DCB

I don't think half the testers do either, they check the cord, earth leakage etc but I keep finding 13 amp fuses where there should be 5 amp cords attached by the wires not the outer casing and freshly PAT tested items which don't actually work. And of course bare wires inside the casing, normally on 19700s controllers. It's a nice little earner, 2 day course to get qualified. Fancy doing it myself actually.

Crud collectors, I had some and they corroded, went white. Mine were narrow "scale" 00 wheels with underscale treads which didn't like Peco streamline points . I feel jacksons themselves are outclassed by near current Bachmann and Hornby RTR wheels. I would spray the aluminium wheels matt black, polish the treads fit them to surplus stock I no longer wanted and stick them on eBay

It seems to me that the original layout does a decent job of showcasing the stock you have, but the revised ones need small locos which are not available RTR and are not even planned. I would look to build some more locos, TT120 as of 2024 is basically a scratch building or cut and shut modifying scale, not quite like Hornby Dublo in 1938 because they had a decent 0-6-2T capable of local passenger and goods work, as well as two (One?) Pacifics but parallel in that Tillig have class 55 which could maybe be hacked into a Q6 and some nice chassis. I would try to get a few more inches width add a platform at the top of the original plan and build some scenery to watch your trains run through.

I keep seeing suggestions to use the carbon rods found in non rechargeable batteries as motor brushes if new o.e. ones are not available. This afternoon I found Poundland AAA batteries have carbon rods dead size for Hornby Dublo ,but ran out of time before I could test them in my Castle powered 56XX, so has anyone actually had any success with this?

I am struggling with this livery I would have thought the sign writer would have spaced the lettering so it looks right from the side, With the decal wrapped around the framing it just looks wrong. The sign writers art is in deciding how to paint the angled framing so the wording looks "Right" at angles other than direct 90 degrees and the decal makers is in how much extra to allow for wrapping around angle irons etc .

Presumably the power only needs to be provided when the wagon is stopped. If it was 00 and had buffers I would arrange power to be supplied to steel buffers on a buffer stop with a coil around the buffer stem so it acts like an electro magnet when energised so attracting steel buffer heads on the wagon, one connected to + ve rail and and one to -ve I use a magnet to keep my stock from running away from the buffers on a siding which was supposed to be level but isn't so I know it works. Otherwise a couple of retractable contacts coming up from between the sleepers to make contact with appropriate contacts on the underside of the wagon might work. My lighted coaches work fine usually but when stopped they are a bit iffy so maybe stopped is the worst case scenario for wheel pick up.

I don't think they woud have used cast plates for players, the wait woud be a problem. I reckon they would of been cloth and sown on. I remember 40 odd years ago laboriously and lovingly painting an 00 toad with "Return to Nebury" leaving the "W" out. I have never bothered since.

That is my problem with the present state of the ark DCC sound, At a distance of about 5 metres the only sound 1369 made last week as she came past at Buckfastleigh was a very slight sound like a kettle apart from a bit of groaning from the wheels. She accelerated from a stand with four chuffs and then shut off to coast past at a fair bit faster than I can walk. The Hornby P2 with sound makes far more row starting light engine than Sir Nigel Gresley does starting from Goathland up a gradient with 7 on without any trace of a slip. It's that lack of control over the sound which needs addressing and until the sound control starts controlling the speed instead of the other way round we will never get what I would call acceptable sound.

I suspect the same will happen with the 0 gauge, the locos cost maybe 1.5 times the 00 and take up 3 times the area. Six would be a crowd on this layout. I would incorporate a loco lift so you can select the locos you want to display from one of several display cabinets or even better sets of low level storage sidings and have them delivered swiftly and safely to the display area.

