Broadway Clive

The new J72 will have a coreless motor attached to a very compact gearbox according to the Bachmann designers on the video where Andy interviews them about the J72, class 91 and 45ton crane. The guy who has done most of the designing is an N scale enthusiast so that may have influenced the choice, as well as the need to make space for the cab detail and electricals. Clive

Cancelled my orders for what were 69001 and 69028 in light of the change to earlier versions. Only been waiting two decades for chassis upgrades but the coreless motor might not like my feedback controllers anyway.

Absolutely the right philosophy. I use to be bigoted about which materials were used in modelling but was finally convinced into make unbiased comparisons using just my eyes, without my brain shouting 'its only plastic, paper, card', and 'its a deception - don't be fooled!' I now understand our eyes and brains can often struggle with equating certain model details with real life, so I've moved away from a fundamentalist position and now embrace deception as part of the modelling art.

For several years I've used these regularly often on a daily basis. I specified a daylight fluorescent tube and found a better selection and cheaper prices on illuminated magnifiers away from the modelling specialists. I prefer to do all detailing work under it, but sometimes depth of field is a problem and the cheap headband magnifier solves that. The pound shop reading specs are my normal wear at the modelling work bench.

'Yet all experience says otherwise, death is inescapable, and those who lead rip-roaring lives of multiple excess can and do long outlive clean living healthy types.' Not so with pop stars, virtually all of my favourites from the fifties and sixties long gone and most did more rip roaring than clean living!

The purpose of the brain is for the welfare of the whole creature, but our over developed brains often prefer to pleasure themselves and sometimes at great cost to the rest of the body. Ideally children would be taught how bodies and brains work from an early age and become familiar with a 'Haynes' type user guide for humans. In that way the dangers of food and drug misuse and lack of exercise would be common knowledge without the need for any lecturing. Unfortunately cultural and religious beliefs in creationism, divine intervention, and life after death provide excuses to ignore uncomfortable facts and pretend our bodies are of much less importance than the brain and its fantasies. Yet more than 95% of our brain is subconscious and it both controls and is controlled by the body. Mostly our bodies are capable of working to a high level of efficiency if only we looked after them in the way we do with our cars, model railways or other equipment that we cherish. They have not evolved to look nice or we would be covered in fur, so only judge their ability to function as they should for a hunter gatherer creature evolved to cover long distances. Our muscles have unusually evolved to atrophy through misuse in order to allow more nutrients to pass to the brain,but they regenerate again after being pushed hard, though this is hampered in old age by a lack of the hormone leucine. The late Dr Charles Eugister who was competing in athletic championships at the age of 98 recommended taking it as a supplement. All in all its probably worth making a hobby out of getting the best from your body, and its blindingly obvious that permanently overloading it will cause damage as it will with any vehicle.

I once knew a beautiful woman who had the voice of an angel. Every time I asked her if she was in the mood for sex she'd shout "go to hell!"

Also signed and shared on Facebook.

An old school friend had a job in the early sixties with the local council in which Kings Cross shed was located which led to him issuing several prohibition notices on BR about the amount of smoke produced during the morning light up. I've also read somewhere of a similar situation occurring at Camden shed where there are residential properties nearby. In 'Railway Memories No.26, The trials and the triumph' Tom Greaves gives a wonderful account of his experiences as a motive power engineer coping with the diesel revolution on the Eastern Region out of Kings Cross and he writes 'it was a courageous move by the Eastern Railway Board to dieselise such a high profile operation involving the mass transportation of the city bowler hat brigade. The Clean Air Act following the deadly London smogs may have influenced the urgency.'

The only time I've had anything similar happen has been with the over use of water. Although its sometimes useful to dip the brush into water to smooth out a patch of Klear that is drying too quickly with ripples or other blemishes, if too much water remains in the brush the next dip into the Klear may be grossly over diluted and produce globules as if the surface is greasy. Another problem I had with water came after I put some Klear into a screw top jar (to make it easier to dip the brush in). I found that over time it was evaporating so I topped it up with tap water but then I started noticing that bubbles had solidified on the glass making it look rather like snails had been crawling around inside, whilst the liquid itself has eventually become white like milk. It had long lost its varnishing powers by then so I wont be doing that again!

I visited this Wednesday morning with my wife and when we tried to buy tickets we were told the train was fully booked for the day, so its obviously necessary to book in advance.

Maybe the fear of pollution from diesel is over hyped. It is number 7 in the top mortality risks, behind high salt, and just ahead of kidney impairment, not eating enough whole grains, not eating enough fruit. It won’t kill you but it could cut months off your life by aggravating other things. The UK Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) estimates that PM2.5 from industrial sources, released at 2008 levels, would shorten the average person’s lifespan by six months. By adding this lost life together, the committee worked out that outdoor air pollution would cause the equivalent of almost 29,000 deaths. However, high blood pressure is the number one mortality risk, being four times more dangerous, so if the change to electric vehicles gives us all more stress could it cause more deaths than it saves? https://www.newscientist.com/article/2129576-cutting-through-the-smog-how-air-pollution-shortens-your-life/

No new MREmag today on 1st April - no fooling they said - or were they! Does anyone know whats happening?

