Kelly

That does look an improvement on the standard code 75. Until they bring out points, it is a bit pointless (pardon the pun!).

The Q1 model is one of my favourite of theirs. The prototype is a fine beast as well

With Bachmann planning an OO 90 then a 90 would not fall within the criteria Ben stated previously as Bachmann could (and probably will) do one in N. The 92 on the other hand could be a condender as it is doubtful Hornby would do an N one and the Lima/Hornby mouldings in OO are quite old now too.

I remember being in Glasgow when I saw that happened (7/7) and thankfully my father worked from home that day. I did have fun with airport security flying back, as flying up at BHI, I took my boots off (big goth boots with lots of metal) and they went through the scanner. I suggested this at Glasgow and got told to be quiet and go through the scanner, thus setting off the alarms and loads of armed police coming running. They weren't pleased when they realised it'd been better for the boots to have gone through the scanner as I'd suggested... Natalie later told me that she missed the bus on 7/7 by a matter of minutes having decided to walk rather than get a bus at that time.

I recall my father telling of how he was called to the NatWest tower before the bombing occurred, and got held up, when he got there he found the Sun computers he was meant to service buried in the concrete outside from one of the upper floors. Apparently they still all worked after a recasing job.

Morning all. Hope everyone is well. If not then speedy recovery. Myself I'm improved a bit on yesterday, though the lingering cough is proving annoying! Off out in a short while to post an item back (it was described as OO and turned out to be HO).

No real progress on the layout due to ally pally and I'll health sadly. I had hoped to have another go with templot getting the left hand cluster of points changed to a single slip, but have been too ill to give it the concentration it needs. I did however get some items at ally pally that are relevant to the layout. Those being an EM gauge B6 point kit and a length of EM gauge flexible track from C&L Finescale (I also got a length of people code 75 flexible track and the needed glue for the kit). Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll get a chance to give it a try. I at least now have some track for testing of stock. I just need a controller now (I started this having nothing in the way of track or electronics). Think I'll next put a simple test track together when I can get some suitable wood.

I've been looking at arduino or rpi for point/signal/dcc control. Haven't bought anything to try out as yet but already have a spare rpi, though I suspect it's overkill to some extent. Intending to also look at the merg offerings when I get chance (now I'm a member). Of course all this requires a layout, better get started on that I guess lol, though have bought my first em point kit to try as a first step. Need to do final tweaks to the templot plan and then order some boards from Tim horn.

Only photo I've found online that shows the side is at http://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/London-Transport-Steam/ the 16th photo on the page(can't share the photo directly) The angle doesn't look quite right on the image you posted however, looks too sharp.

Night all. Normally would be up ages yet, but yesterday's escapades have left me exhausted and sleepy even after I slept through from about 7pm to 3pm last night. Hopefully I'll manage to get into town tomorrow so I can get some bits sorted and post off an item.

Afternoon all. Hope everyone is well and if not you recovery quickly. Myself I'm recovering from yesterday's trip to Ally Pally, which took a lot out of me physically. Though having the scooter there made it a lot less painful on my back at least compared to previous years, so consequently less painkillers were needed throughout the day. I also still have not kicked this damn cold and have due to the sore throat it has given me almost lost my voice with having to speak louder at the show with the background noise etc. Had a good time there, though with the costs and the energy/phyiscal costs combined it seems more and more like it is not viable for me to go in future. Though that said the car did well with less than £15 of diesel getting there and back again, so was happy with that! Spent a reasonable amount though and came away with some bits from C&L (EM flexitrack, B6 point kit and OO flexitrack (for testing)), Replica (Mk1 bodies, MLV bits etc for the EPB conversions) and a few other bits (bits of useful aluminium sheet from SEF and magazines).

Great trackwork so far Jeremy. Really makes a huge difference to n. Also madness, sheer brilliant madness doing Euston ;-) I remember it vaguely from the time period you're doing when seeing my mum off on trains to Liverpool growing up and later on my travelling to it after I'd moved to the Midlands. I think I'd personally find n too fiddly to deal with, but I suspect I'd have crazy plans about Victoria, London Bridge, Charring Cross or Cannon Street if I dropped down to n. For now I'll stick to em and have followed your track building with interest as I've been using templot too and some of the building side of it is similar regardless of gauge/scale. The area I'm modelling has switched crossings too but don't think I'm going to model that aspect and leave it as a simpler crossing. Look forward to future updates.

I can well imagine it being a shock to some in these days of multiple units with automatic doors. There was a reason behind the need to open window and lean out to open from outside, to prevent accidental opening from within iirc. A number of incidents before they did that with doors coming open prematurely etc. Sleep is proving illusive this evening so am awake early. Will make the journey down to London a bigger pain! Hopefully will grab a few hours before leaving in a few hours or so...

Night all. All set for Ally Pally in the morning, need to be up early to drive down there in good time, etc. This year I've made sure to have SD cards in/with the camera to avoid last year's debarcle of getting all the way there and discovering that I'd forgotten them! I had my phone with me for photos, but not the same.

