john new

I recently bought 2nd hand a DCC ready R2121A Class 25. It runs fine except that it has been wired up backwards so needs the controller slider switch set the opposite way round to all my other locos. It has a lot of extra electrical gubbins and circuit boards inside so I am assuming that makes it DCC ready although the layout it will run on is traditional analogue. If I do the obvious analogue fix of just swapping the black and red wires over at the pick-up points on the bogies and where they connect to the motor/chassis is that all that's needed? First DCC ready loco I've ever had to take to bits so don't want to make things worse by blowing up the chip. Can I take the chip and and DCC plug socket out altogether as, for the foreseeable future, it will be run as an analogue DC loco. I didn't even realise it was DCC ready when I bought it as the box has no mention of it.

Agree. However, a study recently published, suggested a variant in that birthing issues create left handism. It may be the usual b****cks but daughter one is a leftie and had a traumatic birth due to a cord issue. Daughter two didn't and is right handed!

Having built my latest shunting plank quickly, without thinking it through enough, my very positive right-handedness meant I instinctively built it the opposite way round to that above. Now I'm thinking scenics, the other way round would have made better sense, but track position related to the back scene is impractical to change. Therefore my contention is that left/right handed thinking is deeply engrained and influences us far more than we would expect. It is backed up by looking at designs I've built, or planned before, from the veiwing side they have all featured entry from the right with buffers placed to the left.

Absolute priority, extremely annoying feature of too many modern magazine editions across the board; because you can doesn't mean you should.

I haven't any recommendations as to titles but books on theatre stage set design may well have good tips as it is a common technique in stage and film work.

Potter's history of the Whitby & Pickering if you can get it 2nd hand. Again 2nd hand these days but Dalesman had at least two editions of their publication on the Whitby & Pickering/NYMR but I can't remember what coverage Whitby gets. In the various Sutcliffe photographic volumes (or prints via the gallery) a few images show the railway.

Early 1950s Hornby O Gauge clockwork, not a set as such, the black 0-4-0 tank, track and some trucks and coaches. That was followed later by HD 3-rail and even later a conversion of some of it to two-rail (circa 1969/70).

Missed it on the newsstand. If you buy a back copy (print) from Warners will the brushes come with it? Updated. - have now found a newsstand copy.

Re your parting with it - For scrap/salvage or to a new owner?

Date - York. Always Easter weekend.

I can't remember the builder's name but for a long time there was a working gravity shunted coach used on a model of Maiden Newton (Dorset) which was often seen at shows around the Wessex area. (That was how the Bridport branch coach was dealt with prototypically at MN.) Not seen it for a few years now though so it may not still be around. No fiddles with motor bogies, system genuinely worked by gravity; I have feeling from memory that the braking, when it was up the spur, was a simple vertical rod behind one of the bogie axles (raised before the loco backed away) that was dropped below the axle level for release. Coach weight did the rest. A simple non-barbed hook set in the buffer stops on a rocker to drop/lift behind the loop on a tension lock (on the coach) would also work - pull down the non-coach end to lift and release.

On the inglenook I have started I have the headshunt lead long enough for an 0-6-0 tender loco or a bo-bo diesel. However to prevent cheating using the extra siding length when using shorter locos I plan to have a moveable stop block fixed with Velcro as the headshunt goes off stage. Edited for spelling - autocorrections!!!

The recent Hornby magazine feature on brake tenders states that Peaks did run with fore and aft brake tenders. That suggests either it has gone out to rescue the ailing steam loco or, more likely, was working back to base on the front of a train to fit into an available path.

Mine worked but no sound on the Oake layout feature. Was this an accidental production c*** up or deliberate? If the latter adding an on-screen No commentary on this feature message would have been helpful.

Could you post a link to where you got them from please?

A couple of small changes would be a big help as they would overcome the problems my grandsons had with their first trains and are probably common for most beginners of any age. The first is track power. The current Hornby supplied silver coloured controller in train sets is awful. The old Tri-ang black with red knob one's supplied in the 60s actually did the job so that is a definite regression. Modern electric devices should be an improvement over 50-60 year old designs, fitting a useless plastic direction change slider that jams is not. The second is tension locks supplied but without an uncoupling stick. Both very basic first principles failings that quickly deter progression onwards. I can't comment on the control gear in Bachman/Farish sets as have never bought one. However, even the otherwise excellent Gaugemaster Combi I use regularly (and also bought for the grandkids) has a failing, the cable connectors on the back could do with being slightly bigger, sturdier, chocolate block style as the wires easily pull out of the micro sized fixing holes.

And something every Society PRO involved in the railway enthusiast hobby also knows. You have to target spend to where you think it best nets results, if you don't it is just vanity advertising.

The problem with winter settings is Absence of loco smoke and steam effects. A mid summer scene offsets the lack of steam; on the prototype you can't see it.

Old X04 powered Jinty. Solid, reliable, durable. Accurate enough to be unmistakably what they were supposed to be even if not dimensionally spot on. My old one's still run well today.

Thank you. A help when you are describing things.

Hi Clive. Any chance of a re-post of your track plan sometime? (or a link in your sig')

Notice in HSBC the last time I was in my branch saying you can't pay cash into someone else's account. So how the f*** are you supposed to get funds paid into a relative's account instantly in the event of an emergency? The immediate clear of the value was always the advantage of cash deposits over cheques, and they don't want cheques used either. Also how do remote members pay-in to Society funds after gala days etc., if the group banks with HSBC?

A few observations as a retiree. Having worked before retirement with lots of cash, including back in the day making up pay packets, it is dirty, heavy, slow to process/bank and requires labour to process. I reckon these days the security issue is now 50/50; minor theft and pilfering easier with cash, big thefts the opposite via frauds and scams. Analogue (cash) is a more robust technology as people found out this week when O2 crashed and a year or so back when the power outages struck widely. Labour/IT generally is a 50/50 issue these days, cashiers and back office staff are probably no more expensive than the higher paid programmers and capital tied up in IT kit. Where cashless IT scores though is speed at p-o-s (including remotely), the ease of manipulating the associated data and in processing transactions 24x7.

Not seen that title Neil, will try to track down a copy. Thanks for the info'.