Simond

thanks Nigel, I have never owned a ZTC controller, but was aware that there are some limitations - I guess the hardware is practical, perhaps rather nice, even if the internals need to be revised, to, for example, connect the brake to F2 - but of course, screwing down the brake is not the same as pressing a button. atb Simon

I think it’s safe to say that all early aviation pioneers died, it’s the manner of said departure under consideration. :) Schooner’s question is interesting. I’ve contented myself with knobs and buttons. DCC allows quite a lot of Lego style assembly. I purchased a Lenz system some 25 years ago, and am still using it, which has to be some kind of recommendation. Lenz decoders, on the other hand, have not enjoyed the same longevity, and my go-to is Zimo, with KA. My experience with my pal’s NCE is that I’d buy something else, ideally fully NMRA compliant. There is/was a cab simulator some years back, the ZTC 511/611 which had a brake, gear lever, and throttle control, but no water gauges, injectors, blower, fire, handbrake, lubricators…. And there are lots of rail simulators with cab views, and cab controls, which are in many cases extremely accurate representations of their prototypes. I’m not active in that arena at all, but I understand that such models are generated by individuals, so are presumably traded and comply with some form of interface standard. Building on what’s available, if you were to use the ZTC hardware, and a screen for your loco cab, the cab can change dependent on loco / decoder number selected, the gauges (steam pressure and water) can work, a decent hifi connection (turned up loud) for the safety valves, and you can spend the next thirty years learning to program to make it all work on JMRI… not sure what you do about shovelling coal! Following with interest Simon

Metalsmith do angle of various sizes, I have used that in the past. footboards on JLTRT coaches were thin copperclad glassfibre PCB, cropped to width - about 10” or a foot. you can buy sheet brass & NS from lots of places, Bill at Premier for example. You can buy a scrawker, and cut slices off the side. It says “plastic” but it’ll cut brass.

Michael, my apologies, I said I’d do a sketch, and I completely forgot. sorry Simon

Ah. Annoying. No sketches this evening. Will try to do something intelligible tomorrow.

Thanks Phil, on looking at the photo again, I feel you might well be right, and I initially misinterpreted it. atb Simon

Mike, this appears challenging, I’m guessing you need a “notch” for the sheet material to sit into - indeed, two notches at 90 degrees? You might be able to mill the notches into the parts you’ve turned, but, as stupid ideas go, please consider this suggestion. drill a hole in one of the things you’ve turned, and bore it to be a “trumpet” of the right wall thickness to match your riveted sheet panels. Make a pair of turned formers to a diameter that would sit inside said trumpet. Cut quadrants from trumpet and solder to the new turned formers, this will give you an angle into which your riveted sheets can engage, and with luck, it would give the right form as the panels go around the bend. if this makes no sense, tell me and I’ll try to create a sketch to explain it better! atb Simon

I’d expect it to fall in here. The right hand wheel is on the stock rail and the blade is closed against it. The left hand wheel should be on the blade, but it’s the wrong side. It shouldn’t ever be in this condition, has it split the point - ie gone the wrong way?

Nice to see you back Fabrice.

I’ve done a few over the years but more sort of 1” or 2” line, suitable for 12” to the foot pleasure craft, not stuff barely thicker than cotton. Lovely job, nicely done!

My t/t only goes one way, because that was a satisfactory way of solving the issue of backlash. I have three possible outlets, and thus six positions for the table. A loco arrives on the coal road, tender first (because it has reversed from the terminus), drops its ash, and takes coal, turns, and leaves (tender first) by the adjacent road to go on shed (tender out) or parks in the “back siding”. If the latter, it would be tender first, so chimney out. As the adjacent road is only a few degrees from the coal road, the t/t has to do about 170 degrees to turn the loco, so going only one way is entirely reasonable. The empty table then does the 10 degrees to reset for the next loco. if you go through this process in your head for your layout, you might find turning is logically one way only too.

Ray Simply comment out the lines that set the direction to the one you don’t want. There’s probably a Boolean variable “DIR”? that can will go one way if it’s 1 or t’other if it’s 0, If DIR Is always 1 or always 0, It’ll always go the same way.

Another vote against FB. I’d suggest you have your own website, and then you can use it as you wish. but in any case, I’ve followed HLJ since the thread started, and I’ll get to see it in the flesh sometime, soon, I hope. thanks for an inspirational story, and some truly epic modelling. cheers Simon

Oooh, err. I had a stent for a stenosis last April, Covid apparently caused a (happily) very minor heart attack, but an aneurism is an altogether scarier beast! very best wishes for a complete recovery Simon

Platypi? Pity the poor porter who had to unload them - at least only the males are poisonous...

I habitually run my serial monitor at 115200 baud. No issues to report.

I forgot. One Radar, one 6-man liferaft, one Suzuki 40hp oil inject outboard, and four British Seagull outboards of varying descriptions. All of which are looking for a good home as surplus to requirements. The probably don’t fit in a large letter, so collection, I think.

One lathe (1940s), one small milling machine, a Porsche, three pedal cycles, two motorbikes and a laser cutter. the Landrover lives outside, it’s free range…

Adverts in GOG Gazette

I’d love to see this, and MrsD & looked at doing the trip, but Kent to Harrogate is looking at three hundred quid return… even allowing for my old git’s card. Add two nights in a hotel and the show entry tickets, curries, drinks, and spending a few bob at the show and it’s an entirely unreasonable £500 plus for a weekend away. add to that SouthEastern’s dire warnings of snow, sleet, freezing fog and other apocalyptic horsemen, and we’ll regretfully pass on this occasion. one day, I hope. Have a great show! Simon

that’s rather disappointing, but sadly not surprising.

Anthony, two thoughts. firstly you have infinitely more patience than I have secondly (and possibly more helpfully), the extra bits look “glossy”. Not sure if that’s glue that hasn’t dried or what, but it doesn’t look right IMO. Possibly (hopefully) it’ll sort itself, if not, a blat of matt varnish, perhaps? atb Simon

I see you're still using imperial measurements, I though Aus was metric, but you have a foot for scale...

in a strange sort of way, I hope it does do exactly that. The model as a whole is “railway in the scenery”, something that most mortals can only think of doing in 2mm/N, and so the castle, the headland and the rest of the scenery do, I think, want to just “sit together”. Then again, it’s perhaps a bit daft to say “no one thing should stand out” when Anthony has spent many months building a scale model of a mountain…

Paul Please could you repost the PDF as the link appears to be broken? thanks & kind regards Simon