Richard Lee

I hope that you are not offended if I respectfully disagree with you. Some of us have limited knowledge of prototypes, but expect to continue learning and aspire to improving our modelling standards. Many models are only available for a limited time, so it is not always possible to wait until you are sure that you are fully knowledgeable about a particular model that would seem to fit your layout. For various (often understandable) reasons, many reviewers are reluctant to go into accuracy of models. I don't believe that any model would every be completely accurate, but I like to be able to make a judgement on whether the compromises and inaccuracies of a model are acceptable to me, and are likely to remain acceptable (allowing for the possibility of corrective action by me). Although I have a high tolerance of inaccuracy reflecting my current low level of knowledge and skill, there are limits to what I would be happy buying. For instance, a coach with noticeable inaccuracies on the underneath bit would probably annoy me increasingly after a while. (I know that because of certain resin kits that I have built incorrectly, and afterwards corrected.) Missing internal partitions that are noticeable would strain my acceptance of a model heavily. Paneling that was supposed to match up as it turned a corner but didn't, would make it very hard indeed for me to want a model. The combination of such faults would make me very reluctant indeed to buy the model. Edit: Others, of course, are free to pick whatever criteria they like when choosing whether or not to buy any particular model.

Some people have been known to rub a pencil repeatedly over the the bits of the key that goes into the lock to engage the cylinders. That often helps quite a bit, although I imagine that graphite powder would be better.

Regarding the fluorescent type of low energy bulbs, most of the bulbs I have used have lasted a lot longer than the tungsten type. There have been a couple of exceptions, where I bought them cheap (about 2 Bulgarian Leva) from a village shop, as opposed to paying about 6 or 8 Leva in the electrical shop in town. I soon found out it was far better value for money to buy from the electrical shop. These days I buy the LED type, and am gradually replacing the fluorescent type as they go. We find the LED ones give nicer light immediately from switch on, are better to read by, and the light they produce doesn't tend to deteriorate with time. I haven't had one go completely yet, but one in the kitchen started flickering there, but when I moved it to the cellar gave a steady light.

In a way, that might be advantageous. In my opinion, the OO bullhead track is a major improvement upon the HO track. On the other hand, there is still an incentive for the discerning to consider making their own, for example using from kits from C&L.

One aspect of DC that I find convenient is that if I isolate a siding by using the frog to supply power to one rail, it makes it a lot less likely for me to run points that are set the wrong way. I used to muck about with on-off switches to isolate sidings, but got rid of them and connected the siding feeds to the switched output for the frogs instead.

Regarding "DCC novices", I use DC, and am happy with it for my two current small layouts. On the other hand, I know that a for more complicated layout, I would consider DCC and thus risk becoming a DCC newbie. From what I have read, people seem to find DCC more satisfying if they try to do it with a reasonable standard of electronics. I stress that I have no experience of using any DCC chips, but what I have read would make me go for better regarded chips than the ones likely to be supplied in DCC fitted locomotives. Whilst I am using DC, chipped locos would be a pain because of my Gaugemaster 'electronic track cleaner'. If I went for DCC I would want better chips than would be likely to be ready fitted.

Possibly some people don't know the situation. I am grateful to this and other forums for informing me, otherwise I might be one of the ones to lose money. On the other hand, I live in a non-Anglophone country relatively isolated from other people with model railways and tend to use the Internet a lot more than I did when I lived in the UK.

Buy and Sell sounded as if it could have been a reasonable idea. When it started, I did try looking for some things that I was interested in. Either there was very little on offer, or the search function didn't work well enough for me to be able to use it easily. Other posts on the forum strongly suggested that there were many items on offer that hadn't been visible to me. Once I find that a website doesn't work or is difficult to use, I tend not to visit it. Unless I know that they have something that I can't get elsewhere, I don't bother with such sites. Life is too short. I didn't like to add my voice to the criticisms at the time Buy and Sell came out because others had said what I wanted to say, and it seemed that Andy Y was strongly emotionally committed to it. It seemed to me that some of his reactions to criticisms of 'Buy and Sell' would have been appropriate to personal criticisms, had they been made. What I am trying to say is that if users criticise something like 'Buy and Sell', it may be because they are a bunch of Luddites with axes to grind. On the other hand, they might just be telling uncomfortable truths that need to be addressed rapidly for the facility to be successful.

