martin_wynne

32 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

 

Just look at the width of the land take today. Looks totally overboard to me. No wonder costs are through the roof

 

It's the same with new pipelines etc. Yes vehicular access roads are needed alongside the route but not half a mile !!

But it's only temporary. It's through farmland. With a gentle slope it can be used to grow cabbages or graze sheep. Or even used for housing or industrial development. The eventual land take is less than for a steep-sided cutting.

And the long-term ground stabilisation needed is next to nothing if you make the slope gentle enough. Compared with the maintenance cost of steep-sided legacy cuttings.

Martin.

2 hours ago, Derekstuart said:

The problem is always threading those damned chairs onto the rail.

Hi Derek,

One of the great advantages of the loose jaw option in Templot plug track is that you don't need to thread the chairs on the rail. You can have a nice prototypical dead-square end on the rail (a touch on the disc sander), no need to file chamfers on the rail end. The rail is then dropped onto the chair, and the push-in loose jaw clips it in place. This is the loose-jaw option for the P slide chairs in EM:

Plug track for 3D printing (no gauges, no soldering, no glue) is still being developed:

 The loose jaws are optional, you can have solid slide-on chairs if you prefer. Lots of info on the Templot Club forum.

p.s. all plug track rail is vertical. If you can see the difference in finished track in 4mm scale you have better eyes than me. You can't cheat by looking at the ends of the check rails, because check rails are always vertical on the prototype.

cheers,

Martin.

4 minutes ago, Derekstuart said:

Thank you Martin. You're a good bloke. I'm afraid I did leave Templot forum under a grey cloud one day- I was having a difficult time and argued about something or other I cannot even remember. If you would overlook that and accept my apologies I'd gladly take up your offer. Thanks.

Hi Derek,

I can certainly overlook whatever it was because I have no memory at all of any such thing. Are you sure it was Templot Club? We don't do arguments on there. 🙂

cheers,

Martin.

2 hours ago, Derekstuart said:

 

I'm still stuck with 'the' Whitby tandem. X+Y means A is one timber short, B is one timber too long. If I make it X+Z then A is too short and B is too long... .I've even asked permanent way blokes if they can work this out and still no one can. It's a mathematical riddle. I know it's track version of rivet counting- but it's only this one bit that's got to be 'just right'.

Hi Derek,

If you post a scan or a map or something of the tandem I will see what I can do. If it exists in real life it can be modelled, certainly in P4.

cheers,

Martin,

22 hours ago, Dylan Sanderson said:

DCC concepts offer PCB track kits with realistic looking brass chairs,

Hi Dylan,

Those brass chairs illustrated in your post are type L1 bridge chairs. They are used only on bridge waybeams, and within pointwork where there is insufficient space for ordinary chairs. They would look daft used for plain track, and don't actually fit on ordinary sleepers (they are too wide).

Here you can see such bridge chairs in use for pointwork where ordinary chairs wouldn't fit:

(This is "plug track" being developed in Templot for 3D printing. This is EM gauge.)

Why DCC Concepts are supplying bridge chairs for plain track is just as much a mystery as their daft 6-bolt fishplates.

cheers,

Martin.

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

Silly fetish, and very much a First World "problem" affecting the Hyacinth Buckets of this world.

 

Millions of people across the planet don't even have a wall to hang their bog-roll on....

 

I always fit them whatever way round they come out of the cupboard!

 

John

 

 

Do they go the other way round in the southern hemisphere?

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/52554553@N06/10066624904/in/photostream/

A post on the Scalefour Society forum today reports that Finetrax B-7 kits in P4 have reached production approval stage, and it's hoped might be available at Scalefour Crewe in early June.

Martin.

16 minutes ago, melmerby said:

By then human's brains will be directly connected to the internet where they experience everything in life they ever want and never need to travel from the computer.

HS2 will open and there won't be a single passenger or drivers or signallers or any other railway staff.😄

 

You will be able to get on at the back of an HS2 train in London, walk through and get off from the front of the train in Birmingham yesterday. No need for a wheel to turn, so an accountant will suggest saving money by making them square. Possibly they have already suggested it.

Martin.

32 minutes ago, ElTesha said:

Sorry if its a problem awakening this thread but does anyone have copies of the Peco streamline turnout plans that they used to publish on their website, they seem to have disappeared on the latest iteration of the site.  I would like copies so that I can test my new layout before commiting to th ereal thing, any scans or pictures would be great.

 

Best regards and fingers crossed,

 

TerryD

Hi Terry,

Still available for each item separately -- click the link on each one here:

Martin.

52 minutes ago, unravelled said:

While this is half way to the minimum 43(ish)mm

Hi Dave,

The prototype minimum is 44.67mm, say 45mm in the real world.

p.s. your photo is showing 48mm, not 47mm (gauge-face to gauge-face).

If you cut away one side of the chairs on the slip, you could probably flex the rails a fraction to match the exit angle and radius on a trimmed-back turnout. Replace with C&L half-chairs.

It would be best to remove one timber from each - the daft Peco bent timber. It doesn't matter if you end up with the remaining timbers at closer spacing than normal.

cheers,

Martin.

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Really, these people who can't handle 20th century technology! Next thing, they'll be telling us they don't know how to use a telephone!