Sounds to ,me that it could end right here, with no steam to Mallaig and a catastrophe for the West Highland area tourist industry. The ORR clearly has no concept of a business needing to make a profit and have a viable business plan. They clearly would prefer the service run with a class 68 and mk5 stock. The fact that the attraction is Harry Potter based hasn't really sunk in yet, Yes they should have cut back the platforms permanently and used a couple of red livery GWR locos really, but the trains have traditionally been sold out long in advance. A big part of the attraction is those iconic Mk1 coaches, even if they are TSOs instead of the corridor stock in the films. If the ORR win this they will want seat belts for the driver and fireman next. How about banning standing on commuter trains if they are that concerned with safety? It' been proved to be a killer accident reports

Most OO RTR turntables have 1 entry and 3 outlets. The multiroad ones are usually H0 and massive, probably completely fill a 2nd radius circle if the roads accomodated a Pacific each. I think the second reverse loop has little use and I proved the pointwork for my concept sketch works in Anyrail. It avoids the turntable being a facing connection off a running line . I don't like the open visual staging tracks but they could be hidden. It would certainly look good seeing trains negotiate the junction as they come round the return loop anticlockwise ..

I just watched another YouTube "How to do it" DCC video, and again off goes the loco chuff chuff. etc Two chuffs per revolution. Steam railway locos have with almost no exceptions,(the double acting cylinders which give four chuffs with two cylinders, Most three cylinders give six chuffs and 4 cylinders 4 or eight chuffs. "Aerolite" at the NRM is AFAIK the last 2 "Chuff" per rev loco left in the UK. Is this endemic in the DCC sound files or just ignorance on the part of the modellers?

There are Vacuum Brake Ejectors and Live Steam Injectors (And on some locos not Jinties Exhaust Steam Injectors) not sure which the Jinty actually needs but the Wizard Stanier types are not much like the Jiny Vac ejector set up which seems to be typically mixed up with the right hand handrail. The Injector pipework seems to be hidden, and inaccessible in typical LMS fashion instead of having a top feed where youncan get at it

Looks good. What drawing did you use? It looks pretty much like the illustration in "The Stars Castles and Kings" by O.S. Nock showing the the Hawksworth Pacific. Not too sure it was a shame they never built the Pacific, judging by recent ish you Tubes of Stanier Pacifics slipping on South Devon Banks. The proposed roller bearing Kings with streamlined steam passages would have been a better bet... Unless they upgraded Cornwall to double red and decided to run Penzance to Paddington without an engine change , like Exeter Saints and Stars used to on the West Country Postal.... Which begs the question....

Last time I went some of the bridges were not wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass.

That only works with Local Authorities as the tyres come from the maintenance budget which is completely spent whereas the Bentley is capital expenditure and can be taken from the capital account. Likewise the bloke to empty the ashtray is from revenue but the new car with an empty ashtray is Capital. A larger car with a larger ashtray could result in significant savings whereas an electric car with no ashtray would result in the constructive dismissal of the ashtray cleaning operative, and a series of 3 day strikes whenever the sun came out and repercussions for the ashtray cleaning team line manager who would probably go sick from the stress of having no one to manage and a pool of money he/she/they could not spend.

Anyone familiar with the A 86(?) road along this route will realise how impractical and expensive such a route would be. The A 86 is a fantastic road to drive, ideally in the evening after the motor homes have pitched up for the night, but sweeping round the bends by Loch Treig at 60MPH on cruise control is great fun (Don't try it in a Skoda) (Or an evie, your battery will go flat) . The road can be seen in in Monarch of the Glen repeats as the main location, the big house if on the A86 and the line would probably pass alongside the lake (Station is Broomhill on the Strathspey maybe 60 miles North) The West Highland has genuine social benefits, the road to Mallaig is single track in places and there is only one road and no diversion route what so ever. The train is faster than the road at the Western end, and in icy weather the road must be challenging to say the least. It is a question of resources. Some lines and services can never cover their costs,let alone make a return on their capital investment. and yet serve no real social need. They are called "Commuter Networks" and their routes are duplicated by roads and public Taxi and Bus services. No body needs them. yet trains run hourly or better. Not three a day like the West Highland. Why live in Brighton and work in London. It's mad. Get a job in Brighton or work from home. Selling off the southern3rd rail network real estate for development and the infrastructure for scrap would make Millions for several MP's personal portfolios, people could work from home and we could easily fill the redundant offices with the homeless. But Popularism always wins over logic People hate change, why they would have to find hobbies and a life to replace 10 hours commuting per week. In summer 40% of Mallaig trains are steam hauled and around 75% of the passengers. So there is my plan Scrap South East commuter services, bring back steam on the main line and introduce a 3 minute interval service on the West Highland and a 3 a day in the Southeast. Redress the balance. (Damn got the date wrong, thought it was going out Monday.)

