Manxcat

She already looks very good indeed Tony. When you showed me the chassis running so sweetly at Peterborough I was very impressed.

For those of you who love Model Rail Scotland, do please vote for us in the British Railway Modelling Awards. Just click on the link in the yellow banner at the top of this page to open the survey and submit your votes. Archie Brown Chairman, AMRSS

That reminds me of several episodes of Dad's Army when Captain Mainwaring was heard to say "Ah, I wondered who'd spot that first.".

What escalates an excellent layout to iconic status? Indeed is it a given that a layout has to be excellent to also be iconic?

I am very pleased to say that Accurascale will have a trade stand at Model Rail Scotland 2019 next February. I for one am looking forward to seeing their Deltic.

Here are two photos to illustrate my recent change of mind so far as control of points and signals by means of an “analogue” control panel or by a DCC mimic panel is concerned. The first shows my ECoS DCC controller displaying the outer fiddle yard schematic diagram for my pervious layout Fairhaven Road. You will notice each road has a dot roughly in the middle of it. When one of the dots is pressed on the touch sensitive screen it turns yellow to indicate the route chosen and it activates the software which sets all the points for the entrance and exit to that road. They move in turn and when they stop, which does not take long at all, the operator can be sure the entrance and exit for the chosen road is set for entry, exit or run through. My club colleagues and I used it to excellent effect at several shows. The second photo shows a control panel I built for my club’s DC operated N gauge layout with a main line and a separate branch line. Each fiddle yard road on the main has two sections, to accommodate one train each, hence the plethora of switches for signals, points and sections. Now let me be clear, I love my ECoS controller. It is an expensive system but IMHO it is absolutely superb. At its last exhibition my club colleagues pointed out that while the touch screen makes it simple to operate in all respects, they did have a hankering for a more hands on panel with individual switches for the signals and points. (Remember with DCC I do not need section switches.) In my youth I visited, and in some cases operated, over 200 signal boxes and when I pondered what my colleagues had said those experiences weighed on my mind and I started to come round to the same way of thinking. I had even been contemplating the “Train Controller” software which interacts with DCC controlled layouts to operate almost every aspect of the layout automatically if you wish. That was until one good friend said something along the lines of “So you want to arrive at the exhibition, clean the track, press a button and watch the sequence for 7 hours?” Well of course not. That did however make me think and, in the end, I decided that the layout I have recently started would have an “analogue” mimic panel for points and signals. I believe that will give me more of the hands on feel of a signalman and my club colleagues will enjoy showing it with me just that little bit more. So far as the question of DCC sound is concerned, my first experience of it many years ago was when I heard a sound equipped, O gauge, class 20 loco on a layout called Vine Street. The fact that the sound had been recorded from the prototype and changed with the speed of the loco had me hooked from the start. If you have not heard a 4mm scale model Deltic equipped with a sound chip from DC Kits Legomanbiffo and an “earth mover” speaker then you don’t know how good DCC sound can be. (It is not the same when heard on YouTube I believe. You need to hear it in the flesh so to speak.) Steam sounds are maybe not as good but I do have a 4F chip where the chuffing stops when the control knob is turned to slow the loco down and the chuffs are replaced by a perfect coupling rod clanking sound. Lesser sound profiles keep the loco chuffing till it stops. These are just my opinions of course and I know I will never convince everyone.

Ben, Here is the only image I currently have of The Pass of Killiecrankie. You can just make out the HST set. It has a motor in both driving ends plus one in the buffet car. Like most T gauge stock, the wheels are magnetic for better adhesion on the tiny steel rails. The photo was taken at one of its later visits to the art exhibition. In front of it you can see some of the photographs taken by Campbell as the build progressed to illustrate the various stages to viewers. At the Renfrewshire show there was a supply of Alan Ramsay's business cards for his T gauge business in front of the layout. Why? Because they have a plastic magnifying lens in the middle to allow anyone picking one up to get a closer look!

Tony, Campbell did not make the mechanism. So far as I am aware it was by Alan Ramsay whom I believe is the importer of all things T Gauge from Japan.

A fairly recently recruited member of our model railway club, called Campbell Russell, has created a very nice layout modelled on the Pass of Killiecrankie. It is modelled in T gauge. He was kind enough to exhibit it on behalf of our club at the Renfrewshire exhibition last weekend. It drew a surprising number of comments and enquiries, all of them very positive. Campbell is also a member of an art club which exhibits where he lives and a number of years ago he ventured to suggest to his friends that the creation of a layout was art. It seems this proposal was the subject of some scepticism and discussion and it was not really considered art until he brought a few photos along and argued that he could show it regularly as an artwork in progress. Campbell told me that after just two sessions his art club colleagues were fascinated. He was of a mind to stop bringing it but they persuaded him to show it until completion and have virtually demanded he exhibit it regularly since then. He is very happy to do so. Renfrewshire was his first exhibition and he was quite concerned that it should all work well, especially since it was under our club banner. He need not have worried. It worked very well indeed and all the maintenance was done out of show hours. This is not as easy as it sounds. Have you ever tried cleaning wheels that are less than 2mm in diameter? To my surprise, the layout is controlled by a small unit running on a few AAA batteries. In 7 hours of operation on the first day we only had to change the batteries once. No mains power is used. As Campbell and I operated I asked him if he thought there was ever a likelihood of steam locos in T gauge. He currently runs an HST set and a modern DMU. He said that ideas along those lines were already being developed, although maybe not in BR outline at present. I told him I'd love to see evidence of that and this is what he sent me:- Bear in mind that the height of this model locomotive is under 10mm. What price Tudor Minstrel in T gauge?

