Chris M

I seem to have accidentally created a third rail spark effect without even having a third rail.

Mostly small streamline points. The only setrack point is at Worlds End station. Trains entering the station go through the straight part and trains leaving the station go through the curved part but only as a trailing point. The curved part of the point is not normally used as a facing point. This doesn't cause any problem with locos up to 4-6-0 size (which are too big for this branch anyway). This is the only setrack point.

Just a few more photos. And a video

Rather surprisingly the new Farish castle will negotiate even the inner circle on the setrack curved point flat out without any worries. I would trade this for the ability to pull eight coaches up a 1 in 50. And are you saying this king won't be as fast as the Dapol 45xx? Shame.

[quote name="DJM Dave" post="3296568" timestamp="1536675110" However if your after a 'running upside down round 1st radius curves and set track points using an original H&M controller and electronic track cleaner at a scale 250mph' loco then i am afrain i'm going to dissapoint you. ;-) cheers Dave Oh no! Can I cancel my order?

If you know anyone who works in A&E I’m sure they will be able to entertain you for hours on this subject.

In N gauge there will be fewer layouts with kit or scratch built stock than in larger scales purely because of its size. I am happy to scracthbuild locos in G scale but there is no way I would even try in N. I know it can be done but there are very few modellers capable of building models in N that are anywhere near as detailed as locos from Farish or Dapol. 3D printing is of course one way of creating unique highly detailed models in N but I haven’t found anything suitable for me to have a go at yet. I’ll be taking a layout to TINGS in 2019 all being well. This will feature mostly proprietary locos and stock but all will be gently weathered to take off the plastic look. Some locos are repaints and some wagons are from kits. All stock will be correct for the location and year. For me running correct trains is far more important than building my own stock. Some layouts just run random trains which is ok if they want to. TINGS is all about N gauge so it’s probably right that it includes a wide spectrum of layout types. I guess Squires tools isn’t there because they go to Swindon Steam Museum Exhibition which is on the same weekend. Have Peco ever been to TINGS? They don’t seem to be going to many shows at the moment.

We were out at Swindon Steam Museum last weekend. At least we entertained the youngsters. Only one burst into tears when we did our party piece with Thomas.

It's worth going just to see the spirit of Swindon layout in N. Its a very good museum and with all the model railways it makes for a great day out. I'm helping with our club G scale layout. This is not trying to be a model railway, it's trying to capture the atmosphere of a garden railway at an exhibition. Definitely not one for purist scale modellers. Set up yesterday.

Osbornes do their own sets https://www.osbornsmodels.com/train-sets-61-c.asp

There are many questions but the fundamental one - what do you want your layout to do -has already been asked. If you are doing dc the Gaugemaster controllers are fine for both N and OO and reasonably priced. My personal choice is to buy a separate transformer and hand held controller. As for N gauge stock, I would say the newer the better. Minitrix is fine if you don’t mind huge pizza cutter flanges and models that don’t look much like what they are meant to be. All Lima stock is old and to a different scale so is largely best avoided but one or two items of rolling stock aren’t too bad. Old Farish locos seem to work for a long time and pull well. I haven’t bought any because, for me, they look too crude and not a lot like the real thing they are trying to represent. New Farish are extremely well detailed and seem to be quite robust. Some of the steam locos can’t pull as much as you might like them to. The diesels all seem fine. Farish does have a reputation for cracked gears. This is not really a problem as spares are readily available in most cases. A lot of people moan about Dapol locos but all mine are working fine. Their outside cylinder steam locos have very delicate and therefore have very fragile valve gear and need to be handled with care. The shaft linking the motor in the tender to the drive wheels works very well but some people struggle to get them reconnected if they come apart. Their small prairie looks nice and can run ok with careful driving but the gearing is stupid giving it a ridiculously high top speed. Later models such as the 57xx are much better and all the Dapol diesels I have are very good. Dapol did set a high standard of detail and fine moulding work and all of their locos look very good indeed. Union Mills make reasonably priced locos which have a good reputation for reliability and pull well. The downside is that they are not very well detailed when compared to Farish and Dapol; for instance they have moulded rather than separate handrails. Union Millsdo not have a web site but the guy who owns the business is well known for providing excellent service. The best thing is to phone him to see what he has. I ran OO layouts for many years but sold everything about 18 years ago. I then took up G in the garden but found that it gets cold in the winter and took up N in 2013 as a winter hobby. I must say I love N gauge (despite what might sound like criticism above). You can get so much in a small space. I think the trick is to make sure you leave room for scenery. N is especially good for creating the look of a train running through the landscape. The choice of models is far less than OO but I see that as a good thing because there is less temptation to spend money. My two layouts are quite different in character but may give you some thought starters. The Ridgacre Branch which is a rather lightweight 44 inches by 27 inches. This is a little branchline and whilst it cannot accommodate big locos or long trains it gives plenty of operational interest. Little Aller Junction is 7 ft by 3 ft 3 ins. It is my attempt to sort of emulate the real Aller Junction. There is no station which saves a lot of space but there is quadruple track and a junction which is great for watching the trains go by. I operate this in different eras. 1960 1963 1968

