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My correspondent suggests, Hi Richard You need to eat a lot of liquorice (chocolate coated preferably) and purge this Arduino thing out of mind and body. You have met the Arduino enemy and vanquished it. I reckon I should have one of these Faller structures behind the utility building, to hide its foreshortening against the backscene and remind me of this sound advice: Photo lost, cannot be restored - Richard.

I think they are a good-looking train too. This one was approaching Woodbridge on 14th April 2021, this was the first time I saw one. (The pedestrian gate is forward of the vehicle gate here). - Richard.

Yes. The clock face here only exists because someone with the necessary skills (RubyB) happened to design it and put the source code on the Internet. I do get a high level of satisfaction from the Arduino, at least when it works, but it is just too darned difficult for me. I have just written this elsewhere, part of a long-term correspondence, and I can best write it here too: It (the display) is a bit too far away to see clearly, though at a glance you do see the display is changing. It photographs nicely with a small camera. I thought about a second sign nearer the front of the layout, but both signs would have been obscured from view when there is a tram at the platform. I am still glad I have done it, but I do not really enjoy the Arduino at all. It seems to be both obsessive and difficult, and the combination just seems to wear me out. I am glad I did it for my Magnorail project, but I am not sure whether I would do it again. What I ought to do is start the scenics on the layout! This project probably deserves a blog post, but instead what I am going to do is pack up most of my Arduino stuff. Photograph it, put it on eBay, and clear my head. - Richard.

I have settled on having one display. I have built this into the side of a building, so here is a link to my layout topic to avoid cross-posting: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/152888-shelf-marshes-roads-and-fences/page/13/&tab=comments#comment-4460880 The Arduino side of this project is probably now complete, but the model needs finishing. - Richard.

Thanks for the applause Ian - fortunately relatively few folk here ever saw this alcove in its original state!! The tram platform now has an information screen: Photo lost, cannot be restored This is a tiny ("0.91 inch") OLED display glued into the side of the building, and driven by an Arduino microcontroller tucked in behind the backscene. Photo lost, cannot be restored This is a bit of fun but arguably also something of a folly because the text is so small and the display is so far away. I need to put my head inside the layout or take a photo to be able to read it 🙂 There is some related discussion in the "computer control" area here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/140839-fun-with-arduino-how-to-get-started-and-more/&do=findComment&comment=4456531 - Richard. Edited to add two photos. Photo lost, cannot be restored

I have found and downloaded the "specification and user manual"(!) for I2C https://www.i2c-bus.org/specification/ and to be honest with you, it is really good. I think it is easier to understand than the tutorials I've seen on the subject. Yes - a bus multiplexer is ideal to connect multiple identical slaves to the bus. And indeed, the address of the displays I have is hard-coded into their firmware. Having glanced at the pictures and a few of the words in the spec for I2C, it is pretty clear I can have multiple masters sharing the same slave(s). So if I decided my layout was going to have a real time clock module, then every master on the bus could poll the same module. And if I decided to have a character-based display to show (say) a simple narrative description of the layout, I could use the same display with a configuration menu running on a different Arduino. Of course, now I can see how to provide a second platform display, I'm not sure if I really want one. This is because I have realised, with a tram in the platform, I would not be able to see either display. - Richard.

The hobby room slowly went out of control this year and I ended up keeping camera gear on the floor. So I have done some decluttering. About 50 books went to a charity shop. This let me move my photo albums from the wardrobe to the living room. This let me move my clothes from a chest of drawers to the wardrobe. And this let me move my camera gear from the floor to the chest of drawers. I was so pleased with this I finished off the alcove with an Ikea Kallax: This has turned out very nicely really. I do wonder sometimes, if this is all the model railway layout I really need. It is my best layout to operate (more interesting than it looks) and the tracklaying turned out well too. It is however getting heavier and less portable as I keep on adding new "features" to its electrics. (The books went to the St Helena Hospice book shop in Frinton-on-Sea, not all railway ones but there were 20 odd titles on the Southern Railway). - Richard.

I don't suppose anyone knows - can we connect two of these mini OLED displays in parallel? So with both displays having the same I2C address, they would both show the same information. This would let me have one display in a prototypical position for my model passengers to read, and another where I can see the message without having to look round a corner to see it. - Richard.

