bill badger

Been skimming through the thread, so may have missed this in the 40 odd pages so far: What is the minimum 'wall' thickness that the Emblasers can produce e.g. when cutting window bars, railings etc. Is there a difference between the Emblaser 1 and Emblaser 2 in this respect? Some of the examples pasted in the thread look really fine and to my mind ought to answer for 2mm buildings. Was thinking smooth, quality thin card or 'rowmark' type material would be best? Cheers.

You don't need new fangled flash in the pan ideas like that. Solar power is the obvious answer. Sun shines; grass uses light to produce fuel; horse eats grass and refuels; horse pulls carriage up the steep bits; gravity does the rest. Its so obvious and no carbons to worry about.

Thanks for all the detailed information; all very useful. Will be of great help getting some realistic-ish rakes marshalled for 'diversion days' through Hellifield.

Thanks all. BGs / NEAs it is then; I think for some reason I had it in my head that BGs & NEAs weren't gangwayed (so what did the G stand for then!). Still nice to have the confirmation.

Google has not been helpful so far on this: where would the guard / crew accommodation be in WCML Mk3 rakes prior to the DVTs coming along? For the Mk2 WCML / cross country rakes the obvious answer would be a BSO (and I understand these were used in the earlier days of Mk3 rakes) I have many internet sourced pictures showing exclusively Mk3 rakes with a BG at the end but no sign of a Mk2 vehicle or other obvious 'train crew' accommodation. There weren't enough Mk3 BFOs to go round, so what did the guard do when not walking the aisles? Was the BG manned for the duration of the trip?

Saw my first blue 40 'in the flesh' and yes, compared to other farish diesel models it is relatively slow, but I have to say that to my eyes it looked perfectly fine in terms of 'scale speed' and the feeling it left - hard to quantify I know, but perhaps many of us are guilty of running our trains way too quickly?

Lovely job - front ends look very nice.

I would! Why mess about when you can demonstrate its not a problem of your making?

Folk may be heartened to know that as of yesterday the 'please keep quiet coaches' choice on the survey was running at around 85%!

Out of interest, has anyone started investigating the potential cause of the slow running or had any discussion with Bachmann about it (assuming it is a problem of course - maybe they were just designed to be that way)?

Thanks for all the interesting suggestions. I think a slow walk from Kings X to see St Pancras and then off to Paddington / hotel before seeing what time it is. Cheers, Duncan.

Sorry old chap - you've completely lost me there!

Thanks Stationmaster.

Thanks anyway. We went there last November during a family weekend in London. Our (then) 3 year old loved it, especially when I managed to crash a tube train on the 'simulator'. If nothing else, I think I'll mooch around some of the terminus stations to see what is around, although I suspect you can't generally get onto platforms without a ticket these days; can you still get platform tickets?

Thanks 34C - I haven't been in to St P for years. My hotel is at Lancaster Gate, so near to Paddington. Thought I might see if any of the HST replacements (800 series? were around to be seen); anyone know if this is likely?

I often travel from Lancashire to Farnborough on business; on this week's trip I'm staying over in London before heading out from Waterloo first thing. I'm arriving at Kings X at 19:30 and fancy doing something different to the usual mooch down to the Thames and I don't want to spend the whole evening watching TV or sitting in the hotel bar. Any rail related sights to see in inner London that might kill a couple of hours? Cheers Duncan

Nice idea. I did something similar a couple of years ago - a single platform with a line leading into a tunnel and a slightly bodged length of line sticking out the back. Landscaped with a snow powder and fir trees and including a Noch light up Christmas tree and Santa. Thomas, James provided motive power with Hornby 4 wheel coaches and some trucks with dolls house presents loaded. All very festive and my son loved it. Will see if I can dig out a photo.

Managed to find funds for another three unbranded black ones. Glad I noticed the impending deadline.

Oh my ears and whiskers! Why have the concepts of doing the right thing, looking out for each other and generally just being nice become so unfashionable....

Brilliant, thank you.

I have an order for some Easitrack in progress but so I can crack on with a bit of CAD work for my station build can anyone confirm the how high the Easitrack system is i.e. placed directly on the baseboard what's the measurement to the top of the rail?

Posted in the N gauge forum too, but I'm covering all my bases hoping someone can help. I'm fairly new to DCC but am OK with basic setup for speed adjustments etc, but I'm a bit baffled on this one. I've set up two Farish Class 20s (with directional domino marker & tail lights) in a consist. They both have Zimo MX621 6 pin chips fitted. I want to understand how (if it is possible) to replicate prototypical lighting for the pair - domino marker lamps on the front loco going forwards, a means to switch off tail lights when hauling but also a way to have tail lights on if they run light. If possible I'd also like to be able to leave the domino marker lights showing on the lead loco when setting back into a siding (i.e. when the DCC direction has changed but the lights would stay the same). Can any or all of this be done? Do I need to rewire? Any pointers or tips is this is the case?

Thanks David. What a load of barstewards. Off to delete my account...

Anyone know if something is up with Photobucket? I noticed several threads had lost their photos, having been replaced with a Photobucket placeholder. I then saw my photos had suffered the same fate. They are still there in Photobucket. Is it just me?

These look excellent - just taken the plunge and pre-ordered my first ever sound loco (on the basis that if I don't get on with it I can sell the sound chip). Given I'm trying to get an 80s / early 90s 'what if' take on Hellifield up and running, the blue versions can be made to fit with only a bit of Rule 1. Also hoping that some enterprising souls see the merit of commissioning D200 in its 'celebrity loco' getup - would be right up my track (literally)