Ray H

Could you alter the numbers around so those that you physically want to mechanically lock another have adjacent lever numbers?

Can you have metal bagpipes? 🙄

Apologies, my mistake. I had failed to note the ring on signal 15. Presumably, working the coal siding would be self contained to the freight section of the line, rather than using the halt or was that not how it was done?

I think you may have misunderstood the use of trap points. Assuming that the line is used by passenger trains it would be more usual to have No. 3 point's lever back in the frame which leaves the points set for the route to/from the curve at the bottom of the plan. No. 3 points would only be reversed/pulled/out of the frame for moves into/out of the coal siding. The coal siding would need a trap point to stop anything unintentionally trying to leave the coal siding, the trap point in the siding protecting the main/running line from runaway wagons for the siding. No. 3 points will, when normal/set for the curve, stop unwanted movements into the siding. Nos 1 & 15 signals would need No. 3 points normal before those signals could be cleared and Nos. 2 & 5 signals would need No. 3 points reversed (and the trap points in the siding set for trains to run in and out of the siding. Whilst it may be possible for signals 1 & 15 to be pulled off (show proceed) at the same time - often done when the box is closed, signals 2 & 5 could also be cleared in unison or independently (with 3 points set appropriately etc.) but you can't have either or both running signals showing proceed at the same time as either or both of the shunting signals are clear (or vice versa).

Apologies for the lack of updates. Suffice to say that there's not been much happening on the layout over the past few months. A section of the grassed embankment side between the BR and the rising LR tracks has been hacked back to bare boards as the embankment side looked just a tad too steep. It will be replaced with a variable height brick built wall which will lift the embankment base up higher and thus mean the grassed section will be a lot less steep. Some while ago I invested in a 3D resin printer which has a had a bit of use, largely using files others have prepared. More recently an 3d FDM (filament) printer has arrived. This was bought with the intention of using it to generate the copious amounts of brick walls that I envisage the layout requires. Club work and an unwell wife has so far stopped me from making a start on learning the software package that will be needed to produce the walls. The club work seems to be dwindling and SWIMBO is showing signs of making some progress back to full health so I'm hoping to knuckle down and start experimenting to discover what the software package will actually allow me to do.

When I was a lot younger I made friends, through work, with a signalman who worked locally. I would visit his box to work the frame one day a week when he was on late shift. I enjoyed it and it saved the porter signalman having to come to the box to carry out the meal relief. Trains were fairly frequent and terminated from both arriving directions. Although the frame work was fairly repetitive I didn't get bored, which was unusual for me. The reason being that whilst the trains may have generally worked to the sequence shown in the timetable, their actual times (and sometimes order they presented in) was infinitely variable. Turning to the layouts I have built (and usually not completed), the operation did become repetitive, and I soon tired of said layout(s) because there was no random factor in that operation. Had I still been running a dc controlled layout I might have tried to devise some way of varying the order in which trains departed from the fiddle yard such that I wouldn't know what train I was controlling until it appeared on the scenic part of the layout. That's not so easy with a DCC controlled layout without involving some means of computerisation (or having one or more further operators) to produce the random element. That said, my current O gauge layout has a 24 move sequence that requires most of the thirty plus wagons to be moved around the layout during the sequence. Currently, that provides enough of the randomisation factor to keep me amused (and I do occasionally have one or more other operators to give me more variety). I have yet to try putting times to each sequence move (or even, just the passenger trips). That could be really fun, especially when the shunting needs to be interrupted to run a passenger train.

My O gauge layout - which is based around a BR branch and an adjoining Light Railway - has a sequence of 24 moves. On the BR side there are return workings of the railcar spread throughout the sequence and a return freight working. The Light Railway generally runs connecting passenger trains and two Goods trains. The stock for the passenger trains doesn't vary although the Light Railway could vary the loco used. The stock for the Goods trains is determined by a randomly generated list using an Excel workbook. This knows the capacity of each siding and the number of each wagon and randomly allocates a wagon to one of the layout's 10 sidings. This can translate in shunting stock around the various sidings at the same location or using them to make up the goods trains. It can include exchanging them between BR and the Light Railway. Freight stock doesn't need to have completed its journey at the end of each sequence. For example, if it arrived at the Exchange station after the relevant BR freight train has departed, said wagon will remain there and it will commence its next journey from there, which could be back where it just came from. There are twenty different freight stock movement sheets and each sheet is randomly selected so (for example) sheet H doesn't always follow sheet G. Thereby the chances of two consecutive sessions involving the same combination of wagon movements is very low. I treat it like a big shunting puzzle with a few passenger trains thrown in for good measure.

Signal 1 would probably be a lot closer to the trap points and those trap points would probably be a little further back from the Halt. Likewise, signal 2 & 3 would be closer to the point (in practice), more or less on their end of the facing point locking bar. Signals 15 & 19 would probably be co-located where signal 19 is shown. You may find the need for a trap point between signal 14 and point 16 or signal 14 may need to be moved further back from the junction point. The loco off arriving trains at the warehouses would run round its train and shunt as required wherever needed on the warehouse side of signal 1. You can always add a dummy trap point, with a single rail attached to the outer side of one of the (track) rails and pointing away from those track rails.