I hope I am posting this in the right place. I have had a go with Rudy's train describer: https://rudysarduinoprojects.wordpress.com/2019/09/23/fun-with-arduino-40-station-platform-departure-display-with-analog-clock/ I have kept the clock but changed the messages. The idea is to make a fun thing and for me the important thing is to make sure the platform display never relates to what is really going on. The default message is a quote from the charity shop where I work. I am using an Arduino Nano on an expansion shield, and a 0.91 inch OLED display, this is the only hardware needed. I bought a real time clock module for it but I think a random time on the clock face is best for me. - Richard. TramPlatformDisplay_0.1.ino

A Roco V60 has just arrived from Italy, an ex-DB engine in a private grey and orange livery. The idea here was to take the chassis for a British outline industrial or even a BR class 14, but the model is so good I might just keep it as it is. As far as I know, the V60 never ran in Britain but somehow it will look the part beside my Di8. Also I need a shunter for short trip workings, somewhere between the size of the Di8 and the Moyse locotracteur. Anyway - the price was reasonable enough; perhaps this livery is unpopular. The eBay seller levied the 20% VAT UK at the point of sale, and there was (as expected) no import duty to pay: - Richard.

The layout appears to be coming along but I keep thinking of new features to add to its electrics! The latest idea is a train describer for the passenger platform. The MBR trees do look very good, and the cost is much the same as a hand-made British one by Jacqui of Ceynix (she used to go to shows as "the tree lady"). I have written to Jacqui but no reply yet ... I know she suffered health problems and I can only hope she is still with us. Buying models from overseas shouldn't attract import duty because HMRC classify scale models as "toys" and these have a 0% rate, but there could be VAT to pay at 20%. For the time being, I have ordered up a 7.5cm apple tree by Noch, from a UK supplier. This will let me visualise the overall effect. I could steal the silver birch tree from my Fairport layout, it would get a more prominent position on Shelf Marshes because it won't be forever hidden behind a train. This leaves me to ponder MBR for a another day. Their larger models do look particularly good ... perhaps, for the "Wellwood" section of my layout when I get this underway. - Richard.

I have finally fixed down my road surface, and my beautiful Magnorail installation is hidden forever. Well, at least I hope it is! I have given the road a slight crown, this is very subtle in H0 scale but I think it is worthwhile. The kerbs are 1mm square styrene. I am going to have to admit, it is going to take me ages to do the scenery on this layout. Mainly because I want to present the layout as a coherent and balanced sort of a diorama, and so I want to mock up every major detail before painting and fixing things down. The area around the Magnorail currently looks like this: I suppose, this area is almost a micro in its own right - it is plenty dense enough. Yet really what I want to present is a fairly open, bleak setting. I am putting most of the buildings away from the backscene to try to do this. The backscene itself can depict an open sky and some marshland or other empty space. If I get it right, the model will look bigger than it is. The curved corners will help. I fancied the side of a modern warehouse along the back here, but it enclosed the scene too much. The stone wall looks better. The caravan is a Faller kit, I built this onto its chassis the wrong way round so the door is on the left-hand side (with the towing hitch at the end nearest the camera). It has dull and gloomy curtains on this side (tissue paper and coloured plain paper) and pretty curtains on the other side, so it can appear on another layout. The caravan can be the office of the classic vehicle restorers. There are spaces to park some Magnorail-fitted cars so hopefully the scene will look British without a train in sight, and indeed still British if there is a ferry wagon in view... I want to add a couple of miserable-looking silver birch trees, these often grow near industry and its pollution. Where can I buy good model trees after a year+ of lockdown modelling? I expect the suppliers will need another year to catch up. The plan now is to work up the left hand side of the layout to a similar level. Then work out the colour palette, and do the next "layer", and so on. Richard.

Modellbahn Union have announced a model of the Rbmms 55 ferry wagon: https://www.modellbahnunion.com/HO-OO-gauge/freight-car-ferryboat-spine-wagon-Rbmms-55-DB.htm?shop=dm-toys-en&a=article&ProdNr=MU-H0-G50001&p=802 I think it is a bit of a shame they have chosen a prototype already done (by Liliput) but perhaps these wagons were very common in their day? I expect the level of detail will be to today's standards. Also we can get this wagon with a variety of loads including a pair of Land Rovers. - Richard.

Me too - I can get quite queasy facing into the middle of a train. I walked through the 720 at Ipswich, I saw a couple of places where there are sideways tip-up seats near the doors, to make spaces for wheelchairs. - Richard.

