steve W

Ah, nostalgia! I remember it so clearly ; 1971, mid April, Indian Ocean. Quietly flushing the system with a couple of Tennents in the bar one Saturday lunch time. A little bell rang and voice said "wedding anniversary" an immediate panic set in as I couldn't remeber the exact date, was it this week or next week. The gathered throng made many less than practical suggestions until Sparky, a yong woman from Manchester piped up "Phone your mother, she'll know ". A few hours later, and a turn with Portishead Radio (it seemed a lifetime) the potentially life changing phone call was made - to be answered, not by mother, but the unmistakeable tones of SWMBO who had gone to visit for the day, "Hello what are you phoning for?" It had been a good idea and worth the try. As the subject wasn't mentioned in the phone call, it appeared likely that it was the following week, so I followed through with Interflora just to make sure. Yes, the call was expensive, so were the flowers and Sparky's beer for several days afterwards.

Yes, I agree. It also suggests that the banks etc. have been doing their best to find a way forward.

It's not a good St David's Day for this line Refer to: www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/ A sad announcement, lets hope they can recover . Steve W.

Certainly is deserved, although may lose points for not keeping his flock under control: Hafodyrynys Coal Preparation Plant. From this video at 2.40 : cheers, Steve W.

A terrible state to be in, but slightly comforting to see that the Mission to Seafarers is still hard at work. I appreciated their services during my time away.

Having erronously suggested Plymouth, I passed the query on to a friend who is very much a London tram enthusiast and he has now come back with a likely explanation: "...........concerning grounded vehicle bodies in Cornwall: I have done some research and they are ex-LCC trailer bodies, the unusual ventilator arrangement, number and proportion of the windows and the straight matchboard sides are the indicators. The LCC trailers were in operation 1913-24 on the south side when their use was discontinued as part of the drive to speed up services in response to growing bus competition, because they were withdrawn early they had a high residual book value so the LCC was keen to sell them intact rather than scrap them. The reason that they made it to Kernow is that there were 150 of them, and in body only form they were easily transported due to their small size and light weight construction. They were for their day technically quite advanced; ball bearing axleboxes and an ingenious automatic brake held off by spring pressure against drawbar pull, and if the drawgear totally failed on an upgrade a runaway was virtually impossible."

Great modelling!

I've just been looking up the book on the Cambone and Redruth Tramway (Cornwalls Electric Tramcars, L.Fisher Barham, Glasney Press, 1972). The large cars only had three window sections, not four and the smaller cars had two. The book states "... were all broken up and it was the company's policy that none should be sold partially intact to litter the district as sheds." Plymouth's cars are a more likey source. See: http://www.tramwaybadgesandbuttons.com/page148/page151/page336/files/p_00010_19330crop.jpg Car 24.

Just noticed this thread and now feel ever so old. I got my first set when 'Brio' was still growing in a sustainable forest somewhere. 1957, age 8, Father Chistmas brought me a HD 3rail 'Duchess of Atholl' set, secondhand, but also a collection of extra track and points and strange black tank engine, an N2. Strange because even at that tender age I was showing an unhealthy interest in the comings and goings on the local GW branch line and those engines didn't look anthing like it! Now? nothing in standard gauge.

Flags can have considerable impact. In 1974 our skipper was arrested and jailed for 24hours in Dock Sud, Buenos Aires.The authorities claimed the Red Ensign was flying higher than the Argentine flag, showing disresepct. This was seemingly determined from looking up at it from the quayside. The previous trip I joined in Gib and got a three day holiday as the ship had been arrested in Tripoli (Libya). Thanks to the revolutionaries who were now the government of the day who arrested it for flying the previous administrations flag (who had been in charge 48hours before ). It was a very nice expenses paid holiday in the 'Rock Hotel'.

Thanks Andi, it was the second para of the original post that threw me. Saw what I would happily get my modelling wallet out for and didn't look much further. Cheers

Sorry for my Xmas pud dense stupidity, but how to I vote? The banner at the top of this page: just opens up a repeat of this page. I can't find a 'poll' item anywhere There's something there I would love to see produced! Steve W

Well, wer'e still closed and club layout activity is as delayed as the Crossrail project. The club continues to function in other ways and we are looking forward to resuming activites as soon as we can. If you are in SW London and want to know more about our merry band, don't hesitate to get in touch. In the meantime, on behalf of the Club may we wish you a Happy Xmas (in whatever form that may take ) Cheers! Steve W. www.tdmrc.org.uk

