chaz

I am planning to go to the one-day show at Wimborne on Sunday 20th October to sell some of the stock from Dock Green. Some of it has already been sold and I will sending out lists of the remainder to those of you who asked for this on Monday, after the Worthing show. Anyone else who wants the lists just email me. chazharrison100@yahoo.co.uk If you are going to Worthing and want to speak to me there about a purchase please do. There is no reason why you can't leave on Sunday (just before the show closes) with an item(s). Just to give you some idea of asking prices for wagons... a four wheel ten foot WB wagon in plastic will typically be £50 ditto in brass will typically be £70 anything larger add £20 to these prices. Any locomotives I take will be priced individually. All locos have DCC sound installed. I hope to have a short test track with me on which locos can be demonstrated. I will not be selling locomotives at Worthing - I want to sit down and consider which ones I want to keep myself! All my stock is weathered (with, I think, sufficient care and skill to enhance its value). All stock has Dingham couplings which I can remove if you wish when you buy. See you this weekend at the show? Chaz

Wrong kit? - well depends on what traffic your van is going to be said to carry. The LNER treated both diagrams as milk and general vans and BR would have cared little for the use for which they were designed, just using them as NPCS in the pool. Chaz

Just a small point - these vans were either diag. 86 or 87, not 37. I would advise you not to mess about with the sides, moving the louvres, unless you have a lot of experience working in brass - having moved them you will need to insert a patch with planking lines where they were. The kit makes up into an impressive model and goes together well. You will have to do some work to the aluminium extrusion for the roof to make it fit neatly at the ends - cutting the inside lip of the slot away so that it drops in. I don't have a photo of the underframe but if you follow the instructions it goes together well. HTH Chaz

You might be interested in photos of my van... Chaz

Nice try Don, but I won't be saying anything about my next project until I actually start making it. So you will have to wait until a saw hits the first piece of plywood... Chaz

Thanks Lads. Agreed, it is very good news. The buyer has told me he will not be exhibiting the layout. It is, of course, entirely up to him what he does with it and what changes he makes. One modification will be certain - the stock running on the layout will not be mine as he is not buying it. I already have a number of requests for some of the stock. Other pieces will indeed need listing for sale. Can I suggest that any RMwebbers who would like to see the list (and it will be a while before I can finish compiling it) send me a PM with their email address I will send the list as an email attachment. That's probably the easiest way for me. I may well take a table at one of the O gauge trade shows and this would be a good place for a hand-over. Chaz

I have had a firm offer for Dock Green which the buyer will collect in October. Both myself and the buyer are happy with the agreed price which is a fair one both ways. he is not buying the stock, most of which I will sell separately. Interestingly I have realised that more important to me than the money is the fact that I will not have to go through the sad job of dismantling the layout, for which I am grateful. Chaz

Once Worthing has been and gone any potential buyer has a month to make a move. The layout will be stored through October but come November 1st I will start dismantling. I need the space. Chaz

Thanks for your support lads, it is appreciated. I don't want to say any more for the moment about what will happen to the layout as I have explained my position, which hasn't changed. Chaz

A last gentle reminder - your last chance to see Dock Green in action will be in Worthing at the end of this month. So if you haven't seen it yet and you are within range... I hope to see you there (say hello!). The venue is Durrington High School, The Boulevard, Worthing, West Sussex, BN13 1LA. The dates are Saturday 28th September and Sunday 29th September. Chaz

No Steve, it's not too early - some species have been and gone! Of course the pretty dreadful weather through most of June hasn't helped. Let us hope that things are on the up and we have a warm sunny July.

While I was at the two Scottish reserves looking for chequered skippers I also found... ...pearl-bordered fritillaries - such a nice bonus! Chaz

It's a while since I posted any butterfly pics here so how about these? I spent the first two weeks of June in Scotland - my photo targets were largely landscapes but I also hoped to see a real Scottish rarity - the chequered skipper. I visited two reserves, Glenborrowdale and Alt Mhuic, and was lucky at both in getting enough sunshine to coax the little blighters out. Possibly the prettiest skipper, unfortunately now confined to Western Scotland. Chaz

From a holiday in Wales during the last week in May. I rationed myself to one NG line so it had to be my favourite...