Those springs look very long for Mainline. It's a long time since I had one apart but I don't remember the brush being a cylinder I thought it had a reduced diameter where the springs engaged like the Hornby ones. When you get it running I would suggest putting it on eBay quickly before the wheels fall off. Fitting pickups from frame to the back of one of the wheels each side helps and kept my 03 chassis going for the past 20 years my only surviving Mainline loco, which oddly enough replaced a Bachmann 03 chassis which the wheels fell off... ,

A fence along the mainline boundary would make a big difference differentiating between mainline and heritage elements, Fencing is a legal requirement in the UK and often missing from models.

Some short bridges in the sort of sub 12 foot range are remarkably thin when viewed from the side even ones on 20 on axle load lines. The trouble is with a longer span the girders needed get larger quite rapidly. If you really want minimum clearance the river Thames(?) goes under the Thames and Severn Canal near Latton by diving down an ole and coming up the other size,no real reason a river couldn't go under a railway that way.

I am just glad I'm too mean to have anyone build a loco for me, I did however have a major battle with some loco kits my father in law had built by a professional model maker. There was a mis communication and an ability to pull trains was not emphasised enough and as a result the locos were really display cabinet items and when used as motive power they could not pull respectable trains and even on light duties they rapidly failed. The 47XX was not too bad, with a solid brass chassis and MW005 motor . but a 90XX and a K's 28XX body for which he had a comet chassis built with DS10 and DS11 motors were hopeless and I spent ages trying to fix them burning several motors out before sticking the 28XX chassis on eBay . Very frustrating. Anyone want an OO BR Black Cotswold 47XX? Its on eBay. Might go lined green if I get bored over Easter.

York, where Leeman Road goes under several platforms en route to the NRM. Stroud Gloucestershire where the platforms extend onto a viaduct which crosses a road Nairn Scotland on the Aberdeen - Inverness line the road drops down under the platforms.

Aha I found some coach wheels which may be Hornby or possibly Bachmann which push nicely on to the p[lastic axle when their own bushes were pressed out.

That's not the issue, the unifrog is NON ISOLATING, ( Not power routing in PecoSpeak) something which has been just about extinct since about 1955 so you either need DCC or lots of isolated sections if you want to have more than one loco on the layout. Even a pair forming a trailing crossover on an oval will mean both tracks will be live to the same controller all the time or both if isolators are not used. Electrofrog would short if one was set straight and one to cross, Insulfrog would connect both circuits if both set to cross.

I don' think it will end well. Those curves are mighty tight for flexi track. I use Peco set track for anything below 20" radius to avoid kinks appearing especially at rail ends, 75 flexi might be better, but with much RTR being on the limit on 2nd radius even when it's laid perfectly I think you are pushing your luck with running for the sake of appearance. The join will be between adjacent points and across 7 pieces of track several at an angle. 2 X 5 X2 and a 4X2 for the station would make assembly a lot easier. There is nowhere for trains to go, one goes round clockwise then the other anticlockwise and then the hand descends and changes the train. Its OK with 1960s Triang but 2000s era RTR sheds bits when treated like that. Rev Awdrey's Ffarquar (?) Branch layout had a hidden fiddle yard on a similar footprint.