I built a rake of their LBSCR 4-wheeled coaches, and also some of their wagons. These were my first kit-built rolling stock. I would say that these resin kits are reasonable for a newbie. They are certainly a lot easier than either white metal or brass. However, I found my cheap, cordless multi-grinder from Lidl a huge help, because some of the resin parts need fettling. (I understand that this is normal for resin kits.) I also needed to make some minor alterations to make them look more like they would have around 1900, rather than the 1920s condition.

I ordered 3 items from them on Wednesday 8th February. Today, in the heart of rural Bulgaria, I received the parcel, all present and correct, packed well. That must be about the quickest anyone could expect an order from the UK to eastern Europe.

Apologies for going off topic, but is there a way to ignore some users?

I use slightly diluted PVA wood glue (which is called "white glue" in America, I believe), and when dry, paint it with a little very diluted PVA (water with enough PVA to give it a white colour as if it had about 10% milk) to avoid loose pieces coming off. When I do coal wagons I put a few layers of corrugated cardboard in first, to fill up most of the space. It is worth painting the top layer black before adding coal, in case of gaps in the real coal. The hardest part is usually finding a suitable bit of rag to wrap the bit of coal in prior to hitting it with a hammer to get it into fragments.

I received the latest newsletter (by email) from Protocab this morning. Their new range looks extremely interesting to me, more provision for smaller locomotives such as tank locomotives, different options for recharging the locomotive batteries (contact-less option, and also, if I understood it correctly, the option of charging through the wheels, for instance, on a loco spur). The new stuff also seems to let you have one train running round a continuous bit of the layout at constant speed while you do a bit of shunting with another loco, on the same controller. Unfortunately, their website stopped working for me while I was browsing it. (They might have been doing an update.) At present, radio control is not a cheap option (although it has to be said that there are other firms doing stuff). However, Protocab seem to be offering more facilities than they did before, and seem to be making things a bit easier for the radio-control novice. Although radio control is probably beyond the reach of my pocket at the moment, I suspect that it will become the most significant way to control trains. If I get a chance in the next few days I might take another peek at their website.

Regarding the demand for pre-grouping rolling stock, I can't imagine that there can be many modellers remaining with memories of the pre-grouping railway network. (There won't be that many who remember the Big 4.) On the other hand, there seem to be a minority of modellers with an interest in times that were before they were born. My main layout is set in the mid 1930s (about a generation before I was born). I also have a small (and at the moment, neglected) side project set in 1900 on an 8' by 18" plank. Some people (probably a small proportion) will want to use the old-fashioned steam locomotives with pretty liveries. Resin kits aren't quite as easy as plastic kits, but are attempt-able even by ham-fisted novices, in my personal experience.

I have a feeling that different parts of the Southern used different shades of paint to do the wagons. Must admit that it had puzzled me quite a lot why Hornby's box vans were paler than Bachmann's. Just spotted the reference that I was looking for in "Railway Liveries - Southern Railway" by Brian Haresnape ISBN 071101203 (first published 1982 reprinted 1983 by Ian Allan Ltd.). It says (on page 27): "The basic livery for SR goods rolling stock after the grouping was dark brown, based upon the LSWR scheme, but evidence suggests that existing stocks of brown carriage paint from the LBSCR and possibly elsewhere were also used up. (The LBSCR carriage paint was a more rich reddish brown; the LSWR shade was more like bitter chocolate.)" Elsewhere in the book it discusses such matters as paint being affected by sunlight and other environmental factors.

If the points will cost about £30, then they will be a little bit more expensive than Marcway ready-made copper-clad points. On the other hand, they will have some representation of chairs. It will be easier to do the recommended modifications prominently suggested for DCC, but useful for DC as well. They will be easier to design a layout for using Anyrail or SCARM, because track libraries exist for Peco geometry points. Some people (such as myself) prefer the thicker sleepers and timbering. They are likely to be available from more shops than Marcway and SMP, giving a chance to get a low international delivery charge. I am still highly interested in them, although I have no plans for a new layout at present.

