H2O

Carriage of non-folding cycles (off peak) is limited to non-tunnel sections, perhaps carrying other things too. So useful to have a definition of what bits they classify as tunnel, including long overpasses...

Is that in the new HO HO gauge?

From Wikipedia the 4-6-0 has a bigger boiler and larger diameter wheels so probably more suited to higher speed / longer distance services?

Good to hear. Perhaps I've missed it but where will it be held? Bit OT, the 'news' section of one of the linked sites (presumably the updates will go there) goes to a page with white text on a very light b/w background. For my poor aging eyes: Artistic impression 10/10, readability 1/10.

Thanks for the replies, especially about IKEA delivery charges which was new info. I don't think the charge is excessive, just a bit higher than expected. £40 seems to be for up to 30 day delivery. I think 3 day service is £50 (per order). I agree that items made of MDF or chipboard can be iffy, however the linked item is made of powder coated steel so hopefully will be robust. My local Lidl is not very convenient and the parking / access for cars is a real pain, especially this time of year. Again, thanks for the constructive comments.

I'm looking to buy some floor mounted living room display cabinets for mainly OO and perhaps some O gauge models. I've found the following that look suitable. Anyone used these or have a similar sized favourite of there own? For my use they would need to be a normally stocked item. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/rudsta-vaxmyra-glass-door-cabinet-with-lighting-anthracite-s79418632/

The earlier series was much more 'fly on the wall' and allowed a look under the bonnet of the model railway business. As others have said this series seems much more of a vehicle for promoting Hornby, and well done to them for getting so much free positive publicity on prime time TV in the run up to Christmas - their competitors must be envious.

At one point early in the episode Simon K says he wants a Rolls Royce model (or words to that effect) so an updated railroad version is unlikely. I'd like those to be available (in the early livery) as they are at the right price / performance point of this loco (unit?) for me.

From the map it is interesting that the old Midland route north out of Bristol (at approx 1 o'clock angle on the map) was regarded as 'trunk' but closed c1970. Also what do the tan coloured routes indicate? Both the Oakhampton line and old S&DJR main route are shown :-) Decisions on which routes to close was never an exact science, but maps like these seem to show that the reasoning used on which lines to close was based on shifting sands. As for which are trunk routes perhaps the basic railway the Serpal report suggested? It is a more modern view than Beeching, but still 40+ years old.

Sorry a bit late to the thread but I think the direction up and down the helix could be improved. From another thread the comment was to make going up the helix the outer track as this increase in radius made the load on the loco just a bit easier, especially for longer trains where the loco is pulling against both gravity and many feet of curviture. On the downward journey gravity is assisting so the drag from the slightly tighter radius is compensated for. This is based on my reading of the black and red diagram from earlier in the thread. Best of luck with building your impressive layout.

I'm 99% sure there was an episode of Minder where a Lima stock box was on the shelf in Arthur's lock-up. Perhaps a reputation of job lots of Lima stuff going cheap was known by the production crew and just the thing for Mr Daley to have a punt on? I'm not sure if the dates match up with the above so perhaps just a random item put on set.

Hi Chimer, No probs with your comments. I think I've misnamed the traverser (apologies), it is a sector plate with the rotating point at the far right hand side of the right hand board, so the yellow tracks curve 'in' and the red curve 'out'. The red curve out at both ends as the sector plate is removable and reversable. This will help with changing stock and also act as stock boxes to reduce handling. Thank you for the comment about all tracks being accessible to all lines, you are right that the green tracks mean this won't be possible for the plan shown. I was hoping that this wouldn't impact too much on operation if the stock and sequence was carefully organised...

Hi All, I've been working on a layout set in 1970's into early 80's for a fairly mainline station in the Bristol area in OO, various inspirations taken from; layouts on this wonderful forum, minories (of course!) and various books. I'm at the stage where I need to start laying track and am now procrastinating before I start cutting track... I'm limited for space, the layout will be set up on my shed work bench which is 2.8m x 0.6m and will need to be disassembled from time to time. The plan is for two boards, each 1.2m x 0.5m (about 4' x 1'7"). Assuming the track plan uploads ok... The red tracks are a 1.2m long removable traverser, orange tracks are access tracks to the traverser. Green tracks could be either a loco refuelling / maintenance or goods sidings (cement or oil). Points in the plan are the recent peco bullhead code 75. Stock to be 2 car DMUs into upper platform and possibly 3 car into the middle platforms or a semi static placement of a mainline loco and carriage. The lower platform to be parcels and the bottom tracks for access the 2 green sidings in front of the hidden traverser. Not decided on what these could be - engine refuelling or maintenance point or a goods / cement terminal? The future plan (assuming I find some more space!) is the lower plan with the tracks in blue on 2x 600mm boards added to make it a bit more minories like with perhaps an overall roof on the left side hiding the rest of the station - I'd probably need a longer traverser to make use of the longer platforms. Ultimately another fiddle yard could be added to the left hand end so a half station could operate with mainline trains poking onto the scene, loco detach and coaches disappear off to the left (or HST power car + 1 coach) appear and then disappear. I'm not sure if I'm squeezing too much in the given space or operation or expansion will be limited? Main aim is to get some modelling skills and ideas developed, somewhere to operate / display stock and just to run some trains up and down... Not sure if the green tracks are optimal - limited headshunt access if operated as goods yard. Also not sure if I'm boxing myself in and a small change now in the limited area I have would open up much better operation or expansion possibilities? The misalignment in the 2nd plan is because I've set the track spacing a bit narrower than standard.

