The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

I purchased some very nicely wired modules from someone in the same club. They had been checked and were fine. I couldn’t take them home with me at first so they were stored in the clubs storage shed at the farm in darkest Essex. At the next club meet it had been -15C overnight (not usual hereabouts).  Things didn’t work. A few wires had contracted enough to disconnect. While I was sorting this out I had to listen to one of the other members going on about how the module must have been incorrectly wired, club standards etc.  I did point out that it had worked before being frozen so unless someone had broken in and rewired it wasn’t a standards issue. There were some really nice people in that club but some made it like being at work and not in a good way. 

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

But whats to stop someone flooding the world with fake Bitcoins causing them to crash?

Great idea. Bitcoin seems like part of the alternative society that I despise.

 

I look forward to you spending time sending disruptive emails worldwide to make the things worth exactly what they are - nothing. 

[New Haven Neil]

On 25/01/2021 at 14:46, Winslow Boy said:

No no no just lower the control rods and they'll mop up the spare ions.

 

....unless they have the graphite tips....see: Chernobyl, causes.  Yes yes, I know, a simplification.

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

....unless they have the graphite tips....see: Chernobyl, causes.  Yes yes, I know, a simplification.

Best get rid of my propelling pencils then!

[New Haven Neil]

12 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Best get rid of my propelling pencils then!

 

As long as you don't accidentally drop them in to a passing and somewhat unstable nuclear reactor, you should be OK. 

 

Reading the book about it recently, there were two men, probably uniquely, who witnessed the inside of an operating nuclear reactor.  They didn't live very long to tell the tale though.....

[coastalview]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The Kinks come to mind:  Sunny Afternoon and Living on a Thin line.

My favourite Kinks song was Waterloo Sunset . I lived about half a mile from Waterloo as a child and teenager.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Great idea. Bitcoin seems like part of the alternative society that I despise.

 

I look forward to you spending time sending disruptive emails worldwide to make the things worth exactly what they are - nothing. 

Simply flood the system with fake or cloned Bitcoins that have a limited shelf life. Set to disappear into the ether at a specific time and date.

[bbishop]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

But whats to stop someone flooding the world with fake Bitcoins causing them to crash?

Putin?  B

[Tony_S]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

But whats to stop someone flooding the world with fake Bitcoins causing them to crash?

At this point someone would be going on about Blockchain. I don’t know how that works and I can’t imagine any reason for me to need to know. 

[coastalview]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Simply flood the system with fake or cloned Bitcoins that have a limited shelf life. Set to disappear into the ether at a specific time and date.

The technology makes that extremely difficult in my understanding.  I think if it was easy government would have undermined it by now.

[BR60103]

10 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

 As I mentioned Bitcoins I'll ask this question. Major world currencies are watched over by their respective central banks such as the £ is controlled by the Bank of England, the US$ by the US Treasury and the Euro by the European Central Bank. There is no such central bank for the Bitcoin. I know this is seen as an advantage by certain elements as a lot of money can be moved around without  any authorities knowledge. But whats to stop someone flooding the world with fake Bitcoins causing them to crash?

I need someone to explain the difference between Bitcoins and counterfeit money.

Or is it Confederate money?

 

Cancel that; I don't.

 

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I need someone to explain the difference between Bitcoins and counterfeit money.

Or is it Confederate money?

 

Cancel that; I don't.

 

Then there are chocolate coins.

 

They certainly have a habit of suddenly disappearing into a black hole.

 

This morning's excitement is going to Asda for a click and collect order.  It is slightly complicated by collecting some stuff for a neighbour who has not been well.  The logistician in me tells me to separate the stuff at the point of collection and can then be delivered as we return.  Higher authority is telling me that it will be separated on return to the Hippodrome, and then walked down the road as a separate tasking.

 

Last nights planning meeting came up with a new scheme for Splott West Sidings. 

 

I shall elaborate after my return from the great C&C adventure.

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

I have learnt from painful experience never to question someone of higher authority particularly if they are also required for the maintenance of ones well being.