Thanks. Yes, I'll have to compress it as 2ft+ would dominate the layout a bit too much, not to mention the difficulty of storage. It'll be set back a bit from the layout somehow perhaps though to give it a bit of perspective, whether I've enough room for that I'm not sure as I don't really want to go much beyond 2ft width on the main boards if I can help it (it'll be over 11ft long in its full length as it is). Whilst I'd like to model parts of angerstein wharf, it is a bit outside the scope of what I can realistically fit in. I might do a small bit of it at a later stage as a addon module, but that all depends on whether such a thing proves viable to store etc.

Ah, the standalone diagram was really only to illustrate what I was meaning than anything else. Thanks for those Dave. The pictures of the junction are very useful, especially with the retaining walls and the substation building in the background. Feel free to post any other relevant photos you find, or if you'd prefer to email them drop me an email. Once again, thanks.

You can get special bolts/screw things for partition walls that can then allow heavier items to be attached. I wonder if using the joists/side/end walls might be good to help add support? though again my other half's internal walls, even seemingly between the houses are weak. Eventually the plan will be to replace gradually with newer models in my case but to get started, older models are easier to fund etc and I feel less trepidation about taking a saw to an old lima/Hornby/mainline model than I would a newer model that cost £100-200+ potentially.

I should point out I've not actually done any kind of curving or thought about the sidings other than putting some straight lengths there in templot at this stage too. The ends will end up curving inwards at some point. I still want to try to figure out a single slip for the bottom left point arrangement to condense that a little more possibly.

Are you meaning the templot drawing? it isn't accurate in that regard as I suspect I'll have to figure it out physically rather than draw it out properly in templot to get it to work. It is a bit of a 'work in progress' in that area at present really. The link you posted is similar to what I saw when I had a flick through the latest Railway Modeller, and may well do what I'm after rather than a moving piece of wood.

Great work so far Mick. Liked the opening doors you posted earlier in the thread. One alternative to rotating brass rods and fishing weights might be the type of memory wire that contracts with a suitable charge applied to it. Tim's boards really do work well from what I've observed, I intend to order mine from him when funds allow. Considering doing similar to you at a later date and having curved boards for possible future exhibition use (assuming anyone wants it exhibited of course!).

Any photos from the area would be gratefully received. Photos of the tunnels/bridges/chimney/crossing etc would be of use. As for the sector plate. It isn't intended in the same way as a turntable would be, but rather to remove the need for a multiway point. Basically it will pivot to connect to each of the hidden sidings. As it is hidden behind/underneath scenery points are not needed and likely to be easier to manage I'm hoping. It is kinda the same idea as used in a fiddle yard by some layouts, but on a much smaller scale. I hope that explains it. This I found on a quick google search should illustrate it better:

Afternoon all. Woken up with this damn cold still persistent. Hoping it'll clear up a bit more for tomorrow's trip down to Ally Pally. Hope everyone is well and if not speedy recoveries.

I've been tweaking the design again a bit. Having discussed with Natalie the proposed higher level oil depot I've elected to remove it from the plan for now. When it comes to setting up the boards I might see it it will work out by mocking it up, but the incline risks being too tight or too difficult to hide where it exits the scenery potentially. I might therefore make the bridge/tunnels look like they're part of a cutting by building the scenery up on the sides a bit. I have ideas of a module with tram tracks for when the layout is set back to pre-1950s and parts of the docks, but that will be a long way off I reckon. The idea behind the approach is to have modules that can operate independently where possible (allowing smaller set up at home and if needed bigger 8 car trains at a future date at exhibitions). Revised plan. I'm unsure whether the bridge will be the scenic break, or to carry on beyond to show the tunnel mouths too.

Indeed, quite a number of big names have departed this year so far and only 3 months in. Not to mention a few friends earlier in the year/late last year. Personally January and February were mostly ones I was glad to see the back of due to medication issues, which at least have been resolved now. Head colds are annoying, but thankfully don't last too long in the grand scheme of things. A shame I'm going on the Sunday. Wonder how many other ER's are going Sunday?

My other half has recently bought a new build house and has encoutered similar problems, though with the walls. Everything is damn plasterboard so can't take weight etc. The loft area will no doubt be similar with a very thin ceiling material, but likely lots of insulation material. You can probably cross brace the ceiling to strengthen it before boarding it, might be worth googling for advice or asking in diy shops perhaps? Forgot to add, nice progress so far. The track and ballast works well. The 58 and 37s look the part to me. Older and simpler models are great for starting with and it is a similar path I'm taking with some old Mainline/early Hornby 56s and a 92 on my desk waiting repairs/rewiring and then detailing. A Lima 50 a pair of old Mainline 42s also await me doing something with them (both the 42s being D827 Kelly naturally). I'll probably add a couple of lima 73s and a 59 or 60 to the roster as time goes on, but most of my stock will be kit-built/kit-based EMUs.