Lecorbusier

Nice Alphabet ... but as far as Gill is concerned seriously dodgy might be more appropriate!

sometimes you see the smoke/exhaust billowing white ... sometimes as here pretty black? Why?

Horses for courses? Surely the most important thing is .... does it work

I was under the impression that whilst compensation and indeed springing can help with pick up because it ensures good contact from all wheels, it was only essential for P4 - and then mainly for track holding reasons as the flanges on the wheels are so much finer and thus the scope for poor running exponentially greater? I am right in believing that most locos in 00 have rigid chassis? I would be interested to know where EM fits into this equation .... can rigid chassis run comfortably on EM?

Thanks for that Tony, That is very interesting. Battery power certainly takes the dodgy pick up question out of the equation ... but dust and hair can play havoc with the drive and motion and of course loves any lubricant! Running was one part of the question ... the other was simple presentation. Trees/bushes/grasslands/buildings etc etc all will attract dust over time ... yet Little Bytham in all your shots looks immaculate? Can you vacuum such delicate scenery? The dust covers Killeybegs links to are ingenious ... but I don't believe I have seen them insitu anywhere else. I am curious because the architectural models we have in my Office all have perspex covers over them to keep the dust at bay.

Oh dear .... another of my questions !!!! I have always wondered on all these wonderful scenic layouts how you all cope with the problem of common or garden dust? I know with my models every couple of months I have to carefully remove accumulated dust (and fine hairs curtesy of the fairer sex) from about every surface. Surely this must be an even greater problem where fine scale scenery is concerned?

Whilst in principle I whole heartedly agree, I do have some sympathy for the newcomer without much experience of exhibiting. I have seen a couple of beautifully modelled smaller layouts where the operator/owner was mortified because things were not working as they should. "I've been testing it all week and everything was working fine...." Taking a new model to a show, with it shaking around in the back of a car or van, coupled to changes of temperature and humidity I suspect can play havoc with the best efforts of the inexperienced show exhibitor. As I have done neither I do not speak with authority .... but in certain instances I have felt sorry for the exhibitor.

Thanks Dave, To try and get a feel I transposed mph to seconds per ft adjusted to 4mm to the foot scale and tried marking a distance on the track related to time. What you say is comforting as I was surprised how slow 25mph felt! It suggests that for anything other than a high speed section of the mainline, the trains will actually appear to be quite leisurely in terms of pace. My stretch of main line is on a ± 1:100 incline, so in 1902 I assume even express trains will be pushing it to break 40mph?

A basic question here .... how do you work out what scale speed would be? Different wheel sizes and different inertias within the motors I assume mean that it cant be via the controller?

That makes sense ... I freely admit I know nothing about Exhibition operation and the various requirements and limitations. For a home layout though, I suspect it could be quite fun ... unless of course you have a magnum opus like Little Bytham!

Protocab uses the wifi protocol similar to computers, which means that interference is not an issue. It also means that there is pretty much an infinite number of wifi addresses that can be allocated. I suspect that this will be the route that all will take in the end, because it piggybacks the massive IT market with all the sophistications and ongoing development that this comes with.

Operationally wouldn't battery control actually bring greater prominence to the role of signalling? Surely that would be more like the real thing? The driver drives the loco but the signalman controls and dictates the movements.

Dave, Studying the ballasting pictures there is a fantastic variation of both colour and texture. Is this all achieved by using different mixes of the ballast, or is it part of the weathering process? Tim

Kieth, Thanks for the clarification .. much appreciated. Tim

On the face of it, I'd say what you have uploaded there ... complete with your last observation is pretty much what I was after ... Thanks - much appreciated. Tim

Nick, That is fascinating. This seems to illustrate the rodding connection to the switch, the stretcher bar connection and at the bottom a lug connection which may well be what I am looking for. Do you have a date for the drawings? Are they generic or does it relate practice to given companies. If you can be bothered I would love to see any more illustrations of bar rodding details you might have (assuming it doesn't run to pages and pages). Thanks. Tim

Dave, You said earlier in the thread that the ballast you use is your own concoction. Could I ask how you go about making it? Do you crush up your own stone? It looks fantastic. Tim

Thanks Gordon, I think I have a reasonable handle on all the various aspects of the bar rodding except how the intermediary connection to a crank would have been achieved. With channel there appears to be a simple lug connection to the underside of the channel as here... But I can't find an equivalent photo or drawing for a bar set up. I am thinking of the situation at position B in this schematic.