Thank you for your comments, Butler Henderson and ramw. RPG Maker MV is software for writing computer role-playing games. It uses the screen, hard disk and sound hardware. 'MV' is the latest version, with, I understand, improved graphics as well as other minor improvements. The older version, RPG Maker VX ACE, runs on the 'new' laptop under Windows 10, as well as on my old Windows XP machine. The laptop has 4 GB of RAM. I found out (from a relevant forum) that others that others can and do use it with Windows 10. It was suggested that the problem could have been due to 'Defender', the simple anti-virus program built into Windows 10. Thank you for the tip about the "Compatible OpenGLR" graphics, I might well do a bit of investigation, with the help of my friend Google. I will experiment further, assuming that the website allows me another opportunity to download a trial version. Meanwhile, in Ubuntu with the help of DosBox, I managed to get one of my favourite old games to work, 'Might and Magic III, Islands of Terra'. It took a little work, but not an excessive amount. Unfortunately, this has really cut into the time that I have for other things, although I have got my characters up to level 5 or so...

I might consider buying one, but I have had a set of the Gated Stock push-pull coaches on pre-order for the last few years. I realise that it would be impossible to produce new items as quick as they are desired, but I am feeling a little disenchanted with the idea of pre-ordering something that might not be ready even in 4 or 5 years time. An alternative for me might be to feel virtuous and have a go at one of the Smallbrook Studio kits.

I recently bought a 'new' second-hand laptop that was advertised as having Ubuntu. When it arrived I was disappointed to find that it had Windows 10 on it. I managed to install Ubuntu, but installed Ubuntu in a separate partition, so that the machine can be booted into either Linux Ubuntu or Windows 10. So far, Linux Ubuntu has been a bit of a learning curve, but I can get the software running that I expect and want to, even if it takes a bit of effort in some cases. On the other hand, I have found Windows 10 very frustrating; the one bit of software that I really want to run on it, RPG Maker MV, won't install and run properly so far. My old computer used Windows XP. I am beginning to wonder whether I made a mistake in leaving the Windows 10 as an option to run.

It might be an updated version of the Triang Giraffe Car.

One word to answer you: Kadees! [You can also try genuine Roco couplings between the coaches, or if they are too tight you could try Hornby's slightly larger version of the Roco ones.]

I believe that the UK power supply is not too bad, but the supply to Bulgarian villages can be a little more "interesting". One village fairly nearby has high voltage normally, and also violent spikes during thunder storms that can knock out the special extension cables that are supposed to get rid of spikes, and also the that was computer plugged in to it. Where I live isn't quite so bad (I think), but nervousness about power supply knocking out DCC controllers has helped me decide to remain DC for now, for layout control.

Just looked at Wikipedia. Apparently, the H Class was used in the Central Sector (former LB&SCR) after 1929. It would therefore not be too much of a stretch for my 1933ish layout when it operates in Central Sector mode. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SECR_H_class

My experience makes me suspect that the 6-wheeled tankers from Dapol come with different wheels to their normal wagon wheels. I bought a 'Polegate Treacle Mines' 6-wheeled tanker that had been made by Dapol for another company. As it came, it derailed horribly, not just on points, but also on the 30" scenic curve. After searching a couple of forums I replaced some or all of the wheels with wheels from a Dapol packet of spare wheels, and the problem disappeared. I had bought the packet of spare Dapol wagon wheels because I had had trouble with some Hornby wagons. (I have since been told that the most likely problem for the Hornby wheels was the back-to-backs, so will have a play with them in the autumn.) In general, I haven't had much trouble with most of the Dapol or Bachmann wagons that I have. I tend to prefer Bachmann or Dapol for ready to run wagons, although my earlier purchases included a lot of Hornby wagons. The above happened with SMP plain track and Marcway points, with tightest curve on the layout 30" radius. If I considered buying another 6-wheeled tank wagon of Dapol manufacture, I would factor in the cost of replacement wheels. Alternatively, I would look to see whether Bachmann did anything suitable.

So far, 2 genuine Roco couplings between the two coaches seem okay on my 30" radius curve. For the rake ends I used Kadee number 18s. EDIT: Got a little buffer-lock with18s on the rake ends, so will try 19s. Someone above recommended 18s within the rake, so I try that because coupling the Rocos up can be a bit of a pain if I take the coaches off the track.