ian

As a quick win I built the rest of the lineside telephone boxes that I had in stock. The first went at the entrance to the post siding at Maifeld Bhf. The signaller can actually see this area but frantic gesturing from the crew on the ground can sometimes be mis-interpreted.

The second is on the headshunt that serves Herr Rudyards Küchen at Klinkerhoffen. This will enable the crew to let the signal box at Maifeld Bhf that they have finished shunting the factory. However impassioned their gestures they are well beyond sight of the signaller.

The third went where the line to and from Maifeld Gbf leaves the yard. Trains leaving for or returning from the Güterbahnhof need to call in so that the yard signallers know where they are.

The final one is also resident in the yard - this time where the line leaves for the Ford wheel plant. Again, the signallers rather like to know when things enter and leave the yard here, with or without accompanying gestures.

2 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

 

.....   Then you can go off and listen / read / watch pink floyd - if you really must.....

Welcome to the machine?

I doubt that there will ever be space for any of the university buildings, but I do have a sign!

19 minutes ago, Woody C said:

On 06/12/2023 at 21:23, ian said:

Mission accomplished!

A phrase I am unable to say in relation to most of my projects! I

That is my usual state.

The only possible explanation is that last year I set my targets too low!

A closer view of Universität station. It isn't finished yet - but that is true of a lot of places on the railway.

Its full and proper name is Hanseuniversität but everyone who uses it just calls it Universität. The institution from which it takes its name is Hanseuniversität Maifeld which translates as the Hanseatic University of Maifeld. It is a child of the erstwhile Hanseatic League. In its twlight years Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck tried to rekindle the league and one scheme was to create a university that specialised in the sorts of knowledge that a great trading league needed. Lübeck hedged its bets by declining to host the university, just in case it became a financial burden, but Bremen and Hamburg both wanted first dibs on any potential benefits so eventually a compromise was hammered out by placing the university about halfway between them. The league petered out shortly aftwerards but the financial endowment meant that the university managed to carry on and over time has prospered sufficiently to survive the various shocks and upheavals over its three centuries of existence (it was founded in 1669 since you ask).

Anyway, the lights aren't connected, the businesses under the arches don't have lights installed yet, there should be more signage, fences along the edges and a few more people. However none of that affects the ability to run trains so it is on the round tuit pile.

Still waiting for a train, here is a view down the line. Again there is a lack of connected lights, interiors, people, etc..

So what was the plan for 2023?
 

Quote

 

To build the missing baseboard link, connect Maifeld to the helix (via yet another station) and add the shunting yard. That will just about complete the track laying so after a little bit of wiring full train-playing mode can commence.

 

This was what the target area looked like at the end of 2022:

This was the vision:

And now it looks like this:

Mission accomplished!

So what about 2024?

Apart from playing trains I need to do some scenic work to make it all look a little better - but no fixed targets or deadlines this time.

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The significant drawback is that if one's area had a major power outage (widespread enough to take out your local mobile phone masts), one would be unable to make a call to the emergency services should the need arise. T

Sadly with the rollout of digital smart tech the emergency services would probably be incommunicado as well.

I can't vouch for the newer chassis but the old one certainly had a low voltage motor with an external series resistor to drop the voltage from 12V to something that the motor would find acceptable.

This is reflected in the motor's behaviour when connected directly to a DCC decoder rather than via the resistor - it goes like stink. Reducing CV 5 (Max voltage) ton the decoder o around a quarter of its default value provides a good starting point for getting the motor to behave properly.

As for running DC locos on DCC ID 0 - just say no kids.

An ambition fulfilled. That is one that you can cross off your bucket list!

After an unplanned trip to the nearest trading settlement to acquire a replacement for an expired hot glue gun the area is starting to look a little better.

The view along the viaduct leading to Universität has been irking me for a while so 'something had to be done'.

A cobblestone texture was downloaded from the far reaches of the internet and resized to be about right. It was then expanded to cover an 8' x 9" strip and sent to Colour Graphics to make into a long strip of self-adhesive vinyl.

Some Foamex (PVC foam) was cut roughly to size to act as a view block for the incline to Neustadt.

The engineers took possesion of the main line and lifted the whole section along the viaduct, which was removed, the vinyl cobbles were laid and then the viaduct replaced.

Although not sitting squarely on the ground the viaduct looks much better on the cobblestones than the white MDF.

Onwards!

15 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

Negative earth is just the same, but the label is upside down.

I thought it had a black label with white wording.....

26 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

...but I did have yet another pint of Harvey's with my lunch at the Lamb in Eastbourne.

I think I can see a pattern developing here.

58 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

It looks like the old Top Gear sign writer has got a new job!

21 hours ago, jcredfer said:

 

Perhaps remove the pane above the dishes and take them out from above?

 

Pull the cabinet out from the wall, lay it on its back and then open the door...

13 hours ago, Barry O said:

As it happens I maybknow someone who has a Ks stumpy tender.....

 

Baz

You can get an ointment for that.

11 hours ago, ianathompson said:

Hope that this helps.

Thank you Ian - yes it does.

That opens up a whole new set of questions about journey times and lateness cards - I think I may need to re-read the appropriate section of the website.

Sorry to be a bit of a nerd, but at 'three minutes a move' how does a train get to be other than a multiple of three minutes late? e.g.195: It is now 55 minutes behind time and faces little prospect of clawing any of this time back. I assume that that it has been rounded up from 54 or down from 57 for narrative neatness - but if there is a more cunning or procedural reason I'd be interested to know.

3 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

in the model perhaps a test mule, checking clearances etc. might be run at sober speed to enable similar reassurance? Whatever, I am glad the E03 survived!

E10, E41 and E94 types all sailed through. The cross-span masts have now shuffled a couple of mm closer to the camera and to E03 is much happier.

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

reordered on FB 

 

I can see it! Thanks.

A wonderful milestone .

Thanks Barry, but it's not my day.

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I'll just have to imagine it.

I can't see it either. I get:

This content isn't available at the moment

When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people or changed who can see it, or it's been deleted.

36 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Even taking into consideration different formats such as vinyl, cassette, CD, download, etc. it always makes me wonder why someone who buys an album like Dark Side Of The Moon didn't buy it decades ago!

Certainly in the vinyl days it was not unknown to have to buy a replacement for a worn out/damaged copy.