Joseph_Pestell

28 minutes ago, fordend said:

The other layouts worked okay however I still have problems with this question for my new layout. Despite reading Brian Lamberts notes and advice from members I am unable to grasp the electrics side of the hobby so excuse me for being a bit thick

 

Doug Bailey

I have a similar "block" with electronics. Amos is better than any sleeping medication. Fortunately, I can usually find an electric solution using old-fashioned kit (switches and relays).

Jeremy is right that the best solution will depend on what the layout is portraying. So a slightly more detailed plan, showing platforms, buildings, etc. would help.

1 minute ago, adb968008 said:

Plus buffet, plus kitchen.

if its not compatible with a POB then one of those too.

 

Then consider disabled access, and relevent toiletries… you dont need every coach, but you cannot ignore.

I had considered them. They would be included in the BSO, rather like in a 442.

2 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Mk5 sleeper cost £2mn each in 2015 procurement, based on 75 coaches of 5 types, so £150mn in 2015 prices.

 

75 coaches is only 4 rakes to CS, and for preservation is 6 rakes of 12.

 

much of the cost isnt in the coach, but the design and approval of it… i’m sure if more coaches were made the cost may reduce, but 6 rakes is probably enough for preservation.

 

Today I suspect even a £200mn Euro millions jackpot wont pay for design and certification for a retro design heritage “mk6” and is out of range of even the wealthiest in our hobby. maybe ask CAF for new rakes made of TPE coaches and paint them a heritage colour may get a 2015 price as a follow on order to a design already certified ?

 

Then again the way things are going you maybe able to pick up TPE mk5’s going cheap.

 

 

 

 

 

Bench-marking against other recent builds is one way to go. But is a MkV sleeper really a valid comparison?

There must be someone out there in the railway community who can work out the cost of building a new coach to a suitable specification with a batch size of 150 (3 types - FO, SO, BSO)

Seems like you have just about sorted the legs for the modules that are over the cellar doors. So I have probably come to this too late.

But my answer would be legs attached to the wall and hinged - like a gate-leg dining table.

We had a similar thread to this a while back when some of the preservation railways were having problems with their Mk1 coaches e.g. lavatories with no floor.

I was a bit of a lone wolf then suggesting some purpose-built new coaches with others saying that they would be unaffordable. Given the overall scale of these operations (main line running and preservation lines), I find that unlikely. Certainly worth more study to establish the number of coaches needed and how much they would cost.

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I had an MG Midget that colour - Citron. I said it was yellow but most other people thought it was green!

Was that the same colour as used on Minis (circa 1965). In the Mini catalogue, it was called "Fiesta Yellow". My mum called it "sickly green". They had ordered "Almond Green" or "Old English White" but there were ridiculous delivery days.

6 hours ago, BR60103 said:

A little question:   What colour paint for sheep?  There aren't that many around here to check on.  I have a packet of metal cast ones.

(Region preference? The layout is Perth and Exeter.)

 

Can you identify the breed of sheep that has been modelled? The colour of sheep varies greatly depending on the breed as does the amount of the head that is dark in colour.

Near Lambourn a few years ago there was a big flock of black sheep with just one white one.

8 hours ago, tezzrexx said:

Is it possible to get TT:120 chasses anywhere? I'd love to have a go at 3d printing some wagons and I'm assuming 3d printed chasses would be no good?

I think that you may be right that 3-D printed chassis might be problematic. Best solution would be the traditional etched brass chassis/W-irons with three-point suspension behind  cosmetic 3-D printed axlebox/solebar.

I think that this is one of the most informative and fascinating threads that I have seen in ten years viewing on RMWeb. It certainly makes me regret that I did not take more interest in these lines in my teenage years (early 70s).

6 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Walker Marine?

Not the one that I was thinking of but a great example. The one that I was thinking of was set in South Wales.

22 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Well with my ‘Black Diamonds’ project it was rude not to 😉 

 

Maybe we can resurrect ‘Britmod’ as ‘NCBmod’ 😁

One of the problems with modular layouts is a lack of distance on the main line between the modelled locations. But a series of small colliery shunting layouts gets round that problem and makes modular more attractive.

The steep gradients of these lines caused the trains to be short which is another plus for modelling.

18 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Perhaps, but I'm trying to find excuses to run NCB and BR stuff on the same (small) layout!

 

Can't remember the name now, but there was a layout (featured on RMW?) which managed this with tracks on two levels.

11 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I was thinking of a model railway layout, rather than a complex of real railways, and really it was a bit of a wry musing, prompted by wondering exactly how much appetite for shuffling toy trains back and forth on an ironing-board Minoriesophiles might have.

Others have commented on the possible monotony of operation on Minories. I think that even CJF recognised that. But you can only do so much in a very limited space. Parcels, newspapers and specialist goods e.g. fish were all handled during quieter hours at compact city termini and allow some variation on the main diet of suburban passenger trains.

27 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Transhipment takes time (and adds cost).

 

Why do you think containers for domestic traffic never took off and all the new Freightliner terminals erected to cater for it ended up being closed (or re-invented as hubs for containers bought in from deep sea ports)

 

The thing is if you are talking about a container which has already taken 6 weeks to travel halfway round the world an extra day isn't going to hurt - particularly as it needs transhipment at the port onto road or rail in the first place.

