Adrian Wintle

It could be gently suggested to Mr Crowe that the most practical and cost effective solution would be to close the railway... Adrian

Could someone explain what 'No bias to direction (F0) lighting' means? Adrian

They look fun - thanks Mike.

You could use a Dapol Collett brake compo. Adrian

I'm not sure how that would help the passengers in the B-set van compos... Now if you replaced the non-corridor coaches with a corridor pair...

Hence the links to sources in the US in post #35...

The Wild Swan book would be the cheapest (both to buy and to ship) since it is a fairly thin softback book. It has limited coverage (only the coaches on the list), but is very good for those. The Russell volumes in particular are heavy books. There appear to be some copies of the various books available from US sources, some even at not totally unreasonable prices (I have no knowledge of the sellers) http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0715355023/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0902888048/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all Adrian

Your reply was too quick - I edited my response to add a list of references...

That could be an F14 Toplight Single Slip. Certainly it is a toplight-based slip coach. I have Hammond sides for one somewhere. For references, the 4 volumes of Russell, the Harris book, and the Wild Swan Official Drawings book - see http://www.gwr.org.uk/nolitt.html If you want one book with an overview and the lot lists get Harris, otherwise Russell Vol. 2 is probably the best single volume (photos and diagrams post ~1900). Adrian

How many coach kit ranges have been killed off by manufacturers coming out with RTR versions? Adrian

Russell's Appendix One has photos of left- and right-handed E88 compos, both from Lot 1193 (page 120) Adrian

Brake compos don't appear to have been handed, but the main Centenary set was built so that the corridor would be on the south side of the train. The D120 Van Thirds were handed. Adrian

I'd want them in multiple liveries (not allowed in the poll). I'd also want 'handed' compos where appropriate. As the 57' Colletts had handed compos I would assume that the toplights did for the same reasons. In later liveries they'd have to come with some of the panels replaced with smooth (plywood) replacements... Adrian

Stationmaster wasn't as clear as he could be - there are situations where you want the rear-facing sidelight to be white, so diodes just won't cut it - you need some form of controllable switch. It could be DCC, or you could use a reed switch under the roof and a magnetic 'wand' (the same way Rapido Trains does with their lighting boards for their North American coaches). Adrian

Is that really true in late GWR/BR(WR) use? The majority of relatively modern vans were 20T. I don't recall seeing many photos, even of branch lines, with anything smaller (except in the valleys where the absorbed vans were still around). You can always use the Triang/Hornby Toad... Adrian

Already covered in this thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69677-another-level-crossing-crash/ - locked for the moment until more facts are available. Adrian

Here is my B23-7, now with Miniatures by Eric NH15 horns at both ends and a NB14 bell on the nose. The horn clusters look like the one on a photo of 3971 that I have. They don't match the horns on 4011 but the only photos that I have of it are in NS livery, I'm calling Rule 1 on it (and the 3' rule). Adrian

I presumed that the extra tanks were there to provide a vacuum reservoir that allowed the coach brake to be pulled off a limited number of times (or to a limited extent) i.e. the extra reservoirs were a replacement for the vacuum line from the loco rather than being an oversized vacuum cylinder. Of course the vacuum would decrease as you used it to pull the brakes back off, but it was effectively a large vacuum 'capacitor'. Adrian

Well, we have crossings like this: That is on the CP main line, east of Toronto (taken from the bridge over the CN main line). There were probably 10-15 road users (cars and bikes) an hour while I was there photting. Adrian

No, but here are some spare industrial buildings - I'm not sure I could afford them, the track, or the stock. I have had consists running with 30+ well cars and with 40+ bathtub gondolas on my big test tailchaser (Kato Unitrack, so temporary) with the locos a car length behind the tail of the train, so they will pull respectable length train. Adrian

Most DCC systems will support universal consisting in some way, but that is handled within the controller - the decoder sees the same commands it would if it was not in a consist, so it doesn't need any special features. If you move the consist to another layout you have to set it up again on the new controller. Advanced consisting sets up the decoder so that it responds to a different address (the consist address in CV19), so the consists are portable between systems.This is better for fixed consists where you aren't going to be creating/splitting them often (although my Lenz system makes creating/splitting Advanced consists very easy). Adrian

Or they had them along the roof on clerestories, yes. They still only had a limited amount of vacuum to play with. And it doesn't give more braking power, just the same braking power for longer, allowing the brake to be modulated. Adrian

Of course even the railroads weren't consistent all the time... And some GEs just look wrong running long hood forward (the radiator flares may be part of it). With luck I will have my B23-7 modified in the next day or two (horn clusters and bells), so I'll post a photo when I'm done. Adrian

Looking back through the photos, I noticed that your B23-7 set is always seen short-hood first, which is not the typical Southern use. The front of the loco is the long hood - the Atlas locos even have the little 'F' on the side below the walkway that indicates the front. It's the little things... Adrian

I used the term 'driven' as it took skill for the guard to manage the braking (and the limited brake cylinder volume) and stop the coach in the platform. It certainly wasn't a case of just unhook and then wind on the brake. With gradients you risk roll-back, which certainly isn't prototypical. In DC I'd be inclined to add drag to the axles and experiment until the correct combination of train speed, detaching point, and drag was found. Adrian