 

Good luck.

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I have learnt from painful experience never to question someone of higher authority particularly if they are also required for the maintenance of ones well being.

 

Good luck.

I got my way, and separated the stores out, before delivering the stuff en route for home.

 

I then got told off for wearing my outdoor shoes in the Hippodrome's sitting room, so it was a Phyrric victory earlier on!

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

I got my way, and separated the stores out, before delivering the stuff en route for home.

 

I then got told off for wearing my outdoor shoes in the Hippodrome's sitting room, so it was a Phyrric victory earlier on!

Well you can't say I didn't warn you.

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, Winslow Boy said:

Well you can't say I didn't warn you.

It's an occupational hazard.

 

However, she can't be too harsh on me as there are a number of jobs around the place that require a particular type of skill set, which she does not possess. (Or want to learn.)

[Winslow Boy]

Just now, Happy Hippo said:

It's an occupational hazard.

 

However, she can't be too harsh on me as there are a number of jobs around the place that require a particular type of skill set, which she does not possess. (Or want to learn.)

So you do have your uses then. These jobs one wouldn't be food tasting, in particular cake, would it.

[Happy Hippo]

There is a slight moratorium on cake at present.  Something to do with pre new year overload.

 

I did suggest an increase in the amount of fruit I was allowed to consume, but that got vetoed when it was realised that the way in which the fruit was prepared would eventually lead to the occasional crumb on the floor.

[Happy Hippo]

I am now going to return to the thoughts on how best to improve the fiddly yard operation for Splott West Sidings.

 

The current fiddle yard is a 5' x 2.5' baseboard that hosts a six road traverser.  It is offset to one end allowing an 8" run in from the scenic board, and a traverser length of 4' 3".  It is satisfactory in operation, but does require quite a bit of loco and brake van handling when remarshalling trains.

 

Jamie and I have discussed the possibility of adding a short stub to the outer end of the fiddle board allowing locos to uncouple and run forward away from the train, which is a system used on his LGA.  But although it would allow locos to run around, it doesn't cater for brake vans.  However it is possible to uncouple a bv and then push it back onto concealed stub road between the fiddle yard and the scenic section and thence push it along a clear road on the traverser back to what would be the tail end of the next train.  The same concealed stub road is big enough to accept a pannier sized loco, which can then back down onto the next train out.

 

If the traverser was just feeding a single exit, this would be fine, but there are three, which complicates matters, especially as some traverser roads have specific traffic patterns on them (empties out/fulls in.

 

As it stands, it's not unworkable, but it certainly keeps the fiddle yard operator fully employed especially when we were exhibiting.  It was not the place for a novice.  Fortunately, due to it's overall size, it has always been possible to erect SWS prior to a show and iron out any electrical or mechanical issues plus run through a couple of operating sequences, so we were not 'going in cold'.

 

However, the extension of the time period we try to portray, which has lead to the introduction of  Type 2 and Type 3 four axle diesel locos has led to me having to review the off scene operations.

 

Although Jamie's system could cater for the diseasels at the far end, currently there is no space for the reciprocating spur at the other.  Now if we assumed that we would require a further three feet (18" each end) which would also make it possible to run  six axle diesel locos if they ever became a part of future plans, then we might as well call it an 8 foot long set of boards:  This would also give me an additional 9" to play with on the actual traverser table. 

 

My first reaction was to simply say yes, and convert the existing fiddle yard into another additional scenic section, which would allow a bit more plain running.  Unfortunately I don't really have the space to do this at home, and all joking aside about building new sheds or going up to Hunt Towers, I don't want a model railway that I can't run in a home environment.

 

I suspect that the way forward, is going to be a short extension piece to bring the overall length up to twenty feet and then employ various sizes of cassette. 

 

Needless to say, this plan is also not without it's issues.

 

I suspect more thinking is required.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Northroader]

Mumble, mumble, cassettes, mumble......

