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There even are places where English completely disappears.

Shave down the bogie mounts about 1mm.

...small blue thing like a marble or an eye I am smooth and cool and curious I never blink I am turning in your hand, turning in...

Sitrep; ersatz 8’6” Dean bogies, actually the original Triang B1s, wheelbase is pretty accurate, with the tiebars removed and coffee-stirrer footboards. Work in prgress. Fitted to the coach. They’ll do for now. I’ve hit a problem, though, with the ride height. Aware that Triang stock sits 2mm too high at the buffers, I’ve altered the bogie pivot brass eye-bearings to be glued to the interior floor. But there is still a big disparity in buffer heights. So I’ve tried a cheat of subsituting wagon wheels for coach wheels to drop the height a bit further, as shown with this… … which tbh doesn’t seem to make a lot of dfference. So I’ve decided that, like the bogies it’ll do for now; this was never going to be scale modelling of any sort anyway. That’s it pretty much, apart from couplings, NEM t/ls superglued to the bogies, then inserted into proper pockets when the Stafford road bogies arrive.

Still at the farm as of April 2023. https://maps.app.goo.gl/QGVxxw4H6zazv4uQ9

I am going to Bonn next month, flying to Frankfurt and taking the train from Frankfurt airport. I am just looking at trains and it should be a quick and painless connection. I am fortunate in that my inbound flight arrives early and the outbound flight is a late afternoon departure so I have plenty of time.

Blue Eyes . . . . . . .El Ton John

Rapido's website gives us a little tease... A number of people have been interested in how the Manning Wardle loco project is coming along. Currently the 'cosmetic' parts have been designed along with a proposed list of liveries and variants. The challenging task of designing the internals such as the mechanism, DCC access etc. is ongoing. We hope to share more updates as things progress.

Hello, everyone! Has there been any interest or updates recently regarding the M.R. Railmotor? Cheers, Julien.

I’d hang on to it, and the tac, somewhere safe like the loco box, then forget about it. Then, if you ever do get it identified, you can then glue it back on.

My 0 gauge layout is DCC using NCE. There are several turnouts actuated by Wabbit accessory decoders. There are momentary push buttons on both sides of the fascia for operation from either side. There is one Dapol semaphore signal. This has the Train Tech accessory decoder and works brlliantly and it even has arm bounce. The only drawback is that actuation has to come from the throttle which I find somewhat tedious. There is no momentary push button option. For reference, taken when I was testing. I have just got myself a pack of 6 Cobalt S levers. Replacing the momentary push buttons I currently have with the lever momentary switches in the levers doesn't seem like rocket science. Where I am stumped is how to use a lever to activate my semaphore. Has anyone managed to do this? Here's what DCC Concepts say: It suggests that the servo can take DCC power directly which doesn't sound right. John

