britain has seen a lot of immigration from. Thank heavens that we have moved on from those days.

Hi Duncan, All, I love the waistcoats - everyone looks nice and smart and it presents a “professional” appearance. Very well done guys, John

Sorry, I can’t help with this but I do know these cabin tenders were not very popular (successful?) - think about it, you’re trapped in a metal box that’s enclosed by thousands of litres of cold water! What an unpleasant working environment, I know I’d hate it at any time other than high summer. However, the models seem to be popular, I have a Fleischmann H0 one and Roco also made one. Cheers, John

Oooh! A friend of mine who also does German spur null, has one of those - it’s gorgeous, you lucky thing! I’m guessing you’re really enjoying this? Cheers, John

I’d say it depends! If modelling for oneself - one can include or exclude whatever one wishes. If modelling for exhibition (display) purposes, including showing online - one probably ought to be very careful. We had a similar discussion before where the Great Train robbery scene was mentioned. Does the injury inflicted on the train crew show “reality” or is it “too graphic”? I also model the railways of the USA but my main interest is the Mid West in the 1980-1990 period so that is apparently somewhat less overtly racist than the 1950s but it certainly hadn’t disappeared. Another of my interests is the railways of Germany, thankfully before (c.1910) and well after (c. 1975 & c.2020) the times of major troubles. I choose to ignore the period between 1933 and 1945 especially, as I despise what happened during those years. Others appear to like that time period and who am I to say they shouldn’t? As for product advertising, well - I’m also an ex-smoker but I see no harm in including tobacco advertising because it is a historic thing and actually inaccurate not to include it. Tobacco advertising was everywhere when I was younger, heck I remember Philip Morris having a complete train they used even during the 1990s.

My wife and I were dressed and ready to go out for a lovely evening of dinner and theatre. Having been burgled in the past, we turned on a 'night light' and the security camera, then put the cat in the backyard. When our cab arrived, we walked out our front door and our rather tubby cat scooted between our legs inside, then ran up the stairs. Because our cat likes to chase our budgie we really didn't want to leave them unchaperoned so my wife ran inside to retrieve her and put her in the back yard again. Because I didn't want the taxi driver to know our house was going to be empty all evening, I explained to him that my wife would be out momentarily as she was just bidding goodnight to her mother. A few minutes later she got into the cab all hot and bothered, and said (to my growing horror and amusement) as the cab pulled away. "Sorry it took so long but the stupid b1t#h was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her backside with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off so I grabbed her by the neck and wrapped her in a blanket so she wouldn't scratch me like she did last time. But it worked! I hauled her down the stairs and threw her into the backyard....she had better not cr@p in the vegetable garden again!" I know it’s been on before, sorry but I love it!

I’m sorry as this isn’t the place for this but maybe have a read through here; To summarise, Rivarossi was neither H0 nor 00 but something in between. Fleischmann were counting on Lima remaining in the H0 market. Lima or rather, the importer, Riko wanted more profit so switched to 00. When Lima switched, it left Fleischmann high and dry. An important consideration today? The only relevant part of this story is that there is still a desire amongst certain segments of the British modelling public that desires RTR with the correct scale/gauge combination.

I don’t follow. Maerklin or someone using their chassis, attempted to launch British Z scale - admittedly not very successfully. T scale is even smaller than Z but appears to be surviving. You can easily argue that British RTR 0 gauge was a daring innovation only a few short years ago, likewise for British narrow gauge RTR. All of these introductions piggybacked onto an existing market - AS DOES THIS INTRODUCTION! The “problem” this time is that the market being piggybacked onto is mainly based in Eastern Europe and is different to that which presently exists in the UK. As has been explained, that market is not sufficient to warrant a bet on, leading its adherents to complain but no matter how much they do complain, they could never fund a ready to run range.

A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium". Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take over four days to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration! This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass. It is also interesting to note that when catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium- an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Actually, . . You’re not wrong!!

Fixed it for you!! I’ve returned to the UK after a year and a half in Greece and Oh Boy! Did I learn to appreciate my own country? YES! Britain has a better economy that is much more resilient, the infrastructure is better, roads, railways, internet, the way everything works is better but most of all, bureaucracy here is so much more streamlined. The weather and food is better in Greece but everything else is worse and/or more expensive so, unless you’re rich which I’m not, it’s not worth it. As for the “news”, honestly, I find it so depressing that I haven’t watched it regularly for years. I’ll only watch a little when there’s something really important happening, like Covid or the start of the Ukraine invasion. The rest of the worlds happenings, I guess I filter via the various internet sources including on here!