[jamie92208]

One way that comes to my befuddled mind is to keep the existing traverser but mount it on two 4' long pieces that can be bolted together, ypu mightvas well make all 3 4' 3" long so that they could all be bolted together to form a transport crate.  You would then have room for a loco length set of spurs at each end for brakevans and locos.  I could try and draw something up if you are interested.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Mumble, mumble, cassettes, mumble......

Cassettes do appeal, and most of the models I've seen them work very well.

 

I suspect it would make train management slightly easier as well, although the plan would be to have the cassettes slide around the fiddle yard top rather than lots of lifting and straining.  

 

It's not going to cost a fortune as I'll make them from timber, and either solder up the rail onto copper clad, or just secure the track panels in place.  I have plenty of spare Code 143 panels from the South Greenfield dismantling.

 

The other option is to rebuild the traverser unit and keep it as is for the present time.  Just ban the big diesels or use them with suitable length trains and special working instructions.

 

SWS's successor can be built with cassette operation from the word go.  an 8 foot table with a maximum train length of 6 feet ought to work.

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

28 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

One way that comes to my befuddled mind is to keep the existing traverser but mount it on two 4' long pieces that can be bolted together, ypu mightvas well make all 3 4' 3" long so that they could all be bolted together to form a transport crate.  You would then have room for a loco length set of spurs at each end for brakevans and locos.  I could try and draw something up if you are interested.

 

Jamie

SWS is already built so that the four boards all bolt face to face for transit. (2 x 5ft and 2 x 4 ft)

 

All future portable layouts I build will drop to a 4 foot board length.   I'm then very keen if I remain with a traverser system, to have 18" on the outer edge of each board which which have the through tracks/traverser and some fixed  storage.  As was demonstrated with SG, the inner faces of the storage boards would have traversers of 30" length bolting together in the middle.  The same could happen with cassettes, although there would just be two flat boards, which would be a doddle to put face to face.  Train length would increase to 6 ft from 5 feet because of the extra length created by the cassette assembly and dismantling.

 

The small area required for the cassette table when in storage was one of the reasons I did consider converting the current traverser area to another scenic board.  But if I did this  one end would stick out of the garage by a considerable distance.

 

I may yet have to bite the bullet and build some curved boards to enable  a U shape to be created which would  bring the length down, but increase the overall footprint width wise.  Fortunately with  the current loco fleet, putting in curves of around 4' 6" - 5' radius on the main line would not be a problem.  A horse shoe shape would certainly make operating single handed a lot easier.

 

However, as with all these ideas the biggest problem is space.  My garage is currently home to SWS, the embryo Pantmawr Sidings, what's left of South Greenfield, plus most of my woodworking machine tools, storage of other heavy tools, my timber and metal storage plus other added bits of toot.  The workshop is equally full, with all my 7/8ths garden railway stuff in storage along with the 4mm fleet (which fills a cupboard) and then my 7.25" project is taking up a complete bench.  The other bench is home to my rather small workspace and my metal working tools.

 

I really need a few days out there when the weather is rather more clement, to go through everything with a fine toothcomb and be rather more ruthless with what I am holding onto at present.

 

I'll get there eventually.

 

Finding out what's up with my chest will help because at present I'm avoiding too much exertion which makes me cough, and anything that generates dust or other particles, so a lot of my woodworking projects are on hold: and of course, more are trickling in which adds to the backlog.  Cycling is a distant memory.

 

Perhaps I ought  to move, change my name and start a whole new life as a couch potato who has no other interest apart from daytime TV  cake and whisky.  (It was a short life, but he enjoyed it!)

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

Reggie Perrin?

[coastalview]

As I am still relatively new to RMWeb I continue to be amazed at what an amazing resource it is.

 

It does get a bit addictive as I keep finding little rabbit holes to dive down as you follow a newly discovered thread.

 

I have seen some wonderful modelling which certainly gives a great deal of food for though as I keep on trying to work out what my next steps are in bringing back from the dead an old layout I acquired.