SM42

The Kadee works fine for spot uncoupling. It's when you want the delayed action that the shuffle comes into play and wo betide any loco that stutters causing them to couple up again. Andy

Back in the days of Maplins, you could pick up a quite cheaply a spy camera that was built into a USB stick. When plugged into the USB port it would activate on a motion sensor. Whether that would show live feed or just record I don't know, but an option worth looking at perhaps. No need for Wi-fi. Just a USB extension to a laptop. I always wondered how these would work in practice. Leave the laptop running in the room in a sting operation on the cleaner, nanny, carer, shop worker etc. Perhaps good for Union reps meeting managers and vice versa or even investigative journalists. Andy

Indeed, got me lamps mixed up. Still a fog light is quite bright and hence so is a brake light. How many would be happy sat behind a car with the rear fog lights on? When did you last see an electric milk float? Ok I saw one two weeks ago, but it was being used as an electric car rather than delivering milk. They've all been transits or similar round here for years. Andy

In the interests of a bit of constructive criticism for the Warley team , a detail has flooded back to my memory regarding the very useful exhibition maps dotted around the hall. An admirable idea and of much assistance, however on the one occasion I did use one, I headed off in completely the wrong direction as I had failed to notice that the map had the entrance on the left , whilst I knew that as I looked at the map, the entrance was physically to my right. I only realised this when I went back to the map to work out where I had gone so spectacularly wrong. How can you get lost turning left and second right? Now I'm not sure if the maps stands were double sided (I never checked) and do match and this one was just back to front, in which case a simple solution beckons Only a small thing, but very confusing, (messed with my head anyway) perhaps for next year maps that match the orientation of the hall as you look at it would be a small but useful improvement. Andy

Andy I agree it is very well done and looks excellent in the photos, but unfortunately one I missed in the flesh I also thought Modbury pulled off the transition to backscene quite well too. Andy

Interestingly, way back in the dim distant days of the late 80s, a school friend found out the hard way that a head on collison can be very painful. The photos of the accident showed a Metro (a modern car in those days)the roof of which bore a resemblance to a piece of well known Swiss triangular chocolate and an Allegro with a slightly caved in radiator grill. We all thought he was in the Metro, given the serious leg and other injuries he suffered, but no, he was in the hardly touched Allegro. The elderly driver of the Metro walked away dazed, shaken and with a nice seatbelt bruise. The cause of the collison: black ice on a gentle left hand bend in a 30mph zone and both vehicles deemed by the police to have been well within the speed limits. Andy

Stopping on the right used to be illegal at night on an unrestricted road (i.e more than 30mph) Does this still apply? Is motoring law still part of the driving test? What's worse is stopping with the headlights on, on the right. Most drivers don't seem to realise that the left hand beam is far longer than the right for good reason. (kudos to the milkman the other morning who dropped his down to side lights) Dazzling other road users, whether that be by parking on the right at night with dipped headlights, using fog lights when it's not foggy, i.e visibility less than 100m (why are they automatic when modern cars turn now? Great idea. Dazzle others just when you want them to see your indicators) leaving rear fog lights on. (ever wondered what that orange light on the dashboard is for? (I don't know, but it seems to come on the day after it's been foggy)) and indeed sitting in stationary traffic with the brake lights on for prolonged periods (record in my experience is 45 minutes on a snowy day in 2007, His leg must have been really sore when we moved 10 feet) could be seen as a contravention of the either The Road Traffic Act or the Construction and Use Regulations. The brake lights are the same power as rear fog lights (55W) and hence if rear fog lights are dazzling, then so are brake lights when being used outside their design purpose. I.e to indicate that your vehicle is slowing down as the foot brake has been applied. It also seems the emergency services are now doing their best to dazzle everyone with the blues now. On Mrs SM42's semi auto, when stopped, apply handbrake, drop into neutral. When ready to move off, a quick dab (2-3 seconds) of the footbrake (to release the interlock) whilst nudging the gear select lever to the left and into 1st with the left knee. Hands never leave the wheel, Andy. (feeling better now he's got that off his chest)

Indeed. Someone did just that behind us and we had to stop our stand from falling onto us as a result of the push through. I had a great week-end. Some good video and photos on here to see what I missed and really the only negatives that came from the week-end were the very rude steward just after close on Saturday (I suppose we all have one of those in our clubs) and sore feet. Warley is Warley. It's big and it comes with big exhibition / show problems (mainly outside the control of the organisers despite their best efforts) which have been well documented here both before and after. We just have to accept these things happen and deal with them as best we can and with good humour, it's the nature of the beast, and not just at model railway shows. All in all, I had a great time, met lots of people, learnt a bit, spent a bit (don't tell Mrs SM42) didn't see much (didn't expect to) and now ache all over. Thanks to all those behind the scenes that made it happen. Just need to introduce a hammer to some nails and wood now. I feel inspired to do something creative Andy

Well just coming to the end of a night shift and will be heading out at around 1pm to help set up our club stand and really looking forward the week-end. If you are passing stand E11 (on the back wall) stop and have a chat. I'll be the tired looking one. Andy

When we used to run our exhibition, the venue had fire exits that consisted of two sets of double doors side by side in each corner of the hall. These measured 12ft across both sets of doors including the small infill wall between the door pairs. We therefore based our gangways on having 9 -12ft of clear space between the barriers but leaving 12ft between the barriers across the corners on approach to the fire exits as a common sense solution I realise this may not work for every venue though, as fire exits vary in size depending on the building's normal usage or age Andy