Does anybody have any drawings or images which might describe the connection for circular bar rodding to an intemediary crank within the rod length when two sets of points have to work together ... ie for a crossover on running lines. I am trying to work out how the connection from the bar would have been worked (easy to find examples of channel rodding but not circular). Thanks

I understand protocab it is becoming quite popular with outdoor garden railways .... which makes sense. Love to have a peek at your 'stable' Jol .... I think we have done Protocab to death

Dave, Not sure I am the best person to answer this as I am very much at the outset of things. Regarding the track in the fiddle yard, so long as it is live (not a problem in DCC or if the whole layout is using Protocab), then I don't think you particularly need to worry about switching things on and off. The loco will simply charge when it is on the live track ... All you need is a rudimentary pick up leading to the battery. I suspect that the proximity charge option will in the end be the favoured approach. You could have a series of charging points and the loco would simply need to sit above them. At the moment I am using the jack lead ... but as I say I can get well over two hours solid running at pretty much maximum out put going round and round from a single charge .... so the loco comfortably lasts a day's typical operation at scale speed and intermittent usage. If you think ... if you have 4 locos on a layout and they are running continuously one after another without break or pause ... at maximum speed that gives you an 8 - 9 hour operating session.

You are of course right ... Its a bit like keeping your mobile charged and other mobile devices. I think those that just want to plug and play without the rigor of charging and topping up will probably not go for it. Those who like the idea of driving the loco independent of anything and are not enamoured of complex wiring and routine track maintenance may see the rigor of charging as the less onerous option. I don't think its either/or .... more and/also. My experience is that you never drain the battery if operating under typical layout conditions because use is intermittent whilst other locos do their work, and the loco is put on to charge in the fiddle yard when not in use ... there are a number of different options being developed to do this currently ranging from a simple jack lead, through a dock arrangement (which can be a portion of the fiddle yard track) to contactless proximity charging. When not in use the loco is put to sleep and retains its remaining charge pretty well from week to week ... so I find I can just plug and play. In the end, if you like it you will find ways to make it work, if not you will find reasons not to invest - both attitudes are equally valid. As far as costs are concerned, for an individual this may well be an issue, but over all I doubt it .... I am always amazed at what people are prepared to justify if they like something and complain about if they don't - and I am not just talking about model trains here! With volume the price is also likely to come down just like it did with DCC. I am certainly not a salesman, or even particularly an advocate ... just thought people might be interested and am happy to share my own thoughts and experiences - which have been good so far.

They were scanned from Glynn Waite's book on Rowsley (Midland Railway Soc. publication). .... you may have noticed my Avatar is from the front cover

I think Protocab is interesting if you build your own locos (or are happy disassembling and adapting RTR ... but given the investment of the RTR boys into DCC I can't see them adopting it anytime soon - unless I am much mistaken they tend to compliment rather than compete with each other? so it would not be as if one could steel a march on the others by going down this route (I am regularly wrong though!). Protocab are being quite clever in the way they are developing things I think ... as I understand it the next generation of controllers are going to have as part of the display options information on the efficiency of running (a bit like mpg linked to the battery and the way the loco is driven). This could be quite interesting for steam engines at least, as the idea is that it can be linked to displays of water and coal levels. I took the plunge because you really are just driving the loco, and the attraction of having no track wiring/cleaning/short circuits etc was difficult to resist ... it also simplifies track building if you are into that. The risk of course is if Protocab disappear before the technology becomes more general ... or they become the Betamax of model railway radio control - time will tell. Edit - piggy backing the wifi protocol was pretty shrewd as the technology is universal and issues of privacy, or in our case a password or pin protected network dedicated to your model, is well developed and gremlin free.