I've no knowledge of the area concerned but am a little confused about the plan. Is there a passenger service to/from the part of the layout where the two warehouses are shown or do passenger services terminate at the halt? Are the two tracks at the bottom both for passenger services because you wouldn't normally have facing point locks on a purely goods line. I'm not clear about the purpose of signals 1 & 21, especially if there is no passenger service past them.

Based on what you have said, my gut re-action is that the decoder is misbehaving. Can you try starting the loco in reverse and see what happens then? Is it possible that one of the pins on the decoder might be touching something beneath the socket into which it is connected? Logically (to me, anyway) I don't think there is anything hardware wise that should cause the problem you're experiencing (unless it is with a component that is only brought into play when motor power is reversed).

Shhhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell Kevin and ruin his Easter, but one of the blades of grass is upside down. 😒

Take a look at my Puzzel Yard layout. The track plan was copied from one of Andy Peters' layouts and provides endless fun if you like shunting. I had about two dozen wagons and a couple of locos on it and operated it as a shunting puzzle (hence the name). A quick Excel spreadsheet to randomise the wagon placement is all you need for hours of fun.

I ordered something via the well known electronic auction site at the end of last week. The seller advised me that it had been sent and provided a tracking number. So far, the package has failed to arrive but that's not unusual. I think it should go through our letter box but I want some idea of when it might arrive so that I can try to be here, just in case it doesn't. I used the Royal Mail tracking utility. It doesn't indicate it has even got/had the package, shows no transit details and adds: "An update will only be provided when we attempt to deliver your item" I wonder if they realise that a good majority of people actually know when something has been delivered because they have it in their hands? I don't quite follow the "when we attempt to deliver your item" bit. Does that mean when the package leaves our local depot en route to us or when the postman is about to pop the package through the letter box?

You can tell its a model as it hasn't been raining! Hat, coat & umbrella - I'm gone!

We have a similar problem with one of the locos on the club's O gauge layout that's fitted with a Zimo sound decoder. We tried a few ideas out but as the only loco on the layout fitted with lights we eventually gave up. I only asked the make of yours in case it was similar to ours and might have provided us with a solution to our problem.

What decoder brand are they?

Is that the final weathering job Kevin? 😄

I shall probably have to duck for cover after saying this but . . . I think a lot of the trouble with the Circle line and the tracks it uses is with the computer control, although I have no knowledge of it these days, the previous system being just that, a system, couldn't work in the same way as a signaller could. The signaller could often see where the trains were when they were still some way away and could mentally hatch a plan as to the order in which the trains would merge together. Equally, smart platform work by staff and (often) passengers also cut platform dwell times. Modern signalling overlaps are greater than before too. Add all them together and even a minor glitch can have a large ripple effect. Even as late as the 1960s trains on the south and north sides of the Circle were running at or near to 38 trains per hour. As far as I am aware, they're not even scheduled to run at 30 tph these days.

I lost my dad from kidney failure when I was just 12, 64 years ago. I know he was in a Railway Convalescent Home at Dawlish although I don't know if it was this one. We mentioned it at home recently to the surprise of some family members.

Silly (?) thought. Close two adjacent level crossings and replace each of them with a footbridge that isn't too bike unfriendly and build a new road bridge between the two (now ex) crossings. Would that be an option anywhere?

There was a short comment on this (early) evening news that there's some money been allocated in the budget (?) for work on the section between Bedford & Bletchley as part of EWR. It didn't say what the money was actually for.

You don't necessarily need a computer but you do need to know which decoder make/model you are working with so that you can download the (free) manual for the decoder. Its then a case of working out, from the manual, which CVs affect which function, reading (and noting down) the relevant CV values and swapping them around. For example, each Zimo decoder (generally) uses 3 CVs per function. Find the three CVs that assign the sound you're interested in and note their value. Then do likewise with the function key you wish to transfer the wanted sound to. You can now swap the three CV values for each function so what was assigned to button F now plays when you press button G and what was assigned to button G now plays when you press button F. Obviously you can do several swaps at the same time but you do need to note what's where at the start and then decide which CVs the relevant values need to be transferred to. I'm not that familiar with ESU decoders so won't try to explain how you'd need to do them.

The widder the supporting frame the greater the support towards the ends of the turntable board, especially when that is at 90º to the frame. I'd still be thinking of something thicker than their usual 9mm (?) baseboard top material. I have their boards on my static layout and can vouch for their build.

I'd suggest something like 15mm/18mm thickness for the turntable with handles that fold down to prevent trains from running off the edge. Don't forget that you can only be at one end of the turntable as it turns so that could impact how much weight you can have at the other end.