martin_wynne

No doubt the central reservation would need trenching out and filling with fresh topsoil. Developers of greenfield sites could be required to donate 50% of the topsoil to the National Cabbageway Project. Other vegetables are available.

A couple of rows of cabbages might be a better use of the land. No exhaust fumes from electric vehicles. Making the motorway a dual cabbageway*. *stolen from a different topic. 🙂

Thanks Phil. Alistair Ward and Graeme Defty are having a go and haven't given up yet. I know they would welcome any help: https://github.com/openTemplot/openTemplot Martin.

Templot is not a professional desktop software product. It's my hobby. It works the way I want it to. I'm happy for others to use it if they like it. Or not if they don't. Over the years many have written in a similar vein to your post. But I'm still waiting for any of them to post their own software to replace Templot. It would be great if anyone (you?) did that, because after 40+ years of Templot I'm getting old and tired. But I'm not holding my breath. Martin.

What later date? It looks plenty wide enough to me for long term needs -- a cycleway and footpath under one side, and a tram line under the other. Martin.

The scan I posted earlier was made 20 years ago, specifically for a web page: https://85a.uk/templot/martweb/info_files/gimp_track.htm (Also 20 years old, and after all this time that page has had the most hits on the Templot web site.) I have now scanned the photo again on a better scanner at higher resolution: The original hi-res scan can be seen on this link: https://85a.uk/images/roe_lane_jct_5172x2718.jpg (9MB) Here I have cropped out the buffer stop: From which it can be seen that the stop block is attached to the trap spur, and the works head-shunt is laid on separate rails alongside the spur. The chairing looks to have been improvised in part by supporting the inner rails on P slide chairs bolted to the outer rails. This can be seen on the inside of the far spur rail. We seem to have wandered just a little off-topic from whacky signs. 🙂 Martin.

Here is another pic: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/meols_cop_triangle/index7.shtml Looking back at the previous topic I see that I was arguing that it might be an old switch: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/78411-prototype-for-everything-corner/?do=findComment&comment=3683612 But the above pic convinced me it was separate rails. 🙂 Martin.

Yes, by me. Although I had forgotten it: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/78411-prototype-for-everything-corner/?do=findComment&comment=3681820 Thanks for the reminder. The actual reason for posting it again was not for the unusual track layout, but in the discussion about buffer stops being free to move. cheers, Martin.

I called it a trap spur. A spur can be a trap. Traps do not only protect from locos over-running signals, they also protect from wagon braking failures and unbraked wagons running free in sidings. The right-hand road is not a trap, it is electrified and in regular use (shiny rails). It is a head-shunt for the carriage works. It was entered under the control of a driver, who would easily see that the other spur was occupied, if it ever was. I'm beginning to wish I hadn't posted it. Martin.

Here are the pre- and post-electrification maps (rotated to match the photo): It is not a set of points. The rails run side-by-side to the buffer stop. The left-hand side is an over-run trap spur for the yard sidings. Ideally never needed and rusty in the photo. The right-hand side is a head-shunt for the carriage works. It is electrified and in use as you can see from the 3rd rail and shiny rails. Map here: https://maps.nls.uk/view/126518903#zoom=6&lat=7607&lon=9487&layers=BT cheers, Martin.

. I have deleted this post because obviously folks didn't recognise the funny quirkyness of the text correction. I provided an explanatory link. There was no need for the supportive reactions, it wasn't sent to me. But thanks anyway. Martin.

I imagine this one was well bolted down, because if it moves there would be a nice shower of sparks as it hits the 3rd rail electrification: © Jim Peden, used with permission It's a candidate for the "prototype for everything" topic - two spurs sharing a single buffer stop. The rails at the stop block run side by side, it is not a set of points. Roe Lane Junction, Southport, on the L&Y electrified lines. The impressive building is the maintenance workshop for the electric stock. Martin.

Meanwhile...

Hi, If you are running only RTR models you can mix 00-SF and Standard 00 on the same layout. Martin.

That reminds me of a very strange happening on a club layout at the Warley show one year. The layout ran perfectly all day Saturday, but on the Sunday morning refused to start with a persistent short-circuit. After a lot of head-scratching this was finally tracked down to a missing gap in a copper-clad sleeper. After cutting a gap the layout ran perfectly again. No-one could explain how the layout had been running fine the previous day, or in the clubroom for weeks before, and as far as I know no explanation was ever found. Martin.

Abermule was the classic case -- what's the use of a single-line tablet if it's the wrong one?

It's no good telling other people what they should post. If you want to steer a discussion back on-topic you have to do it yourself by posting something on-topic. Here's something half-way on-topic: Who in the hobby has done the most to inspire you? For me I always go back to P. R. Wickham's "A Book of Model Railways" (1949). I got out my time-worn copy to make some scans, and seeing the familiar pages again I spent a happy hour transported over 60 years back in time. Imagine the effect of stuff like this on a boy who thought model railways were what you could see in the Hornby-Dublo catalogue: 🙂 I hope that's got the topic back a little bit. Martin.

But you were lecturing too: But not to worry, it happens on RMweb all the time. Including from me. 🙂 Martin.

Which doesn't prevent the first train from proceeding slowly as far as the line is visibly clear. The signaller obviously did know that something was amiss, hence the call to the following train.

It was.

Indeed. But which relied entirely on the in-cab radio system. Before that was installed, is/was there anything in the rules or signalling system to save the situation? There is no mention of putting down detonators. Is that still done? Would it not be better for the first train in such a situation to proceed as far as possible beyond a faulty signal if the line is visibly clear, preferably beyond the next properly-working signal? Martin.

This from RAIB today. Echoes of Clapham? https://www.gov.uk/government/news/wrong-side-signalling-failure-at-wingfield Martin.