Platform 1

An accumulation of ...

All righty, I'll bite... A Battery of battery locos? 😄 I'll get me coat...

Looks like that train at Williton just had loco run round and went back to BL.

Ooh er! 😟

Indeed! Bit more info here.

Big thanks from me for shooting, editing and uploading the result on YT. Despite forward planning, a variety of other things prevented my attendance this year. Have been a staunch supported of Taunton Railex for many years, so disappointed to miss this one. But your video nearly made up for it! Some brilliant and unusual shots too. Thanks again Callum.

Quick - look for the pot of gold... 😎

Probably better than crawling up the Portbury Hundreds... 😮😉

Great news indeed. But at the current rate of inflation, by the time Secretary of State for Transport approves the DCO (current deadline February 2023), the project may be ~5% short again! 🙁

In case it helps Cap'n, here's a direct link to Series 2, Episode 1: https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/secrets-of-the-london-underground/watch-online/6305331210112 Otherwise, knowing UKTV programming, there'll be many repeats...

There are useful seating diagrams and a summary table here: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/05/where-to-sit-on-crossrail-train.html And to answer earlier questions about Cross-Liz-Purp interchange times, DG has a comprehensive set of lists. DG also highlights missing validators at certain stations, meaning higher fares unless you're careful! (No connection with DG, just a blog reader)

Enjoying Series 2 very much. But I'm finding the speech/music levels difficult during voice-overs - filmed dialogue is fine. Is it our telly (2.0 speakers) or is anyone else noticing?

Tfl giveth with one hand... and taketh away with the other (albeit temporarily)... Planned track closures (as at 19 May 2022) And again the TfL Journey Planner doesn't seem to know about this (yet). It suggests the fastest route from Farringdon to Paddington on 11 June is the Cross/Liz/Purp line. Travellers will need to be wary because the H&C is also shown as closed that weekend. Mind you, I don't envy the team that writes the software to handle all these exceptions...

Hmm, I smell a rat! I wonder who doesn't want this to happen? Can't help but compare Portishead with Okehampton: 9 miles for £116m vs. 15 miles for £40m. Double standards?

Over a year without posting anything! Disgraceful - dunce's cap firmly on. Despite the pandemic, lock-downs and other distractions, things haven't developed very much recently. The first lock-down was taken up with long summer walks and home-based IT work for a local charity. By mid-summer it was much too hot to work for long in the loft - 30degC plus some days. Then suddenly it was cold again! Work restarted before Christmas (2020!) looking at the design of servo point motors. Having previously successfully used solenoid motors, they didn't look or sound very realistic. Small servos are (were?) inexpensive so how to make a compact but adaptable assembly to put under the layout? It needed to be cheap, easy to make with limited tools and easily repeatable - thirteen are required. Various scribblings and mock-ups were tried, eventually producing this not-very-original design. The servo is a tight fit into the aluminium U-channel, and butts up against a short piece of balsa or similar softwood, on which the frog polarity micro-switch is mounted. My baseboard is just 3mm thick ply, so the pivot is mounted a few mm away in order to provide enough throw at the point blades. The bracket can also be mounted on its side if needed. There are screw mounting holes in the U-channel, but I found that double-sided black sticky pads normally used for affixing car number plates worked really well. A thin coat of PVA or paint on bare wood assists the grab of the pad. The material used in this U-channel is tough and quite difficult to cut, so I also made a bracket using PVC U-channel. It isn't quite as rigid, but seems firm enough to resist side-movement from the servo. Here is one such: The wire pivot bracket (out of focus at the back) still needs to be placed and glued onto this version. These servos will be controlled by an Arduino and two LED/servo driver boards connected via an I2C bus. This has the advantage of few wires as mentioned in an earlier post - two data wires and two power wires in a screened cable. So happy times were spent during Christmas restrictions programming an Arduino Nano to move the servo by about 90 degrees - enough to move the point blades and reliably operate the micro-switch. The prototype mock-up works, so things a re looking hopeful. Wiring track has also been proceeding as a background task, one board at a time. The corner board is now being worked on, with only a few droppers to fit. This is what it looks like so far: So once the track power feeds are all soldered in, it will be time to re-assemble everything and do some test running - I can't wait! The next few stages will include: make more servo brackets fit servos to baseboards fit the control electronics complete I2C wiring. Watch this space!

Shunting action today...

Yes, this is excellent - you've captured the motor sound really well. Takes me back to commuting days past. Just one thing - I struggled to hear some of the sounds because they are a bit quiet on the video - I'm sure the effect would be even better if louder.

In the absence of other reports, I'd just like to say how much I enjoyed this show. An excellent selection of layouts, society stands and suppliers was on offer - all for the price of a nominal donation. Lots to see - everyone was very friendly, being more than happy to chat. Lots of fascinating old photo displays to browse too. We couldn't stay, but did anyone attend the talk upstairs? I gather the scheduled 2pm slot was quickly fully booked, so the organisers arranged for a repeat! Well done Newton Abbot library service!

A bit more information on the project is in this useful piece by the diamond geezer. He quotes extracts from papers prepared for an Elizabeth Line committee meeting last week. It seems reliability issues surround on-train software, comms and tunnel ventilation, which means Trial Operations has been split into two phases. TfL look like having a poorer future by the week...

Quite so - 6ft fence panels were about £20 last year, but now being quoted £40 - or more - each. Good ol' supply chain again...

Just did one of those... was worried about filling up on the island but apart from generally inflated fuel prices there (£1.47 seen for petrol!), only one or two filling stations had closed pumps. Last Saturday, the Co-op in Sandown had normal stocks and near to normal prices too (other filling stations are available). Maybe islanders have more common sense...

Brilliant video from Network Rail just published - turn up the sound!

No real problems here in N. Somerset. Short queue in Tesco filling station this afternoon, but only half the pumps were in use. Not sure if that is cause or consequence. A short distance away is an independent fuel stop - busy but no queue, no limits, pretty normal for a Saturday. A different story in South Devon yesterday. Queues everywhere, compounded by road works near to filling stations, and Friday/weekend traffic. A neighbour there reported he'd found the diesel pump empty - a following mini-bus driver bellowed at him for not knowing how to work the pump and nearly had an altercation! It also seems that another large superMarket chain run their own fuel tankers and their own drivers - their supply chain is secure as long as everyone doesn't keep being silly. According to the checkout lady at the first-mentioned grocers, it was very busy in the main shop this morning, big rush for staples she said. I noticed large gaps for some flavours of soup, and bread stock seemed low even for a Saturday. Plenty of seasonal chocs though...

Giant bee buzzes Crowcombe Heathfield...

When it takes longer to clamber up to the railway room than the time you earmarked for playing trains testing the timetable...