fulton

In my time in construction diesal was delivered in 45 gallon drums, quit easy to move by hand with the right technique, a short ramp would get it on to a stand to empty with a tap, or on end with a hand rotary pump, which have been around for a long time. I also remember my time in a cable factory moving full size loaded cable drums using a bar we called a "ten man" and a short metal bar to skid then round corners, good thing those practices have hopefully gone.

New to me, just fitted a new light fitting in our flat in Germany, then realized does not have replaceable bulbs (lamps), hopefully they will last along time, seems a backward step to maybe have to call an electrician in the future just to basically change a bulb. When back in the UK will look to see if similar fittings exist, would not have purchased this fitting if I had realized.

In 1994 the Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien visited Chatham, I was very lucky to be invited on one of the tugs which brought her in to Chatham Docks,I phoned in sick to work, when she left for London it was invitation only, turned out anyone on the dock side was invited on the trip, wish I had been there! never to be repeated.

I have mounted mine using double sided adhesive pads, I can then move it around to get in right location, then fit the screws, had not considered the rocking base but I should think this helps to over come that, have fitted many over several years without problems.

Travelled to Germany yesterday, with Eurotunnel, in my Ford Transit Connect, no checks other than Passport, vehicles were being checked at random, did not witness any paperwork being checked, when booking a van with Eurotunnel, you have to confirm not being used for commercial purposes, there is another booking page for that, my reading of UK and French Gov. sites all seem to make a big distinction between "private and personal use" and "transporting goods for hire or reward and commercial goods", only my PERSONAL reading is that a model railway where you only receive expenses would not have any restrictions, will report anything different on my return in a few weeks.

Keep running those long trains, they really set your layout off, they look like the layout was designed for them, find a new control system if need be. The Digitrax system has worked well for me, on four different layouts, I only use the simple UT "buddy" controllers, as it was a problem with operators pushing the wrong button, causing all sorts of issues.

I found my, now gone, single garage size multi deck layout quiet enough to look after, looking at some of the American basement empires, I just think how much work it must be to look after and maintain, for me I enjoy the planning and building, not the looking after. My wife tells me off because I have that approach to our garden as well!

Yes redundancy is a big upset, I was made redundant after 32 years in one industry, to be honest I was becoming jaded, the last firm I worked for I took the car allowance rather than the company car, thinking it may not last. When the end did come I took the opportunity to take a year and a half out, I was lucky to have some savings, then retrained and worked in a totally different industry for ten years, a lot less money than previous, but also less stress, which I enjoyed, covid brought that job to an end, now happily looking forward to my first pension payment in a few weeks.

It would be good to hear how people deal with baseboard joints, strategically placed road vehicles, fences etc. gets difficult on a prototype my joint below goes right through a warehouse, doing everything neatly I think helps.

Hi I did much the same as you, but using sellotape on both boards sitting slightly proud, ballasted with PVA diluted 1 part PVA 3 parts water with a drop of washing up liquid, when completely dry peeled off, I do this on all scenic work as well, so the colours etc. follow over, never had a problem with it crumbling away, obviously the ends are venerable to knocks when moving about. I still use PVA as it is readily available, relatively cheap, has many uses from signal arm spectacle glass to gluing baseboards together. Your acrylic sheet should give a sharper edge, good idea.

I know the feeling, do you sell or keep, I lost interest in 4mm some twenty years ago, tried selling some brass kits, got offered so little I decided to keep, am now back with a new 4mm layout, pleased I hung on to the stuff, having said that, I did sell a load of HO to a dealer last year as realistically there was much too much for me to ever use again, the price was right, pleased to have the cash and more room.

My understanding is that it is an EMGS product, developed by them, with PECO and manufactured by PECO.

Must also add I think it was a very good show, my first one for over two years, my layout Fulton Terminal performed very well, lots of good chats, we where away in one hour thanks to help from Nigel, good trip back to Kent 3 hours 20 minutes, even with a detour via Bracknell, passing the EXPO EM venue on the way, due to the M4 being closed somewhere near Heathrow. A good three days, BIG thank you to the organizers.

Thanks for the prompt, somehow I missed No 567, now ordered.

Yes, experienced all the above, almost left the hobby, never did get some items from Studiolith which I had paid for.

Watched Tuesday on German TV, "A MAN CALLED OVE" Swedish film, dubbed into German, much enjoyed, lots of wit, dark humour, anyway one scene has a modern wheel tuning lathe being loaded with a wheel set in the back ground, several other shots look to be done on a preserved line, with two nice shots of a diesel shunter passing by, the main character had been a railway fitter.

As my original post, it does not matter how we got to be here, I would like to continue to exhibit in the EU, what are the practical steps? I suspect like exporters it was very difficult, seemingly impossible at times, but has settled down, yes more work but possible.

If there were standards what would they be, decided by who? Lots of very passionate arguments on these pages over even OO, wheel and track standards. I model EM gauge and there are still arguments over the EMGS standards.

When having a laugh at a miss spelling, remember english may not be their first language, or they have a condition such as dyslexia, and are doing their best.

I think British TV tries quiet hard to get period details correct, I have just watched a drama on German TV set in the 1930s, which featured a modern bendy bus and satellite dishes in several shots.

Most of my trackwork is plastic based, but I have a timber viaduct where I used super glue to fix C&L plastic chairs to lime wood bulk timbers, the rail will pull out of the chairs before the glue joint fails, is there a problem using super glue?

Yes, do not know about electrical damage, but my experiance is the static grass goes everywhere, not good if it gets inside a loco, I use a bag less vacuum to recover and reuse all that does not stick.

Next time I will be travelling to Germany, will be in my own van, empty, in May, will ask customs at the border, for advise, no information at Eurotunnel when I made the booking, I suspect it all depends on private or commercial, my van is insured for private use only.

I have exhibited layouts in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany in the past and was due to exhibit in Rodgau Germany this year, but this exhibition has been cancelled due to worries over covid. Could there be any problems transporting a UK layout to the EU and back again in a van, I travel regularly by car and only the passengers get checked, I did have a novel experiance last time I travelled back to the UK, the French Police put my car through an X ray machine, saying they were looking for stowaways, which made me smile as I drive a Toyota Aygo! Anyway looking for knowledgable advice or actual experiance. Thank you.

House coal is banned, but smokeless fuel, anthracite, is not, at least in my part of north Kent. Back on topic does anyone have knowledge of solar panels not mounted on their roof, I have a large semi wild bank in my garden, former railway embankment, larger area than my house roof, what could be the problems? The bottom of the bank is about 4m from the back of the house and seems to get as much sun as the roof. Thank you.