Dave Searle

Hi, Stroudley patented an "Improvement in the means of and apparatus for locking facing points or switches on railways" in July 1866, before he joined the LB&SCR. The Lewes re-signalling drawings of 1878 refers to "All points connected to Passenger Lines are Interlocked". Hope this is of interest, Cheers, Dave

Whoops, typo, I meant servos, but my brain hadn't quite woken up, sorry. I also need to get my head around the MERG CBus system. Thanks again. Cheers, Dave

Hi Ian, Lovely to see Freshwater yesterday and many thanks for letting me have a drive of the Terrier. It was really useful to experience and discuss several of the techniques we are planning to use on our next layout (solenoid servo uncoupling magnets and point operation, DCC CBUS route setting and the power and pick up systems on the loco). A lovely layout which I will look forward to seeing again. Many thanks. Cheers, Dave Corrected following Ian's comment in #218

Hi Graham, Many thanks for the video. Glad you liked the TEAs. We are taking Hinksey to the Abingdon show on 18th March, so in home territory - we hope the visitors will recognise it. Cheers, Dave

A couple of photos from today's preparation for the Tonbridge show in two weeks time. Andy has been busy weathering our new TEA wagons: Cheers, Dave

I think the V-irons are W-irons with the angled side pieces removed leaving just the verticals supporting the axle boxes.

Also seen at the Uckfield 2003 Exhibition http://www.uckfieldmrc.co.uk/exhib03/stgeorges.html Cheers, Dave

Hi, Ian Hopkins' St. George's Hill was described in MRJ issues 100 & 101. Cheers, Dave

Hi, Hinksey is about to have a busy couple of weeks. We're at NESCOT (Epsom) this weekend (23/24 April), the Club's Open day in Ewell on the 2nd May and then we are attending the Watford Model Railway Exhibition on the 7th May. Hope to see some of you at one of these events. Cheers, Dave

The ballast wagons are a mix of 20 Farish JJA autoballasters, all three types of NGS kits (10x JJA & 10x HQA) and Modern Image Models (10x MRA side-tippers) . Ian, I've passed the 165/166s over to Andy who is going to strip them down, smooth some slight ridges and then re-spray them (properly). We're not going to rush them. Cheers, Dave

Well, we had a great time at the show, the layout behaved well and there was lots of interest from the viewing public. The show was very well organised with plenty of good layouts and traders and we felt very welcome. It was good to speak to several members of RMWeb who stopped by to say hello. I counted 50 ballast wagons in the yard: We managed to pack up and get away at the end of the show inside 60 minutes, just avoiding getting drenched by the rain. Many thanks to the Stafford Club for a great show. Cheers, Dave

Hi, Hinksey Yard is off up to the Stafford show this weekend. If you are there, come and see us. Cheers, Dave

Hi Kevin, It was renumbered 408 in September 1880 to make the number available for Crowborough which was completed the same month. regards, Dave

A very good first day, lots of interest, especially from the younger viewers, many of who said it was their favourite layout and had to be almost dragged away. Counting wagons and containers proved popluar We had many interesting conversations with a variety of interested and knowledgeable people, the lack of barriers directly in front of the layout meant we were nearer to the public and could chat more easily. If you spoke to us - many thanks, it's always good to hear your thoughts. So our feet are tired, but but we're very happy, roll on tomorrow. Cheers, Dave

We're now set up at Aldershot Looking forward to the show tomorrow. Cheers, Dave

Hi, Final detailing before the Aldershot show this weekend. We've added the speed restriction signs, signal numbers and two Stop signs: The Southbound empty Avon 'binliner' passes the signal and heads down toward Didcot The binliner wagons are from Vonzack's KFA and waste container 3D prints. We're looking forward to the show at the weekend and hope to see some RMweb members there. Cheers, Dave

Hi, Does anyone know what the number for this signal is? This is the prototype from the back ( I don't have any prototype photos of the front): Many thanks, Cheers, Dave

Hi Ian, There are Infra red emitters and sensors in the trackbed (just inside the hidden areas a bit beyond the signals), triggered when a train passes over. We felt that this gave a good effect without having to dig holes in the visible trackwork. Our resident (full-size) Train Driver said the slight delay was OK, but our resident Signal Engineer said they should go to red much quicker (when the leading vehicle was about 5m past the signal) - hopefully most people will just enjoy the flashing lights Cheers, Dave

Hi, We're getting ready to take Hinksey to the Farnham and District MRC exhibition at Aldershot on 10/11 October. We have been working on small details and have now got the signals working: The signals are from CR Signals and are being driven by Heathcote IRDASC-4RI signal controllers. The signals are 4-aspect with feathers to indicate routes just off scene: South to Kennington Junction (for Cowley) and North for the slow line into Oxford. The IRDASC units give a time delay between the aspects in sequence once the train has passed (apologies for the quality of the photos - I forgot the proper camera). And the feather is independently controlled (it appears brighter here than in reality). There is a little bit of work to do on some new stock, and then final testing, cleaning and get everything ready to travel to the show. Cheers, Dave

Hi Eddie & Gareth, According to Simon Turner, all these were "renewed" in the 1870's and 1880's. The renewals probably only used the metal work from the original wagons. Some running numbers would have been 1351-1500 (1851 builds), 1801-1900 (1852 builds by Wright), 1901-2100 (1852-53 builds), 2110-2350 (1853-1861 builds). The full corner plates were gradually introduced, hence the mixed metal work on v2. There is a photograph of Lewes good shed taken by Edward Reeves around 1865 with a selection of these wagons in it. Many thanks for doing these, I have placed an order Cheers, Dave

Hi Jim, I'm planning to start a 2mmFS LB&SCR layout in the near future. I'm still at the stage of trying to decide what it will be. With the Dapol Terriers, Etched Pixel's coaches and stockprint's wagons, modelling the LB&SCR in 2mm/N is becoming easier. Cheers, Dave

Hi Eddie, The FXD wagons have arrived and, out of the box, are the best 3D prints I've received so far from Shapeways There seems to be very little clean up needed and the details is sharp. Under high magnification, the details of bolts and iron work are visible and the whole gives the impression of a real wagon. There is very little evidence of layering and they have printed very well Here are some cruel enlargements - the translucent material is tricky to photograph (and focus on), but you can make out the details: Well done and many thanks for producing these. Cheers, Dave

Had an email saying they were delayed, then that they were shipping. Not too long now... Cheers, Dave

We've got 45, but only Freightliner class 70's Cheers, Dave