This is from a guy in the USA called “Jay” who I follow, I thought @t-b-g might be interested?! It does link to a very interesting album of photos showing short line railroading, American style. Cheers, John

Yes, but . . . . When I was a youngster, my parents and I made friends with a chap called Bernard who said that he had been a manager at Swindon GWR works through the war years. Although there were many women and girls employed there to replace the men recruited for the war, he said that he was surprised that “their delicate little hands” (his words!) were actually quite heavy handed and not very good at “feeling” how tight to tighten things up, for example. Of course, it may be a poor example, being that these were people who were having to be dropped into a task without being assessed for their suitability or proper training or whatever but it’s always stuck with me. Just a thought to counterpoint the “typical” expectation of feminine abilities!

Of all the many things about this thread that I love - this is a standout for me! I was working in an office environment when Harry Potter fever was rampant throughout the country and the way everyone else chatted about it all, left me quite cold such that I have never even looked at it all. Wrt assembling RTR model railways, I think that it curious that it’s mostly women who seem to do it. Watch any of the various videos available online, especially from the likes of Rapido or Roco and it seems that no matter where in the world these tasks are undertaken, women assemble, men design and or manage. An inadvertently sexist business we are in? Cheers, John

Hi Steve, A bit of a tough one if you have no access to any digital equipment, I fear. However, may I suggest making sure that there is nothing physically wrong with the running gear, jackshaft etc? Remove the keeper plate while loco is upside down and check the operation of the mechanism. Watch out for those digitally controlled couplings, they are delicate and complicated to reassemble! I hope this helps a little, John

Hi Odin, A few years ago now, I was a proud owner of virtually the entire Lenz 0 scale range - it was a small range in those days! I had the V100, V36 and Kof plus wagons, coaches and other maker’s stuff. I can honestly say that I think you’ll like it! The only reason I got rid of it all was because I like to swap and change (from era I to era VI and back again, US, British and all sorts) and I’m not a millionaire so this was much easier in H0 than in 0 scale. I still have a friend who got into German 0 scale due to seeing mine (!) and what is available now is quite amazing so I will be very interested to see how you feel it compares to, presumably, British RTR in 0. I understand the Lenz track is a bit toylike but everything else is first class. Cheers, John

Pardon? I have numerous locos in H0 from around the world that are not “easy” to separate and when lifting them - I HAVE TO lift them when they are connected! One has to be careful yes, of course but I can do it, even my mate who is known as ‘klutzy von sausage fingers’ can usually manage it. We know that these are models that require care and so we treat them with respect, why wouldn’t you? Just be careful, no need to make a fuss.

I agree with the Johnster. You need to work out how many trains you want to run - then work out whether or not to swap and change the locos on each train and how often. Obviously, your APT doesn’t need anything else but additional trains you could run would be an inter-city composed of mainly Mk3 coaches, a MK3 sleeper train (or Mk1 perhaps?). These IIRC would be mainly hauled by class 86/4, 87 or 90. Then you could have a “lesser” train of Mk2 air conditioned stock, denoted by windows without opening lights at the top. This hauled by virtually all of the available later AC electric loco models and many diesels but likely a 47/4 really. I don’t know whether there were still trains of mainly Mk1 or early Mk2 stock running contemporaneously with the APT but your modellers licence should allow it! Should allow the early AC locos to run on passenger stock. Then there’s freight! By the early 1980s, it felt to me as though most British freight trains were simple “block” trains of identical wagons but I believe there were still a fair few mixed Speedlink trains about and occasionally even, some vacuum fitted trains of mineral wagons, vans etc. All of which demands variety of traction - even to such as class 40s and 25. Speaking of class 40, I recall seeing the green celebrity 40 106 around the time of the APT! So, without getting carried away with it all, a four track representation of the WCML should be able to justify a LOT of locos - due to train variety.

Here are two of the pictures I was thinking about; https://westernthunder.co.uk/attachments/img_5887-jpg.104443/ I believe this is “Sullivan’s Curve” on Cajon Pass, California in 2019 and https://westernthunder.co.uk/attachments/bnsf-7731-jpg.102818/ I believe this is is much the same place from a different viewpoint, only 2018. Used with permission from Mickoo, on WT - thanks again, Mick!

So will I! Sorry to add a “me too” post but Keith’s queries and the responses given, are of considerable interest to me also. As I said before, if I got into Z scale, it would have to be American outline. A while back, a colleague on another forum, did an extensive spotting trip and I think it was somewhere in California - where you could see the rail lines swooping and sweeping around as they gained elevation climbing a mountain pass. There was a picture taken from the head of this pass and I felt the only way, one could realistically model this scene, was in Z! One would certainly need a large space even then. I’ll try and find the picture I’m thinking of and ask permission to repost here, or at least, link to it. By the way, my research has also indicated that US mechanisms do work really well!

Hi Jeff, I absolutely applaud your attitude with regards to trying harder each time you build something - bravo! As my beloved says “good enough, isn’t good enough”. I suppose it’s fine if one isn’t really bothered but when one has a passion for something, one is driven to keep trying harder and harder every time - the aim, I guess, to try and achieve “perfection” but in my experience, that is something that always dances away, permanently out of reach! Doesn’t stop us trying though. John Philosophers anonymous!