Norm81

I tried to get in touch with them a long while ago without success, I wanted some bus decals but as the website doesn't have pictures on I thought the easiest would be to send a photo of what I wanted to make sure I got the right ones. I understand that the phone is easier for them, but a picture tells a thousand words, I just gave up in the end and it's in the unfinished projects box.

Any chance you can elaborate on why it won't be convincing? Is it due to the "corner" of the shoulder beimg too low down rather thsn halfway up the sleepers?

These ones don't have that problem: http://uk.farnell.com/af-international/sbu000/safebuds-pk100/dp/317561 Possibly available from other sources and cheaper too.

I don't expect anyone to show interest just because I would want them to, it's just a fact that there's nobody near me interested. The nearest person I think was at least 2 hours away and the nearest group pushing 6 hours - that is far beyond "not on my own doorstep". It's a considerable investment in time, petrol, accomodation expenses, etc.

Speaking of triathlons, I keep meaning to do a duathlon (run-bike-run) as my swimming properties resemble those of a house brick. Been running on and off for years, one of the reasons I'm up this early is to join the local group of nutters at 9am in the park, my tally so far is over 150. I try and do 14 miles a week when I can (6,5,3). The days of half marathons are gone as I don't think my knees can take it anymore even though I'm barely middle aged! My advice would be look after your knees and listen to your body, it's sometimes better to stop than "tough it out".

I know, it's just the way it went with a "pocket" of interest "down south" and not much else. You really need a "quorum" of interested parties within a given distance of each other.

I gave up on any thoughts of joining in when the next nearest person was over an hour away, then the next after that several hours away. Andover is 6h south of me, West Midlands 4h south west.

Well, I'm not getting any modelling done but having to respond to the daily works requests in my position as "Chief Civil Engineer - Wooden Railway Division", trains are trains, right?

We have way more of this than we have space for, so can create endless track diagrams. I usually lay one complete circuit then let him do the rest, or take a section he's put together and make it into something (he's only 2). The mothercare/elc and ikea versions are also compatible. Asda have started selling green carriages that are compatible for £2 each which is reasonable I think. I also agree with the sharper radius curves as we regularly end up with one long 10+ item (Thomas is sometimes in the middle!) train that would derail on them. It helps if you alternate them with the larger radius curves, that eases the curve quite a bit. Ours starts off on a rug so I can see me having to make a shallow ramp piece or two to get over the ~10mm height difference, it's just enough for the track joins to end up sticking up just too far. Big jigs do a lot of interesting accessories, we have one that's a firefighting ship that fits reversed in between two barriers, that you can drive a wagon (it's supposed to be a water tanker) onto the back of the ship, then "drive" the ship away. They also do a Mallard (it's only a 4-6-0 though) and all trains come with a bit of track and a buffer stop. We, I mean I, am on the lookout for some sort of turntable and roundhouse. To be honest it's the only railway time I get right now, or Thomas on TV/DVD. I had thought about knocking up the track plan for my layout in wooden railway, as then I could have a go at all the movements and see how well it works!

I get this all the time at the local shopping centre, the junction is wide enough for the majority of us turning left to make it past a single car waiting to turn right. There are often long tailbacks at busy times, usually due to a single car waiting to turn right sitting in the middle so noone can get past them to turn left until they've pulled away. We're back to Nissan Juke/Puke/Joke owners again, most of whom seem incapable of switching their front fog lights off. I also thought DRL's had to switch off once sidelights were on even, but this doesn't seem to be true. I believe the uppermost lights on a Juke are the DRL's, the round middle ones the headlights and the bottom the fogs. Often see cars with all 6 on...

That explains it as many cars, the Nissan Juke being a regular offender that has high up lights, often drive far closer behind than 25yds. So from behind it's the tailgating driver not the lights at fault, I've had my headlining just above the windscreen lit up before, think it was a Range Rover that time. Coming the other way, I find the blue-white headlights affect my night vision a lot more than the softer more yellowy ones.

