john new

Very sensibly too.

Yes; just catching up with the coaches restored series which I recorded and forgot about! The intro' bits with his "attic train set" and some other comments from Peter Snow add those elements which GMRC has successfully avoided. If he wants to run mis-matched, implausible, trains that's his prerogative, my point is his brand of enthusiasm fits and reinforces the stereotype mould of the bonkers train fan. The coaches restored programme I'm watching despite the presenter/production style because I'm interested in the topic. GMRC shows a cross section of young and old, men and women, doing a hobby in a "crafting" style. Why change a winning formula? If a Peter Snow style bouncy celebrity person had been front man/woman it would have spoilt it.

Having had a beard for over 30 years I rarely buy traditional razor blades these days. In the old days 60s, 70s you slid the used/blunted blades into a slot in the bottom of the little box the blades came in. Do they not still have that? As a side issue can you still buy razor blade holders to make the blade into a small knife? Mine must be knocking on 40 years old but still very useful.

Please ignore most of the above. More testing and cross measuring using a different one from the set indicates the first print at 54% was correct. The buildings, doors etc., are much bigger than European and they just look too big.

Firstly apologies for re-opening an old thread but this was the best fit from my search. I wish to print out some free, downloadable, HO card building kits but at the US N scale of 1:160. They are on the Illinois State website - https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Preserve/Pages/construct_mainstreet.aspx#BYOM On line advice says print at 54.4%. Following that advice produced something approximately TT scale. That is logical really, as 4mm to 2mm is a reduction in area to 25*, thus, something in the 25% ish area is therefore going to be roughly the necessary print setting to use. My maths tonight is failing to compute the area percentage difference between 1:87 and 1:160. EDIT: Using the same basis of calculation that arrives at 25% for OO to N (22/42) substituting 3.5mm and 2mm suggests 33%. Substituting the more accurate 1.905 mm ratio for US N gauge gives 30%. That produced a test print too small suggesting something in between the two (54% and 30%) is what is needed. Can anyone who has done this already help please by supplying the correct percentage to print at? PS I know how to do it by opening each individual page and fiddling the drawings in Photoshop by resetting the number of pixels but if the kits are to be usefully used that will be a lot of pages to reset!

Evening typing when tired, was surprised but now see I'd misread your post. Duh! I think one snag with some layouts is people model without looking at what they are trying to do. Your example is just one. The one I notice often is European and US style buildings on U.K. layouts. They see a Faller, Kibri or Walthers kit for industry X but don't spot the architectural differences. The physical modelling may be ace but the conceptual modelling has let them down. Re fuel. I need to find the right book, not easy in my muddled library, but I have a memory (possibly wrong) from seeing in videos that the Ferry Terminal at Weymouth had a three tank wagon delivery but that looked bigger than the storage tanks. Not sure if it was piped to a further underground tank. Some one else may well prove this memory is wrong. May take a day or two but will look up my Weymouth tramway books to seek more info' Edit: (1) I'm probably wrong re the fuel. I think I may be confusing loco fuel at the Quay with tank wagon deliveries of bunkering for the ferries. By the time I had work involvement with Harbour management the regular trains had stopped and bunkering fuel came by barge from Southampton. (2) Cracking model of the coal wagon tippler. Can't find the relevant book. This photo though (not mine so just a link pasted) http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/uploads/7/6/8/3/7683812/2220874_orig.jpg shows a train of rail tanks and in the foreground the static tanks. The train capacity always looked bigger than the static.

The big railway has a set of diagrams for locos just the same as our model sequences. Servicing, crew signing on, maintenance etc., built in. You would have to have a loco of the right type at point A when required; I guess the rest of it is habit and convenience that loco XYZX ends up back at its home depot at the end of a diagram. However, if there wasn't some form of back to base logic to it you could end with all the locos in one location. The diagrams I know can be complex one's with modern traction.

It has been said before but everything around this series should be making us rethink whether what we do currently regarding recruitment, into which ever part of the wider railway interest group/hobby we are active in, could achieve more if approached differently. I know as SLS PRO I will be re-evaluating the recruitment posters I will be using over the next three major shows we have stands at. No time to do much else before Warley, first of the three, but I have an idea or two for Ally Pally and York.

Announced at end of programme about applying for series two. Whether you do or don't want to particpate personally it is excellent news for the hobby that a 2nd series is on the cards.