I'd suggest the very opposite and that pretending otherwise is part of the problem!

Personally I feel it has completely lost its purpose by becoming a two monthly on-line version of a paper magazine, and I too skimmed through it, and apart from Simon Kholer's article, I didnt find anything to make me revisit it. If I want a magazine I prefer to buy a paper one, which I find easier and more comfortable reading and has the extra benefit of many small adverts for products I might otherwise miss. The original Model Railway Express under Pat Hammond had two major aspects that are now missing. The first was an editorial of 'express' up-to-the-minute news of new products and developments, often thanks to Pat's personal contacts within the industry. Where I sometimes found it lacking was with regards to news of smaller suppliers, so that was where there was scope to improve by involving them to make it a truly comprehensive express news service for model railways. The popular 'Have your say' feature then tends to have more topical relevance with readers' responses and observations following the previous editorial. But 'Have your say' has now been separated and appears currently lost in cyberspace by the less than 'express' web designers!

I wonder if the Heathcote design might not lift wagons off the track if they stop under tension, and if it might be difficult to even accurately position wagons correctly over such a small inconspicuous paddle in certain locations. My ideal design would be for a small spring operated 'wooden plank' ramp held down on the sleepers until released for uncoupling.

Yes that would most likely be one of them. Neasden had ESL 106/7,110/5 allocated in 1969.

I dont think 3D printed downpipe brackets are a viable idea because its over engineering a tiny detail that can easily be created with paper, and you cant get cheaper than that!

Phil is now inviting emails on the Radley Models website from interested persons stating which scale, 00 or 0 they would purchase.

Bachmann have advised against feedback controllers and electronic HF track cleaners since their fitting of DCC sockets, and the latter may well destroy decoders. I've had no problems operating in analogue with blanking plugs fitted or the socket and electronics entirely removed but this has all been with conventional motors. The resin innards of the tiny cheap coreless motors used by DJM in their own and commissioned products will melt if heated so that makes them prone to damage from HF track cleaners and the regular feedback controllers designed for conventional iron core motors. My understanding is that Bachmann have stayed with conventional motors except for a tram model and possibly the new Wickham trolley.

The fiddle yard sidings are on a separate board hidden behind a backscene for the main layout, but the skyboard is separate and fixed to the sloping roof hence it is possible to see most roads over the backscene and the others via two driving mirrors fixed to the sky. Auto stopping is provided by reed switches linked to the control panel so that the locos will halt on or very close to an uncoupler. In the event of a failure then there is enough space between the fiddle yard and main layout for me to stand after crawling beneath it.

The original post relates to Bachmann (tension lock) couplings and it is indeed surprising that they have never produced an uncoupler. I always suspected this was because some of their locos have/had very low hanging gear wheels and brake rigging that will push down a spring loaded uncoupling ramp to prevent it working, or even snag on it. Over 25 years with a large freight orientated BR steam/diesel era layout I have not found a practical alternative to the tension locks that would justify the conversion work whilst still allowing some of the horizontal movement at starting that loose fitted wagons should have. I've found the horrible looking Hornby uncoupling/rerailing track unit to be the most reliable method and have installed these in a hidden fiddle yard where appearance doesn't matter. Elsewhere the Hornby spring loaded uncoupling ramps are generally reliable though not so easy on the eye as the Peco version which disguises the ramp with planking. However I've found those more likely to snag on the aforementioned low hanging locos so I've had to modify them extensively. I have one fitted with a rod through the baseboard that would enable it to lie flat on the sleepers if fitted with the right mechanism. On the subject of which Heathcote electronics have their own virtually invisible uncoupler http://www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk/uncoupler_oo_gauge.html My only reservations are that a spring should always be included under the ramp because if the couplings are under tension then the wagons can be lifted off the track. That same problem applies to the less discreet but power hungry SEEP uncoupler ramp that has been available for many years and uses a large solenoid instead of the gentler servo motor. As for the use of uncoupling spades, they don't look so good at exhibitions (with a bald bonce descending like a full moon!) but I have no objection to using them on my loft layout in the few locations I can readliy get access to. Indeed, rather than being critcised, manual uncoupling is just replicating real railway work and as such is extolled as a virtue by the manufacturers of Sergent couplers which are a finer scale alternative to Kadees.

Most socialising is done on early shifts as that is when one has the evening free, so quite often one goes to work having had very little sleep. Once when working as a guard on London's Underground I closed my stinging eyes to rest them whilst sitting on one of the passenger seats next to my gangway. We were in the tunnel between stations and I must have drifted towards sleep for although I was aware when the train stopped at the next station I had by then 'become a passenger', and I kept my eyes closed waiting for the familiar sound of the doors opening. When that didn't happen I opened my eyes, and only then realised it was me who had to open the doors! That experience was a good lesson to learn for my future career as a motorman, and later as a manager of train crews when I had to investigate incidents like this one. It is the job of management to do risk assessments beforehand and I have to admit that I find these reserve track sections of the tramway too similar to a railway with two car trains to be treated any differently just because other sections have some street running.

Thanks, I've known Phil for many years but I didn't know about the Mousa product. As its just etches I can't imagine there's too many of them been built.

Thanks, I was looking for resin bodies, not etches!