Hi Nick Looking forward to the pictures. Missed you by 5 days or so then . No steam for me this trip, but I did get a couple of hours out at Paledzie ( just west of Poznan) watching the trains go by while Mrs SM42 was at the Dentist. Andy

Thanks What a pleasant evening I had. Even the M42 and M1 behaved today. As always, Wakefield didn't disappoint Andy

If you check Streetview for the corner of Park St and Plimsoll St. Kidderminster, there is a building that may suit your needs I believe it used to be a place of worship, before becoming a base for St John's Ambulance and now is converted into several properties. It certainly matches being amongst terraced housing, religious looking and is probably of the same vintage as the houses surrounding it. Whether there is a card kit that can get you close, I don't know, but it has relatively simple footprint and structure that self build could be a possibility. Andy

Around the turntable views

I have finally got round to downloading the pictures from Jaworzyna Slaska As usual there are a number of items slowly rusting away, but as one of the staff said, at least they still exist. To get to the museum you have to cross the PKP line and ring the doorbell to be let in the gate and then make your way to the ticket office to pay. Very trusting First up some TkT48s In the fading sun on the evening before our visit, this one is parked up on the opposite side of the main line to the museum And the other side the following day Another one And another, in better condition It's Thomas Jim, but not as we know it. Note the missing pony wheels Some other gently rusting locos Fireless Some views around the turntable in the next post

That could make sense, especially with the smaller insulators They radiate from the vicinity of a former power station site in Stouport on Severn. Long closed and now a housing estate. The armless terminus structure is at the former RAF Hartlebury. Andy

Been out and about with the camera again and noticed this strange (to me anyway) arrangement The structure in the background is the second from the substation at the top of a hill and here it splits out to two structures Then the line drops back to one structure further up the hill. Apart from crossing a housing estate is there an engineering reason for this? Meanwhile a bit further up the road there these two side by side Finally both ends of one line (about 3- 4 miles apart) with a nice garden ornament in the middle To my untrained eye a good number of the pylons round here seem a lot older and of a different design to most. I'm sure you can enlighten me on this. Enjoy Andy

Ok Now you have really started something. I can't go anywhere without noticing our steely friends. I've never given them a second glance or even noticed they were there until I read this. Now I see them everywhere. Here for your delight are some photos from my recent travels in the local area. Enjoy Pylon party

I recall some sort of arrangement for dropping coal at Gobowen (I think) , behind the station. the coal dropped into a pit under ground and was distributed by a rotating conveyor above ground. Somewhere I have a picture. How old it is I don't know so may not be genuine GWR Found some pictures. See here Andy Edit to add link I hope

Anyone who finds themselves in Poznan and looking for the plinthed Ty51 183 listed in the link adb968008 posted should be aware that this is not to be found near the railway, but is in fact outside the INEA stadium, Home of Lech Poznan on Bulgarska St. For those who are wondering why, Lech Poznan (or KKS Lech Poznan to be precise ) began as a railway sports club team. (KKS= Kolej Klub Sportowy = railway sports club) They are known as the railwaymen (Kolejorz ) for obvious reasons and explains the presence of the loco outside. Anyhow, on my last visit to Poland in August I was fortunate to be able to visit the museum at Jaworzyna Slaska Unfortunately nothing in steam (that was the following week) but I will post some photos once I have retrieved them from my ancient camera if anyone is interested. Andy

Last time I checked I was right side up, but then again everyone else might be upside down. Andy (with a sudden rush of blood to head)

Is it me or is that tripod upside down? There does seem to a tripod leg in the foreground pointing the wrong way. A self inflicted nudge perchance? Has a clever double back with somersault tongue grab saved the day? Is the hand on hip part of an elaborate dismount, caught in the fleeting moment of the camera shutter's gaze? Andy

I think those wagons are leftover from a collision between two ballast trains in the late 90s, just up the line, near where it crosses Chester Road. There were two down the bank too, but I think those have gone now. Andy

How about Pelham St Jn, Lincoln Andy

I believe Time Interval Working did last until around 1992 as the very last resort if all other methods of working around a block failure were not available. As has been mentioned above the new method Emergency Special Working which does away with the need for so many personnel lineside and in theory should be quicker to set up and need less short term planning of staff deployment which is always problematic. However that day the conditions to implement this couldn't be met immediately. The planning of services around any major disrupition (and minor ones for that matter) is fraught with complexity due to train crew and stock diagrams and the effects can last for many hours after restoration of normal working while everything and everyone get back in place ready for the next day or rush hour. As for self diganosis of faults on new signalling systems, yes it can narrow down where to look by flagging up where in the system the failure is but it still needs someone to go out there and find out why that bit of kit has failed. This is not always that simple to diagnose. It's a bit like part of your layout not working. You know where, but not why and there are numerous possible causes. I have known a similar failure that occurred at random over a number of weeks in one area and fixed itself just as quickly as it failed each time. Much time and effort was expended at trying to find out what on earth was going on. They could see what was happening on the diagnostics but not why. The techs looked everywhere and even considered interference from electricity board power lines arcing to nearby trees blowing in the wind. The cause was eventually found by accident when the techs went out to a simpler failure in the same area and the major failure ocurred whilst they were working on it. The cause was rodent damage to cables in a place no-one would ever think to look (a signal head) causing interference in the signalling circuits. Every time the furry miscreant scuttled past or had a nibble it all went wrong, when they left it all returned to normal. Andy