Further to my previous announcement of my desire to sell or otherwise dispose of Dock Green... The last exhibition is on the last weekend in September at Worthing. I have decided that I will store the layout for a month following the show. Should no buyer come forward by November 1st it will be dismantled and any usable parts stored for future use. I really do need the space for the next project and I am keen to make a start. Chaz

I would forget about using the catenary as a conductor, much safer for DCC - disconnect the pantographs and use conventional pickups. A conversation I once overheard at a show between a layout operator and a visitor might help. The latter asked "Do your locos pick up power from the wires?" The operator answered with a most telling response - "Can't you tell?". Unfortunately the visitor missed the point! Chaz

Thanks to everyone of you who have offered suggestions and advice about this topic. However I had a discussion yesterday about the problem with one of my operating team (someone who's opinion I value highly) and he pointed out that any automation of the staging loop would make the layout single operator - not a desirable outcome for us! So the movement of trains in the staging area will be done by a human. This will be a cheaper option both in money and time. I have had no reply yet to my query to TCS technical support on whether their decoders would work with Lenz BM3 devices - but it matters little now. To quote Monty Python - I hope you don't feel that I have been "deliberately wasting your time". Feel free to keep discussing the ins and outs of automation if you want to. I would be happy to see any further observations. Chaz

Sorry for the delay in replying to your suggestion. I think I can guess how this works but giving several locos the same address seems rather against the spirit of DCC. Also relay controlled dead sections implies sudden stops and jack-rabbit starts which I am not keen on, so this is not an appealing solution for me. Chaz

It might be that the Lenz BM3 modules might offer a workable solution, providing the TCS decoders I am putting in my locos will respond to their signals. They do seem to offer a very neat (if expensive) solution. I am awaiting a reply to my email to TCS technical support asking if the WOW chips support ABC (automatic braking control). If they don't then I think I will probably fall back on a human operator doing the job. Chaz

I ought to say that I have used the NCE throttle on a friend's layout and I'm not a fan. I am more likely to go for the z21 or a Lenz system with the new LH101 handsets. I use Multimaus handsets on my home layout and like these, so the z21 is attractive. I also use an ancient (first generation) Lenz system that is still going strong on my 7mm O gauge layout Dock Green. I have no need to make any decisions on DCC or automation yet as I will not start making the baseboards until the autumn, when both space and funds will become available as I sell off Dock Green and the 7mm rolling stock. Chaz

Thanks for that Richard. It's clear that you understand my position. I have seen model railways where it was obvious that the owner's chief interest was in the control system and the models were only there to have something to control. Nothing wrong with that (our hobby is large enough to include any number of approaches) but it isn't what I want to do. I am interested in your friend xxxxxxx set-up if you can get some details, it may provide a method for me. Chaz

Would I be right in thinking that this would involve a lot of work both in making hardware modules and in setting up software? Should this be the case it would rule out this as a solution - my chief focus on this project will be the models - not the control system. I will only add automation to the staging if it can be achieved without prolonging the development time unduly. I don't want to duplicate the CrossRail experience! My fall-back position remains a human operator moving the trains. Chaz

Had a quick look and it seems spot on. Will look again when I have more time. Thanks. Chaz

Does anybody know of a good, snappy review of the z21/Z21 differences? These must be considerable - the z21 (liberated from train sets) is a lot cheaper than the Z21. Now although the cost will not be a problem I don't want to spend a lot more for facilities that I will never use. I Googled "z21/Z21" and looked at a couple of Youtube videos but I had trouble staying awake. I found myself shouting "Get on with it!" at the screen and after using the slider to fast-forward I gave in and quit. Somebody should tell these blokes not to spend so much time describing what I can see for myself by looking at the screen - please, get on with explaining what isn't obvious. Any pointer to a good, concise list of the differences would be much appreciated (maybe this has been dealt with elsewhere on this forum?). Chaz

Plenty of ideas to play around with in your responses to my initial question lads. I will not be starting this layout until the autumn so I am very much at the planning stage. I would be happy to see any further advice, particularly on the choice of DCC system and any other hardware that might be needed. Chaz