After deciding to go ahead and make the bridge the centrepiece of its own stand alone layout the first thing to be done was make alterations to the baseboards. As mentioned in the first posting we were provided with baseboards of 10ft x 5ft for the Challenge, and it can be seen from the photo that the bridge was close to the centre of the layout behind the Maidenhead bridge. We decided that the layout didn’t need to be that deep and 5ft wide baseboards would be an inconvenient size to transport as well, so a line 800mm (2ft 8in) from the rear of the original layout was determined to be the optimum position to make the cut to suit our requirements. Rob Score was the carpenter of the Bodgers and he did the necessary woodwork, making the main longitudinal cut, producing the new front facias, high level ends, backscene and relocating the legs. The photograph used for the backscene was a high resolution image found on the internet of a view looking south from the bridge, extended by cutting and pasting large areas that eventually brought the total length to 4.3m (14ft). To add a bit more interest to the photo I decided to add a warship emerging from Devonport Naval Dockyard. As the intention was to run the layout over two periods (1956-1961 and 1968-1973) I needed to find one that was in service during both periods. After doing some research I discovered that the Type 12 Whitby Class frigates fitted the bill and found a suitable photograph of F43 HMS Torquay that I superimposed on to the backscene. I was fortunate to work where I had access to a printer that could print plans up to 7m long, so was able to make any required amendments to the backscene until I was happy with it. For the Cornwall end of the layout I found a photo of Saltash taken from the approach to the bridge that with some tweaking was an ideal representation for the backscene. The supporting columns for the spans at each end were produced from Metcalfe stonework card sheets. I designed them by working out where to fold and cut them in order that the main structure of each could be made from just one piece of card. As the bridge straddles the centre board it had to be detachable, which then gave rise to the issue of how to power the track on the bridge. The solution was to use clothes press studs, one soldered to each rail and two in the closest support column next to the bridge on the Cornish side. Each of the studs in the support column has power fed to it from a wire soldered to it that runs down each leg, through the baseboard, and the other end being soldered to the powered rails on the main part of the layout. This results in the bridge being fixed both electrically and mechanically, with the same arrangement used at the Devon end of the bridge but without the electrical feed. The fiddle yard consists of 6 lines, 3 for the Up direction and 3 for the Down, with the outer 2 split into powered sections to allow 2 shorter length trains to be accommodated giving storage capacity for 8 trains in total. The points are operated by servo motors on 3D-printed mounts and were controlled using MERG CANMIO and CANCORD boards and a custom made controller designed and built by Ian Morgan. An LED at each end of each line replicates those on the control panel diagram and confirms to the operator that the required line has been selected and that points are positioned correctly. Blue LEDs along the outer lines indicate which of the sections are powered.

Take the last train to Clarksville And I'll meet you at the station You can be here by 4:30 'Cause I've made your .....

The underneath of the canopy carries the name Airfix Poducts 1958 so it’s a very dated kit which is why it appealed to me. If realism is your thing there are far better options these days in both plastic and card and increasingly laser cut mdf. I don’t consider myself a true modeller more like someone trapped in the past that’s why I pick these very dated items. Funny that Superquick gets a mention as my first outing into vintage kits was building an early Superquick goods shed and an early station platform building, these were the ones with the chimney stacks, long since deleted with the current offerings being devoid of a chimney, sacrilege ! PS I agree the window frames are far to thick, I did contemplate taking a file to them or reducing the amount of panes but in the end decided I wanted the look of the old Airfix kit retained albeit with a few minor alterations. If it gets used it will be with a 3 rail Dublo layout.

Hello Dave, Very interested in the Dogfish build as I've also got a box with about 6 of these in a cupboard somewhere ... not much call for them on a 1920s S&DJR layout but maybe one of Lenny's Bo-Bos might tempt me to build them just for a change of subject, although I really need to finish a couple of other things first. Anyway ... watching with interest and good luck with the build. Regards, Ian.

I take it that you don't seem to like the woman.

Kinlet Hall! (Wait, do we have the right song?)

Are we possibly confusing "chrome plating" with "chrome iron". Old brake discs are generally separated out from the rest of the scrap because of the quality of the metal. They can also be cut and ground into some cracking knife blades.

If you're going to do that, why not leave it level until it's passed under the road? A half-height bridge opening sounds a bit odd to me.

I'd be in fighting mood too if someone had just thrown a Cornish pasty at my forehead....

Ebony Eyes - The Everly Brothers

More work this evening and the Limpet rake now has couplings on its outer ends (while the Doorand is fitted with couplings on both ends) the first wagon here needs the yeoman Y almost completely raises out, while the second the grey is almost all rust (hence not bothering to touch in where I filled the ladder location holes) the Doorand still needs custom EW&S lettering I have also found a sheet of Regional Railways logos in my transfer box, so I’ve finished correcting the second 153 for the 150 lash up. Railtec numbers were cut up to get the unit’s number, Fox Regional Railways logos and Railtec OHLE flashes. I’ve drilled the holes for the handrails which now need to be fitted. I have ran out of Par / Newquay transfers so will need to order more next time I buy transfers.

Too soon! Any fule knos that Christmas doesn't start until the third week in August!

Surely the bean's would be on toa'st? 🤔