Maggie is one of the York MRS kids corner crew too. Always a popular event.

Interesting challenge overcome tonight. Old solid wheel Jinty (47606) given to grandsons as a runner a while back but it had now stopped. Took body off, checked for the obvious (A bent in pick up causing a short to the chassis), oiled it and away it goes round the test track. Little bit of running to work the oil through and with the Gaugemaster it will even crawl. (Job done - not!) Put the body back on properly and screwed it on - dead as a door nail. Body part on (but loose at front end) and it runs. Problem I think was that the springyness in the wiring was pressing against the body and lifting the brush off the commutator. Never had that happen before in umpteen years of running Tri-ang. Took a fair bit of fiddling with the wires to get it to avoid it recurring.

These ideas are not new. Back in the early 60s (or even late 50s) there was an article in one of the then extant monthlies called "No points but not pointless." Simple oval, memory suggests TT, with very, very basic scenery and buildings but aimed at getting beginners to see what the hobby was. Not for regular shows but going out "on the road" to fetes and the like. Sadly it is rarely, if ever, done these days. The first step along the journey is always the hardest one.

This is a good idea, and I have seen it done but not recently. It is an idea I have already had, therefore it possible you may see something resembling the suggestion on the SLS stand at Alexandra Palace. Not enough time to do anything other than GMRC related posters before Warley.

The other snag is finding volunteers able to do these modern set-up tasks, even if the Committee/Board (or whatever its called in XYZ Society), accepts it needs to be done and the existing role holder is prepared to accept the changes.

Bearing in mind the recording (rather than showing) order of these episodes as I was watching this heat one recording last night my thought was 'did their mountain inspire the 'high heels" for the Scrapbox challenge?' That was in the last heat to be recorded.

By coincidence spotted that series on YouTube yesterday (after searching for something else) but have not yet had any time to watch it.

It was suggesting addresses in the 2,500 range. If it was a genuine list, then from the perspective of sending a mail-shot out to a targeted audience buying such a list (of ticket purchasers?) could appeal to some businesses.

Thank you

Can a rep from Warley club confirm that the emails received today by both the SLS and YMRS asking us to buy the address list for attendees at the show are issued as SPAM? We are not interested and are just deleting the emails but I can see some businesses might want such a list if it is genuine sale offer (although how would it pass GDPR?) so could fall for the scam if that is what it is. (NB Mods please move post o the Warley thread if more appropriate there)

Yes. Through to Queen Victoria. A fair bit done on Huntingdon Beaumont (very definitely pre-steam) then through the Napoleonic War era and why the horse got displaced by what was then the upcoming first modern image i.e. steam. Through the reign of the Georges and then Q Vic.

Just watching E3 again. Anyone else notice the bloopers - all three layouts were given the same track plan! (Edit - First time round - correct later)

The scenes are wide ranging, so far we have ranged from - Flanders in WW1 South Coast in WW2 Modern electrics in E London ?? On the Dr Who layout Several parts of the world on Laurie's Sc-fi layout Inland and coastal settings. Had some 009 on the Flanders layout. Had some N on this week's winner Forced perspective techniques (In week 1 and week 3) Urban (Missenden and the E Enders layouts) Rural and desert settings. Ordinary - v- fantasy settings. Out of the box thinking (with varying success) in the scrap-box challenge. It has gripped two of my four grandchildren and is encouraging my daughter to think about doing more with a new end to end layout for them as the small roundy-roundy I refurbed for them is an awkward fit for the space available. It has also, along with Clive's Sheffield thread, re-sparked my own interests in making something rather than just researching Early (pre-steam)/Georgian railways. It is succeeding as what it is for the target audience.

Otago - Jack Dugdale. See https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5022

Definitely recommended. Used it too on a previous layout.

I am not the John referred to but if the people turning out to watch the Dorset Coast Express (and similar) arrive at Weymouth is typical then the interest in steam is high across all ages with a fair turnout, diesel specials the crowd is less but still there (although with less small children brought to watch) daily electrics hardly any interest ever seen. The above is not conclusive, but as anecdotal evidence it supports the proposition made as regards active interest and the "attraction factor' of trains as a thing to go out to see as a particular event. It needs a young, contemporary traction modeller, to explain what drew them into the hobby; probably though a topic for a spin-off thread.