The problem is that, if you want to run your railway strictly to a set time period (and that is entirely up to the individual) then once you know something is wrong you can't not know it. You can either decide to live with it or decide to do something about it. I run summer 1963, summer 1968 or summer 1960. The 1960 one is not quite there in terms of stock but the other two are pretty much as I want them. One problem is that, whilst research is a good thing, the more you do the more errors you find with the stock you have. Sometimes I allow myself a bit of leeway and I suggest that the author of the OP might consider what is acceptable to him and what is not. For instance I run a blue Warship with a single BR arrow logo on each side. This is completely incorrect for 1968 as blue Warships carried a logo on each cabside at that time. I know its wrong but it doesn't shout at me as being wrong so I have put it one the list of jobs to do at some point in the future. Nobody has commented about this being wrong at exhibitions (yet). I could buy a cabside logo body from BR Lines for £19.95 so the problem is easily fixed but now that I have accepted the compromise it isn't a priority. Its always good to have a few things to do on the back burner. I say have a think and decide what is important. What shouts out as being wrong and what doesn't. Also remember that repainting of stock took quite a while so a mixture of livery eras is correct and actually desirable in order to get the correct look so long as it is within reason. I particularly like running rakes of coaches in mixed liveries because that's the way they were at certain points in time.

I’m looking forward to being at this show. I will almost certainly will run Little Aller Junction as summer of ‘63 one day and summer of ‘68 the other.

I watched the new BBC bodyguard series. The first scenes were about a suicide bomber on a train. It is set in the present day and, due to the stock being used, I thought these scenes were a flash back to earlier in his life. When our hero asked the guard if she could unlock the doors while the train was moving I couldn’t help but laugh - the external shots were mk1 coaches.

It’s interesting to see that the 55 and 31 in the photos had full yellow ends at a time when Swindon were still only applying yellow panels. Maybe Swindon didn’t get the email on that?

Of course some of the early Swindon repaints may have been chromatic blue........ or was it just the film they used? Sorry shouldn’t kick this one off again.

Would that be a Stephenson’s rocket?

I don’t see anything wrong with cycling on the pavement. In the middle of a busy town where there are lots of shoppers clearly cycling is a definite no no and should not even be considered. Those that do deserve an on the spot fine. On the other hand where there is a very busy main road and a deserted pavement surely it makes sense for everyone to cycle along the pavement. I do this near where I live along a wide stretch of pavement which is almost entirely devoid of people on foot but I never exceed 10mph. I might see two people along the 1.5 mile stretch, sometimes not that many. This cannot be doing any harm. Pavements outisde of town centres are often almost deserted because hardly anyone walks anywhere these days. Maybe the law/rules should be revisited on this.

