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DEMU Showcase had card readers on the door to take entrance fees last year. Made things much easier as visitors were offering cards for payment without being asked for. As Peter Kay says, it's the future. Jeff

I built a version of Minories a few years back. The idea was to use as much RTR stuff as possible to show what could be done. Layout was called Somers Town and featured in September 2007 Railway Modeller. Mine was based around the early/mid 1970's and used cl. 31 & mk1 suburbans as well as parcels traffic. It worked pretty well and was fun to operate. It never really got finished and is something I would like to have another crack at. regards Jeff

I was going to say something similar to Mark - I assume it was to do with protecting the load en route

I’ve modelled one of these using two Airfix/Dapol mineral bodies. Lot of work sanding and filling the sides, with rivet detail then added back

Southern Wagons in Colour by Mike King (ISBN 978-1-909328-19-8) has 4 photos in colour showing the AC cars loaded on Conflat D’s. They are all roped down. The notes say that Surbiton station was used for loading and when Surbiton yard closed, Guildford was used until 1976 when production ceased. The photos are taken at Guildford and dated around 1970. Jeff

Best thing I did with my Sprog was to get a small cheap Netbook (or equivalent) and load DecoderPro onto that. I use that as a dedicated system for DCC. Much easier than having to lug a laptop around, especially if you exhibit your layout. I have a length of track on a piece of wood, a Netbook and the Sprog which means I can do programming anywhere. Just make sure it has the usb ports to connect to.

Hugh Millington's site is also worth a look at vans that are out of service in 1986. APCM vans The site is worth a look for all the other wagons as well. Jeff

Superb modelling as ever Alan. Like the idea of "standard man" for measurements. Fits in with those other standard measurements of Olympic size swimming pools/ double decker buses/Nelsons Column/football pitches, etc. Jeff

Don't know how I missed this thread. The Widended Lines are something that has fascinated me for ages. So much so that I built a layout - Margery Street (the one that is mentioned earlier in the thread). The layout is sadly no more, but when I was researching it, I did exactly as recommended earlier and looked at the type of brick colour, style of architecture, etc. I amassed quite a bit of info and photos during this. My layout name came from a street just round the corner from Mount Pleasant Post Office which then gave me an excuse for parcels traffic. I also pulled together buildings and ideas from the Widened Lines such as the typical cable bridge found on the LU, cable supports, etc. Depending on the period you settle on, make sure that the loco numbers (especially the 31's) match up with loco's that worked the line - the 31's had trip cocks specifically for the signalling. If you need any of the info that I pulled together, feel free to ask - might not know the answer tho' Jeff

Alan, I think you have stumbled onto the poor mans FreeMo. A superb idea!

Stu, hope the model of Chants Ave bridge will feature all the pigeon sh1te as per the prototype! Jeff

Market Weighton belongs to a good friend of mine. It is currently in store and as far as I am aware, there are no plans to exhibit it. Just before it was exhibited at Beverley Minster, we had it up for testing and a few tweaks to the scenery. Jeff

Hi John - I haven't had any problems and my layout lives in a shed, albeit an insulated and heated shed, in my garden. I suppose it depends on whether you do anything to the food stuff. In the case of when I used sesame seeds, they were glued down and made solid with a 50/50 pva water mix (same as ballasting). They then got painted so were well and truly sealed. I've also used the 'forest in a box' to produce trees and had no problems. Jeff

For my sugar beet traffic I used sesame seeds suitably painted - I have a vague recollection of Geoff Kent mentioning them for one of his layouts. Jeff

A couple of pictures of the station building I made for my layout plus the Dunnington-inspired warehousing. The station building shows the York Model making diamond slates that I used. Jeff