Wright writes.....

[Clive Mortimore]

Wow, you must use your controllers a lot.

 

If you average say 3 hours per day for 5 days per week assuming a 48 week (you have to be on holiday sometime) year that totals 720 hours per year.  At that usage it would give you 83 years. Given how long my units have been boxed I suspect I would have around 60 years left on my clipper at that rate.

They also deteriorate when not in use. 

 

I worked for a model railway controller manufacturing company, it is also a model railway shop. We use to buy in second hand model railway equipment. The chap who ran the controller side of the business would open up old controllers and check them before putting them out on sale as secondhand. He condemned quite a few H&Ms while I was there for safety reasons. This was in the mid eighties, thirty years later people are still buying secondhand ones. :dontknow:

 

As I said earlier would you buy an old lamp stand or an electric fire of similar vintage? Would you use one that had been in the loft for many years?

[Lecorbusier]

As I said earlier would you buy an old lamp stand or an electric fire of similar vintage? Would you use one that had been in the loft for many years?

 No .... and No!   But I'm still amazed at how much you use your controllers - white hot running in the Mortimore railway room 

[johnarcher]

Hi

 

Strangest thing I saw on holiday this year was a man and a woman sat at a table both on their phones for the whole time with their backs to each other.

 

It was only when they left the table together I realised they were a couple and hadn't spoken a single word to each other in the 20 minutes they were sat there.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

You're a brave man to say 'sat' rather than 'sitting' in this thread, Tony must be asleep or in a very tolerant mood.

[Clive Mortimore]

You're a brave man to say 'sat' rather than 'sitting' in this thread, Tony must be asleep or in a very tolerant mood.

Sat- past and past participle of sit.

 

Sitting- a continuous period of being seated, especially when engaged in a particular activity.

[CUTLER2579]

selena.jpg

 

She was Head Girl at my school.

 

I see Mr Wealleans, :- " Miss Scott was born in Scarborough and was educated at the Lawrence Jackson Girls School in Guisborough, where she was head girl".  

Regards,Derek

[jwealleans]

Thank you for that enlightening information, Derek. It will come as a shock to the hundreds of males who have attended the LaUrence Jackson (he was our next door neighbour) co-educational comprehensive establishment to find after all this time that it was a Girls’ school.

 

I’ll raise it at the next reunion.

[gr.king]

I picked up a copy of BRM on the way home, no DVD! What a con, it's the first time I've bought the mag in some time, I won't be buying any more. Nice cover (almost), the best shot spoiled by an uncouth graphical mess. 'Tackeroo' is a very nice bit of modeling though.

I strongly suspected that there was no DVD despite the best efforts of the sealed and partly opaque bag to frustrate my assessment. When I eventually found the price I put it down like a hot potato anyway.

 

So is there supposed to be a DVD in November's issue or isn't there? As I was involved in some way in the provision of material for the LB 1938 DVD I feel embarrassed by the rather misleading nature of this situation.

[AndyID]

 

How will I know if a rectifier is breaking down? Will it 'kill' a motor? Will a loco's performance alter? I genuinely ask these questions.

 

 

Hi Tony,

 

The good news is, apparently, when they fail they tend to increase their resistance which means that your motors will more than likely stop without being damaged.

 

The bad news is they give off an aroma like rotten eggs. In that event exit the premises PDQ. The gas is highly toxic.

 

As Clive notes they do have a long life. The 60,000 hour number probably represents the "mean time between failure" so some might fail in a much shorter time and some might keep going for a lot longer.

 

Cheers!

Andy

[Tony Wright]

You're a brave man to say 'sat' rather than 'sitting' in this thread, Tony must be asleep or in a very tolerant mood.

It's my birthday, so I've been out celebrating with friends, and only now returned to my computer.

 

Thank you for pointing out this all-too-common (nowadays) piece of grammatical nonsense. 

 

Why is it so prevalent today? It's even used (not by me!) on another feature on the DVD. I hate it; cricket commentators use it all the time, as do several (professional?) presenters on the telly/radio. I carelessly switched Radio 2 on one Sunday morning and had the misfortune to hear some chattering woman vicar state 'I'm sat here..................'. Surely God would (should?) correct her English? 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Tony Wright

[jollysmart]

I strongly suspected that there was no DVD despite the best efforts of the sealed and partly opaque bag to frustrate my assessment. When I eventually found the price I put it down like a hot potato anyway.

 

So is there supposed to be a DVD in November's issue or isn't there? As I was involved in some way in the provision of material for the LB 1938 DVD I feel embarrassed by the rather misleading nature of this situation.

 

I found a copy in my local newsagent but it had a cardboard cottage kit inside the plastic bag, I didn't see a DVD so no purchase was made.

 

Happy Birthday Tony.

