St Enodoc

Yes. I omitted from my earlier post that I generally add a dab of glue to stop them slipping off. Personally, I wouldn't rely on ANY insulated rail joiners to keep rails in alignment.

Spoons? I reckon after what you've been through some bl00dy big ladles would be in order. This highlights the fact that, especially where you have junctions and especially especially where you have triangular junctions, the Up line can change to the Down line and vice versa. Further, the direction of lines and trains is not always the same (like those SR trains at both Exeter St Davids and Plymouth North Road). The GWR changed from 5' arms with built-up spectacle plates to 4' arms with cast spectacle plates sometime between the wars (can't find a precise reference at the moment) so the etch is probably correct.

York is atypical because a) it is a three-day show and b) those three days are the Easter long weekend. While this will be an attraction for some, for many it will be a no-no, especially for folk with school-age families.

And, ideally, to let them have a go.

Nickel-silver pickups...

In my experience, it simplifies the wiring considerably but won't necessarily reduce it - in fact, if you don't follow the same methods with DC as are recommended for DCC, then DCC may increase the amount of wiring).

Only one bus but how many diesels?

Ten times better than that! 1 in 2400 is about 0.04%. I don't think your trains will roll away on that.

Ian, if I may be so bold, this might be a good opportunity to condense the two topics here into one.

Over the last couple of days, I've been messing around with the brake rigging on 2182. In the end, I've gone for an arrangement that is permanently fixed to the chassis, as it's all a bit congested down there and I decided it would be best to have everything fixed in position. First, I removed all the sand pipes and the front guard irons, then soldered a transverse wire to the chassis in front of each axle. The front axle defines the location of the brake hangers, as the wire is hard up against the angle in the frame right next to the front spacer. This determined how near the blocks are to the treads, which is not very. In fact, the blocks are clear of the flanges, which will let me get the wheels on and off easily. The other wires are set to match the wheelbase (7'4" + 7'4"). I also built a wire frame with three more transverse wires and two longitudinal wires to represent the pull rods. As the brake gear is really only representational, I've only used a single thickness of etch, again to minimise the risk of the brakes touching bits they shouldn't. I used the "Victorian" style hangers from row 1 of the MT175 fret but upside down, so that the shorter part of the hanger is at the bottom, not the top. I threaded the hangers on to the chassis-mounted wires and the wire frame and soldered them in position with the hangers roughly in line with the middle of the wheel treads. Once I was happy with this, I trimmed back the ends of all the wires and also the top of the hangers so they will clear the footplate when the body is attached (a useful by-product here is that I now have six tiny 0.7mm inside diameter washers or spacers). Finally, I made new sandpipes and refitted the front guard irons. The photos I have suggest that the front guard irons are actually attached to the brake hangers. I didn't attempt this but butted them up to the hangers instead. The front sandpipes are set outside the brake gear and then curve back to be in line with the wheel treads. Apart from pickups, which I'll fit after painting, I think the chassis is finished now - unless any of you bright sparks come up with more ideas... Here are some photos that, I hope, show what all these words actually mean: Bottom front right. You can see how the cross wire for the front brakes is hard against the spacer and the guard irons are right next to it. The curved sandpipes also show up here. Bottom back left. This shows how the transverse wires and wire frame support the brake hangers. Front top left. The "floating" tops of the hangers will be hidden behind the valances. Top back right. I might have to cut away the transverse wire here to clear the gearbox, which won't be a problem if I do.

Unusual for the angels' share to be post-bottling...

Peco N gauge.

A few hours, mostly.

No disrespect to Chris, whom I've never met, but I'm not a fan of some of his digital enhancements, especially smoke.

The SMP sleepers are thinner, Tim. If you're using cork underlay, the trick is to use 3mm thick under the SMP and 2mm thick under the points.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Oi! I resemble that remark! I was testing, guv'nor - and there's no point testing if you don't wheedle out the bits that don't work...

Yes, the North Shore club had some of that and came to the same conclusion.

You cannot be serious!!!!! Very nice!

That's rather like the time our flight from Singapore to Sydney was delayed by snow... . . . . . . . . . ...in London.

Now we've started the full sequence (main and branch) I'm making notes every session and entering them in the master spreadsheet. Once we get to the end of the sequence (some time next year?) I'll have to recreate all the driver/signalman/yardmaster spreadsheets from that again. Can't wait...

Yes, at the price they're a very good deal. I might order some for myself (Airfix et al autocoaches were my previous go-to source).

In one of my jobs, in Edinburgh, I could see the Firth of Forth out of one window and Arthur's Seat out of the other.

A good tradesman is always worth knowing. Disclosure: my son-in-law is a gas fitter and @LNER4479 is one of his customers!

...then refill the bottle with lemonade?