For a good introduction try https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/Electrical_Page_1.html He also has a book which some of our club members have found very useful. Most of what you require for a layout of the size you propose will be 7/0.2mm for individual track circuits fed by 16/0.2mm from the controllers, this will leave some margin if you later consider DCC. Thinwall insulation is fine. A good source for this stuff if required is CPC-Farnell. check pricing and quantity carefully because they can have bargains , especially if you are not to concerend with the insulation colour https://cpc.farnell.com/search?st=7%2F0.2mm hook up wire For connections soldered to the track I use a solid strand 1/06mm wire. This is easier to solder neatly to the rail, then under the baseboard transfer to the flexible wire for the main run. 'Bus' is much as you suggest and applies particularly to DCC layout where the track (and sometimes) accessory power is distributed. This can become a 'mine is bigger than yours' event but depending on the perceived and actual loads and size of the layout. A common value here would be 2.5mm2, cheaply obtained from house wiring cable a pair of wires running the length of the baseboard and branched where needed to the track with smaller wires. One use of a similar 'bus' in DC installations will be where 'Common return' wiring is used. Again Brian Lambert's site ref above will describe this better than I can. In relation to wires: There is an increasing tendency for aluminium wire to be used in small sizes, telephone, 'bell wire' and thin alarm cables are common sources. This stuff should be avoided like the plague. It is frequently (and correctly) described as 'CCA', Copper Coated Aluminium. It can be a swine to solder but breaks when you look at it. The copper version will be more expensive, but worth it. AWG wire size equivalants to swg and mm2 can be found on line. From a safety point of view, avoid mains electricity on the baseboard - keep it safely in it's own box away from the layout. Have fun and welcome to the world of magic smoke transmission

Some years ago when I had a day job involved with large ocean going ships, we had a technician who was employed to travel from ship to ship to fix control problems, carry out minor mods and such like. He was a very clever chap, but a true eccentric i.e. it wasn't just for show. For example, whilst he was working back in the office, we returned from lunch one day to find him standing on his head, propped up against a filing cabinet. To the obvious question of 'Why?' the answer was that he 'wanted to get a different perspective on the problem'. He was also a fully paid up member of the Flat Earth Society. I noted that he was clever, this was demonstrated during one of his voyages (300,000ton tanker) at about 2:00 am one morning when the ship's skipper heard a lot of noise in the wheelhouse above is bedroom. Investigating, 'Cyril' was in full flight with drawings and confident calculations 'proving' to the 2nd mate, the ship's navigator, that the Earth was flat. I understand there was an abrupt termination of the discussion. 'Cyril' was sent home in disgrace from the next port for trying to indoctrinate the navigator and a telex to personnel from the skipper noting he would never allow 'that man' to step aboard his ship again.

Yes, except that it was their fathers who were being trained!

Many years ago I was involved in laying up some tankers. A not-to-be-spoken-of branch of the British military asked if they could carry out a boarding exercise on the laid up ship (300,000T). Our officer in charge thoughtfully asked if they would like a gangway down on the port or starbard side. The response was measured, "Thank you, but the ships we tend to visit are not keen on putting gangways down for us. It won't be neccesary". And so it proved, with the local 'watchman' being awakened at 4:45 one morning with a menacing commando standing over him, and a large contingent of his comrades already on board.

Paul' s always had a way .... Steve W

Yes, that's what I did.

Yup, that's not good, but what has annoyed me this past weekend is listing items for auction at a very reasonable starting price and then getting offers at 50% less than the start price just a few hours after the listing goes live.

This weary looking one had a day off and got buried, until we unearthed it in the garden some thirty years ago. It escaped from a large, well known and regal palace (just west of LHR) in the lunch box of a stone mason doing some refurbishment I understand. Iv'e always threatened to put two large red LED's in it's eye sockets! Steve W.

Absolutely superb modelling. Just as I imagined the city. Is there room for Lady Sybils' Swamp Dragons? - would make a great animation. When you come to do the river, I have four out of date Robinsons blackcurrant jellies and an old jar of Branston pickle that I would be happy to donate to the project for the 'water'

It's definitely AC input. You might like to check out this link: https://tinyurl.com/yxhwpydg This is to an Ebay item that I have used in the past for xmas lights. Provides a nominal 12VAC output. there are some variations, just make sure it says AC/AC and is double insulated. The connector may need changing but there are solderable ones or push on adapters available for that. On a small 00 layout I found the control of locomotives with these Bachmann units very good

https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/18785310.helston-railway-wins-76-000-continue-reopening-branch-line/ Lucky chaps. It won't get them to Gwinear Road, but will keep them going in the right direction for the time being and give a chance of coming up with an idea to solve the bridge and industrial estate problems.

Signed in this morning without problem using a stored shortcut. Tried again this evening (22:20) and got 'Dangerous site' security warnings. Knowing what I was going into, I continued and it immediately opened to the site of an artist (Anne Christie , nothing to do with railways, although the address still pointed to the NGRM site correctly. Tried again directly from google search with same results. Summit wrong I think.