Nick C

I filled up with Diesel on the way back from Alton this afternoon - no problem whatsoever, no queue, no limit, straight in and out. Seems like that at least is getting back to normal...

There is currently a cardboard box in the middle of our living room floor. It has become the centre of a feline turf-war...

Exactly that - the simple rule is that for any movement that is carrying passengers, all facing points must be locked - which means having an FPL. If you ever have to have a facing passenger move over a point that doesn't have a lock, then you have to clip it (basically a great big g-clamp that clamps the switch to the stock rail to prevent it moving) Easier on modern stuff of course, as point motors have the locks built-in...

I think you're referring to making a frame to actually operate the layout - wheras @MrWolf is trying to reproduce the 4mm scale rodding - so in his case, the FPLs need to be there, because that's what the prototype he's modelling would have had. From an operational point of view, yes, FPLs are totally unnecessary - none of our 4mm trains actually carry passengers after all, and making an actual working FPL in 4mm scale would be tricky to say the least - so if one were building a frame to control the layout, then I'd agree they should be left out - but the rodding and representation of the FPL on the model still ought to be there.

Which is exactly what Poland, Lithuania and others warned would happen before NordStream 2 was started...

The working areas of a set of points were copiusly greased to keep them working smoothly, so they're virtually black.

Pretty close IMHO - I've added a few comments:

Thanks Mark - I've just started reading your thread!

I'll have to take a photo of Alresford next time I'm there, there's a short length of track in the platform there with exactly that - and a nice neat rectangle of new, clean ballast... Alton tomorrow - and there's a hand-point there with the lever pointing the wrong way...

I think, personally, that it says there's something seriously wrong with modern society, where so many people not only don't care at all about other people's welfare, but also seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to abuse others for requesting that they do so. And I'm only in my late 30s, officially a 'millenial', so I shouldn't be a grumpy old fart yet...

Great if you've got the choice - not so good for the millions who are being forced to go back to the office (or indeed the many more who had to remain in their workplaces all the way through) regardless of how unsafe it may be, or whether they feel comfortable or not.

I have a small virtual webserver (i.e. a small chunk of an actual real server somewhere in a datacentre in London) - just big enough to run a personal email server. This costs me £15 (+vat) per month. That's not including anyone's time, or any software licencing costs, just the hosting. A big site like this will need multiple servers, a seriously large database, the content delivery network (cloudfront), plus all the bits to tie it all together, 2-3 people's full time wages (plus NI, pensions, etc), and licencing costs. It'll be well into 6 figures annually.

Don't worry, three will turn up, half an hour late, just after you've given up waiting for them and decided to walk...

"Twitten" is a lovely Sussex term! It refers more the narrow pathways between properties, rather than the covered passages through the building. At least in the (semi-rural) area where I grew up, they were more often between high hedges or walls than close buildings.

Thanks Terry - yeah, I only did one layer, so I guess adding a couple more would have helped. But then that's the entire point of this project, to learn such things!

Given the shape of the concrete patch in the pavement, it may have originally been a hatch for delivery of barrels to the hotel's cellar?

One street I looked at while finding the links for my last post was in Guildford, and had terraces of four houses, with alleys between each block, and a passageway in the middle - all the houses then had their front doors on the sides, opening either into the alley or the passage depending on their position in the terrace...

As @Edwardian points out, there's a lot of geographical variations, so looking more in the area you've set Linton in... Guildford - with firewalls: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2411298,-0.5740337,3a,60y,278h,88.95t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQZi_KHYkM4QhpCRdj8uArw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2358001,-0.5832129,3a,75y,315.79h,92.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sP1IBnpVOIiXCukRh1o72gg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 Woking- without: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3238921,-0.5480244,3a,60y,100.21h,90.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV8K6zWbslYeumelZT-sFbQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3241503,-0.5438091,3a,60y,262.29h,87.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfvfVcrnyAiuQD12-OKicVw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 Camberley - both! https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3375808,-0.741278,3a,60y,210.54h,93.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snnlfDYG3R_MoPbv77s6E_g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Here's some not too far from where I used to live: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2639128,-1.099113,3a,75y,280.84h,94.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sffh81WQU9aNuL0CIQgvagA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Shared chimneys, no firewall above roof level though - although they're on a slope, so there's a height difference between each pair. All of the smaller properties in the area, without the sticky-out bits, have individual chimneys, in the middle of each property to serve both front and back rooms with back-to-back fireplaces.

I gave it a quick coat of brown and khaki on Sunday, then painted the viewing side of the rails this evening. I tried to do the chairs too, but I don't have a steady enough hand for that - what do others do? Rail heads obviously need cleaning up too, once dry. The paint has also shown up the pattern of the cardboard lattice under the newspaper too, hopefully this'll be hidden by the grass.

Thanks - the photo is about halfway down this page: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/axminster-to-lyme-regis-branch.html - rather unhelpfully with the wrong caption! I know that it occurred after the DMUs had officially taken over, as there was a shortage of them at the time.

Maybe no need, but does that stop you? I work in software R&D, where casual dress is commonplace, but one of my colleagues (recently retired) wore a shirt and tie every day, regardless of whether everyone around him was in jeans and t-shirt. IMHO it always works best if everyone can wear what they find most comfortable (within reason, obviously...)

There's a photo of an auto trailer, I'm not sure which diagram, on the Lyme Regis branch, hauled by an Ivatt 2mt tank, so anything's possible!

Nothing wrong with that, most of them aren't worth liking... Present company excepted, of course...

This is one of my pet peeves, as I'm sure I've ranted about on here before - our council still only accepts plastic bottles for recycling. No matter that a tray or whatever might be made of exactly the same type of plastic as a bottle, it still has to go into the general waste (incinerator rather than landfill)...