roythebus

There's been photos and an article on the Croham Road track, disused platform and footbridge on various Facebook groups in the last few weeks.

I recently acquire an SNCB Belgian railways rule book, that has special instructions for running Brotish wigons that were in common use in Belgium in the 1950, it even lists the wagon numbers!

I'm certain the van Ron showed was a BR ventilated van like the Airfix meat van but not a meat van, not a Southern eliptical roof van.

Ingenious but not the first. I built a small German layout in the 1980s and it was shown at a show at Hemel Hempstead with a "fiddle yard" consisting of 3 return loops and a couple o sidings in the middle. I remember speaking with Cyril Freezer in the early 1980s and he admitted that Minories was impractical as on the prototype the loco spur(s) would have faced the platforms to save n engine moves at a busy station. He put them the other way to make things more interesting to operate.

Yes, we all used to meet there after the shop shut fr the night, then into Renzo's with Margeritta serving us, the fod was good as well. then off to the MRC for the evening, then to whatever pub we used at the time! So many shut down round there we had to keep changing pubs!

Try The Model Railway Club's Copenhagen Fields group, they may have something.

The Americans and Europeans have different ways of doing things to us. Track plans are track plans but they don't always translate into UK practice when it comes to train operation. Have a look at the typical German branch station, usually two loops of a main line with a couple of kick-back sidings. The main goods work took place on one of the loops. One of my best layout creations was Tidmouth Junction which was built in the early 1980s in about 10 days before the Westminster show. I can't remember if it was 10x5 or 8x5, but it had a double track main line, double junction to a main terminal; a separate Thomas branch, loco shed with turntable, separate goods yard and hidden loops! I'd have to look through phots to try to re-create the track plan. But a compliment from the late CJ Freezer was tat it was an excellent design, it could be used as a train set or run as a proper railway. It was just possible to terminate a 3 car passenger set in the terminus, then shunt and release the train engine for turning using a small diesel shunter, without fouling the main lines.

You might care to look at the facebook 4DD group, there's a lot of close-up detail pictures on there. One of the motor coaches resides about 3 miles from where I live at Sellindge. The owning group has recently taken out a long lease on the storage yard and has taken possession of the coach. the original owner passed away a couple of years ago and there was the usual legal wrangling to transfer ownership to the enthusiast group.

So did I but I lost the 1mm one in the railway room..

You might try an internet search for ABS Models, he used to do a range of tram bits including sprung trolley poles. Also Bec kits used to do a range of cast tram kits.

The other dual-braked train I can think of was on the Southern, an MLV with a couple of Southern utility vans. MLV with air/EP brake, vans with vac brake.

We hd duties at KX where the train would be doube manned to Cambridge, evening peak, some times blockenders, sometime corridor stock. At KX it was the shunter's job to couple the loco to the train. At Cambridge it was the 2ndman's job to couple and uncouple the loco and train. Then we'd have our PNB then work a DMU back to KX. I had to have the services of a 2ndman as an EMU driver at Waterloo, both times the DSD was defective. Coupling duties were laid down in local agreements. On the Eastern, the shunter done it in the London area. Beyond Peterborough and at Cambridge it was the 2nd man's job. Re double manned locos on early tube lines, I seem to remember Brian Hardy mentioning this in one of his posts.

IIRC the secondman's job ended in about September 1988, just after BR and I parted company. What KenW says above sounds right. whetehr a 2nd man was required also depended on the length of driving without a break, so KX-Newcastle was pver 4.5 hours, so a 2ndman was required. With HSTs they done it in under 4.5 hours, so no 2ndman. And Newcastle turns meant the crew lodging with minimum statutory rest before working back, usually at some unearthly hour. I'm not sure when single manning was agreed on the Southern and other EMU services. Early Underground lines had 2 men on the loco, and certainly Met electric locos had a "locomotive assistant" to help with coupling and shunting. Initially when i read the thread, I thought it was implied that the 2ndman's position in the cab was removed, they didn't physically take the seat away. I understand some modern stock was badly designed with only one seat in the cab. Not very helpful when there's a legitimate visitor such as a traction inspector or trainee in the cab.