Might I venture to suggest that when the Larbert layout currently under construction by the fine gentlemen of the Scottish Region Study Group reaches the stage where it can be exhibited, in a couple of years or so, it will rank amongst the best in the country. Vitalspark has sent me photos of the progress on that 45 foot endeavour and even the hand built trackwork takes my breath away. Perhaps he might post one or two here.

Thank you Tony. I should have looked in your book first. What a very good set of follow up photos. Thank you too, to vitalspark, a good friend of mine who sent me photos of the ground signals he is making for his group's Larbert layout. The response to my question once again reinforced my continuing delight in the helpful way so many on this thread will respond to a simple question. Archie

Prototype Photos! Thank you.

Tony, Would there be any possibility of seeing a couple of close up photos of one of the ground signals on LB please? I am particularly interested in how they are operated and the linkages to the disc that make the movement happen. Thanks. Archie

Is there a possibility that this is the way language actually evolves? Many years ago none of us could have foreseen new words such as "selfie" and we said "should've" rather than "should of". Habits such as saying "sat" instead of "sitting" are now more common on tv and radio and seem to become accepted by many without demur. Consequently they inveigle their way into our vocabulary and railing against them has less and less effect.

Tony, Have you ever built any of them with the bars which can be lifted and secured across the exits at both ends in the closed position? I don't think I've ever seen a RTR brake van with that feature. It would probably add to the cost and could be fragile if a scale diameter bar was used made from plastic. I cannot imagine that any of the RTR manufacturers would want to include a moveable one which could be secured in either position. Archie

Now that is a very subtle play on words Tony. An electrical component made of selenium and you ask if its a "current" girls name.

Tony, Please could I be today's pedant? Shouldn't that be "the Gravetts' work"? Otherwise, who goes by the moniker "the Gravett"? Archie

Tony, You have previously mentioned that you sign your loco builds. Do you actually put a signature somewhere out of sight, or just initial them, or make a distinctive mark somewhere? It seems from what you have said that someone buying a second hand kit built loco without knowing that you made it could discover that it was your work, by means of your signature. Archie

Oops, I have no idea why the photo in my last post appears on its side. It is not saved on my laptop in that configuration. Try as I might to edit it to the correct orientation I have been unable to do so. Sorry. Archie

Does this qualify, Tony? Just for a bit of fun lets see who recognises the layout and the modeller first, shall we?

The example of HS 4000 Kestrel prompts me to post a video of my layout Fairhaven Road as it appeared at the Perth Show in 2016 exhibited on behalf of my club. One of my fellow club members is a friend of Derek Hoskins who is a prolific and excellent videographer with well over 1000 videos on YouTube. I understand Derek sometimes uses the moniker "HS 4000" and is a fan of Kestrel. When he noticed my model of Kestrel on a rake of Pullman cars in my fiddle yard he asked my friend if we could send it round the layout for him to video. We were more than happy to do so and in fact ran it out of sequence twice so that it could appear a second time in the same video. I am so glad we did so because Derek made the video of exclusively my layout. Kestrel is the first to appear at the start and later about 7 minutes into it. All of the locos are DCC operated and many are sound fitted, including Kestrel. Unfortunately the sound is very difficult to hear on the video because of the substantial background exhibition noise. At the show it was however easy to hear when standing beside the layout. I have to mention that June 2016 was well before I took Tony's advice and added loco lamps to all my steam locos. They are therefore devoid of headlamps in the video. Here is the link:-

I really couldn't agree more. I do hope the article includes those two images. They really could not epitomise any more what an exceptional example your layout is of the model mirroring the prototype. That's even after there has been some selective compression, in my humble opinion of course.

Tony, These are wonderful photos and videos of the LNER weekend preparations and really whet the appetite. Like many others here, I am looking forward to the main photos and videos. Thank you for sharing them. If I may ask, how wide is your 20 road fiddle yard? Archie

When Wright Writes first started, way back in November 2012, it averaged around one page a month. Now it averages around one page a day. A thirty-fold increase. Wow. All packed with wonderful modelling miscellany, information, creativity, humour and friendship, to name but a few. Can you tell I love it? Archie

In addition to simply pressing the "Thanks" button could I just take a moment, please, to say how grateful I am to Tony, Frank, Jamie, St Enodoc and Dave for their replies and advice on the question of track joints at the baseboard ends. A varied selection of good ideas and advice, all of which we will consider in our deliberations. Archie