Whatever people’s views there is no denying that Pendon has got plenty of free publicity here and elsewhere by running a few diesels. I’ve never been because it always seems to be closed when I think about going. This thread has reminded me to think about going again,

Try cycling round a large French campsite. You have to work out whether the approaching cyclists are English or European in order to know which side to pass.

Digressing again -my fleet. All with bells and the one on the left now has a horn as well. I should sell the Brompton as it doesn’t get much use and looking at EBay, I could buy a few locos with the proceeds.

I don’t think it has started a war. There has been some interesting exchange of views. For me it’s about being sensible. If there are lots of other trail users around, including other cyclists, it is sensible to ride gently which I do. I would say no more than 10mph when close to pedestrians. On the other hand I sometimes hit over 30 mph on one section of downhill trail if there is nobody around (and there usually isn’t). I stick to the normal principle of driving and always keep speed down to a point where I can see the length of my stopping distance. Stopping distance is of course very dependent upon the trail surface. I find that on tarmac at 10mph a bike can stop much quicker than a pedestrian - well I certainly can. Even though I am in my sixties I still love feeling of the wind rushing past me and through my hair. The uphill sections seem to be a lot steeper these days than they used to be. My top speed on a mountain bike - a gravity assisted 44mph but at least that was on a road. Now that does feel fast and becomes interesting when you hit the brakes.

The Camel trail is absolutely brilliant on a hot day during the summer holiday season with everybody bobbling along the trail. I thought the scenery was excellent.

I have found “ting ting” from a bell just does not register with most walkers. Even when I slow down and ting ting a number of times most people seem to be completely unaware. I now use a horn which is so much more noticed, and as a bonus it amuses any little ones who might be walking. I don’t think it matters one jot which side you walk or pass just so long as walkers keep in a straight line and cyclists ride with due caution when passing walkers, especially if the walking party has very young children who may be unpredictable. Cyclists should also say thanks to walkers who have made room for them to pass. Cyclists have a duty of care when it comes to passing walkers. My real dislike is dog walkers who have no regard for cyclists. 1. They have great long leads which makes it impossible to pass and they don’t draw the lead in when cyclists are approaching. 2. Too many dog owners have no control over their unleashed mutts and they end up chasing the cyclist. I have been bitten once in this way and with no apology from the dog owner. I’m tempted just to kick the head on any yappie dog that chases me but then the owner would get upset and it’s not the dogs fault anyway. It’s usually stupid little yappie dogs who can’t go very fast that chase cyclists so nowadays I keep going at a pace where they can just about keep up with me and see how far I can get them from their owners. I do this in the forlorn hope that owners might actually think about training their dogs. It isn’t all that difficult and dogs are much better pets for being trained and having discipline. I know there are many responsible dog owners but there are far too many irresponsible owners. I do like dogs and have kept my own in the past but I always made sure they obeyed basic commands. Sorry for going a little off tack.

So far as I am concerned the value of a layout is the value of the items you can salvage from it when you scrap it. For me the value might be higher. I have a small layout which might well be replaced by a new project this winter. The track is ballasted but I reckon with care I should be able to salvage most of the points but not the flexible track. Having done a quick mental tot up the cost of buying the parts I can salvage as new items would be over £350. I can’t imagine anyone would want to pay that sort of money for the layout so it will go. I would also suggest that we get too sentimental about layouts. With only one or two exceptions they are temporary things. They exist for a while but when their job is done they should be destroyed and replaced by something new. Having said that some layouts seem to have a charmed life. Some friends of mine built a layout many years ago. When they had finished with it they donated it to the local club. At the club I built it into something quite different but with 90% of the track unchanged and exhibited it a few times before donating it to another club. They steipped it,rebuilt it and exhibited it a few times before they sold it to an individual. This sale was fair enough as each time it was donated it was on the understanding that the receiver could do what they wanted with it. I must admit to being very pleased when I went to an exhibition and found the layout, again stripped and rebuilt but with the same track, on display and running. Quite a charmed life. During its lifespan it has gone from narrow gauge to standard gauge and Us based to European based and back to US based. It has been old time and contemporary.