Edited October 11, 2018 by jollysmart

[Tony Wright]

Am I right to assume therefore that the door folds back 180 degrees to lie flat against the outside ... otherwise not so much ahead but rather to the side. Unless of course the 'ahead' refers to time and not direction?

It does.

 

Unfortunately, my brother (who bought the sign for me as a birthday present a couple of years ago - exactly!) couldn't find one which stated 'Model Railway Ahead, Though Just To The Right A Bit, Then Wiggle A Little To Get Beyond The Lifting Section'; Then You'll See It'.  

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Buhar]

On lifting sections...  In RM a few months ago there was a description of making a gateway entrance, castors underneath and seemingly a very snug fit.  This would be useful if there were scenic items on the section, but it I thought it could be more stable generally with no significant strain on the hinges.

[Tony Wright]

Tony,

 

I'm amazed at your decision to use set track turnouts in the M&GN fiddle yard. It seems to counter all the good work you did in getting smooth flowing pointwork/ transition curves etc. to enable trouble free running, although that was probably mainly on the mainline section. Easing their radii slightly may help offset the worst problems but the inside radius is truly heroic! I speak from experience as I had one on my last layout and the roads it accessed had to be banned for large parts of my fleet. In particular all articulated stock was a no-no. Never again as far as I'm concerned.

 

Anyway, if it works for you then good luck, but I'd test it fully before committing to lots of wiring in of point motors.

 

All the best 

 

Andy

I wouldn't have believed it myself, Andy. 

 

What I did was to join the two points together beforehand, then investigate the cutting of the webs to (slightly) increase the radii at the entry/exit points to the point. I then rigged up some more flex-track to thoroughly test the formation (in every direction) before installing it. 

 

Did you think I'd lay it without thoroughly testing the crossover first? 

 

I'm amazed that it works, and B1s, B12s, K2s and Ivatt 2-6-0s (the largest locos) go through (even on the tightest bit) without failure. Yes, their passage looks awful with the huge amount of 'hangover', but they do go through. Carriages have to be a bit further apart than entirely desirable (though with flexible, joined-together gangways they don't look too bad).

 

When you come up later this year, you can see for yourself how it works. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Tony Wright

[Lecorbusier]

It does.

 

Unfortunately, my brother (who bought the sign for me as a birthday present a couple of years ago - exactly!) couldn't find one which stated 'Model Railway Ahead, Though Just To The Right A Bit, Then Wiggle A Little To Get Beyond The Lifting Section'; Then You'll See It'.  

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Now that actually made me laugh out load ... to the consternation of others in the room ... touche ......... does that mean we should be wishing you a happy Birthday?

[Tony Wright]

Tony,

 

I've enjoyed the video this morning. Well worth the cover price alone...which is just as well as apart from LB this month's issue is a little light! Overall I thought both the video and article were superb, but you asked for constructive criticism so here goes:

• I loved the commentary, but I would have appreciated more information on the trains. Sometimes this was very good, like on the quint set and the 1888 Flying Scotsman, but there were some trains where nothing behind the tender got a mention. For example two lovely articulated twins behind the K4 didn't get a mention, and some explanation of the work involved in modelling the prototypical formations would have been interesting.
• I thought your promotion of modelling a prototype in the magazine was well argued, but the case was weakened by a succession of 'rule 1' type trains on the video (the K4, P1, P2, long tom, iron ore train…). Any one of these could be justified, but surely a prototypical location deserves a realistic typical service, and therefore the vast majority of the trains presented should be appropriate to the time and place.
• the ride height anomalies that you discussed previously were very evident in some of the video footage.
• Finally, the digital magazine extra photos were welcome, but the lack of a caption reduces their benefit. Not one for you, but I think BRM could easily add a little more value here with extra captions.

These are tiny niggles in what was a most enjoyable read/ watch. Here's looking forward to the 1958 version.

 

Regards

 

Andy

Thanks Andy,

 

I wished I'd had more time to put the commentary together (a feeble excuse, I know), and much more should have been said about the 1938 trains. A problem (not apparent on the forthcoming 1958 one) was that I was in 'ignorance' of how many of the sets were made and what they were derived from (an equally feeble excuse, because I should have made notes). 

 

With regard to the 'prototype' trains displayed, with one exception (the P2) the Grantham gang put their trains on, and Jesse and I just did the filming.

 

I think the 1958 sequence will have much more relevance to the piece on prototype modelling. Unfortunately, due to the (inevitable) pagination restrictions, the prototype piece was cut down, particularly with regard to the use of only one photograph (there was a prototype picture to go with it - see below). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a shame these couldn't be accommodated because it would have made the piece more relevant, I think. The prototype shots have been seen before, but not the model ones - similar ones have, though they were at a much earlier stage of the layout's development.

