Ian Morgan

Interesting video about a hard working MG5 after 100,000 miles (2 years). Examination of the brake pads is impressive.

You just have to queue up to be be let in, so either get in the queue early, or chat someone up to get the magic password that allows you to queue jump 😏

It definitely does not work with Firefox. I had to use Edge, but Chrome is supposed to also work. I got into that endless loop too. I tried again a couple of days later, and it then offered me the drop down list of one exhibition, and then I was able to proceed. I don't know if the third party system that stores the credit card details takes some time to check the card before authorising you to proceed.

It gets better. According to Google Translate using the phone camera, the text above 'English French Toast' translates to 'British French Toast', while the text below it says 'German Style'. Full House!

Have you looked at Tillig track? It is Code 83 and european specific. To be used for: NEM or RP 25 wheel sets Older rolling stock with higher wheel flanges up to approx. 1,2 mm https://www.tillig.com/eng/Elite_Gleissysteme.html

Last time I went to the Warley show, they has an electric car charger in the multi-storey car park. This year, they have nearly 200 chargers in the car parks. Better still, the charger at the hotel I believe we are booked in to takes my company Allstar card for payment.

In theory it still is, I believe, but unenforcable now that almost everyone carries a camera in their phone. However, 'flash' photography is frowned upon in most underground networks, for obvious reasons of potentially 'blinding' drivers. I think TFL only concern themselves with 'commercial' photography and filming nowadays https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/filming-and-photography/filming-and-photography-on-tfl?intcmp=1594

I had a 'provisional' booking come through on an email some months ago, but not had a final confirmation yet. I use an offcut of carpet to stand on. It really does help if you are standing behind the layout for a long period. Alternatively, I prefer to sit on a stool at the end of the layout and operate it from there.

Yes, you stick a figure in the cab of a diesel and half the time it is looking the wrong way.

At its last outing at the Farnham Club's exhibition in Aldershot, Freshwater sarted to show its age. Two minor problems developed. The point in the fiddle yard had a blade come detached from the moving tie-bar The central uncoupling magnets started sticking in either the 'up' or 'down' positions. Fortunately, neither of these problems were too detrimental to the operation of the layout, and were probably not noticed by the viewing public. However, they needed to be fixed before the next outing, the NEC Warley exhibition. The uncoupling magnets are rare-earth magnets on a beam that is raised and lowered by a servo. This is probably the most used servo on the layout, and runs at full speed between its end stops. I guessed that maybe a plastic gear had a deformed , worn or missing tooth, and the simplest remedy would be to just replace the servo. This was a relatively simple operation with the layout laid on its side. Having removed the troublesome servo, I dismantled it so see what the damage was, but all the gears look to be intact. Never mind, a new servo is installed and appears to be operating correctly. Here is the new servo in place. Three magnets rise up below three different tracks above the baseboard. The repair to the point was also quick and easy, but will probably fail again. It is the only point on the layout that has point blades soldered to a moving tie-bar. The points on the scenic part of the layout all use belowbaseboard tiebars, with metal tubes leading up the baseboard surface. These move wires connected to the point blades. The wires are free to rotate in the tubes, so there are no twisting forces on the soldered joints, which cause the failures on the fiddle yard point. Part of one of the below-baseboard tiebars can be seen by the uncoupler servo in the photo above. Anyway, the point is fixed again for now. Not the prettiest, but I did not get on well with the ealry EasiTrack points from the Association, hence the copper clad sleepers to try to maintain the gauge.

I have finally successfully managed to get my car booked in on the NEC system for unloading Friday, so it looks like I shall go to the Ball. Come and say hello. This was my layout at its first public display, the 2mm Scale Association Golden Jubilee exhibition in July 2010:

Having a road go under a rail bridge and then across a level crossing never looks convincing on a layout.

Also, if you feed them DC, then you really need a diode across the coil, otherwise you will get huge sparks across the switch/button contacts when you switch off.

From what I have seen of wave energy systems, (albeit prototypes), it does not seem that they can be built strong enough to resist the awesome power of the seas.

There was a large french automated layout at Warley a couple of years back. I first approached it from the rear and thought it looked odd for a layout. Then I realised it was a fully scenic fiddle yard and the layout proper was round the other side.

How about a single 2kg Gummi Bear? https://www.vat19.com/item/worlds-largest-gummy-bear

Don't change the name, everyone who has seen this thread knows it by that name now.

You can get some free samples here: https://www.trespa.com/en_GB/sample-selector This is what the video creator did, I believe.

Has anyone managed to make a booking for dropping off their layout using the NEC Voyage Control website? It just keeps going round in circles asking me to update my credit card details, which it has correctly stored. I was really looking forward to exhibiting, but might end up not bothering.

Try https://beacon-models.com/

Two Basingstoke Club layouts at the Slough exhibition, in 'The Manor': 'The Manor':

B36 here, under the shadow of Copenhagen Fields Next train's gone!

Admission will include a free vintage bus ride connecting the two venues (and hence, Slough railway station).