Joseph_Pestell

Follow standard procedure with all tech products. Turn off. Count slowly to ten. Turn back on.

We all struggle when we want to build a layout in 4mm scale with long trains. A helix (or two helices) is very rarely the right solution. They take up a lot of space and put a lot of strain on the traction, even diesel era models. In the OPs original drawings, there is very little space for the trains to run in the open. The solution is to have the layout split on two separate levels with no connection between them. In the OPs case, this would be a simple double-track main line curving through the space with a set of hidden sidings for train storage. A junction or loop could be added for operational interest. And then an upper level portraying the engineering sidings and a separate set of hidden sidings to run to. Sadly, I recently had my computer stolen and have lost all my stored plans. But I did one some years ago for an N Gauge Society competition for layouts that would fit a standard door as a baseboard. Scaled up to 4mm, that comes neatly to 13' x 5' (4000mm x 1500mm), which would seem to the ideal size for the OP. The upper level was an unusual fiddleyard to fiddleyard tear-shaped line, using 2-car dmus for passenger traffic) which left plenty of space within the rectangle for sidings in one corner. PS: I have just remembered that the plans were on an older computer, not the stolen one. So I may be able to post that one here if I can get that computer from storage.

We are so spoilt these days. I am old enough to remember the 1960s when we were lucky to get one new model locomotive issued each year, perhaps in two liveries (Rovex/Triang now Hornby). Hornby-Dublo collapsed altogether and as an associate of Triang, trading as G&R Wrenn, we probably got something new about once every two years). I am not persuaded that Hornby have made the best possible choices with their current 1:120 range but it is still a very impressive start.

The line was not built afterwards. It was built some time in the 19th century. But the platforms are much more recent from when passenger services were introduced (1990s?). So the platform was built round the turntable initially and then straightened after closure of the depot. Lyon is an amazing rail location with so many lines.

See above.

Yes, indeed. I've just got it up on Google Earth. A constantly changing picture with the loco shed and turntable now gone.

I don't recognize that location. But it is certainly nowhere near Perrache.

Looks really good. Surely the way forward.

Lisbon is a lovely city, well worth a visit. And good transport links to nearby Sintra and Cascais which are also worth visiting.

A friend of mine who holds a private pilot's licence tells me that he and many others find it difficult to know where they are, even in clear weather. I do not find it difficult at all but then I have an interest in geography and maps.

On the Down Main, there was a short lie-by siding for transferring any wagons from Bridport towards Dorchester and Weymouth. Nice and easy. In the Up direction, the layout of the sidings does not look adequate for a Branch Goods to terminate there. Anyone have access to a WTT?

I don't know the reason but I found Ebbsfleet very convenient when I was living in Dorset. Far better than having to cross Central London with bulky luggage (trade samples).

Diggers and loaders (JCB). Interesting article about the firm in yesterday's Sunday Times and particularly their new hydrogen engines.

A recent thread about stations where passenger trains were gravity shunted has reawakened my interest in Maiden Newton, junction station for the Bridport Branch. The branch goods train ran to Yeovil (or perhaps Westbury). In either direction, the train would stop on the down main line. The loco (57xx?) would use the up main to run round the train before setting off again by way of the crossover. What I am looking for is information about the brake van/s. Did the train have one at each end? Or did it have just the one which would need a bit of shunting to and fro? I have looked on the internet generally and on RMW but not found anything yet.

And being "non-imposable" can also open up some other benefits. So a double celebration.

So easy to store electricity with batteries - so long as you can find a suitable location to connect to the grid. Much campaigning at the moment to build nuclear to fill in the gaps when the sun is not shining or the wind not blowing i.e. a back-up to renewables. I don't understand this too well. If we build nuclear, that is surely better used all the time.

Another well-known location for this sort of "run round" was the Bridport Branch platform at Maiden Newton. As already mentioned, Wellington was in a confined setting. Not so easy to follow the reasoning in rural Dorset with no obvious space constraints. With some quite severe compression, it could be modelled as a micro-layout with an overall roof over the main line platforms as a scenic break at one end. Perhaps best in Broad Gauge era with short passenger trains on the main line as well.

Bobadilla is a fascinating place for us railfans. A junction in the middle of nowhere really and now with a high speed station as well. We visited Andalucia in Jan 2017 for my 60th birthday. We stayed in Ronda for a couple of nights but I somehow missed out on the railway station there.

Had a couple of nights in Knysna in Sept 2007. Hoped to do the run down to George but it did not work out.

Proms a bit weird this year. A Northern Soul evening as well.

She can't be that much of a fan. She was not watching the ball. Some fine batting from Brook yesterday on a day when conditions were so difficult. I think that we are in for a few years of stylish batting performances from the England team.

But they might not be in their right mind, otherwise known as DaFT.

I don't have the inclination to draw up a timetable graph but I suspect that the constraints of this line (single track, few passing places, simplified signalling) means that there will not be many spare paths available. I had not been aware of Chris Green's involvement. Typical Green initiative to find ways of doing something rather than finding reasons not to do something. A great man. I have done some risk assessment work. We had to do one each year to get our government grant even though we were in a far less risky environment than a railway. I am quite surprised that operations like this (and the heritage lines) have got away with so many risky activities for so long. One obvious example with the Jacobite is limited visibility running tender first at speed over such a distance.

The word "normal" has differing meanings. In the context of RMWeb membership, it is probably normal statistically.

Agreed. I was lucky enough to learn to drive at a driving school which had its own skidpan. I reckon that hour's lesson has saved me thousands of pounds in the subsequent fifty years.