I have just noticed, all of the 360s have gone. These were the replacement for the 312 slam door stock. Yesterday, the 0940 departure from Hatfield Peverel calling all stations to Ipswich was a pair of the new class 720s. They make for a stark contrast with the Flirt 745 and 755; the expected 3+2 commuter seating throughout, no first class, and a grim ride. Really, they look bright and airy and modern but they have much the same level of comfort as a 321. On the bright side they are five coaches long so the short off-peak services will have more seats. There is an open-plan arrangement at the connections between coaches: One day, I guess these will be forming all of the Clacton services :'-( - Richard.

The Magnorail is working again. There was an intermittent fault in the display module - possibly a broken pcb track. This fits in with the fault appearing in the last week after I tried to clamp a video light onto the back of it. As it happens, I had a spare display module to hand. This seems a depressingly sensible way to tackle these Arduino projects; buy a spare of most every bit of hardware. Then if the project doesn't work, you can swap bits out one at a time. - Richard.

I had a day trip to Norwich last Thursday (13th May 2021), my first trips on a class 745 so here are some photos and thoughts. I haven’t read the previous 98 pages but maybe there is something of interest here. My outward journey was the 11:38 from Ipswich, formed by set number 001. I sat in coach B, on the raised seats in front of the door: I had the coach to myself except for two members of the train crew who had no customers at their buffet bar. One of them sat while the other stood throughout the journey. I used the ‘facilities’ and this was simple enough, I will spare the detail but the task was on-target. So no great problems with the ride for me. I missed all of the rework done when the trains came into service. My return journey was the 16:00 from Norwich, formed by set number 008. I sat in coach A, with the connection to coach B immediately behind me: I think most folk will either like or loath this sort of seating arrangement. I like it, the train feels spacious and airy. The seats do not recline but I never travelled in the first class on an Anglia Mk3 to compare. It seems to me, all of these modern trains since the Mk3 stock have some sort of Achilles heel. The Pendolino has its terribly claustrophobic feel and the structural beam sticking into your upper arm, the class 800 is downright uncomfortable, and the Flirt (in its main line version) has its sloping floors. The ride was a bit rough between Needham Market and Stowmarket, and curiously on the same stretch on the way back, but surely this is a track problem not a fault with the train? The ride is truly not at all "bad". I paid £24 for my return trip from Hatfield Peverel, this was an £8 premium over standard class travel. My connecting services were a refurbished 321 outbound to Ipswich (10:34 from Hat Pev), quite decent in the first class now although the ride is far to rough to make written notes, and a very unrefurbished 321 to get me back from Chelmsford. I accidentally on purpose forgot to leave 008 at Colchester on the way home, but then fell asleep and missed Marks Tey and Kelvedon. I woke up in time for a very smooth run through Witham and Hatfield Peverel and on to Chelmsford. It was raining in Chelmsford and I lost my footing getting into the 321. I think, a combination of my driving ‘distance’ spectacles, some slippery yellow paint, and possibly the wine. And maybe unfamiliarity as I’ve barely travelled by train for ages! My trailing leg nearly went down between the platform and train, and what could have been a bit nasty ended up with a bruise on my shin. Probably serves me right for trying to get a bit extra free from the trip, but I will already happily forgive the Flirt for its sloping floors. My main feelings are, the 745 is a good train but what passes nowadays for first class travel is a shadow of what we used to have, which was of course in the days when I couldn’t afford to use it. There is no chance of a cup of coffee in a proper cup, let alone a meal with a knife and fork. I enjoyed the trip, the ride is still good to me even though it doesn’t reach the finesse of the Mk3; but savouring JP Chenet from the cap of my flask of outbound coffee does rather suggest a country in terminal decline. - Richard.

Yes - Contiboard was better. The Wickes own brand (when you can get it) has a rather thin facing and I find this flakes away too easily during cutting, even with the cut line scored with a knife. Anyway - this has been a good weekend. I got two offcuts of chipboard from a mate and the new shelving is done: The four-way socket strip is a bit OTT but this will let me plug in some general lighting, the layout itself and a photo lamp, and keep trailing cables off the floor. If I have done my sums right, then if I remove the TrainSafe tube and its three shelf brackets at the bottom, the layout will stand on its back below the long white shelf. - Richard.

