Chris M

Not at all whacky and not a sign but I think this might fit here. I pimped the clock in my car, my excuse is that the car was built in Swindon. I think it makes for a nice, interesting clock.

Don’t you believe it. The faster you go through flooding with a car the greater the chance of picking up a bit of water through the air intake. If you do suck any water in through the air intake you can whistle goodbye to your engine.

Based on Dapol's own announcement Q2 is nothing more than a hope they are trying to negotiate. I think I would bet on September....

This is all very and moderately interesting but it is little relevance to us consumers who just want products to buy. I thought there was going to be a major announcement.

I can see where Dave is coming from but I'm not sure it is good . There have been duplications in the past which have caused a certain amount of acrimony. Class 66 and Terrior spring to mind. I can accept that Dave sees this as a way of protecting the value of the work he has put on to designing various models. The problem for Dave is that bigger companies with deeper pockets may well register so many designs that new model projects can no longer be designed. For instance would Dapol have been able to build the N gauge class 50 if Farish had owned the IP of their class 50? Also if Farish registered the IP for the terrible old Farish large prairie would it stop anyone else from developing one that actually looked like a large Prairie?

And people wonder why Dave doesn't post much on here nowadays.

Just to say thanks to Epsom & Ewell club. You put on a great show and looked after us exhibitors very well.

DJ is only following the lead from the big boys in announcing an announcement .

That explains it then. I couldn't see how the paintwork could be so good after 11 years in service. This must be the exception to the often made statement that only mk1 coaches were painted into chocolate & cream in BR days. Just goes to show how photos and some sources of livery information can lead to false conclusions.

The front cover of Modern locomotives Illustrated issue 219 has a colour photo of a D600 with a mixture of coaches. The second coach is still in GWR livery and looking to be in good order despite being 11 years after nationalisation. The train is likely to be the 8:15 SO Perranporth to Paddington. https://modernlocomotives.keypublishing.com/the-magazine/view-issue/?issueID=6856

Love my US based garden railway and love my British N gauge. Also love Swiss railways but don’t model them. The operation around L’Hospitalet de L’Infant in Spain used to be quite fascinating. The railways of The Indian mountains are special etc etc. There are lots of interesting railways all over the world and it broadens your mind to find out about them. It’s also fascinating to find details about how British railways developed and were worked.

Epsom will be the first show with my home built working brscket signals for Little Aller Junction. I've tested them and they work fine. We will see how they cope with being jostled around on the car for over a hundred miles and two days intensive service. I've also added a button to the front of the layout to make the thunder and lightning happen. I don't expect any problems as it is clearly marked ....

Could it be a bad batch of switches? In 40 odd years of switch driven points with a cdu I've never had a switch fail. I use simple push button switches from various suppliers. My current layout uses a big cdu which can switch five point motors at the same time. I've now done many full days of operation without any grief from the switches. One point has fallen apart and one motor has given up but the switches are ok, and they do get a bashing during a day at an exhibition.

My good friend Mark Ranshaw painted this for me as a wedding present over 40 years ago. It still hangs on the wall all these years later. He mostly paints pets these days but I reckon he should do a few more railway paintings.

I think he means well but is not the best organised. I had one made for me at a show, ordered it Saturday and picked it up Sunday, I guess that's an advantage of being at a show both days. My wife got one by post as a Christmas present for me. I think there was some to-ing and fro-ing with this but it got here in time for Christmas. This guy might do better just taking orders at shows, making a proper note of names and addresses and then making them when he is back home. I think trying to make signs and take orders all day is too much for one person.

I do my VAT online and there is an option to register there. Something to look forward to next week! I look after a company accounts on a purely voluntary basis so it's my own time I'm using up. And I feel a bit "on my own". I'm sure it will all work out ok though.

I've gone for Sage accounting start. Looks ok but I had to spen a couple of hours on the phone to sage because something went wrong with the sign on. Seems to do what I need at £120 per year . I've just done my VAT return so next job is to register for MTD at HMRC. Hope that will be straightforward....

Based the above adhesion factor figures alone the Stanier Pacifics should have been very troubled by slipping; as bad as an original MN and worse than a rebuilt one. I know they could and did slip but they aren't thought of (in uninformed discussion) as being anywhere near as problematical as the Bullieds. Does anyone know the reality? I've been told that the Duchesses had enough steam past the regulator to keep the wheels spinning for a couple of revolutions after closing the regulator. I guess others would be the same which is why years of experience of driving locos with a rear pony truck would almost certainly be a great help in reducing slipping. The LMS drivers would have been in the same boat as the Southern drivers on this.

It could be that in LNER territory the drivers would mostly have learned their trade on express locos with a pony truck and would habe thus developed required skills . This would not generally be the case in Southern territory. I'm not a driver but I think the skill is knowing a slip is about to happen and cutting the steam off before it does. The Bulleid Pacific's were beautiful locos and did what they were meant to do very well. I love em and it's always a pleasure to see Taw Valley on the SVR. That said an overloaded pannier will climb out of Highley on a wet day far better than Taw Valley. Perhaps they should have a Pacifics climbing out of Highley weekend at a damp time of year in order to provide a comparison. I would go for that.

Yes, the king getting over the line with the help of a sound equipped edition is a significant announcement and a welcome surprise. The state of all the other projects was also an interesting announcement.

Whilst I could express an interest in the mogul I won't because I would not be prepared to pay a deposit on it until the king is a reality . Good news about the king though and I am looking forward to having one. I wish Dave every success with these projects.

Penwithers Junction just west of Truro. My poor drawing based on R A Cooke's book. In 1894 the main line to the West became single just after the junction and was doubled in 1915. The Junction was also moved and the track realigned at that point but the layout remained the same. The down main became bi-directional when the junction was changed.

Yes Warley usually has just over 90 layouts and around 300 stands in total. The BRM shows are quite a bit smaller but are still very good sized shows. When you think about it all model railway exhibitions are all very good value for money when compared to other forms of live entertainment.

Sorry, I didn’t intend to sound as though I was being critical in my earlier post. Railtec are deservedly popular and I fully realise that you can only do so much. I say keep up the great work. I’m after a set of transfers for an N gauge D600 so it’s rather niche and won’t be something that loads of others want which logically means it can’t be high priority especially at a time of very high demand. It’s just when you can see someone offering a great service/product compared to others you kind of wish you could make use of the service . Haven't got round to painting it yet anyway.

I just wish Rail tech could find time to do a custom loco set for me. Any idea when they will start doing custom sheeets again?