Thank you for all these fantastic pictures and also the comments and memories that are posted on this thread. The 70's was my first experience of railways so although many see the br blue era as a bit boring it brings many good memories for me. I'm curious on the 3 pictures I've included here for the 47's. I had read somewhere that train reporting numbers were stopped being shown as headcodes at the beginning of 1976 and '0000' was meant to be shown until the blinds were plated over. Was the code '1A14' shown in the Aug 77 shot above unusual or against the rules? I know the Westerns often had their pre-tops loco number shown in the headcode.

Two thoughts: Use narrow strips of 0.1" strip board and mount LEDs across 2 tracks. Second you can get some quite cheap PCBs made on-line. If doing say 10 sets they could be economical. You may be limited by the shape that can be made if you want very long and thin. I've not done PCBs with mounted components, you may need larger quantities to make it economical to do a run. However surface mount components are tricky to do yourself. I'm unsure if making PCBs at home is worth it as double sided through hole plated are so cheap, even in small quantities.

Duplicate post.

There is something weird about that particular check rail. In the picture of the real location on this thread (posted 31/12/17) the check rail next to the crossing is missing with another, unconnected, check rail a bit further towards the station. I found another clearer picture that seems to confirm the design at: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc/items-added-on-19th-april-2017-those-added-most-recently-come-first That picture is from 1971, by which time a buffer stop is stopping access to that route, but I'd guess the rails are original as it would be more work to change it at that stage. I'm not sure when the pictured design was installed, perhaps this was an original oversight, corrected with the simple check rail shown?

I understand this was so the shunting engine crew didn't end up decapitating themselves when shunting. The gauge would be lowered and the ears folded down to check a particular load, then raised after.

I agree that the input range needs to be above a certain minimum voltage for anything to work but I think the reference was to the controllable range of effective output voltage? If the effective minimum output voltage is 5V that wouldn't be very useful.

I'd put in bypass line 'behind' the stock lift so when it is removed you still have a through route. Could you also put the toe of the left hand end of the loops into the curve with a few right handed curved points? It would give you some extra length and ease the raduis and reverse curve at that end.

They are going to offer a range of British outline models in HO starting with the class 33 and coaches using the moulds aquired from purchasing the assets from Lima :-)

I used to think that the central lines between the platform lines at Bath and Chelmsford were 'avoiding' lines to hold a slower train or let faster non-stop services pass stopping ones. However in the signal box diagrams I have seen in both cases they were connected as long trailing crossovers. Were they alway like that or were they ever used as loops?

Static electricity will easily kill semiconductor devices when they are on their own, but once soldered or plugged in to a pcb the risk is greatly reduced. Hence an EEPROM is vulnerable before being plugged into a socket but very much safer once inserted. If handling electronics it is a good idea to 'ground' yourself before working on sensitive parts by touching something that is grounded but once a decoder is installed you should be ok. A dcc decoder (installed or not) should be no more vulnerable than an Arduino or Raspberry micro board. Even when correctly installed a dcc decoder is operating in a fairly harsh envirnment controlling a dc motor on what can be an intermittent power supply. When a motor turns off it can generate high voltages. These are normally handled by using protection diodes. Semiconductor components not soldered in to a circuit could include a MOSFET which only has 3 leads.

Be careful but don't worry too much. Lead used to be very common (e.g. lead based solder) and AFAIK as long as you don't ingest it you should be ok. Unless you are using it all the time just make sure you wash your hands, as you should after using any glues or paints etc. Also you should get it back out of the bin as by thowing it away like that you are going to poison someone or something else. Put it in a clear plastic bag and dispose of it according to your local council requirements.

Sadly perhaps coal fired steam loco's are living on borrowed time, however as they say, foreign coal has been used before so not the end. Also AFAIK many engines in BR service were used (at least for a short while) as oil burners. So is that an economic option once the cost of conversion has been paid for? As oil is a hydrocarbon (rather than coal which is mostly carbon) it should be a bit 'cleaner' burning? A bit OT, it is annoying when steam loco's are deliberately poorly fired to produce black smoke - I saw this done for a filming company once who wanted 'more smoke', not a very good advert for steam :-(