 

 

 

Amazingly, it still works. Just plug it into your landline -- no batteries, no power supply needed.

But only for another 2 years. That system (the PSTN) is being closed down in 2025. Then it's everyone over to internet phones -- needing a power supply, emergency back-up batteries, ...

Martin.

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Really, these people who can't handle 20th century technology! Next thing, they'll be telling us they don't know how to use a telephone!

 

 

 

Where's the USB socket?

51 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Of course I was writing in a historical context (as is applicable to Wayne's bullhead rail points) so wrong-line catch points are very much apropos, although not all that common.

 

 

Different terminology may be used by different communities at different periods.

 

 

That is what I was describing, and would say was the norm.

 

I note that the Board of Trade Requirements (at least in this "revision working copy" and evidently since 1885) call what I've called trap points, "safety points" (para B.8), The terminology "catch siding" or "throw-off switch" is used for the trailing trap at the rear end of a loop (para B.16); if there is a reference to wrong-line catch points in plain running line, I've missed it.

 

If one wants definitive terminology, I don't think one can find better authority than the Board of Trade requirements!

Yes, but you wrote: "less robust alternatives were only resorted to where there was insufficient space for this, and consequently were rather rare".

Which was not the case. You couldn't wander about in many a country goods yard without tripping over at least one catch point, and sometimes several. Most small country stations had a few sidings and a goods shed for handling local traffic.

cheers,

Martin.

33 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Is there some confusion of terminology and purpose here? My understanding is that a trap point was to protect a running line from a runaway vehicle in a siding; as far as I have observed from looking at track plans and photographs, the preferred arrangement was to install a crossover, with the 'trap' line being a short length of plain line ending in a buffer-stop; less robust alternatives were only resorted to where there was insufficient space for this, and consequently were rather rare. A catch point was a device installed in a running line to derail a wrong-line runaway.

I knew this reply was coming. I have replied to it 500 times on RMweb over the years. :)

A "catch point" or "a set of catch points" is a physical piece of permanent-way equipment. That's what it is called on the manufacturing drawings.

The term "trap point" describes the purpose for which it is used.

But "trap points" can also take other forms, such as a full turnout leading to a short spur or sand drag, for example. With the closure of small goods yards and sidings, nowadays that is the most common form of a trap.

At one time catch points were also installed as run-back derailers on gradients, but such things are no longer needed with the elimination of loose-coupled traffic.

Martin.

1 hour ago, BWsTrains said:

 

I'd have to check back to confirm but AFAIR wiser heads than mine advised me that a trap turnout on GWR was typically single bladed in my situation. If not, tant pis! now. What's done is done.

 

Can't do it now but will try to search out the relevant post on my topic.

 

Elsewhere, another GWR single blade trap point at the bottom of the first photo.

 

 

There is a whole chapter (chapter 6) on GWR catch points in David Smith's book "GWR Switch and Crossing Practice" (from GWSG).

The majority of GWR (and most other company's) catch points were single-bladed. But not all.

Essentially the purpose of a single-blade catch point is to derail a vehicle. The purpose of double-blade catch points is to derail a vehicle AND deflect it away from the running line.

This means that a single-blade catch point is installed where speeds are slow, and the catch point can be well back from the running line, for example exits from a goods yard.

A double-blade set of catch points is installed where speeds are higher, or where it isn't possible to install it far enough back, for example exits from running loops such as goods loops.

A single blade unit is called a catch point (singular).

A double-blade unit is called a set of catch points (plural).

In proper railway-speak (getting rare now, even on the real railway) a "point" is a single switch blade, so-called because it is pointed. (A turnout consists of a set of points linked to a V-crossing.)

The vast majority of catch points are installed as safety trap points, as above. The use of run-back catch points on gradients is no longer needed following the elimination of loose-coupled goods trains.

cheers,

Martin. 

22 minutes ago, Nick C said:

My understanding is that pointwork timbers are usually 12" wide, whereas plain line sleepers are 9". I suspect that like most things, it probably depends on era and company...

Hi Nick,

Plain line sleepers are 10" wide. The two dimensions 12" and 10" have been remarkably standard across all companies and periods for standard-gauge tracks. (Narrow-gauge can differ.)

cheers,

Martin.

11 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

What is the origin of the ‘Flatiron’ nickname please?

The tanks look like the handle on an old-fashioned smoothing iron:

Martin.

36 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

At least they aren't rail trails....

 

Oh yes they are:

 https://www.heart-of-wales.co.uk/experiences

Martin.

Not a sign, but new to me. Just looking at a tourist map, I see that Railways are now called Trainlines:

Martin.

I blame Brexit for the Great Shovel Shortage. Folks have to queue up to use it.

5 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Nor will it need any more profile grading - leaves you wondering doesn't it?

It's Brexit-proofing -- space to grow our own tomatoes. Shouldn't be any problem with global warming, and no nasty exhaust from electric vehicles.

Martin.

49 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

After nearly 49 years in the railway industry (never for the DfT or its predecessors though), I can often sniff the way the wind is blowing...

It would be better to sniff which way the trains are going.

After trying to follow developments on here, it seems that HS2 drivers will be given an OS map, and told to find their own way.

:)

Martin.