Martino

...and then there was Hornby acHO! Which has nothing to do with anything or the price of fish, as it was French. But does it matter in the grand scheme of things? Something to ponder over a glass of red methinks.

I certainly recall in the mid to late ‘60s seeing (my school backed onto the GW main line just east of Slough Station) double headed warships. Pretty sure the Cornish Riviera was double headed by them. Of course the Royal Train usually had two Warships at that time.

The only way of testing the sound issue is to fly in a hot air balloon and see what you hear from approximately the distance you would view a model. On my garden railway at 16mm/ft, I use the 10 foot rule. If it looks and sounds ok from 10 feet away (getting on for 200 feet in the real world) then it’s probably ok. If it looks bad or sounds too loud, you need to change it. I suggest that the 10 ft rule be applied to 4mm/ft too. That means what would things look and sound like at ne’er 1000 ft?

I run 16mm/ft, narrow gauge (45mm) outside in the garden. I guess I benefit from larger speakers and being a distance from the track - working on the 10ft rule. The sound works well in that environment providing it’s not too loud. Naturally stock makes its own clickerty clack noises and rumbling on the track, so that helps. I can’t be done with artificial smoke. It just doesn’t look right to me. However the sound is just an addition to what is going on in my imagination. Smoke, clash of buffers, people etc., are all added in my head. I’ve seen exhibition layouts in HO here in the US and sound doesn’t do it for me then. Too noisy. Perhaps there’s a scale distance/volume calculation that we’re missing. It does work in the garden (for me) but again there’s the distance thing.....

An old girlfriend used to say about clothes she was attracted to buying ‘love it madly or need it badly’. I tend to follow that now. If I get urge to buy, I extend the ‘pondering on purchase’ period to at least a week, maybe more. If I continue to ‘need’ it, I may buy but I put all sorts of devil’s advocate excuses in my own way. Does it work? No, not all the time but it does give me time to create all the justification arguments......

I used to have an Austin Mini Cooper like that. Moss in the window frames is what held it together (along with a few pounds of polyfilla).

I remember my Triang Britannia Back in the 60s. I can remember the smell to this day. It started to look 'real' if you blocked the chimney, and let it run but stopped it actually moving! Smoke, or what looked like steam came out everywhere. Now in the garden railway word I’ve disconnected all the smoke units from the electric powered locos as it makes them look like toys in my mind. Each to his or her own of course, As Zomboid says, even the live steam stuff doesn’t replicate the real thing, so we may be a way off yet.

Indeed Philg, that was my intention when I shelled out all of $5 on it - to use its innards for another project. So far, it has just sat on the top shelf gathering dust. I foresee some sort of GWish flying banana type rail bus one day. I'll add it to the list! Horticultural grit. Yes. Now if I can find a translation of that into Southern American, I'll be fine. I'm so sorry for my fellow Floridians (and indeed the Georgians - not to mention folks out in the Caribbean) who have suffered from Irma. Natural disasters are awful, but the cost of living somewhere that is beautiful outside hurricane season.

I have used this in the past, and very good it is too. I think shipping to the U.K. would be prohibitive, but maybe the bonding mix would be OK. http://www.locomotionworks.com/index.php Our Commander in Chief and his pals tell us that climate change isn't happening, so I suppose we have to believe him, despite the arrival of Irma this week. Luckily she passed us by with literally miles to spare, but it's all getting too scary. I guess if the storms don't get us, North Korea will. I have a US outline loco (an FA unit I understand it's called) that was left outside during Hurricane Ivan 12 years ago. It survived and still works. I bought it for $5 but have no use for such a beast. It's been named Ivan, but heaven knows what I'm to do with it.

Thank you. Getting the granite dust here in NW Florida is proving to be a problem! May have to mix Portland cement with either poultry grit (probably too white) or cat litter, which I hadn't previously thought of! - thank you Mike Storey.

You have a really stunning railway Bob. What do you use to ballast around the track? It looks cemented in. It's impressive.

Ah, the Bronica ETRSI. I've just been scanning some of my negatives from way back, created in my 'Broni' regrettably of travel and not railway subjects. The quality is simply stunning. The 645 transparencies are much better than my limited photographic skills deserved.

I found the same thing with photography. I enjoyed it as a hobby, studied it at Uni and then maintained it as an interest. When I had to do it for work it lost the enjoyment factor and eventually I stopped doing it. Only in the past 15 years have I got back to enjoying it, but only when the mood takes me. Modeling is similar. Having a garden railway there are many facets - civil engineering, gardening, building locos and stock, creating landscape and buildings - so there's always something different. However, sometimes I just go off the whole idea, possibly for months. Then the spirit takes me again......

I think that's probably the point of it! I've had photos 'stolen' when I've put smaller, unobtrusive copyright marks on. I've even suggested to some folks that they can use my photos, free and without a mark if they'd just ask me first and possibly give me a by-line.

I have to confess to wondering if people would give up the ability to drive. After all, I was chomping at the bit to get a license and drive my own car. However my kids (28 and 25) don't drive. My niece and god daughter (both early 30s) learned late and although they have cars, use them as little as possible. The Millennial generation are very Uber/Lyft friendly - yes in urban areas but also in more suburban and semi rural locations. I have certainly, at the age of 64 warmed to Uber. I'm in the tourism industry on the US Gulf Coast, which is a drive destination with families driving 10-15 hours to get to us. However there are many Millennials and indeed Boomers, who are rapidly shunning the drive option, flying into the destination and then using ride sharing services. I can see them adopting autonomous vehicles without issue. Me? I love my ageing Mercedes and will probably hang onto it as a classic. We have a Honda Odyssey (van or people carrier) for carrying our two collies and 'stuff', and going on road trip vacations. However, I wouldn't object to autonomous vehicles. From a safety point of view, I'd trust them much more than many if not most other divers (I dive perfectly of course). I think it's inevitable and probably a good move.

I thought these to be the true successors to the GW railcars, both the flying bananas and the more angular 40's versions. Probably also the successors to the auto trains (14xx and auto trailer) and the steam railcars.

Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway? Certainly ran alongside roads for quite some distance, and some of the route is still visible along the A339 - or at least was a few years back.

Slough Trading Estate Railway? Ran across, along and beside the roads.

Interesting. I've got the whole set, in weekly parts, passed on to me from my late Father. A fascinating collection.

And there's the rub. We model railway folk often confuse by mixing scale and gauge. My own soap box is the term G Scale, which appears either meaningless or with many meanings! I model in 15mm/ft scale on 45mm gauge track. I understand this is F scale in the US, but falls within G generally. It confuses me, let alone Joe Public!

And don't even think about G 'scale'.

Thank you for the info on the Kelvedon Tollesbury Light Railway, Edwardian. Excellent. I may use some of that feeling for a The South Buckinghamshire Light Railway, albeit in 15mm scale.

South Buckinghamshire Light Railway, Peckett 0-4-0ST.

Tail end Charlie on the SBLR

A branch goods on the South Buckinghamshire Light Railway.