 

Because of the 'ride height anomalies', the worst ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

With regard to the lack of captions in the digital edition, I was just asked to provide captions for the shots which appeared in the magazine. 

 

Finally, I had no idea that the DVD was only for subscribers.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Now that actually made me laugh out load ... to the consternation of others in the room ... touche ......... does that mean we should be wishing you a happy Birthday?

It does indeed, Tim,

 

Many thanks.

 

Kindest regards (from a 72 year old!). 

[CUTLER2579]

Thank you for that enlightening information, Derek. It will come as a shock to the hundreds of males who have attended the LaUrence Jackson (he was our next door neighbour) co-educational comprehensive establishment to find after all this time that it was a Girls’ school.

 

I’ll raise it at the next reunion.

 

In all seriousness Johnathon who was Laurence Jackson. The only one I can find on google was a Scottish Curler who died in 1984 at the age of 84, but I can't imagine it was him.

[Theakerr]

Speaking for myself I have to say I am rather disappointed by the complete LB DVD program.  I had hoped that it would be done in the same way that the Grantham DVD was, that I would simply buy it and have it shipped to Canada.  It is something I would very much like to have seen.  Now I will have to make a 200km each way hoping that one of the shops in Ottawa will have the correct issue and hoping that it actually has the DVD except I probably will not.  

[micklner]

Speaking for myself I have to say I am rather disappointed by the complete LB DVD program.  I had hoped that it would be done in the same way that the Grantham DVD was, that I would simply buy it and have it shipped to Canada.  It is something I would very much like to have seen.  Now I will have to make a 200km each way hoping that one of the shops in Ottawa will have the correct issue and hoping that it actually has the DVD except I probably will not.  

 

Read the November BRM thread re the DVD and how to get one sent to you. Hopefully BRM will sell you one.

[Atso]

Happy birthday Tony!

[davidw]

Happy birthday!

[Northmoor]

The bad news is they give off an aroma like rotten eggs. In that event exit the premises PDQ. The gas is highly toxic.

 

That would be Hydrogen Sulphide then.  My wife, former fuels chemist who used to specialise in bacteria contamination in fuels, thinks that it's something like, <10ppm, you can't smell it; 10-100ppm it stinks; >100ppm it overpowers your sense of smell; at >1000ppm it knocks you unconscious.  However, you would have to have your nose in the back of the controller and inhaling deeply to have that effect.  In which case you are probably a lost cause for other reasons.

 

Surely God would (should?) correct her English? 

 

Billy Connolly how the Catholic Church taught him that doing something (we won't talk about) caused you to be struck down by God as punishment.... but that he thought God probably had rather more important things on his mind, like Bosnia, or Ian Paisley.

[Michael Edge]

Tony and all other contributors to this excellent thread,

 

Some two years ago, suddenly finding myself with a lot of free time, I stuck my toe back into the murkey waters of Railway Modelling after a hiatus of over 40 years.  Boy has it changed!

 

I want to model the scenes I remember as a teenager and to that end I knew I needed to develop my scratchbuilding and kit bashing skills.  I started on buildings and moved onto rolling stock.  Very early on I purchased a Bachmann brake van so that I could see the standard I would attempt to achieve.  To test things I also bought a DJM J94 and a Hornby J50.  I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I could build a locomotive.  And then I found this thread!

 

Inspired, in May, I took the plunge.  Today, after loads of cursing, tears, joy, dollars, burnt fingers etc, etc.  I ran my first loco around a small test circuit pulling and propelling a rake of 10 wagons (410grams no less)!  Miraculously, she seems to do so just as well as the bought ones!

 

 

 

It has many shortcomings - no brakes (too concerned about shorts), no wash stripes (need to figure out how to do these without making an unholy mess), and no connecting rods (don't put a cutting broach in a power tool!).  But I built it!

 

And so to the point of my - first ever - comment on this thread.  Interestingly, in the building process, I have completely lost the sense of reverence I had for my RTR locos.  I knew I would need to renumber them, but when I started looking at photos I realised I either needed a new J94 with an extended bunker, or I would need to apply my newly acquired skills.  Since the latter is far more rewarding and satisfying, I've done just that.

 

 

Well done, that's really good for a first attempt. You may have left out some of the mechanical bits but otherwise it's very well built.

Judith and Mike

[queensquare]

Happy Birthday Tony, early October is a popular time to arrive. Kim's birthday is on the 4th, mine the 8th and son Tom on the 16th - the latter was in 1987 which was a particularly memorable night!

 

Very much enjoyed the DVD by the way.

 

Jerry

[St Enodoc]

Hi

 

Strangest thing I saw on holiday this year was a man and a woman sat at a table both on their phones for the whole time with their backs to each other.

 

It was only when they left the table together I realised they were a couple and hadn't spoken a single word to each other in the 20 minutes they were sat there.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Perhaps they were on the phone to each other...