Oddly it's had almost the opposite effect on me, as there have been rather dismissive (and that's an understatement in some cases) comments aimed at D&E modellers on this thread. At the end of the day the original question is answered in that no, there's not enough content available to satisfy the current magazines let alone a standalone one.

Totally agree, along with the years of modelling experience required to build to that standard. People often model what they remember, so those modelling BR Blue will most likely be 30's or 40's. Juggling a job and possibly family so with financial, space and time constraints. Not exactly conducive to creating a magazine or exhibition standard layout, nevermind a "magnum opus".

That's going to cause chaos at the end of slip roads, as most human drivers would move over if possible or adjust their speed to ease the joining of traffic. When faced with a ~150ft "wall" across the end of the slip road you could end up trying to merge with traffic behind the convoy going significantly faster than you now are. It's much better when everyone merges in together at matching speeds. The length of the convoy and lack of individual control over it's vehicles makes that much more difficult. The only suitable place for three lorries to be following each other is on rails.

Maybe as the prototype lends itself to smaller spaces whilst still being convincing, lots of loco haulage, single line, short freights. Alcanman on here has produced several short layouts all of the post-modernisation plan era. Not sure if already mentioned, but there's also Shelvington, Widnes Vine Yard (with prototypical singalling operation like no other I've ever seen) and Newhaven Harbour.

I would, but it's a tad unrealistic to think my first ever attempt at a layout will be magazine feature worthy! It's sub-10ft and not an MPD but a glacier is moving faster than it's getting built.

Hi, any more details on how to do this or which file to search for/edit? Thanks, Norm,

Canada Street is something else, that cantilevered lighting board allowing you uninterrupted views of the corner, then I noticed some of the buildings had full detail on the rear where most people would probably not even look! Sadly I didn't really enjoy it as much as last year due to poor health but there was nothing the organisers could do about that!

I personally like the idea of re-visiting old ones, or ones previously covered in other magazines but not BRM. Different photos, potentially different author with a different viewpoint or who picks up on different details. It's the same as when I go to an exhibition and see a layout for the second time, there's always something new I notice. Best suggestion I have is to maybe mention in the magazine you're looking for layouts to reach a wider audience than just on here? I definitely want to see more D+E content, but I'm a bit frustrated that I can't really do anything to help it happen! Except moan a bit about it, but if noone said anything everything would be assumed to be fine if you see what I mean.

I do appreciate that you cannot feature what does not exist, or that you're unaware of. The Heaton Lodge updates are good and I would be happy to even see shorter "work in progress" features, I know the crew responsible for Blackmill are building it's successor for example. As most features are finished layouts with pictures of the finished article, I'd find it interesting to see some from during the construction. I also would still enjoy a layout already covered by a different magazine, as the viewpoints, details and photographs may be different etc. Just some hopefully positive thoughts and I'll look forward to April and May issues.

I'm in the same boat, I don't expect it to be mostly D+E but it's been 100% steam for too many issues now. They fail the "if I was flicking through this in Tesco would I buy it" test so it's not worth the subscription saving. Pity really, the balance has tipped too far in one direction for me personally.

Is there a lack of D+E layouts available to feature at the moment? Not a dig or anything, just asking as for about 2 or 3 issues now it's been 100% steam.

The 142/5's were numbered to show they had the alternative gearbox, rather than the original problematic one. Once they were all converted they were numbered back.

Just for clarity, I think the voucher also had to be redeemed today by the wording. I managed to miss out, but get a second voucher from WHS " our store has run out of models..." which if I send away with a padded envelope I should recieve a model back. Still cost me less than £9.99 I would think so still a bargain.

Digressing a little here from slw 24's, but there seems to be good demand for sealed beam peaks that all the manufacturers are ignoring. I can't understand it, as it'd be a dead cert so money in the bank.