I have taken the layout out of its alcove to attend to a likely wiring fault, and this is a good time to re-work the spur shelving on the wall behind. So, I went into Wickes this morning to buy some Polyfilla and a fresh shelf. He we go: Me: do you have any white-faced chipboard? Young "assistant": doesn't exist It's very popular - are you sure? We don't stock it. I'm thinking of the chipboard with a white melamine face? We do melamine panels if that's what you mean. Sounds good. Can you show me? (we walk) These are the melamine panels. Okay ... (gentle pause) ... look, they are chipboard on the inside. Yes, of course they are. I thought you meant white-painted chipboard. What do they learn in schools nowadays? Do their parents not build anything, or even have a fitted kitchen? Am I supposed to thank the guy for his help (I tried to) or just curl up and weep? I didn't buy one. I wanted a short panel for a little shelf, not the entire side of a wardrobe. But I did try. The filler is Wickes own brand, it looks good and is now drying in the holes in the wall. - Richard.

I feel I ought to keep this account going with an update every week or so, but in the last two weeks I have done no modelling at all. I have bought a new camcorder, and have made and deleted loads of test footage, and I will probably have the World's most-documented Magnorail system. I ran some light engines to try out different settings on the camera. The most notable thing is, the engines I used always ran perfectly, and never stalled. They were my Mehano class 66, my NMJ Di-8, my Trix 6400 class (NS) and my REE Gaston-Moyse. The chassis and mechanisms of all four really are first-class. The Trix especially seems to have been built to last forever. It seems best to keep their lights turned off. This way, I can play a clip backwards and no-one will be any the wiser. I find it much easier to set a train in motion than to stop it accurately in front of a camera :-) - Richard.

Well with one eBay vendor currently asking just shy of £900 for one of these, a second batch has got to be good news for the rest of us. - Richard.

I wouldn't worry. The leg room and shoulder room is good. I mentioned my height and the height of my partner simply to give some numbers. The seating is better than anything which calls at my local station (usually a 321 or 360) and indeed those high-density Anglia Mk3s. - Richard.

We didn't really "notice" much of the train on the outward journey because we spent the time in animated conversation with a representative of Stadler. He seemed pleased we liked the train so much, and invited us to tell Greater Anglia. I would say, leg and shoulder room is good. The seating is good, certainly better than the first class on a 360. The seats line up with the windows. The sliding doors at the ends of the power pack were open, but the noise levels from the (two) engines were subdued. Sound levels would be quieter still if the doors were closed. The steps below the doors slide out towards the edges of the platforms and adjust themselves automatically to suit the gap. So the train is wheelchair-accessible without a ramp. If you sit on one of the seats above the wheels you get a better view, reminiscent of a 312 or indeed a Mk3. Some of the windows are opening emergency exits and there are no "break glass" hammers. The passageway through the power pack is always accessible to passengers, but you are not allowed to remain in it to travel. The only difficulty for passengers I can perceive is, if a person with a double-width buggy joins one of the end coaches and finds themselves unable to alight at a short platform and unable to pass through the power pack. The Stadler rep agreed, and said the train staff would always direct such passengers towards the "disabled entrance", this is in the inner coach or 'coach B'. I don't know what happened to unit number 333 but we had a different one for the return trip. This one wearing a nosebag and its temporary coupler. - Richard.

We went to Sudbury last Tuesday, this was the 11:01 departure from Marks Tey. My first trip on a train this year, and I managed only one trip last year! I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. I know the Sudbury branch is limited to 50mph, but I thought the ride was superb. The seating seemed very good too - it seems to suit people of different sizes, at least from 5'2" to 5'11". Some photos from the trip, on 27 April 2021. - Richard.

I am going to have to be really careful with the landscaping. It needs to look bleak, unpleasant, probably poisoned. The mini roundabout and the road with the Magnorail can look freshly built, as though some kind of road improvement scheme has happened recently. I'm planning to put a hoarding with gates on the stub of road behind the roundabout. To hint at some kind of development or redevelopment going on behind. But the rest needs to look pretty grim and bare. The general arrangement is rather compressed and if I overdo anything the layout could end up looking twee. I am sure, the chemical plant is really 1:100 scale, and still undersize. A friend has sent me some photos of the private railway at Longbridge, and these will help. The ballast especially needs a lot of care because really, most of the industrial railway lines I've seen seem to merge into the ground around them. - Richard.