 

Granted more recently the likes of Tesco have returned to rail for some distribution activity - but they can work on a 1 container for 1 superstore with no need to re-sort the contents at the other end which keeps things simple.

 

Also the thing about the parcels sector is its VERY cost driven! With most people expecting free / very low delivery charges but fast service for any parcels courier to turn a profit (in a highly competitive field) means ruthlessly pushing costs to an absolute minimum - hence the popularity of Zero hours contracts and self employment for the delivery agents because they keep costs down.

As you say, the issue is always transhipment costs.

But it should not be impossible to build distribution depots alongside rail lines as there are many disused goods yards with a central hub in the Midlands (DPD have one at Bescot).

But what would the rolling stock look like? An average depot would probably need 3 HGVs a day when I worked in the industry, so probably a 4-car DMU (or, better, two 2-car DMUs coupled together. But that was 15 years ago. So trains would be longer now. 

18 hours ago, TinTracks said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_Parcels

 Hi .lots of info and dates in the above link.

 Fom personal experience it was a fantastic service for its time. Sometime in the mid 1980s I ran a printed circuit board factory. One of my 3 spindle CNC drilling machines had burnt out a spindle significally reducing its production capacity. A company called VERO based in Southhampton put me a replacement  spindle on a train via Red Star Parcels. Later on the same afternoon one of my lads picked the spindle up from the Darlington office. We had the machine back up running on full capacity by, I think, 6pm the same day. Amazing service for its time.

 Hope this helps, Regards, Rich

In 1976, my first full time job was with a large firm of chartered accountants with offices across the UK. They used Red Star to transfer urgent documents around the country. I visited various Red Star offices around London.

As I recall, it worked very well.AA

This could get expensive! I know several people to buy one of those for for whom I should buy one of those.

14 hours ago, exmoordave said:

Recently seen on a T-shirt:

 

I would like to apologise to anyone I have not yet offended. Please be patient, I will get to you shortly.......

Anyone know who sells these? Perfect present for someone that I know.

These closures are premature. Maybe possible once the various ticketing processes have been made to work properly.

The various websites frequently provide routings that are not the best or cheapest routes.

On a recent trip into Manchester from Greenfield, I had to use the machine because it was afternoon after the booking office closes for the day. It would only sell me a First Class ticket.

At Stockport on Saturday, I missed my train to Buxton because the machine was so slow to use (and also because of the rather unobvious route to Platform 0).

2 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

 

Managed to get a bit of muddling done yesterday as well as a layout room tidy up.

 

@TheSignalEngineer.. tough one that. The umpires thought the ball was dead. They weren't watching.. looks like the keeper was the onlynperson to think it was live.. me.. it was dead ..and the keeper as well as one or two others would now be on a Level 1 discipline report so (in m9st leagies) would be watching the grass grow for the next game. BUT if the Australian Cricket Board think the MCC Members got a little upperty I would suggest that a few of their players don't field near the Westin Terrace at Headingley.. be prepared for a lot of noise. 

 

Win at all costs is not something I am keen on.. play hard but fair..

 

In other news.. I used to have a rabbit.. one day it disappeared and we had rabbit pie. Never really eaten rabbit since. No problems with other animals and fish.. I even eat the fruit and veg we grow.

 

Today will involve more tidying up and preparations for a trip to Seaton Carew CC for the Yorkshire Ridings over 60s v Durham & Northumberland Over 60s. Could get the odd shower ...pah!

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

My father had the same issue with rabbit (for the same reason). He did eat it on a few occasions though. My mother and I just let him believe it was chicken.

Other people have thought the same and even used the Peco as a substitute. But it is really quite different.

On the Peco website you can download templetes for their entire range. 

On 28/06/2023 at 09:59, gr.king said:

In the modern UK, where anybody with a chip on his shoulder can complain about so-called "discrimination", they would probably have to put the lettering low enough to avoid any possibility of being accused of "heightism" by the vertically challenged. Then of course, tall people could complain instead...

Quite so! I am a very average 5'9. I had great difficulty using an Avanti West Coast ticket machine at Stockport yesterday. The touch screen on the machine is placed so low down that it gives a completely false view of the letters on the screen. The Northern Screen seemed to be similar. Good to have a machine accessible to wheelchair users but all three machines?

You have my sympathies. Exhibited once at a show in Paris (actually just up from the site of the old Auteuil station) in semi-permanent marquee on a roasting hot June day. In a garden centre, they should have had access to some hoses to spray the outside of the greenhouses.

11 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I thought it was regular chestnuts, not horse chestnuts that were conker trees?  Interesting that most of the trees local to you are non-native species (both from North America IIRC).  We have horse chestnuts on our estate with TPOs on them.  Meanwhile I am growing oak saplings (and a couple of sycamore, beech and holly) which will be guerilla-planted in the autumn.

Don't confuse the two. Your little chestnut on a string will get clattered by a horse chestnut.

More importantly, don't eat horse chestnuts. They are poisonous.