Looking through my computer files, I found this BR Report from 1983. IWR Class 503 Proposal 1983-04-25 -.pdf

I recently re-discovered my HD shunter that I thought I'd sold many years ago. I'll have to see how it runs. I bought it circa 1966 I think and done a weathering job on it all those years ago using the thinners out of the jar I used to clean paint brushes. It still looks good today.

I've got a Cravens single unit parcels car, motorised with a Lima motor bogie. I used to have a ravens 2-car but that got binned a few years ago when the Bachy one came out. I think I've got a the MTK Leyland Railbus (class 140?) unmade with etched brass sides. Anyone interested? I'm having a clear-out to to imminent change in domestic circumstances.

Yes I know they run fine on code 100 and code 75, and FS bullhead rail providing it's soldered track not chaired! The original has 2 rivets on the roof and a hole where a wire popped though attached to a brass "insulator". This was the change-over from track to overhead pick-up. The flanges are indeed quite fine, just a bit too deep! dod you know Adrian Swain of ABS Models made the patterns for the bogie sideframes. m/any years ago when I was in his car there was one lying around on the dashboard. There were made too long so that Trix could use a standard motor bogie. But again, for the time, they were really super-detail. I think with this particular model as it's already been modified a bit off the flanges won't detract from it too much.

Here's a couple of pics of my 81003 with added roof detail. It has a Kadee one end and a wire tension lock loop the other end. I love the Kadees but on New Annington we used tension locks. On modern traction we used a thin wire loop which meant we could get all the pipework on the front.

I used to have a small fleet of these at one time, maybe 5 or 6 durning the early 1980s, mostly built from the Locobuilder kits at £4/19/6d each. they were latterly used on the MRC's New Annington layout when that had OHLE. The locos ran remarkably well despite being over 20 years old in those days. One got sort of converted to an AL6 and never quite got finished as Hornby (Margate) had just done the 86. Another was converted to an 85 which I may still have tucked away somewhere. The others got sold on as I left the New Annington layout for others to run. One of the 81's was recently discovered and following a spot of oil on the turning round bits it worked! I now use hand-built track with C&L or Scaleway plain track. The AL1 sounded a bit rough and a quick inspection showed the traction tyres had deteriorated and may have caused the rough running. However, further investigation showed the flanges were too deep and were running on the chairs a lot of the time. We never had this problem on New Annington which also used fine scale bullhead rail, but soldered construction; the problem we had there was with the Lima cheesecutter wheels. So the question is do I turn down the Trix flanges or replace the wheels? The flanges are nice and thin, but just too deep. It's a nice loco with a nice weathering job. I'll take some pics of it next time I'm in the railway room.

Ha, that soldering looks a lot better. I sometimes use prit stick to hold the track down to the template or thin strips of double sided tape.

Looking abroad, I visited Zwickau in eastern Germany about 10 years ago and was a bit surprised to find the main line railway running along the main road! And on a rail holiday in Switzerland about 20 years ago, one of the metre gauge lines up a mountain starts its journey as street running.

Wheels clean? Commutator clean? We ran loads of these motors on the MRC's New Annington layout in the 1980s and never had problems with them.

I'd suggest practicing soldering on some lain track first. Get that right and the rest should come easy. I only solder on the outside edge of the rail, use a chisel edge bit and a bit of flux on each joint. It seems you might have some dry joints there as well, where the material hasn't been hot enough for the solder to flow properly. don't worry, all of us make the same mistakes with the first few points we make.

As said, a calling on signal is used to tell the driver to pass the main signal at danger, you will be going into an occupied platform. Stop short of any obstruction. Used usually for passenger lines only, if it were going into a goods yard it would usually be a shunt disc.

Multiple unit train. Sometimes the loco would be in the middle. Sometimes the VEP was 2x2HAL. It depends what was available. Once the train split at Basing, the bit with the loco would be push-pull. Locos working in multiple are different to multiple unit working just to add to the confusion. Locos in multiple are coupled next to each other and coupled using the loco's 27 way multiple working jumpers, couplings, air/vac/steam heat pipes and controlled by one driver. the locos had to be at the front of the train. Of course that changed with the advent of the multiplex MU working as used these days. Multiple unit working is the Basing example, loco anywhere in the train, might even be an MLV as well, all controlled from the leading cab.